Ayanokōji's POV
The first of the month rolled around before the students knew it, and it was that time again already.
After having gone near-enough a full month without any school classes, many found it jarring to attend them now that school restarted. Once a routine is broken, it can be difficult to simply fall back into it again.
The turnover of a new month also meant other things that were unique to this school. My student account was topped up with 83,200 fresh private points, bringing my balance up to a respectable total of 205,000 .
Additionally, as certain people, such as myself, wearily shuffled up to their classrooms after what was certainly a late night caused by the lack of mandatory waking times, they were bound to notice something that had changed since the last time they were here.
Indeed, the nameplate on the door to my classroom no longer labelled it as 'Class D'. Rather, it read 'Class B'.
After the island special exam, our class soared up in points, effortlessly passing both the previous Class C and Class B. However, allotment of private points and changes in the class hierarchy are only calculated on the first day of each new month.
As a result, despite the fact that we had been on more class points than Ichinose's class for a considerable length of time now, we had only just been officially promoted to Class B.
I stepped inside, and it seemed like today, I was the last to arrive. I walked over to my desk and sat down next to Lelouch, who seemed to have about as much energy as a zombie on sleeping pills.
"Stayed up late?" I asked.
His amethyst eyes lazily drifted over to meet mine.
"You don't even want to know the terrors I experienced yesterday," he answered, sending a traumatised glance to Kururugi.
Before long, our beloved homeroom teacher, Ishihara-sensei, walked into the room looking sullen and deflated.
"O-Oi what's the matter, sensei?!" Sora exclaimed.
"I-I..." Ishihara-sensei stuttered, trying to repress tears from pouring out of her eyes. "I missed you guys so much!"
"... eh?"
"I was all by myself with no one to talk to for sooooooo long!"
"What about the other teachers?" Light's puzzlement carried over in the tone of his question.
Ishihara pouted. "They've all been working here together for ages! This is my first year ever! I feel like a fifth wheel!"
"C-Calm down Sensei, everybody is back now."
Lelouch's sleep-deprived words of comfort seemed to brighten Ishihara up a little.
"You're right, everything is fine no~w."
Like that, a flip was switched, and her mood did a complete 180.
I had to ask myself whether this grown woman who acted like a child was putting on an act, or whether this was genuinely how she was.
Back on the cruise ship, she had shown me a glimpse of her more serious side, which was often masked behind a carefree attitude.
Certainly, there exists people who are usually laid-back and flippant, but who can also act seriously when the situation calls for it.
However, this sensei's personality was exaggerated far beyond what could be described as merely 'laid-back'.
As I was pondering her very existence, she pulled out a rolled up piece of paper. By now, we all recognised what this was before it was even laid out and stuck to the blackboard.
"Congratulations everyone! Our class has been moved up to Class B!"
Additionally, the gap to Class A was extremely small, just a measly 42 points. It might be possible to close it in the near future.
"It won't be long now until we're Class A," Sora sighed in disappointment. "I thought it'd be harder."
"Nii is complacent."
"I-I'm not! I'm just saying!"
I could definitely see where Sora was coming from. With just a single special exam, we had closed the gap by around 400 class points. Then, despite the fact that there was no change to our class points after the zodiac exam, the gap was still closed more due to Class A's loss of 150 additional points.
"Don't get ahead of yourself. The school was generous to begin with by giving us a special exam where numbers of people or other resources was not an important factor. However, the zodiac exam has shown us that the school is willing to burden us with a heavy disadvantage right from the start," said Ryuzaki.
Indeed, the Zodiac special exam was more or less impossible for Class B to win. To begin with, we only actually had students in seven of the twelve assigned groups, so there was less potential for net gain immediately. Then, there was only one VIP allocated from Class B, which greatly diminished our ability to discover a pattern within the VIP assignments even though we'd deduced that there was one.
Theoretically, it still would've been possible to acquire enough to figure it out. However, in practice, the other classes who kept their guards up after we demolished them during the island exam would never consider negotiating with us.
Even if you came to the table with good intentions, if you had just previously been an enemy, you are likely to be viewed with suspicion and scepticism.
For example, if you were bullied by someone, and that person asked you to meet them for a one-to-one talk, you would be reluctant to even hear them out at all, due to their status as an adversary.
"Yeah, for all we know, the next special exam could require a significant number of private points as a class collective to gain an advantage. If that were to be the case, we would once again be fighting an uphill battle," I added.
