Volume 13 - Chapter 3 Part 1: Summer’s Almost Here, A Premonition of a Fierce Battle

Intro

The middle of June was gradually approaching.

There were no new special exams after the one in April, thus we were able to get on with our normal school lives for a while. The White Room student who was supposedly targeting me, also hadn't made any moves yet.

Up till now, the only thing that had affected me was the time when Amasawa came to my room. No major crisis regarding my expulsion had occurred.

However, that accident seemed to have left too deep an impression on us, so much so, that we hadn't yet found the right time to kiss again. No matter how conducive an atmosphere we created, there was always something akin to an invisible wall between us. Although I'd like to break that wall down to make further progress in our relationship, there was no need to rush. Over time, Kei would be able to remove that wall herself, thereby naturally moving onto the next stage. This would eventually help her grow.

As a high school student, I was living a fulfilling school life. At the same time, the season was changing into summer day by day.

Just like every year, the temperature outside slowly began to rise.

On a sunny day, the temperature could reach up to 30 degrees. Soon, the temperature began to rise, bit by bit, announcing summer's arrival over the spring's wing.

Having already spent a long time living an ordinary school life, there were topics that I often heard about. One of them was the repetitive topic of 'which season do you like the most'. However, that question was surprisingly interesting if thought about deeply.

People who were born and raised in the same place would have different favourite seasons.

After experiencing the change of all the four seasons at this school, I once again looked forward to the 'hot' season. If I thought about it, my favorite season was probably summer.

Maybe this was why the blue sky looked so beautiful and dazzling.

"Good morning, Ayanokouji-senpai."

As I was walking while looking up at the sky, I was greeted by someone in front of me.

Tracing that voice, it sounded like Nanase Tsubasa, a student of Class 1-D.

She seemed to be on her way to school by herself, as the people walking around her didn't seem to be her friends.

"Oh it's you. Good morning."

Since she was walking in front of me, did she just happen to turn around and see me, or did she deliberately wait here because she had something to tell me?

"Is there something in the sky?"

I didn't notice Nanase's presence because my attention had been on the deep blue sky. However, since she noticed that fact, she probably had been looking at me for a while.

"No, just looking up at the blue sky."

"Looking at the blue sky, huh?"

Nanase, who walked to my side, followed my example, and looked up.

Today's sky was cloudless, and mirrored a vast blue sea.

"What a beautiful day."

"Yeah. By the way, I haven't seen you for a long time."

Although we've passed by each other since, it's been a long time since I've talked to her like this.

"Yes, we haven't met for about a month and a half."

Nanase and Housen had jointly planned to get me expelled in the previous exam. Despite that, their behaviour towards me remained as nonchalant as ever, similar to Amasawa in that regard.

"I've always felt sorry for what I did to you, Ayanokouji-senpai."

Looking at the sky, Nanase said that.

It seemed like her thinking was deeper than I had originally thought.

"Senpai, do you hate me?"

"I don't have any reason to hate you. It was for the special exam, right? There was no way out of it. Besides, I saw how you tried to protect me, Nanase."

Nanase, even though she had joined forces with Housen, rushed out and stopped Housen at a critical moment, despite the danger she faced.

I still firmly remember the fact that she had confronted Housen, who was exceedingly hostile towards me.

"Is that special exam over? I didn't hear you mention anything about a deadline."

"No, the exam's still going on. It's deadline is the start of the second semester."

In other words, the special exam would still continue on for a little bit? Knowing that, Housen's and Nanase's silence on the matter seemed strange.

"Are you wondering why I haven't visited you since then?"

"It would be a lie if I said I hadn't thought about it. I'm still wondering if you're up to something behind my back."

"Because of what happened last time, I'm convinced that even with a well thought out plan, it might not work out that easily. Also, once we lost the element of surprise it was considerably harder to pressure you in your day to day life."

"Then are you waiting for the other years to have their special exams? However, what about the rest of your year?"

"I don't know how, but I think they already know that Housen-kun has made his move."

"Since they've seen someone with Housen's caliber fail, they've probably judged their efforts to be pointless without good preparation? In that case, being so badly injured wasn't that bad after all."

"I don't know if it's worth your left hand, senpai."

Among the 1st years, Housen Kazuomi, for better or worse, was one of those students who attracted a lot of attention.

It was perhaps fortunate that Housen was the first to go against me.

The question was however, who exactly was behind this special exam. Although it would be easy to just ask Nanase here…

However, the few times I looked at her, she looked away, so I had no choice but to give up on asking her for now, and I looked ahead. Even if I asked her the question now, Nanase couldn't answer it. Within the remaining three classes lurked unidentified insiders. To maintain fairness, it was impossible for her to betray them. In the end, Nanase just admitted the existence of the special exam to prevent her own Class D from being disadvantaged in the special bounty.

"Thank you for understanding me."

Since I'd remained silent, Nanase said that, as though she understood what I was thinking.

Since we were going to school together anyway, I decided to talk about completely unrelated topics.

"You seem to be comfortable with life at this school."

From the way she conducted herself, it looked like she had shed the naivety of when she first arrived, and was fitting in well.

"Yes. I think the students in my grade, including myself, have become accustomed to the special situations that keep on occurring here. Although I don't know how much the upperclassmen know, we 1st years have taken our 2nd special exam at the end of May."

Just like how we 2nd years had our own battle, the 1st years had their own battles as well.

"Although I haven't heard from anyone directly, I've heard rumors that someone has already been expelled."

The 2nd years had also heard that there was a student who got expelled during that special exam.

"Ah, so you do know about it? One boy dropped out of Class C in the first year."

After all, that student disappeared from the OAA list. However, the one who dropped out was a student with an A in Academic Ability, so I guess he got some special penalty of sorts.

"There're always going to be rumors about such a big event."

"At this school, yesterday's friends who you were laughing with, could be mercilessly expelled today. Which's why I've come to realize that every day at this school must be lived without regrets."

Although right now was a matter of just watching and letting the others fight among themselves, there will be a time when Class 1-D has to face a similar situation. During which time Nanase's sense of crisis would be invaluable.

Even so, I had no way of confirming the other years' Class Points..

That's why I didn't know which class had won and which class had lost in the exam.

"How did your Class D place in the results of the exam?"

"The previous time, we came in last, even this time, we only got third place. Although, Class A and B battled fiercely, so the point difference created between the classes is very small."

Despite having Class-A and B as opponents, their class wasn't left far behind. On the other hand, the main reason why Class C came in last was probably because they had someone expelled.

"Is Housen better behaved recently? Or…?"

"It'd be a lie if I say he hasn't done anything. But it's true that he has nothing to do with this time's expulsion. He's only fixated on you now, Ayanokouji-senpai."

Nanase, who had been looking at the sky, finally looked towards me for the first time, with a bitter smile.

"Although it might be specious of me to say, I think it's thanks to you that he has become a bit more well-behaved. I guess you could say that he's taking some of the energy he had focused on the first year students, and placed it on the upperclassmen. Recently, he keeps saying things like, "Let me fight the 2nd years". That's just great."

This was indeed a good thing for a first year. But now that she said that, the fact that Housen would meet my eye when I passed his huge figure was really just a sign of provocation.

"There should be a chance to fight with you first years sooner or later."

Although we've only had one chance to work with them up till now, as long as Nagumo continues to pursue his policies, we would definitely compete with each other sooner or later.

"I hope I can spend my school life here without any regrets.

"That'd be good."

As Nanase said, the friends you were laughing with yesterday might not be with you today.

That was the kind of thing that could happen in this school.

That's why we can't take every day we live here for granted, instead we need to make the most out of them.

Because each day that passed was a day that would never return.

"You must not leave any regrets behind, Ayanokouji-senpai"

Her words seemed to suggest that I didn't have much time left at school.

Her eyes burned with determination.

"Of course, I'll do my best to leave no regrets."

After hearing my reply, Nanase forcefully nodded, seemingly satisfied.

"Then I'll take my leave."

Having almost reached the school building, Nanase bowed her head and left.

Part 1

Considering that the 1st years had taken their 2nd special exam at the end of May, as 2nd years, it wouldn't have been surprising for our special exam to be announced at any time. It was about time for us to be ready for that.

As if to test that readiness, the homeroom began differently than usual.

"It seems like everyone is here, that's good."

After taking attendance, Chabashira worked the tablet on her hand to show the images on the monitor.

It didn't take long for her to get ready. She switched to a white screen and then turned back to us.

"I've been with you guys for a while now, so I'm sure you must've guessed what this is."

A new special exam is about to begin.

Even though everyone had that sentence in their throat, they still waited for Chabashira's next words.

