Chapter 6. Cards

Chapter 6. Cards CHAPTER 6 Cards

The day following Maria’s intoxicated escapade, the entire student council had assembled in their meeting room. Along the left edge of the elongated table—arranged from the doorway inward—sat Ayano, Yuki, Chisaki, then Touya, and across from them were Masachika, Alisa, Maria, and Tragical Girl Elena.

“Trick or treat!”

“Again, it’s November.”

After learning her lesson from yesterday’s debacle, Elena decided to hold the Field Day After-Party (Update 2.0) after making sure there was absolutely no alcohol in any of the food this time. Masachika couldn’t help but comment on her attire, since she was clearly fixated on Halloween for some reason. However, Elena—dressed like a magical girl, formerly just a tragical girl—just waved her wand.

“Give me a break. You’re wearing a costume, too.”

“Not by choice! I was forced to wear this after the handicraft club kidnapped me!”

After school, as Masachika approached the student council room, he was abruptly kidnapped by handicraft club members who forced him to don their creation. Now he sat garbed in clerical attire, which was adorned with some sort of unsettling, eyeball emblem. Clutched in his hand was a tome that looked more like a forbidden or heretical text than any holy scripture.

“And I’m positive you were the one who told them to do this, too, Elena.”

“Because it’s not fair that I have to be the only one feeling embarrassed all day!”

“How about not dragging others down with you every time you decide to embarrass yourself?!” Masachika protested.

“Oh, wow, Kuze… Are you sure you’re really in any kind of position to be saying that?”

Masachika did a complete one-eighty after Elena pierced him with a scathing look, reminding him that he was the one who made her into “the girl who stunk up the student council room with durian cake.” “What are you talking about? I love wearing costumes. Halloween’s awesome!”

“Did something happen between you two?” Maria asked.

“Nope. Nothing happened.”

Masachika hastily responded, keeping his gaze strictly ahead as Maria, who was dressed as a demon, tilted her head curiously. Again, his eyes remained locked forward! Determinedly, unwaveringly forward!

Because, in addition to everything that happened yesterday, Maria’s costume was designed to highlight her devilish figure, accentuating her curves, so Masachika couldn’t even bring himself to glance in her direction.

“Masachika … ?”

Alisa also cast a dubious glance at him as he stubbornly faced forward. She was wearing a nun costume, likely chosen to create a matching aesthetic with Masachika, since they were running together, but that did little to ease his discomfort. There was hardly any fabric covering her shoulders and cleavage, and her skirt was so short that he could almost see her underwear. It was hard to tell if the designer was going for some sort of evil nun concept or if they were simply a pervert.

There’s absolutely nothing holy about that costume, thought Masachika, battling the urge to so much as peek.

Therefore, he decided to keep his eyes locked on the seat across from him, exiling his eyes from the paradise to his right.

“Anyway, it looks like they actually had a normal witch costume in the craft club.”

In Masachika’s direct line of sight sat Yuki, dressed in a witch’s costume. Her attire: a black dress, matching robe, and pointed hat—exuded an authentically witchy ambiance. It was difficult to look at Elena after seeing Yuki and not wonder, “How’d Elena end up looking like that ?”

Beside Yuki was Ayano, dressed as either the witch’s familiar or perhaps simply a black cat (?). It was genuinely hard to tell, since she was only wearing a black dress with cat ears and a tail as accessories. She seemed more like a black cat that had been transformed into a human with magic, rather than just an ordinary black cat.

“…Yeah, they have witch costumes in that size…but if you want a costume in a size bigger…you start running into trouble,” Elena mumbled with a distant stare.

“What do you mean by ‘trouble’? I mean, you’re saying that they had other options besides your tragical girl costume?” asked Masachika, tilting his head.

“Stop calling this tragical! Besides, I told them that I wanted an ordinary witch costume, but the one in my size…has a slit that goes all the way up to my hips! So excuse me for going with this costume!”

“You sure that was actually a witch costume?”

Sounds more like a ‘bewitching’ costume. Heh, thought Masachika while Maria, who was sitting by Elena, started to nod.

“Oh, that? Yeah, I tried that one, too, but it was very revealing.”

“You tried it on?!”

“Yeah, but the others in the craft club said that it would be too dangerous if I wore it and that people would die, so they made me change into this!”

“…”

Just what kind of outrageous outfit was it? While curiosity nagged at him, had she arrived in such a costume, he would have most likely had flashbacks to yesterday’s events before becoming the costume’s first victim, so maybe it was a good thing she’d changed. Besides, what she was wearing now was provocative enough!