If you were trying to push up a slope, while somebody else was pushing downwards, opposite to you, it wouldn't be a surprise if you were overpowered. Strength is only the most important factor when it's a level playing-field.
With our conversation dying down, Ishihara-sensei began to speak again. "From now until the end of September, in preparation for the upcoming Sports Festival, there will be an increase in the number of P.E. classes."
As soon as Sensei uttered the words 'sports festival', various reactions were noticeable among my classmates.
Some of the more athletic students, such as Kururugi and Light, looked delighted at news of a contest that played to their strengths. Meanwhile, the less athletic students like Sora and Lelouch let out groans.
"Is this a special exam, sensei?" I asked.
It was difficult to imagine this school hosting something like this simply for fun. I'm sure that most students knew better than to assume that by now as well.
"You can interpret it that way if you wish, the school will not affirm or deny the notion. However, what I can say is there'll certainly be a massive impact on each and every class."
Further screams arose from the less proficient students.
"Additionally, throughout the time leading up to, and during, the Sports Festival event, Class B will be temporarily disbanded."
"........."
Many of us struggled to understand whether we'd heard her right or not.
"... huh? What do you mean, we'll be disbanded?" Sora asked what was on everyone's mind.
"It's exactly like I said. During the time leading up to, and during, the sports festival, Class B will not have any classes of its own. Instead, the students of Class B will be distributed evenly amongst the other four classes."
Chaos erupted.
Us in Class B had speculated and prepared for various different curve balls the school could throw at us in the form of a special exam, but this was something that even I'd never expected.
"The school board has deemed that the nature of the sports festival would be dysfunctional should a class of this size be included. Therefore, this unique measure is being put in place. Each one of you, for the next month, is going to be a temporary member of one of the other first-year classes. You will attend classes with them, and compete as part of their class during the event itself."
"Does this mean that instead of working together, all of us will be instead fighting against each other?" Kururugi asked a question that implied such.
"Again, you could interpret it that way," an ambiguous answer.
We were each then handed out material that detailed the rules of the sports festival. Everybody turned the page, and seemed to become surprised in unison.
"As you've probably just read, the sports festival has adopted a method of diving all school years into two separate groups and having them compete against each other. In every grade, apart from yours, Classes B and C will comprise the White Team, whilst classes A and D will make up the Red Team."
The Sports Festival is not a battle between classes, but a battle between the Red Team and the White Team.
This meant that depending on which class we were moved to, we would be fighting on the opposite team to some of our classmates.
Also, in our grade, there are five classes, not four. As a result, I expected the classification of the teams for us to be specified slightly differently.
"This is shaking up pretty much everything," Light murmured.
He was correct. Up until now, regardless of whether it was a written exam or a special exam, the premise has always been that it was a fight between different classes. The sports festival turned that notion on its head.
Additionally, it's a simultaneous battle involving all three grades. Up until now, all exams have been local to each year.
"Take a look at all the different outcomes possible from the sports festival." Ishihara-sensei tapped her knuckle against the material in front of her.
I dropped my gaze down to the printout I was given.
There, the following was written:
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Guidelines of the Sports Festival
The sports festival's competitive system consists of dividing all school years between the Red Team and the White Team.
The classification will be Class A and Class D in the Red Team. The White Team will be made up of Class B and Class C.
In the case of the first-year students, The Red Team will consist of Class A and Class E, and the White Team will have Class C and Class D. Students of Class B will instead be distributed evenly amongst the other four classes for the purposes of the sports festival.
Allocation of points for all participants (Universal Competitions)
- 1st Place: 15 points
- 2nd Place: 12 points
- 3rd Place: 10 points
- 4th Place: 8 points
- 1 point will be deducted for placing 5th or lower.
- In the case of team competitions, the winning team will be awarded 500 points.
Allocation of points for all participants (Recommended Only Competitions)
- 1st Place: 50 points
- 2nd Place: 30 points
- 3rd Place: 15 points
- 4th Place: 10 points
- 2 points will be deducted for placing 5th or lower.
- The relay which will be the final competition will award triple the points.
Allocation of points for the outcome of Red Team vs. White Team
For the totality of all school years, the losing team will have 100 points equally subtracted from their class points over all school years.
Allocation of points within separate school years
Each class will also be ranked by their total performance across the sports festival.
The class that takes first place will be awarded 50 class points.
The class that takes second place will have no change to their class point total.
The class that takes third place will have 50 class points subtracted.
The class that takes fourth place will have 100 class points subtracted.
