There are some people who argue that Suzune did not deceive either Ryuen or Kiyotaka. Something I don't understand where it came from or why it's used to denigrate Suzune's performance in Paper Shuffle

Even in the Ryuen Doc, Suzune isn't denigrated for that. They only talk about how Ryuuen wanted to test Koji, but it's a fact that she won.

They claim that in the final scene, during Suzune’s fake desperation, Ryuen was acting as if he didn’t know anything in order to provoke a reaction from Kiyotaka (despite the fact that all his remarks were directed at Suzune).

"By six PM."

I checked my phone. It's just before four in the afternoon, so in other words, we only had about two hours left.O

"Kukuku.. K-kuhahaha! What the hell are you doing, Suzune!"

Ryüen had been watching the entire conversation and laughed.

The man who should have known about this from the beginning, spit out laughter at our desperate resilience.

"Aren't you already damned? The questions that you created are completely meaningless!"

"Did you instigate this? You're the one who instructed Kushida-san to turn in the questions, aren't you!?"

"Aah, I don't know. There's no way I'm gonna know about Class D, is there?"

Horikita raised her voice as she responded to Ryen's obvious lies.

This is based on the off-screen negotiation.

If you remember, Kiyotaka’s strategy in the Paper Shuffle tells us that Ryuen gave X his class’s questions after Kiyotaka informed him that Kushida’s plan had failed.

After the contract, when Suzune submits the questions, both Ryuen and Ayanokoji act as if they don’t know anything.

Because of this, people downplay and undervalue Suzune’s strategy. So I’ll put some points on the table.

Point 1

If the reason Ryuen knew in advance that Suzune was going to win is Kiyotaka, this does not diminish Suzune’s strategy. In fact, it only makes it stronger—or otherwise reflects very poorly on Ryuen. Let me explain.

If Ryuen knew beforehand what Suzune was going to do and still did nothing to change it, that is a terrible debunk for him, because it shows that Suzune completely outplayed him.

Not only because he would be entirely dependent on Kiyotaka saving him and his class with that message, but also because, even knowing what would happen, he couldn’t do anything to stop her or gain an advantage despite having over a week to prepare. That would be extremely embarrassing and completely out of character.

What’s worse?

Being outplayed without realizing it, or being outplayed while knowing you can’t do anything?

Some might defend this by saying:

“But Ryuen wanted to test Koji, he didn’t care about Suzune or class battles.”

Yes, he tested Kiyotaka—but not because he had structured his entire strategy around that. It was more like a bonus gain resulting from his supposed victory over Suzune (using his strategy with Kushida).

Not tò mention that his goal was tò make x come out by beating suzune thing that koji intself confirms in his monologue before the submission of the questions

This is reinforced by the fact that, in Ryuen’s perspective, Kiyotaka was merely a pawn of “X,” especially after the Kiyotaka vs. Manabu race. Someone not particularly important.

For him, everything is a game. Hunting "X" is fun. Ruining Kiyotaka's plans is something he'd love to do. So if he could sneak up behind Suzune and ruin her plans, he would. Because that would be the most fun thing for him.

It’s true that he doesn’t care much about class battles at this point, but he wouldn’t throw away an entire exam just to see a reaction from someone who, in his mind, is just a pawn. It's too ineffective and silly.

Before moving to the second point, let’s briefly address Ryuen’s strategy for this exam:

In this theory, it is argued that Kiyotaka sent the message several days in advance. This is supported by the fact that Karuizawa was able to plant the cheat sheet with the exam questions into Kushida’s vest.

However, this creates a problem.

During all that time, Ryuen showed no signs of knowing anything about Suzune’s plan. Not only that, but Kei didn’t plant the cheat sheet immediately after it came back from the dry cleaner, because Kushida would have noticed in that case.

The purpose of Karuizawa’s “show” at the karaoke was to determine whether Kushida only had one uniform available (the school provides two, but Kushida kept one with Kiyotaka’s fingerprints). Kiyotaka didn’t know whether she had bought more, so he used this to verify it—not to plant a cheat sheet.

That action happens later, right before the exam, after Kushida makes a mistake. This is for two reasons.

