novel volume 8-10

by flametornadohd

this is volumes 8 - 10 of y1 picks up after season 3 of the anime

30. Chapter 30

Kei choked up, at a loss for words. It was less that she was blushing, and more

that she went completely beet red. She turned to me with a strained look on

her face, which seemed to be saying, "What is she talking about?!"

Amasawa seemed to be probing us all through this encounter. And every time

she did so, she would look over to check how Kei was taking it. Having realized

she wouldn't get anything out of me, she was instead using Kei to gather

information. Unable to let Kei bear this burden any longer, I spoke up.

"That's forbidden by the school rules," I told Amasawa.

My intention was to try and put Kei at ease after Amasawa had upset her by

responding to Amasawa's probing as calmly as possible. However, Amasawa

didn't seem to flinch in the slightest after hearing what I said.

"School rules? That's just a simple formality, isn't it? Just lines on paper?

There are tons of kids all over the school who are obviously in relationships,

making out with their SOs and stuff. If you go to the convenience store, you can

even find contraceptives. To tell you the truth, I actually tried buying some. And

you know what? The clerk just pretended not to see it. I guess in a situation

where it's like, this is banned, that's banned, and you have young people all

running wild… Well, if students ended up getting pregnant, that'd be a big

problem, wouldn't it?" said Amasawa.

She proceeded to reach inside the plastic bag with her left hand, took out

some contraceptives, and placed them on the table. It seemed like she'd done

so to prove that she actually did go out and buy some. Well, it was certainly

true that if products like these weren't available, the end result of an illicit

sexual relationship would be pregnancy. I supposed that meant it was a sort of

unspoken rule in this school that while having sex was ostensibly forbidden, if

you were going to go ahead and do it, you needed to make you sure didn't not

get caught, and also to use protection.

Kei was at a complete loss for words now. Her eyes darted back and forth

between Amasawa, me, and the contraceptives on the table.

"Here. Take these as a gift from me… Well, actually, I suppose they're my way

of apologizing," said Amasawa.

"I don't remember you doing anything you need to apologize for," I

answered.

"Oh, come on. The injury on your hand. I was involved in that, remember? I

cooperated with Housen-kun," said Amasawa, without a hint of guilt or shame

in her voice.

Rather than having me make her come out and say it, she freely admitted it

herself, huh?

"I-Is that true?" said Kei, who couldn't help but be taken aback by what she

just heard.

I really hoped that Kei would refrain from making any unnecessary remarks

right now. With just one statement of shock, she'd be handing information over

to Amasawa. Amasawa would be able to judge how much I told Kei, and

whether she was someone worth talking to.

"Ayanokouji-senpai. I think that maybe you've got the wrong idea about me,"

said Amasawa.

"The wrong idea?" I repeated.

"I'm not your enemy, Ayanokouji-senpai."

"I'm guessing you've probably noticed how I feel already, but I can't believe

that."

"Really? Just because I put an idea into Housen-kun's head?" said Amasawa.

If Amasawa hadn't contacted me, things would have gone quite differently. It

would've been difficult for anyone to lay the blame for Housen's self-inflicted

injury at my feet, and the whole incident would've ended with his selfdestruction. Well, I was sure Housen would've come up with something else on

his own, but regardless, there was no doubt whatsoever that Amasawa's

involvement situation was what turned his idea into a viable strategy.

"Let me have a guess at what you're thinking right now, senpai. I modified

Housen-kun's plans to have you expelled, thereby increasing the chances that

you would get kicked out of school. A person like that saying that they're not

your enemy? I'm sure you're thinking, 'Yeah, right, don't make me laugh.' Am I

right? You know, I think you've really underestimated me, Ayanokouji-senpai,"

said Amasawa.

"I don't remember ever underestimating you. I think I've given you enough

credit," I replied.

"Really? You sure? I don't think so."

Kei was still stunned, but she regained some of her composure after hearing

what Amasawa and I were talking about.

"H-hey, wait, hold on a second. Someone was trying to have Kiyotaka

expelled…? Huh? What do you mean?" asked Kei, flustered.

She'd been informed about the injury to my hand, but not in detail. After

seeing Kei's flustered reaction, Amasawa smiled broadly, deeply interested.

"Oh? Ayanokouji-senpai, you didn't tell your girlfriend. Does that mean you

haven't told her about the twenty million, either?"

"Wh-what is she talking about? Twenty million what?" said Kei.

It was safe to assume that Amasawa had deliberately started this

conversation in order to probe my relationship with Kei.

"You can ask your boyfriend over here about the details later. Right, senpai?"

said Amasawa, turning to me at the end.

Now that she'd said something like that, I was going to have to explain things

to Kei afterward.

"Housen-kun and I were going to use that knife to get Ayanokouji-senpai

expelled. I'm sure you realized that fact when we went shopping together,

right, senpai?" said Amasawa.

Having told me all that, she now started to work on making me change my

mind about her.

"That was the first time I had seen kitchen utensils here at this school. But I

didn't hesitate at all when choosing the knife. And after checking with the clerk

a few days later, you found out that that someone else tried to buy the same

knife. Which was why you were able to make a quick judgment call and prevent

Housen-kun from injuring himself… Isn't that right?" said Amasawa.

The answer I had arrived at was the one that Amasawa had left traces to lead

me to. But they were traces that she had left behind on purpose, choosing not

to conceal them. She had assumed that I would arrive at the correct answer,

and that I would prevent Housen from pulling off his scheme before he could do

it. It was certainly true that if Amasawa had played her part perfectly in that

situation and covered her tracks, things might have turned out differently.

"You're too kind," I told her.

"I just thought it would be sad. You being expelled, without even knowing the

reason why, all because of a bounty on your head," said Amasawa.

I wondered if a normal high school student would have been able to think

that far ahead. I had my doubts about that.

Amasawa Ichika. Considering her thought process, if someone told me she

was the White Room student, I'd find that quite believable. But if that were the

case, then telling me this much was basically the same thing as telling me her

identity. What was the advantage in letting me know her identity right here and

now? Or was she perhaps a genius like Sakayanagi, refining her skills in a place

unrelated to the White Room? In any case, Amasawa had gone up in my mental

ranking of people to watch out for.

"Ah, I'm pretty thirsty. I think I want a coffee or something," said Amasawa,

demanding a drink in a coaxing, wheedling way, as if she were wanting

something.

Kei had a look of blatant disgust on her face when she heard that, not even

bothering to hide her displeasure at Amasawa's attitude.

"Hey, go fix a cup of coffee for Amasawa," I told Kei.

"Huh? Me?!" stammered Kei.

"If you don't want to, I can do it. Then you can talk with Amasawa."

"…I'll do it."

Given a choice between fixing some coffee and talking with Amasawa, Kei

seemed to have weighed her options and chosen the better of the two. When

Kei stood up and started making her way into the kitchen, Amasawa added a

special request to her order, speaking at Kei's back.

"Sugar and milk, please!"

"Ngh! Okay, okay!" Kei, furious, puffed her cheeks out. Amasawa had just one

more thing to add as well.

"Oh, and please don't put garbage in it because you don't like me, okay?"

"I wouldn't do something like that!" shouted Kei.

Amasawa chuckled in amusement, having deliberately made a statement

meant to offend. She was, without a doubt, a devilish little imp… Well, actually,

we could omit the little part. She was a full-fledged devil.

Kei had temporarily left our field of vision for a short while, leaving Amasawa

and I alone in the living room. It was just the two of us. Amasawa glanced down

at the textbooks and notebooks placed on the table.

"Wow, this all seems pretty contrived, doesn't it? These study guides and

stuff placed here, I mean. Talk about forced."

"I guess since you were kind of biased already, you can see it that way."

Since Amasawa already had her doubts about everything Kei and I were doing

right from the very beginning, it was pointless for us to try and cover anything

up.

"Hmm, what's this? Let's see here. What was the convention adopted by

UNESCO in 1972?" said Amasawa, reading one of the problems from a

textbook.

She grabbed a mechanical pencil with her right hand and wrote the words

"Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural

Heritage" neatly in a blank space in the notebook.

"Ding, ding, ding! That's the correct answer," said Amasawa, giving herself a

round of applause for getting it right.

Kei, curious about what was going on, peeked into the living room to see.

"Hey, wait a second! Don't go writing stuff in my notebook!" she shouted,

warning Amasawa not to do something like that without permission.

"Oh, come on, it's fine, isn't it? I mean, just a little bit?" said Amasawa.

"No, it's not fine!" shouted Kei, pulling back in anger.

"Wow, senpai, your girlfriend…seems a little hot-tempered," said Amasawa,

casually whispering into my ear.

It would be bad if Kei saw us in this position…but somehow, we managed to

avoid being seen.

