Chapter 062: Special Exam, Kushida's Invitation

August 10th.

The third day after the deserted island exam.

Outside the coffee shop on the top floor.

Hikigaya used his left arm as a pillow and looked at the phone in his right hand.

[Kushida_Kikyo: I'm really sorry about today. I've explained it to Ike and the others. Hikigaya-kun can rest assured that it will definitely not affect you in any way. (*^▽^*) (Last night)]

[Hikigaya_Hachiman: Sorry, my phone ran out of battery yesterday (this morning)]

[Kushida_Kikyo: It's okay, it's okay, it's my fault for disturbing your rest so late last night. I just couldn't control my feelings. I hope Hikigaya-kun won't be angry.]

[Hikigaya_Hachiman: Sorry, I went to eat and didn't look at my phone (three hours ago)]

[Kushida_Kikyo: It's okay, it's okay. Speaking of which, I want to formally apologize for yesterday's incident. If it's convenient, I would like to invite Hikigaya to have a meal as an apology. ┭┮﹏┭┮. (Three hours ago)]

"Stare..."

Hikigaya stared at the text message in a daze.

Ordinary people would have blacklisted him long ago, right? This person is too clingy.

By the way,

What should he do now?

It feels like even if he refuses, this person will still come to pester him in person.

What a hassle.

Just then, a sharp and high-pitched sound came from the phone, and a broadcast sounded throughout the ship.

[This is to inform all students. The school has just sent an email to all students with contact matters. Please check your phones and follow the instructions. If you did not receive the email, please apply to the nearby faculty. The content is very important, so please do not miss anything in the confirmation, repeat once again——]

Hikigaya sat up.

This is the first time he has received such an email since he enrolled in school.

It seems to be a forced notification, isn't this an invasion of their privacy?

[The special exam is about to begin. Please gather in your designated rooms at the designated time. Those who are more than ten minutes late will be punished. Please gather in Room 201 before 8:40 tonight. The required time is about 20 minutes. Please gather at the gathering place after using the restroom and turning your phone to vibrate mode or turning off the power.]

Hikigaya opened the email just now.

Sure enough, the school won't let them pass so easily.

After a while, he received a message from Ichinose.

[Ichinose Honami: I guess Hikigaya probably didn't look at the group chat, are you okay? Where and when is Hikigaya's gathering?]

[Hikigaya_Hachiman: It's okay, My schedule and place are 8:40 tonight in Room 201.]

[Ichinose Honami: That's the same as Kanzaki and Mako-chan, that's great, if there's any problem, you can contact Kanzaki.]

[Hikigaya_Hachiman: Understood.]

As expected of Ichinose.

She grasped the overall information of the whole class in just a few minutes.

He opened the group chat, and sure enough, everyone had posted their own time and place, and they were discussing the exam-related content.

Ichinose even had time to care about him.

She's really a good kid.

....

In the dormitory

Eight o'clock in the evening.

"Okay."

Kanzaki put on his clothes: "Hikigaya, you're with me, shall we go together?"

"Eh?"

Hikigaya, who was lying on the bed reading a book, was slightly stunned: "Isn't it 8:40?"

"Going ahead to observe the environment, there are always some benefits."

Kanzaki explained calmly: "And being more than ten minutes late will be punished, it's better to arrive early."

"Hmm."

Hikigaya reluctantly got up: "I think being late for ten minutes will be punished, which means it's okay to be late."

This kind of explanation

Isn't it the same as telling them

Even if you're a little late, it's okay~

It's the same thing right?

"You're thinking quite positively."

Kanzaki's eyes sharpened: "I advise you not to harbor such a fluke mentality, in the end, you will be the one who suffers."

"Alright, alright."

Shibata tried to smooth the atmosphere and laughed: "Anyway, Hikigaya, you're just reading in the dormitory, it's okay to go ahead, right?"

"Well..."

Hikigaya, who had already dressed, was just grumbling.

No way.

It seems that the leader of this group is Kanzaki.

Hikigaya, with his hands in his pockets and listless, followed Kanzaki, and soon arrived at Room 201. Kanzaki knocked on the door politely.

"Oh, Kanzaki and Hikigaya? The teacher isn't here, come in quickly."

A female voice came from inside the room.

