ILIAS PAYNE

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A day after the end of phase one, the remaining participants were called down to the lobby where we gathered around Ivan. He was standing in front of the main desk, patiently waiting with his hands behind his back while counting us with his tail.

“It looks like everyone is here.” He cleared his throat. “Again, I would like to congratulate all forty-two of you for passing the first phase of this year’s exam. Especially since we had to add a preliminary phase as there were too many of you. If this was any other year, all of you would be on your way to the final phase, but unfortunately, we are still in phase two. However, I don’t doubt that you have the abilities to progress.”

One of the staff workers rolled in a chalkboard. Ivan picked up a piece of chalk with his tail and wrote down: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

“I can’t tell you what will happen on phase two of the exam, but I can say that it’s a mental test. Today is a Sunday and the day of the examination will fall on any of the five proceeding days.”

Thaddeus raised a hand. “That’s a bit vague. What day specifically?”

Ivan shrugged. “Telling you would miss the entire point of this phase. This is a mental test after all. The test can take place as soon as tomorrow or as late as Friday. I will give you this one clue: you will all be very shocked when that day comes. Any other questions?”

We all looked around to see if anyone had any. No one did.

“Seeing as there are no more questions, I’ll leave you all to that. Good luck and I’ll see you all on X-day.”

One of Gluttony’s portals appeared beneath Ivan. He didn’t even move a muscle as it swallowed him up.

From my understanding, phase two will start tomorrow but the actual test itself can happen on any of the five listed days. I don’t think there’s a set time as well so there was a chance the test could start in the middle of the night.

The fact that we were expecting something but didn’t know when it would occur would eat away at our minds. As far as we were concerned, the mental test started the moment Ivan disappeared.

During lunch, Thaddeus kept scribbling on a scrap piece of paper. He slammed it down after a while and exclaimed, “I figured out what day the test will be held! That sneaky chameleon thought he can trick us? I don’t understand logic so I see right through his.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Erina scoffed.

Thaddeus, Erina, and I continued to sit together at the same table as the Bad Attitude members. None of us had to be in teams anymore, but I guess we found each other’s company comforting.

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Thaddeus’ announcement prompted all the other participants to abandon their tables and gather around ours. Asher was the only one who remained in his seat, drinking his ale while watching us from afar.

“You attracted a rather large audience here,” Roswaal giggled. “I hope what you’re saying isn’t a joke.”

“It’s not. I actually think I have this whole system figured out.”

Erina shook her head in annoyance. “And instead of keeping it to yourself to use as an advantage, you blurted it out loud.”

“Is everyone listening?” He paused to make sure everyone could hear. “This whole thing is a trick. There is going to be a test, but not during the upcoming five days. It’ll be held next week.”

The silent cafeteria was filled with an even greater silence.

“Are you stupid?” Chris snarked. “Ivan clearly explained everything earlier. This is such a pathetic way to trick us.”

“You were listening to him, but you didn’t hear his intentions. So, Christina, let me explain before you start making fun of me.”

“There’s not Tina!”

“Ivan said that the day of the test will be a surprise. He gave us that specific piece of information which means that it’s important. Let’s do a process of elimination on what days the test can’t be held on.” He wrote down the days of the week on his scrap piece of paper. “For simplicity’s sake, let’s refer to the test day as X-day. If it’s a surprise, X-day can’t be on Friday because Friday is the last day. You can’t surprise us on the last day because there are no days proceeding it—meaning that Friday is the only option. And if Friday is the only option, it won’t be a surprise. With that, we can cross off Friday.”

He drew an X across the word.

Everyone nodded in agreement, whispering amongst each other about how the logic made sense so far. The participants close to Thaddeus patted him on the back for eliminating a possible day.

I hate to admit it, but he’s right. You can’t be surprised if there’s only one option left.

“Now, if Friday is off limits then it can’t be Thursday. We already crossed off Friday which means Thursday is the last day X-day can be. With the logic we agreed on earlier, we can’t be surprised if it’s the last possible day. So we can cross Thursday off the list too. With this logic, we can eliminate Wednesday, Tuesday, and Monday. Friday not being X-day will cause all of them not to be X-day.”

“Then when will the test occur?” one of the participants asked.

“Next week,” Thaddeus answered proudly. “Phase two is a mental test after all. They’re trying to trick us into being paranoid for the entire week—weaken us mentally. The next weekend will pass and no one will drop by to inform us of anything. But once Monday hits—bam! Surprise test. That’s how this whole thing will play out.”

“Why would they lie to us?” I asked. “That’s not really fair.”

“You’re not listening my friend. This is a mental test. Besides, they lied to us about the preliminary.”

“Not really, we just didn’t know.”

“Fine. But it won’t be happening this week.” He insisted. “By process of elimination, it physically can’t.”