I mean, Elena’s boobs are practically spilling out of her costume right now, and that got a pass?

The fleeting thought flickered through Masachika’s mind, a dangerous distraction as he fought to keep his gaze averted. Though he kept teasing Elena about looking like a tragical girl, her costume was undeniably revealing, arguably showing the most cleavage out of everyone there. In fact, it was impossible not to wonder if her breasts would soon stage a dramatic escape from her costume with even the slightest jump. Regardless, the cringe-factor far outweighed the sexiness of her outfit as a whole (in Masachika’s personal opinion.)

“By the way, can we talk about their costumes while we’re at it?”

Masachika frowned while watching Touya and Chisaki take pictures of each other. After all, their costumes were clearly…different from everyone else’s…

“I don’t mean to be rude, but they’re a little…plain, I guess you could say?”

He deliberately used the word ‘plain’ to be nice, but to put it bluntly, their costumes were clearly lacking effort. Touya was wearing a headband with giant screws attached to both sides, and instead of his school uniform blazer, he was wearing a bulky coat. Meanwhile, Chisaki was simply wearing a bloodstained white coat over her uniform.

“Frankenstein…right?” Alisa observed, staring at the giant screws in Touya’s head and eliciting replies from both Maria and Yuki.

“And seeing that it’s a couples-themed costume…”

“Means that they are dressed like the monster and the scientist who created it.”

“Which makes her Frankenstein, then. This was way more confusing than it needed to be,” commented Masachika while looking at Chisaki.

“ … ? What do you mean?” asked Alisa, tilting her head.

“It’s a common misconception, but the monster with bolts in its head is actually a nameless creature, while the scientist that created it is Doctor Frankenstein.”

“Wait. Really?”

“By the way, the craft club apparently wasn’t able to kidnap Touya and Chisaki,” Elena chimed in.

“Simply not strong enough, huh?”

“Especially when they’re up against Chisaki. Whenever they get a little too physical, she ends up subduing them.”

“I can imagine that.”

So that was why they just discreetly draped a white coat over Chisaki before making a quick escape. It was almost comical to picture the attackers—who had boldly snatched up everyone else—sneaking around like petty thieves when it came to dealing with Touya and Chisaki.

“Apparently, she ended up taking out two of them for trying to ambush her.”

“You don’t think you could have gone a little easier on them, Vice President?”

Chisaki, who was taking pictures of Touya, raised an eyebrow at Masachika’s straight-faced comment.

“Hmm? No. They tried to sneak up on me from behind. You understand why I had to do it, right?”

“Can’t say I do, since most people can’t even sense people sneaking up on them.”

“At any rate, I can’t control my reflexes.”

“I’m going to make sure to not stand behind you from now on,” Masachika remarked with a shudder, realizing that his vice president was more dangerous than any assassin. Touya, on the other hand, nodded a few times in agreement with an almost nostalgic expression.

“When we first started dating, I tried to cover her eyes from behind because I wanted to be like, ‘Guess who?’ But she uppercut me right on the chin.”

“I don’t see how you stayed together after that.”

“I ended up knocking him out, so we had to reschedule our first date, too.”

“On your first date, to boot?”

“I’ve been getting her attention the normal way ever since…but I’m going to get her one day.”

“Touya…”

“I wish you the best!” Masachika said, his tone resigned as Chisaki fixed a strangely fervent gaze on her boyfriend, who seemed dead set on playing ‘Guess who?’ with her again.

“Anyway, is everyone about ready to get started?” asked Elena, holding a paper cup of juice in her hand.

After checking to make sure the others picked up their cups as well, Elena raised hers high into the air.

“Let’s toast to the safe and successful end of field day! Cheers!”

“““Cheers!”””

After tapping their cups together, everyone reached for the snacks in front of them when—

“Not so fast!” cried Elena, freezing everyone in their tracks. Everyone turned to her with curious expressions as she grinned and shook her head.

“ Tut-tut . Did you honestly believe you were going to dig into these sweets just like that? You kids are so naive. This is like taking candy from a baby—pun intended.”

Elena was gesturing dramatically so…Masachika clapped his hands together and prepared to start eating anyway.

“Thanks for the sweets!”

“Hey! Listen to me when I’m talking!”

“Huh? Oh, I thought you just wanted us to thank you first.”

“I’m not trying to teach you manners like this is a children’s show!”

