"You may begin your challenge. Or not, if you'd like." Basara chuckled as he declared the start of the third round.

Yukishiro and Akimiyashika were absent for this round still as their whereabouts are currently unknown. As a winner of the former round combined with the last round, you are granted 20 minutes and not just 10. Therefore, Tatsu and Kuzan were not present.

15 students were currently present.

"Show me." Hyunda ordered Arkalee right away "Kay~" She showed no hesitation in hiding it and so, Hyunda with his right hand conjured the hand signal of two fingers down below his table "I'll help you out, don't worry." He was quick to lend a hand as he grew closer to Arkalee physically.

On the north side of the classroom, where Hinagiku and Rayazaki stand, Hinagiku caught a glimpse of Rayazaki's challenge.

"Good luck." She coldly said as she conjured a hand signal similar to Hyunda's from Rayazaki's blind spot so he couldn't catch a glance of it, except it showed a single finger only "Gee, thanks. What's yours?" Rayazaki asked, though very much displeased with his challenge "Here." Hinagiku accidentally looked to Daniel but instantly flinched back as she realized.

Leaning towards the center where Akimiyashika usually stays in, Kawahara did something on his own as he turned his back to Sagasuga and Tateyana.

"Hey babes, here's the deal, I share my challenge, you share yours----if it's mine, I'll tell you if it's mine, how about it?" Except Kawahara didn't wait and simply placed his challenge letter in the surface of their table.

Without replying first, Sagasuga and Tateyana noticed the context of the challenge that Kawahara had been given.

"A bit extreme..." Tateyana remarked "..." Sagasuga looked to his challenge and Tateyana's who is hidden beneath her right arm though it can be slightly seen from his perspective "So, what do you say?" Kawahara looked at the two of them with a playful smirk "I'll pass." Sagasuga immediately declined his offer "Oh come on, I've shown you mine, where's the equality?" Kawahara was quick to complain "You didn't wait for my answer, that's just manipulation on your end. It's a no." Sagasuga closed his eyes and wouldn't budge.

As such, Kawahara's interested landed on the indecisive Tateyana who firstly looked at Sagasuga and only then to Kawahara.

"Uh--thanks but no, thanks!" Kawahara leaned forward upon hearing those words from her and elevated her left arm with brute force "HEY!!" He caught a glimpse of her challenge's body text, which was the structure he was looking for all along in a challenge letter "Oh oops~" Kawahara let go of her arm as soon as he obtained the necessary information "ASSHOLE!!" She shouted in a manner that would summon momentary attention "Oh, I know who wrote that." Kawahara said as he erupted his two right fingers and placed them on his forehead "........" Sagasuga observed closely as Kawahara instantly turned his back away from the curious Tateyana "Huh?! W-Wait!" It landed.

On the third row on the left side, where Ikkiri and Gale resided in, since Tatsu has an additional ten minutes for his usage; similarly though not at the same time also, Yukishiro is absent.

Ikkiri gulped.

"Hey..." A meek shout out was heard from her, though Gale opted to ignore "....." Ikkiri acknowledged this and was even more nervous "..." She looked at Hinagiku who looked at her almost instantly "....." Hinagiku realized that Ikkiri was struggling to get Gale's attention "...God." Hinagiku swiftly got up and went to her right side, where Daniel and Lus resided in.

Daniel didn't bat an eye on her, but Lus did as Hinagiku strictly went in her direction.

"What?" Hinagiku looked a bit shackled but she still dove in and whispered a few words into Lus' right ear "......" Lus looked at Ikkiri as she received Hinagiku's information and Ikkiri nodded "Fucking BITCH." Lus shouted without restrain "Language, GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!" Basara was heavily annoyed by her attitude "I apologize, teacher, coward tactics bother me, that's all. But I suppose expecting the contrary from such a WHORE would be illogical!" She chuckled "I'll stop." But she hastily corrected herself.

Gale smiled a little bit as she saw Lus getting heated up. Hinagiku started to walk back to her seat.

Kawahara placed his eyes on Lus, then on Gale, and ultimately on Lus again.

"Ayo, what'd she say?" Kawahara looked at Lus as he tilted his neck in an obscure way "Kawahara, mind your own business." Not Lus, but Basara spoke "Oh nah teach, come on, there's been a juicy beef between Lus and Gale going on, I want in on the TEA!" He expressed himself vividly and Basara sighed "Kinda curious too." Hyunda didn't deny it "What's with you two?" Hyunda looked at Gale and then Lus "She made me do that challenge, use your brain." Hyunda was having trouble remembering it "I didn't make you do it, it randomly landed on you, and now you're over-glorifying a pure coincidence by hating on me, hah." Gale cast a snark glance at Lus from afar.

By doing so, she allowed her posture to be open on the right side as her right arm was no longer covering what she was hiding from her classmates.

"So random that you looked at me with malicious eyes and even called me a slur. Oh yes, I'm totally buying your story, don't worry, vomit queen." Lus replied back from afar "Kill yourself..." Gale showed visible agitation "I would say ladies first, but you're unfitting of that title, so go straight ahead, will you?" Lus suggested "Shut up." Basara coldly said and neither of them took the narrative any further onto one another "...You'll see..." Gale, determined whispered that to herself.

As she attempted to correct her posture, she looked at Ikkiri with mean eyes, which made Ikkiri gulp and feel extremely nervous.

"The hell are you looking at, huh?!" Ikkiri couldn't reply as she felt frozen for a moment but her right hand exhibited two fingers to which Hinagiku caught from a far away distance "....." Swiftly, without Rayazaki noticing, Hinagiku mimicked Ikkiri's movements and showed the two fingers to Daniel.

Located on the south of the classroom, where Tsudo and Shizuku stood, Daniel placed his cold glaze specifically to that location alone.

"I show mine, you show yours?" Tsudo glanced at Shizuku and asked "Um sure-----if you help me out with it, that is." Shizuku made her term "I'll try my best." Tsudo said "I'll take that as a yes, you go first." Shizuku demanded "...." Tsudo wanted to look at Daniel yet felt his impending stare nevertheless "...Here." Tsudo showed his challenge to Shizuku "Yikes... Here." She did the same and the moment she did, Tsudo showed one finger with his left hand from an angle that Shizuku could not see from.

Obtaining a fair share of information, Daniel decided to cease his inactivity.

"It's not her." He looked at Lus, who was trying to think of a way to do her challenge "Excuse me?" She didn't understand where he was coming from at all "If I tell you who it is, will you help me?" Daniel looked at her while whispering that extremely lowly "How do you know it's not her?" Lus questioned "The format. Isn't it making you think something is up with that format?" He made Lus think "If you look back at her first challenge, was the format the same?" This question made Lus realize something "......" Yet she didn't give an answer right away.

Seeing as he wasn't able to buy her trust immediately since she's looking at him with skepticism, Daniel opted to do something else instead.

He looked at Kawahara for a brief second and after four seconds, he was noticed by him.

By utilizing his own challenge, he waved his paper sheet, indicating for Kawahara to show it to Lus.

"...What..." Lus was dumbfounded by how the format was the exact same as hers "It's not a coincidence. There are multiple challenges spread with that same format all over the room too." Lus looked at Daniel with even more skepticism now "What does that mean?" Daniel answered rather quickly "It means I know who wrote the challenge in that format. How about I reveal that person to you?" This development was out of Lus' perception but she didn't object to it "Show me then." She demanded.

To elaborate on the format of the challenge letter that Lus has, it's important to know the differences in design first. A normal challenge letter is simply a normal squared white paper. The format that was added, however, contained two black lines covering all the sides of the letter two times on different layers.

Furthermore, on the bottom right corner of the paper, there were two letters in capitals.

Lus' challenge had the capital letters of "QH".

"The two letters are the first letter of the name and surname but ahead, so you have to search for the letter that's ahead of the presented." Daniel informed her "R and I?" She asked "Hm." Daniel then looked to the west side of the room, to the first row where only two individuals resided in "......." Lus looked at Daniel, but then followed his glance too "Rikishima... Ikkiri..." Lus whispered.

It took Ikkiri five seconds to notice Daniel and Lus' glance.

Daniel then elevated his three fingers from his left hand to Ikkiri and Ikkiri then began to write.

