Chapter 256: The Mixed Joint Camp Exam Rules

“The Mixed Joint Camp?”

Shimizu Naoki, sitting beside Mashima Tomonari, murmured the words. As a member of Class A, and to prevent Katsuragi Kohei, the Student Council Vice President, from being gossiped about, they had only known that there was a special exam at the start of the semester. They hadn’t known its specific content.

“Correct.” Mashima nodded and handed a thick stack of documents to the front row to pass back. “In your daily campus life, aside from your own classmates, you rarely come into contact with students from the same grade, let alone senpai from higher grades, right? That is one of the reasons this exam is being held.

For the next eight days and seven nights, you will spend a cross-grade group special operation here at this forest school, together with students from other classes and even senpai from higher grades.”

Fuyuji Mikage took the documents and flipped through them with a flip flip.

A large bathhouse…

A student cafeteria…

Old, worn school buildings…

At a glance, it actually felt like it had a certain atmosphere.

“This special exam is a joint camp whose main purpose is mental growth. To that end, with the basic abilities needed to survive in society at the forefront, you will confirm whether you can build interpersonal relationships with people you don’t normally come into contact with, and each of you will pursue your own learning in this area.”

‘Here it comes, here it comes. As always, they lead with the lofty ideals first.’ A number of Class A students grumbled internally.

Seeing that the Class A students had no questions, Mashima got straight to the point and began explaining the special exam.

“Enough small talk. First, the moment you arrive at the forest school, you will be separated by gender. Then, the first years will discuss among themselves, and the boys and girls will each be divided into six groups. Finally, you will discuss with the six groups formed by the second and third years, and form a large group that contains groups from the first, second, and third years all at once.”

Several girls nearby furrowed their brows in unison. One had to know that since they’d first gotten to know each other, they had rarely left Fuyuji’s side, let alone for an eight-day, seven-night special exam.

“Don’t worry.” Fuyuji wanted to pat Morishita Ai’s little head, but she slapped his hand away with a smack and came at him with claws bared, pinching. “Although this exam separates boys and girls, the one hour for meals is spent together. And when classes overlap, we might run into each other too.”

With that, he spread the documents open for everyone to see and pointed at the cafeteria image and description.

“Tch! Isn’t that nothing at all?” Kamuro Masumi muttered in an extremely small voice.

“Huh?” Fuyuji poked his head over.

“Nothing!”

Up front, Mashima continued his explanation.

“Then each grade will be divided into six groups on their own. Each group has an upper and lower limit on the number of members. Take the first-year boys as an example. The total number of boys in the grade is seventy-nine, so the group size is nine to fourteen people. If it exceeded eighty, it would be ten to fifteen. After forming the groups, each group selects a leader on their own.”

“This troublesome?” Totsuka Yahiko flipped through the documents, scratching his head irritably. “One grade forms six groups, then the whole grade together forms six large groups?”

“During your time at the forest school, you must form groups with students from other classes and live together, and go through the special exam. Also, don’t think you can just form two groups from your own class’s boys or girls. The documents clearly state that a group must contain students from at least two classes.”

The faces of the Class A students darkened. This kind of forced team-up method again.

Their class’s only loss of class points had been because of a team-up with Class D, where they’d been screwed over by that quasi-human creature. They’d taken first place but lost fifty class points.

“But… this team-up actually seems pretty tempting, you know,” Nishikawa Ryoko said, staring at the documents and reading aloud from them. “If a group is made up of members from two classes, the top three rewards stay the same. If it’s made up of three classes, both kinds of point rewards are doubled. If it’s four classes, they’re tripled. And depending on the total number of people in the group, the multiplier also changes. At nine people it’s 0.9 times. For each additional person, it rises by 0.1. At fifteen people, the maximum of 1.5 times applies.”

“On top of that, if you serve as the leader, the reward for students in the same group and same class as the leader is doubled.”

Wait, that means…

Everyone quickly caught on and flipped the documents open to the corresponding section.

[Basic Rewards (All based on large group ranking)]

[First place: 10,000 private points. 3 class points]

[Second place: 5,000 private points. 1 class point]

[Third place: 3,000 private points.]

[Fourth place: -5,000 private points]

[Fifth place: -10,000 private points. -3 class points]

[Sixth place: -20,000 private points. -5 class points]

Matoba Shinji pinched his chin and calmly analyzed.

“The first-year boys only have seventy-nine people. The girls have eighty.”

“So theoretically, the maximum reward for first place on the boys’ side would be a fourteen-person group mixing four classes, which is 3 x 3 x 1.4. Rounded, that’s 13 class points per person, and 42,000 private points, multiplied by the number of Class A people in each group. Then that’s…”

“The private points obtained would be 924,000 and 1,080,000, and the class points would be 286 and 336. Total: 622 points.” Sanada Kosei, the class’s outstanding academic, pushed up his glasses and gave the answer.

“H-how much?” Totsuka stammered.

“622 points.” Sanada confirmed again.

The entire bus instantly exploded. Even the Class A students, who were used to seeing big scenes, couldn’t stay calm.

“Huh? That much?”

“If we take it all…”

“N-no, you can’t think like that. From another angle, Class B only needs one exam to overtake us.”

“At the same time, the penalties are pretty severe too!”

Seeing the atmosphere escalating, Katsuragi spoke up at the right moment and stopped the discussion.

“Alright. Whether we take it all or lose it all, both are low-probability events. No need to get too excited or too worried. This joint camp exam tests teamwork. All kinds of situations can happen. Listen to Mashima-sensei finish first.”

The moment those words landed, they immediately had a calming effect. The somewhat noisy bus began to quiet down.

“After the groups are formed, you will spend these eight days and seven nights together as group members. Classes, cooking, laundry, from bathing to sleeping, you will spend a rich daily life together.”

The Class A students’ minds collectively conjured up several outstanding “talents” from other classes.

[Heh haha! You will all bow at my feet. Just you wait…]

[Actually, I’m a famous genius, you know. I’ve been scouted since middle school.]

…

Forget it, forget it. Better not think about such a rich daily life.

The Class A students shook their heads repeatedly, quickly wiping the images from their minds.

“As for the exam results, they will be decided by a comprehensive test held on the final day at the forest school. The general content of the test is on page seven. Remember to read it in advance.”

The exam content was roughly divided into four items.

[Morals] [Mental Training] [Discipline] [Independence]

Below were explanations of these items. Each was highly abstract, with no mention whatsoever of what specific tests would be conducted.

Then below that was the daily schedule.

Wake up. Complete the morning test questions. Meditate and do labor in the dojo. Eat breakfast. Study in the classroom. Eat lunch. Complete the afternoon assignments, then continue meditating. Eat dinner, bathe. Sleep.

The only rest day was Sunday.

‘What the hell?! Did I walk onto the wrong set and get locked up in some prison?’

Fuyuji wore a Tom Сat question mark expression.

“Finally, you already understand the exam rewards.” Mashima paused, then said with added weight, “Next are the penalties. Please make sure you hear this clearly. The large group ranked last in overall average score, if any group within it fails to reach the score line set by the school, then that group’s leader will receive the penalty of expulsion!

Furthermore, when the leader is expelled, they may, through joint liability, select one person from the group to expel as well. In other words, take someone down with them!”