1.1

Today, two hours in the morning were set aside for a school trip.

Normal schools probably learn of things like this earlier, but for the students in this school,

the end of term test before that is more important, so. First, they have to know its results.

It would be like a bad joke to learn you're getting expelled after being told about the plans for

the school trip.

"Very well then, I shall announce the results of the second term's end of term tests."

A stinging atmosphere. Anxiety and unease. However, there are currently no students in

despair.

Last year, around this time, a special test of this school called 'paper shuffle' was put into

practice.

Kushida's scheme, Ryuuen's Influence. Horikita's characteristic strategy was strong, but this

year is different.

The rules and the standards say that if you challenge the test created by the school and get

a definitive failing mark, you get expelled.

It also becomes a fight on the class side, with first place getting 50 class points and second

place getting 25 points. Third place gets minus 25 class points, and fourth place gets minus

50 class points. It may be said that it is a pure scramble for class points.

The failing mark is 39 points average from all of the subjects. After close examination, it

wasn't hard to avoid expulsion if you earnestly received your classes.

"The end of term test. First, I will start announcing from the lower ranking students."

Without any appearance of leeway, Chabashira-sensei had a stiff expression.

That may appear to be inciting the students, but I think a certain amount of tension is

necessary.

"First, it's the student who got the lowest ranking…"

The lowest grade, which is seen as more important than the highest.

"With 53 points as your average mark, it's you, Hondou."

"Whoah!? Me!? Ah, but 53 points isn't that bad, right!? Wait, should I be happy!?"

He yelled out with the mixed feelings of the joy of not getting a failing mark and the reality of

having the lowest ranking.

He was always at the bottom group, so I'm sure it isn't the first time that Hondou has gotten

the lowest ranking.

After that, the grades were gradually announced from bottom to top, and after a while they

started calling the names of the higher ranking students.

I can clearly say that the bottom group's rise is becoming reality.

My girlfriend Kei also got better results than expected with 56 points.

The main cause of this is certainly the expulsion of Airi with the unanimous special exam.

After that exam, all the students below in OAA faced the danger of being thrown away, so

they had to challenge the test with all of their might.

Even Kei who doesn't want to study except when it's with me is clearly starting to grow and

improve.

But, I have to quickly solve this problem. I've really only taught her the minimum, so there is

a risk that she will be separated from the other students because of the difference in

potential.

I should ask someone to teach her, like Horikita who teaches after forming a proper plan, or

Keisei, maybe even Yousuke.

The grades for all of the subjects, the total grades and the average grades are being shown

on the monitor in turns as the names of the students are being called.

I'm 12th place. I'm gradually and steadily moving up in the rankings.

Then, we finally got to the announcements of the class' top 10.

10th place is Sudou. I was a bit worried, but the results were similar to last time with him

firmly breaking into the top rankings.

His ranking moved up by one and he broke a new record for himself.

Then, finally, the first place was unexpectedly Horikita and Keisei with the same average

mark of 93.5.

"About our rank among the other classes in this academic year… We passed Ichinose's

Class average mark and got second place. Good Job."

First place is the Sakayanagi A Class, second place is the Horikita B Class, third place is the

Ichinose D Class, and fourth place is the Ryuuen C Class.

With this, our class points are 25+ in the total. However, Sakayanagi's Class A had good

grades even among the lower ranked students, so we couldn't get first place this time either.

It is small, but there ended up being a gap.

"Well then, I know also from how hard you've worked for the end of term test that you are all

looking forward to the school trip. But, first, there is one thing I will do before the talks."

After saying so, an image was reflected on the monitor.

Following Chabashira-sensei's instruction, each student's tablet displayed a chart with

familiar classmates' names written on it.

The front is the same as the monitor.

There are three items: Name, gender, and number, of which the name and gender are

already filled.

As Chabashira-sensei said, all of the students in the class are written on it.

Only the numbers are blank, which must mean that they will be filled in here and now.

Most of it is easy to understand the moment you look at it, but it's unclear what the standard

for the numbers are.

It's limited to the range we can see from our seats, but there is not a single student who

understands it either.

"On the screen are the students from the second year's B class, in other words, this class.

You can see the empty space between the name and gender with small numbers written

there, right? Starting from the first number, please fill in all 37 numbers from the class

excluding yourself. You can't use the same number twice. First, type "myself" in an easy to

read way on the space for your own number."

The 38 members of second year B class, excluding Yamauchi and Airi who have been

expelled.

It seems that we're putting in numbers for all the students until number 37, excluding

ourselves.

The problem is, what is the meaning of this number?

I can't randomly put in the numbers without thinking about it.

Everyone used their tablets and put in the letters of their own name as instructed.

After confirming that, Chabashira-sensei started explaining the numbers.