Kei returned from the kitchen with a cup of coffee in hand, not even making

an attempt to hide her displeasure. She had made sure to include sugar and

milk, just as requested.

"Here. You. Are," huffed Kei.

"Thank you oh so much, Karuizawa-sempaaaai!" replied Amasawa with a

broad grin.

But she then stood up without even drinking any of the coffee.

"Well then, now that I've given you my apology gift, I think I'll be heading

back now. Feel free to help yourself to that food," said Amasawa.

Having apparently finished what she came here for, she turned her back to us,

preparing to leave.

"Huh? Wait, what? You're not even going to drink it?! You had me make it for

you, though!" shouted Kei.

"Well, I don't particularly mind hanging out here and relaxing for a while, but

is that what you want?" asked Amasawa.

"…W-well, I mean…I'd like for you to leave," said Kei.

"Yep, that's what I thought. Anyway, I'll be going now!"

So she'd deliberately had Kei make her coffee, just for fun. I guessed this was

what it meant to know no fear.

Amasawa, standing up straight, left as quick as the wind. As soon as she had

left, the room instantly became quiet again. However, the sweet atmosphere of

just a little while ago was gone, leaving things feeling awfully strained and

gloomy.

"Kiyotaka, what was with that girl?!" shouted Kei.

"That's something I'd like to know too."

"…Ugh! She really ticks me off!"

Kei was clearly quite touchy about it, but there was no point in talking about

Amasawa forever. She must have wanted to change the topic herself as quickly

as possible, because she came back with something else.

"Hey, explain it to me. What's this twenty-million-point reward about? Does it

have anything to do with your injury, Kiyotaka?" she asked.

I wasn't keeping quiet because I wanted to keep this thing a secret or

anything like that. Instead, it was because I didn't want to cause Kei any

unnecessary heartache by telling her about it. But given the way things were

now, there was no way I could say that. And so, I decided to tell Kei what was

going on.

Chapter 4:

Approaching Summer, Premonition of a Fierce Battle

MID-JUNE was almost here. There hadn't been any new special exams since

the one held at the end of April, and we had basically gone back to our normal

lives here at school. I saw no signs of the White Room agent that was supposed

to be after me making a move either. The only inconvenient thing that

happened to me was Amasawa's visit, but there was no imminent danger of

expulsion.

However, it did seem like the incident had left a deep impression on Kei and

me, considering that even now we were still holding off on trying to kiss again.

Even in situations when the mood was getting fairly good, it was like there was

this invisible wall separating us. While I wanted to remove that wall and to

make progress, there was probably no need to rush things. With time, Kei

should be able to break past that wall on her own and naturally move on to the

next step. Which might be more effective, in the sense of helping her to grow

both emotionally and mentally.

Summer was approaching steadily. At the same time, I was experiencing a

daily routine that was almost too fulfilling for a high school student. The

temperature outside was slowly beginning to rise, just like in years past. On

particularly sunny days, the temperature started reaching as high as thirty

degrees. We truly were in the transition period between spring and summer.

Having spent an extended period of time living the carefree student life now,

there were some topics that I heard people talk about quite often. One of these

seemed trivial: which season was your favorite? However, this proved to be a

surprisingly deep and interesting topic of conversation. Even people who grew

up in the same place and were raised in the same way had different answers to

that question.

I had experienced all four seasons here at this school, and I was looking

forward to the hot season coming once again. Now that I thought about it, I

recognized that summer was my favorite season. Maybe that was why the blue

skies looked so beautiful and dazzling during this time of year.

"Good morning, Ayanokouji-senpai."

As I was walking along, looking up at the bright blue sky, I was greeted by a

voice coming from in front of me. It was a student from Class 1-D, Nanase

Tsubasa. She seemed to be going to class by herself, as there were no friends

around her.

"Oh, morning," I replied.

Considering the fact that she had been walking ahead of me, she'd probably

just so happened to turn around and see me. Either that or she had some

business with me and had been waiting for this.

"Is there something up in the sky?" she asked.

The reason I didn't notice Nanase was because I was concentrating on looking

up at the blue sky. She must have been observing me for a while if she had

noticed me doing that.

"Nothing. I was just looking at the sky," I replied.

"At the sky?" she repeated.

Nanase, now standing side-by-side with me, turned her gaze up toward the

sky, like me. It was a clear blue today, without a single cloud in sight.

"It's really nice out, isn't it?" said Nanase.

"Yeah. And by the way, it's been a while."

Even though we'd passed each other while out and about, we hadn't actually

had a conversation like this in a long time.

"Yes. We haven't talked for about a month and a half or so now," said

Nanase.

Nanase had colluded with Housen in his plan to get me expelled from school.

It would be no surprise if, like Amasawa, she'd felt it difficult to approach me

under normal circumstances.

"I feel like I did something really terrible to you, Ayanokouji-senpai," said

Nanase, while still looking up at the sky.

Apparently, she had more on her mind that I had imagined she would.

"Do you resent me?" she asked.

"I don't really have a reason to. It was part of a special exam, right? So there's

nothing to talk about. Besides, I saw you try to protect me anyway."

Although Nanase had been complicit in Housen's schemes, she eventually

leapt to my defense, without regard for the danger. I remembered that she had

confronted Housen, who was being quite hostile.

"Is that special exam over yet? I didn't hear anything about a deadline," I told

her.

"No, it's still ongoing. The deadline isn't until the start of the second

semester," said Nanase.

So from the sounds of it, the special exam would be ongoing for a while.

However, if that were the case, I found the fact that Nanase and Housen had

been silent for the past month and a half was somewhat curious.

"Aren't you concerned about the fact that I haven't tried to make contact

with you?" asked Nanase.

"It'd be lying if I said that didn't concern me. It makes me worry that there

might be some scheming going on behind the scenes or something."

"Considering what happened the last time, I was convinced that even if we

did devise a new plan, it wouldn't work so easily. Besides, it's extremely difficult

for us to try and force you into a corner in the course of your daily life now that

you know our objective, Ayanokouji-senpai," said Nanase.

"So you're waiting for another special exam that'll involve multiple grade

levels, huh? What about the other students in your grade, though?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but I think they do already know that Housen-kun

made a move."

"So, now that Housen has failed, you've all decided that you can't make any

careless moves? I guess that's one benefit of my injury."

"I don't know if that's worth your left hand, though," said Nanase.

Of all the first-year students, Housen Kazuomi was one who really attracted

attention, for better or for worse. The fact that he was the first to act might

have been a stroke of good luck, in a way. The question was, who knew about

this hidden special exam? It was easy for me to just ask Nanase about that,

but…

I tried looking at her a few times, but she kept averting her gaze, so I gave up

on that and faced forward again. Even if I tried asking Nanase that question, it

wasn't like she was going to answer. The students in the other three classes

were still staying hidden so I wouldn't know out their identities. I was sure

Nanase wasn't going to sell them out, to maintain fairness. The only thing

Nanase had done was make me aware of the existence of this special exam in

general, to offset any disadvantage to Class 1-D.

"I sincerely appreciate your understanding," said Nanase, speaking as though

she understood what I was thinking once I had remained silent for a while.

Since we were both headed to class anyway, I decided to talk about

something completely unrelated.

"Seems like you've gotten completely used to things here at this school," I

told her.

From the way she was acting, it looked like she had lost the innocence she

had when she first arrived, now blending in with the rest of the students.

"Yes. I think the students in my class, myself included, are starting to get

better at tolerating the special circumstances of this school. I'm not sure how

much the upperclassmen know about this, but we first-years had our second

special exam at the end of May," said Nanase.

Just as we second-years had our own battles to fight, so too did the first-years

have their own.

"I haven't had this information directly confirmed by anyone, but I hear that a

student has been expelled," said Nanase.

We second-year students had also heard news about someone getting

expelled. One student had been expelled from the last special exam.

"It seems like you are also aware of it, then. As I expected. The expulsion was

one boy from Class 1-C," said Nanase.

We'd found out because there was one student's name missing from the list

in OAA. He'd had had an A in academics, so he must have been hit with some

kind of penalty.

"People are always going to talk when an expulsion occurs," I answered.

"Friends who were laughing together just the day before can just up and

vanish at this school. It's ruthless. What happened made me realize once more

that I need to live my life here in a way that leaves me with no regrets," said

Nanase.

Although her class might consider what happened to everyone else as not

their problem, they didn't know when the time would come that they'd have to

deal with something similar. It was especially important for them to have some

sense of alarm, like Nanase. That being said, I didn't know anything about the

Class Points situation in the other grade levels. Meaning that I had no

information at all about who won or who lost.

"What kind of results did your class get in the special exams?" I asked.

