Third Person's Point of View

KIYOTAKA JUST SIGHED as he watched Axel fixing his clothes. They just finished their dinner, Kiyotaka asked Axel what time he received. Axel was appointed to meet at 18:00, the same as Kiyotaka.

"I'm done." Axel said as he walked out to their room. Kiyotaka nodded and they both started walking. They both received a letter from the school giving them the designated meeting point and location.

When they arrived at their destination, they both looked at the door that was in front of them. Kiyotaka knocked and received a quick reply.

"Enter."

The two boys then stepped into the room. There they saw the homeroom teacher for Class A Mashima-sensei sitting on a chair. There were two male students sitting before Mashima-sensei as well. Both were from Class D and people they recognized.

"So one of the remaining 2 from our group is you two, Ayanokouji-dono, Arison-dono." Sotomura Hideo smiled at the two boys. Axel waved his hand at him.

"Isn't this strange, Ayanokouji, Arison?" Yukimara asks as he pushes up his glasses.

"Have a seat." Mashima-sensei said to the two boys.

They both nodded and they sat silently beside Yukimura who himself sat beside Sotomura.

"There's one more person who will be joining us, we will quietly wait for them to arrive first."

Waiting for their last member, a heavy silence fell upon them. Soon the clock hand struck 18:00 and Mashima-sensei looked at the clock only once before a knock was heard on the door. Like in Axel and Kiyotaka, the teacher told the person to enter.

"Excuse me."

It soon revealed to be Karuizawa Kei who came into the room and sat down in the chair next to Kiyotaka and Axel. The three people greeted each other and waved their hands.

"I thought the mail told the students to all be punctual, you're late." Mashima-sensei said and looked unsatisfied by her late arrival.

"Sorry." Karuizawa said.

Karuizawa seemed to be dissatisfied by Mashima-sensei's words and their existence in general. Mashima-sensei then coughs on his fist.

"Sotomura, Arison, Yukimura, Ayanokouji and Karuizawa. I will now explain the contents of the special exam."

"Ok, wait a minute." Karuizawa spoke up.

"I don't understand what the meaning of this is, what do you mean by explaining the exam? The exam's already over, right? And what are these people doing here? Isn't this strange?" she continued.

"I'm not going to be answering any more questions at this stage, so listen quietly. In this special exam, all the 1st year students will be divided up into groups based on their zodiac signs and the entirety of the examination will be conducted in groups of students sharing the same zodiac sign like the four of you here. The purpose of the test is to assess your 'thinking ability'." Mashima-sensei said.

"What do you mean by 'thinking ability'?" Karuizawa asked again.

"I've already told you I won't be answering questions." Kiyotaka and Axel gazed at her and she seemed to have a dissatisfied expression on her face.

Axel put his hands on his chin as he listened to their conversation.

"There are three required attributes that people who function well in society are required to master: Action, Thinking and Teamwork. These skills are necessary for you all to become successful adults. The last test on the island emphasized teamwork quite heavily, however, this one will emphasize your thinking. The ability to critically think, analyze the situation at hand and resolve the problem given will be tested in this exam." He looked around and continued in the direction.

"The ability to work creatively with imagination and work determinedly towards resolving the problem, such traits will become vital for this task. Therefore this exam will be conducted with 12 groups split up according to their zodiac signs and the exam will occur under those conditions. Are there any questions?"

"I don't understand at all, explain it in a clearer way. I get the fact that we're split up into 12 groups but why the hell am I with these guys?" As she glares at the other boys except for Axel and Kiyotaka.

"Firstly, the five people here will henceforth be considered part of the same group for the remainder of the exam. There are other rooms with other students too; receiving the same explanation you are receiving now. Some of them might later also become parts of your team." Mashima-Sensei then explained.

"If that's the case, why don't you gather all the members here and explain it all at once. Also, why are these two guys in the same team as me? Why do us have to team up with these two disgusting boys? Honestly I really dislike the whole situation." Karuizawa said. After listening to her speech two boys turned their heads towards Axel and Kiyotaka.

Axel just smiled at them while Kiyotaka just sighed as he put his hand on the table.

"Shut up for a while and listen will you?" Yukimura scolded her. Karuizawa looked at him with disgust as she also started arguing with him. Axel tries to calm down the two but they don't listen, Kiyotaka stops him and they just both sighed.