Apart from some students, most students had their eyes on Chabashira, and after a pause, Chabashira laughed lightly.

"It's true that we'll be discussing the topic of the special exam after this, but to maintain the suspense for a bit longer, I'll pick it up later. First, let's talk about summer vacation."

After saying that, Chabashira looked at her tablet, and then an image appeared on the monitor.

The first thing shown was a picture of a luxury cruise ship.

Our Class D had memories of a similar ship.

"Now I'll explain to you what'll happen in the summer vacation before it actually starts."

For a moment, the students looked at each other, as if they were trying to express their inner joy with sweet words.

However, the combination of a boat and a vacation also brought up a different memory deep inside everyone.

This school wouldn't just feed us sweet things. As we thought back on this, the monitor switched from pictures from the exterior of the ship to the interior. The schedule was also shown.

"From August 4 to August 11, you can enjoy to your heart's content your summer vacation on this luxury cruise for a total of eight days and seven nights. You can watch plays or pamper your taste buds. And there will not be anything like a special exam on the cruise."

In other words, we were being promised a real, genuine one-week vacation.

The strongly sceptical students eased up a bit.

However, as soon as those images were cleared, that ease disappeared.

It was as if saying that it was a temptation.

"But in order to fully enjoy this cruise trip, you must successfully complete the next special exam."

Just after the students were treated to a fantasy for a little while, they were quickly dragged back to reality.

This approach of lifting us up and then bringing us down would usually be very frustrating to us students.

However, the students instantly changed their mindsets to one of alertness to the forthcoming battle.

"Looks like you're indeed learning."

A smile of admiration appeared on Chabashira's face.

It wasn't as if she had brought up the vacation first and foremost just to be mean.

Even though we were still in Class D, she wanted us to prove that we are different from the Class D of a year ago.

Through trial after trial in succession, we had learned how to brace ourselves.

"When would the special exam begin?"

Horikita, who was sitting in the front row's centre seat, asked a question.

"Usually, the course of events would be such that the test would start the same day or the next day, but unfortunately, this test is still a ways away. The next special exam will be held during summer vacation."

So, the school would use the summer vacation to carry out the special exam after the end of the first semester?

What caught my mind is that it was way too early to explain right now. They were announcing it now even though there was still over a month to go, so what did that mean?

In any case, from the schedule announced so far, like it or not, there was one special exam that would come up in the students' minds. The very moment when everyone was probably thinking the same thing, Chabashira's words transformed our thoughts into reality.

"You will have to participate in the "Uninhabited Island Survival" special exam and compete with each other."

Special exam, survival on an uninhabited island. The inter-class battle that took place during the summer vacation in the first year was still fresh in our minds. Each class had to compete using a limited amount of class points, and there were rules for the special exam such as guessing who the leader was for the other classes, and occupying strategic points to obtain points.

"We have to do that again this year, huh…"

Keisei, who usually would quietly listen to the instructions of the special exams, murmured as if recalling memories of that.

Then, the boys and girls in Class D had a heated internal dispute and endured a number of hardships.

"You all probably recalled the uninhabited island survival exam from last year, but the exam this year is very different from the previous one. It's probably going to be tougher and more unforgiving than any other special exam before. Of course, in turn, the number of class points and private points you can get has increased dramatically."

In last year's uninhabited island, you were free to choose how you fight. If you wanted to win, you had to economize, but if you gave up on winning, you were permitted to live more freely. Also, you would not face harsh punishments like getting expelled so long as you didn't violate the important rules.

Although it was said that the exam would become tougher and more unforgiving, what would be the changes compared to last year?

There's no need to hurry in thinking of the answer, as Chabashira would probably tell us soon enough.

"First, I'll start by explaining the schedule in detail. There's no need to take notes now because you can download and check them afterwards on your smartphone or tablet."

Chabashira gave these instructions, and put the schedule of the special exam on the monitor.

July 19: Assemble at the sports field, take the bus to the port, and board the ship.

July 20: Special Exam starts; the exam will be explained, and supplies will be given.

August 3: Special Exam ends; rankings will be announced on the ship, and rewards will be paid out accordingly.

*Private points for August will be awarded after the uninhabited island exam.

August 4: On the cruise, free to do anything the whole day.

August 11: Arrive at the port, return to school and be dismissed.

The closing ceremony declaring the end of the first semester is on Friday the 16th, and the schedule said we were to head out for the special exam three days later. Furthermore, the duration of the special exam is twice as long as the last one, lasting two weeks.

"Sensei, based on this schedule, won't our summer vacation be very short?"

Nishimura shot out a question like an arrow out of a bow. Summer vacation was normally about 40 days, but even if we count the voyage on the ship as summer vacation, there would only be about 24 days of summer vacation. It's understandable that the students would express their discontent.

"Unfortunately, there will be no making up for that time. The shortening of the summer vacation is final."

The school caught the arrow the students shot head-on.

Of course, getting some voices of disapproval were unavoidable.

Because for most students, a day off is more valuable than a day spent studying in school.

"However, as compensation, there'll be a week's voyage on the luxury cruise ship. Based on how you think about it, this week should be worth more than the two weeks that you will lose. As I just said, that period of time during the voyage would be free time purely for your enjoyment."

Chabashira seemed like she was trying to encourage us with that.

Last year we also went on board a luxury cruise ship, but there was very little time to enjoy it then fully. I recalled the time when the zodiac exam was added after the uninhabited island survival exam.

For us living within the school campus, the outside world was both new, and exciting. Even though we would be on a ship, being able to live a different life than usual could make it the ultimate summer vacation. The students who had been expressing their discontent seemed to have been more or less convinced by that. If you couldn't accept it, you couldn't move forward.

And this year, unlike last year, because the students were to some extent loaded with private points, they wouldn't have to face any inconvenience on the ship. That was also an important reason why it was less stressful for the students.

"Okay, now back to the topic at hand. Although the uninhabited island survival exam was also held last year, the biggest difference between them can be said to be "scale". The duration of the exam is two weeks, and the area of the uninhabited island used for this exam will be larger than before."

An uninhabited island floating on the sea filmed from above by a drone was shown.

"Also, not just students from the same year, but all the students from all the school years will be competing against each other."

In other words, this scale of this exam would be far bigger than the last one in many ways.

"The number of people you'll have to fight will also be higher than ever before."

What an unexpected unfolding; All the years would be involved in this survival exam.

And the fighting wouldn't be just against students in the same year. That was the particularly surprising part.

"Wouldn't that… be extremely disadvantageous to the first-year students, and advantageous for the third years?"

Hirata, who hates inequality, raised his doubts. If the test would involve participating with the other school years, then everyone should be equal. But that wasn't the case this time. Thus, based on the difference in age, physical ability and experience, a considerable gap would arise.

"I know what you're saying, but I'm going to state in advance that no exam can be 100% fair. Even just taking you 2nd years as an example, there's almost a year's difference between the students who were born late and early in the same year, but you're still fighting on the same stage, right?"

But in other words, although there was a year's difference in terms of school year, if we look at age, there could even be a disadvantage of nearly 2 years that had to be borne by the later-born.

"If a first-year asked for advice, as a senpai, it is the nature of a senior to at least answer it, but how much one says is up to them. It is the same when you ask the third years for advice."

There was no problem with consulting if necessary, but it would be like helping one's enemy.

"Although there are more or less some gaps between the school years, everyone's basically fighting under the same stage. Therefore, in order to fill in the gaps between the school years, the younger students will receive higher rewards, and their corresponding penalties will be lighter."

So, the higher your school year is, the less you get paid, and the harsher your punishment? This seems to be drawn from the special exam in April where students had to find partners. In that exam, although it was the same test, the penalty for the 2nd years was expulsion, while the first years were punished by taking away their private points. There was a huge difference between the two punishments.

"On the basis of this, I'll continue. Now, I'll proceed onto explaining "part" of the new rules for the uninhabited island survival exam."

The word "part" made the students look at each other.

"In other words, not all the rules will be made public today."

Chabashira first instructed us to listen obediently, and then switched the screen on the monitor.

On the screen, the word "group" stood out.

"In order to understand the rules of the uninhabited island survival exam, you must understand the groups."

It seemed like the introduction to this particular exam was much longer than ever before.

This seemed to be hinting at the difficulty of the uninhabited island survival exam that awaited us.

"The next special exam, the uninhabited island survival exam, will have a rule which allows a maximum of 6 people to form a big group to work with each other. Remember this first; if the people you group with are in the same year, you will be allowed to form the group regardless of any class boundaries."

