Chapter 94 – Class A

Since Yukio did not accept Katsuragi's suggestion to cut losses, nor did he agree to Horikita's trade proposal, the special exams for the other three groups had to proceed as normal, without early termination.

During the remaining three days, the other three classes, seemingly setting aside past grievances, were united by Ichinose's class. They cooperated with each other, trying every means to identify the three privileged students in Yukio's class.

To find the privileged students, they employed numerous strategies, such as striking up sudden conversations with students from Yukio's class who were using their phones, then carefully watching their reactions.

They tried indirect approaches, recounting various underhanded methods used by Yukio in the hope of inspiring a change of heart, and even falsely claiming that "Yukio has already told me you're the privileged student," all to no avail.

In essence, there were many methods, but all were ineffective.

This led to students from Yukio's class expressing frustration: "Really, stop it already. We ourselves don't even know if we're the privileged students. What are you going to find out?"

"Instead of wasting so much effort, why not just make a random guess and end the special exam early?"

The students from Yukio's class were impatient, but the other three classes did not share this sentiment, still wanting to seize any possible opportunity.

However, the initial cooperation soon gave way to increasing contradictions. Katsuragi's class and Horikita's class began to suspect each other.

Suspecting that the other had certain information about Yukio's class's privileged students but unwilling to share, or believing that the other class was hindering their efforts to identify Yukio's class's privileged students.

This led to a peculiar situation where, when students from Katsuragi's class were actively probing, Horikita's class would drag their feet, deliberately causing obstructions.

When it was Horikita's students' turn to probe in other groups, Katsuragi's class would find various excuses to interfere, with only Ichinose's class members staying silent, helping neither side.

Eventually, Yukio's class was no longer bothered, finding the internal strife somewhat amusing.

Even Ichinose couldn't quell the discord, and gradually the three classes went their separate ways, each conducting their investigations independently, at most agreeing not to interfere with each other.

Still, the investigation into the privileged students of Yukio's class yielded no results, leading to a stalemate that lasted until the final meeting on the last day of the special exam.

Since the other groups had already concluded their exams prematurely, Katsuragi, Horikita, and others simply resorted to remotely controlling the discussion content of the last three groups via mobile phones.

At this moment, the class members essentially became messengers.

A member of Class D, with a disgruntled face and in a monotone voice, read out the message sent by Horikita: "We can't go on like this. If we end up not finding the privileged students, we'll only achieve Outcome Two. That would just hand over one and a half million private points to Yukio's class for free. We cannot allow that to happen."

What should have been a spirited persuasion became so bland when read out by the student, adding to the gloominess of the meeting room.

This situation was indicative of Horikita's current standing in Class D; hardly anyone wanted to deal with her. If it weren't for Hirata's strong support, maintaining his backing for Horikita, these students would have long since blocked her on their phones.

On the other hand, the situation in Katsuragi's class was even worse than in Class D.

At least Horikita could still communicate her opinions; Katsuragi was outright excluded from the decision-making process. Regardless of Katsuragi's ideas, the class was acting on its own, saying whatever came to mind.

"The question is, how do we find the privileged students? Due to Yukio's tricks, even the privileged students in his class don't know if they are the ones. There's no starting point to find them!"

Eventually, it was a member of Ichinose's class who suggested, "Then let's just do as Yukio said, guess based on luck since we can't find them."

"Each class guesses one group, not relying on wisdom or strategy, but purely on luck."

This was undoubtedly a great irony since the theme of the privileged student special exam was "to think," and now it had devolved into a competition of luck among the three classes.

But Horikita was again frustrated, sending another message. The Class D student, too annoyed to read it aloud again, just threw the phone on the table for members of other classes to read themselves.

[I oppose Ichinose's suggestion. If we guess wrong, it's Outcome Four! That would actually result in a loss, giving Yukio's class 50 class points and private points!]

Although Ichinose's class members were just reading the text message, they also felt annoyed by the tone Horikita used in her message: "What's with this tone? It's really irritating."

"Right? I totally agree with you!" A Class D student openly expressed agreement, taking advantage of Horikita's absence to backstab her, causing members of Yukio's class nearby to almost burst into laughter.

Given the escalating contradictions, decision-making became increasingly difficult, and the final discussion ended without any concrete plan from the three classes. Reluctantly relying on pure luck to guess, no one was willing to take the risk of losing 50 class points.

This allowed Class C to achieve Result Two, gaining private points.

They could only console themselves that Yukio's class did not gain any additional class points. Then, the school sent a message to every first-year student, officially concluding the special exam and announcing the results and changes in class points.

[The special exam has officially ended. The following are the exam results and changes in class points:

Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey: Result Three.

Rooster, Dog, Pig groups: Result Two.

Changes in class points:

Class A, Yukio's class: 1290 points;

Class B, Katsuragi's class: 1080 points;

Class C, Ichinose's class: 690 points;

Class D, Horikita's class: 20 points.]

That was all, identical to the initial explanation about the special exam given by the class advisor. The school wouldn't reveal the identities of the privileged students or any specific details, only very limited information.

Upon receiving the school's message, the students of Yukio's class were the most elated, jumping and shouting, turning the cruise ship noisy in the dead of night: "We did it! We really moved up to Class A! Hahaha! After graduation, I want to manage a professional baseball team!"

"We've overtaken Katsuragi's class! Awesome! I've been fed up with their top-student faces for so long!"

"Pfft, such a big gap now, it'll be hard for the lower classes to catch up! Long live Yukio-san!"

"A celebration party! Let's have another celebration party! Sakagami-sensei, you get a bonus for moving up to Class A, right? Treat us to drinks!"

Compared to their jubilant celebrations, the other three classes were each more silent than the last. Joy and excitement belonged to Yukio's class, while they could only be saddened.

"Katsuragi, we can't let you lead the class anymore. When we get back, I'll definitely suggest to Sakayanagi that we make you apply for withdrawal!"

"It's okay, Ichinose, we tried our best, it's just that we couldn't beat them. Let's have something to eat."

"I've always said Horikita is unreliable, always with a cold face, acting all pompous, but in the end? She still led us into a pit! Losing cleanly with 1200 points! I could do better than her!"

***

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