Chapter 217: That Is the Thinking of the Weak

Advanced Nurturing High School, Class A classroom.

"One more point. There is still one month remaining until the exam. If you fail to complete the creation of the exam papers and answer keys before the submission deadline, the school will provide your opposing class with a pre-prepared exam paper. The difficulty of the school's paper will be very low. Furthermore—cheating is strictly prohibited during this exam. If discovered, both paired students of the group in question will be expelled together. Please, be absolutely certain to take careful note of this!"

At the lectern, Mashima Tomonari rapped against the poster, issuing his final, stern reminders regarding the exam's points of caution.

"That concludes the pre-exam briefing for the small quiz and the final exam. The remaining time is yours to freely discuss. If you have any further questions, you may come to me at any time."

Having spoken, he stepped back a single pace and yielded the lectern to the students.

Contrary to all expectations—this exam failed to stir up even the slightest murmur of discussion within the classroom.

The reason was simple. Katsuragi Kohei, in his capacity as Student Council Vice President, had already, a full week ago, informed the core members of the class of the general details of this exam. Only—just to be safe, to prevent the information from spreading ahead of time—had he refrained from telling the entire class.

Furthermore—this exam was a recurring, annual exam format. Even without the Student Council as a source of intelligence, one could still, to a greater or lesser degree, obtain information from the upperclassmen.

Still, judging by the current situation—even knowing ahead of time hadn't been of much use.

"Katsuragi-san."

Totsuka Yahiko, who had been staring at the poster for quite a while, finally processed and digested it. With uncertainty, he asked.

"This... is actually just a contest of academic ability, isn't it?"

"Correct." Katsuragi, who had been seated in his chair in silence from the very beginning, answered. "As long as no traitor emerges from within the class—this exam basically has no room for maneuvering whatsoever. It is, from start to finish, a pure competition of academic ability."

Given Class A's current situation—even Class B, the closest to them, was still four hundred class points behind. It was genuinely difficult to imagine a traitor emerging from Class A.

What would they even stand to gain?

Thus, in truth—there was only one single matter that this homeroom session needed to consider...

"Which class... should we launch our attack against?"

Sanada Kosei softly voiced the thought that was on the minds of the vast majority.

Under normal circumstances—no matter which of Class C or Class D Class A targeted, defeat was impossible. But at the same time—this meant that Class B, whose academic ability was close to their own, would also, with high probability, win this exam.

In terms of results—this was a good thing for Class A.

Whether it was 1,300 points versus 1,700 points, or 1,200 points versus 1,600 points—the gap was still four hundred points. And there were only so many special exams in a single year. The exams that could close that gap were even fewer. As long as they could defend and hold that four-hundred-point gap—the victors would be Class A.

But!

"That is the thinking of the weak!"

Matoba Shinji slammed both palms against his desktop and shot to his feet. His burning gaze fixed upon Fuyuji Mikage.

"Fuyuji-san—let's do it! Class B! Ima da, koko da!" (Right now, right here)

"This is a school of meritocracy! If we're afraid of losing even an exam this simple and straightforward—then graduating from Class A is nothing more than a pipe dream to begin with!" Tsukasaki Taiga rose to his feet right after, echoing the call.

Immediately following—more and more students stood up.

"This time, our class holds the advantage! If we don't strike now—are we going to wait for the Sports Festival to happen all over again?!"

"Let's seize this chance and widen the class point gap in one breath!"

"Exactly! If it were some other area, maybe not—but when it comes to academic performance, our class won't lose!"

...

If this had been one of those previous exams—the kind of special exam questions that tied one's brain into knots at a single glance—they wouldn't have been this determined. But this time, it was a pure contest of academic ability. They were confident that Class A was not inferior to any other class.

The same went for Class B—renowned for their unity!

Snap...

The soft sound of a book closing rang out. Fuyuji slowly slid that mystery novel—its author listed as Shiina Katsumi—into his desk drawer.

"In that case..."

He slowly raised his head. His gaze fixed upon the teacher standing at the doorway. An unrestrained grin spread across his face.

"Mashima-sensei—our Class A chooses to attack Class B. Let them see the field in which Class A's honors students excel above all others!"

The moment the words fell—

OOOOH—!

A deafening battle cry resounded throughout the entire teaching building!

At the very same time—Class D classroom.

Compared to Class A—whose minds worked faster and who had received the news ahead of time—the pace of explanation in Class D was far slower. For Chabashira Sae, one might even say it was proving to be somewhat torturous.

"Eh? We can freely choose our opponent?"