"Both of you calm down." their sensei said, making them silent.

"Look here, the fact that the 3 of you are in a group cannot be rescinded no matter what. So if you want to get good results for yourselves, make sure to get along here." Mashima-sensei reminded me of Sotomura and Yukimura.

"Heh, but if the three of us work together and combine our wits we might be able to become just as good as Hirata-dono and form an ideal team for you." Sotamura suggested.

"Huh? Disgusting. Even if there are 100 or 200 copies of you guys, you all still won't be as good as one hair from Hirata-kun or Arison-kun. I'm going outside." She then smiled at Axel and nodded at Kiyotaka, Axel who smiled back and waved his hand.

'We understand why she likes Arison-kun more than us. But why didn't she even disgust Ayanokouji-kun? Unfair!' Sotomura and Yukimura on their thoughts.

"If there are no more questions I will continue with my explanation." Mashima announced.

"Yeah, yeah. I understand that." Karuizawa said.

"But why are the five of us the only ones getting this explanation? You said there will be more members later on, why not just give the explanation then? If this is some sort of trick or harassment of students then I seriously want you to stop it."

"You don't need to be concerned about the small number of our group if that's what you're worried about; this is neither a trick nor harassment. It's not just one class divided up into groups but 3 to 5 people from each class being divided up into groups. We run the risk of confusing the students if the exam itself is not explained like this in advance."

The other three don't seem to have understood Mashima-sensei's explanation and were mulling it over in silence. The ticking sound of the clock once again filled the now-silent room.

"W-Wait a minute. What do you mean we might be teaming up with groups from other classes? This is getting harder and harder to understand. Aren't other classes supposed to be the enemy?" Karuizawa asked.

"Right now you don't need to think about 'understanding' but simply to 'think'. The group you are assigned to is the zodiac sign (Rabbit). Here's the list of all the members assigned to this zodiac. You will be required to return the list when you leave the room so feel free to memorize the list if you wish." Mashima-sensei assured.

The postcard sized piece of paper was passed around between the five of them. The name of the group (Rabbit) was written as well as the names of all 14 students assigned to this zodiac.

And just like Mashima-sensei said, aside from the five of them, the remaining students of the zodiac group belonged to classes A, B and C. The list was as followed:

A-Class: Takemoto Shigeru, Machida Kouji, Morishige Takuro

B-Class: Ichinose Honami, Hamaguchi Tetsuya, Beppu Ryouta

C-Class: Ibuki Mio, Manabe Shiho, Yabu Nanami, Yamashita Saki

D-Class: Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, Axel Arison, Karuizawa Kei, Sotomura Hideo, Yukimura Teruhiko.

"Don't worry, all those questions you're probably having right now, I will answer them now. I believe you will be able to understand once I have explained all that. Most likely."

"In this exam we will be completely ignoring any differences between classes A to D from the start. If you can do so too it will definitely be an easier path to clearing this exam." he added.

"Ignore any differences...what do you mean?" Karuizawa Ki asked.

"Please just shut up for a moment, I can't concentrate on the explanation with you blabbering like that." Yukimura sighed in irritation.

'Here we go again.' Axel's thought and he sighed.

"From this point onwards, you guys no longer belong to Class D but rather to the (Rabbit) group. Whether you pass or fail no longer matters on your class but on the entire 'group' as a whole now. There are four outcomes in this exam, no more and no less. Explanations regarding this have also been printed onto paper for your perusal; however, you may not take them out of this room nor photograph them. So memorize them here if you wish to." he explained.

A slightly crumpled paper was paraded before them; it seems other students have already seen this paper before them as they looked through the paper.

There are more detailed rules and explanations provided on the paper as well as prohibited items being listed. But before Kiyotaka and Axel could read any further into the rules, they noticed Karuizawa and Sotomura nodding their heads as if they'd understood the contents of the exam.

"For instance, let's just say Yukimura, you were chosen as the "target" student of this group. That means you must be the "target" student only since only one "target" is allowed for this exam. Now, supposing Yukimura is chosen as the "target" that means the (Rabbit) group's "target" name will be written down as Yukimura. Once the choosing is complete, simply share this with the other members of your assigned group. And between 9:30 and 10:00 PM at the end of the exam everyone in the group simply needs to mail the answer "Yukimura" to the faculty. If this is done, the first outcome condition will be satisfied and everyone in the group will receive 500,000 private points as compensation. In addition, the "target" student will receive 1 million private points for successfully guiding the group to this outcome." Mashima-sensei said, making Karuizawa react.

