The following contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 2 of Classroom of the Elite, now streaming on Funimation and Crunchyroll, as well as brief discussion of assault.
Season 2 of Classroom of the Elite got right to work with a new Special Test for Ayanokoji and the students at Advanced Nurturing High School. They were divided into eight groups that are, surprisingly, not competing with one another. 500,000 Private Points and 50 Class Points are on the line for the students and their Classes (per group), and Ayanokoji decided to orchestrate a victory for Class D in all eight groups. The mysterious protagonist doesn’t think the Special Test is that difficult, but his unpredictable and nefarious schoolmates might be too much for the emotionless boy to manipulate all at once.
Each group comprises students from each of the four Classes at ANHS, and one student per group has been secretly assigned the role of VIP. The groups have three days to figure out who it is and there are penalties for wrong guesses, as well as incentives for the VIP to remain anonymous -- either to benefit themselves or their own Class. A group’s test result won't be shared with anyone outside that group, and the students don’t even know the roster of any group other than their own. Despite being a highly prestigious school, most of the student body is made up of sociopaths, so Ayanokoji is far from the only person looking to manipulate others to win.
Ayanokoji’s plan to orchestrate a total victory – by getting 50 Class Points for Class D in each group – might've already been derailed by Class D’s resident himbo, Koenji. The narcissistic bodybuilder decided he didn’t want to put up with this nonsense for two more days, so he unilaterally submitted his guess for his group’s VIP early, which ended the test for his group. If Koenji was correct and the VIP of his group isn't from Class D, then he'll get 500,000 PP while securing 50 CP for his Class. If he was wrong, not only has he ruined Ayanokoji’s plan but he’s also screwed Class D because an early, incorrect guess subtracts 50 CP from that person’s Class.
Ayanokoji isn’t the only one seeking a total victory, as Class C's Ryujen has deduced the same thing: that ANHS’ tests are consistent and if someone can deduce the underlying logic, they can guarantee a win. Ryujen might be smarter than he seems because even Ayanokoji believed he might really pull it off. While Ayanokoji plans to win by manipulating people, Ryujen's going to bully his way to victory. Having confiscated Class C’s phones to find which of them received VIP emails, Ryujen plans to find the pattern behind the VIP distribution across the groups, which Ayanokoji agrees could lead to a Class C victory.
Ryujen of Class C isn’t the only one who appeared to be up to something, as Kushida’s bizarre encounter with Ayanokoji after the leak that she’s a VIP was very sketchy. Kushida is also from Class D -- which would make it unwise for her to be scheming against Ayanokoji -- but her Season 1 encounter with him where she threatened to frame him for assaulting her makes everything she does highly suspect. Ayanokoji might want to check if he still has his phone after she leaped into his chest in what she claimed was a moment of loneliness after witnessing all the other couples on the ship.
Ayanokoji and Ryujen were correct that there is a pattern to Classroom of the Elite's Special Test; a meeting of the teachers revealed that the Class Representatives were supposed to be placed in the same group. Class B’s teacher, Hoshinomiya, ignored that rule by placing her student Ichinose in Ayanokoji’s group. The reason for wanting the Class Representatives in one group isn’t clear, but it confirms the groups aren’t random. Hoshinomiya sarcastically told Chabashira – Class D’s teacher -- that it’s just a coincidence she placed Ichinose in Ayanokoji’s group, and that she’s not curious about why Chabashira is so interested in the mysterious young man and that Hoshinomiya definitely doesn’t want to know how he suddenly became a leader in the Island Special Test.
In a storyline that seems unrelated to the Special Test, Karuizawa is having a bullying problem and can’t get her fake boyfriend, Hirata, to beat up the girls who are bothering her. Karuizawa is in Ayanokoji’s group, and he believes she might be the key to uniting the girls of Class D to help his plan to get 50 CP for their Class in each group. After Hirata refused to do as she ordered, Karuizawa cozied up to one of the Class A students in their group to use him instead. At the episode’s end, she was cornered by her bullies as Ayanokoji looked on. He didn't want to interfere yet, further showing how little people mean to him when he’s got a goal in mind.
With Day 2 of the Special Test at an end, Ayanokoji appears to have made little-to-no progress in orchestrating a total victory for Class D, as his puppeteering seems to be hampered by the fact that he’s not a people person. Horikita has been suspiciously calm and uninvolved so far in Classroom of the Elite's newest test; coupled with the fact that she claimed she’s not a VIP but didn’t show Ayanokoji her phone after he showed her his, it’s possible even he is about to find himself an unwitting pawn in someone else’s scheme. It would serve him right because his “I’m here so I might as well” energy seems to be failing him as the latest Special Test races toward its conclusion.