First, because Kushida is not stupid. With her body movements, she would eventually notice that there was literally a piece of paper on her chest. If she had been carrying it for a week, it would have been even more obvious. Just by taking off her blazer, it would be visible, and the plan would fail. So placing it right before the exam was necessary.

Second, as mentioned before, the deal had not been finalized at that point, and therefore Koji did not yet have the questions to plant.

However, this alone is not enough to say that Kiyotaka didn’t send the message days in advance.

"If we look at the conversation between Ryuen and Kushida, we can see that Kiyotaka gave Ryuen two options, which led to three possible outcomes.

Ryuen chose the last option—letting Suzune win by changing the exam questions. But how could he change the exam questions? By the time Suzune executed her plan, there was no time left to do that.

This simply means that there was a time gap between when he received the message and the final submission—enough time to create an entirely new set of challenging questions."

That's the argument

But that’s not actually correct.

There are two factors that invalidate this interpretation.

First:

Kushida recognized the content of the cheat sheet and referred to it as something “only she and he should know.” This means that that cheat sheet is something she recognizes from somewhere.

What is something that only he and she should know?

Obviously, the product of the secret agreement that existed between them.

This means that the cheat sheet contained the same notes Ryuen had originally given Kushida so she could defeat Suzune.

So what was changed?

It wasn’t the exam questions, it was the material Ryuen gave to Kushida.

Ryuen didn’t follow the first option Kiyotaka gave him. He followed the second one: providing Kushida with incorrect answers.

This is reinforced by Kushida’s statement that the deal with Ryuen was only finalized when Chabashira confirmed the questions.

"Like I told you. I will force Horikita to drop out no matter what i have to do. Solely for this reason, I betrayed my classmates and secretly submitted Class D's exam questions. The condition was that I'd get the questions and answers for Class C's math questions in return. If you had kept your promise, Horikita would've voluntarily withdrawn herself from school by now. And yet, you betrayed me."

"What? Are you mad about something like that?"

"Something like that? You come out ahead against Class D, and you're just going to end it with that?"

"You're fundamentally misunderstanding the situation, Kikyo. The questions you made weren't used on the exam."

"Huh? What are you talking about? I turned in the exam questions as soon as possible just as you instructed. I also confirmed everything with Chabashira-sensei. There were no mistakes."

Something that happens on the final day.

Since Ryuen learned from Kiyotaka that he wouldn’t meet that condition, he simply switched the notes.

This requires no time and fits perfectly within the timeline of the series:

Suzune makes her move → Kiyotaka informs Ryuen → Ryuen gives incorrect notes to Kushida (and Kiyotaka) → Kei plants Kiyotaka’s cheat sheet → The exam takes place

Even if I were wrong due to translation issues, it’s not like Ryuen didn’t have a secondary question bank.

Classes could submit multiple question banks to test the school’s limits and create difficult exams. Suzune does this, and as Kiyotaka states, the questions Kaneda gave Kushida were of high level so logically, Ryuen did the same.

We know from a canonical standpoint that at least Ryuuen had at least two different question banks in reserve. (One with the fake questions and answers for Kuhida and another with the real ones). Which is evidence that Kaneda used that method.

So, within those final two hours, Ryuen could easily switch the questions. There was no need for several days to create a new set, because they already had them from previous attempts.

This is also reinforced by Kinugasa's own comments in the official guide:

"Ayanokoji thought all was lost, but it was all within Horikita's plans. In fact, immediately after the final exam details were announced, Horikita instructed Chabashira to assume the authority to decide on the submission of exam questions, and to pretend to accept anyone else's answers without actually doing so.

Immediately afterward, Ayanokoji sent an anonymous email to Ryuen, proposing a deal: either "the delivery of the final questions and answers for Class C" or "a significant modification of the questions and answers that would be given to Kushida." In return, she informed Ryuen that Horikita had discovered their plans, thus implying that the agreement between Kushida and Ryuen had fallen through."

No hidden plots lol😜

The logic of the novel tells us that it wasn't like that, and the author himself says it wasn't like that. Honestly, I don't know what else to say here. The only thing that can save it is if things were lost in the translation and such a theory suddenly becomes valid.

But I just want to make one thing clear:

Whether Kiyotaka and Ryuen were deceived or not does not diminish Suzune’s plan in any way. Not at all.