After making that blunt declaration with a straight face, Elena cleared her throat. A daring smile returned to her face as she stood, scanned the room, and thrust her hand forward with theatrical flair.

“You all will be playing a game where you bet your sweets to win! And you cannot refuse!”

“What kind of children’s show is this?”

“Do you think there’s going to be a clown? I mean, besides Elena.”

It was as if she were trying to make something extremely pleasant sound like a death game. However, Masachika’s deadpan retort and Yuki’s merciless comment crushed the “magical” girl’s heart.

“Yuki?! Am I hearing things, or did you say something really mean just now?!” Elena shrieked, taken aback by the quiet, yet vicious comment. However…

“Hmm, me? Whatever could you mean?”

Yuki faked a puzzled expression so naturally that Elena instinctively began to wonder if she really had been hearing things.

“What? Uh… The clown thing…”

“What clown thing??”

“Oh, um… Never mind.”

Yuki feigned ignorance with captivating finesse, leaving Elena bewildered before she decided to just drop it. Moments later, having collected herself, she dramatically thrust her hand forward once more.

“At any rate, you will be using these sweets as betting chips during our game—a mind game created by yours truly…”

Elena started to chuckle smugly until Masachika piped up.

“We’re not going to play mahjong with you.”

“Touya? What did you tell these young’uns?”

“All I told them was that almost immediately after I joined the student council, you cheated at mahjong and destroyed me. That’s all.”

“That’s everything! You told them everything!”

“Sure, but that’s a student council legend already…”

“And a bald-faced lie!”

“Really? Then why did I get beat so badly?”

“Now, the activity you will all be playing today is…”

“Elena?”

After ignoring Touya, Elena took a deep breath and paused before declaring:

“Trick or Treat Game.”

Everyone began exchanging confused glances.

“Trick or Treat Game? I’ve never heard of that before.”

“That’s because I made it up.”

“Seriously?”

It wasn’t clear if this would even function as a game. Nevertheless, Elena dismissed their concerns while taking out four cards from her bag, each displaying a meticulously crafted jack-o’-lantern on its back. Though they seemed homemade, they were quite well made, and laminated to boot.

Flipping them over, she revealed three cards marked “Treat” adorned with illustrations of sweets, while the fourth bore the word “Trick” alongside the illustration of a menacing demon. Elena then took out another set of the same cards and, holding four cards in each hand, began to explain the rules.

“Each one of you will compete one-on-one using four cards. First, you will decide who goes first by playing rock-paper-scissors. The player who goes first—the attacker—will select one of their four cards, then place it face down on the table, which we’ll call the field,” she explained, placing one of the four cards in her hand face down on the table.

“The defender then has two options: risk a sweet or don’t risk a sweet.”

“Sweets? You mean these … ?” asked Masachika, glancing at the individually wrapped muffin, financier cake, and madeleine on the paper plate in front of him. Elena nodded.

“Precisely, my boy. You choose one sweet from these three and either play it or ignore your opponent’s attack. For now, let’s say you choose not to risk one of your sweets. Once you make your choice, your opponent then reveals the card they placed face down.”

Elena turned over the face-down card, revealing the word “Treat.”

“If the card is a Treat card, then you get to claim your opponent’s sweet if they decided to play it. If there is no sweet on the field, then the attack fails, and you have to remove the card you used from the game while your opponent gets a turn.”

Sliding the card with “Treat” written on it to the side, Elena then presented the card with “Trick” written on it.

“On the other hand, if it’s a Trick card, then the attack fails if there is a sweet on the field, and the sweet returns to your opponent’s hand. However, if there’s no sweet on the field, then the attack succeeds. The player who successfully tricks their opponent wins the game and gets to play a trick—or a prank on their opponent.”

“You sure we should be doing ‘pranks’ at school?” Masachika asked, since the word ‘prank’ had a dangerous ring to it.

“I’m sure the president of the disciplinary committee will step in if things get out of hand,” Elena replied, tipping her head toward Chisaki.

“Good point.”

Masachika nodded solemnly while watching Chisaki clench her fist as if to say, “Leave it to me.”

“To summarize, the attacker plays either a Trick card or a Treat card face down on the field. The defender, if they think it’s a Trick card, places a snack on the field. But if they think it’s a Treat card, they do nothing. This process repeats each turn, as the players switch between offense and defense, until both players have used all their cards. This is one round. Now, if there are no winners, both players will get all their cards back, the turn order will switch, and they will proceed on to round two. The players will then continue to repeat this process until someone wins.”

