Hirano pov:-
It was finally the first of March, a few days after the end-of-term exams.
Monday, the day where everyone was anxiously waiting for the results to be
announced. After all, in the case of a failing grade, the only option left was expulsion.
“Sensei, are you gonna announce the results now!?”
"Calm down. Here." Sakagami sensei spread a large sheet of paper on the blackboard.
Everyone let out a sigh of relief. After all, no one had failed.
The new class points were:-
Class A: 1021cp
Class B: 866cp
Class C: 739cp
Class D: 375cp
(We are still just class C. And naturally, all classes have lower points due to absents and tardiness.)
“Most of you were probably already aware of this, but just because you’ve
finished this end-of-term exam doesn’t mean that testing has finished for the
year. There will be a particularly important special exam soon, and as in
previous years, it’s scheduled to begin on March 8th.”
Sakagami explained what we should expect to move forward.
We had just finished with the end-of-term exam, so a final special exam taking place so soon afterward wasn’t unreasonable by any means.
After all, it was the last thing left on the school’s schedule for the year.
Furthermore, third-year students would apparently have to take yet another
exam in tandem with the one next week.
“Everyone. This next special exam will be the last one this year. Let’s all
work together and try our best. If we do, our class should be able to aim for
class A without anyone being expelled.”
Soga encouraged everyone.
However things weren’t as easy as they seemed.
Timeskip:-
“…There’s something I have to tell you all.”
Sakagami spoke heavily.
His expression was as stern as ever, but the sound of his voice made him seem like he was stressed.
“As I told you yesterday, the final special exam for the first-years will begin
on March 8th. After this special exam, you will advance to the second year,
as per the general convention of our school.”
Sakagami turned around, picked up a piece of chalk, and reached for the
blackboard.
“This year, however, the situation is slightly different from previous years.”
“Different… How?”
Takeda asked in return, having felt a sense of danger.
“Not a single student in your grade dropped out this year, even after the end-of-year exam. Getting this far without a single dropout has never happened before in the history of this school.”
“We’re pretty awesome when you put it like that, aren’t we?”
I thought about how we shouldn’t be getting ahead of ourselves, but Kondo cut in to do just that.
“That’s right, and the school thinks so too. Normally, this would be something to celebrate. Even we, as faculty of the school, hope to see as many students graduate as possible. However, it needs to be said that several problems arise when things don’t turn out the way we expect them to.”
“It’s as if you’re saying you’re bothered by the fact nobody’s dropped out
yet.” I asked raising an eyebrow at his strange attitude.
“It’s not like that at all. But, sometimes things happen that go beyond my
expectations.”
“Are you implying that there’s something wrong with us?”
The content of what Sakagami had to tell us wouldn’t change, no matter
what questions we might ask. He wasn’t the person making the choices here. He was just the employee who had been given the duty of relaying instructions. And yet, I can't help but be curious about what the teachers think.
“On the basis that there haven’t been any expulsions among the first-years,
the school…”
Sakagami paused for a moment.
Then, he squeezed out the words that had been stuck in his throat.
“…has decided that, given the extenuating circumstances, you will be
undergoing a supplementary improvised special exam starting today.”
He wrote down today’s date, Tuesday March 2nd, along with the words
“Supplementary Special Exam” on the blackboard.
“Eeeh!? What the heck!? Another special exam!? That’s so unfair! The school’s acting like a stubborn little brat just because none of us dropped out!?”
Sakagami simply glossed over Ishizaki’s complaints. Students didn’t have the
right to refuse.
No, maybe he was the one who didn’t have that right. Sakagami was looking less composed than usual today. He didn’t seem to be trying to frighten us, so it was highly likely that this really was something that the school decided on in a hurry.
“It seems a little different from what we’ve done so far…”
Hiyori muttered softly, having realized that there was no point fighting
against it at the moment.
“Only the students who manage to pass this supplementary special exam will
be eligible to take the special exam on March 8th.”
Having given a small explanation, Sakagami paused for a moment.
“I never agreed to this! I can’t believe we have to be the ones to take another
exam!”
“Your dissatisfaction is completely justified. After all, the school has gone
and implemented a special exam without any prior notice. Although it’s only one more exam than in past years, it will still inevitably be a burden on the students. It’s a truth that I, as well as the other teachers, have been taking
seriously.”
A truth other teachers have been taking seriously? In other words, even though the teachers had been taking it seriously, the school itself had not. The
way he had phrased it made it possible to arrive at this sort of conclusion.
Piling up extra special exams would certainly be tough on the students at this point.