"On-One million? Woah..."

"D-does that mean everyone gets 500,000 points and if you're chosen as the "target" you get even more.." Sotomura stuttered.

"Now for the 2nd possible outcome. In the case that the identity of (Rabbit) group's "target" was to be uncovered incorrectly by the end of the exam and the faculty were to be notified of this. Only the "target" will be receiving the points of 500,000 while the rest will go without points." The teacher then continued.

"The position of "target" certainly is an enviable one. I'd say it's even unfair to the other members. No matter the outcome we get, they'll still have points and in the first one they even get a million points!" Karuizawa said and looked at Mashima-sensei.

"Sensei, what are the 3rd and 4th possible outcomes? You still haven't explained it to us." she asked.

"Did you understand the first two outcomes? If so, I can proceed to explain the remaining outcomes."

"Yes...I've got it. Please tell us the remaining outcomes."

"The remaining outcomes are printed on the back of the paper, but be sure to wait before turning the paper over." Mashima-sensei finalized.

Axel and Kiyotaka's hands froze just before they turned the paper to the other side. Mashima-sensei simply stared at them with his sharp eyes as they both gradually started to understand the rules of this exam.

It seems from the moment they read the instructions, the exam had already begun.

"W-wait a minute, I'm not following." Karuizawa furrowed her brows.

"Very well, I shall explain slightly more. Have you ever played the Jinrou game before?" Mashima-sensei said, making her head tilted.

"Jinrou game? It was trendy for a little while so I have played it before. It's pretty interesting." Kiyotaka was slightly puzzled when Mashima-sensei first mentioned the name to them.

"D-Don't tell me, Ayanokouji-kun. You've never heard of the Jinrou game before?" Kiyotaka looked over to Axel who is currently putting his hand on his mouth.

'Well I guess I still haven't told him that, he is still innocent in some things like this even though he is a genius.' Axel's thoughts.

Kiyotaka looked deadpanned at the reactions.

"I don't know how to put it, but not having friends is terrible, isn't it?" Karuizawa asked gently. Kiyotaka looked at her with his famous stoic face, as he shook his head.

Axel put his hand on his shoulder and smiled at Karuizawa.

"I will explain to you, Kiyo. Friends gather together and are split up into two categories: villagers and wolves. And the last survivor's group is the one that wins the game. Did you follow? Right?"

'No! I'm not following at all. I'm sure I'd be a god or a Buddha if I could understand it from that brief explanation.' Kiyotaka's thoughts and he looked more deadpanned than ever.

"Of course, you already know there can only be one "target" in the group. Once the identity of the "target" is revealed the third and fourth outcomes become possible for the group." Mashima-sensei then began to explain in more detail.

"And that...is what's written on the other side of this paper...is it ok to turn it over now?" Karuizawa looked up at the teacher. Mashima-sensei simply nods when Kei asks that and together, they turn the paper over to the other side. The remaining two possible outcomes were written there.

"Naturally, the school will take into consideration issues of privacy and even at the end of the exam; we will only release the results for each group and each student. The names of the "target" and the person who uncovers their identity will not be disclosed. It is possible to issue you a temporary ID if you wish. However, there need not be fear about having one's identity revealed after the exam. Of course, if you do not wish to hide your name, you can proudly display the received points too."

They go over the rules again silently. The severity of these rules causes them to be embedded deep in their minds as they memorize them.

"You will be meeting at 1pm and 8pm tomorrow for your group discussions. The room you will be meeting in has your group name written on a plate in front of it. Once you have entered that room, you will not be able to leave until the required time for discussion has passed. If an emergency occurs in that time period, contact your homeroom teacher immediately. Make sure you've used the toilet before the meeting time as well." When Mashima-sensei said that Karuizawa glanced suspiciously at Mashima.

"What do you mean we'll have to stay in the room? How long will we be there?"