"Which means… the students in the 2nd year, are our allies…?"

Horikita, who used to believe that everyone not from her own class is an enemy, talked to herself, her voice echoing within the classroom.

Chabashira had to have heard Horikita's words, but she continued to speak without replying.

"In the period from today till Friday, July 16 inclusive, approximately four weeks, you have the right to select up to two second-year students of your choice to form a small group of a maximum of 3 people. The small groups form the basis of the big groups. However, although I said you could form the group with whoever you liked, there are still rules that exist. First, as I already said, you can only group up with students from the same grade. You can't form a group with 1st or 3rd years."

In other words, it's alright to partner up with a Class 2-A or a Class 2-C student.

A maximum of four can be in a small group created by the 1st years, and 3rd years could have up to three people in a group, same as the 2nd years. This is probably one of the handicaps prepared for each school year. This rule was clearly displayed on the screen. A situation in which all classes worked together to form the strongest group for the competition could also occur. If you could freely form an ideal group, the possibility of winning would certainly appear. Or rather, the other years would surely pick out the best candidates to form the groups, so in order to counter that, we have to gather all our power.

"And then, for the ratio of boys to girls in the next exam, when both boys and girls form a mixed group, the proportion of girls to boys must be at least 2 to 3."

This means that the combinations of 2 boys and 1 girl, or 1 boy and 1 girl would not be allowed.

The possible combinations of the small groups were shown on the monitor.

[1 boy] [2 boys] [3 boys]

[1 girl] [2 girls] [3 girls]

[1 boy, 2 girls]

There were seven combinations in total. On the contrary, groups of [2 boys, 1 girls] and [1 boy, 1 girl] cannot be formed and will be rejected.

"What happens if you don't form a group… or if you can't form a group?"

"As shown in the list of possible combinations, a group of 1 person can be established. Although the benefits are reduced, no special problems will arise. This is because the next special exam can be done regardless of the size of the group. If anyone, whether male or female, wants to take on the challenge by himself or herself, it's allowed."

Although there would be nothing better than having as many people as possible, a single person can still take the special exam without any issues.

"Although there will also be students who think that it would be easier with only one person, there would be nothing better than having as many people as possible. Apart from the advantages of having more people, special privileges are afforded to groups with more people. Therefore, I would not recommend choosing to fight on your own except as a last resort."

If you could easily handle the exam, forming a one-man group might not be a bad option, but students who couldn't form a group would be forced to take the exam under unfavourable conditions. In this case, for a normal student, forming a group of three would be the lowest requirement to stand on the same starting line as everyone else.

"There's nothing but advantages to forming a group, but there's also a point worthy of attention. That is, once you've established a group, you can't switch to another group whatever the reason may be."

After forming a group, it seems like the group members will have to be together as allies until the end of the special exam.

"We can't change groups, but we could form a group of up to 6 for the special exam, right? But so far, we can only form small groups of up to three people. What's up with that?"

Hirata raised his question to Chabashira.

"Yeah, that's the key point. After the special exam starts, the small groups will be allowed to come together. 2 groups of 3 people or 3 groups of 2 people or even 6 lone wolves could form one big group. However, the conditions for forming a group still exist. In a big group of 4 or more people, the percentage of girls in the group must be at least 50%."

The rules for the proportion of girls in a group will be changed from 2:3 to 1:2. If the restrictions are going to change, sticking to small groups of 1 or 2 people to begin with can be a strategy.

"From this, some students might think that they can just form their groups after the special exam starts, but that won't be an easy thing to do. Although you are allowed to group with anyone freely, it will be extremely difficult to form your ideal big group in the exam. Situations, where one wants to form a big group with the maximum of 6 people but isn't able to, could be very common."

While having a small number of people in a group didn't seem entirely without its benefits, considering the risks of going through the uninhabited island survival exam from the beginning to the end all alone, forming a group of three people beforehand would be safer.

Without considering the dropouts, in the whole year, each class has 40 people. That's 160 students in each year with four classes. Since it's clearly stated that only groups with a maximum of 6 people can be formed, there will be at least 81 groups in the entire school when the exam starts. And since there's no guarantee that every group will be able to have 6 people, the number of big groups competing against each other might reach triple digits.

"Okay, I also know that asking you guys to form groups as you please might still leave you confused. After all, if you don't know the contents of the exam, you won't be able to target the people you need."

Presumably, everyone was thinking that way. Chabashira continued on.

"I cannot tell you the contents of the next exam. However, let me touch upon what kinds of abilities will be needed."

After saying that, Chabashira looked at the students who were wearing stiff expressions.

"In last year's uninhabited island survival exam, there were many students who were worried because they didn't get a chance to show their potential. But this year's exam can be considered to require 'all types of abilities'. Academic ability, physical ability, mental ability, communication ability. In addition to the abilities I just listed, there's a high likelihood that you'll need to use the abilities in which you're good at."

It's not good enough to be only good at studies or only good at sports.

I guess it means that the more things you are good at, the more of an advantage you have.

At first glance, it was hard to see the connection between an uninhabited island and academics, but there are actually many ways to test it.

For example, if the rules were designed so that if you couldn't answer a question correctly, you couldn't get any food.

It is possible for a group made entirely of people proud of their physical ability to get knocked out immediately.

"Although forming a group with students who you are close with is important, it's very likely that the overall ability of the group will directly relate to the results you'll get on the special exam, so I advise everyone to consider the right talents when forming your groups."

Students with a high overall ability forming a group will simply be more beneficial.

However, as Chabashira said, choosing students who you have a good relationship with is a point that couldn't be overlooked.

We don't know the contents of the exam, and it's possible effective teamwork could make all the difference.

"Although I said the more people you have, the greater the advantage, the biggest reason for that is not that you have six bodies or six brains. Rather, it's because of the rule regarding the dropping out of group members from the exam. Let's compare the situation where Hirata takes the official exam on by himself till the end, to the situation where the trio of Hirata, Sudo, and Hondou challenges the exam till the end."

After Chabashira finished typing something on the tablet, the image on the screen switched. Displaying Hirata's name in a one-man group and the names in a three-man group including Hirata. The borders of each name were coloured blue.

"Suppose that during the special exam, Hirata is met with some kind of accident and could not continue the exam. Of course, if he was participating alone, his group would be disqualified immediately, and will pay the penalties."

Hirata's name in the one-man group turned red, indicating his disqualification.

"On the other hand, what would happen if Hirata dropped out in the three-man group…?"

Although Hirata's name turned red, the names of the other two group members remained blue.

"While Hirata will be disqualified and sent back to the ship, the other two members can continue the exam without any issues. And if that group persevered until the very end and got first place, Hirata, as one of the group members, would also be considered as ending up in first place."

In other words, even if individuals were eliminated, it was fine as long as the group survived?

Basically, having fewer people in a group would only bring disadvantages.

"No matter how many people drop out in the middle of the exam, the group can continue to function without any issues until the last person drops out. To put it simply, the more people there are in a group, the more chances they have to survive."

So that's the case. It's confirmed that the groups are tremendously important.

No matter how capable a student is, they still could meet with an accident and get injured or fall ill.

In terms of dispersing that risk, forming a 6 man group is a condition essential to victory.

"Now that you know the importance of groups, I'll explain the rewards."

At this point, the impact of the uninhabited island survival exam on the class will be made public for the first time.

#Rewards

Group placed First:

300 Class Points, 1 million Private Points, 1 Protection Point.

Group placed Second:

200 Class Points, 500,000 Private Points.

Group placed Third:

100 Class Points, 250,000 Private Points.

Groups placed in the top 50% (including groups placed 1st to 3rd):

50,000 Private Points.

Groups placed in the top 70% (including groups placed 1st to 3rd):

10,000 Private Points.

*Class Points rewards for the top three groups will be taken from the class years of the bottom-placed three groups.

Class Points are not related to the number of people, but are divided equally by the number of classes (rounded.)

From what's shown on the screen, the rewards in both Class and Private Points are quite high. There would be huge changes if the top 3 places are taken by the same class, but there was something weird to take note of.

"This is the list of rewards for this time. Keep in mind that since you can't group with anyone outside of your year this time, it will inevitably turn into a competition between the years. However, both the rewards and penalties will be given out by group per class. In other words, if a group consisting of only Class D students gets first place, the rewards for first place will be given entirely to Class D. On the other hand, if a group consisting of students from all four classes gets first place, the rewards will be divided equally among the four classes. While a group made up of the best students of each class might have a higher chance of winning, it wouldn't change the class point standings in the slightest."

Because the difference in the number of people from each class in the group wouldn't matter, the 300 class points will just be divided equally among the four classes.