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"S-Seriously? The winning team doesn't even get a reward?" Sora said.
"Technically, avoiding the loss of any class points is a reward," Lelouch retorted.
He wasn't wrong. Even though your own class points won't directly be changed, you will still benefit in the sense that your enemies will drop down.
"Additionally, the prizes among each class are negatively skewed," I said.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Asked Kururugi.
"You must finished first to gain anything, finishing second only means your points won't change. However, you take a loss by finishing third or fourth."
In other words, there will be a net decrease in the class points of every grade. Kururugi seemed to understand when I explained it.
"If your team loses and you come fourth out of all your year's classes, it means a total penalty of 200 class points. That would be a devastating blow to anyone," Ryuzaki said.
Indeed, if we were to end up in that situation, it would erase almost all the progress we made to reach Class B.
However, it is impossible for us to be cursed with that outcome. That is because our class will not exist for the purposes of the sports festival.
Speaking of...
"Sensei, how will the class point scoring for us work?" I asked.
"That's next up in the guidelines~"
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Unique rules for the allocation of class points to Class 1-B
All students of Class 1-B will inherit a percentage of the class points their temporary class gains or loses depending on their individual contributions to that class.
The students' individual scores at the end of the sports festival are ranked for each class, and the Class 1-B students receive a percentage of the total gained class points of that class equal to the percentile in which the average of their individual ranks lies at.
In the event that their class endures a loss of class points instead, Class 1-B students will also endure a percentage of that loss equal to the inverse of the percentile in which the average of their individual ranks lies at.
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For example, if I alone moved to a class that earned 100 class points, and I was the highest performing individual in the class, I would also gain 100 class points for Class B's total. If I were the lowest performing individual however, I would gain 0 class points.
If instead the class lost 100 class points, and I was the highest performing individual, I would be safe and lose 0. However, if I were the lowest performing individual, Class B would also lose 100 of those class points.
For the rest of the possible rankings, the percentage of the class points that you receive must be figured out using math.
You can find what rank you must be placed at in order to be part of a certain percentile by multiplying that percentile by the total size of the population.
From this, you can also derive an equation to figure out what percentile any given sample fits into: one's percentile is equal to their rank divided by the total size of the population.
This can be illustrated by using an example applicable to the sports festival. If I were to assume once again that the class gains 100 points overall, but this time that I am only the 12th highest performer, how many of those 100 class points would I gain?
With my added presence, the total population size is now 41, and the highest performing student is rank 41 for the sake of the equation. Thus, the 12th highest performer is rank 30.
Using the previously derived equation, we can calculate that the 12th highest performing student in a class of 41 students is in the 73rd percentile.
Therefore, if I were the 12th highest scoring student in the class that gains 100 points, I would receive a total of 73 points for Class B.
If it was the case that the class lost 100 points, then I would take a hit equal to the inverse of the percentile instead, or 27 class points.
For cases where 2 of us are in the same class, it is a little more complex. Instead of your individual rank, the average of your two ranks is used for the calculation. If one of you was the highest and one was the lowest performer, your average would be dead in the middle; the 50th percentile.
If you're in the upper end of performances in your assigned class, you maximise potential gain and minimise potential loss, and it is the other way around if you're at the lower end.
For students like Kururugi, who is likely to be one of the best students in whichever class he goes to, it means that he can gain almost the full amount of class points while being more or less immune to losing any.
However, it was a different story for somebody like Shiro, who is likely to be among the worst performers in her class.
Even if her class does well and receives a lot of class points, she still won't gain a very large percentage of those winnings. However, in the unfortunate event that Shiro's class loses points, she is subject to carrying nearly all of that loss as well.
"W-What the hell is this?!" Sora cried out in horror.
"Relax, for us, it's basically a matter of whether our class averages in the higher or lower end of athletics," Light told him.
"Yeah, and some of us are going to be bringing that average down!"
"It's okay. You can't be good at absolutely everything," Ryuzaki said.
"B-But..." Sora clenched his fist in frustration. "I don't want to be a burden."
I could understand how Sora felt. Being powerless is a terrible feeling that I was all too familiar with.
"Basically, you athletic guys will have to compensate for the rest of us," Lelouch said grimly.
Kururugi, Light, Ryuzaki and I need to gain a higher share of class points than the others lose.