“The content of the special exam is extremely simple, and the dropout rate is fairly low at less than three percent per class.”
A dropout rate of less than three percent.
From what I could infer, it certainly seemed low.
But perhaps, this supplementary special exam was different from the exams
we’ve had up till now. There was no reason for him to expressly bring up the dropout rate. He had never brought up that piece of information in the exams we had taken before.
The students who noticed this harbored even further suspicions.
“The name of the special exam is The Class Poll.”
“The Class… Poll…?”
Sakagami wrote out the name of the special exam on the blackboard.
“I’ll now explain the rules for this special exam. For the next four days,
you’ll be evaluated by your fellow classmates. Then on Saturday, you’ll
select the names of three students you find worthy of praise, and the names of
three students you find worthy of criticism and cast your votes for them.
That’s it.”
Does that mean that we would all be evaluating one another? Thinking about it objectively, students like Soga would accumulate a lot of praise, putting them at the top of the charts. In contrast, it seems like students who are thought of as troublemakers or are holding the class back would accumulate a lot of criticism and plummet to the bottom. And there is only one candidate for it.
I thought as I glimpsed at Ryuuen, who seemed to not care at all.
We were shown a glimpse of the urgency the school was facing based on the fact that they were using a Saturday to hold a portion of the exam.
However, based on everything Sakagami had said so far, the students in the upper and lower ranks…
“T-that’s it? That’s all the exam is?”
“Correct. That’s it. Didn’t I tell you it was simple?”
“With that being the case, how does the school determine the outcome of the
exam?”
“I’ll explain that now. The essence of this special exam is the number of praise and censure votes you accumulate on Saturday. The top student… that is, the student who
accumulates the most praise votes, will be given a special reward. This special reward will not be private points.
Instead, you will receive one point
from a new system altogether, Protection Points.”
It was a type of point we hadn’t heard anything about until now.
Of course, it captured everyone’s attention.
“Protection points grant you the right to override an expulsion. Even if you
were to fail a test, as long as you have a protection point, you can use it to
cancel out the questions you had gotten wrong. However, these points cannot
be transferred between students.”
It was no exaggeration to say that the moment he said this, a wave of
newfound surprise spread throughout the classroom.
“You should all be able to understand how amazing these points are. They’re
effectively equivalent in value to twenty-million private points. Of course, in the eyes of an excellent student with no reason to fear expulsion, they may
not hold as much value.”
That would probably never be the case. There was no such thing as a student
who wouldn’t welcome the right to invalidate an expulsion.
The reward was far too extravagant. No, it was beyond extravagant.
These protection points had the potential to be an outrageously dangerous weapon depending on how they were used.
As I listened I had only one thought in my mind.
(I NEED IT!)
“The special exam this time is different from the ones you’ve had so far, with
one point in particular being very different. Namely, that this special exam is being conducted to rectify the problem of there not being any dropouts.”
Indeed. The detail the students should really be worried about was the reason
why the supplementary special exam was being carried out in the first place.
If this exam was being held because there had yet to be any dropouts…
“This special exam is exactly as easy as I told you it was. Even if you lack
academic ability or physical strength, you won’t be at a disadvantage. But
even so, why would the school go out of its way to provide the special reward
of protection points? That would be because it’s probably impossible for all
of you to advance to the second year without leaving one of your classmates
behind.”
Sakagami turned around and looked at each of us, one by one.
“So, the student at the lowest rank… will be expelled from the school.”
If there was a vote, there would be results. And if there were results, there would have to be a first and last place student. And then, the person in last place would be expelled.
This outcome would be inevitable.
It would be the same, no matter how superior or inferior the class was.
The only difference would be who would face the penalty.
That was the kind of exam we were dealing with.
“I-I don’t understand what you mean, sensei. T-the person in last place… are
you seriously saying that they’ll be expelled?”
“That’s right. They’ll have to face the guillotine. But rest assured, the class
itself won’t be penalized if someone drops out this time. That’s just the type
of exam this is.”
This was clearly different from previous special exams.
Although the possibility of being expelled on an individual basis was higher, there was also a possibility of everyone being able to elude expulsion
altogether. But this time, there was a system in place where a sacrifice was
inevitable.
This was the special case that the school had prepared for us.
It was precisely because of their urge to force expulsions that they needed to
offer something like protection points in return. Even so, the students would still be burdened with a disproportionate amount of risk.
“It seems unreasonable, doesn’t it? Well, that’s what I think as a teacher. But,
nothing can be done about it now that the school has made its decision. You
have no choice but to abide by the rules and take the special exam.”
“Is that really alright…?”