It should be another classmate, Amikura Mako.

Hikigaya didn't have much impression of her, only remembering that she seemed to have a good relationship with Ichinose, and the girls in Class B had a very good relationship with Ichinose.

Ichinose was able to eliminate the gap in the entire class by herself.

That's really amazing.

The two walked into the room, a girl was sitting in the position, there were two chairs next to it, and the opposite side of the table was empty.

"Huh."

Hikigaya sat in the corner.

Somewhat helpless, isn't the teacher still not here? Why did you come so early?

"Hasn't the teacher arrived yet?"

Kanzaki looked around with a calm face: "Amikura, how long have you been here?"

"I've only been here for a few minutes, you can just call me Mako-chan. Rather, I hope you call me that."

Amikura Mako explained with a smile.

"..."

Kanzaki nodded coldly and sat in the middle of the two.

In fact, this guy doesn't seem to be very good at socializing, just trying to contribute to Class B reluctantly.

Looking at it this way, Kanzaki is really amazing.

He can force himself to cooperate with these guys. Hikigaya asked himself that he definitely couldn't do it and didn't want to do it.

"Oh, by the way."

With the teacher not here, Amikura Mako started a casual conversation: "Why do you think the school deliberately separated us this time?"

According to the group chat.

They were roughly divided into two time slots at forty minutes past the hour.

Then they were divided into several rooms, roughly three to four people per group.

"I'm not sure."

Kanzaki pondered with his chin in his hand: "What I can think of is that this special exam may be more biased towards individual strength. What do you think, Hikigaya?"

"I don't know."

Hikigaya leaned his head on his left hand on the armrest.

He knew what to do, so there was no need to speculate.

However,

This school actually forcibly placed people together in the form of an exam.

It's really annoying.

Seeing that he and Kanzaki were not the talkative type, Amikura Mako also started playing with her phone.

Approaching half past eight.

A female teacher dressed in a black office lady business suit entered the room, with black stockings on her shapely legs.

It was none other than Chabashira Sae.

The cool and aloof expression looks much more reliable than Hoshinomiya Chie's.

"So early."

Chabashira walked over and sat across from the few people, immediately getting straight to the point:

"Well then, let's begin. I am the homeroom teacher of Class 1-D, Chabashira. Next, I will provide you with instructions regarding the special exam. If you have any questions, please wait until later, and I will give you some time for inquiries."

The three of them nodded slightly.

She is clearly more reliable than Hoshinomiya Chie.

"This special exam," 

Chabashira said with a cold expression,

 "The school will metaphorically divide all first-year students into twelve groups based on the Chinese zodiac, and we will conduct the exam within those groups."

"The purpose of the exam is to test your thinking abilities."

"The abilities required of a social person are basically divided into three categories."

"Action, Thinking, Teamwork. Only those who possess these qualities will be deemed worthy of becoming excellent adults."

"Therefore, this exam will be conducted in twelve groups."

In other words.

One must possess these three abilities to become an excellent corporate slave.

And a househusband only needs the action power to cook.

Looking at it this way,

Being a househusband is simply the best dream.

Hikigaya nodded unconsciously.

"Teacher!"

Kanzaki raised his hand to signal, and only after getting approval did he ask, 

"Although I understand most of it, could you please explain why the school decided to separate us for the briefing?"

"The reason is simple," 

Chabashira explained indifferently, "Because the groups are composed of four different classes, if we don't explain in advance, it could cause confusion."

Huh?

Hikigaya looked up at her.

It's hard to understand.

Although there are reasons like tuition exemption, this is a school that dares to invade personal privacy. Are they really worried about a little chaos?

"I see."

Kanzaki nodded, seemingly accepting it, "Sorry for the interruption, teacher, please continue."

"You have been assigned to the Dragon group."

Chabashira took out an A4 paper and three cards from the folder and placed them in front of several people, then continued,

 "Here is the list of group members. It's not allowed to be taken out of the room. If you think it's necessary, you can note it down here."

Hikigaya just glanced at it, and his face turned a little ugly.

Class A: Katsuragi Kangping, Nishikawa Ryoko, Dechang Shinji, Yano Koharu.

Class B: Hikigaya Hachiman, Kanzaki Ryuji, Amikura Mako.