Everyone pondered the rules for a few moments until Yuki raised her hand.

“Is deceiving your opponent with a Trick card the only way to win?”

“Yep. Even if you run out of sweets, you can still win as long as you use a Trick card and fool your opponent.”

“I have another question. What happens to the sweets when someone wins?”

“The sweets stay wherever they are when someone wins, so whatever you have on your side, you keep, regardless of who wins. There’s no winner-takes-all rule here.”

“…Okay.”

Yuki nodded a few times as though she had no further questions, so Masachika asked one of his own.

“Each player only gets one Trick card, right? So once each player uses their Trick card, the remaining turns will essentially be a formality, right?”

“Yeah, so if that happens, we can just skip to the next round.”

“By the way, does the defender still get a turn if the attacker’s Trick card succeeds?”

“No. So there won’t be any draws.”

“All right.”

“H-huh? Hold on. How can I be the only one here still confused?” Maria wailed pitifully, scanning the room with desperate eyes. The rules remained a fog in her mind while everyone else seemed to clearly understand them. Not just Masachika and Yuki, but all the others seemed extremely confident, forcing another miserable cry from Maria’s throat.

“Huuuh?”

Even the expressionless Ayano and Chisaki—who had been nodding throughout the entire explanation—clearly grasped what eluded her. Convinced she alone was being left behind, Maria grew flustered and bizarrely began counting something on her trembling fingers.

“Wait, wait, wait. U-um… Okay. So… You have four cards: one Trick card and three Treat cards. The person who plays the Trick card and fools their opponent wins, right? So you have to block that Trick card with a sweet…but if your opponent plays a Treat card, then you’ll lose your sweet. So you should only place a sweet on the field when you think it’s a Trick card. On the other hand, the attacker needs to play the Trick card when they think their opponent won’t place a sweet on the field. You keep going back and forth like this, and once both players have used up their cards, you get all your cards back and start a new round.”

As if confirming each fact one by one, she folded down one finger at a time until every finger on both hands was curled—

“ … ?”

Maria tilted her head in bewilderment…as did Chisaki, despite having been confidently nodding the entire time.

Maria still doesn’t get it? And Chisaki was only pretending to understand the rules?!

Elena seemed to wince as she replied, “D-don’t worry. Just watch me play first, and it’ll all make sense. We’ll play in a one-on-one tournament format, and we’ll keep playing until someone wins! By the way, the winner gets…”

Elena grabbed the stem of the jack-o’-lantern positioned at the long table’s center and swiftly pulled it up. The top of the pumpkin sprang open, revealing a bright yellow pudding concealed within.

“This! Two kilograms worth of jumbo pumpkin pudding!”

“Ew. No thanks.”

“What do you mean ‘no thanks’?!”

Though Masachika inadvertently blurted out his honest opinion and got scolded by Elena, that still didn’t change the fact that he didn’t want it. It was simply way too much pudding. Even splitting the dessert eight ways with everyone here would still be pushing it.

Hold up. Actually, I can think of at least two people who could eat all that pudding. These two are unbelievable, thought Masachika, narrowing his gaze after noticing the sparkles in Alisa’s and Maria’s eyes. Even Ayano seemed excited.

Anyway, it all makes sense now. I was wondering why she texted me yesterday to ‘put that jack-o’-lantern in the fridge’.

He had thought the pumpkin was strangely heavy and noticed that the stem part was a lid, but he never imagined that it was packed with pudding. At most, he had expected some sort of assortment of sweets, even though he did wonder why the pumpkin didn’t make any noise when he tilted it.

“All right, let’s do the ladder lottery to decide pairs!”

“You really came prepared, huh?”

Masachika stared with a bitter expression at the ladder lottery already drawn on the whiteboard as they took turns choosing their line—

First preliminary match: Elena, the Tragical Girl vs. Masachika, the Heretical Priest.

“Looks like I’m officially the Tragical Girl now… Whatever.”

Elena looked at the battle pairings written on the whiteboard, her lips twisting into a grimace at Yuki’s choice of nicknames. Then, with a sigh, she composed herself, replacing the discomfort with a defiant smile directed at Masachika.

“Heh-heh-heh… I wasn’t expecting you to be my first opponent, kiddo. I feel bad for ya. I really do. Some people just have bad luck.”

“Yeah, I know. Unfortunately, I’m already one step closer to having to take that enormous pumpkin home.”

