When class ended, many things were going through everyone's minds. I, for one, still don't understand the whole premise of the 'special exam' thing but I'm sure we will all make it through. No, we have to make it through. When Chabashira-sensei dismissed us, I went ahead and pulled out my phone to take a few pictures of the rule book we were given before she took them back and jotted small details that I remember in a small notebook.
After that was done and over with, I put my notebook in my bag and put my phone in my blazer pocket. Shortly after, I made my way towards the door, only to be stopped by new visitors that have came into our classroom.
Ryuuen-kun, Ishizaki-kun, and Yamada-kun entered through the door and caught everyone's undivided attention.
"Hey.. what the hell do you think you're doing here?!" Sudou-kun yelled.
"What? Am I not allowed to visit the classrooms of my fellow first years?" Ryuuen-kun replied.
I could already predict that this conversation could go south at any moment so of course, I had no choice but to intervene.
"Ah, hold on a minute," I said, stepping in, "Though there is no issue with you visiting us, Ryuuen-kun, there must be something you need since you are here."
"ku ku I guess I just want to see how many of you Class-D morons are still standing after the last exam. Didn't have a chance to before."
Ryuuen-kun glanced around the room a little bit more before he spoke a second time.
"Huh, maybe you're all not as stupid as I thought. There's more of you here than I expected there'd be."
Now having lost their interests, Ryuuen-kun left the room along with the two accompanying him before uttering a few more words directed at me specifically.
"During this special exam, it might be to fun to see your class squirm, Ichinose."
Light provocation is not welcoming, especially since we're about to have a very important test where we will be facing off against other classes. I knew as much as everyone did, that since we are Class-D, we will be the most likely candidate for major repercussions that other classes want to avoid.
This is not something my class can handle all on their own. As Class-D's leader, there is no hope for us if we don't at least make it through this exam in one piece.
There are still some class leaders which I haven't met yet. In Class-A, I heard that Sakayanagi Arisu-san was their irrefutable leader. As for Class-B, there's Kanzaki Ryuji-kun and Katsuragi Kohei-kun.
(A/N: i decided to move katsuragi down and move keisei up to class-A to make up for the missing person in class-B as per a suggestion in an earlier chapter and make him and kanzaki the leaders)
I'm sure I'll get the circumstance to meet all of them at least once either in the future or somewhere during the special exam. But either way, I'm certain that there will be more occurrences like this one somewhere along the lines. We just need to prepare for anything they throw at us.
After leaving class, I decided to call two students in particular to the Pallet Café to discuss what we should do in this exam. The first person is Hirata-kun and the second is a certain tall boy with brown hair, or more specifically Ayanokouji-kun.
As I contacted both of them via text, I made my way to the Café to get there little earlier than both of them but much to my surprise, when I got there, Ayanokouji-kun was waiting by the door, fiddling on his phone. Before I was able to call out to him though, he called out to me first.
"Ichinose," he said.
"Ayanokouji-kun, you're already here," I said, laughing anxiously.
"Guess so, I already had my own agenda for today so I thought I might as well get this over with."
"Ah, okay then. All that's left is Hirata-kun."
Following our little exchange, we both went inside and I walked towards an empty booth that was far away enough from anyone that would try to overhear our conversation. I took my seat on one side and Ayanokouji-kun sat opposite to me. From an outsider perspective, this might seem like a romantic rendezvous so it could work to our advantage and people might leave us alone until Hirata-kun arrived. Yeah, that reasoning could work.. Any who, we ended up ordering a drink of our own and soon after, Hirata-kun got here and noticed the two of us.
"Hey, Ichinose-san, Ayanokouji-kun," Hirata-kun said.
We both waved to him and he took his seat next to Ayanokouji-kun.
"So what did you want to talk to us about?"
"Well, the special exam, for starter," I said.
"Ah, so you're probably worried about what might happen to our class, yes?" responded Hirata-kun.
"Mhm, well, we're at a disadvantage. I'm sure you already figured it out."
"It's clear as day that we're going to be subjected to the sanctions this exam has to offer. Just by being Class-D alone is the problem." spoke Ayanokouji-kun.
"That's precisely the point. As a class, the obvious answer is to gather together and direct everyone's vote on one person during the prompts. But of course, we may lose each time even if it's by three, two, or even a single vote against us." I voiced.
"That much is true, Ichinose-san, so if I may, I would like to offer a suggestion."
"Hm? What is it, Hirata-kun?"
"I know it's kind of odd for me to say something like this but realistically speaking, our chances of winning this thing is close to none. So perhaps, maybe we should just go after minimizing our losses as much as possible."
Hirata-kun's proposal wasn't wrong by any means of the imagination, I was about to say the very same thing myself but it's not something everyone will be satisfied with. Every class is made up of forty people, just one vote can turn the tides over in the favor of anyone. The facts are clear, our classmates, as much as it pains me to say it, they hold no loyalty to this class nor will they ever if we don't produce results. As a leader, I've acknowledged this fact.
I've even considered the possibility of some academically capable students such as Horikita-san, Ayanokouji-kun, and many of the other students that were high up on the academic list to be approached by other classes to betray this one for private points or other forms of compensation.
That is also another reason why I invited Ayanokouji-kun, I can't just ask him about it so I have to draw it out of him one way or the other. Greed is the root of all evil, after all.
"Are you sure it's necessarily the best idea to take, Hirata?" Ayanokouji-kun stated.
"Well, we don't have a fighting chance right now, Ayanokouji-kun, there's only so much our class can do at the moment."
"There's the issue of getting everyone aboard, I mean. Not everyone is willing to comply if all we're getting is penalties rather than incentives."
"Ah, that's true but what if.. just maybe, I pay them..?"
Hirata-kun can't actually be serious about this. We both know the amount of private points we had to pay out for the tutors back when we were still studying for the exams! He can't have that much private points left.
"Do you have the private points to back it up though?" questioned Ayanokouji-kun.
"Ah, guess not. I could try getting taking on debts from my senpais to see if I could muster up enough to pay at least some students."
"Are you sure you're willing to give up that much just for this plan?"
"Yes, there's not much we can do, haha."
With that, Ayanokouji-kun nodded silently. I did not like the sound of things, preferably I would have liked to have resolved this situation without any financial use but we can't get what we all want, can we?
Throughout our entire conversation, each and every idea we had proposed had been thrown out. Ayanokouji-kun on the other hand, was just listening in on our conversation without providing any advice or adding in anything relevant.
"I need to get going," Ayanokouji-kun had said, getting up from his seat.
"Something wrong?"
"No, there's just something I need to deal with."
"Oh, yeah. You said something like that."
This entire ordeal didn't really offer much of anything to be honest but there was one option we could strive for but its the one option we didn't want to resort to. But anyways, it's also about time we get to wrapping things up.
I sighed and got up from my seat, signaling to Hirata-kun that this is the end of our talk. As such, we three walked towards the exit and parted ways.
It was then that the two days had passed, we were completely unprepared. I guess this is where my shortcomings shined, there was absolutely nothing I could have done to prepare for this. If the matter is finances, I've already lost. If the matter is uniting everyone in our class, I've already lost.
Everything solely relied on everyone's personalities, there was nothing to be done to begin with, I should've realized this sooner. I could only hope we don't break down in this.
-
uh so basically, this chapter serves as a filler which is why i didnt spend too much time on it as the actual special exam is taking place for the next two chapters
after the special exam tho, the next chapter after that is probably going to be my most favorite part to write but then again, everything sounds way cooler in my head
im also losing motivation lol