"As written in the explanation, the time for discussion will be 1 hour each twice a day. Other than your self-introduction to other members of your group, you may use that time however you like. Once one hour has passed, you may choose to remain in the room or leave at your discretion."

'Does that mean all the contents of the discussion will be left up to the students to decide? Ha, I wanna sleep.' Axel's thoughts

"It's an annoying thing but I do understand it at least...waah I'd much prefer a fun test to this." Karuizawa whines.

"Once the "target" has been decided, the school will not accept any request for changes to this. In addition, any actions such as copying, deletion, transferring or alteration of mails to the faculty are strictly forbidden so keep this in mind." Once the teacher finished, Yukimaru leaned towards the two boys. But specifically to Kiyotaka.

"Oi, Ayanokouji.You've been silent throughout the whole thing, are you sure you've understood it properly?" he asked, Axel laughed making Yukimura look at him as his cheeks starting to heat up.

'E-Even his laugh is cute.'

"Yeah...I got it mostly. If I have any questions I'll make sure to ask Axel later." Kiyotaka nodded a bit. Axel patted his back as he nodded his head.

"Damn, why is my group filled with such airheads?O-Ohhh You're not the airhead that I was referring to, A-Arison." Yukimura said and looked at Axel.

'Well I agree with him that these groups are filled with airheads..' Axel's thoughts as he put his hands on his chin.

Once that is done their group is told to leave and they stand up to leave the room at the same time. Yukimura then called the others.

"Reluctantly as it may be, we are already united as one group so it is essential we deepen our unity as a team. The "target" will be announced tomorrow but why don't we stay and have a chat with just the five of us?"

However, Karuizawa completely ignored his words as she took out her mobile and started walking away from them.

"Oi, Karuizawa. You're listening to me?"

Karuizawa placed her phone unto her ear.

"Ah...Hirata-kun? There's something I'd like to ask you."She simply walks away from them, but before she walks away she says goodbye to Kiyotaka and Axel, who also said goodbye to her.

Kiyotaka and Axel didn't bother to hide their sighs as they turned away too to return to their rooms or specifically..Kiyotaka's room.

'It seems our enjoyable cruise has ended and the second round of testing has begun.'

"This is a very troublesome thing indeed, to be teamed up with such a bitch." Sotomura frowns as well. Axel ears twitch slightly.

"I have to agree with you though to be honest, it seems like she'll be pulling our legs the whole way." Yukimura nods.

"She truly is the bitch among bitches."

"Word please." Axel said, making them silent and nod their heads. He only sighed.

"Sorry." They both said.

'When they become so Loyal to Axel?' Kiyotaka's Thoughts.

"In the case that one of us is announced as the "target" tomorrow morning, let's not tell each other straight away. There's no telling who's listening where. The walls have ears. Let's report to each other in a secure location." Yukimura then began.

Kiyotaka and Axel agree to Yukimura.

"Although Karuizawa is gone; I'd still like to discuss the plans for tomorrow with just the three of us. Please stay with me a little longer."

"I must decline since I will be unable to respond to your expectations. You see, from now on, I have to go back to my room to watch the new Love Love Alive anime." Sotomura sadly said and he sighs.

After saying that, Sotomura instantly disappears from them almost like a ninja. Yukimura dejectedly shakes his head and sighs as if he's given up on their group.

Ayanokoji and Axel face each other, nod and then go to their room again...specifically Kiyotaka's room.

Once they had returned to their room, they then struggled to sleep. They noticed a noise and looked up although they did not see their roommates Yukimura and Kouneji.

"Sorry, did I wake you two up?" It was Hirata who said that as he organized his luggage neatly while looking at them apologetically.

"No need for apologies, we weren't sleeping anyways. Just thinking." Kiyotaka shakes his head politely.

'I wanna sleep huhu.' On Axel's thought while his head was spinning, Kiyotaka held his shoulder to steady his posture.

"We were about to go out for a drink anyway since we're thirsty."

'Liar! Liar! Let me sleep!' Axel's rallying on his mind. But he just goes with the flow.

One more thing, they did not mention this to Hirata, but they have planned to check on Horikita's state.

"Might I accompany you? We received the mail from the school and it's almost time anyway." Hirata asked while smiling.

The time was close to 20:30, the same time that Horikita's mail instructed her to gather for the meeting.

Hirara then began to share with the two boys.

