Chapter 85

Chapter 85

Sora's POV

I clicked on my phone's screen once more and reread the mail from the school once again, just to be sure.

It was definitely room 204, 18:00. There could be no doubt. I'd already read this same sentence five times.

This wasn't like me at all. I've always been confident in my memory, so why had I suddenly lost confidence in myself?

–Oh, that's right—

Out of habit, I reached down to clasp Shiro's hand in mine, however nothing but empty air slipped through my fingers. Shiro wasn't here.

I took a deep breath as I arrived at my destination five minutes before the scheduled time – room 204.

I was here, alone, in the world outside the safety of that room, without Shiro by my side. Alone in the world filled with strangers.

Alone in the world I'd rejected.

Students in the corridor were all shuffling into their respectively assigned rooms. I could not identify each and every one of them, but students passed by me back and forth and went into their assigned rooms.

S-so, there are other students with the same meeting time as me but different rooms, huh? That could only mean... what could it mean?

I gritted my teeth in anger. It was humiliating that I'd been reduced to such a pathetic state.

I can't even make such a trivial deduction on my own? Without Shiro, am I just another drop in the ocean? Yeah, that's right. There's nothing special about me at all. So much for being in a 'genius' class.

No. That's not it.

I can coherently come to a conclusion based off of this observation. I'd done it countless times before in the past. I have the ability to make such simple deductions.

I shouldn't NEED Shiro to exercise that ability.

My hand trembled ever so slightly as I focused my thoughts.

Other classes' students are here at the same time as me going to different rooms. The fact that I had different times from my other classmates implies that we'll all be separate, but there are other students from the same class going to the same rooms right now...

With that, I came to a simple hypothesis. First, the students were all split into different 20-minute time blocks. And then after that, students from separate classes were split into different rooms.

The reason why I didn't share a time nor room with any other Class D student should be simple, then – it's because there's only one of us per grouping. In other words, there are at least seven different groups, probably more.

Feeling satisfied with my sub-par deduction, I clenched my shaking fist and resolved myself, as I headed towards room 204. I raised my hand and knocked timidly against the door, and received a quick reply. "Enter."

Having been given permission to enter, I stepped into the room. There I saw the homeroom teacher for Class A, Mashima-sensei, sitting on a chair. There was nobody else in the room.

"Have a seat."

I took my time moving over to the only available seat in the room, and sat down as I cowered under Mashima-sensei's gaze.

He narrowed his eyes, presumably puzzled by my behaviour.

Well, it's not like I'd expected him to understand my situation, anyway.

After a brief silence, Mashima-sensei's firm voice reverberated in my ears.

"Sora. I will now explain the contents of the special exam."

It seemed that, due to the low number of students in Class D, the school really did organise it such that we in Class D would each be given our explanations one on one.

Well, not being surrounded by other students was a positive for me, but why? Why not just explain it once to our entire class? Questions bounced around my head, but I remained quiet.

"In this special exam, all the first-year students will be divided up into groups based on their assigned zodiac animals, and the entirety of the examination will be conducted in groups of students sharing the same assigned zodiac animal as you. As you've probably realised by now, you do not share the same animal as any of your classmates."

According to zodiac animals, huh...

So 12 groups total will be formed from the first-year students, where each class will be split into smaller groups and then those groups will be mixed together with groups from other classes to form the required 12 groups for each zodiac animal?

"The purpose of this special exam is to test your thinking ability. There are three attributes that people who function well in society are required to master: Action, Thinking and Teamwork. These skills are necessary for you to become a successful adult. The last test on the island emphasised teamwork quite heavily, however, this one will emphasise your thinking. The ability to critically think, analyse the situation at hand and resolve the problem given will be tested in this exam. The ability to work creatively with imagination and work determinedly towards resolving the problem, such traits will become vital for this task."

Mashima-sensei explained the overall gist of the exam to me.

Of course, there were still many questions about the details of the exam bouncing around my scrambled head. My unstable, clouded brain.

I was already beginning to notice the severe effect that Shiro's absence had on my ability.

How the hell am I supposed to think critically without her?

"Therefore this exam will be conducted with 12 groups split up according to their assigned zodiac animals and the exam will occur under those conditions. Do you have any questions?" He finally said.

I forced my brain to work, and ignore the lingering thoughts about Shiro. I would not allow myself to falter this quickly.

