2.1

After Chabashira-sensei left the classroom, there was a little time before the morning lecture began.

Since we didn't need to move between classes today, everyone would've usually passed the time with casual chatter, but today, it seemed that even that was a waste of time, and the students naturally gathered around Horikita.

To calm the noisy classmates, Yōsuke took the lead.

"Since we have limited time, let's recap the main points of the special exam's contents for now."

To avoid them from becoming disorderly from idle chatter, he voiced that thought.

It was almost certain, given nearly two years of experience, that there were almost no students who wouldn't listen.

Noting the surrounding silence as agreement, Yōsuke nodded and continued,

"The areas of concern for this special exam are that it's difficult to imagine placing last without an expulsion. Inevitably, there will be an expulsion from the class in last place. And while the odds are low, if a tie for last place occurs, multiple classes might have expulsions."

The number of times a class receives an attack was 20 times. With 5 people each time, that was a total of 100.

No matter how much the leader exerted their skills, it seemed inevitable that a few people would be eliminated.

"Due to the nature of the exam, students who get the second question wrong will be cornered. If you try to protect a particular student from being expelled, of course, the other classes will target the other students. If you continue to insist on protecting, the number of students who get two questions wrong will keep increasing..."

That thought would turn into one of the pieces for negotiations.

The offensive needed to analyze the defending class and figure out who was weak in which subjects in order to attack effectively. They also needed to predict and evade the protection targets, so they wouldn't waste any points.

The defending side also had to predict the offensive's plans and deal with them accordingly.

"Be careful that the eliminations won't only consist of students with lower abilities. It's natural for other classes to want to force capable students to be eliminated, looking at the future. If the class misjudges who to protect, even competent students could be at risk."

In extreme terms, this was an exam where every student besides the leader had the potential to be expelled.

Even excellent students like Yōsuke and Kushida would buckle if they were continuously bombarded with questions; it wouldn't be impossible to make them drop out.

Of course, this would only apply if there were no other students to prioritize, and the chances of forfeiting the class competition would be high, so it might not be a wise strategy.

However, if this strategy was successful, the class would suffer damages beyond the loss of class points. Considering these factors, the reward for this special exam might be modest. Rather than placing the winner in a more advantageous position, this special exam emphasized putting the loser at a greater disadvantage.

"Just hearing this, naturally, you'd want to avoid elimination at all costs. However, what I really want to say is to avoid becoming overly anxious. While we are still unclear about the essence of the special exam, let's first start by unifying our overall awareness without causing a fuss."

Horikita conveyed the apparent fear from the special exam but also ensured that wasn't everything.

However, if left unattended, wild imaginations would naturally spread.

Therefore, Horikita decided to gather the class in the classroom during lunchtime today to discuss it.

It wasn't mandatory, but participation was encouraged as much as possible.