"It seems a rather unusual exam is about to begin, at least that's how I feel. It's Yukimura-kun. He told me in the cafeteria earlier. About your (Rabbit) group and how everyone was receiving explanations one after the other. If there's anything you've figured out, Ayanokouji-kun,Arison, please do share it with me." Hirata said as he stared at Axel but quickly shook off.

'I want to focus on this exam more tha-than...him.' It was clearly that Hirata is having a gay panic. Poor Hirata.

"I wonder about that, unlike Horikita, you or Yukimura I'm not particularly smart so I haven't been thinking much about this exam at all...in particular." Kiyotaka states.

Axel shook his head.

"I doubt that Ayanokouji-kun, what about you, Arison?" Hirata asked Axel. Hirata was proud of himself because he didn't stutter.

"Hmm I'm still thinking about it, I will call you if I have an idea about it Hirata."

"I was wondering why they would go to all the trouble of separating us into groups to explain the same thing to us separately. I'm planning to ask sensei about it later on though."

The place where Hirata's meeting would be taking place was not as crowded as when their meeting had occurred. Still there were a few students.

"I...doubt these are all going to be part of my group." Hirata muttered.

"Who's the one we just passed?" Kiyotaka asked.

"That's Morimiya-kun from Class A. And the one near the elevator is the Tokito-kun of Class C."

Kiyotaka makes sure to remember the names and faces of the students from the other classes, while Axel just passes them, because they're not interesting to him and he was sleepy as hell. Soon they approached the crowd.

Katsuragi then appeared to the view.

"If I'm not wrong, you're also from the 20:40 group are you not?"

"If I am, does this have something to do with you?" Horikita, who Katsuragi asked to stare at him.

"No. But I just wanted to talk to you all since starting from tomorrow we'll be cooperating together as part of the same group."

"You want to talk now? That's funny. The other day you brushed us aside when we came to talk." Suzune said as she scoffed.

There were three other students from Class A with Katsuragi, and listening from a distance without approaching were two girls who seemed to either be from Class B or Class C.

"Honestly I've never paid any attention to Class D before. But after the results of the previous exam, it's hard to stay inconspicuous, isn't it? If one day you rise from Class D to Class C, remember that Class A will show no mercy before crushing you into pieces." Katsuragi crossed his arms as he reasoned.

"That's a very petty thing to say, after all, between A and the other classes, the point gap is far too wide to bridge." It's no matter of time before Horikita glares.

"Naturally, but caution is required every time a class can potentially rise to a higher position. I would say the same thing to Class B or Class C." Almost as if in sync, the students around Katsuragi all gathered together to glare at Horikita in an intimidating manner. Horikita barely showed any reaction at all to this intimidation.

Suddenly, the face of the girls around them turned into expressions of adoration as a man silently passed by them.

It was a student from Class B named Kanzaki Ryuji. Having met during the island test, Kanzaki seems to be aware of Horikita's intellect and moves towards Katsuragi as if to protect Horikita from him.

"You don't need to talk with Katsuragi, after all, the situation is what it is." Kanzaki reassured her.

"Don't worry; I'm used to people looking down on Class D." Horikita said. Making Kanzaki disagree on his thoughts.

'We're not Horikita, you have a trump card with you..and that's him. Axel Arison.'

"I see, someone from a class like D must be used to getting this treatment, I must admit I shared the same view towards your class as well. But the incident that happened on the island made me revise my view towards your class. But just because you got lucky and won once, I'd like you to not get arrogant and think we're equals now." Katsuragi said.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"What I'm trying to say is that there is a time in everyone's lives when they get lucky once and manage to close the gap a bit. But don't get in over your head just because of this one lucky incident. The difference between our class points is still a tremendous one."

"We've just started our high school life, the difference may be large, but do not forget that it is the school that arbitrarily decided who went to which class and we were distributed to those classes accordingly." Kazaki said.

"Hirata, it looks like you're a part of a rather troublesome group." Axel said as he leaned towards Hirata making his heart beat fast.

'Hi-his face is close.'

"I-It was inevitable the moment we were grouped with Katsuragi-kun and Kanzaki-kun, I think." he stuttered at first but he keeps his cool.

"No.. that's not it." Kiyotaka spoke up, making Hirata curiously turn to him.