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Individual Competition Rewards
Students who place 1st in the individual competitions may choose one of the following rewards:
- 5000 private points
- 3 marks in a written exam (applicable in the next midterm exam)
- 1 chip in the next special examination
Students who place 2nd in the individual competitions may choose one of the following rewards:
- 3000 private points
- 2 marks in a written exam (applicable in the next midterm exam)
Students who place 3rd in the individual competitions may choose one of the following rewards:
- 1000 private points
- 1 mark in a written exam (applicable in the next midterm exam)
Students who place last in the individual competitions will have 1000 private points subtracted from their balance. (In the case that the points in the student's possession are lower than 1000, they will incur a loss of 1 mark in a written exam instead).
Regarding Foul Play
Remember to comply with the rules of each competition.
Students who violate the rules of a competition will be disqualified.
If a student is found to be acting with malicious intent, they may be withdrawn from the sports festival entirely. The points earned by those individuals will be considered void.
Best Performing Student Reward
The student who scored the most points across all competitions will be awarded 100,000 private points.
Best Performing Student Reward for Individual Grades
The 3 students of each school year who scored the most points across all competitions will each be awarded 10,000 private points.
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Although the potential losses of the sports festival are definitely more threatening than previous special exams, a broad range of privileges have also been prepared for the top performers. In particular, though, everybody paid immediate attention to the selection of rewards possible from your placement in an individual competition.
"You can win marks for the next midterms?" Kururugi said, bewildered.
"Forget that! What the hell's a 'chip'?!" Sora shouted.
Everybody looked towards Ishihara-sensei, expecting some sort of answer.
"I can't tell, so~rry," she said with a wink.
"How am I going to know what reward to pick if I don't even know what the reward is?!"
"It's not like you'll be picking any rewards anyway," Lelouch laughed at him.
"Oi! Neither will you!"
Chuckles at the good-natured banter echoed around the room.
"Actually, I might have some idea what a chip is," Light said, drawing in everyone's attention. "Right before the end of summer vacation, Nagumo mentioned the next special exam to Ayanokōji and I."
I recalled that moment, after the second years had just destroyed us first-years with ease in a soccer match. Nagumo was disappointed at the level of our teammates, and so told us about what the real battle will be.
"He said it will be a meritocratic exam where all students in the school will fight not as classes, but as individuals, for a lone spot as the best."
"Eh? So we'd all be directly fighting each other?" Kururugi scratched his head.
"It seems that way, yes," I murmured.
I wondered what the prize of such an exam could possibly be. You couldn't award the winner with class-based merits, as that would allow for the possibility of collusion between classmates, which would defeat the premise.
"I see. If there can only be one winner, it makes sense that they'd have some sort of score for each student. The winner is whoever has the most 'chips' at the end." Sora speculated.
"The term 'chip' sounds like it implies something different to just simply 'point', doesn't it?" Lelouch asked. "As if they are more than just a tally that goes up."
Chips are most commonly used in betting games between friends, when you don't want to put real money at stake. Ordinarily, I wouldn't think much of it, but this school has a history of using very deliberate wording to give us hints. As such, I wouldn't be surprised if the next special exam involved some kind of system where students have to take chips from each other.
"No matter what they are, having more of them has to be a good thing, right?" Shiro's quiet voice said.
"Yeah. If having more means I have a better chance of beating all of you guys, I'll definitely take as many as I can," a fire lit in Light's eyes as he spoke.
Everybody in this class is extremely competitive. If you had lived a life of being the best, it was only natural to seek out somebody who could rival yourself. A good challenge. We welcomed the opportunity to compete with open arms.
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After completion of all competitions, within a school year a total count of all points will be conducted, and the bottom 10 individuals will be penalized:
- 10 marks deduction for the next written exam
- 1 less chip in the next special exam
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Another mention of chips in regard to the next special exam. It seems they will play a pivotal role in it.
Lelouch sagged. "Another penalty..."
"There's 160 people in our year, I'm sure you can beat at least ten of them," Kururugi reassured him.
Surely, there must be students worse than Lelouch. Primarily, there was Sakayanagi, whose disability won't be spared by this ruthless school and who is guaranteed to be one of these students. Additionally to her, there are a number of students I could think of immediately with physical abilities comparable to Lelouch; Ike and Yamauchi sprung to mind.
"Luckily for us, nobody in this class has concerning exam scores, so this penalty is largely irrelevant," Light said.
"Yeah, the rewards and penalties that involve exam marks seem more geared towards the students who are strong in athletics but weak in academics. For those students, the sports festival is a great opportunity," I added.