"Unfortunately, we didn't do so well. We came in last place the previous time

and in third place this time. However, this time around, it was an exceptionally

close match between us, Class A, and Class B, so the gap in Class Points is quite

narrow," said Nanase.

It seemed like Nanase felt that they were capable enough to not get left in the

dust by Class A and Class B, but if anything, hold their own against them. On the

other hand, Class C sank to the bottom of the rankings, largely because

someone from their class had been expelled, most likely.

"So, is Housen behaving himself more these days? Or…?" I began, before

being cut off by Nanase.

"I'd be lying if I said he wasn't exhibiting any problematic behavior. However,

he wasn't involved in this most recent expulsion scandal. That's because it

seems as though he's obsessed with you, Ayanokouji-senpai."

Nanase, who had been looking up at the sky for a long time, turned directly to

me for the first time since our conversation began, looking at me with a wry

smile.

"Though this is definitely hindsight talking, I do think that Housen-kun has

calmed down somewhat, thanks to you, Ayanokouji-senpai. I think the strong

emotions he'd previously directed solely at the students in our grade are now

being directed at our senpai, too. Lately, he's been saying things like, 'I wanna

throw down with the second-years as soon as I can!' Which makes me glad."

Well, that's… I supposed it was certainly good news for the first-year

students, anyway. The Housen and I would occasionally lock eyes when I passed

his large, conspicuous form, but if I recalled correctly, the look he gave me felt

something like, "Bring it on already."

"Sooner or later, there might come a time when we have to fight your grade,"

I answered.

We had only worked together once so far. But if Nagumo's policies were

strongly endorsed by the school, the day we'd end up competing with each

other wasn't that far off.

"I intend to live my life here at this school without regrets," said Nanase.

"That's nice."

Just like Nanase had said earlier, a friend who was laughing with you one day

might very well be gone the next. This was the sort of school where things like

that could happen. That was why we had to cherish each and every day that

went by, and not take anything for granted. Because each day that passed could

never come back. They would be in the past.

"Ayanokouji-senpai, please try and live your life here at this school without

regrets, too," said Nanase.

She said in a way that implied my days here at this school were numbered.

And there seemed to be some kind of powerful conviction in her eyes as she

looked at me.

"Of course. I'll make sure I don't have any regrets," I replied.

After she heard my reply, Nanase responded with a nod, seemingly satisfied.

"Well then, if you'll please excuse me." She bowed to me and went her own

way, just as we neared the school building.

4.1

CONSIDERING THAT THE first-year students had had their second special exam

at the end of May, it wouldn't be too surprising if we, the second-year students,

had one announced any day now. It was about time for us to be ready for

something like that. Then, as if to evaluate our resolve, our usual morning

homeroom began.

"It seems like everyone is present. That's good."

After Chabashira had finished taking attendance, she started fiddling with her

tablet, most likely to project something up on the monitor. Shortly afterward,

she must have finished what she was doing, because the screen went

completely white. When that happened, the students looked up at it.

"We have been together for quite a long time now. So I'm sure you probably

have some idea of what this is about," said Chabashira.

A new special exam was about to begin. Even though everyone clearly had

something they wanted to say, they all waited to hear what Chabashira was

going to announce. After a brief period of silence, she let out a little chuckle as

she took in the gazes of nearly all of the students in the class.

"Yes, we will certainly be discussing a special exam. However, to keep you in

suspense for a while longer, we'll hold onto that discussion until later. First, I'm

going to talk to you about summer vacation," said Chabashira, casting her gaze

down at the tablet.

An image appeared on the monitor—first, a picture of a luxury cruise ship.

Our class certainly had memories of a similar ship.

"Now, I'm going to start by explaining a bit about what this summer vacation

will be like," said Chabashira.

The students looked at each other for a moment, their expressions conveying

the joy they felt at the sweet-sounding words that had just come out of

Chabashira's mouth. However, the combination of the words "ship" and

"vacation" ultimately dredged up some very different memories that had been

deeply ingrained in us. Those memories reminded us that there was no way this

school would let us indulge in such sweet fantasy.

As we were reminded of that fact, the picture on the monitor changed from

an exterior view of the ship to an interior view. The itinerary was also displayed,

in similar fashion.

"From August 4 through August 11, you'll be able to enjoy your summer

vacation freely and to the absolute fullest on this luxury cruise liner. That's a

total of eight days and seven nights. You can watch plays or indulge in tasty

meals. And there will be nothing even remotely like a special exam held on this

cruise, either," said Chabashira.

In other words, we were being promised a true, genuine vacation for about

one whole week. The students who had serious doubts felt themselves relax a

bit.

However, that slight easing of doubts disappeared as soon as the on-screen

image faded away. It was almost like poison had been delivered right into our

eyes.

"However, in order to fully enjoy this cruise, you must successfully complete

the upcoming special exam," said Chabashira.

After those few brief moments of dreamlike bliss, my classmates were swiftly

yanked back to reality. The act of lifting the students' hopes, only to drop them

back down right after, would normally have resulted in great disappointment.

However, the students instantly changed gears in their minds, adopting an

attitude that showed that they were ready and willing to accept this upcoming

battle.

"It seems you really have been learning," said Chabashira, an approving smile

appearing on her lips, as if to express her admiration of us.

It wasn't like she had mentioned the vacation part first simply out of sheer

meanness or anything. She probably wanted to prove that even though we

were still Class D, we were different from how we were a year ago. After all the

trials and tribulations we'd endured, we'd learned to brace ourselves and keep

our spirits up.

The very first person to ask a question was none other than Horikita, whose

seat was directly in the middle. "When will this special exam begin?"

"Well, typically when we make these announcements, the special exam would

be given that very same day or the next. Unfortunately, in this instance, it's still

a ways off. The next special exam is going to be held during the summer break,"

said Chabashira.

So, the school was going to hold the special exam during summer break, after

the first semester had finished? If that was the case, what concerned me was

the fact that it seemed far too early for the teachers to be explaining the rules

right now. What was the purpose of this announcement, if the exam was still

more than a month away?

At any rate, whether we liked it or not, there was one particular special exam

that sprang to the students' minds when they considered what had been said so

far. Then, just as everyone seemed to be thinking the exact same thing,

Chabashira spoke once more and transformed those thoughts into reality.

"You're going to participate in an 'Uninhabited Island Survival' test, and will

be competing against each other."

Survival on an uninhabited island for a special exam. The battle between the

classes that took place during summer break during our first year had been

deeply etched into our brains. Each class competed against one another using

the limited number of Class Points that we were given during that exam. Also,

there were additional rules such as trying to guess who the leader for each class

was and getting points by occupying zones.

"So, we have to do that again this year…" mumbled Keisei, who must have

been recalling what had happened then. He would normally have quietly

listened to the entire explanation of the special exam, but had probably spoken

up because our class had quite a challenging time back then, including some

fierce infighting between the guys and girls.

"I'm sure you're thinking back to the uninhabited island survival exam that

you took last year. However, this year's exam is going to be different from the

previous ones. This will be more rigorous, more grueling than any other special

exam. Of course, the Class Points and Private Points that you can earn in this

exam will be significant, though," said Chabashira.

We'd been free to fight any way we wanted to in the Uninhabited Island

Survival battle last year. If you were determined to win, you needed to be frugal

with your assets, but if you were fine with giving up on trying to win, then you

were allowed to spend your time relatively freely. That was the kind of exam it

was. There were no harsh measures such as expulsion, at least not as long as

the students didn't violate any important rules.

She said that this exam was going to be more rigorous and more grueling, but

what changes would be implemented from last year's exam? I didn't need to

worry about getting an answer to that question, though, because I was sure

Chabashira was going to tell us right away.

"Let's start by going over the schedule. You can download it to your own

devices later and look it over, so there's no need for you to take any notes

here," explained Chabashira.

She put up the schedule for the special exam, just as she said she would, the

monitor lighting up again now that something was being projected to it.

July 19: Assemble on the sports field. Depart by bus. Board the cruise ship at

the harbor. Depart.

July 20: Special exam begins. Explanation of special exam, distribution of

supplies, etc.

August 3: Special exam ends. Rankings will be announced onboard the cruise

ship. Rewards will be handed out accordingly.

* Private Points for the month of August will be allotted after the results of

the uninhabited island special exam are applied.

August 4: Start of free time on the cruise ship.

August 11: Arrive at harbor. Return to campus. Dismissal.

The closing ceremony, which would mark the end of the first semester, was

going to be held on Friday the sixteenth. We were scheduled to depart three

days after that. Moreover, we could tell from the schedule that the duration of

this special exam would be twice as long as the previous one, at two weeks.