"See?" Daniel spoke out loud "......" Lus was somewhat skeptical but not as much as she saw Ikkiri's written message 'It was me who wrote it' "It's not Gale, but Ikkiri who wrote your challenge." This sparked an interest in her "And how do you know all of this?" She naturally asked "I can't tell any more. Unless, you are willing to help me. Take it or leave it, is what I'm saying." Lus carefully analyzed what Daniel could be plotting "What do you want to help me with, exactly?" She asked Daniel.

Daniel glanced at Lus coldly and judged whether or not she was the type to backstab.

"...." He glanced at Kanawari "No." She instantly replied "What do you think I'm asking you to do?" He asked "You want to use her." She assumed "I want to know whether or not she got the same format as your challenge." Lus didn't know what to make of this "And if she does?" Lus coldly looked into his pitch black eyes "Then all you do is tell me that information. Simple, right?" Surely enough, it was simple "If she doesn't?" She asked "Then all you do is tell me that information." Daniel smiled now "Simple, right?" Lus understood not his full intentions.

She gave it some thought.

"That's all?" She made sure "Yes, all." She gained certainty after hearing him "Alright. Wait here." Lus took her challenge with her.

Daniel waited and after almost a minute, Lus came back. Kanawari was busy attempting her challenge, though she looked back from time to time.

"...It doesn't." Daniel instantly got up from his seat and brushed his hair "I see, thanks." Apathetically, he thanked her "What are you going to do?" She was skeptical once again of Daniel's behavior "Nothing." He simply answered and took a seat next to Sana.

There were two minutes left on the clock and Daniel had not attempted his challenge whatsoever.

".....?" Daniel looked sorrowful "Hey..." His eyes hollow, his words utterly apathetic "How are you?" He started with that "......." She couldn't talk due to the permanent glue on her lips "I guess I do have an idea... I know you can't talk right now, so listen... Hey, um..." Daniel scratched the back of his head "It hasn't been easy for me----" Sana started to feel a bit tearful "........." She placed her left hand on his right shoulder "I miss her a lot." His words were on point "But I'm trying to get my shit back together, you see." He looked at her with dead-serious eyes.

On to the focal point, Daniel made his stand.

"I don't want you to fail. Yulia wouldn't like that, especially given the unfair nature of this exam. I can't allow that." His expression emitted seriousness and abundant determination "........-----" Sana attempted to deny his words "No, I have to. And I insist-----please, let me do this... I couldn't help her in her most dire hour... And if something were to happen to you, her best friend... I-I-I-" Daniel closed his right fist and clenched it with regret "........" Sana didn't pretend to not know what was going on so instead she wrote her thoughts on her journal "...How are you going to help me though...?" She sincerely asked in her journal.

Daniel was quick to elaborate as he presented his challenge to her.

"This is my challenge. Do you have any idea who could've issued this challenge to me?" Sana analyzed the odd structure of the challenge "...I seriously don't, I'm so sorry..." Sana wrote her true mind "That's alright. Now that I've shown you mine, could you show me yours?" He suggested "......." She subtly showed him her challenge "Oh, the same as mine." He commented "Well, not the same challenge, but the interesting structure, hah." He giggled.

Sana giggled too, albeit awkwardly due to the permanent glue.

"This'll be easy, all you have to do is sit back and let me handle it." Daniel then proceeded to help her with her challenge, as Lus watched the two of them with skepticism towards Daniel as a whole.

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"Stop. Back to your seats, time is up." Basara's words were imperial and so, all of the students that weren't placed on their seats, did exactly that "Quite a lot of commotion suddenly, what is this? Did the cold awaken your dormant brain cells?" Basara was genuinely surprised by the shift in activity.

He directed himself to the podium and began to declare the results.

"Gale Iris, you had the challenge of: Make sure that the person behind you (if there is no one behind you, then on your side or your front) succeeds in their challenge! To which, you did help Ikkiri succeed!" Basara eagerly said though his expression was that of a bored one "Your guess which was: Mayabashi Hinagiku, was correct too!" Basara clapped "Holy shit, talk about easy, MUST BE NICE!!" While he clapped, Gale looked at Hinagiku with a lot of doubts, but nevertheless took the victory "Ridiculous." Lus lowly said though it was enough to be heard.

Following Gale up, was Ikkiri.

"Rikishima Ikkiri, you had the challenge of: Drink all of your pens' ink and don't throw up, to which was done successfully. Gale made sure you weren't able to throw up." Ikkiri looked authentically nauseous "Your guess which was: Kitsuya Arkalee, was also correct!" This immediately sparked a reaction from Arkalee "A pure coincidence, don't get COCKY, YOU GODDAMN SLUT!" Bitter, Arkalee shouted in Ikkiri's direction while clinging to Hyunda's left arm "......." Disgusted, Ikkiri didn't reply as she cleaned the black ink from her lips whilst stopping her urge to vomit.

Now moving to the second row, Basara started with Arkalee.

"Kitsuya Arkalee, you had the challenge of simply: Do anything your table partner wishes you for (If you don't have one, then the nearest by person of your choice), so Hyunda, what did you ask?" Basara interrogated him "I asked her to help Gale out with her challenge." He said "How did you help her out?" Hyunda had to now elaborate "I told Arkalee to tell Gale that she was the one who wrote the challenge that landed on Ikkiri which made Gale's challenge a success." Basara sighed "Is this true, Arkalee?" Arkalee was somewhat bitter still "Yes... Yes, it is. I helped Gale and told her that---my NAME---should be written in Ikkiri's challenge as the orchestrator..." Arkalee confessed.

Basara acknowledged this and moved on.

"I see. Your guess which was: Toharoh Tsudo, was correct as well." Eyes were on Tsudo, though he did not look back "Now, you, Hajime Hyunda." Hyunda composed himself "You had the challenge of: Eat as much paper as you can from your journal until the time is over." They all caught Hyunda crouching on paper still "They're left overs, please understand." He said "Pfft." Ikkiri giggled very silently "Can he go to the bathroom now and drink some water?! Please?!" Arkalee begged "Absolutely not. Your guess which was: Sato Rayazaki, was also correct." Rayazaki was flabbergasted "How the fuck did you randomly got it right?!" He was not accepting it "Pure luck, I guess?" Hyunda didn't look at him and simply gave him that.

Following the two of them up, was Kawahara, who was alone.

"Ryousuke Kawahara, you had the challenge of: Do push ups from the moment you see this and don't stop until the teacher calls time, which was... somehow, done perfectly!" Not even Basara could hide his surprise from the abnormal feat "It's all about back control and tempo!" He laughed it off with pride "..........." Lus felt utterly defeated in a way "Your guess which was: Lus Sera, was also correct!" Lus didn't look at Kawahara but to Daniel who ignored her gaze "Wooooohoooooooo!!!" Kawahara celebrated "How?" She asked Daniel "Hm?" Daniel looked at her now "How did he know it was me?" She persisted "How would I know?" He asked "You------" She clicked her tongue "........." And rapidly went back to observing to prove her newborn thought.

Moving to the table behind him, Sagasuga and Tateyana were on the mark now.

"Hiroyoshi Sagasuga, you had the challenge of: Strip your top uniform until the end of the day!" Many girls in particular stared at his ripped physique "Heavily inconvenient but so be it." He was bothered but it wasn't the end of the world "Your guess which was: Gale Iris, was also correct!" Basara clapped "Collateral damage." Sagasuga justified it "......" Gale was unable to tell just how exactly he was able to pinpoint it was her that ended up being his guess.

Tateyana was next.

"You had yet another simple challenge, which was: Help someone that has two losses already complete their challenge! Talk about being lazy and unoriginal!" Basara complained as this wasn't the first time this type of challenge had emerged "So, who did you help, Tateyana?" Tateyana answered instantly "Tsudo..." She was somewhat displeased "Tsudo, is this true?" Basara asked "I guess we'll know when my time is up." He reasoned "True. Either way, your guess which was: Hajime Hyunda, was correct, so you're already half-way there!" Basara spoke though he sighed.

Without a thorough conclusion, Basara moved on to Hinagiku and Rayazaki.

