Chaoskouji

Arc 4 Chapter 8 - A Brief Concord

It was still a place to drink, but I was glad to have a change of scenery. Despite how good the food was on this ship; it was getting tiresome of having meetings at every hour of the day in different restaurants. Constantly eating was getting tiresome at this point.

I grabbed an over-the-top mocktail from the student bar, before grabbing a seat at a table in the corner to wait for my guests. It was a marvellous fruity drink, complete with a little umbrella in the top. I didn't know who came up with that idea, but I would commend whoever it was. Little umbrellas were one of the world's greatest creations.

The bar was empty at the moment, as most of the grade was dealing with the results from an hour ago. Ten groups had ended in the space of seven minutes, and I still had no confirmed idea how the results would look.

Out of the ten submissions, only Miyaki of Sheep group had been fast enough to submit a correct name from our class. This was a surprise, as I had expected some of the more 'bold' students who didn't think things through to immediately submit a name, but it seemed that most of them had been beaten to the punch.

If I had to guess, I would think that Class C had the most submissions. Class B and A students were naturally more cautious, and neither classes would be as willing to trust my word to post a submission. Saying that, they also wouldn't want to miss out on such an opportunity, most specifically Class A who could take a risk that could either benefit them or humiliate Katsuragi even further. No, in number of submissions, I thought that Class C would have the most, followed by Class A and then Class B. The only question was who submitted the three incorrect names.

Unsurprisingly, Dragon group was still ongoing. None of them were either foolish enough or bold enough to submit my name after I was the one to post it, but I had to do so to perpetuate the narrative that I was the VIP.

It was getting increasingly risky though. Whether I could win Dragon group was coming further and further into doubt. Eight of the VIP's were correct on that list, and while there were only four people who knew which ones were wrong, it was still possible to find the pattern using just those names. I could only hope my security would survive long enough to find a way to secure the group.

Although, losing Dragon group at this juncture wouldn't be terrible. It was an acceptable loss, as I had ensured that Class D had gotten enough points and the other classes had lost enough that it didn't really matter anymore.

But I wasn't going to simply give up.

Which led me to my current meeting.

"What the fuck do you want with us?"

I turned away from examining my drink, and banished my thoughts to the back of my mind to greet my two visitors. Ryuuen was walking towards me at a leisurely pace, although he didn't make any attempt to hide his presence from the room. Shiina was following quietly behind him, giving me a small smile as she did so.

"I wanted to get a drink. I'm sure your voice is dry after all that talking."

"Damn right it is."

He made a move to head towards the bar, before Shiina interrupted him, pushing him back towards the table as she went off to grab drinks for herself and Ryuuen.

He pulled out one of the chairs, rather aggressively, before dumping himself in it, completely relaxed.

No, he wasn't relaxed. More spent, as if he was fed up with everything.

"I can't believe I have to deal with such morons. How the fuck are they the best of our grade?"

"I thought you did a fairly good job. At least you never gave up."