"Sensei, based on this schedule, won't our summer break be shortened like, a

lot?" asked Nishimura, launching his question like it were an arrow.

The summer break was generally supposed to be around forty days long, but

even if you counted the free days spent lounging around on the cruise ship as

part of our summer break, we still were only getting about twenty-four days. It

was no wonder students felt dissatisfied.

"Unfortunately, there will be no making up for that lost time. The fact of the

matter is that your summer break will most definitely be shortened this year.

That's just how it is," said Chabashira.

The school had stopped Nishimura's arrow dead in its tracks. I supposed that

a bit of booing was unavoidable. To many students, days spent on break were

more valuable than days spent learning in school.

"However, on the bright side, you'll get to spend one week on a luxury cruise

ship. Depending on how you look at it, this one week you get to spend on the

cruise ship might be more valuable than the two weeks of normal time that

you'll be losing. And as I stated earlier, you can enjoy your time on the ship

purely as a vacation period," said Chabashira.

It seemed like Chabashira was trying to encourage us to hang in there by

saying all of that. We did get to ride on a cruise ship last year, but we'd had

extraordinarily little time to actually enjoy it. After the uninhabited island

survival exam ended, I remembered, we'd been thrust into the zodiac exam.

To the students, who lived here on campus, the outside world was so fresh

and exciting. And even though we were going to be onboard a ship, we could

still say we'd be able to spend our time there differently from how we usually

would. It could be the best summer vacation ever.

Even the students who had been complaining seemed to be satisfied, more or

less. If you weren't satisfied, you couldn't move forward. And besides, unlike

last year, we had replenished our Private Points to a certain extent, so it wasn't

like we'd be inconvenienced by a lack of funds on the cruise ship. I supposed

that was another reason why this might be less stressful on the students.

"Now then, let's get down to business. This is similar to the uninhabited island

survival exam that you had last year, but you could say that the most significant

difference here is in terms of scale. In addition to the fact that there's going to

be a two-week long test period for this exam, the island that we're using for this

is larger in size than the one you were on before," explained Chabashira.

An uninhabited island in the middle of the ocean was shown on the monitor.

The photographs seemed to have been taken from the air.

"And this time, it won't just be students in the same grade competing.

Students from every grade level will be competing against each other."

Meaning that the competition was going to be larger in scale than the

previous one in many ways.

"Therefore, the number of opponents you have to fight will also be higher

than ever before," added Chabashira.

Well, that was an unexpected development. This test of survival would

involve all grade levels, and on top of that, students wouldn't just be facing off

against opponents from their grade. That bit was particularly unexpected.

"So, wait… Doesn't that mean that the first-year students will be put at a

significant disadvantage, whereas the third-year students will have an

advantage?" asked Hirata, a student who despised inequality.

If this were an exam where we were partnered with students from other

grade levels, then everyone would be equal. But that didn't seem to be the case

this time. If so, it meant the difference in physical ability and experience that

came with age would create a considerable handicap.

"I understand what it is you're trying to say but let me just go ahead and say

that no exam is ever going to be one-hundred-percent fair. Even if we're only

talking about you second-year students, you'll be competing on the same stage

despite the fact that there's nearly a year's difference between those born in

April and those born in March of the following year, right?" replied Chabashira.

To put it another way, though, that meant there were also cases where

students in grades only a year apart might have an actual age difference of

nearly two years. That would be a significant handicap.

"If a first-year student comes to you asking you for advice, it befits you as

their senpai to give them at least some kind of answer. However, the exact

nature of what you say to them is entirely up to you. Likewise, you could also

ask a third-year student for their opinion," said Chabashira.

So, while there didn't seem to be a problem with discussing things as much as

you'd like or if necessary, it would basically be like helping the enemy.

"There will be a minor handicap applied based on grade level, but you're

basically going to be on a level playing field. So how are we going to make up

for the difference in grade level, you ask? The answer is that the lower the

student's grade level, the more rewards they can receive and the fewer

penalties they have to worry about," said Chabashira.

Which in turn meant that the higher your grade level, the fewer rewards you

might receive, and the more severe the penalties, huh? This seemed somewhat

similar in structure to the special exam that was held in April, where we had to

find partners. Though the test contests were the same in that exam, the penalty

the second-years faced expulsion, whereas the first-years just saw a difference

in the number of Private Points they'd gain. That was a significant difference.

"Anyway, taking all of that into account, let's move on. I'm now going to

explain part of the outline, regarding the new rules for the uninhabited island

survival exam," said Chabashira.

The word "part" made the students exchange looks.

"That means not all of the rules are going to be revealed to you today, at this

time," she added.

Chabashira instructed us to listen quietly to her explanation and then brought

up a new image on the monitor. We looked up at it, seeing the word "group"

stand out prominently.

"In order for you to understand the rules of the survival battle on the

uninhabited island, we must begin with the rules regarding the formation of

groups," said Chabashira.

It seemed the preliminary part of this particular special exam was going to be

much longer than any we'd had before. This also seemed to hint at the intensity

of the battle that awaited us.

"Your next special exam, which is to say, the uninhabited island survival

battle, has a rule that allows you to form large groups of up to six people and

cooperate with one another. The first thing that you must remember is that

these large groups can be formed with any student from your grade level,

regardless of class," explained Chabashira.

"So, does that mean…the other second-year students are our allies…?"

muttered Horikita quietly to herself.

She'd assumed, until then, that everyone outside our own class was an

enemy. Her quiet monologuing echoed throughout the room. I was sure her

muttered words had reached Chabashira's ears, but she continued speaking

without answering the question.

"For the next four weeks or so, from today until the end of Friday, July 16, you

second-year students will be given the right to form small groups of up to three

students with any partners of your choosing in your grade level. These groups

will be the basis for the large groups. However, even though I said you can team

up with partners of your choosing, there are some restrictions involved. One of

those is, as I just said, that you can only choose students from your grade. You

cannot form a group with first-year students or third-year students," explained

Chabashira.

We could work with anyone from our grade. In other words, students from

Class A could team up with Class C. Apparently, first-year students were allowed

to make small groups of up to four students, while third-year students could

make small groups of up to three, like we second-years could. I supposed that

was one of the handicaps were being doled out for each grade level. The rule in

question was then clearly displayed on the monitor.

It might be possible for all four second-year classes to work together to form

the strongest groups to compete in this test. If we were free to assemble ideal

groups, we'd naturally have a chance at winning this thing. On the other hand, if

the other grade levels were similarly able to form the best possible groups of

people, we'd need to summon all our strength in order to compete with them.

"Next, we have the gender ratio. In the case of a mixed-gender small group,

girls must make up at least two-thirds of the group," said Chabashira.

So groups of two boys and one girl, or just one boy and one girl, weren't

allowed, huh? The possible group combinations were shown up on the monitor.

[1 Boy] [2 Boys] [3 Boys]

[1 Girl] [2 Girls] [3 Girls]

[1 Boy & 2 Girls]

Seven possible configurations. Meaning that group configurations like [2 Boys

& 1 Girl] or [1 Boy and 1 Girl] would be rejected.

"What happens if you don't form a group? …Or in the event that you can't

form a group? What then?"

"As you can see from the list of possible combinations, 'groups' of just one

person can be formed. There would be fewer benefits to such an approach, but

it's not disallowed. The next special exam can be conducted regardless of the

number of people in your group. If anyone does want to try going it alone, they

are allowed to, regardless of gender," said Chabashira.

Although the fact of the matter was that the more people in your group, the

better off you were, it sounded you could still take this special exam on alone

without issues.

"I'm sure that some students might feel more comfortable being on their

own, but the more people in your group, the better. In addition to the

advantages you gain by simply having more people, there are also special

benefits for having more members. I would strongly recommend you do not

choose the option of trying to go it alone in this test, except as a last resort,"

said Chabashira.

I supposed if that if you could handle yourself well enough, it would be all

right to be on your own. But students who couldn't form a group would

essentially be forced to take the exam while at a disadvantage, which meant

joining a group of three was basically the minimum requirement necessary for a

normal student to be ready to compete.

"There are a considerable number of benefits to forming a group, but there is

one caveat. Once a group has been established, people cannot transfer to

another group for any reason whatsoever," said Chabashira.

Once you'd formed your group, it seemed you were stuck together as allies

until the special exam was over.

"I understand that we're unable to change our group, but we can form groups

of up to six people for the special exam, correct? So far, we've only heard about

being able to form small groups of up to three people. Could we please hear

more about that?" asked Hirata, addressing Chabashira.

"Yes, that is a key point. When the actual special exam begins, the small

groups will be allowed to form up with each other. You could have two groups

of three people come together, or three groups of two people, or even six

individuals. However, there are conditions for the formation of larger groups as

well. In large groups of four persons or more, the group must be at least fifty

percent girls," explained Chabashira.