"Mayabashi Hinagiku!" He shouted "Yes!" Extremely confident, Hinagiku replied "You had the challenge of: Paint your whole face in black without any flaws whatsoever!" They all looked at her face and some burst in sheer laughter "BAHAHAHA, WHAT'S THAT?!" Shizuku couldn't control herself "You're just jealous I was able to do this in less than five minutes by myself when quite literally no one else in this room could ever!" She was rather proud of her achievement "Though narcissistic, I will objectively praise you on that end. You're in luck our skin variance is non-existent here; either way your guess which was: Kaneta Tateyana, was correct too." Hinagiku smiled at the stunned Tateyana who really thought it was impossible "Come again~" She still couldn't believe it.

Rayazaki was the following target of Basara's evaluation.

"Satou Rayazaki... You had the challenge of: Pick a fight with everyone in class and receive at least three punches to your face per fight (The teacher is also included), and it was not even attempted whatsoever!" Rayazaki instantly defended himself "It's bullshit! How'd you expect me to do the challenge when I had to literally kill myself in the prior?! It's ridiculous to even attempt it, and FUCK YOU, whoever had this stupid idea! What if it had landed on you?! Shit yourself!" Rayazaki punched the surface of their table "Excuses, excuses, excuses, we get it, HAHAHA!!" Basara maliciously laughed it off alongside some others though not many.

Now onto the third and final row, Basara addressed the challenge that would not only determine Tsudo's circumstance but Tateyana's.

"Toharoh Tsudo, you had the challenge of: Get the permission of a girl to touch her boobs and fiddle with them for thirty seconds!" Tsudo felt snarky and obtusely confident in a sense "Whore." Not Tsudo, but Kanawari spoke in Tateyana's direction "Shut up..." Tateyana felt offended "Where's your honor?" Kanawari asked "Hah, you'd rather die with honor to the cold? Sorry, I can't relate---I'd rather win." She spoke with seriousness "And Tsudo, on that note, did Tateyana help you complete your challenge?" Tsudo was very quick to reply with a smile "Oh yes, she was." He winked at her with his left eye, Tateyana feeling mildly disgusted "...Gross..." Sagasuga added a comment "You had other options." He said.

However, Tateyana looked at Kawahara instead of particularly anyone else.

"...No I didn't..." She remarked very lowly "Well, given that I witnessed that, I can confirm that Tateyana did help you complete the challenge, so with that said, back to Tateyana's challenge, it was thoroughly accomplished!" Basara declared "I already spoke about your guess, which was Hyunda, so you passed, congratulations." Looking at Tsudo now, Basara continued his judgment "It was a success on your end and your guess which was: Gayakirima Kanawari was right!" Basara happily declared it "What did I tell you?" Tsudo looked behind to the bitter Kanawari "It's just the start." She countered "Hah, no." He added something else "No, it's not. Unless you mean your downfall, then that's-----" Tsudo was paralyzed as he encountered a cold impending doom stare in that same line, in the seat behind Kanawari, and then Sana's.

His stare made Tsudo's mouth be sealed immediately as he gulped.

"Mayuraki Shizuku!" Shizuku wasn't particularly eager this time as she didn't show her usual smug smile "...." Basara then proceeded to declare her challenge "Your challenge which was: Drink at least a liter of a liquid from within the classroom, WAS NOT ATTEMPTED!!" Many began to imagine what the choices were when it came to such liquid "I'm not drinking piss, for FUCK'S SAKE!" Shizuku abrasively declared "The challenge isn't telling you to do so." Basara replied "Well, I'm so sorry but I did ask everyone in the classroom if they could so gently lend me their water bottles but it turns out that no one, you included, teacher, had any!" She went further "So what's my other choice here exactly?!" She complained while yelling "What were you doing in the last ten minutes when you were allowed to leave the classroom?" Basara argued.

Shizuku realized her mistake but she didn't want to admit it and laughed it off instead.

"Oh PLEASE. Like I had a way to actually guess a stupid challenge like that was going to be thrown in my direction! That's superstition at that point!" She reasoned "True. You naturally fail." Basara nevertheless gave the ultimate result "How fair." She sarcastically said.

Absent from her table partner, Kuzan----Kanawari was next.

"Gayakirima Kanawari, you had the challenge of-----" Kanawari spoke for Basara instead "Make out with a person of the opposite gender." She spoke very succinctly "I failed, not only that, I additionally didn't name anyone. Move on to the next one." However, Basara said something before moving on "You'll die by your honor then?" He genuinely asked "So be it." Lus showed visible physical agitation in her face as Daniel didn't fail to notice that "Alright." Basara acknowledged her answer and moved on.

Glued, her lips couldn't move. Therefore, Sana couldn't utter a single word.

"Nasha Sana, you had the earnest challenge of: Vow to an individual who lost this round that you will help them complete their challenge regardless of how tasking it is in the next round; and if you can't, then you not only lose this round but the subsequent one." Basara explained the thorough challenge that Sana got "I understand you can't speak right now, but I need to know, who is this such said individual?" All eyes were on Sana "Mayuraki Shizuku." By contrast, all attention was pinpointed to the one behind her who replied with a stark confident tone.

Shizuku in particular looked into Daniel, nervous yet unable to tell why she was picked.

"Isn't that right, Sana?" Daniel asked "...." She nodded affirmative "I see. There is no particular rule against this type of challenges that delay the challenge, since this one does have a heavy consequence. With that said, Sana's challenge this round will be judged in the upcoming round. That means your upcoming free twenty minutes have been greatly reduced to ten since you need to be here in the next round." Not a lot of people complained "Hold on teacher... Isn't delaying it kinda too good?" Rayazaki spoke and explained his reasoning "Sure, you STILL have to do it in the next round but being able to escape the TEN minutes of cold is very advantageous." Rayazaki made his point "Is that a complaint?" Basara asked "Yes, it is." Rayazaki looked at Sana with a hateful glare "Some of these challenges are absurdly easy while some are HARD. There's a clear difference in difficulty in this round for some reason..." Rayazaki pointed out.

Truthfully, no one argued back.

"I see. While it's a valid complaint, she does receive double the consequences if she doesn't comply. It's fair in my eyes, but I understand your complaint so I'll relay it to the superiors." Basara said "......." Rayazaki wasn't entirely pleased, though.

Leaving only two individuals left, the round was practically almost done.

"Lus Sera, you had the challenge of: Do something nice for your table partner." Rayazaki laughed it off "HAHAHA, WHAT?!" He couldn't hold himself back "Are you serious?! This is supposed to be a challenge, what the fuck is EVEN THAT?!" Many shared his opinion though they didn't go out of their way to show it "Stop complaining, not every challenge has to be malicious in the first place. You're just jealous I was chosen with one that had the complete opposing nature of the challenge you got." Lus defended herself "Sure, sure, sure! Let's pretend you totally didn't luck out HAHA!" Rayazaki couldn't control himself "This is so fucking RIGGED!" Basara continued, however "What exactly did you do that could be qualified as nice for Daniel, Lus?" Her turn to explain was due.

Lus looked at Daniel serenely though Daniel didn't as he kept chewing.

"I offered him a whole pack of my delicious peach gums, he's feeling bliss as we speak, isn't that right?" All eyes were on the apathetic Daniel who chewed on a singular peach gum "Sure." He simply said "........." Lus gave him an annoyed stare "Fair enough." Basara shrugged "Also, did Daniel tell you who the orchestrator of your challenge was?" He asked though many didn't understand what this meant "Yes. He told me it was Rikishima Ikkiri." Basara acknowledged "I see. Well, your guess which was: Rikishima Ikkiri, was also correct." He declared "......." Lus looked at Ikkiri and then at Daniel with a high level of skepticism "What?" Daniel looked at her with his side eye "I told you." He said "I know." She replied. And now, the turn was lastly on Daniel.

Basara started to walk down to the south door of the classroom while reaching out for his keys as he started to open the door.

"Daniel Lead, your challenge which was: Tell your table partner who the orchestrator of their challenge is, and be right." Stunned expressions were made in utter disbelief "How the fuck..." Rayazaki could not believe it either "That can't be right, that's just----what?" Basara opened the door "To which you did, and your guess which was: Ryousuke Kawahara, is also right!" Daniel instantly got up before anyone else "That'll be all for this round! Be here in ten minutes if you were successful, and if you were not you stay HERE!" Daniel rapidly pass through the now open door and descended.