After resolving myself and turning the cogs in my brain at maximum, I managed to order some questions in my mind to ask.

"Right. So, Mashima-sensei, the groups are split up by zodiac animal. That means there's 12 groups total, right? That means that there are more people than just me in my group. Am I correct to assume that?"

"That's correct. There are other rooms with other students too, receiving the same explanation you are receiving now. Some of them might later also become part of your team." Mashima-sensei answered concisely.

'Become part of your team.' I found this wording particularly odd. Is he saying that I might have to ally with students from other classes?

Would that mean the groups of each zodiac animal will be fighting each other? In that case, my teammates will not be my classmates, but the other people sharing the same assigned animal as me...

If that's the case, then what the hell are the rewards for this special exam? It couldn't be class points, because there would be students of the same class fighting each other. My number of questions grew with each second.

"The zodiac group you've been assigned to is the 'Rabbit.' Here's the list of all the members assigned to this zodiac. You will be required to return the list when you leave the room so feel free to memorize the list if you wish." Mashima-sensei explained further.

He handed a postcard sized piece of paper to me. The name 'Rabbit Group' was written at the top and below it was the list of all students who were assigned to the 'Rabbit' group. As expected, the other thirteen students in the group were made up of by students of the other four classes, and were listed in a matter-of-fact format:

Rabbit Group

· Class A: Machida Kōji, Takemoto Shigeru, Morishige Takurō

· Class B: Ichinose Honami, Hamaguchi Tetsuya, Beppu Ryōto

· Class C: Ibuki Mio, Manabe Shiho, Yabu Nanami, Yamashita Saki

· Class D: Sora

· Class E: Karuizawa Kei, Sotomura Hideo, Yukimura Teruhiko

In my group were a couple of students from the other classes that I already knew about. I was acquainted with Ichinose, had lunch with Karuizawa once although that didn't end too well and I also knew of Ibuki's spying task on the island, too.

I felt a small doubt about this exam. By the sounds of it, us in the same group would have to cooperate, but that may not be possible after the students have become so used to fighting against the other classes.

"I will now explain the fundamental mechanisms of the exam," Mashima-sensei declared after I'd finished reading over the paper.

"In this exam all differences between Classes A to E will be ignored. If you can do this too, it will make your path to clearing this exam much easier. From this point onwards, you no longer belong to Class D, but the 'Rabbit' group. Whether you pass or fail no longer depends on your class but your entire group as a whole."

I was beginning to understand the nature of the exam, but was still lost as to the bigger picture.

"There are four outcomes in this exam, no more and no less. Explanations regarding this have also been printed onto paper for your perusal, however, you may not take them out of this room nor photograph them. So memorize them here if you wish to." Mashima-sensei instructed.

He passed me a piece of paper which contained the details of the rules of the exam, which read as follows:

Explanation of the special examination of different groups:

The cornerstone of this exam will be the 'VIP' student that is chosen for each group. By using your critical thinking skills, you will achieve one of four outcomes by the end of the exam.

· At 8am on the day the exam starts, every student will receive a mail containing whether they have been chosen as the 'VIP' of their group or not.

· The exam will mostly take place between 4pm and 9pm (students will be free to act as they wish during the day).

· Two times each day, you must gather with your assigned group to talk for at least one hour.

· Content of the discussion will be left up to the discretion of the students.

· At the end of the exam, you will need to identify the 'VIP' of your group. This will be done between 9:30pm and 10:00pm. Each student can only submit one answer each.

· The answers must be sent to school faculty members using a specialised mail address that will be provided to your mobile phones.

· The 'VIP' student cannot submit an answer.

· You must only answer the identity of the 'VIP' of the group you have been assigned. Any other answer will be marked as invalid.

· Detailed results of the exam will be mailed to students by 11:00pm on the same day.

Those were the basic rules we would have to follow for this exam. There were more detailed rules and explanations on the paper, as well as prohibited items being listed. This exam seemed to have more rules and regulations than the island test did.

The following were the four possible results our group could get:

· Outcome #1: If the submitted answers of all students are correct, every student in the group will receive 500,000 private points, and the 'VIP' student will receive 1,000,000.

· Outcome #2: If there are incorrect answers, or if a student in the group other than the 'VIP' student does not submit an answer, only the 'VIP' student will receive 500,000 private points.