So the gender ratio rule would change, requiring groups to have a one-to-two

ratio of girls instead of two-to-three. If these restrictions were going to be

changing, I supposed sticking with a small group of just one or two people in the

beginning was a viable strategy.

"From everything you've heard thus far, I'm sure that some students might

think that it's fine if they form their groups right after the special exam starts,

but it's really not as simple as all that. Though you are free to form groups with

anyone you'd like, it will be extremely difficult for you to form your ideal large

group during the exam. There will be many cases where you might want to

form a group of up to six people, but won't be able to do so," said Chabashira.

So it seemed that being in a smaller group wasn't necessarily entirely without

merit. But considering the risks of having to survive on an uninhabited island

alone from start to finish, it would be safer to form a group of three people at

this stage after all, I supposed. If we didn't take into account students who had

been expelled, there were forty students for each class in all grade levels. With

four classes in each grade level, that was 160 students per grade. Since the

school had clearly stated that groups of up to a maximum of six students could

be formed, the minimum number of groups that could be formed in this test,

for all grades combined, would be eighty-one. Since there were no guarantees

that you would be able to form a group of six people during the actual test,

depending on how things played out, it was possible that the number of groups

competing against each other could actually be somewhere in the triple digits.

"I understand you must feel perplexed, after being told to just go ahead and

form small groups of your choosing. If you don't know what the contents of this

exam will be, you can't exactly narrow down what kind of people you might

need," said Chabashira, sure that everyone in class had arrived at that

conclusion.

She continued speaking.

"I cannot tell you exactly what the next special exam is going to be assessing

you on. But I can lightly touch on what kind of skills that you may need. That

kind of thing," she added, taking a look at the students, whose expressions had

tightened. "I'm sure many students were left feeling frustrated by last year's

survival exam on the uninhabited island, feeling as though they were unable to

really demonstrate their potential. However, it is safe for you to assume that

this year's exam is going to test all kinds of ability. Academic ability, physical

ability, emotional strength, and communication skills. There's a strong

possibility you'll be able to make use of strengths other than those I just

mentioned, too," explained Chabashira.

So it wasn't enough to simply be good at academics or sports. This meant that

students who were good at many things would have an advantage, from the

sounds of it. A connection between an uninhabited island and academics was

difficult to imagine, but I supposed there were many ways in which it could be

accomplished. For example, a rule that said you didn't get any food if you

couldn't answer a question correctly first. A group made up of people who

could only boast of their physical prowess could be eliminated all too quickly.

"Although it is important for you to choose students you have a good

relationship with, a group's overall strengths are likely to tie directly into their

performance during this special exam. I recommend that you look for the right

people for the job when forming your groups," explained Chabashira.

This meant students who were talented all-rounders would simply have

better odds if they teamed up with each other. However, as Chabashira had

said, choosing students you got along with was an important consideration, too.

Considering that we weren't sure exactly what kind of exam this would be,

chances were good that cooperation would be key.

"Although I've said that the more people you have, the more advantages

you'll have, the reason this is true isn't because you'll have six brains or six

bodies working together. It's because there's a rule for this exam which

implements a dropout system. Let's compare what would happen in a situation

if Hirata tried to get through this exam by himself versus what would happen if

we were in a group of three, with Sudou and Hondou," said Chabashira.

She then typed something on her tablet. After she did so, there were two

groups displayed up on the monitor. One was a group made up of just Hirata

and the other was a group of three people, which included Hirata. Each name

shown on the screen was colored blue.

"Let's suppose that, during the special exam, Hirata suffered some kind of

unfortunate accident that made it impossible for him to continue. Naturally, if

he were going this test alone, that would mean his group would be disqualified

at that point, and he would be penalized," said Chabashira.

In the box for the one-person group, Hirata's name now turned red, indicating

disqualification.

"On the other hand, what would happen if Hirata were forced to retire during

the exam if he were in a group of three…?" said Chabashira.

Though Hirata's name in the three-person group went red, the other two

names remained blue.

"Hirata would be disqualified and sent back to the cruise ship, but the

remaining two members of the group would be able to continue the test

without any issues. And if the group managed to stick around until the end and

win first place in the exam, then Hirata would be considered as having come in

first place as well, since he was also a member of the group," she explained.

So even if an individual dropped out, it would be okay as long as the rest of

the group survived. That being said, the loss of any member of the group was

bound to have a negative impact.

"It doesn't matter how many people you lose along the way. The group will

continue to function without issue until the very last person is gone. In other

words, the more people you have in your group, the more 'lives' you have, to

put it simply," she added.

I see. This confirmed how significant the groups were. No matter how capable

a student might be, accidents were still bound to happen, like getting injured or

falling ill. In order to minimize that risk, the formation of a group of six was

essential in order to win.

"Now that you understand the importance of the groups, let's talk about the

rewards," said Chabashira.

Now the real impact of this uninhabited island survival battle would become

clear to us.

Rewards

FIRST PLACE GROUP

300 Class Points, 1,000,000 Private Points, 1 Protection Point

SECOND PLACE GROUP

200 Class Points, 500,000 Private Points

THIRD PLACE GROUP

100 Class Points, 250,000 Private Points

GROUPS IN THE TOP 50% (Including those in First through Third Place)

50,000 Private Points

GROUPS IN THE TOP 70% (Including those in First through Third Place)

10,000 Private Points

* Class Points awarded to the groups in the top three places will be

transferred from the grades of the groups in the bottom three places.

Class Points will be divided evenly by the number of classes, regardless of the

number of the students (rounded).

Based on the rewards shown up on the monitor, the Class Point and Private

Point rewards were fairly large. If one particular class dominated the top three

spots, the class rankings would be significantly shaken up.

But there were some bizarre things to take note of.

"This is the list of rewards for this particular exam. It is important for you to

note that you cannot form groups with students outside your own grade for this

exam, so essentially, each grade level will be competing against each other.

However, the effects of the rewards and penalties are applied based on the

composition of each group. In other words, if a group made up of only Class D

students takes first place, then the rewards for first place will all belong to Class

D. On the other hand, if a group composed of students from all four classes

wins first place, then the rewards will be divided equally among the four

classes. So, if you create a group made up of the best, most capable students

from each of the four classes, you might be able to increase your odds of

winning, but your Class Point standing might not really change all that much,"

explained Chabashira.

And because the number of people in a particular group didn't factor into the

equation at all, the 300 points would simply be divided out equally among the

four classes. Which means that even if you did take first place in that situation,

you wouldn't really be able to close the gap in Class Points. Well actually, I

supposed, given we could only form three-person groups at this stage, we

wouldn't be able to form any with students from all four classes in the first

place. That would make it impossible for us to have any sort of ideal discussion,

most likely.

"And then… The total Class Point rewards for the top three places, a massive

600 points in total, will be collected equally from the grades that fall into the

bottom three groups. Say for example that the group that comes in first place is

made up of second-year students, and the group in last place is made up of

first-year students. That means Class Points will be collected from each of the

first-year classes. The rewards for the group that comes in second correspond

with the group that comes in second-to-last, and similarly, the group that

comes in third place will get their rewards from the group that comes in thirdto-last," explained Chabashira.

So there was a strong possibility that different grade levels would try and rob

points from each other, from the sounds of it.

"Now then, I'll go on to explain what will happen in a situation where groups

from the same grade level come in first and last place, respectively, for the sake

of comparison. In this instance, it would be a bit of a special case. The classes

included in the group that placed in last would have to pay a hundred Class

Points to the classes that had come in first place. Second-to-last place, sixty-six

points. Third-to-last, thirty-three points. If a group made up of a single class

comes in first place, they will still get the 300 points, as usual. However, if

another group of students from the same class were to come in last place at the

same time, that means a hundred points would be deducted, so the winning

class would only get 200 points," explained Chabashira.

Which meant that if a group comprised of students from all four classes were

to win, each class would get seventy-five Class Points. No matter how many

students your class had in first place, if you happened to have students from

your class in a group that placed at the bottom, it was possible that you could

lose out.

"Additionally, in the event that the Class Points the school has collected is not

enough to cover the payout, the school will compensate and pay the remainder.

The same rule applies when collecting points from the other grade levels, as

well," she added.

Apparently, even in situations where they didn't have enough Class Points to

pay up, the rewards would still be guaranteed.

"Well, supposing if a group comprised of students from all four classes does

finish in last, the amount that they have to pay out will be reduced, but only

slightly. Last place will have to pay out seventy-five points. Second-from-last will

pay out fifty points. And third-from-last will pay out twenty-five points. I

suppose you could say that everyone shares the burden equally," said

Chabashira.

