Chapter 4: A Trade Offer

Me and Ryouta stared at each other with hard gazes.

"So you admit to being the traitor...?"

"I believe it." Machida said.

"Takanori-san, this entire time, it was you...?"

Matsushita couldn't believe it. After revealing this, suddenly our conversation from last night had taken on a completely different meaning. Zyriot, who had overheard us that evening, crossed his arms and sighed.

"I'm disappointed in you, Yuuto-san. I thought you were better than this."

"You're blind to not see he's always been like this. If anything, guys like him are the most dangerous." Machida said.

"Most dangerous, huh...?"

"They pretend to be friendly and nothing special in order to lower your guard, but the moment they have what they want, they'll pull the rug out right from under your feet. This bastard succeeded in pulling the wool over our eyes and tricking us."

"It wasn't that hard. I just had to help the group from time to time to make it look like I was a team player." I said.

"Come to think of it, Takanori-san only helped us in the Scavenger Hunt and Creative Auction... during the other two challenges, he did nothing at all." Ikeda said.

"And both times, he made great contributions to obscure that fact. It made him look like he was useful to our group when he could be, when in reality he was just doing it to parse suspicion away from him." Satou said.

"It all makes sense now... Takanori-san's plan was the reason why we came in 3rd place at the Scavenger Hunt, and the money he and Matsushita-san raised for me and Satou-san could've gotten us 2nd place at the Auction. By becoming someone who creates such good results, it almost lifted all suspicions from him being the traitor. After all, why would someone who is trying to help our group win sabotage us?" Ryouta said.

"I also just noticed that every time he did help, it was only just enough for us to get on the podium, but not enough for us to get 1st place. It's almost like he stopped us short on purpose so we'd never win any challenge." Zyriot said.

"That sneaky bastard..." Satou muttered.

"He also took great advantage of Machida-san being in our group to keep himself hidden while causing unnecessary conflict, as the existence of a traitor made everyone turn on him under the assumption he was the culprit. No... it's more closer to say that you planted him in our group for that very purpose, didn't you?" Ryouta said.

I nodded.

"Yeah. During the group formation, after you told me about uniting all the class representatives in one group, I approached Machida-san and asked him if he wanted to join my group. Between the two of us, it's more likely for him to accept an offer from me, rather than you."

"Let's make it clear that I still hate the both of you. But between spending a week with Ryouta-san or Takanori-san, I'd choose the loser loner with a crush on his mom any day of the week." Machida said.

"The next step was to unite our two halves, but that was easy. I just had to wait for the numbers to dwindle down and force us to come together as a group."

That's the reason why I wasn't acting urgently during the group formation session. While I could've went around and asked those strong students to join me, I let all those opportunities slip by me so I could infiltrate Ryouta's group and rope Machida into it.

Since I knew Ryouta was trying to make a group with all the class representatives, it was the perfect opportunity for me to set this up.

Having Machida in the same group as me would make him the perfect scapegoat for my actions, as his divisive and combative personality would make everyone suspect him over me.

I only got the confidence to act upon this plan because I saw Machida sitting on his own, refusing to join his faction's group. He wouldn't do that without reason, and I realised he was aiming to join this group as well.

However, his pride prevented him from ever accepting Ryouta's offer, so he was waiting for another of the representatives to make him join by force so it'd look like he had no other choice.

In other words, Machida was also waiting for the numbers to dwindle like me. That's why he agreed to join my group when I asked, and had no qualms when I connected my half with Ryouta's. Both of us had the same goal, but used each other to achieve it.

"That was only the first layer of defence though. When searching for traitors, it's only natural for people to point the finger at those who drag everyone else down, which is why Machida-san became the main target of suspicion in this group. However, that was exactly what I wanted, since it drove eyes away from me and towards him, letting me do whatever I want." I said.

"To think one single blame vote could cause so much damage..." Ryouta mumbled.

"Why choose to mess with our group that way though? Was your goal secretly trying to drag Ryouta-san out of A Class?" Ikeda said.