"About the meaning of the numbers that you're about to write down… You can see it as your

assessment of the other party. You can simply put in number 1 because they're talented,

because you're good friends with them, or because they're funny. The important thing is to

use your own standards and give them a proper rating."

Basically, we're giving our classmates rankings, right?

No… When I swiped the screen, I saw that it was not just our classmates, but the other three

classes as well.

"Some of you must have noticed already, but we're doing this ranking for all of the classes in

year two. When it comes to the students from the other classes, there may be those with

whom you haven't even spoken to, but you can just use your own standart again. I want you

to put in numbers in an understandable scope."

Students rating students. We did something similar in the past, but you could say that this is

still quite different from that.

However, just what are they making the students do something like this for?

"Of course, the number you've put in will not be revealed to the students. Even us class

teachers will not know what kind of ratings you've given, so please don't worry."

So that means this is under the management of the school's upper management.

"Further, it is prohibited to talk amongst yourselves or to look at the OAA while filling in the

screen. Ignoring the parts you remember, it would be against the objective to put in numbers

without your personal thoughts or conjecture."

It seems that it is also prohibited to mechanically put in numbers by relying on something

else.

"There's a lot of girls here that I've never talked to and I don't understand anything from the

OAA either, so is this really okay..?"

Being different from the students who have a lot of personal connections, Hondou muttered

so without confidence.

"Yeah. In the end, you can just write a random number for the people with whom you have

no relation to. However, in order for the school to use this list for its objective, you will have

responsibility no matter what the results will be."

Basically, it should be done according to a certain criteria, but, in the end, it will be left to the

discretion of the individual filling it in. In exchange, she's saying that we shouldn't complain

about the effect that this will have in the future.

You may be able to grade each student properly in accordance to the relation you've had

with them up until now.

You may regret it if you do it randomly, so do it earnestly. That's what she's saying.

"You will finish this within the time limit of one hour from now. In the rare case that you don't

finish it within the time limit, you will continue instead of receiving the explanation about the

school trip, so do it carefully."

I'm sure no one thought that they would have to do something like this right before the

school trip.

While we were still confused, Chabashira-sensei instructed us to start right away.

Everyone started without being able to make the preparations in their heads.

But… General comments, huh?

As it will take the most amount of time, I left my own class for last, and decided to deal with

the A class.

If it's about pure talent, I would support Sakayanagi, but this is about an overall assessment.

I can simply decide everything by if I like them as a person or not.

It's up to the individual to put the person easiest to hang out with or the person they like most

in first place.

In any case, I should hold a clear standart and start filling in the numbers.

I had intended on starting on the entries right away, but it's unexpectedly difficult.

The easy thing after all is to assess the talent that I can currently see myself.

I can just write by thinking about what I remember from the OAA if it's a student that I've

never crossed paths with.

After determining each tropism, I'll start from number 1.

It may be the same for a lot of students, but you could say that it's already decided to put

Sakayanagi in number 1.

With that, I took 20 minutes to finish writing down all of my assessments for each of the three

classes.

What's left is the class I'm a part of, the B class.

I'll include hidden potential, communication power and development.

There are some similarities to what was on the OAA, but my current number 1 is probably

Yousuke.

It's easy if you consider not only their general value but the contributions they've made until

today.

If it wasn't for Yousuke, there would be no competition in this class.

For number 2, I chose Kouenji.

His hidden potential, his achievements in the second year's Uninhabited Island exam, his

unintended contributions in the sports festival, etc... He has brought in a lot of concrete

benefits for the class. Even considering the quirky and uncooperative parts of his personality

as a minus, this should be an appropriate rating.

The fact that we have established our current position as Class B is undoubtedly Kouenji's

achievement.

I'll also give a good rating to Horikita, Keisei, Mii-chan and the others like them who study

well and achieve good grades.

Then, with his physical and academic prowess that can't be underestimated, I put Sudou in

number 9. If it's just the second years and above, I could say that he is valuable enough to

be around number 3 or number 4 right after Kouenji.

I finished rating all of the students like this and raised my head up.

It took around 40 minutes in total, but the students other than me still haven't—-..

Just as I was thinking so, my eyes met with Chabashira-sensei who was observing the

students and I noticed that Kouenji sitting next to me had finished before me.

I can't be certain, but he probably filled it in randomly without thinking about all of the

possibilities.

Without even looking at his tablet again, he was lightly blowing into his nails.

In the case of these numbers being used for some kind of special exam other than to form

groups, I can't imagine what kind of pattern it will be.

For example, when the school takes a look at the results, there may be a special exam being

conducted only with the students who were chosen to be in first and second place. In

reverse, the students with low combined ability will be gathered and made to challenge a

balanced task as a result.

However, in that case, we would be told before to put in the numbers while thinking about

the students' talent and success, and they wouldn't have the students make the valuations in

the first place. As a result of assigning numbers based on likes and dislikes, the risk of it

being an unbalanced confrontation would be quite high.