This way, even getting first place would not narrow the gap in class points. No, at any rate, at this current stage where we can only form small groups with a maximum of 3 people, one class wouldn't be able to join. This would make an ideal negotiation impossible.

"And— — the colossal total reward of 600 class points for the top three groups, will be evenly collected from the years of the bottom three placed groups. If the first-placed group is a second-year group and the last-placed group is a first-year group, the reward will be taken equally from every first-year class's class points. The second-placed group corresponds to the second-to-last group, and the third-placed group corresponds to the third-to-last group.

In other words, it's likely to become a situation where the years would be robbing each other's class points.

"Next, for comparison, I will explain what will happen in case the top and bottom groups are from the same year. In that situation, there will be a special arrangement. The classes in the last placed group will have to pay 100 points each to the classes in the top group, while the classes in the 2nd to last-placed group will have to pay 66 points each, and the third to last with 33 points each. If a class wins first place alone, they will receive 300 points, but if that class also has a student alone in a group in last place, 100 points will be deducted, and they'll only get 200 points."

The class points that a mixed group of 4 classes would receive if they win is 75 points per class. Even if your class has a group in 1st place, if a group containing students from your class comes in the last place, your class would still be at a loss.

"In addition, if the levied class points do not reach the reward amount, the school will fill in the remainder. This rule applies to the other year's levies as well."

Even if the levied class points are not enough, the rewards will still be guaranteed.

"Furthermore, if a group with a mix of 4 classes finishes bottom, the number of class points to be taken will be reduced slightly. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd last place will be reduced to 75, 50, and 25 class points respectively, again, an equal burden."

Was that a bonus because it is difficult to work together in this exam?

"There are, of course, penalties for the groups placed at the bottom of the rankings. Only the bottom 3 groups will have their class points taken away, but that isn't all. The students of the bottom 5 groups will be expelled."

The students held their breaths.

5 groups, up to 30 people might be expelled.

"I-If only Class 2-D becomes the target of expulsion…"

"In the worst-case scenario, Class D would be reduced to 9 people. But that would be extremely rare. In the event that you do face the penalty for the exam, you can pay 6 million private points to be exempt from it. The division of this amount is based on the number of people in the group. For a group of six, a million private points per person would do."

Even if you were penalized, there seems to be still a way to save yourself.

"After the exam starts, you cannot borrow or lend points to each other. As a result, it is necessary to keep enough points to save yourself from the penalty on your own phone before boarding the cruise."

The option to help each other afterwards doesn't exist, so it seems necessary to raise points in advance before the special exam starts.

"Within the group that is penalized, there might be some students who can pay and some students who can't. If there's even one person who doesn't have enough points, what will happen?"

"Don't worry about that; Even if 5 out of the 6 students fall short, the other student who has enough can bail themself out by paying 1 million private points."

From the look of it, so long as you have the right number of people, there is no need to worry about having others drag you down with them.

"Are there any questions?"

The one who raised her hand now was Horikita who was sitting right in front of Chabashira.

"If you form a group with the other classes, the reward will be split equally among the classes. Wouldn't that rule result in only choosing people from your own class to form the groups?"

Horikita thought it would be pointless to work hard to survive and achieve victory just to get the class points split evenly among the classes.

"If you decide that there's no benefit in that, then you can just form groups with students of your own class. That is all."

Chabashira retorted by telling us to figure out by ourselves what to do.

There is no objectively correct solution to this problem. But what is certain is that if one wanted to monopolize the rewards and created groups with only one's classmates, the leftover groups would be forced to engage in difficult battles and some groups could be formed which would be likely to get expelled. On the other hand, increasing the number of classes in a group would decrease the reward itself, but it would also make it easier to form a broader group and control the risk of the penalty. Of course, that might create other risks as well.

Forming groups for survival on the uninhabited island.

Here's a summary of the information Chabashira has given us so far.

Survive for up to two weeks on the uninhabited island.

Because of the variety of abilities needed, groups with higher overall strength have an advantage, but the unity of the team mustn't be ignored.

The top groups will be given special rewards such as class points, private points, protection points. (But class points will be divided equally by the number of classes in the groups.)

Groups must be formed with at least 1 to at most 6 people, and the more people, the more advantageous. (The ranking of the group will depend on the last person in the group that gets eliminated.)

The bottom groups will receive penalties, including getting expelled.

Subject to the rules, small groups can be freely formed within one's year (up to 3 people.)

Forming big groups during the exam won't be easy.

That's the gist of it, but that explanation alone still doesn't give a complete picture of the exam.

"I've given you all a tedious explanation so far, but there's more to explain apart from that."

Chabashira took a breath and continued to what needed to be explained.

"Take a look at this."

The monitor display switched screens, displaying 8 items.

Basic Cards overview

Head Start: At the start of the exam, the points you can use are multiplied by 1.5.

Bonus: The owner of this card gets twice as many private points from rewards.

Half Off: In the event of a penalty, reduces the number of private points to be paid by half. Only valid for the cardholder.

Free Ride: Designate a group at the start of the exam. Receive as a bonus half of the private points won by the designated group. Joining with the designated group nullifies the effect of the card.

Insurance: In case the owner of this card is to be eliminated due to ill health, gives that person one grace day to recover. Not valid if the elimination is due to cheating.

Special Cards overview

More People: The owner of this card can join a group as the 7th person. This card can be used once the exam starts, and the required ratio of boys to girls will not apply.

Nullify: In the event of a penalty, reduces the number of private points to be paid to 0. Only valid for the cardholder.

Trial: Receive the right to get 1.5 times as many class points from the rewards of the special exam. However, the group will be penalized if they don't enter the top 30%. The school will provide the additional class points for the rewards.

"What, what are those?"

"These are like items that can affect the uninhabited island survival exam, and everyone will receive one of these. Except for one of them, there is no harm to having one of these. You can more or less understand that by reading the instructions."

It was a lineup of a total of 8 types of cards, ranging from cards that would allow you to gain an advantage in the special exam to cards that are designed to protect you. The latter would be useful to protect yourself, but if you consider it as a safeguard against failure, then the evaluation would be different. The trickiest one is probably the "Trial" card, which contains the only drawback. If used well, it has the potential to pay more than any other reward, but placing in the top 30% wouldn't be easy.

"Each student will receive one of these eight cards at random. The cards will be distributed tomorrow morning, and until the special exam begins, you can transfer or trade the card you get, so long as it is within your school year. Anyone can look up who holds what card in the OAA. You can either sell them to students who want to buy them, or you could collect multiple cards by buying them. But the effects of the same cards do not stack, so there's absolutely no point in getting two identical cards."

Cards overview and rules

Both Basic and Special Cards can be traded within the same year.

You couldn't trade within your class, and once a card has changed owners, it cannot be traded further.

The effects do not stack when you use the same card.

In other words, a student can hold and use up to 7 cards.

However, because some of them can only be used in positive or negative cases, not all of the cards' effects can be used. In the end, you just get effective options to use in either case.

"Also, of the three special cards, they will be randomly distributed, and each school year will get only one of each type. Therefore, it is possible that one class might coincidentally end up with all three of the special cards. That is all."

Explanations regarding the instructions for the uninhabited island survival exam, and of the rewards and penalties.

And then explanations regarding the distribution of items known as Cards.

At this point, we finally finished listening to the long overview of the uninhabited island survival exam.

"Some of you might not be able to understand the explanations this time fully, but before lunch break, a manual will be automatically sent to everyone's tablet, so you can check from that."

Just as Chabashira finished her explanations, the bell rang, and the first class ended.

"There's plenty of time for you to think slowly about what strategy for grouping to use."

Leaving that advice, Chabashira left the classroom. The students gathered after that.

Under these circumstances, Kouenji, who was sitting to my left across an empty seat, left his seat and walked towards the corridor. Although it looked like his usual egotistical behaviour we had become very familiar with, he was walking quicker than usual.

I felt that Kouenji's behaviour was a bit odd and decided to follow him.

In order not to be noticed, I tried to eliminate the sound of my footsteps and other related scents. That said, since this place wasn't like the uninhabited island, which had lots of cover, there wasn't much I could do.

But normal people usually don't spend their lives cautious of being followed. Suppose an amateur was tailing another amateur, even if they half-assed it, they probably wouldn't get noticed.

Shortly after, I could hear Chabashira and Kouenji from around the corner.

I held my breath at the corner and listened to the conversation between the two.

"So, what did you want to talk about, Kouenji?"

"I just don't think Teacher explained a crucial point."

Chabashira, presumably standing face to face with Kouenji, waited for his question.