While casually exchanging verbal jabs, they moved to the couch seats where they sat down facing each other.

“Oh, and the rest of you need to sit somewhere where you can’t see our cards. It’s to prevent cheating, of course.”

The other six participants positioned chairs along either side of the couch table and settled themselves. Then, with a satisfied nod, Elena shot Masachika a provocative stare.

“Okay, then. You can go first. I did create the game, after all, so this should equal the playing field.”

“Are you sure? Because it sounds like you’re already making excuses to be a sore loser.”

“Ha-ha-ha. If I lose, I will lift up my skirt and admit defeat.”

“…Are you sure? I mean, I have absolutely no interest in seeing your underwear, but I’m going to make you do it if you lose.”

“Can you be any ruder?!”

She could get mad at Masachika as much as she wanted to, but he still wasn’t interested. After all, Elena’s rack looked like it was about to burst out of her costume, and yet, even he was surprised by how little he cared.

It’s strange. She’s really pretty…but I guess her personality just ruins it?

“Why do I get the feeling like you’re thinking something extremely rude right now?”

He scoffed at his mind reading opponent, and the action aggravated her so much, it made her cheek twitch.

“I’m going to make you cry!” she claimed, and smiled eerily.

“I wouldn’t cry even if you absolutely crushed me. Not sure we can say the same about you, though.”

Once they were done taunting each other, Masachika shifted his thinking, preparing himself for the impending battle.

There’s one thing we have to consider before anything else in this game.

What they needed to figure out was whether their opponent’s goal was to win the game or to get more sweets.

If it was the latter, the opponent’s strategy would be obvious. They wouldn’t offer any sweets and would repeatedly play the Treat card, purposefully throwing the match. That was all. And if the opponent intended to do that, then Masachika could easily win with a Trick card on the first move.

But there’s no way she’s going to do that—not after being taunted that much. She’s going to be coming at me with everything she’s got.

In truth, all their prior taunting had served to deduce each other’s strategy. If the opponent was purely intending to win, then using the Trick card on the first turn was quite risky. After all, if it didn’t work, they would be on the defensive for the remaining turns, but even if that weren’t the case, playing the Trick card on the first turn sacrificed the opportunity to get sweets that match.

In this game, sweets were like lives in video games, and they wouldn’t be able to defend against your opponent’s Trick card without any sweets. Therefore, while they could focus on simply winning the match, they also had to consider the fact that there was going to be multiple matches, so having more sweets would clearly help in the long run.

Of course, taking risks was how you could catch your opponent off guard, but I think I’m going to wait and see how things play out first.

After making that calm judgment, Masachika placed a Treat card face down on the table.

“Oh, you made up your mind … ? Okay, I’ll risk one of my sweets,” revealed Elena, placing her financier on the paper plate that was in the middle of the table.

“Oh? You’re being quite cautious after talking such a big game. The round’s just started, and you’re already defending.”

“Because I want to study you first. Consider this sweet a sacrificial lamb,” she replied with a fearless grin. Masachika placed a hand on his face-down card, then— “Oh, we have to say ‘Trick or Treat’ while you turn over the card.”

“…”

Masachika jumped, startled by the slightly embarrassing request, yet decided to play along to help liven things up.

““Trick or Treat!””

As all eyes focused on them, the Treat card slammed onto the table, drawing oohs and aahs from the spectators while Masachika reached for Elena’s financier.

“Treat card. I’ll make sure to give your sweet a good home.”

“Enjoy.”

She maintained her composure, a relaxed smile playing across her face and prompting Masachika to raise an eyebrow before launching another verbal jab.

“Are you really sure you’re okay with this? You already lost one of your lives. Even if you win, you’re going to be put at a severe disadvantage during your next match.”

“Ha-ha-ha. Consider it a handicap. You guys’ll need it.”

He mentally narrowed his eyes behind his outward, provocative expression as Elena maintained her confident demeanor.

Now, what’s she going to do next…

She smirked confidently, but that only made Masachika more sure of himself.

“All right, looks like it’s my turn.”

Without a hint of hesitation, Elena slapped a card face down on the table.

“What are you going to do? Are you going to guard?”

“Nope.”

Elena blinked blanky for a few moments, clearly caught off guard by Masachika’s immediately reply.

“…Are you sure? You might lose already if you’re not careful?”

“But I’ll at least lose with four sweets.” Masachika shrugged, leaving Elena with a hint of disappointment as she reached for her overturned card.