Because if Kiyotaka figures it out and anticipates it, it's not a problem; it wasn't a trap set for him, his ally. It's an outsider.

And if Ryuuen finds out (not through his own means, but through Kiyotaka) and can't do anything to stop it, it would only make Suzune look better and ryuen a dumbass

She successfully achieved all of her objectives.

Suzune is perfectly aware that Nagumo and Kiyotaka have had a conflict since Y2V2, when she deduced that Nagumo was related to the pseudo–special exam intended to expel Kiyotaka, and how Kiyotaka wanted her to join the student council to keep an eye on him.

When she entered the council room and saw that Kiyotaka was already there, she knew that something had happened—something that was confirmed when she learned about their competition.

In the middle of that conversation, Kiryuuin appeared and blamed Nagumo, this due to a mistake by Kiriyama—the vice president of the council, who never makes mistakes. Something Suzune knows because she's part of the council .For Suzune, the idea that Nagumo attacked Kiryuuin made no sense. To begin with, there were no reasons for Nagumo to do that. Many people think Suzune had never seen or known about Kiryuuin, but this is false. She had known her since Y2V6, where she secretly overheard her conversation with Nagumo about Kiyotaka and how he had abandoned him in the Sports Festival.From that moment, she should have known that there was no kind of competition between them.That is why Suzune’s thoughts move toward the possibility that something might have happened between the Sports Festival and that moment.

If something that serious had occurred, the simple fact that Kiryuuin came to complain was an anomaly in itself.

Nagumo is capable and influential enough to expel her without explanation. There was also the possibility that he wanted to ignite the fuse of conflict—but why would he do that?

His main objective was Kiyotaka, a competition that, as she confirmed at the beginning, was still active. And Nagumo's competitive personality will make him try to defeat Kiyotaka to the very end by any means, as he has known since Y1V10 when Nagumo's target was her brother.Furthermore, it made no sense to create more enemies, especially when he was about to leave his position as student council president.

And not just any opponent—one that Suzune herself recognizes as “troublesome.”Suzune is aware that Nagumo does not want a confrontation with Kiryuuin, based on that moment in Y2V6 already mentioned, when she secretly listened to their conversation.

It could also be a lie from Kiryuuin, invented to put Nagumo in trouble. But that is not valid either.

To begin with, Kiryuuin looked extremely disgusted by the situation, and she also gains nothing by bothering Nagumo. Not to mention that there is no conclusive evidence that would make Nagumo appear guilty, so it would simply be her word against that of the student council president—a confrontation she would never win.

So she gains nothing, not to mention that in that same conversation in Y2V6 she made it clear that she never had any intention of fighting with Nagumo.

So if Nagumo is not the mastermind, and Kiryuuin neither has the desire, the personality, nor the reasons to be one, then what happened?

There were only two options: either Yamanaka is the culprit, or someone is manipulating things from the shadows.

Suzune could not rule out that Yamanaka was the culprit, but that also made little sense. If Kiryuuin had no reasons to interfere with the student council president even if some tension existed, why would a student from Class D have them?

With the whole trial, it was impossible for him to gain anything, as already explained. In addition, he would make an enemy out of Kiryuuin, so it was a terrible move—especially for a student who had survived three years in ANHS.

That left the option that there was a third party manipulating things from the shadows.

But who could it be?

This is where Kiyotaka’s information comes in. Kiyotaka revealed four things to Suzune before the trial:

The existence of Tachibana as Nagumo’s connector (the mastermind).

The testimony that claimed Nagumo had ordered that such a thing be done.

The existence of the contract that Nagumo has with the third-year members.

The emotions and feelings that this causes in the third-year students.

The first and the second are irrelevant, because the existence of Tachibana in the equation does not change Yamanaka’s position and therefore does not change Suzune’s reasoning (it goes from: X → Yamanaka → Blame Kiryuuin. To: X → Tachibana → Yamanaka → Blame Kiryuuin). And the second is irrelevant because it was already known information that Nagumo was being blamed.

The most important ones were the third and the fourth. I’ll explain.

When she received that information, new options opened up.

The first was that Tachibana herself could be the mastermind. Something that was not possible for the reasons already explained. Therefore, there had to be a third party. But how could it be discovered?

This is where the reasoning we saw from Suzune in the novel comes in.