"A crucial point?"

"If a person who is taking the special exam alone falls sick on the day, what happens then?"

"And here I was wondering what you'd ask. How boring."

Although I couldn't see her, Chabashira laughed somewhat delightfully.

"You withdrew from the exam last year by taking sick leave, right? Unfortunately, that won't work this year. You will be penalized without any special treatment. In other words, you'll have to pay 6 million private points. From what you have on hand, it's impossible."

"Fufu, that's true. I'm an avaricious and insatiable person, so this is quite troubling."

Even for this time's uninhabited island survival exam, Kouenji seemed to have planned to withdraw as usual.

But there is no way for a solo participant surviving on the uninhabited island to escape.

"So what are you going to do then? Carry out your freedom, and then get expelled?"

"Really, I wonder what I should do? You can leave now, teacher."

Kouenji seemed to be satisfied with Chabashira's answer, so he asked Chabashira to leave. In a bit, the sound of her footsteps disappeared.

Kouenji, too, will probably set out soon, and so staying here would be pointless.

And so I decided to leave that place quietly.

But—

"By the way, who's the one who's hiding and spying on me, and from where?"

Kouenji noticed me, who was hiding. I could tell just by the direction of his voice that he had turned around.

"Whether you come out or not is up to you."

He hadn't just said that on a whim. He's as acute as an animal…

Although I could have gone back to the classroom without showing my face, I decided to reveal myself honestly.

"It's the Ayanokouji boy? Do you want anything from me?"

Without even a hint of surprise, he indifferently accepted my presence.

More than him predicting it, it was like he just didn't care who it was.

"Horikita told me to keep an eye out on your actions. We don't know how Kouenji will act, she said."

"Hmm."

Kouenji slowly walked towards me, his eyes appraising me.

"You seem to be good at hiding yourself. But I can't see through your truths and lies, Ayanokouji boy. I won't trust the words of someone like that."

"I didn't think you were the type to trust someone."

"Fufufu, that's true. I have no trust in anyone except myself. Rather, it's more like I have no interest in anyone else."

Kouenji, who came to my side, stopped walking for a moment.

"That applies to you as well, Ayanokouji boy."

After I got the perfect score in math, Kouenji left the classroom with no expression on his face.

There were no signs of him asking anybody else about the details later either.

I couldn't detect a single lie from Kouenji's words.

"What are you going to do in this special exam?"

"Yeah… Speaking of that, can I join your group?"

I was wondering how he was going to respond. I see how it is.

As long as Kouenji groups up with someone, he can easily withdraw after the special exam starts.

"Sorry, but I'll have to reject you. I don't have the leisure to accept someone who's guaranteed to quit at the very beginning."

"Fufufu, is that so, there's no helping it then."

"But is that way of thinking really good? Even if you find a group that you can join, you'll end up having to trust others with your fate of getting expelled."

"That's true, if I quit without doing anything."

Kouenji once again took a step, walking forward.

"What should I do? I'll carefully think about it until it officially starts."

Leaving behind those words, Kouenji returned to the classroom.

Part 2

"A special exam on an uninhabited island for the second year in a row. Although it's not like I haven't thought about this…"

"I thought it was coming, and it really has."

After returning to the classroom, our routine conversation on the topic of the special exam began.

Everyone, along with Yosuke, gathered around Horikita's front row seat, sorting out the current situation.

Kouenji also returned to his seat, looking at his mirror as usual, revelling in it.

"The most important part of this exam is, although there are certain conditions, we can form groups with anyone in the same year at will."

This was a new rule that had never existed in the special exams up till now.

And in the end, the appearance of such a rule was beyond what had been expected from the school.

"But, what about the distribution of class points when you win? Although it was a load of gibberish, and I didn't really understand, there's little to no benefit in grouping up with other classes, right?"

Exactly. Sudo's thoughts were just a matter of course, as he delved into the point at hand. This special exam was not just a competition across the year groups, but also a battle between classes of the same year. Forming groups consisting of members of just your own class was the only way to efficiently complete this exam.

Even so, the school had prepared some interesting rules.

Grouping up with strong students within the school year would make it easier to get into the upper rankings; Low risk, and low reward. On the other hand, grouping up with only members of the same class would present a high risk but high reward opportunity.

The ideal situation would be forming groups of 2 or 3 within the class, and then combining into bigger groups later.

However, it was not easy to form big groups after the special exam began. If there had been no guarantee of being able to freely form a big group before, then the danger of failing would be exponentially higher. Despite this, it was also true that this special exam was more destructive than the ones preceding it. If one class took all three top spots, they'd receive 600 class points. If Class 2-D achieved this goal, it'd be an express ticket to Class 2-B.

"But if we rely on only our class, we'll be missing out on the talents available in the other classes. Also if it's only our class that forms groups within our own class… What if the other classes join forces? The worst-case scenario would be that only Class D falls behind as the gap widens."

It would be ideal to win only with Class D, but at the end of the day, that's just naive thinking.

If any class chose to challenge the special exam by their lonesome, that class would run the risk of getting targeted by the other three classes working together. If that class lost, there wouldn't be any sort of reward waiting for them.

"If it's just that we can't win, then it's a different story, but if we withdraw too early, we'll run the risk of expulsion. In other words, if we aren't confident… No, if we can't be certain of victory, then we'll simply have to form groups of 6 with the other classes."

A special exam like this one, in which the other classes were both comrade and enemy, would be even more difficult than anything that came before.

When considered this way, wouldn't it also be a good strategy to form groups with the students from the other classes right from the get-go? However, there was no guarantee that their thinking would be aligned with each other. Even if you knew that there was no advantage in relying only on your own class to form a group, as long as the Class Points didn't change too much, you would generally think, 'If possible, I don't want to think about the other classes'. The classes at the bottom especially.

And so, under the premise of having to form groups, which direction should we start turning the rudder? Answering that would allow us to stand at the starting line.

"How will Sakayanagi, Ryuuen, and Ichinose act?"

In order to decide on the teams, Horikita used Yosuke's words as a basis to speak to everyone.

"Class A, who was in the leading position, probably wouldn't be troubled by the allying of the other classes. It doesn't matter which group wins, as long as the gap between class points doesn't narrow much. On the contrary, the remaining three classes that rank below them, which includes us, would like to narrow that gap."

"Then how about an alliance between the three classes? Lets first establish an alliance between classes B to D, to prevent any further extension of the gap between Class-A and us. Also being able to narrow that gap with Class A wouldn't be bad."

Sudo, who was listening to the conversation, came up with a good idea.

Joining forces against a common enemy, to besiege Class A together.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, is what you mean. It's not a bad idea to isolate Class A. Ichinose would probably accept this proposal."

"But if we propose to isolate Class A, we have to be prepared for retribution. Knowing Sakayanagi, it's fair to say that she would mercilessly use her resources to deal with even us, the bottom-most class."

Normally, Class A's energy would be focused on the 2nd place belonging to Class B that was trying to catch up.

But, as Yosuke said, Sakayanagi tended to never let her prey escape, once she had targeted them.

"We still need to quietly get closer to the top classes as soon as possible."

"Even if the three classes were to fight together, it's better if it's not us who makes that proposal."

This would allow the other proposers to face Sakayanagi's wrath.

Easier said than done.

The most troublesome thing about this special exam is that negotiating only within your class couldn't solve all the problems.

No matter how heated the discussion got here, nothing would be achieved. If we couldn't grasp what Class B and Class C were actually thinking, if there would be no unified guidelines being implemented, then it'd end up as nothing more than meaningless talk.

That being said, it wasn't so easy to get the three classes to talk together without any trouble.

Ichinose aside, it's hard to imagine Ryuuen readily agreeing to it.

If Sakayanagi became aware of this information, she would naturally make her move as well.

"Seems hard to make a judgement…"

Although there was more than a month to form the groups, if you went about it slowly, the classes would act one after another, for the purpose of forming groups. If that was the case, we wouldn't be able to steadily do our work.

"It would be a great help if another class were to raise a similar proposal…"

The students of Class D were having a hard time with this.

"Just trying to figure out how to form a group by itself is quite a headache."

Besides the crucial formation of a group, there were other important things.

That was the existence of the cards with various effects. Tomorrow morning, the school would give each student a unique card that couldn't be transferred between classmates. Also because cards that have been transferred once would be locked in place, they couldn't be returned to the original owners' hands. In other words, you could only trade, or buy, or sell them with students outside your class.

"If it's like that, most people will make their move tomorrow."

"Yeah. Gathering effective cards into the groups is also a key point to consider."