· Outcome #3: If a student submits an answer before waiting for the allocated time and is correct, the class the answerer belongs to will receive 50 class points and the answerer will receive 500,000 private points for themselves. On the other hand, the class in which the 'VIP' student belongs to will have 50 class points deducted. Once this outcome has been reached, the examination will end for the group. However, if the answerer is from the same class as the 'VIP' in this case, the answer will be deemed invalid and the exam will continue.

· Outcome #4: If a student submits an answer before waiting for the allocated time and is incorrect, the class the answerer belongs to will receive a penalty of 50 class points. On the other hand, the 'VIP' will receive 500,000 private points and the class in which they belong to will receive 50 class points. Once this outcome has been reached, the examination will end for the group. However, if the answerer is from the same class as the 'VIP' in this case, the answer will be considered invalid and will not be accepted.

I see, so that's how it is.

If only the first two outcomes were possible, the VIPs could simply reveal themselves and the whole group could easily cooperate for a net benefit. However, by adding the option to betray one's own group, the dynamic of the exam changes drastically. This way, it would be far too risky for the VIP to reveal themselves to the group, because they would immediately be targeted by traitors.

This special exam has strong parallels to 'The Prisoner's Dilemma.' Suppose that, in a group, the VIPs identity is revealed right at the start.

The clear best option for the group is to cooperate, and achieve Outcome #1, wherein a total of 7,500,000 private points is rewarded to the students.

However, from an individual perspective, you'd be gaining the same amount of private points yourself, 500,000, regardless of whether you betray the group or not!

In other words, the only differences between Outcome #1 and Outcome #3 from my perspective is that with Outcome #3, I also get class points AND get to damage someone else's class points in the process! Outcome #3 is clearly the best outcome for the individual known as Sora.

However, that leads us to the paradox known as 'The Prisoner's Dilemma.' No matter how you twist it, looking at the big picture, Outcome #1 is the best outcome for everybody involved. However, as an individual, you have two choices – to cooperate, or to betray.

If you know that the others in your group will cooperate, you can take advantage of the good-hearted idiots and net a bonus 50 class points for your class, AND damage the VIPs class at the same time to boot!

And, in the scenario where the others in your group will betray, then betraying yourself is definitely the best move. If somebody else betrays, then they will gain private and class points while you gain jack shit! It is by far more beneficial to make sure you're the first to betray, so that you are the one who gets those private and class points, rather than somebody else from another class.

This just leaves one conclusion – no matter what the circumstances are, the best move for me is to betray the group.

Ah, right, I see it now. The nature of this exam.

The school is testing whether, through thinking, scheming, and logic, the students of each group will be able to overcome this paradox and obtain the best possible result.

If every single group achieves Outcome #1, then the collective body of first year students will receive a massive 90,000,000 private points – enough to nullify more than four expulsions, or transfer four students to different classes.

Class D is only actually in seven of the twelve groups due to our lack of students, so we would only receive between 3,500,000 and 7,000,000 private points, depending on the number of VIPs we get assigned. Just another disadvantage of having a small class, I suppose.

That being said, though, 3,500,000 is still a great number of points available for us to gain. We were talking about what would happen if a guaranteed expulsion were to occur sometime in the future – well, these points would make up a good chunk of the sum we'd need to negate it.

But that's just wishful thinking. There's no way we can realistically make all seven of the groups we're in achieve Outcome #1.

... Or is there?

"You will be meeting at 1pm and 8pm tomorrow for your group discussions. The room you will be meeting in has your group name written on a plate in front of it. Once you have entered that room, you will not be able to leave until the required time for discussion has passed. If an emergency occurs in that time period, contact your homeroom teacher immediately. Make sure you've used the toilet before the meeting time as well." Mashima-sensei said.

After that, I was dismissed, and with no further questions, left the room and headed back toward the room, where Shiro was waiting.

On the wait out, a sudden realisation hit me.

—Wait—

Just then, back there, I'd been able to give a pretty decent analysis of the special exam at hand. Why is that?

Is it because the fact that Shiro wasn't here was shoved to the back of my mind?

Or was it because it was just Mashima-sensei and I, so it wasn't too bad.

Whatever the case, it made me a little happy. It showed progress. One year ago, I wouldn't have been capable of such a feat.

I let out a sigh as I closed the door behind me.

It seemed our enjoyable cruise had ended, and the second round of testing had begun.