If you imagine a student like Sudō, who struggles in written exams but possess tremendous physical ability, this could be seen as the perfect chance to not only contribute to his class, but also to ensure safety when it's time for the midterms as well.
After reviewing and understanding the rules, it was time to go over the events that we would be participating in during the sports festival.
It seemed like they were divided into two categories: 'Universal Participation' events and 'Recommended Only Participation' events.
Universal Participation is, literally, an event where all the students of a class participate. The individual 100-meter sprint is like that, and some group competitions such as tug of war also fall under this category.
On the other hand, Recommended Only Participation means a competition where only select students nominated from their respective classes compete. The contents of this are the scavenger hunt, the mixed gender three-legged race and the 1200-meter relay.
It can be expected that, in each class, the most talented individuals will be selected to participate in the Recommended Only Participation events.
On the surface, the sports festival appears simple; the rise and fall of class points is determined solely by the results of the competitions, which everyone can openly view. However, just like with the uninhabited island and shipboard exams, it is not actually that simple.
The change of class points is tied to two separate results: the individual rankings of each class within a school year, and the outcome of the battle between The Red Team and The White Team.
This creates an unusually troublesome subtlety to the dynamic of the event. It's important to be concerned about the classes belonging to the other team, as you would expect, but it is also important to keep tabs on the ally, too.
Theoretically, we'll be helping another class out for the purpose of achieving victory for our team. However, in order to come out on top in the total count of each school year's points, it is also necessary to ensure that one's own class occupies the top spots in as many competitions as possible.
"Every event held during the sports festival is listed on the printouts."
As Ishihara-sensei said, there was indeed a list of every event, categorised by the set of participation rules to which they belonged.
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Universal Participation Events
- 100-meter dash
- Hurdle race
- Capture the flag (Boys Only)
- Ball-toss game (Girls Only)
- Tug of war divided by gender
- Obstacle course race
- Three-legged race
- Cavalry Battle
- 200-meter dash
Recommended Only Participation Events
- Scavenger Hunt
- Omnidirectional tug of war
- Mixed gender three-legged race
- 3 school years mixed 1200-meter relay
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A grand line up of 13 competitions.
"O-Oi! What the hell! It should only be 3 or 4 events a single person does, right?!"
Apparently, Sora's dissatisfaction stemmed from the large number of Universal Participation events being held.
"You don't get coddled here like in middle-school, I'm afraid," Ishihara-sensei shook her head.
"Sensei, what happens if one of the participants is ill or absent?" Ryuzaki asked.
"Good question, Ryuzaki-kun~" Ishihara hummed in a cheerful voice. "Absent participants are absent. In the case of individual events, you will be disqualified, and in the case of group events, like the cavalry battle, it simply means you'll be missing a horse."
'It simply means you'll be missing a horse' was not a sentence I'd expected to hear from our teacher today.
"We are using a participation table system, you see. If you were able to freely swap participants between events and such, it would make it redundant."
"Participation table...?" Shiro repeated.
"Mhmm! Your participation table determines in what order you will take part in the events. Every student is required to participate in the 100-meter dash, for example, but obviously they will not all do so at the same time. Therefore, we have the participation table; students will compete with those chosen from other classes who share the same place in their participation table as your own. Got it?"
We nodded our heads in understanding. It would be imperative to review the 'participation table' closely, as it is a unique method that none of us will have seen before.
Also...
"Doesn't that give Class B an advantage?" Sora scrutinised the rules.
"It does?" Kururugi looked confused.
"Normally, the participation table would be private. Ideally, you don't want your star players facing off against the star players from the other classes, because then there's a much higher chance them being defeated," Sora explained.
"That's right. However, us in Class B will have members in every class. Therefore, we'll have knowledge of all the other classes' participation tables. We have the potential to manipulate the matchups of the events to a degree," Lelouch finished.
From the perspective of the other classes, this is most likely the most troublesome part of the event. The sharing out of Class B students. It would be difficult to come up with a good way to keep the guests, who are neither fully ally nor enemy, in check.
"With Recommended Only Participation events, however, it is possible to make a substitution for the low, low price of 100,000 private points!"
"That's not low!" everyone exclaimed simultaneously.
Substitutions were completely optional. It was likely that, in the event that one of the participants' health deteriorates, it would be left up to the students themselves on whether to make a substitution or not. Seeking medical care was not mandatory unless it was a severe injury.
"One last thing, Sensei," I voiced my question. "By what method are we assigned to our classes?"