The day had come when the prohibitions of forming a group for the next special exam were to be lifted.

Of course, there would occur a significant change in the situation of the classes, including Class D.

Part 3

After school, the cell phones of the students who had excellent academic or physical abilities, rang at the same time. Horikita approached me as she watched this situation unfold.

"It seems like everyone's rapidly making their move. After all, it's natural to want to bring the outstanding students into one's group."

Regardless of the strategies of the class to which you belonged to, the first to make their move wouldn't lose anything.

"Didn't anyone call you, Horikita?"

"No, I didn't."

"I see. After all, there are only very few people who have your contact information."

"You knew that already, and yet you deliberately mentioned it. You're a nasty guy. So, did anyone contact you? Ayanokouji-kun, who got a perfect score in math? Your cell phone is surprisingly quiet."

Horikita asked me back, so I decided to look at my phone, which hadn't made a sound yet.

"Unfortunately, my battery's dead. I haven't charged it for two or three days."

"If you don't use your phone frequently, you'll charge it less often."

As much as I would like to deny that it wasn't the case, she wasn't wrong. If you didn't use your cell phone much, you might simply forget to charge it.

"Don't you need to pay more attention to our classmates? It'll be really troublesome later if they hastily form groups now."

"I've already instructed them on what they should do. I summed it up in an easy to understand way and sent it to everyone. But you probably didn't notice it, since your battery was dead."

While Horikita said that, she turned her cell phone screen towards me.

-Please don't form a group before Class D reaches an agreement.

-Nevertheless, if you absolutely want to decide on your group as early as possible, please contact Horikita.

It seemed like Horikita had anticipated this situation, and set up some minimum regulations.

"This is not enforceable in any way, because this matter ultimately depends on one's personal judgement."

Whom to group up with or not to, was indeed a matter of personal choice. You couldn't form a group with people who didn't mesh with your personality, which would directly affect your chances of being expelled. Even if all four classes worked together, there was no ideal combination of groups where no one would get expelled.

Due to that, she could only make some suggestions.

I always carried my phone charger with me, so I plugged it in and left my seat, since there might be some students in the classroom eavesdropping on our conversation.

"Has there been any communication from Ichinose? It wouldn't be strange if she proposed a plan for the whole year to help each other."

"There doesn't seem to be any contact from her yet. Neither Class A nor Class B have made any proposals. If all the 2nd years had the desire to come together, then there probably should be some communication at this stage."

If people teamed up without permission based on their own preferences, cooperation would become more and more difficult. If there were no plans for a peaceful discussion from the beginning, it would end up with all the 2nd years fighting each other. If Horikita wanted to establish a cooperative relationship between the classes, she'd have to take preemptive action from the start.

Horikita didn't show any particular signs of displeasure at me leaving my seat, instead she followed me.

It seemed like she still had something to say.

After walking into the corridor, and confirming that no one was around, she spoke to me again.

"This time's uninhabited island exam… Can you get first place by yourself?"

"That's too reckless. The only thing we know for now is that it's an uninhabited island special exam."

"I was wondering if you, who got a perfect score in math, even needed a group."

What kind of reasoning was that? It sounded like she was clutching at straws by just mentioning it.

"If we come in first place, our Class D will gain points for certain. We can let the 1st and 3rd years fight for the 2nd and 3rd place. It's better than letting the other 2nd years get it."

Easier said than done.

"If that's the case, we can form the groups with the core objective of avoiding any dropouts, and it'd be easier ."

If we shifted our direction to forming strong groups to win, then weak groups would inevitably be created.

"Not everyone can afford to pay the private points required for relief."

"Yes. For the students who are a little worried, I would like to collect as many private points as possible, but if the student who lends me points receives the penalty of expulsion, that would be terrible."

There's nothing more futile than helping someone pass while failing yourself.

"If you don't want that, then you can only ask students with a surplus of points."

That would work, but there were a limited number of such students.

"Although a method that'd result in no dropouts exists, I don't think anyone would want to do it."

"The plan to withdraw intentionally from the start?"

It seemed like Horikita had already noticed a loophole in this exam. According to the rules, only the first 5 groups to withdraw would get expelled. In that case, if we intentionally prepared 5 sacrificial groups and let them withdraw, the rest of the students wouldn't have to worry about getting expelled. However, to do this, a total of 30 million private points would need to be prepared, not to mention the fact that the years of the top three groups would take class points from the years of the bottom three groups. Even if the groups were in the same grade, the rewards would be decreased by a bit. It didn't have any benefit at all. The fact that the top three and the bottom three groups were linked together could be considered as the school's way of trying to prevent such improper methods.

"I guess it's up to us to do our best to win in the exam."

"That's right. Can I consult with you again?"

Horikita, who had stopped walking, said that.

"As long as it's within my abilities to do so."

"That's enough, thank you."

It seemed like Horikita had something to talk about with someone, as she returned to the classroom.

I watched Horikita's back as she left, and decided to head for the exit.

Part 4

I was on my way from the corridor to the exit.

"Yo!"

The person who greeted me as I was looking at the black screen before the phone turned on, was a student of Class 2-B, Ishizaki Daichi, who had a smile plastered on his face. Had he encountered some good news?

"I tried to contact you through your cell phone, but there was no response, so I came straight to you.

"Sorry about that, my phone happened to run out of battery."

"That's nothing! Need some of your time right now, alright?"

"Am I going to be threatened?"

"What, that's an interesting joke. Does a guy who can intimidate you really exist in this school?"

Ishizaki responded to my joke with his own.

"Don't tell me you're busy after this?"

"No, I'm just about to go back."

"Really? Then there's no problem. Come with me!"

With a smile that didn't give me any chance to speak, Ishizaki beckoned with his hand and strode forward.

If I watched him go like this, I'd lose track of him in the blink of an eye.

Causing a commotion here would only attract everyone's attention.

Since I was free, I decided to follow Ishizaki.

But as I turned around the corner, an impossibly large wall appeared suddenly before my eyes.

No, it wasn't a wall. It was Ishizaki's classmate, Yamada Albert.

He was wearing sunglasses, and he put his right hand, which had an air of intimidation about it, on my shoulder.

"Hey."

"… Hey."

I wasn't quite sure what was going on, so I just tentatively replied to him with the same word. What on earth was this all about?

The threat which I thought was a joke, actually had a touch of reality to it.

"Hi, Ayanokouji-kun."

Next to the wall-sized Albert, Hiyori's figure appeared.

"What a rare combination."

"Maybe so."

I thought Ryuuen would be here too, but that didn't seem to be the case.

"It's not a good idea to talk here, let's go somewhere else."

"Go? Go where?"

ILLUSTRATION :

"Well…yeah, I haven't thought about that yet."

Ishizaki rubbed his left index finger under his nose, laughing sheepishly.

"I have a bad feeling about this, so could you let me go?"

No matter how I looked at it, I had a feeling of unease, so I asked for their leave.

"What's the matter, you're free, right? I won't let you go back."

"Won't let me go back… what are you doing?"

Albert, who was standing behind me, grabbed me with his immense strength, and wrung me firmly. Then, Hiyori also pulled my arm into her chest. Together the two of them had captured me.

"Sorry, Ayanokouji-kun, but we're not letting you escape."

"Huh…?"

At the end of the day, this was intimidation, plain and simple.

…This joke has already gone too far.

Anyway, it looked like these three were going to take me away from here.

"We stand out here a lot. We should move, Ishizaki-kun."

"Yeah. So, where to?"

"Hmm, then… how about Ishizaki-kun's room?"

Hiyori suggested casually.

"Huh? My….my room? No, no, that's a bit…! Never, never!"

When Ishizaki heard that his room had been suggested, he refused, flustered.

"What's wrong? Are there any inconveniences?"

"That, that's… because, there are various reasons. Even if you asked me, you said that completely out of the blue…"

"We wouldn't mind if your room's a bit messy, right?"

Albert, who was asked for his opinion, slowly nodded.

…I can assume that he understood Japanese, right?

He surely needed to use it in exams and lessons, but I wanted to hear him speak Japanese.

"Yeah, yeah. Not just a little bit, it's extremely messy! There's nowhere to put your foot! Aiya, what a huge shame!"

"Don't worry. If you need it, I'll help you clean up."

"Nononono! Tissues and stuff, I can't let a girl clean them up!"

He couldn't help but blurt out what he had scattered all over his floor.

"Tissues…? What does that mean?"

Hiyori tilted her head in confusion. What was that all about?

"Anyway my room is a bit…! Yes, that's right, let's go to Albert's room!"

Ishizaki changed the topic in a panic.