I supposed that was kind of a bonus, in an exam where cooperation was quite

difficult.

"And of course, groups that place at the bottom of the rankings will naturally

suffer some penalties. The groups that place in the bottom three positions will

have Class Points snatched from them, as I had mentioned earlier. But that's

not all. Students in the bottom five groups will be expelled," said Chabashira.

The students gasped. Five entire groups meant it was possible that a

maximum of thirty students could be expelled.

"B-but, if only students from our class are the ones who end up getting

expelled, then…"

"In the worst-case scenario, that would leave only nine of you. But there's no

need to worry about that. In the unlikely event that you are penalized, you

could pay six million Private Points to save yourselves. That amount is divided

by the number of people in a group. So, for a group of six people, it would cost

one million Private Points per person," explained Chabashira.

So, even in the unlikely event that we did get hit with the expulsion penalty,

there seemed to be ways that we could save ourselves.

"There is a condition, though. You must have the requisite number of points

to pay out that fee to save someone on hand, on your own phones, before you

board the ship. You will not be able to borrow or lend any Private Points once

the exam has begun."

Which meant we didn't have the option of helping each other later. We

needed to procure those points before the exam.

"But within the group that is penalized, I'm sure that there will be some

students who can pay up and some who can't. What happens if one of the

students in the group doesn't have enough points to cover their share?"

"Don't worry about that. Even if five out of the six people in a group come up

short and can't pay their share, the sixth person, the one who does have

enough to cover their share, can still save themselves by paying out that one

million Private Points," said Chabashira.

Basically, if you had enough people, it seemed like you didn't need to worry

about having the others dragging you down with them.

"May I ask a question?" asked Horikita, raising her hand, sitting directly facing

where Chabashira was standing. "The rules state that if you team up with other

classes, each class gets an equal share of the rewards. In the end, wouldn't that

rule result in students choosing to form groups only with students from their

own class?"

Horikita was saying that even if you did your best to win, it would be pointless

if you had to split the Class Points multiple ways.

"If you decide that there's no benefit in doing so, then yes, you can simply

decide to team up with your own classmates only. That's all," replied

Chabashira, telling us to figure out for ourselves what to do.

There wasn't going to be a definite right answer to that question. However, if

there was one thing we could be sure of, it's that if you tried to monopolize all

of the rewards and only form groups with students from within your own class,

the less-capable leftover groups comprised of a mishmash of students who

didn't get picked for the main groups, would be forced into a difficult situation.

At the same time, you'd be creating groups that would likely run the risk of

getting expelled.

On the other hand, if you increased the number of classes represented in your

group, the rewards would be fewer, but you would be able to create a broader

group more easily and you could control the risk of being penalized. Of course,

there were other risks that might come up.

As far as forming groups for the survival test on the uninhabited island went…

Here was a summary of the information that Chabashira had presented to us so

far.

•Survive on an uninhabited island for up to a maximum period of two weeks

•A wide variety of skills will be needed, and a high level of overall ability will

be more advantageous, but cohesion cannot be ignored

•Special rewards such as Class Points, Private Points, and a Protection Point

will be given to the groups that place at the top (Class Points are divided equally

based on the number of classes though)

•Groups will be formed, with a minimum of one person to a maximum of six,

and the more people in your group, the more advantages you'll have (Group

rankings are determined by when the last person gets eliminated from the

group)

•The groups that come in last will receive penalties, expulsion is also a

possibility

•In accordance with the rules, we can freely form small groups within our

grade (up to a maximum of three people)

•Forming a large group during the exam will not be easy

That was a rough breakdown of everything so far, but that explanation alone

wasn't enough to give us the entire picture.

"I understand that this has all been a lot to take in so far, but there is still a lot

left to explain," said Chabashira.

She drew a breath, then moved on to the next part of her explanation.

"Please take a look at this."

The monitor refreshed, now showing eight items on the screen.

Basic Card Overview

Head Start: Points available at the start of the exam are multiplied by 1.5.

Bonus: Whoever owns this card gets double the Private Point rewards.

Half Off: Halves the number of Private Points that needs to be paid out for a

penalty. Only valid for the student who owns this card.

Free Ride: At the start of the exam, designate a specific group. You will

receive half of the number of Private Point rewards that the designated group

will receive. This effect disappears if you join with the group you've designated.

Insurance: If the owner of this card would normally be disqualified from the

exam due to poor health, they are instead given one full day to recover. Not

valid in the event of disqualification due to cheating, etc.

Special Card Overview

One More: The owner of this card can join a group as a seventh member. It

takes effect once the main portion of the exam has started and is not affected

by the gender ratio rule.

Nullify: The Private Points needed to be paid out for a penalty are reduced to

zero. Only valid for the student who owns this card.

Trials and Tribulations: Using this card entitles you to be able to earn 1.5

times the Class Point rewards for the special exam. However, if your group fails

to place in the top 30%, then your group will be penalized. The school will cover

the increased reward amounts.

"Wh-what are those all about?"

"These cards are items that will affect the uninhabited island survival exam.

Everyone will receive one card. With one exception, there is no drawback to

having any of these cards. Their efficacy can be roughly understood by looking

at the descriptive text on the cards," explained Chabashira.

There was a total of eight kind of cards in the lineup, ranging from cards that

would give you an edge in the special exam to cards that specialized in

protection. The latter cards were useful in the sense that you can keep yourself

safe, but if you consider that they were basically for when you're prepared for

defeat, it was likely that those cards would be evaluated differently. The tricky

card out of the lineup would be "Trials and Tribulations," the only one that has

a disadvantageous aspect to it. If you used the card effectively, then it carried

greater potential than any other rewards, but it wouldn't be easy to break into

the top thirty percent.

"Each student will get one of these eight cards, selected at random. The cards

will be distributed tomorrow morning. The cards that you've obtained can be

transferred or traded with students from other classes so long as they are in

your grade level until the special exam officially begins. Anyone can view who

holds which cards in the OAA app. You can sell your cards to anyone who

wishes to buy them from you. You can even buy up a bunch of cards and hold

onto multiple. However, the same card effects cannot be stacked, so there is

absolutely no point in having two of the same card," explained Chabashira.

Card Overview and Rules

Both Basic Cards and Special Cards can be traded with students from within

your grade level. You cannot trade with students from within your own class.

Also, once a card has changed hands, it cannot be traded again. Even if multiple

copies of the same kind of card are used, card effects do not stack.

This meant that a single student could theoretically hold up to a maximum of

eight kinds of cards at once and could use them all. However, because the cards

had positive and negative applications, it wasn't like you could activate all their

effects at once. In the end, you would just have effective options at your

disposal that you could use.

"Also, regarding the special cards… There are three kinds of special cards, and

they'll be handed out randomly, but only one will be handed out to each grade

level. Therefore, there is the possibility that, through sheer coincidence, one

class may come to hold all three cards. That's all," said Chabashira.

An explanation of the uninhabited island special exam, followed by an

explanation of the rewards and penalties. And then an explanation about the

distribution of items called cards. And thus, we came to the end of the long

overview of the uninhabited island survival exam.

"I'm sure that some of you might not have understood everything that we just

went over, but by lunchtime, the special exam manual will be automatically

distributed to your tablets so you can check out the information that way," said

Chabashira, having now finished explaining everything to us.

The bell rang loud and clear, signaling that it was the end of our first-period

class.

"I suggest that you think long and hard about what kind of group strategy

you're going to produce. You have time," she added.

After giving us that bit of advice, Chabashira left the classroom. Afterward,

the students began to huddle together. Kouenji, who was sitting far to the left

of me, one empty seat between us, stood up, and then went out into the hall. It

looked like he was simply acting according to his selfish whims, as we had come

to expect, but he was walking at a quicker pace than usual. I felt like there was

something off about the way Kouenji was behaving, so I decided to follow him.

I tried to soften my footsteps and anything else that might cause me to be

detected so that I wouldn't be noticed. That being said, there was only so much

that I could do. There weren't an infinite number of things I could hide behind,

like I could on the island.

However, ordinary people didn't usually go about their day with the

consideration of being followed. Even if an amateur were to try and tail another

amateur, the person being followed would probably only vaguely suspect

something was up.

Shortly afterward, I heard the voices of both Chabashira and Kouenji coming

from around the corner. I hid near the corner, holding my breath, and listened

in on their conversation.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about, Kouenji?"

"Well, teacher, I can't help but feel that you left a crucial detail out of your

explanation," replied Kouenji.

I was guessing that Chabashira was probably standing face-to-face with

Kouenji now, as she waited for him to ask his question.

"A crucial detail?" she asked in return.