"No, it isn't. I already said before that having Ryouta-san move down to E Class was a detriment for us. And even if I wanted to, it'd be impossible at this stage of the special exam, especially if you count the number of praise votes he has compared to blame votes. Currently, Ryouta-san has nine praise votes and five blame votes. Even if I voted blame for the next three days, it'd only ever reach eight blame votes. He'd be in the clear, unless someone else breaks the agreed rule and also blames him."

"Wait... does that mean you've also been praise voting me then? I was the only one who praised Machida-san in today's challenge." Ryouta said.

"Yeah. If I didn't, you'd be sitting at seven praise votes, meaning all eight blame votes would be enough to drag you down to E Class. I had to prevent it somehow. In any case, the whole point of me blaming you was to break the rule everyone agreed on day one and spark the idea of a traitor between us. I had a specific reason to choose Ryouta-san, though."

"You do...?"

"Out of everyone in this group, you care about your appearance the most."

Ryouta blinked in surprise. He lowered his head and smiled wryly.

"Ah... you're right about that. Everyday, I'm always a little anxious and worried about the way people see me, because..."

He paused, his cheeks going bright red.

"...I-I've always wanted to become someone who is liked by everyone."

Everyone was expecting him to deny it, but instead Ryouta calmly acknowledged his own faults without any reservation. His honesty surprised all of us, as this was basically the same as admitting his weakness in front of us.

"I'm surprised you noticed it, Takanori-san."

"It wasn't hard to figure out. It worked out in my favour since it meant blame voting you would be the most effective way to hurt this group. Not only was it a direct challenge to you, the leader, but it would also make you the most uncomfortable, since it meant someone in this group didn't like you. You became overly cautious and tried appeasing to everyone to try and patch things up with this invisible person. In other words... you became the group's biggest pushover, Ryouta-san."

Ryouta gulped and looked down. Zyriot and Ikeda narrowed their eyes at me. Machida smirked, snickering a little.

"That was uncalled for, Yuuto-san." Zyriot said.

"No... no, that defective piece of junk has a point. The hell have you done in this past week, Ryouta-san? As far as I can remember, all you've done is sit on your ass, twiddle your thumbs, and steal the credit from everyone else." Machida said.

"Machida-san, what? None of that is true. He literally helped you out in today's challenge."

Before Ryouta could even say anything back, Zyriot jumped in to defend him. Ikeda nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, only after I found out Matsushita-san spent our money. That's when the little bitch showed up and hurried to help turn a profit in the business I set up. It was all me."

"What were you doing looking at the money logs anyways...?"

Machida sighed, grinning smugly.

"Truth be told, I was going to piss on our agreement and take the money to turn a profit. I still believed in outcome 3 and figured you guys would give me less flak if I did something good for the group, so I took my chance. Unfortunately, when I went to grab 10k from that bimbo bitch teacher, that's when I found out what Matsushita-san did. If only Ryouta-san was a good or proactive leader... maybe then he could've prevented Matsushita-san from spending it in the first place."

"The thing is, he couldn't."

As I cut through the conversation with that, Machida looked at me.

"Why not?"

"Because Matsushita-san had no intentions of taking any money out in the first place."

Machida glanced at Matsushita, raising an eyebrow. Matsushita sighed, looking up at me.

"He's right... as much as I wanted to take the money out to help my family, since the group agreed to aim for outcome 2, I held off and suppressed my desires. However..."

Grinding his teeth, he looked away and pointed at me.

"I was the one who told Matsushita-san to take the money out."

"You... what?!"

Machida got to his feet, grabbing me by the shirt. He snarled at me, exposing his fangs. Ryouta perked his head up, looking at me in shock. Everyone else had the same reaction.

"After Chabashira-sensei dropped everyone off, I sent a message ordering Matsushita-san to take as much money as he could from the group and leave 3,000 yen behind."

Machida saw red. Just as he was about to slam me into the ground, I struck him in the ribs, causing him to let go of me.

"After learning about the argument you guys had yesterday about the traitor, I knew my plan was working. That's why I escalated it by having Matsushita-san betray you all on my behalf."

I didn't really want to use any force, but Machida left me with no other choice. He writhed on the ground, clutching his chest with a deep groan. Zyriot and Matsushita weren't surprised, since they've seen my strength before, but everyone else was terrified.

"Why... why the hell did you listen to him, you traitorous, phallic sucking, ass licking, boot kissing, defective sack of dropout trash!"