"Right, isn't Albert's room great? Right? Right?"

Ishizaki suggested, as if running away from something.

"OK."

So he understood Japanese after all. Albert gave his approval with a brief response.

After that, he started moving while carrying me.

"But…Am I going to just be carried away like this?"

"It's okay. Yamada-kun is very strong."

No, that wasn't the problem.

It just felt like we'd become unusually conspicuous.

"No problem. In a way, it's a kind of dissemination for those watching."

After saying that, Hiyori, gently smiling as usual, walked ahead, leading the way.

"I see, as expected of Shiina! Great idea, great idea!"

What did you want to do by taking me away?

With that question in mind, I was taken to the dormitory.

Part 5

This was the first time I'd visited Albert's room.

Although he was of a greater physique and size, the layout of his room was still the same

However, each room had its own arrangement, and this was a bit unique.

A large American flag and a Japanese flag adorned the center of the room. Not only that, flags of countless countries, such as those of China, Italy, and some African countries, though small in size, decorated one of the walls. They weren't just made of printed paper, but out of fabric, which gave us a sense for his passion.

"Albert's a flag fanatic. Surprised ain'tcha?"

Ishizaki had probably been to his room before, which is why he was able to explain all of this to us in such a calm fashion

"That seems to be the case."

After he released me, Albert casually urged me to sit.

Once I confirmed that all of us were seated, I proceeded to ask them what they wanted.

"So, what do you three want?"

The three of them looked at each other.

For some reason, they all had large smiles on their faces.

And then, Ishizaki, as their representative, told me.

"Let's cut to the chase, here's my proposal…. Let's form a group for the next special exam!"

As expected, it was about the special exam.

"Form…a group? Can you give me more details?"

"More details? That's all there is to it"

"It doesn't seem like that at all to me. I can't even identify who I'm supposed to be grouping up with."

The number of people present here were four, which was one more than the rules allowed. Also since Hiyori was a girl she didn't qualify as a teammate due to the gender ratio rule, so it probably meant that I had to group up with Ishizaki and Albert. But if he didn't elaborate on this clearly, I'd have no idea about it.

"With whoever you want. It can be me, Albert, Shiina, anybody really. The point is that you team up with somebody from our class."

What a lofty and brazen proposal.

In a sense, it was the type of proposal that could only be made because Ishizaki was the one offering it.

"In other words, you want me to enter into a group with two people from your class?"

"Right. And then when the exam starts, you'll combine your group with another three person group from Class B, so it'll be a perfect six person group. With five people from our class, and you being the sixth, Ayanakouji, let's aim for first place!"

Although such a proposal could move one to tears, there was an urgent need to think it through first.

"Hiyori, did you carefully explain the exam rules to Ishizaki?"

"No."

Hiyori gave a forthright answer.

"If I'd interrupted and tried to explain, I felt like there would've been something I needed to correct within 5 seconds. So, I thought it would be better to let him carry on with his momentum."

Better? Definitely not.

Indeed, 5 seconds into the conversation and it already looked like Ishizaki hadn't understood the exam rules.…

"Although I've got many questions, I'll narrow it down to two… No, three questions. First off, after the special exam starts, there's no guarantee that you can easily form your ideal big group."

In fact, our class teacher had already told us that it wouldn't be an easy thing.

If we could form big groups by just thinking or saying, "let's group up", or "let's do it", then there would be no point forcing students to form groups of three right now. There wouldn't be much advantage to it.

It's precisely because it's difficult to form a big group during the official exam, that we were given freedom of choice to form smaller teams now.

"Really?"

Ishizaki seemed completely baffled, with an incredulous expression, he tilted his head towards Hiyori as if he needed her to explain.

"If you organize the exam description, that's what it means. Basically, depending on the situation, we might have to work with a group we didn't expect or want."

"Wha. I haven't a clue what you mean."

"During the exam there might just be certain conditions that we need to meet in order to combine our groups. That's what I'm talking about."

"What the heck are those?"

If we'd known that, then it wouldn't have been so troublesome.

"We don't know the details. Judging from the school's explanation, there's no doubt that they won't be easy to meet."

"But… Even if there are conditions, we have to prepare under the premise that we'll be able to form our groups right?"

"Well, if you put it that way, it's true."

"Then we're good. For the exam, just follow my proposal and prepare accordingly."

It's kind of respectable that he was able to think simply at this point.

Hiyori also listened to Ishizaki's proposal with great interest.

"Ain't no point in worrying about things I don't understand."

Was this Ishizaki Daichi's unique charm?

"Well then… my second point."

Since it seems like I couldn't make him understand the first point, I went ahead with the next one.

"Other than me, who else have you talked to? Or who else were you planning to talk to?"

"We didn't talk to anyone, and we don't intend to. Right?"

The two of them nodded in agreement with Ishizaki's statement.

"So that means it's only me. Why's that?"

"Well, 'course it's just you. I reckon you're just as powerful as Ryuuen… Nah, if I had to say, it's cuz I now think that you're even better than him. You're strong as hell at fighting, and your mental agility is even acknowledged by him. Plus, in the spring exam, you got a perfect score in math. That was truly incredible. The group which has Ayanokouji has the exam in the bag. So I see no reason for us not to invite you, eh?"

"That was high praise, Ayanokouji-kun, but my opinion is also the same."

Albert nodded without hesitation.

I initially said I wanted to ask three questions, but now I've got a fourth one. That was, how much Japanese Albert understood, and how much he could speak. Although I haven't seen him in class, I think he uses Japanese to learn…

They didn't hesitate to mention that they needed to acquire me.

"Then, the third… this proposal, how does it benefit me? If I assume that the top places are taken by Class B, then it's just you guys that benefit."

Even if the class points were evenly split, there'd be a huge difference in the amount of private points I get versus their class with the majority of the members.

"The heck, of course you can't be the only one who doesn't get any benefits! If we're promoted to Class A, we'll give you 20 million points to come to our class, Ayanokouji. Waddya say?"

After answering confidently, Ishizaki continued.

"In other words, you can get either your class into Class A, or our class into Class A. This way, you have a 50% chance of graduating from Class A."

How about that? He put this proposal forward with a proud smile on his face.

That reasoning would've been true if all four classes had equal chances of moving up to Class A. However since each class differed in various factors such as abilities and points, it was impossible to calculate the accurate probability of a class ascending to Class A.

Of course, there's no doubt that having another class I could move to whenever I wanted was a big advantage.

"Are Hiyori and Albert of the same opinion?"

"Yes. We'd love to have you."

"YES."

Both of them went along with Ishizaki's proposal, knowing that it was absurd. Was that what was happening? Nevertheless, before I accepted this absurd proposal, I had to get to the bottom of this. So I asked my final question.

"Was it Ryuuen who decided to invite me? Or is this Ishizaki's arbitrary decision?

Ishizaki, who had been replying with ease till now, suddenly had a tense expression for the first time.

"It's my own decision. Ryuuen knows nothing about it."

So it seemed that Ishizaki had thought and decided on this plan himself.

Although I had speculated this would be the case, this really was reckless.

Now, I could understand why Ibuki who normally hung around Ishizaki wasn't present here.

So Ishizaki's supporters are Albert and Hiyori?

"Have you thought about what would happen if Ryuuen found out about this?"

"Never thought about it! No need to dwell on that! Even so… I'm ready for that."

Although Ishizaki was slightly scared, he tried his best to put on a brave face.

"The rules allow us to form groups with students from within the same year, right? So I thought Ayanokouji was absolutely necessary in order to form the best team. What's wrong about that? "

That was true. As long as forming a group within one's own class wasn't their policy, Ryuuen had no right to be dissatisfied with Ishizaki's actions.

"The key point of this special exam is to prevent the 2nd year students' class points from being taken away by the others. Of course, it's also necessary to aim for the top spots in the overall ranking. For which, Ayanokouji is indispensable."

"That's right."

"Anyway, even though there are still many aspects to this plan that I'm concerned about… I understand what you mean."

"Then, will you join our group?"

"Although I don't think there's anything wrong in inviting me, I can't say yes to it right now."

"Wh-why?"

"It's because he has his own class to deal with, right?"

Even though Hiyori supported Ishizaki's plan, she understood why I had refused without even having to ask me.

"Besides, I think the terms we've offered him are weak as well."

"Weak…? You sayin' 20 million points ain't enough?"

"I'm not saying anything like that. I think it's certainly an exceptional amount, that is, in terms of quantity. But in effect, the only thing we'd really be giving him is the right to transfer over to our class, yes?"

"B-but we can't just fork over 20 million and let 'im transfer over to Sakayanagi's."