"Kukuku. It looks like there are quite a lot of weaklings gathered here; let me have some fun here." Suddenly another student joined in.

"Ryuen, huh?" Katsuragi glared at the male. Katsuragi lost his previously calm expression and even Kanzaki's expression changed to an alert one.

"Have you also been allocated to this room? Or did you just happen to be walking by?" Kanzaki asked Ryuen.

"Unfortunately I'm with you." Ryuuen instantly replies to that question while three other students obediently walk behind him. He almost resembled Katsuragi in that regard but the context was different. The students behind Ryuen had terrified expressions on their faces and moved quietly with obedient movements.

Soon, a chuckle is heard in the room which brings all attention to that person. When they see him, the leader of Class A slightly glares at him, while Ryueen is smiling and smirking at him and Kanzaki looks indifferent.

It was Axel. SOme girls from different classes started taking pictures of him. Well he was famous, what do you expect?

"This group is amazing." After his laugh he waves his hand for a greeting. Horikita looked at him while signing but she felt relieved that someone was here with her.

"Hi Horikita, Ryuen, Katsuragi and Kanzaki-kun." Kanzaki waves his hand in confirmation for his greeting since he's called by his name, Horikita also waved her hand.

"Axel Arison..." Katsuragi said he was wary of Axel. He doesn't know what things that Axel can do. He doesn't have any information about him. But many people said that..he was exceptional.

Ryuen smirked as he put his hand on his pocket and walked towards Axel. He received a glare coming from Kiyotala but he just shrugged it off.

"Hey Prett–" he was just cut off by Axel who had crossed his arms.

"DON'T try to call me that." when he said that Ryueen just started laughing.

"Fine Fine, so are you finally going to joi–" he was cut off again.

"No." Ryuen starts laughing again. Many students from class C started at Axel with shock, they didn't believe that he would be able to cut off Ryuen.

If they were the one who cut off Ryuen, he would probably punch them. But what is this scene?

'Are you kami!' All the students' thoughts in the room, even Kanzaki, was quite shocked because he was able to shut off Ryuen.

"I originally thought our group would have students with high academic ability but after seeing you and your lackeys I can see this clearly isn't going to be the case." Katsuragi then started a conversation. That word is directly from Ryuen.

"Academic ability? What a bunch of nonsense, having academic ability won't mean anything." Ryuen scoffed.

"Hearing that from you is a shame, academic ability is the most important factor determining your future success in life and your ability to impact the future. It is even said that Japan is built on a society of academics. I won't forget this insult."

"Huh? Insult? I don't recall having done anything like that, care to refresh my memory?"

"It doesn't matter, since we're in the same group we should have the opportunity to talk at length later."

Suddenly, a person that Axel didn't want to see approaches.

"Hmm? Hirata-kun? And even Ayanokouji-kun? What are you guys doing here?"

Kushida approaches the group with the strange expression, but as soon as she notices Axel, she winces and starts sweating a little, which Kiyotaka notices, but doesn't speak about it.

"O-oh, you're also here, A-Arison-kun." her smile clearly has a discomfort.

Soon, Kushida regains her composure, but she keeps glancing at Axel, which he notices and smiles at her, which makes her stop glancing.

"Could it be that Kushida-san is also in the 20:40 group?" Hirata asked Kushida.

"Yeah. I don't understand what's going on but I was told to come here at this hour in the mail...and wow...it seems like an amazing group of people have gathered here." Kushida answered, Then she walks around greeting the gathered students here individually.

"Are you okay, Hirata?" Kiyotaka asked Yosuke in a 'concerned' tone.

"It looks like your group is going to be a hard one to handle." Axel said as he sighed looking at the group.

"It's ok, I don't mind, no matter who's in my group I'll just have to do my best." Hirata said as he gave a determined expression.

'Hirata is quite cool today? He suddenly became charming to me. Ha.' Axel's thoughts.

"Good. Because you better prepare yourself. Goodluck Yosuke." Axel said, making Hirata stare at him with wide eyes, his full face became red as he looked away and started walking towards Horikita.

Kiyotaka eyebrows raised.

"Tsk."

"Ehh Kiyo what with that reaction." Axel said while looking at him. Kiyotaka put his hand on his pocket as he started walking away.

Axel just smiled as he followed him.