Sato Maya, one of Class D's gyaru clique, widened her eyes. A discontented voice emerged from her lips.

"We'd lose, wouldn't we? If Class A or Class B launches an attack against us—wouldn't that mean we'd lose for sure?"

The moment the words left her mouth, the Class D students echoed and chimed in one after another.

"Exactly! At least give us a sliver of hope for winning! I heard those study-crazy maniacs signed up for cram school at Keyaki Mall barely two weeks into the school year! How could we possibly win?!"

"If I were Class A, I'd definitely choose our class. That way, they'd just get fifty points for free."

"Come on! Our class hasn't had a single point of class point income for half a year now! Ten thousand points is totally not enough to spend, you know!"

...

"Shut up!"

Chabashira Sae gazed indifferently at the Class D students below the lectern—now in complete disarray. With practiced ease, she began her pressure operations.

"If you're unwilling—you're free to drop out right now."

In that instant—the entire Class D fell deathly silent.

"Ultimately—all of this is because you're simply too weak, isn't it? I won't even mention that first month of school. I recall I made things very clear to you all last semester, didn't I? Academic ability. Physical ability. Judgment. Intelligence... All of these are components of your own personal strength. And what exactly have you done after that? Aside from behaving just a little better in class—you're fundamentally no different from before, are you? Muddling through, just getting by. Zero points... truly fitting for you all."

Suddenly—the phone within Chabashira's suit skirt buzzed with a vibration. She pulled out her phone and casually swept her eyes across it.

"Oh. Congratulations. You won't have to face the Class A and Class B you're all so afraid of. While you were still endlessly bickering and debating over all sorts of issues—Classes A and B have already mutually designated each other as their targets. In other words—your opponent this time is Class C. How about it?"

A faint, sardonic smile surfaced on her face.

"You should be quite happy, shouldn't you? For defective products like yourselves..."

Just as Chabashira was still, at the lectern, endlessly pressuring the students—in the lower right corner of the classroom by the window, the sound of two hushed, whispered voices arose.

"Pairing the high scorers with the low scorers based on the results of the small quiz?"

After pondering for just a brief moment, Horikita Suzune had already figured out the hidden mechanism behind the school's exam format.

"Ara. Horikita-san—you figured it out that quickly?" Sakayanagi Arisu sat in the corner, watching this farce unfold with keen interest. "As for Class C—Horikita-san, are you confident? This is a good opportunity. If maneuvered well—we can perfectly achieve our objective."

Horikita closed her eyes and pressed a hand against her temple with a headache. "The premise for that is that our class doesn't produce yet another traitor!"

After so many times—Horikita had finally discovered the blind spot. It seemed that every single catastrophic defeat had involved a traitor pulling strings and sabotaging from within. One time it was this person, another time it was that person. Even the temporary ally beside her right now had once been counted among the ranks of the traitors.

It was simply absurd!

At this thought—the chilling aura radiating from the young girl seeped outward by yet another few degrees.

"This time—resolving this problem is actually quite simple. The exam questions will be set entirely by us. And only we can submit the questions. But what about next time?"

They couldn't possibly pin all their hopes on the school's special exam format every single time, could they?

"A hint—traitors also have their uses, you know. All the more so for those who are certain to betray." The corner of Sakayanagi's mouth curled into an arc of delighted satisfaction.

Horikita's expression shifted subtly. She turned her head abruptly. "You mean..."

"If it fails—there's no real loss either, is there?"

"That is indeed a good method." A rippling light swirled within Horikita's cool eyes. "Still... even if Hirata-kun falls—setting the exams aside for the moment—the students in our class would also have great difficulty following orders in day-to-day matters, wouldn't they?"

"Therefore... we still need to pull one more person in. You should be well aware of who that is, shouldn't you? She seems to have quite the singular fixation on you." Sakayanagi folded both hands elegantly upon her white-stocking-clad thighs and spoke in unhurried tones.

"..." Horikita's stiffened face could, at this moment, have frozen and cracked the withered leaves outside.

The lower right corner of the classroom sank into absolute silence. At the lectern, Chabashira Sae was still endlessly KFC-ing the students.

A long while passed.

After her expression cycled through shades of uncertainty—Horikita clenched her fist and let out a long sigh.

"I understand..."

"Do you need my help?"

"No." Horikita's gaze fell upon that girl—the one whose face was blooming with a lovely smile. "Although, from the very bottom of my heart, I truly cannot bring myself to like her—I must admit, in this regard... there is indeed no one in the class more suited than she is."

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75 [Power Stones] = Bonus Chapter!