Matsushita looked away, unable to give the real reason. Nevertheless, he answered Machida's demands the best he could.

"...because I trust Takanori-san."

"What a load of bull... you're just as bad as him! Where's your backbone, huh?! Why did you listen to that dumbass loser, huh?!"

I haven't seen Machida become this enraged before. The humiliation from me knocking him down from one strike in front of everyone else must've really set him off the deep end.

"Because if I didn't trust him, then why would I let him become the leader to my class? In the first place, you're just as bad as me! You were going to go against the whole group to try and selfishly achieve outcome 3 all on your own!"

"My actions was going to benefit the group, your actions literally dropped us down to seventh place! We're literally one place away from having someone get sent down to E Class! How does this not bother you? We're a laughing stock amongst the other groups!"

"Haa, then we deserve it... this group is filled with nothing but a bunch of clowns anyways!"

"Then join the god damn circus, cuz you're the biggest one of 'em all!"

"Guys, cut it out! Fighting won't do us any good! We're playing exactly into what Takanori-san wants!" Ikeda said.

"He's right. Matsushita-san, whether you realise it or not, you're the reason why we're in this position now. You have no right to call us a bunch of clowns when you're the one who made the biggest mistake here." Zyriot said.

"I can't believe it, but I'm gonna have to side with Zyriot-san on this one... forget being a clown, you're the whole god damn circus!" Machida said.

"If I'm the circus, then what the hell are you? Zyriot-san, you do know that half the reason Takanori-san got away with all of this was because of Machida-san's awful attitude and his constant need to feel superior to us, right? He practically stinks of insecurity..."

"I agree with Matsushita-san. The argument from yesterday would've never happened if he didn't start making a fuss over Yukada-san getting beat up by Shimada-san." Satou said.

"Yeah, exactly! If Takanori-san never knew about that, he would've never made me take 47k... so really, it's all Machida-san's fault!"

"What? Don't start playing the blame game now just cuz you got one person on your side. You could've easily used your common freaking sense and said no to him. You really are Takanori-san's bitch. Does it feel good when he faps you off?"

"I thought Takanori-san had a plan after making me take the 47k, but instead there was nothing... I didn't get any calls or texts afterwards."

"So then why didn't you just give it back to Chabashira-sensei...?" Ikeda said.

"Because... I had already spent some of it..."

"To be honest, my sympathy for you is running out Matsushita-san. This is getting ridiculous..." Zyriot said.

"Thank you, someone finally gets it." Machida said.

"Hang on, you're blatantly ignoring the fact the actions of two other people directly led to this. First was Machida-san causing a stink yesterday, but the other was Ryouta-san spending the money on Shimada-san's group. If he didn't do that, Machida-san wouldn't have been so mad yesterday!" Matsushita said.

"Huh, you make a fair point. I was pissed at Ryouta-san most of all. The least he could've done was spend our money on Koishi-san's group's item."

"That's asking for way too much from us. We had no clue that the notebook was their item." Satou said.

"Doesn't Ryouta-san pride himself on being extremely observant...? If he could figure out the tinfoil ball was by Shimada-san's group, then he should've been able to figured out that was theirs." Ikeda said.

"Exactly. This dumbass knew which item belonged to each group from the get go! Ryouta-san, it's your fault why we're in seventh place!"

"This is getting sad... this is a stretch, even for you. Why do you have such a huge hatred towards Ryouta-san anyways? You keep trying to find any way to blame him and make everything his fault. He's trying his best as our leader." Satou said.

"Trying his best isn't enough anymore. Let's be real, he's a trash leader. Actual brainlet."

"You're missing the forest from the trees. In fact, everyone here is. As I see it, you're all equally at fault for letting things drop this far. Machida-san for constantly arguing, Matsushita-san for swiping the 47k, Takanori-san for betraying us, and Ryouta-san for failing to notice any of this despite being leader." Zyriot said.

"Don't exonerate yourself from this just yet. The rest of you have been just as bad." Machida said.

"Yeah... didn't you overhear my conversation with Takanori-san from yesterday, Zyriot-san? You were so intimidated by Ryouta-san's presence, you stopped acting like your usual self. You have no room to say that sort of crap to me. You're just as guilty as the rest of us." Matsushita said.

