The True Elites

Chapter 4-7: Who I Want To Be

Lelouch's POV

Currently, I was standing in a rather monstrous group. From my class, there was me and Suzaku. Horikita and Kushida from Class E, Ryūen and Ibuki from Class C, Kanzaki and Ichinose from Class B and Katsuragi from Class A. For a total of nine people.

"Kuku, I'll tell you a little secret, Lelouch," said Ryūen with a smirk. "I already know who the one VIP from Class D is."

I raised my eyebrow, and Kushida, Suzaku and Ichinose all widened their eyes in shock. Katsuragi didn't show any sign of reacting, however.

"Oh really?" I responded with a smile.

"Really."

So, in that case, he knows that Suzaku is our VIP after all, does he? Well, might as well find out for sure.

"Hmm, I'll humour you. How did you find it?" I inquired.

"Oh? Perhaps, somebody in your class betrayed you and told me?"

He intended to be vague, huh? Well, he should also know that his lie won't work on me at all.

"But Ryūen-kun, I don't think anybody from Lelouch-kun's class would betray them, though," Ichinose interjected.

"Aren't you trusting?" Ryūen flashed his teeth.

"From a rational perspective, it would make no logical sense for any Class D students to work with you, Ryūen," Katsuragi said.

"Yeah! We all know what happens when we work with you!" Yahiko shouted, jabbing his finger towards Ryūen.

"Calm down, Yahiko," Katsuragi scolded him.

I let out a laugh, along with Ryūen. Apparently, we both found the little doggy Yahiko to be greatly amusing.

"Are you not concerned, Lelouch?" Kanzaki asked me.

"Not at all," I replied immediately. "It's impossible for us to lose this exam, after all."

We've already gained 50 class points from Light's trick, and considering that we only have 1 VIP that can be guessed, it's mathematically impossible for us to go into the negatives now, even in the worst-case scenario.

"That may be true. But it's also impossible for you to win." Ryūen said with a smirk.

Well, he's not wrong. If Ryūen knows our VIP, then he must have figured out the pattern, and the only way he could've done that is by colluding with the other classes. The most likely of which being Class B or Class E, perhaps even both.

That doesn't matter, though. Class D already knew this was going to happen from the very beginning. But it's okay. On the surface, it looked like we'd just been outsmarted by Ryūen's scheme, but that wasn't exactly the case.

If we teamed up with Class A, we'd be able to figure out the pattern and guess around eight VIPs, or four each for a 200 class point gain, which would be a net victory for us and Class A over the other three classes.

However, if we did do that, the gap between Class D and Class A wouldn't close at all.

For that reason, we'd deliberately chosen not to do that.

While it is a stain on our record to give Ryūen this win, it's better for the long term. We only have one VIP, which means we can't gain as much from this exam as other classes can, but it also means we can't lose as much.

By allowing Ryūen to come out on top this time, it means that all of Class A's VIPs will be guessed – and since they are playing pure defense, it means that they're near guaranteed to lose 150 class points from this exam, while we won't lose anything.