Naturally, if there were any prior winners from the previous round, they would have an additional ten minutes to spare.

Such people are: Gale Iris, Hirabiku Tatsu, Kitsuya Arkalee, Hiroyoshi Sagasuga, Kaneta Tateyana, Takeshi Kuzan, Sana Nasha, and Lus Sera.

"Wait, teacher. I have a question" While many students were rapidly leaving, Lus quickly went to talk with Basara "What now?" She was very conflicted "Am I allowed to give the extra ten minutes I have to someone el---" Basara interrupted her "Absolutely not. Out of the question, Lus. I'm closing, you're either leaving or you stay with them." Lus looked over the people who were forced to stay, such as Kanawari, Shizuku and Rayazaki, though Kanawari more in particular "Then I'm stayi---" Kanawari interrupted her from afar "Don't be stupid, Lus. Teacher, take her away, please." Basara tucked Lus' left shoulder "Wha-----" Ultimately, he dragged her away from the classroom "Take her advice, Lus." And closed the classroom where the three individuals would have to endure glacial cold for the next ten minutes.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Walking off, Basara left Lus in solitude but not before saying something.

"Eat something." Feeling bitter about her friend being locked away, Lus grit her teeth and went back to her dorm.

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Male dorm, 5:42 am.

"Eight minutes left." Hyunda said as they climbed down the rusty downward stairway from within a hidden part of the kitchen "Sufficient." Daniel said as they ventured deeper into the unknown area that their dorm supervisor, George Kentucky, had allowed them to go to "What exactly do you want?" Hyunda asked as he took a step forward, leading Daniel further "I need to see what I can obtain first." Hyunda chuckled "Alright. If you're wondering about Arkalee, I sent her on some extra errands since she'll have twenty minutes. Letting her win every time would be massively convenient, you know?" Daniel argued back "Until she decides to stay with you in the classroom." Though Hyunda argued back "That can be arranged-----and it should be..." Hyunda was searching for something amidst the dark now that they hit solid surface and were no longer travelling through the stairway degrees.

After a while, he managed to find a light source switch and pulled it off.

Basking in artificial light, the cave that contained seemingly endless small closed wooden boxes, was a sight to be hold.

"All of this, at my disposal?" Daniel asked as he walked around in the dusty ground where myriads of boxes lay "No, only this." Daniel turned around and looked to his right in the mildly illuminated room where Hyunda pointed at a very small wooden box "......" Daniel got closer to Hyunda and observed the box "Here." Hyunda gave him the box after unlocking the locker with one of his keys "It's light." Daniel remarked.

He took an inside look at what the box had.

Then closed it.

"This is all I'll ever get?" Daniel wanted to make sure "It's what I can technically only provide to someone who is at the lowest level. Mind you, you're technically not in, so this is generosity on my behalf." Hyunda clarified it "...." Daniel acknowledged "Got it." Immediately, Daniel opened his backpack and started to put everything that was within the box into his backpack.

Knelt on the floor, Daniel was entirely focused while Hyunda was keeping track of the time.

"Boring strategy, by the way." Hyunda remarked in an abhorrent tone "......" Yet Daniel kept packing "It won't work, it's too random." He said to Daniel "Besides-----" Now done, Daniel erupted after putting his backpack on his bag "It's a test, don't get confused." Daniel started to climb the stairs but not before looking at Hyunda one last time "The instructions remain the same. Same format, same signals, same type of challenge." Daniel then exited the cave while leaving Hyunda to wonder what he's thinking about.

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Female dorm, 5:44 am.

Many of the girls were eating their morning breakfast because Olivia had specifically prepared various portions of meals on this day, which already made them think that it could not be a coincidence.

Via artificial light, they were able to see their surroundings better albeit the cold was making them tremble.

On the east side of the cafeteria, eating a variety of sweets while drinking orange juice, Hinagiku and Ikkiri-----Hinagiku with her face extremely blurry as she had to clean it up due to the black paint covered all over it and Ikkiri, who was still recovering from having drank so much black ink-----happily ate in a ferocious manner.

However, Ikkiri started choking the moment an individual joined their table, Hinagiku almost turning stone in the process too.

This individual now had her face practically scarred from both sides due to her previous challenge which made it so where there were two lines all the way from the bottom of her eyes to the end of her jaw.

"KHA----" Ikkiri was attempting to correct her own posture "Juice, drink it!" Hinagiku suggested as she saw her taking a seat to Ikkiri's left side "Mind if I sit?" Lus asked the two of them "S-Sure! We're just eating anyways..." Hinagiku drank her orange juice from her glass as well "How?" Lus took a bite out of her red apple "Hm...?" Hinagiku looked at Lus as she mirrored her; Ikkiri somewhat more composed now "You told me that THAT bitch was the one who issued my challenge since you also told me that Ikkiri saw the challenge, explain that." Lus wasn't backing down.

Hinagiku and Ikkiri looked at each other.

"Don't play dumb with me. Because for some reason, I later on was informed that the challenge I had received was not from that bitch Gale but from you, Ikkiri." Ikkiri felt nervous "You even confirmed it as his command, which was weird to say the least." Lus was merciless with her words "Not only that, but he was right. How do you explain that?" She specifically asked Ikkiri "....I can't tell you, I'm sorry..." Ikkiri said "So you do know. Well, that much is obvious----but you can't tell me?" Ikkiri nodded to her words.

Switching from Ikkiri to Hinagiku, Lus persisted.

"A surprising outcome, was it not? In the first round, there were plenty of losers, in the second round, not as many, but still a couple, and now only three. If I didn't know better, I would say this is almost too good to be true." Hinagiku also felt nervous "I'll make this extremely simple: You either tell me what's going on or I'll expose your scheme to the rest of the class." Hinagiku and Ikkiri made troubled expressions "...How will you go about that?" Not Hinagiku, but Ikkiri asked "In the worst possible way. It has something to do with the format of the challenge. I got it and so did Daniel. Likewise, I saw Sana's challenge too though she doesn't know this, and it was in the same format. In the challenge, there are two letters----those two letters tell who wrote the challenge if you go to the letter that is up ahead. My challenge had the letters of Q and H, which if I advance, are R and I." Lus dealt the blow "Rikishima Ikkiri." She presented.

Seeing as there weren't many corners to be cut, Hinagiku and Ikkiri sighed at each other.

"You're mean, Lus..." Hinagiku told her as she ate one of the cream sweets "Tell me." Lus said "We are supposed to not tell anyone, though." Hinagiku explained "I don't care. Too many people got the other people right. It's a working strategy, but I want to know everything." Ikkiri spoke this time "You won't tell a soul?" She looked at Lus with serious eyes "You have my word." Hinagiku and Ikkiri looked at each other "...Daniel can't know that you know, ok?!" Ikkiri applied pressure "....." Lus became certain now that she heard his name "He won't." Lus confidently spoke.

Ikkiri sighed and then began to talk after looking around and making sure that nobody else could see.

"Daniel told us before the last round started that we, as a group, would write our challenges in a new format. Double lined on the surface two times, and we would write our first and last name's capital letters in the bottom right corner." Lus corrected her "Except it's the letter prior to your actual name's first letter." Lus was correct "Yes." Hinagiku continued "Furthermore, our challenges have to include messages that will benefit anyone within the classroom. In other words, instead of wishing someone to do harmful things, it has to be the exact opposite." Lus now realized why a few challenges had such nature in opposition to the challenges prior.

Having absorbed this, there still wasn't something that she understood, however.

"Alright I understand how you can tell who wrote which challenge IF you receive a challenge letter within that format, but that doesn't explain how you two knew who wrote your challenges since you two didn't receive letters with the same format, right?" Lus boldly asked "We don't need to in order to know who exactly wrote for us." Lus wanted an explanation "How not?" Hinagiku took a step further "At the moment we have 19 students in our class. If we count out Aki and that whore Yukishiro, we're down to 17. Plus, Kuzan and Tatsu were absent due to the extra ten minutes, so realistically it's just 15. Six of us wrote those challenges, so really, if you subtract you are left with 9 unknown blanks." Lus still didn't understand where she was getting at "Given that we are paired with someone else most of the time, or just close to someone... If we are able to see the challenge letter from that said person, we can determine whether or not the person received a challenge with our format. We would know immediately, but the others wouldn't." Lus sipped on her black tea.