"Namely, if a person who is taking the exam entirely on their own happens to

succumb to illness or injury, what would happen to him or her as a result?"

asked Kouenji.

"Ah, I was wondering what you were going to ask. What a trivial question,"

replied Chabashira.

Even though I couldn't actually see her, Chabashira had a somewhat amused

smile on her lips when she said that.

"If I remember correctly, you bowed out of the last exam due to illness.

Unfortunately, that's not going to work this year. No special exceptions will be

made. You would be penalized, meaning that you'd be asked to pay six million

points if you wanted to stay. And judging from what you have on hand, that

would be impossible for you," said Chabashira.

"Fu fu, yes, that's certainly true. I'm the sort of man who is quite liberal with

his cash flow, after all, so it seems like I am in quite the predicament here, yes."

It seemed like Kouenji had been planning to bow out of even this special exam

on the uninhabited island, as expected. But there was no escape route open for

a solo-participant trying to tackle this exam.

"In that case, what are you going to do? Maintain your freedom and get

expelled?" asked Chabashira.

"Hmm, I wonder? Yes, yes, I wonder. Well, I don't mind if you run along now,

teacher."

Kouenji must have been satisfied with the answer he had gotten from

Chabashira, because he just told her to leave. I started hearing footsteps. They

immediately picked up in speed, and then I couldn't hear them anymore. I'm

guessing that Kouenji was going to start moving soon too. In that case, I

supposed there wasn't any reason for me to hang around here for long.

I decided to leave without making a sound. But then…

"By the way, who is the person hiding over there, spying on me?" asked

Kouenji.

Kouenji had noticed me hiding from him. I could tell from the way his voice

carried in the hall that he must have turned around.

"Whether or not you come out is entirely up to you," he added.

It wasn't like he just blurted that out on a whim or anything. It was almost like

he had the keen senses of an animal or something…

Although I could have returned to the classroom without revealing myself, I

decided to face him honestly.

"Oh ho, Ayanokouji Boy. Do you have some business with me, perchance?"

He didn't seem surprised at all. If anything, he was indifferent to my presence

there, acting nonchalant about it. It wasn't so much like he had been

anticipating that I would have been there. It was more like he just didn't care

who was there.

"Horikita told me to keep an eye on you. She said it's because she can't tell

what you're going to do," I replied.

"Hmm."

Kouenji looked at me as though he were sizing me up, and then slowly started

walking towards me.

"You seem to be quite good at coming up with a front to hide what you're up

to. But I see neither truth nor lies from you, Ayanokouji Boy. I won't trust the

words of a person like that," said Kouenji.

"I never saw you as the type of person who would trust anyone anyway," I

replied.

"Fu fu fu, well, that's certainly true, yes. I do not trust anyone other than

myself. Not a single person. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that

I'm not even interested in anyone else."

Once Kouenji got directly beside me, he stopped completely still.

"And of course, that applies even to you, Ayanokouji Boy," he added.

Even after I had gotten that perfect score in the math section of the exam,

Kouenji looked no different than usual when he left the classroom earlier. And

there hadn't been any signs at all of him asking anyone about it, either. I could

detect no lies whatsoever in what he was saying.

"What are you planning to do for this special exam?" I asked.

"Hm, yes… I'm sure there will be more to discuss, but may I be included in

your group?" asked Kouenji.

I was wondering how he was going to respond to my question. I see. So that's

how it was going to be. If he partnered with at least one person, then that

means Kouenji can withdraw from the exam right at the start with ease.

"Sorry, but I have to turn you down. I don't exactly have the kind of leeway to

invite in the sort of person who is essentially guaranteed to bow out right when

the exam begins," I replied.

"Fu fu fu. I see. Well, I suppose that's that, then," said Kouenji.

"Is it okay for you to think that way, though? Even if you find a group

somewhere that'll let you in, in the end you'll be leaving the fate of your

expulsion in someone else's hands," I answered.

"Yes, that certainly is true. If I simply withdraw without doing anything, that

is," said Kouenji.

He resumed walking, moving past me. As he did though, he gave me a parting

shot.

"I'll think long and hard about how I'm going to get through this before the

exam begins."

With that, he returned to the classroom.

4.2

"SPECIAL EXAMS on uninhabited islands for two years in a row. I mean, it's

not like I hadn't considered it at all or anything, but…"

"I was expecting something like this to happen, and it has."

When I got back to the classroom, I saw that discussion regarding the special

exam had begun. You could say was sort of a customary thing that happened

now whenever we had these sorts of tests. Nearly everyone in class, Yousuke

included, had gathered near Horikita's seat in the front row and were trying to

sort out the situation. Kouenji had returned to his own seat, swooning over his

reflection in his prized hand mirror.

"The especially important part of this special exam is that while there are

certain conditions, we can team up with anyone in our own grade level."

That was most definitely a new rule that we hadn't seen in any of the special

exams until now. Besides, such a rule being implemented should have been

outside of the realm of what was expected at this school, in the first place.

"But what about how the Class Points are gonna be handed out when you

win, though? I mean, I more or less get the idea behind it at all, because we've

basically gone through somethin' kinda like it. But I don't see the benefit in

teamin' up with other classes," said Sudou.

I supposed it was quite natural that Sudou would've brought that point up

right away. This special exam is a battle between grade levels, but also between

different classes in the same grade level. The only way to finish this exam in an

efficient and effective manner was for a group consisting of only students from

your own class to take first place.

Even still, the school really had come up with some interesting rules. It was

much easier to aim for the top spots if your group was made up of many

students from within your same year. You'd minimize the risks, but there

weren't many rewards. "Low risk, low return," I suppose they'd say. On the

other hand, if you narrowed your group's focus, that meant you'd have a highrisk, high-return opportunity.

The most ideal solution would be to form two groups with three people in the

same class, and then have them combine into a group of six later. However,

Chabashira had mentioned earlier that it wasn't going to be easy to bring

groups together how we wanted once the exam began. If we didn't get any

guarantees that we would be able to form groups freely beforehand, the

damage would be great if we tried something and failed.

However, it was also a fact that this particular special exam had tremendous

destructive power. Supposing if the top three spots were dominated by a single

class, the total number of Class Points gained would be as high as 600. And

supposing if our class had managed to pull that off, it would essentially be like

our magic express ticket to move on up to Class B in one shot.

"But, if we try and do this with only the people from our own class, I'm sure

there are going to be gaps in talent that we aren't going to be able to make up

for. And besides, if we were to form a group with students from our own class,

and… Well, what if the other classes work together? In the worst-case scenario,

we might end up being the only class getting left behind."

It went without saying that managing to take first place in this exam only with

people from our own class would be ideal, but that was it. It was nothing more

than an ideal. If any one class chooses to fight alone, they create the risk of

being ganged up on by the other three classes. And if that solitary class were to

lose, well, there'd be no "high return" in that situation whatsoever.

"It would be one thing if it were simply a concern about if we couldn't win.

But if we were to get eliminated early, then we'd run the risk of getting

expelled. Meaning, if we aren't incredibly confident that… No, as long as we

don't have a completely certainty of winning on our own, forming a group of six

people, blended together with students outside our class is a prerequisite."

This special exam, where the other classes were going to be both friend and

foe, was shaping up to be something truly unprecedented. If you considered

that, then I suppose you'd conclude that including students right away from the

beginning with the goal of unifying your objectives, would be an important

strategy. However, there was no guarantee that we would be able to easily

align ourselves with the other classes. Even if you understood that there's no

apparent advantage in forming groups only with students from your own class,

in the end, it was normal to want to outpace the other classes if possible since

there were going to be a large number of Class Points moving around. That was

especially true for the lower-ranked classes. So, the starting point for us would

be deciding which way to go, while operating on the premise that we'll begin

with forming a group, with all that in mind.

"How are Sakayanagi-san, Ryuuen-kun, and Ichinose-san going to play this?"

asked Horikita.

In order to get us to come to a decision, Horikita decided to start the

conversation with our whole class with that particular question, directing it at

Yousuke.

"Well, I'm sure that Class A won't be stressing at all about trying to team up

with other classes since they have a significant lead over the rest of us. No

matter what group wins, it won't exactly be a problem for them as long as the

gap in Class Points doesn't close too much. On the other hand, the rest of the

classes, us included, definitely want to close that gap somehow," replied

Yousuke.

Sudou, who had been listening closely to the conversation, spoke up, offering

an idea that wasn't bad.

"'Kay then. How about formin' an alliance with us three? B, C, and D? If Class

A is so far ahead of the rest o' us, it wouldn't be a bad thing if we were to start

by workin' together with B and C to try and close the gap, right?" said Sudou.

The idea was that we would an establish a common enemy, and we'd work

together to attack Class A on all sides.