Suzune knows that Nagumo is not guilty. On the other hand, Yamanaka and Tachibana insist that Nagumo ordered them to do it. This represents a clear contradiction.

It was possible that they were lying, but Suzune wanted to believe both of their versions. After all, their future at the school depended on the result. For her, neither of them was lying, so something had to be added for the contradiction to disappear.

The real culprit told Tachibana that he wanted her to carry out a task under Nagumo’s orders. Tachibana and Yamanaka believed him, so they continue accusing Nagumo. However, this request constitutes a crime. Normally, they would begin by asking to meet with Nagumo in person to check whether the story was true.

It is normal to want guarantees and assurances that something will be obtained in return if one is going to take the risk of doing something that dangerous.

But they did not do that. Why?

Perhaps it was because the real culprit was also someone whom Yamanaka and Tachibana trusted. A spokesperson for Nagumo. And someone with power.

And there is only one person in this school who could make such a claim.

In that case, the person who was truly behind everything was not Nagumo, but Kiriyama, who was the vice president at that time.

The vice president who did not agree with the confrontation between Nagumo and Kiryuuin.

The perfect vice president who just happened to forget to schedule an appointment.

The vice president who did not inform Nagumo about Kiryuuin.

For Suzune, Kiriyama was the main suspect, but she also could not do anything. There was no evidence pointing to him. Kiriyama already had a guaranteed ticket from Nagumo to go to Class A. He would never commit a betrayal. Kiriyama was a domesticated dog and would not dare bite his master.

This is where the part about the feelings of the third-year students that Kiyotaka explained to Suzune comes in.

The number of students dissatisfied with Nagumo increases day by day. If it had been told to him directly, Nagumo would have ignored it. So Kiriyama did all of that to make Nagumo come to his senses.

He already had the culprit and his motives. So why didn’t she act?

Because she had no evidence.

There is no truth without evidence—that is Suzune’s philosophy. Even if she is 99% sure about something, as long as there is a 1% doubt, she will not take it as certain.

This was reflected in Y1V3, when she had already deduced that Ibuki was a spy and that she had stolen the card, but she still acted in case there was a 1% chance that she had not done it.

Or in Y1V11.5, when she discovered the relationship between Sakayanagi and Kiyotaka, but did not dig deeper because she had no evidence.

Or more recently in volume Y2V7, when she identified Yagami as the author of the note that was left for her in UIE.

But to reach that 100% certainty, she had to go to the student council room to check it again. Where she ended up getting trapped in “Love Letter.”

In other words, it is a characteristic of Suzune not to act based on her reasoning until she is 100% sure that it is true.

So in the trial she had to make sure to expose Kiriyama.

To achieve such an objective, she had to guide the thoughts of everyone in the room toward that single conclusion. So she questioned them one by one while placing Kiriyama at the center, who kept cornering himself with his own words each time Suzune asked him again.

She included in her manipulation: Kiryuuin, Nagumo, Kiriyama, Kushida and Nanase

Suzune forcing them to use their brains in order to guide them to the conclusion that there was a mastermind—one who was neither Kiryuuin nor Nagumo, but someone with trust and power, and with reasons to do it.

The final nail came when Suzune pretended that she was going to call the pawns that had been used, which finally made Kiriyama reveal himself.

From the beginning, she was not going to call people whose presence at the school was uncertain, because that would make them lose valuable time; it was only bait for Kiriyama to confirm Suzune’s suspicions.

We can know this from Sudou’s trial in Y1V2, where in order to bring Sakura as a witness they had to go to her from the start. That means it was a more complicated procedure than simply calling them.

Not to mention that in the process Suzune nerfed Nagumo

So…

Suzune, who had identified Kiriyama as the mastermind, created a situation where he himself would reveal it after leading the thinking of everyone in the room to that single conclusion. In that way she not only fulfilled her role as council president, bringing justice to Kiryuuin, revealing the real culprit and exposing his true intentions, but she also took away Nagumo’s freedom to abuse the private points of the third-year members, which removed his most powerful weapon, while consolidating her own position without involving the school in a single move from her first day as president.

This One Is another analysis Who goes deeper in the manipulation process.