The lengthy yet necessary explanation continued.

"Rayazaki didn't have the same format, so I could determine that the person who wrote it was within that said 9 people. But of course, that's not enough to determine who wrote it." Lus agreed "Exactly, so how?" Ikkiri answered this time "It's something we gather upon going around the classroom and analyzing who got our challenges and didn't." Lus argued "That still doesn't explain it, you're just six, as Hinagiku said." Ikkiri revealed the additional piece "...It's a mutual exchange. Someone that receives our challenge won't know who it is but we know for a fact." Lus then started to think and realized "...I see..." Lus spoke an extra line "You offer to know who is the orchestrator and in return they reveal which challenge they wrote?" Lus theorized "That's the common approach that he suggested, yeah." Hinagiku confirmed.

Lus was slightly stunned.

"That's..." She was still testing the idea in her head "You noticed how we were circulating around the classroom? We were telling each other who wrote the challenge and so on based on the information we obtained after we traded. So at one point, we kinda always knew the people behind the challenges." Hinagiku concluded "Two minutes left... We should go." Ikkiri alerted "Yup. Damn it, I kinda wanted to eat more!" Hinagiku expressed herself as she stretched out her arm "....." Lus additionally got up and accompanied the two of them out as many of the other girls were also leaving for the classroom "Lus?" Ikkiri questioned "You got ten other minutes, stay and eat." Hinagiku suggested "...I'll go." She said "What? Why?! It's ten extra minutes, that's crazy!" Hinagiku was in disbelief "I'm not letting her go through that again..." Determined, Lus spoke.

Understanding her preoccupation now, Hinagiku and Ikkiri didn't argue back though they said a few things before taking off; Lus accompanying them as she endeavored.

"Please, don't tell anybody..." Ikkiri spoke to Lus, a bit terrified "No matter what..." Hinagiku added.

Lus was curious as to why Hinagiku and Ikkiri's expression would show such heavy worry whenever it came down to that aspect.

"I won't..." Lus confirmed yet again as she couldn't figure out the meaning behind their horrified expressions.

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5:50 am.

"What are you doing here, Lus?" Confronted by Basara immediately as she entered, all eyes were on her "Would it be alright for me to not waste those ten extra minutes and enter the round?" She asked "What the---are you crazy?" Rayazaki spoke, bewildered "Holy shit, you are." He concluded as he let out a small laughter amidst his trembling "There's no rule against it." Basara was dumbfounded too "It's just really dumb." He confessed "Thank you." Respectfully, with all the attention on her, she went to the right side of Daniel, in their table.

Even Daniel found it strange.

"Why not enjoy your extra time?" He asked her "I'm free to do what I want with my own time." She said as she grasped her cold chair "True." He didn't deny it.

As of now, the students that are absent are those enjoying their extra ten minutes which are: Gale Iris, Kitsuya Arkalee, Hiroyoshi Sagasuga, and Kaneta Tateyana. Noticeably, Hirakibo Tatsu and Takeshi Kuzan which had twenty minutes left to enjoy prior, were now back in the classroom.

In other words, there were only 13 students within the classroom.

"For those who are on their winning streak, friendly reminder that if you win this round you get to enjoy not just thirty, but forty minutes, as each round contains a ten minute interval so that's how it's been decided." Basara released the news before allowing the new round to begin "......." Tatsu and Kuzan gave serious and deep thought into this "Likewise, those that won the last round, should be motivated too. With that said, you may now begin." Said Basara after distributing the challenge sheets across the classroom.

Lus looked around and analyzed just how many were left within the classroom.

"........" She unconsciously placed her eyes on Daniel while writing her challenge "......" Additionally, she tried to see what Daniel was writing, or rather---apply to the simple format of the challenge yet Daniel was thoroughly blocking it with his entire back and so, she couldn't see it "You're trying too hard." He commented which made her annoyed "I share, you share after?" He suggested to Lus immediately "I'll think about it." She started writing her own challenge "Got it." Likewise he continued.

She thought about doing something to her challenge though ultimately she did not.

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"Time's up, hands off, brats." Basara's words remained religious and so, everyone flipped their challenges face down while he collected them.

Without even a minute to look over, Basara made haste and shuffled the challenges and started to distribute them all over the class.

Upon receiving her challenge, Lus felt relieved momentarily due to the easy nature of her challenge.

"I share, you share?" Daniel was quick to call her out "...Ok." Lus didn't deny it.

Thus, Daniel presented the challenge to Lus and she noticed that unlike his previous challenge, this one didn't have that exquisite format. Furthermore, the nature of his challenge was the opposing of Lus'.

"...." Swiftly, without anyone noticing, Lus shared her challenge very quickly "Ah." A smile appeared on his face "Easy, am I right?" He added while chuckling, which was creeping Lus out "Unlike yours..." She noted "Hm, you make a point." Daniel resigned himself to his seat and instead of attempting his challenge, he started to place his eyes on numerous locations across the classroom.

Given the nature of Lus' challenge as it was one of the random challenges written by the group of the six people commanded by Daniel, himself too, she didn't have to worry about her challenge. Therefore, she decided to follow Daniel's eyes and see where they landed.

Daniel firstly put a single finger on his lips; his right hand index finger, pointing strictly at himself----his two left hand fingers pointing at Lus though she did not notice this.

Starting with Hyunda, she watched him give a one finger signal to Daniel, which was something that she didn't know what to take as. Following Hyunda came Kawahara, who was behind Hyunda, who gave him a two finger signal this time around. Tsudo at the end of the row where they stand from their perspective, gave a one finger signal whilst pointing at Shizuku and two fingers afterwards pointing in his own direction.

On the other hand, to their left, Hinagiku gave a two finger signal while pointing at Rayazaki and then a one finger signal while pointing at herself. Lastly, Ikkiri elevated two of her fingers while pointing at herself, but showed just a single finger when pointing at Tatsu who is ahead of her.

"Hm..." Daniel pondered for a few seconds, Lus observing him "......" Sana, from the front, shyly placed her eyes on Daniel and he immediately got up and went to her seat "Don't worry, I'll help you out as promised." He boldly declared.

Sana had to help out Shizuku with her challenge this round in order to be victorious in this round and the prior, so given that Daniel told her that he would help, he didn't have much of a choice.

Lus began to see, however, a wide spread of activity within the classroom. Kawahara and Hyunda would frequently go to other classmates in order to switch information as well as help them with their own challenges. Likewise, this information would then be switched and conveniently traded off until a correct assumption could be made.

"This is..." Lus was prematurely in disbelief still as she witnessed such a huge trade of information circulating around the classroom "Two minutes left." Basara reminded them, and Lus had no choice but to do her challenge.

Though Kuzan was occupying the seat next to Kanawari, Lus started to walk in Kanawari's direction and whispered something in her right ear.

"I need your help, could you come and sit with me? No one can see this." Kanawari was visibly uncomfortable "......." Yet she couldn't bring herself to deny a request from her best friend "Fine. But Daniel wil----" Upon getting up, she realized that Daniel was not seated in Lus' table, so they hurriedly went back to the table and started their conversation.

Due to what happened with Kuzan and Kanawari, Kanawari's mood had taken a huge shift.

"It's my challenge." Lus didn't waste time and presented her challenge "...You're kind." Though bitter, Kanawari understood what Lus was implying "So, in order for me to do my challenge, I have to help you---my best friend---succeed in it~" Lus showed a soft gentle smile to Kanawari "......." Resistant at first, Kanawari couldn't hold herself back as she tightly hugged Lus "I'm sorry---I was not ready for it..." Kanawari confessed as she trembled while weeping a bit "It wasn't your fault, it was his, please." Lus calmly said as she patted Kanawari's head "...Thank you, I really needed to hear that." It took Kanawari a bit to compose herself back, but as she did, she was now ready.

By that conclusion, she presented her challenge and the first thing Lus noticed was the lack of design that her challenge has.

Momentarily she felt a stare from the person that is on Sana's side and nervously erupted her head by instinct.

