Unfortunately, Yogen was right.

She had told us in a meeting many months ago that the most dangerous person to our class was an E Class student, Takanori Yuuto.

At first, I had dismissed this idea, believing there wasn't a Drachma Red capable of standing up to us, but after seeing the results of the Test Shuffle, I was beginning to understand what she meant.

No... it was more accurate to say I perfectly understood what she meant now.

Up until now, I thought the greatest threat to A Class would either be Shimada, who strived to cause internal discord within the class via his antics, or Machida, an overly competitive B Class student who would resort to any means to beat us.

However, because of my own misconceptions, I had failed to notice the enemy that was blatantly standing in front of me this entire time.

Even though I kept a close eye on him during our negotiations, I didn't see or sense any reason to be wary of him. He was an average nobody, an unassuming background character.

If there was something notable about him, it would be the time he started a rebellion against Matsushita and his group right before their war with D Class. However, this didn't go anywhere, and he soon surrendered shortly not long after.

All the evidence available from the past two months led me to believe one thing.

"Takanori Yuuto isn't someone worth worrying about."

But that preconception is how he got me, and everyone else in our year too.

As it turns out, he had been quietly working in the shadows to achieve his goals, thoroughly covering his tracks and disguising his real intentions this entire time.

By playing the charade of an assuming and average student, no one suspected him. In fact, by losing so much and getting a bad reputation so early on, no one could take him seriously.

As a result, everyone saw him as a pathetic person and underestimated just how strong he really is. Using that opinion of him, he was able to hide his true colours and lie in wait until the perfect chance to overturn everything.

And that moment came in the special exam.

In one fell swoop, E Class had become D Class.

At the tail end of our first semester, he managed to dig his class out from the bottom of the pits by beating the second strongest class in our year in a decisive victory.

At that moment, my opinion of him began to change. Or rather, I realised that everything I knew about him was wrong.

My assessment of him was too lenient. My assumptions about him were too surface level. My opinion of him had been built on a shaky foundation made up of incorrect beliefs.

By failing to heed Yogen's warning, I failed to see the full extent of his true strength.

It was his win.

He deserved it after pulling the rug out from under everybody else.

However, what bothered me most wasn't how he won, but rather how he became leader. Just before the finals occurred, Matsushita stepped down as E Class's male class representative, and let Takanori take his place.

It was a quiet move that no one noticed except me, Senzaki, and Shimada. In fact, our final meeting with Takanori, Matsushita, and Alice is what tipped my suspicions that something had changed internally within their class.

Logically, it made no sense either. There was no way someone as prideful as Matsushita would give up his position so easily like that, especially to somebody that had lost to him before. It just wasn't in his nature.

Furthermore, there were rumours circulating around that he used violence, manipulation, and bribery to force his way up to the top. All this, and more, convinced me that there was something even more sinister going on behind the scenes when it came to this man.

I don't know what it is yet, but it's clear that I could no longer ignore him.

Because out of the 125 students in our year...

...he's the one most capable of taking down A Class.

And that scared me.