By this weekend, one student from this class was going to disappear.
“As there’s only a short amount of time left until the day of the vote, I will
continue the explanation of the rules. The total number of praise and censure
votes for each student will be made publically available at the end of the
exam. In other words, the results for the whole class will be announced.
However, information regarding who voted for whom will remain
undisclosed, as the vote will be taken anonymously.”
With an exam like this, they would definitely have to do it anonymously.
Votes of praise aside, there would be problems over the censure votes for
quite some time if the finer details of the vote were revealed.
“Moving on, one praise vote and one censure vote will invalidate each other.
Let’s say, for example, that you received censure votes from ten people, and
praise votes from thirty. This would be equivalent to a total of twenty praise
votes. Additionally, neither vote may be cast for yourself, and it’s also forbidden to vote for the same person multiple times.”
“What about abstention…? Would we be allowed to abstain from using our
censure votes if we wanted to?”
“Of course not. You’ll have to cast all of your votes, regardless of which type
of vote it is. Even if you’re home sick on the day of the exam, you’ll still
have to cast your vote.”
In other words, it was impossible for any of us to leave our ballot blank or
abstain from the vote altogether.
“Sensei said earlier that it was only probably impossible for everyone to avoid expulsion. That means there should be a loophole somewhere.”
When he explained the rules to us during past exams, the hidden meanings behind his explanations always managed to lead us to a way out.
But what about this time?
This ‘probably impossible’ meant that there were methods available we
hadn’t considered yet.
“Although it’s not easy, a way to prevent any of us from dropping out of school definitely exists.”
“W-what do you mean, Shiina?”
“If the entire class unites and selects three people for the praise votes and
three people for the censure votes, all six of them would end up with a total
of zero votes. That way, nobody would end up in last place. Isn’t that right?”
“T-that’s it! As expected of Hiyori!” Soga called out.
It was certainly possible if all of our classmates followed directions.
However, if even a single person turned traitor, the students who had been
betrayed would be pushed down the path of expulsion.
After all, protection points would incentivize students to reach for first place.
“What Shiina brought up just now about controlling the votes is meaningless.”
“Why sensei?”
“If nobody is selected for both the first and last place positions, the special
exam will be considered a failure. Regardless of your intentions, should the results of the vote be a net total of zero for every student in the class, another vote will be held. Put simply, the exam will repeat endlessly until you decide on someone to expel.”
With this, the escape path the class was frantically searching for was closed
off.
“Isn’t that rule strange? If we voted honestly and just so happened to end up
with a total of zero votes on each side, the results would still be the same,
even if we held another vote. If we forcibly distorted the results after that, it wouldn’t feel like the students were chosen by a legitimate evaluation.”
“Takeda, your reasoning is correct. Should it just so happen to end up with a net total of zero votes for everyone, a revote does indeed seem contradictory.
But, think about it realistically. Coincidentally ending up with a net total of zero votes for everyone in an exam where you explicitly choose people for both first and last place is almost impossible, right?”
Sakagami’s response was also very reasonable.
A net total of zero votes for everyone wouldn’t happen unless the vote had
been intentionally set up that way.
“…Then, what happens when there’s a tie for first or last place?”
In comparison, there was a fair chance of a tie actually happening.
“In either case, there will be a deciding vote. However, even then, the vote
might be tied a second time. If this happens, the situation will be evaluated by a special method prepared by the school. I’m unable to elaborate on this
method any further at the present time.”
Does that mean he will only tell us if it actually happens? Though, the chances of getting to that point were quite low.
“There’s no need to worry about it. The probability of there being a deciding
vote is effectively zero.”
Sakagami added, appearing to share my thoughts on the matter.
“Why? It should be more than possible enough.”
“That would be because you’ll also be receiving praise votes from the
students in the other classes.”
“From the other classes?”
“You will all be expected to choose one student you find worthy of praise in
another class and cast a separate dedicated praise vote for them. Naturally, this will count as a single, normal praise vote. In other words, in the event that a student is heavily disliked within their own class, but substantially popular with students from the other classes, it would be theoretically possible for that student to end with a total of around eighty praise votes, even after the censure votes are accounted for.”
It was unusual for more than 100 praise votes to be floating around.
Given this new information, it was certainly true that the possibility of a
deciding vote taking place was now considerably lower.
With this, it seemed that we had found every piece of the puzzle.
Supplementary Exam・The Class Poll
Exam Contents:
The exam consists of a class vote, where each student in each class is allotted
three praise votes and three censure votes.
Rule 1: Praise and censure votes invalidate each other. Praise Votes – Censure Votes = Results.