"They do say 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend,' after all. Trying to isolate

Class A isn't a bad idea. And there's a good chance that Ichinose-san would go

along with this proposal," replied Horikita.

"But if we suggest isolating Class A, we're going to need to be prepared to

bear some serious resentment. Considering Sakayanagi-san's personality, I'm

sure she'll devote any and all of her resources to hunt even us, D, the lowest

class, down," said Yousuke.

Normally, you would think that someone in their position would be focused

on knocking down the class that was on their tail in second place, Class B. But,

just like Yousuke had said, Sakayanagi tended to persistently chase after anyone

she had selected to be her prey.

"We need to close the distance between ourselves and the upper classes

quietly, as much as possible," he added.

"If B, C, and D are going to fight together, it's better that we're not the ones

who propose the idea," said Horikita.

The idea was to set up someone else to be the spokesperson for this plan, and

let them suffer Sakayanagi's, and the rest of Class A's, ire. The difficult part

wasn't talking about it, but actually going through with it. The trouble with this

special exam is that not everything could be solved through discussion from just

within your own class. It didn't matter how heated our debates got from this

point onward. Nothing was going to move forward. If we didn't understand

what Class B and Class C were thinking, and if we couldn't unify our intentions

and put plans into action, then we ended up with nothing more than armchair

theory.

It wasn't going to be easy for our three classes to simply come together and

hold a discussion. Ichinose wouldn't be an issue, but it was hard to imagine that

Ryuuen would be willing to agree to it so easily. Besides, if Sakayanagi got wind

of this information, then she would naturally act.

"Seems like we're going to have to make a real difficult decision…"

Even though we had a grace period of more than a month to form groups, if

we went about things slowly, the other classes would be making their own

moves, trying to form their own groups, one after another. We wouldn't sit

around and not take a firm stance.

"It'd sure be a huge help if one of the other classes proposed a similar plan

themselves…," said Yousuke.

The students of Class D were racking their brains.

"Just figuring out how we should make a group is proving to be quite a

headache," said Horikita.

In addition to the important task of forming a group, there were still other

things that needed to be done too. There was the matter of the cards, which

had various effects. Tomorrow morning, each and every student was going to

be given one of these unique cards, which cannot be transferred between

classmates. Moreover, once an item had been transferred once, its possession

becomes fixed, and couldn't be returned. Meaning the only way to get a card

for sure is to simply trade with a student from another class, or by buying and

selling.

"It seems highly likely that everyone will start making their moves tomorrow."

"Yeah. And gathering up effective cards for your group is also going to be a

point that we'll need to think about."

Today was the day when the school gave us the go ahead to start making

groups for the upcoming special exam. Naturally, the situation was going to

take a major turn. That included our class, D, as well.

4.3

AFTER CLASS HAD ENDED, the phones of students were who classified as

exceptional in terms of academic ability or physical ability started ringing.

Horikita approached me, while keeping an eye on the situation.

"Seems like they've started making their move right away. I suppose it's only

natural for them to try and pull in the most talented students to their side," said

Horikita.

Regardless of whatever policy the class you're in had adopted, there wasn't

any harm in kicking things off with some tentative reservations.

"Have you gotten any calls or texts?" I asked.

"None."

"I see. Well, the number of people who actually have your contact

information is extremely limited," I replied.

"You knew that, and yet you deliberately went ahead and said something

meant to agitate me. That goes to show that you really are inconsiderate. So,

did anyone try to contact you, Ayanokouji-kun? Mister 'I got a perfect score in

math'? Your phone seems surprisingly quiet, doesn't it?" snapped Horikita.

Horikita had come back at me with some harsh words of her own. I decided to

look at my phone, which wasn't ringing.

"Unfortunately, my battery's dead. I haven't charged it for about two or three

days now," I replied.

"If you don't use your phone so often, you won't need to charge it as often,"

said Horikita.

As much as I'd like to deny that and say it wasn't the case, she wasn't wrong.

If you didn't use your phone that much, you'd usually forget about charging it.

"Shouldn't you go ahead and give warnings to our classmates? If they

carelessly start forming groups on their own, it might spell trouble later," I

cautioned.

"I don't need to explain anything to them. I've already given my instructions. I

summed things up in a very easy-to-understand message and sent it to

everyone. You just didn't notice since your phone is dead," said Horikita,

showing me her phone's screen.

—Do not finalize any group assignments until we've had the chance to discuss

it within Class D.

—If you need to finalize a group assignment as soon as possible for some

reason, please contact Horikita.

It seemed like Horikita had seen something like this coming and established

some minimum-level ground rules.

"It's not like these rules are binding, though. Ultimately, it's up to the

individual to decide, based on their discretion," said Horikita.

It was certainly true that it was up to the individual to decide who to partner

up with and to whom not. You couldn't really meddle when it came to things

like personal chemistry, and besides, expulsion was at stake here. Even if all

four classes worked together, there was no ideal combination that would keep

absolutely everyone safe from the threat of expulsion. With that in mind, all

you could really do was offer some advice.

I always carried around a portable charger with me, so I plugged in my phone

and got up from my seat. I figured there might be some students eavesdropping

on conversations happening in our classroom.

"Any word from Ichinose? It wouldn't be surprising if she threw out a

suggestion for our grade level to all work together," I asked.

"Haven't gotten anything from anyone yet so far. And there haven't been any

suggestions coming from Class A or Class B, either. If our entire grade level were

going to be joining together as one, we should assume that there would be an

attempt to come to a mutual understanding of some kind at this current stage,"

said Horikita.

If students just went ahead and started forming groups based on their own

wants all willy-nilly, it would gradually become more difficult for us to

coordinate. If we weren't going to have some kind of discussion at the outset,

that was essentially establishing the reality that the classes in our grade level

were going to be fighting one another. If Horikita wanted there to be some

cooperation between our classes, she should be making her move now.

Horikita didn't show any visible signs of displeasure at the fact I got up from

my seat. Instead, she got up and followed me. It seemed like she apparently still

had more she wanted to say. After we got out into the hallway and she made

sure that no one else was around, she started talking to me again.

"Regarding this special exam… Would you be able to get first place all by

yourself?" she asked.

"Don't be absurd. All we know right now is that there's going to be a test on

an uninhabited island," I replied.

"I just figured that someone like you, who got a perfect score in math,

wouldn't even need a group," said Horikita.

What kind of logic was that? It seemed like she just tried throwing that out

there, just asking for the impossible.

"As long as we get first place, our class will see positive results. I don't care if

the first-years and third-years get second-and third-place, they can have them.

I'd rather they take those places than someone else from our grade level," said

Horikita.

Easier said than done.

"Well, in that case, I suppose we could form groups in such a way to prevent

as many expulsions as possible, and that would make things easier, but…" I

replied, pausing briefly.

But if we steered towards making strong groups to win, we would inevitably

be creating some weak groups, as well.

"But it's not like everyone is going to be able to pay up the number of Private

Points to save themselves," I added.

"Yes, that's true. I'd like to collect as many Private Points as possible for the

students who are still feeling anxious. But if the students who I borrow any

points from end up getting penalized and expelled, that'll be almost too terrible

to imagine," said Horikita.

There was hardly anything more fruitless than trying to save others only to

end up taking a fall yourself.

"If you hate the thought of that happening, then you'll just have to only

request points from students who have extra," I replied.

That would certainly work. But in that case, the number of students we could

reach out to was quite limited.

"There are ways to do this without letting anyone get expelled, though I

doubt anyone would want to do it," I added.

"You mean the idea of having people bow out right at the start, deliberately?"

asked Horikita.

Apparently, Horikita had also noticed the few holes in this exam. According to

the rules, only the first five groups that are taken out are expelled. In that case,

if we set up five groups specifically to be sacrificed and deliberately let them get

taken out, we wouldn't have to worry about any students after them getting

expelled. However, to carry that idea out, a total of thirty million Private Points

would need to be prepared. And, more importantly, whatever grade levels

made up those bottom three spots in the exam would be handing over Class

Points to whoever placed in the top three. And even if people from the same

grade level took both the top and bottom ranks, the rewards would be

decreased a little bit, so it was inevitable that by taking on the role of

deliberately getting out, there were going to be some losses. I supposed that

the reason the top three places were tied to the bottom three could be

considered the school's way of preventing anyone from cheating all that easily.

"I guess we just need to survive on our own power somehow," I told her.

"Yes, it really does seem that way. May I consult with you again later?" asked

Horikita, stopping in her tracks.

"As long as it's something I can help with, sure."

"That'll be plenty. Thank you."

Horikita seemed like she must have had something to talk about with

someone else because she went back inside the classroom. After I watched

Horikita go back inside, I decided to head for the exit.