“All right, you ready for this?” she taunted, grinning once more.

““Trick or Treat!!””

She flipped over the card—

“Ah!”

“ … !”

“Oh!”

“Oh, my.”

With collective gasps from the student council members, the revealed card displayed a demonic symbol alongside the word “Trick.”

“Mwa-ha-ha! Sorry, buddy.” Elena sneered smugly, Trick card in hand—only for Masachika to swiftly snatch it from her grasp.

“Aaah!”

Elena’s jaw fell open in stunned surprise, mirroring the bewildered blinks of everyone but Yuki. As they watched intently, a thin, transparent film, clear except for the demon symbol and the word ‘Trick’ written on it, slipped off the card and fluttered onto the table. Masachika, meanwhile, grinned. He triumphantly clutched the Treat card that had been hidden beneath.

“What’s this?”

“Uh … ! Um…”

“Was she cheating … ?”

“Unbelievable…”

Shifting uncomfortably, Elena’s eyes darted about, deliberately evading the question until Chisaki and Touya’s penetrating stares pinned her in place. Alisa and Ayano, now grasping the situation, joined with their own frigid glares as well. Unable to bear their collective scrutiny any longer, Elena looked away.

“A-as the oldest one here, it is my duty to teach everyone that adults don’t play fair. Welcome to the real world, kiddos,” she mumbled.

“Stop pretending like you’re a real adult when you’re only eighteen,” Masachika demanded coldly before heaving a sigh.

“ Haaah… I knew something was off. You were being way too smug. Looks like you went through a lot of trouble making a Treat card look like a Trick card with some transparent film. If I had risked one of my sweets, you would have slid the card to the edge of the table so that you could fling the film onto the ground while you flipped the card over, right?”

“Errr…”

“I’m sure you could have fooled a beginner, but unfortunately, you were up against me,” he declared, a triumphant grin on his lips as he slid the gimmick card across the table to Elena.

For Masachika, a self-proclaimed nerd who was perpetually prepared for whatever life-threatening death game might someday ensnare him, this level of deception was simply par for the course.

“Now, I think it’s time you kept your end of the deal.”

“Guh!”

Faced with Masachika’s chilling grin, Elena grabbed the hem of her skirt and stood up, despite being clearly nervous.

“Hmm… Do I really have to do it?”

Though Elena cast a pitiful glance up at him through her lashes, Masachika— gripping the eerie symbol hanging from his chest—replied with grave solemnity:

“Repent your sins and seek God’s forgiveness.”

“That’s rich coming from a heretical priest.”

“Excuse me? My god is willing to forgive you in exchange for one glimpse of a pair of panties. I will not tolerate such blasphemy!”

“You’re evil.”

“The Lord has spoken: ‘There are nutrients that can only be derived from the sight of a smug, beautiful girl’s face twisting in humiliation.’”

“You worship the devil!”

But Masachika immediately stopped the charade, instead glaring at Elena reproachfully.

“Yeah, yeah. Now, it’s time for you to honor the deal. Just be glad that we’re not confiscating all of your sweets. Don’t worry, Touya and I will look the other way.”

“Urgh … !!”

After Masachika exchanged a look with Touya, they both promptly turned around. Nevertheless, the prospect of lifting her skirt in front of her younger schoolmates was still utterly mortifying for Elena, putting her on the verge of tears.

“Hey, Elena? You don’t have to do this, you know.”

“Masha, she made a promise. She wants to set an example as the adult in the room, so we need to let her keep her word.”

“Gaaah!”

Maria, frowning and attempting to help, was immediately stopped by Yuki’s resolute, ladylike smile. Meanwhile, Alisa and Chisaki seemed utterly flabbergasted, yet their shared dislike for cheating kept them silent. Touya, despite feeling in debt to Elena for the kindness she’d showed him during his first year of high school, didn’t speak up in her defense. And as usual, Ayano was air.

Abandoned by her peers, Elena eventually sneered defiantly as though reaching some sort of internal resolution.

“Heh… Heh-heh… Sure… I used to be the vice president for a reason. Feast your eyes on my unwavering tenacity!”

With crimson cheeks and a bizarre smile, she swiftly lifted her skirt and declared:

“I-I am a pathetic loser who cheated and still disgracefully lost! Behold! I am human garbage!”

“She’s already been trained like a dog…”

Despite not even glancing in her direction, Masachika couldn’t help but feel a bit impressed by her confession. That was when it hit him.

“Is it okay if I do my prank now?” he muttered.