If I was allowed to freely use the points they'd be giving me, it's only natural that I'd use them to secure my place in Class A in the end. Class B wouldn't be able to bolster their forces in the meantime by adding me to their class.

"Additionally, Ishizaki-kun did say that it'd be fine so long as Ayanokouji-kun joins up with somebody from Class B, but there's a problem with that as well. Surviving on the uninhabited island won't be a one-man effort. If you're really aiming for the top spot, you'll be better off with a strong team to back you up."

Hiyori, who had mostly just been quietly listening to the discussion unfold before this, brought up the shortcomings one after another.

And, with each correction, Ishizaki began to panic, his brow visibly dampened with sweat.

"Th-then anyone would be fine!"

"If it was up to me to choose the small group Hmm. Ryuuen-kun, Kaneda-kun, and Ayanokouji-kun, those three. It's fine if Kaneda-kun is replaced by Yamada-kun, but Ryuuen-kun is indispensable."

There were only a few people in the 2nd year who had his authority, and were bold enough to create tactics that would break the rules without hesitation. This fact that he was the only one from his class who stayed behind in last year's island exam, and went unnoticed till the last minute, was a testament to his ability and value. The other choices would be Kaneda who possessed high academic ability or Albert who prided himself on his iron fist.

Indeed, in order to maximise the odds, having two of those three would be necessary.

"Don't be ridiculous! Do you think Ryuuen-kun will ever approve of our plan!?"

"I don't think he will."

"Exactly!"

"Kaneda-kun is the same, he won't ignore Ryuuen-kun's orders and participate in a strategy he's unsure of."

"Then what should we do?"

"At this stage, I guess it can't be helped."

"Well… That's troubling…"

Ishizaki crossed his arms as he racked his brain, but couldn't come up with anything on the spot.

"We were able to convey ours and Ishizaki's thoughts to you, so we should be satisfied with that for now."

It seems like that was Hiyori's objective all along.

She knew from the beginning that forming a group with me wouldn't be easy, therefore she judged it would be better to just show me their intent to form one, for now.

Perhaps Albert also understood that this was a reckless attempt, and he patted Ishizaki's shoulder gently.

"… I get it. Well, if that's the case, there's no helping it…"

Although reluctantly, Ishizaki agreed after listening to both of them.

"I don't know if I can do what you want, let me think about it for now."

In this situation, I judged this was the best answer.

That being said, I didn't plan to form a group with anyone at the moment.

This was because of Tsukishiro and the White Room student lurking in the 1st year.

The first semester was almost over.

There's no way they were going to keep putting it off and let me just spend my campus life like this.

I'm afraid the next special exam will be the final showdown between me and Tsukishiro.

In other words, he may attack regardless of anything else.

If I formed a group, others would surely get involved.

If that really happened, I needed to make sure that I was the only one who dropped out to ensure there were minimum casualties.

I left them, while confirming this in my heart once again.

Part 6

The next morning, after getting ready for school, I turned on my phone.

The school had sent me a notice through my personal email, informing me that I had been given the "Trial" card.

"Never thought I'd get a special card…"

Just when I thought I had finally gotten past all the strange looks I had been getting due to my perfect score in the math test, I ended up getting this card. That being said, it was a double-edged sword, as the strong effect of this "Trial" card meant that there was a possibility that I could attract attention again. While it would be safe, and desirable, to trade the card with a student who needed it, the uncertain strength it provided meant that there would be consequences for doing so if I'm not careful about who I traded it to. I would probably be the one held responsible if the group I traded it to ended up taking first place.

It's possible that Tsukishiro had given me the card in order to help force my expulsion, but given that the card can be transferred, that was far too weak of a strategy to pressure me. It would be more natural to interpret it as nothing more than the luck of the draw. The two remaining special cards, "More People" and "Nullify", went to Class C's Asakura Mako and Class A's Yano Koharu respectively. It was probably fortunate that they were separated like this, at least to a certain extent.

I proceeded to leave the dormitory earlier than usual, thinking about what I should do from now on.

Then, I bumped into Shinohara in the elevator.

"Good morning."

"G' morning."

Despite being in the same class, we didn't know each other very well, so neither of us said anything else; Just a simple greeting as we took the elevator to the lobby.

The ride in the elevator didn't last for very long. When we reached the first floor, I pressed the door button to let Shinohara get off the elevator first.

Ike, who usually came to school relatively late, was waiting in the lobby as we arrived. He looked towards us nervously.

I thought he was simply waiting for Sudo, but that didn't seem to be the case.

At first, he simply greeted Shinohara and watched her as she made her way out of the lobby, but after a moment, he immediately followed her.

I intentionally slowed down my pace, maintaining just enough distance to ensure that I wouldn't get in their way.

"Hey, Shinohara."

"What?"

Once outside the lobby, I could hear their conversation from behind, albeit only faintly.

"Uh, it's gotta do with that. Ya know, the groups for this new uninhabited island exam… Have you talked to anyone about grouping up yet?"

"No, not yet… Why do you ask?"

"Nothing. Just askin' is all."

"Oh, really? What about you? You're gonna be with Sudo-kun and Hondo-kun either way, right?"

"Sorry. It'd probably be a blast to be with them."

"Probably, huh~."

Shinohara laughed, almost as if she was making fun of him, but Ike didn't seem to care.

Ike seemed to have something he wanted to say, but was struggling to find the right words.

"But, well, those guys can get by on their own, ya know… plus, like, Ken's pretty strong, so I think they've got more than enough manpower with just him in the group."

"I guess."

Although Shinohara's reaction was a bit indifferent, she didn't seem to hate talking with Ike.

"How do I say this. I should be able to help you where you need it… So, if you're feeling troubled… uh, I can form a group with you, yeah?"

"The heck? Look at you acting all high and mighty."

"You saw it last year, right? I'm a boy scout, so I'd like to think I'm pretty useful in an exam like this."

He was trying his best to sell Shinohara on the idea that she could capitalize on his survival skills.

Essentially, it seemed like he just wanted a reason to group up with her.

"Well, I guess I can consider it, but… You sure want to be in the same group as me?"

"Ah, hey, don't get me wrong. You see, you're one of those people at risk of being expelled right? Which is why I'm being nice here and offering to make some sacrifices to protect you!"

Unable to speak honestly, Ike blurted out words that he would surely regret saying later on.

"Huh!? Sacrifice what? I didn't ask for that!"

Of course, after being told something like that, there was no way Shinohara would willingly ask to join the group.

The mood between them was starting to change.

"Ah, good morning, Ike-kun, are you free right now?"

Just as the atmosphere was at its heaviest, Kushida came up from behind and called out to Ike.

As she did, Ike looked away from Shinohara and waved his hand excitedly.

"What, what is it!? I'm super free right now!"

With that, Ike left Shinohara and ran over to Kushida's side.

Shinohara simply watched it happen with a somewhat cold look in her eyes.

"Actually, Kobashi-san from Class C said she wants to invite you to her group, Ike-kun. She seems to be at school already. Could you go discuss it with her?"

"Seriously? Let's go, let's go! I'll go right now!"

Upon learning that he was being invited by a girl, Ike became extremely excited.

"Ah, but just now you seemed to be talking to Shinohara-san about that… Is it alright?"

Kushida looked to Shinohara to confirm that she would be fine with it.

"No, it's alright, he's been bothering me since he first called out to me. Take him."

"You're the one who's been bothering me!"

They were at each other's throats. Despite the fact that he was mainly at fault here, Ike left together with Kushida with a spring in his step.

Shinohara stopped walking, with a somewhat lonely look on her face as she watched them leave.

Before too long, I caught up to where Shinohara was standing and passed her by.

After all, Ike is the type of person who gets carried away all too easily.

It seems like he was so excited about receiving an invitation from a girl that he ended up overlooking something important.

"Satsuki."

Suddenly, I heard a student call Shinohara's name from behind. I couldn't help but look back, wondering who it was.

"Ah, Komiya-kun… Good morning."

The student was none other than Class 2-B's Komiya Kyogo.

"What's wrong? Are you crying?"

"Eh? W-why do you ask?"

"Well, because your eyes are red."

"Ah, you got me, huh? Something got in my eyes just now… Oww."

She was putting up a front, not just to deceive Komiya, but also herself.

"By the way, I heard from Sudo-kun that you're gonna be a regular on the basketball team?"

"Yeah, it's been a long time coming."

"Yeah you always practice until late at night, so I'd be lying if I said you didn't deserve it."

As Shinohara had stopped walking, I gradually pulled further and further away from the two of them, until eventually, I couldn't hear them anymore.