Class C: Oda Takumi, Suzuki Hidetoshi, Sonoda Masashi, Ryuen Kakeru.

Class D: Kushida Kikyo, Hirata Yosuke, Horikita Suzune.

"Woah..."

Hikigaya couldn't help but make a sound.

Although he didn't know most of them, there were several people he wanted to avoid.

By the way,

Katsuragi, Ryuen, Horikita Suzune aren't they the leaders of the three classes? Isn't the level of the Dragon group too high?

Let's not talk about Kanzaki for now.

He doesn't seem to belong here at all.

No matter how you think about it, it would be more appropriate for Ichinose to appear here.

"Any questions?"

Chabashira turned her head to look at him.

"Uh..."

Hikigaya asked if he didn't understand, "Why was I assigned to this group? It doesn't seem to fit, does it?"

"I don't know about that."

Chabashira quickly looked away.

Damn it,

Although I know that compulsory education only goes up to high school, this is still a teacher, isn't it? Give me back the praise from before.

Hikigaya didn't feel like asking anymore.

It feels like this teacher isn't much better than Hoshinomiya Chie.

At most, she just does her job.

"??继续吧."

Chabashira took out a few more documents and said indifferently, "As a premise, for this exam, please ignore the relationship between Classes and act as the Dragon group."

"There are only four outcomes for the special exam, and the exam is set to definitely become one of them, there will be no exceptions."

"In order to make it easier for you to understand, the school has prepared corresponding materials. These materials are also strictly forbidden to be taken out, please confirm them carefully."

"Take a look."

Hikigaya took a document and read it.

[Summer Group Special Exam Instructions]

This exam is based on the 'VIP' assigned to each group. Answer the school in the prescribed way, and you will definitely get one of the four results.

Rules

- The exam starts at 8:00 AM on the first day.

- An email will be sent to all groups of the fact that the VIP students were already chosen.

- The exam itself will mostly take place between 1:00 PM and 9:00 PM.

- Students are free to act as they wish during the day. 

- For about an hour each day, twice, groups will need to gather together and discuss.

- Content of the talk will be left up to the discretion of each group. 

- At the end of the exam, the VIP students of other groups must be identified.

- This will be done between 9:30 PM and 10:00 PM.

- Only one answer can be submitted by each group.

- The answers must be sent to faculty members through a certain address that will be provided to mobile phones. 

- The VIP student cannot be the one to send the answers.

- The identity of the VIP student of the group you are assigned must only be sent.

- Any other answer will be marked as invalid. 

Details of the results of the exam will be mailed to students by 11:00 PM on the final day. 

Possible End Results

1. Share the identity of the VIP and clear the exam together as one.

- If the answers of the VIP student as well as the other group members are all correct, they will all receive private points (including members other than the VIP student themselves). 

2. Answer incorrectly and the group loses but the VIP still receives points.

- If there are incorrect answers or unanswered questions by people other than the VIP student, only the VIP student will receive 500,000 private points.

3. A traitor uncovers the identity of the VIP. 

- In the case that someone other than the VIP answers the question before waiting for the allocated time and answers correctly, the class the answerer belongs to will receive 50 class points each and the answerer themselves will receive 500,000 private points for themselves.

- On the other hand, classes whose VIP have been identified will receive a penalty of -50 class points for their whole class. Once this has been achieved, the test will be over for the group.

- However, if a member that belongs to the class of the VIP answers correctly, the previous result will be made invalid and the examination for that group will continue. 

4. The traitor disregards the judgment of the VIP.

- In the case that someone other than the VIP answers the question before waiting for the allocated time and answers incorrectly, the class the answerer belongs to will receive a penalty of -50 class points each but the VIP will still receive 500,000 private points. The class which the VIP belongs to obtains 50 class points.

- If the answer is given incorrectly, the group's exam will end.

- However, if a member belonging to the class of the VIP is the one who answered incorrectly, the answer will be considered invalid and will not be accepted.    

"Okay."

Chabashira Sae, with a calm expression, said, "Next is the time for questions. If there are no questions, we can end it."

Hikigaya was somewhat speechless.

As expected of a Hoshinomiya's best friend.

She has the same character as Hoshinomiya Chie.