Rule 2: You can’t cast praise or censure votes for yourself.
Rule 3: Voting multiple times for the same person, leaving part of the ballot blank, abstaining from the vote altogether, and other acts of this nature are prohibited.
Rule 4: The exam will be repeated until the first and last place students have been determined. The last place student will be expelled.
Rule 5: You are required to cast a separate dedicated praise vote on a student in another class. These were the details of the supplementary exam.
There was no doubt that this test was extremely straightforward and simple.
But at the same time, it was clear that this exam was the cruelest we’ve had to
face so far. This weekend, someone in each class was going to disappear.
“Sensei. Why did you say it was probably impossible? No matter how I look at it, I can’t find any loopholes.”
“That’s right. There aren’t any loopholes. However, it’s also true that there’s room for uncertainty. You’ve all probably been thinking this already, but
everything changes when you use private points.”
“You’re saying we can use our private points to avoid expulsion?”
“20 million. If you’re able to prepare that many points, the school would have
no other choice but to revoke your expulsion.”
This was the reason why he had said it was ‘probably impossible’.
The fact that there were no restrictions on the transfer of private points meant
that negotiations that made use of them would be tolerated. If you can obtain
praise votes with money, then obtain them. That’s what the school was telling
us.
They’ve judged this to be a form of strength as well.
With the help of the sheer power of your capabilities that you’ve shown
everyone over the past year.
Or with the financial power of the private points you’ve managed to save up throughout the previous exams.
Or maybe even the power of teamwork you’ve accumulated through
friendship.
We were free to tackle this exam however we wanted to.
“P-please wait. Twenty million points is a little…”
“This is the only way you’ll be able to work around the rules set by the
school. I’ll say this ahead of time, other attempts to find a way around the
rules of this exam are absolutely impossible. The rest is up for you to judge and decide upon.”
Sakagami finished his explanation as homeroom came to an end.
As expected, the entire class turned towards the person they knew was going to be expelled.
The said person got up and left the classroom with his usual smirk on his face.
I texted Soga, Hiyori, Kaneda and Takeda to meet me after class. Then I walked to the podium. As class leader the discussion must begin with me.
Timeskip:-
As the student left one by one, all of us gathered outside the school to discuss.
"What do we do! At this rate Ryuuen would be expelled!" I complained.
The discussion earlier was a bust. The chances of Ryueen being expelled were 100%.
"Do we really have to do anything. I mean his expulsion is already guaranteed. Good riddance." Soga said without any care in the world. He always hated Ryuuen.
"Although normally I would agree with you. But not today." Takeda said to him.
"Huh?"
"Let me explain Soga-kun. Ryuuen is an exceptional person who we may need in the future. Although he is violent, he is very resourceful." Hiyori explained.
"I-I see." Soga looked like he was reconsidering their opinion.
"But what should we do? Ryuuen-shi's expulsion isn't something we can easily avoid since the entire class wants to expel him."
No one spoke anything since no one had the answer.
"Hey Hirano!" I suddenly heard someone calling me.
"Hm? Ishizaki? And Ibuki too?"
I never thought that I would see them hanging out with eachother.
Ishizaki ran upto me and whispered something in my ear.
"Meet us at the lobby of the dorms at 8PM today. I want to request Ayanokouji for help."
My eyes went wide.
(A-Ayanokouji's help... Yes... That just might work. But even for him... I shouldn't get my hopes up.)
Although it seemed impossible for me, I still decided to talk this over with class D's mastermind.
He tried to stop Ryuuen from leaving school once. He might help us again. But the chances are pretty slim.
"Hey Soga! You got some time to spare?!"
We heard a voice call out from a distance. A boy was waving towards us or Soga in particular. I immediately recognized him.
He had black hair with a pretty good looking hairstyle. He also had black eyes. Normally he would wear spectacles over them but that is only when he is in the classroom and studying.
"Oh! Kida wait up! I am coming!" Soga shouted back.
"Hey guys. I gotta go. We will discuss more tomorrow. For now everyone should gather their thoughts and think about their own individual ideas. We can then present them all in tomorrow's discussion."
"Very well."
"I agree."
"Okay Hirano-shi."
"See you all tomorrow then!"
They all quickly agreed with the idea and we all walked back to the dorms.
Timeskip:-
"Sigh. I can't believe we are doing this."
"Shut up Ibuki! We need his help to save Ryuuen."
"Both of you shut up! I am ringing the doorbell."
I rang the doorbell and soon the door opened.
"What are you three doing here?" He asked us.
"Hey Ayanokōji. We need your help."