(Kei perspective) Chapter 33: Two Sides of the Same Coin
I had been walking around the school for nearly an hour.
Not because I had somewhere to be.
I was looking for someone.
The Phantom Bishop.
Ever since Game 4, I had known their identity. The problem was proving it.
A theory wasn't enough. I needed evidence.
Then my phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
«Come to Room 415.»
No explanation.
No name.
I stared at the message for a few seconds.
A trap was the obvious possibility.
That was precisely why I decided to go.
Room 415 was one of the unused rooms on the upper floors. When I arrived, the door was unlocked.
I opened it.
Three people stood in the darkness.
One in the center.
One on the left.
One on the right.
I already knew who they were.
I stepped inside and closed the door behind me.
"I knew you had two accomplices."
None of them responded.
I continued.
"I've already figured out most of your strategies. Your successes and your failures."
The person in the center remained silent.
That was fine.
I hadn't come here to ask questions.
I had come to confirm what I already knew.
"Game 1."
I looked toward the figure on the left.
"When you sent students from all sixteen ranked classes to participate, you specifically targeted me. You knew I'd attempt to expel Hiro."
I paused.
"At the same time, you bribed roughly half of Kaito's class with private points and instructed them to vote against Minato."
The figure in the center didn't move.
"But Kaito anticipated it."
I remembered the information I'd gathered.
"He confiscated everyone's phones, memorized their passwords, and created the illusion that half of his class would vote against Minato."
I narrowed my eyes.
"They accepted your private points."
A brief pause.
"Then they lied to you."
The silence continued.
"They gave the points to Kaito instead."
The Phantom Bishop had lost.
Not because the plan itself was bad.
Because Kaito had anticipated the possibility of betrayal.
"Your plan failed."
I moved on.
"Class 1-A was different."
"You exploited the resentment between the ranked and non-ranked students. You created enough distrust to make the class turn against itself."
I thought about it for a moment.
"Ichika, Hina, and Naoki eventually stopped the coup."
Another failure.
"Class 1-D barely required your involvement. They were already unstable enough to destroy themselves."
That was the interesting thing about the Phantom Bishop.
They rarely wasted resources.
If something could collapse without their involvement, they simply let it happen.
"Game 2."
I looked toward the figure on the right.
"You knew Mei's true nature."
No response.
"Not only did you know it, you understood how useful that information would become."
Game 2 had been less about creating an outcome and more about exploiting one that was already inevitable.
"Game 3 was more interesting."
I looked toward the left.
"You had one of your accomplices send the message to Kaito."
The person on the left remained still.
"You couldn't send it yourself."
I paused.
"Because you were the jury."
That was why.
The Phantom Bishop had deliberately separated their identities and responsibilities.
One person could manipulate the board.
Another could move pieces.
And another could remain invisible.
"Game 4."
I remembered the facility.
"The Phantom Bishop was probably placed in a room with upperclassmen. Nobody from our year saw them clearly."
Then came the important part.
"But I did."
I looked toward the figure in the center.
"I saw you with that phone."
That was the moment everything changed.
Game 5 had provided more evidence.
"One of my classmates told me what you had done. Another person noticed that something about you wasn't right."
Then Game 6 happened.
"You didn't participate."
I continued calmly.
"Which means you had almost no influence over the outcome."
And Game 7?
"Nothing."
The Phantom Bishop had no control over the final game.
That narrowed everything down.
I took another step forward.
"So you aren't omnipotent."
The figure in the center finally moved slightly.
"You're simply very good at preparing the board before anyone realizes they're playing."
I looked toward the person on the left.
"Shinko."
He stepped forward.
"So you figured it out."
His voice was almost amused.
"Game 3."
I looked at him.
"You defended me because you wanted her expelled."
Shinko didn't deny it.
"The Phantom Bishop wanted it."
I continued.
"You were only a minor accomplice, but you deliberately left clues behind."
My eyes narrowed.
"You almost revealed the Phantom Bishop's identity during Game 5."
Shinko smiled.
"You wanted me to notice."
He had given me just enough information to continue searching.
Not enough to solve everything.
Enough to make me suspicious.
That was the difference.
I turned toward the person on the right.
"Nozomi."
She stepped forward with her hands in her pockets.
"Oh well. It was fun while it lasted."
I wasn't surprised.
"You were in contact with the Phantom Bishop during Game 5."
I continued before she could respond.
"You sent Kaito the message in Game 3."
She smiled.
"You were also the only person with access to the contact information of nearly everyone in the school."
That explained Game 1.
"You gave those contacts to the Phantom Bishop."
The bribes.
The messages.
The manipulation.
All of it became possible.
"You were the infrastructure."
Nozomi shrugged.
I looked toward the center.
"And then there's you."
The room became silent.
"The Phantom Bishop."
For several months, this person had been operating from the shadows.
I had wondered why.
Why manipulate people without ever taking control?
Why create chaos only to step aside?
Why deliberately allow other people to take credit?
Then I understood.
"It wasn't about winning."
I stared at the figure.
"It was about evolution."
Silence.
"You wanted Daiko and Hiro expelled."
Not because they were necessarily threats.
Because their removal would force Shuto to change.
"You saw Shuto's potential."
My voice remained flat.
"So you removed the people who were preventing him from developing."
I paused.
"Game 6 was different."
"You deliberately refused to lead."
That wasn't weakness.
It was another experiment.
"You wanted Kengo to step forward."
Kengo had always been capable of more than he believed.
The Phantom Bishop knew that.
"So you kept him as one of your trump cards."
I looked directly at the figure.
"Your strongest piece."
"A piece that didn't even know it was being used."
I finally stopped.
Everything connected.
The disappearances.
The bribes.
The manipulated votes.
The carefully selected expulsions.
The seemingly meaningless actions.
The failures.
Even the moments where the Phantom Bishop appeared to do nothing.
They were all part of the same design.
I had spent weeks looking for someone manipulating the game.
I had been looking at it incorrectly.
The Phantom Bishop wasn't playing the game.
They were deciding which game everyone else would play.
"So show yourself."
I stared into the darkness.
"Phantom Bishop."
I paused.
"Or should I say..."
The figure slowly stepped forward.
"...Haruto."
For the first time, the person standing in the center became visible.
Haruto's expression was calm.
Almost completely unreadable.
"I suppose," he said quietly, "I owe you an explanation."
He stepped fully into the light.
"An explanation for why all of this happened."
His eyes met mine.
"And how I became the Phantom Bishop."
I said nothing.
For once, there was nothing left for me to deduce.
Now I simply had to listen.
And somehow, that felt more dangerous.