"Yo!" I said and raised my hand as a greeting when I arrived near Horikita and Ayanokoji.

"You are finally here, Ayanokoji-kun already told me about your Rabbit group" Horikita said with a neutral expression.

"Good, so you already know the gist of the exam. When is your meeting time?" I asked her and sat on the chair.

"20:40 and I already know that Kushida-san and Hirata-kun will be on the same team as me"

Kushida...huh?

I don\'t know why but I keep getting a bad feeling about her. I don\'t trust her and it would be best if someone from the other class would become the "target"

"What is it?" She asked me, perhaps she noticed how I frowned upon hearing Kushida\'s name.

"I have been meaning to ask you this for some time...Did you know Kushida-san before coming to this school?" I asked with a serious expression and Ayanokoji looked expectantly at Horikita too. He probably wanted to ask this too.

"W-what do you mean? Why would you think that?" She seemed a bit surprised by my question but she quickly regained her calm.

"She is always saying how she wants to make friends with everyone but you are clearly telling her that you have no intention of becoming friends with her by your cold personality. Yet, she still tries to talk to you warmly at the public...meaning that other people might view you as a distrustful or awful person"

"...That doesn\'t mean anything. I think you are just too delusional" She said some pretty sharp words but she kept her eyes downwards.

"..." Horikita couldn\'t argue against solid logic and facts.

"I am not asking you about her or your past. I just wanted to ask you a simple question, yet you turned it into a super important one. I should head back to my room but I think you should be extremely careful around Kushida-san, that\'s all I wanted to say" I said and got up, ready to leave.

"...Will you meet up with us the next morning too?" Horikita quickly asked me before I could disappear.

"I will but I am not quite sure when I will show up" Tomorrow at 8 AM, I will finally know if I am the \'target\' or not.

...

The next morning right at 8 AM, my phone rang, indicating a new message from the school.

[After a period of thoughtful consideration, you have been chosen as \'target\'. Act as you deem fit during the exam........]

Hmm? I am actually the \'target\'?

*sigh* I will have to do something about the mail though...I think Horikita and others will want to see it with their own eyes or they might not trust me. The school forbid us to manipulate with the mail but I might be able to make an image from it and change the content of the mail. It might not be able to actually fool everyone but everything counts but I still need to know the content of the mail sent to non-target students to change it to a believable one.

I texted Karuizawa and got what I wanted even though she was a bit skeptical at the beginning.

..

Done...I should go and meet up with Horikita since I gave her my word that I will show up. I am already 15 minutes late from the designated time.

When I arrived at the cafe located in the back of the ship, I noticed that it was almost deserted without any students around, except for 4 people.

"I really wonder how did you manage to achieve that result in the survival test" Ryuen said with his arrogant and provocative smile.

"I have nothing to tell you. Why should I even tell you the strategy I used?" Horikita answered with a cold expression without any fear visible inside her eyes.

"Kuku, you see, according to her report you did nothing notable during the test. I already know that someone is pulling the strings behind the scenes" Ryuen only laughed at her unfriendly behavior and pointed at Ibuki next to him.

Ever since the survival test, Ryuen got interested in Horikita but I don\'t know if it\'s because of her performance, body or because she is connected to the one who fuċkėd up his plan.

"Do you actually think I would do anything stupid to get figured by someone like her?" Horikita said with full confidence while looking sharply at Ibuki.

"Oho, if it isn\'t Walker. What, are you here for a cup of coffee too?" Ryuen said with scorn hidden inside his words.

It\'s not surprising that he is suspicious of me since this is a hardly popular cafe.

"Hello. Why the sour face, Ryuen-kun? Just got enough confidence to confess and received the rejection in the end?" I said with a mocking smile, hoping to make him mad.

Everyone was surprised by my comment but after a few seconds of silence, Ryuen brightly smiled which was out of my expectations but I could see in Ibuki\'s face that she was holding her laugh inside.

"I do not confess, they come themselves" He proudly said with a wide grin while eyeing Horikita.

You make me disgusted...

"Isn\'t it the same with you, Walker? With that pretty face of yours and well-built body, I guess even girls with boyfriends might come to you, haha" Ryuen said with a strange smile.

I narrowed my eyes upon hearing his words... Is he referring to Karuizawa? It\'s not really an important secret because anyone could see us talking to each other but the one who most likely saw us was Ibuki herself.

"Did I touch the sėnsɨtɨvė spot?" Ryuen asked with an amused smile.

"...Whatever" He said and turned back at Horikita.

"Remember, I will find whoever is pulling the strings behind you and entirely crush them. Everyone is just prey before me" Ryuen with a taunting tone and observed us with a suspicious look. When he saw that we had no plans to react to his words, he turned around, ready to leave.

When he walked past me, he whispered to me: "*I hope you will carefully protect your girl*"

I had an urge to unleash my bloodlust at him after hearing his words but I controlled myself.

There is no need to get agitated, if I do so, I will only play into his cards.

"*Thanks for the advice*" I quickly answered with a calm face which Ryuen didn\'t expect so he just

dejectedly clicked his tongue and left.

"What was he talking about?" Horikita immediately asked me after Ryuen left.

"I don\'t know...he was probably just kidding" I shrugged my shoulders with a confused expression.

...

We shared a little bit of information we were able to gather and after we said everything we could, we left to get ready since the exam was starting very soon.