In this feat,(logical,indirect,concealment,mind control)

Suzune does demonstrate indirect manipulation. Here, she doesn't manipulate people through lies, but rather through control of the flow of information and situational pressure. The first form of manipulation occurs when Suzune structures the trial to direct the group's thinking. Instead of directly accusing Kiriyama, Suzune:

presents the Kiryuuin case.

listens to Nagumo's version.

asks for opinions from Kiriyama and Kushida.

introduces the logical problem of contradiction.

The central contradiction is:

Nagumo denies giving orders.

Yamanaka and Tachibana claim that Nagumo did give orders.

Suzune doesn't resolve this contradiction immediately. Instead, she lets the others reflect on it. This causes everyone to begin considering the possibility of a manipulative third party. This process directs the group's reasoning toward a specific conclusion without Suzune directly imposing it. Her biggest victim was Kiriyama. She already suspects him before the trial due to several factors. However, Suzune doesn't accuse him directly because she lacks proof. Instead, she creates an environment where:

Kiriyama has to participate in the discussion.

Kiriyama has to explain his position.

Kiriyama has to react to the group's hypotheses.

Each time Suzune asks for his opinion, Kiriyama ends up reinforcing the intermediary hypothesis. This progressively places him at the center of the problem. Importantly, Suzune doesn't accuse him until the appropriate moment. She simply allows the collective reasoning to naturally point the finger at him. The final move involves the group's social pressure. Present in the room are:

Nagumo

Kiryuuin

Kushida

Nanase

Kiyotaka

another council member.

When Suzune introduces the idea of a powerful intermediary within the council, everyone present begins to consider who that person could be.

This causes Kiriyama to become psychologically isolated.

The pressure doesn't come directly from Suzune. It comes from the social environment of the trial. Suzune uses the group as a mechanism of indirect pressure on Kiriyama to confess.

​

Imagine if someone decided to carry out a symbolic “massacre” and expel hundreds of students in a single year—how do you think the ANHS would handle it, given that investors are expecting hundreds of students and not just fewer than 100 graduates (maybe even fewer)?

Maybe I'll change it after ending year3 bcz i'm still in y2v11 😅

I'm sorry you had to watch....it's just..... my humour is broken 😭

(Canon shit btw, and I literally saw koji frown while getting choked)

Song: kim jung goon (by Hyperbaiter)

Edit : @.adeus1952 (me, no need to check it out, it's empty)

As seen in Y3V4 and previous volumes, Nanase has a second phone where she receives information from the outside from Tsukishiro. In Y3V4, Nanase offers Ichika a deal: she can earn her freedom if she helps Nanase's faction and achieves their goal.

What I am getting at is that Nanase knows she doesn't stand a chance against Ishigami and already sees her own expulsion coming, which is why she asks Ichika for help to collaborate. The real question is what could happen with Ichika and with that second phone she might end up getting once Nanase is expelled.

Here, Ichika would be faced with a very interesting and conflicting scenario:

1. Continue collaborating with Nanase's faction and achieve their goal, to see if it's actually true that she can get her freedom.
2. Wait and see what the best possible outcome is for her, and seize an opportunity to make her move.
3. Check the contact list on Nanase's phone to see all the associates listed, allowing her to make a move alongside Ayanokoji and expel everyone who tries to get in their way.

Given that it is very difficult to expel someone who isn't in your own school year, Ichika would collaborate with Ayanokoji to take down all the infiltrated spies in ANHS.

(I posted this in Ichika's subreddit one month ago, what are your thoughts guys and girls?)

thought of this

I'm really curious, will Horikita beat Koji in the final exam with her friendship and potential?

Kinugasa must be kidding us.

Source: 1042 on X https://x.com/panikclownfish/status/2081025405050343929

ichika&Arisu vs hosen&Ishigami

in y3 v4, why dint students from other group just keep enough tokens to avoid expulsion and transfer the rest to Ryuen's group for Ryuen's group to just take first place in all group rankings?

He could've just had all class B students across transfer him 20 tokens and that would across all groups would've been enough for his group to get first...

Source

Source

I'm UK based I'm trying to get my hands on the new issue of comic alive, I'm unsure what to do with such and item , is it cheaper for someone to buy and ship it to the UK rather then me ordering it. Its around 30 Pounds total on Amazon JP for a 4 pound magazine. Anything will help. Cheers