"?!" However, Daniel had her eyes on Sana as he was talking to her "Lus----?" Kanawari showed worry "It's nothing----also, this is definitely possible." Lus contrasted her behavior fairly quickly but it was enough for Kanawari to reignite her hopes "...Really? I honestly thought I was doomed." Lus begged to differ "Let's get it started, we don't have much time..." Instead of losing time bickering, Lus helped out Kanawari do her challenge "..........." Daniel watched their movements as they started to consult their teacher, Basara, first "Hey, Sana." While looking at Lus and Kanawari, Daniel asked Sana an additional favor "Could you write me two letters? My handwriting sucks, but yours, on the other hand... It's a mastercraft, if I'm honest. Just a simple demonstration, please." He now turned his head to his right where the lip-glued Sana is located.

Daniel went out of his way to tell which ones to her.

"Yup, perfect. As I thought, your handwriting is so pretty..." He complimented her "......" She felt slightly bashful "But thanks! Anyways, let's go to Shizuku; go ahead, I'll follow you." Sana nodded and drifted away from her seat as Daniel analyzed the piece of white paper from her journal where Sana wrote the two specific letters "......." He looked at Lus and Kanawari, who were on the second row now, abiding to Kanawari's challenge "..........." Mimicking Sana's handwriting, Daniel wrote two complete separate letters and then discreetly, he placed a small paper note that he had ripped off a page on Lus' journal while ultimately stashing the rest of the white paper piece in his right pocket.

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"Understood." Time was up, but Basara was on a call with someone yet the call concluded rather fast without going over a minute "I apologize for the delay." Basara decided to address the curtain call "Stop. Time is due." Nobody disobeyed, though Lus felt shackled as she couldn't fight off an unknown doubt in her system "You wrote that, right?" Lus was feeling quite nervous "Wrote what?" She was trying to be silent "This!" Albeit it was only barely, she was making a fuss about the piece of paper she presented below "No, I didn't." Daniel coldly said.

Lus felt torn apart.

"I-I-I---" She gulped "What's wrong?" Daniel looked into her fragile face "Calm down and explain." Lus didn't like how she was acting yet she told Daniel what was on her mind regardless "I already knew the person behind my challenge because it had the same format as the last one, and I just had to follow the two letters up ahead of the ones that were presented!" She was trying to not get as much attention as possible, but it was completely backfiring "Lower your voice and whisper everything to my ear." Daniel told her as he leaned his face closer to hers while taking note of the information "I thought that it was you who delivered those two letters to me to write in Kana's challenge since you helped me out before, but if it's not you then that means I might have gotten the wrong name!" She explicitly told her worry; Kanawari feeling slightly afraid as she didn't understand what Lus was fussing about.

Basara was already collecting the challenges from the second row, but Lus decided to do something out of impulse.

Erupting from her seat, Lus attempted to sneak into Kanawari's desk which was two desks away.

"Lus Sera, back to your seat, NOW." Basara's shout froze her "----Ghhh!!" Conflicted, she said something before ultimately retreating fully "It's the wrong name, you need to ch-----" Basara interrupted her, further ruining her mood "I SAID NOW!!" In shame, after being yelled at from afar, Lus fled back to her seat "It's also FUTILE to change your guess as doing so will result in failure of all upcoming rounds!" The terrifying applications of this alone stopped Kanawari from altering anything as she dreaded for what would happen if she did "Good fucking God, you pests can't stop pissing me off for a single minute---it's impressive." Defeated, Lus gritted her teeth; Daniel fully observed her every reaction.

After collecting all the challenge sheets, Basara went to the podium and gave the news.

"I have some news to communicate in regards to subsequent changes that will occur in this exam. Though this is our only first hour, there will be a permanent change which is: The winner of the respective round cannot stay inside the classroom, no matter the circumstance. Also, challenges cannot be delayed from this point on." Rayazaki struck a victory pose instantly "Yes! Fuck YES! Oh thank you so---" Basara's voice towered Rayazaki's "FURTHERMORE, reminder that your dear friends, Akimiyashika and Yukishiro, will be back, not in two rounds from here, but in the next one!" This reminder upset some people, however they didn't voice their complaints.

Fiddling the sheets now, Basara started his judgment.

"Hirakibo Tatsu, you had the challenge of: Eat Gale's leftover vomits." Tatsu not only had a black eye from his prior challenges, but he now had vomit all over his mouth and desk "Oh my FUCKING GOD!" Rayazaki felt like throwing up "I suppose there's an entire meaning to downbad now, holy fuck..." Not even Tsudo could hide his surprise "You're on your third win, congratulations!" Tatsu couldn't reply as he kept throwing up over and over "You're cleaning that shit up before leaving, my boy. Because you'll have an additional forty FUCKING minutes! Ah yes, your guess, which was: Lus Sera, was correct, naturally." The attention summoned to Lus greatly "Ever heard of subtlety, sweetheart?" Basara sighed as he asked Lus though she was far more concerned about something else.

Onto Ikkiri, Basara addressed her situation.

"Yet another lazy boring challenge for you, Ikkiri, congratulations on the win!" Ikkiri smiled a bit "...Than----" Basara shouted at her "IT WAS SARCASM, YOU'RE LUCKING OUT!" He then proceeded to tell her challenge as Ikkiri's smile was dispelled "Sing your favorite song to a person of your choice! Now tell me, who did you sing this to?" Hyunda replied instead of her "It was to me, teach. Her voice downgraded, haha!" Hyunda laughed it off "Wha----!" Annoyed, Ikkiri showed a rapid resolve to argue back "That's not true, you moron! I was just not ready that's all!" She blushed but Hyunda further teased her "Taylor Swift too! It was doomed from the start, HAHA!!" Hyunda jammed his right fist onto the table "Why you-----" Ikkiri was angry "Oh for fuck sake, not this early in the DAMN MORNING!" Basara exhibited a complaint immediately "Anyways, your guess which was: Hajime Hyunda, was also correct." Ikkiri smiled and exchanged a shy glance with Hyunda who is on her right though in the second row.

Next on the list was no other than Hyunda.

"Hajime Hyunda." Hyunda intercepted "That's me!" He sounded jubilant "You had Rayazaki's prior challenge, which was: Pick a fight with everyone in class and receive at least three punches to your face per fight (The teacher is also included), which was ATTEMPTED and you succeeded in it!" Rayazaki made a comment in Hyunda's direction though his bruised face wasn't entirely visible to him "You're insane. Enduring the cold was the better play, WHAT THE HELL!" Rayazaki reasoned "I'm going for that grind, you shee." Hyunda couldn't talk that much due to the swelling on his face "We grinded your face, fucking idiot." Basara concluded as he revealed Hyunda's guess "Your guess which was: Gayakirima Kanawari, was correct." Hyunda flashed a thumbs up to Kanawari who was feeling a bit guilty about the aftermath "A little gentle next time, queen." He tried to smile but his right cheek hurt "....." Admittedly, Kanawari did show remorse in her facial expression.

Kawahara's turn came.

"Ryousuke Kawahara, you had the simple task of: Help a previous loser complete their challenge and be successful at it. So, who did you pick?" Given that there were only three losers, Kawahara didn't have much to go around "Rayazaki, of course. There's no way I'd let him endure the cold three times in a row." Everyone caught the figure of the trembling Rayazaki "Your guess, which was: Ryousuke Kawahara, is right, for the record, so you're halfway there." His challenge would be confirmed depending on whether or not Rayazaki was successful in his own challenge.

Tateyana and Sagasuga were absent due to the extra time, so up next was simply the last duo of the second row; Hinagiku and Rayazaki.

"Make sure a person with two consecutive wins absolutely succeeds in their challenge." Basara spoke while mainly looking at Rayazaki "Looks like you finally got the good side of the spectrum, huh?" Rayazaki was mildly annoyed but couldn't complain "It is what it is." He just took it as it was "I made sure Kuzan did his challenge correctly." Kuzan, on the other hand, looked apathetic from the prior beating still "What a clusterfuck this is! Kawahara's challenge is entirely reliant on you and your challenge is also reliant on Kuzan. GET A FUCKING ROOM YOU THREE!" Basara slammed his notebook on the empty desk "Regardless, your guess which was: Toharoh Tsudo, was correct!" He was halfway there already.

Hinagiku was next and unlike Rayazaki and Kawahara's challenges, she didn't get so lucky with its nature.

Nevertheless, she wasn't the type to back down from a challenge.