I'm sure that everybody had been wondering such a thing throughout the entire explanation. However, before you could properly discuss the best course of action in relation to this, it was important to fully understand the rest of the rules first.
"I was wondering when you might ask," Ishihara grinned. "At 6pm in two days' time, a selection event will be held amongst representatives of each of the first-year classes, including Class B. These representatives must be elected amongst the class beforehand, and submitted to me before 5pm on the day. If there is no submission, then the representative will be chosen randomly by the school."
It is interesting to see that every class is involved in the selection. Ordinarily, you'd expect that either we get 100% of the choice, or that the other classes make the choices between themselves.
"There will be two ballots held. Firstly, four random Class B students are proposed. Then, each representative must secretly write down on their voting cards a first choice, second choice, third choice and fourth choice from the options. The Class B representative must instead write down which class they wish each student would go to; this will be used as a tiebreaker in the event that multiple classes vote for the same student, or to assign a student in the event that nobody votes for them."
If you were the representative of another class, you had to be careful, because we in Class B held a certain amount of sway over the results of the ballot.
If the options chosen were Kururugi, Light, Ryuzaki and Shiro, for example, it wouldn't be as simple as simply voting for Kururugi as your first choice. If another class also did the same, you ran the risk of losing the tiebreaker and instead getting the obvious fourth choice, Shiro.
You might instead assume that the best course of action was to list the second-best student as your first choice, but there is still the risk that somebody else thought along the same lines as you.
As a representative of another class, it was paramount that you consider both how the other representatives will think, and in which way our Class B representative will try to distribute their students, when evaluating risk and ordering your selections.
Of course, it isn't the end of the world if Shiro, Sora or Lelouch get placed in your class. However, there's no denying that Kururugi, who will most likely dominate every event he participates in, is an invaluable asset to a class.
There's also the aspect of each person's personality since the Class B students will be moving classes for a full month. It's clear that Lelouch and Sora will not be of great help during the sports festival itself, but as leaders and strategists, they could still be very useful to a class if used correctly.
That's why it'll still be important to consider the options carefully when making your decision. For example, Class E, and Horikita in particular, has held animosity for Sora ever since he humiliated them at the start of the school year. Should he be assigned to their class, they will likely not gel together very well at all, and his presence could have a negative impact on the atmosphere in the classroom, which are both elements that could worsen the overall performance in indirect ways.
The quality of training, the cohesion of the students, the strategies employed and most importantly, the personality of the Class B members that could either motivate the class as a leader or demotivate them as an antagonist.
Ichinose should consider that her ideals directly clash with Lelouch's, for example, and try to avoid taking him above everything else. Her ideal choices would be Kururugi and Light, the two students that align best with the mindset of Class B. However, Kururugi in particular will be a uniquely contested pick, due to his extraordinary physical abilities.
"The second ballot will be exactly the same, but instead consisting of the other three students that weren't selected for the first. In the second ballot, 'None' is also a choice that must be submitted."
One of the classes will take just a single Class B student, whereas the rest will each be assigned two. I wondered briefly whether it would be advantageous to vote for 'None' as your first choice if you were the representative of another class. Two personalities being added to your class would certainly disrupt the harmony more than just one, but there is also more potential for points to be gained if you have two extra students than just one extra.
"That's all for now! Today and tomorrow will be you guys' only classes together for a while, and once the assignments of Class B students are complete, they are irreversible. You should make sure that you consider very carefully what strategy you will employ."
Ishihara-sensei gave us some words of advice, before skipping happily out of the classroom.
"We should meet up after-school to discuss all of this. There'll be no time during classes today," Light said, garnering everyone's agreement.
For the rest of the school day, the seven of us simply focused on our usual classes, with thoughts about the sports festival sitting patiently in the back of our minds.
A/N: 5776 word chapter, only 36 hours or so after I finished the last one too lmao. Look at me being all motivated.
We finally made it to the sports festival, and I have a much easier time writing when there's something actively going on in the story, which probably explains it.
Also, just out of interest, does anybody know how many other fully-fledged fanfics have gotten this far? I read Self-Test up to v3 back at the time, but then stopped reading fanfics for a while so idk if that has continued up to v5 or not. Most fics I see are either reactions or one shot books, so I'm not really sure how many full-story type ones like Self-Test and my book there even are, let alone how many got to this point lmao.
Other than that, thank you all for reading, and staying patient with me even when I didn't update for a long time. I love you all <3