"Wow, aren't you getting a bloated ego? Were you always this much of a prick, Matsushita-san?" Satou said.

"Ha, don't jump in now because I'm arguing with your precious leader. Oh sorry, ex-leader."

"I didn't ask to move up to C Class. Compared to Zyriot-san, Ikeda-san is a far inferior leader."

"Satou-san..." Ikeda said.

"Sorry, but it had to be said. I have no personal problems with you as a person, but you are completely unfit for this role."

"I know I'm not the best, but still... I'm trying, for our class's sake. I thought joining this group would give me an idea on how to lead our class, but... all it's taught me is that being cunning and underhanded is the only way you can win in this school."

"Oh cut the innocent act you're trying to put on, it's not fooling anybody. Ikeda-san, have you ever maybe considered that you're the dumbest person in the room here? Even the emo is smarter than you. Even the two D Class defective dumbass traitors have more braincells than you do. That's how stupid you are! You're an incompetent cuck who's only good point is being a man slut and fap material for girls. You're better off just shutting up and sitting on the sidelines like a good little man slut, since you add literally nothing to this group, you useless pain in the ass!" Machida said.

I watched silently as the five of them slowly devolved into madness, squabbling and arguing with each other, going round and round in pointless circles, and getting nowhere with their differences.

The only person who didn't participate was Ryouta, but he was sitting silently in his seat while wallowing in despair. This was the lowest I had ever seen him before.

Even though my identity as the traitor was now blown wide open, their own personal conflicts towards each other took precedence over exorcising me. This had turned out even better than I could've hoped.

This was the most dysfunctional the group had ever been. I knew revealing myself would cause discord and chaos, but I didn't expect it to be this effective. They had completely forgotten about me and ruthlessly turned on each other, ripping each other apart.

"...please, stop."

In the middle of the destruction, a small whisper lifted into the wind.

"Please... stop..."

The whisper grew louder, penetrating the clashing words being pitted against each other.

"I said please stop! I can't handle this anymore...!"

Ryouta screamed, crying out into his hands.

Hearing that, the five of them slowly stopped fighting amongst themselves.

They turned around, looking at Ryouta with wide eyes.

Tears were streaming down his face.

For the first time in this special exam, everyone had the same thought on their mind.

"We messed up."

A guilty silence settled into the air.

Even Machida, who would normally laugh at Ryouta's misfortunes, didn't say a word.

As Ryouta cried his heart out in front of everyone, their hatred for each other slowly turned back towards to me.

I sighed.

"You finally figured out who to blame, huh?"

All of five of them were staring at me in contempt.

"Woman beating trash!" Machida said.

"I thought you were better than this..." Ikeda said.

"You're the kind of person I hate most." Satou said.

"You threw away everyone's trust in you for what? Just to make Ryouta-san cry?" Matsushita said.

"In the end, you've accomplished nothing and lost everything." Zyriot said.

"Yeah, I did. But ultimately, it's all of your guys fault why I got away with this. The idea of a traitor would've never come about if Ryouta-san didn't start worrying about the blame votes being pinned on him. Machida-san would've never been suspected if he cooperated from the start instead of arguing with everyone and trying to play top dog. Thanks to Ikeda-san's naivety, he was none the wiser and went along with everyone else. Satou-san's conviction as Machida-san being the traitor sparked the conflict I was looking for. Even though Zyriot-san was fully aware of what I was capable of, he kept quiet because he felt inferior compared to everyone here. And finally Matsushita-san, for so obediently following my orders without a second thought. Without me confessing, you would've never caught me. I could've continued betraying all of you, and let the drop of poison I planted slowly destroy this group into nothing more but a corroded mess."

Ryouta sniffled, wiping away his tears. He looked up at me.

"If your aim was to destroy our group... then why own up to it? Why out yourself as the traitor, and reveal all the tricks you used to betray us...? What part of this fits in your crazy plan, Takanori-san?!"

"I'll tell you, but on one condition."

"And that is...?"

"If you're the only one allowed to know, Ryouta-san."

"M-me...?"

Ryouta pointed at himself. I nodded.

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: TruyenTop.Vip