"Mayabashi Hinagiku, the bravest soul here--you had yet another peculiar challenge and while you could've backed down you just didn't." Basara applauded her "Play the compass game with the entire class. Every person will have a round and the compass must go in-between all of your fingers without fail; the teacher must make sure of this." Her hands were not only trembling, but tremendously bleeding "Unfortunately for you, the school's nursery only opens at 8 am and it is almost 6 am so you'll have to settle for Olivia's treatment." Basara suggested "...It's okay..." She was in deep pain despite her words not showing "......." Rayazaki couldn't understand why she would go through all that trouble "Narcissistic bitch..." He lowly whispered to himself "Your guess which was: Hirakibo Tatsu, was also correct." Hinagiku looked at Tatsu with harmful intentions though the latter did not.

With that said, all the attention was all in the third row, where Tsudo and Shizuku would be judged.

"Christ." Basara sighed as he started with Tsudo "Alright, you had the very simple challenge of: Do an act of kindness for every people in the classroom, according to their wishes." Basara spelled it out "Let's do this very simply." He said as he placed his eyes on the nauseous Tatsu "What did Tsudo do as an act of kindness according to you, Tatsu?" Through his ragged breathing, Tatsu replied "He---or rather..." Tatsu felt the urge to vomit "Jesus Christ." Basara found this sight to be unholy "...Tsudo grabbed Gale's vomit leftovers and put them in a plastic cup..." Some had the strong will to vomit "Was that his wish?" Basara asked Tsudo "Yeah, he said that he didn't want to lick the entire floor and eat her vomit, so I did him the favor of collecting it!" Tsudo explained.

Basara sighed.

And through a thorough interrogation to every single person in the room, it was evident that Tsudo did an act of kindness which was according to their wishes.

"Fair enough, Tsudo. All of that in five minutes too, good job." Basara genuinely praised him "All in day's work, fuck YEAH!" Tsudo gave a victory shout "Now onto the complicated part..." The great detail of attention was summed up to attention "I'll be evaluating your challenge as well as how Sana helped you out, Shizuku." Shizuku didn't disapprove "Draw the entire alphabet with a scissor on your back." Practically everyone in the room already knew what had happened, but they still couldn't keep their eyes off Shizuku's back which was exposed----as she silently guarded her front with her head down.

Coming closer to Shizuku, Basara took a good look at her bleeding back, as her bra was untied.

"From A to Z, every single letter. The form is good too, as expected from Sana." Lus voiced a complaint "Teacher, it shouldn't count." Though not her challenge nor the orchestrator, she argued "The fuck?" Shizuku elevated her head slightly and gave Lus a mean glare "The challenge says that the one who gets it has to draw the alphabet on their back. Sana drew it for her, it should not count." Lus accused "...I used her hands to draw it..." Sana defended herself "So? It shouldn't count because you technically applied the technique yourself. Shizuku couldn't even begin to draw it because it's naturally hard to draw things on your back." Some agreed with Lus and some didn't.

It was clear that there was one and only true judge here though.

"She passes; likewise, so does Sana in her prior challenge. Though Shizuku had Sana and Daniel's help, they both used her hands to write down the alphabet on both sides of her back. No matter how you look at it, they simply guided her hands, so in theory, it stands." Lus wasn't happy about it "How cheap..." She clicked her tongue "The fuck is wrong with you? Do you have any idea how much this shit hurts?" Shizuku asked "Actually, I do." She forced her to look at Lus' face which had two sides cut deeply "Your guess, which was: Sato Rayazaki, was correct." He revealed.

Rayazaki was dumbfounded.

"Cold was better, admit it." Shizuku refused to admit it though she was fuming as well as hurting "Dress up when this round is over." Basara told her "Yeah, no fucking shit." Basara moved to the dysfunctional duo behind "Takeshi Kuzan!" Branded with hateful glares by most girls, especially the one on his right, Kanawari, Kuzan's turn was up "...." His usual flare was smoked out "Give your teacher 10 bucks." Basara revealed the extremely easy challenge "Are you fucking with me RIGHT NOW?!" Shizuku engulfed her emotions on fire "This prick gets not only to walk away with free forty minutes but a challenge that's barely the equivalent of doing nothing?! He had Kawahara's help AND Rayazaki's too so he naturally got their money, this wasn't hard at all!" Shizuku's complaint raised the many complaints within the class "I'll have to agree with her... It's just not right for him to be this rewarded..." Kanawari added "There should be a minimal level of difficulty in these challenges... Plus, the teamwork alone proved to be very useful, no?" Tatsu voiced his complaints too.

Basara begged to differ, however.

"Are you creatures that retarded? Or maybe straight up masochists? You finally catch a glimpse of something right happening and your first thought is to get rid of that thing?" Basara became disappointed "You should be glad that there isn't a level of difficulty required yet." His last word caught some attention "...Yet?" Kanawari nervously asked "Your guess, which was, Daniel Lead, was correct----Kuzan." Daniel spoke to Kuzan as his name was called "What did I say?" The hollow words made Kuzan be thankful "......" Kanawari looked at Daniel with a mean side-glare as Kuzan was still silent despite his restriction no longer being applied.

However, with Kuzan's challenge, also came Rayazaki and Kawahara's, so Basara didn't leave them out before moving on to Kanawari.

"As mentioned previously, Kawahara, you had the challenge of helping out a previous loser in their challenge, which as you mentioned was Rayazaki, so how did you provide him with assistance?" Kawahara elaborated effortlessly "I gave him nine bucks to give to Kuzan." Basara turned to Rayazaki "Is this true?" Rayazaki was pinpointed "Yes, it is. I provided the additional one buck to Kuzan, so he absolutely could win the challenge." Now Basara divulged the truth "As you can see, I got this from Kuzan." Basara presented a couple of bucks and some coins in his right hand "Bullshit. It's so motherfucking convenient when you have two other people doing your work for you..." Shizuku, ironically, complained "Shut the fuck up." Basara advanced "Gayakirima Kanawari." Basara finally called her name out.

Both her and Lus were extremely nervous, not due to the content of the challenge, but due to something else...

Her ragged breath alerted Kuzan yet he did not dare utter a word.

"Quite the stupid challenge, but I admire the bravery in pursuing it." Basara mentioned "I might as well evaluate you too, Lus." Lus agreed "Yes, my challenge was to help my best friend, who is Kana, succeed in her challenge." Proudly, Lus declared "Correct. So, Kanawari, you had the challenge of: Get everyone in class to kiss your naked right feet." Kanawari was deep shrouded in shame as she reminded herself of how she was able to achieve this challenge "Naturally, this was an utterly impossible task to achieve, but your good friend Lus, made sure that you would." Basara then explained "By making herself be useful to everyone in the classroom whenever they had trouble with their challenges. Or rather----she made a proposal to which I have yet to communicate with my higher ups----" Shizuku interrupted "Teacher, please see to it that it gets approved. I find it better." She argued.

Everyone already knew what this other suggestion was.

"I see. It is not against the rules to make suggestions so long as they involve the challenges, but don't be surprised if they're rejected every time." Basara continued "You performed the challenge fully by getting everyone, myself included, to kiss your feet." Kanawari stepped in "Please don't go into detail, you're a TEACHER, for crying out loud..." She smashed her closed left fist on her table "Lus, you made the guess of: Mayabashi Hinagiku, which was correct." Though this was already a victory in a sense, Lus urged Basara to answer something else "Did Kana get her guess right?!" Her body language was fairly all over the place as it was beyond readable.

At the current moment, the one holding the fate of Kanawari for this round, is no one but Basara.

"She didn't." He coldly gave the truth away "Kanawari, you wrote: Nasha Sana, as your orchestrator but in reality, it was Mayuraki Shizuku. Tough luck, Kanawari." Basara added the nail in the coffin to the defeated Kanawari who helplessly started to tear up "You fail." Her face became distorted with sadness as she felt betrayed by the one closest to her "But I didn't succeed then, so I lose this round too." Lus spoke her true thoughts.

However, Basara disagreed.

"You're wrong, Lus." Lus became aggressive "Excuse me...?!" No longer dignified, she only wanted Basara's words "Your challenge was to make sure your best friend succeeded in their challenge, but the challenge and the guessing part are separate." She refused to accept this kind of reasoning "That's not TRUE! The challenge and the guessing part are BOTH part of the challenge, not one and the other!" Basara refuted her "That's not how it is at all, Lus. I never claimed they were together." She didn't settle for it "No----" Basara attributed the rightful award to her "You pass this round, END OF STORY." Closing the chapter itself, Basara let out an imperial shout as Lus felt overwhelmingly guilty "......" Daniel placed his hollow eyes on her as she crumbled in regret.

With only two people left remaining, Basara was extremely quick to wrap this up.

"Sana Nasha, you had the challenge of the prior round which was a confirmed success but in this round, you had the challenge of: Name a single country from A to Z, excluding two letters of your choice!" Basara quickly went over her paper sheet that she gave him when she was done "From my understanding, you opted to not use the letter W and X, which is actually extremely correct on your end." Sana was nervous for a bit, but that feeling turned into surprise "......." She wanted to look behind her, to the figure that helped her solve this dilemma as well as most of her challenge by listing most of the country names "Your guess, which was: Takeshi Kuzan, was also correct." Her eyes widened "...How did you know all of that...?" He couldn't genuinely hide his awe "Nevermind, sorry." He realized her lips were glued and that she couldn't actually speak.

Lastly, Daniel came, as Lus' situation had already been addressed.

"Daniel, you had the challenge of gluing your own lips, but from the looks of it, you didn't even try it. Congratulations, retard." Despite being understandable why one wouldn't want to do that to themselves, the consequences of neglecting a challenge were already engraved into everyone's brain "A bit inconvenient." He spoke "Not as inconvenient as the next ten minutes; you fail. And now..." Basara started to walk to the south door as a menacing cold started to plague the classroom's atmosphere "Wait, I have something I would like to discuss with the whole cl----" Lus got up from her seat, slammed her hands onto the table's surface "EVERYBODY WHO HAS WON THIS ROUND HAS TEN SECONDS TO LEAVE THE ROOM OR ELSE YOU STAY HERE AND FREEZE TO DEATH!!" Everybody utterly ignored Lus' words and began to flee the classroom as if there was a shooter aiming at them.

Authentically ignored, Lus felt hopeless as she watched Kanawari despair in her seat now that she was condemned to the cold for the next ten minutes.

"Hey." Two losers remained in this room for sure "Off." Daniel pointed at the door where Basara is at; his voice absent from any kindness "I won't, I'll stay her----" Basara began to take heavy strides in Lus' direction "Oh no you won't." Forcefully, Basara grabbed her by the left wrist and began to drag her out "LET GO OF ME! I SHOULD'VE LOST!!" Her body was thoroughly dragged like a ragged doll "But you didn't." The moment Basara got ahold of the door, he trashed Lus' body to the outside hall.

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A merciless door slam exiled the two losers from the rest of the class as the authenticity of the cold began to spread like wildfire across the classroom.

The thickest fogs compare though none of them come close to the stark inferior temperatures that are boarding -30 degrees.

Furthermore, due to the foggy weather, the tables in the room were barely visible----some completely shrouded.

Quietly, amidst the silence and the cold, a beautiful silence could be witnessed.

"I find it serene." Daniel took a seat next to her ".....?!" Unaware of his presence infiltrating her desk, Kanawari became alerted amidst her weeping "It's allusive, but it's welcoming. Clogged yet perceivable." Her trembling was intense, unlike Daniel "What do you want...?!" Instead of speaking directly to her, Daniel did something that she would not expect in a million years.

Unveiling a long comfortable blanket, Daniel wrapped her body around it.

"How do you like it?" He asked "I had trouble fitting it inside my backpack, but it's helpful, since no rule strictly goes against it." Daniel reasoned "...Why?" She wrapped her fingers tightly around the winter blanket "Your face is almost purple, Kanawari." She felt fear "Do you know what that means?" Daniel glanced at her from a bottom angle "It means... Your cells are rapidly dying by the second... But I reason you'll make it." He composed himself as he comfortably sat on the cold chair "What is that supposed to mean? Are you telling me that if I go through this again that I'll die?" She asked "Yup. Actually, I might be wrong. Maybe you will just fall down from the cold. You're not seeing things clearly, are you now?" Though a guess, he was right as Kanawari's vision was blurry.

Daniel's face was barely visible throughout the cold.

"Unfair... I got the name wrong because Lus wrote it for me..." She blamed "True. She thought it was someone else." Daniel agreed "But you know, you can't blame her. She really was sure it was that someone. Do you know why?" Kanawari was not understanding Daniel's point until he closed in on her face "I made her think so. I wrote that piece of paper that landed on the top of her journal because in the last round I gave her the correct name of her guess as well as the correct guess to your challenge, to which she helped you out, didn't she?" Her eyes widened "Did you not wonder how she randomly knew despite not providing a concrete logical reasoning? It's a set up, Kanawari. Likewise, you failing, is all a set up orchestrated by me. You here, with me, in the cold, is not the result of mutual coincidence but one-sided manufactured events copulated into this singularity." Daniel confessed.

She further trembled as she wanted to distance herself from the menace that was Daniel.

"You're sick... You tricked Lus into thinking she was at fault, you fucking psychopath! She's all by herself crying now, what is the matter with you?!" Despite the brutal negative temperature, Kanawari spared no mercy with her words "But it's kinda funny, hahaha!" Daniel laughed "All it takes is a feeling of it, and once you know that the challenge has landed on you, you feel safe. You no longer feel like you're a target. You can sit back and relax; because you know what you will win the round." His twisted glare landed on her "But if it's the opposite, you're fucked and there's no way out HAHAHA!!" Kanawari began to truly lose hope "It's unfair, no matter how you look at it. You have ill-intentioned people wanting to terminate your agenda and you can really hope that their challenges are less hurtful than the others. Absurd, don't you find it?" Contrasting his prior hectic behavior, Daniel was now speaking in a rational tone.

He continued to make his point.

"The only way to obtain fairness in this type of circumstances is to instill your own "fairness"." He justified it "What the hell is your point?! Stop with the soliloquy already, damn it...!" She cried even though her tears were frozen by now ".........." Daniel firmly grasped her facial expression "You're disposable." Her heart skipped "What..." Forcefully, he removed the blanket around her body and pushed her to the frozen floor "W-What the hell are y-----" Intertwining between her legs, Daniel pressed his right knee onto her vaginal area "GHHHH------" In pain, she howled "I have a proposal for a relationship." He further pressed his knee deeper "I need someone motivated but with a keen sense of obedience. However, I figured that obedience is best when forced, so here is the breakdown----" Her mouth started to drip saliva from pain as her weeping continued "I lay the instructions; you obey." Daniel tossed a burner phone to her chest area "Wh-What is----" However, he wasn't done "Disobey me, tell this to anyone----trust that I will know and trust that the moment you do, is the moment your life here becomes a nightmare..." He got down to her face and gripped her jaw tightly in a savage manner "I will fucking kill you by making you fail all of your challenges and after that, your best friend, Lus----" A wicked smile created from the depths was born "----is next." Her intense panting could be felt as she unconsciously let out urinal fluids.

Taking out the burner inside his right pocket, Daniel began to tell his agenda as he didn't remove his position from her.

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"Hmmnhhhh..." The feeling of a lackluster nap resonated concretely within the doctor's soul as he sipped on his hot earl tea "Oh he's quite the freak alright." He noted as he watched the late livestream of the exam being displayed in multiple monitors within the living room of that secluded lightly illuminated area, in the central couch "The crowd's hella demanding, sheeeeshhhhhh..." A young man within the living room, finishing dressing up a school uniform befitting of the school the criminals are allocated in, showed up as he adjusted his tie.

The view count by now would be surrounding the numbers of 145 thousand.

"Stop yer yapping and go do what you're told." The doctor hurried him up whilst casting a side-glance "Yeah, yeah, gramps, I'll be back in no time---goddamn I can't wait for the crowd to cheer for me!" He flashed an abrasive wide smile filled with contagious laughter as he watched the rampage of replies within the comment sections "...Hmpf..." As his grandson left the area, the doctor continued to sip on his tea calmly yet his eyesight pierced onto the screen "Let's see how you deal with this one, Daniel Lead. You won't ever see it coming, gyahahah!!" Demonically, with only one hour passing by, the degree of difficulty was elevated unknowingly.