"Wait, why don't we go to Pallet to talk about this? It would be so much better, right, Yosuke-kun?" Kei refuted as she clung to Hirata's arm.
Hirata, Ayanokouji, Kei, Horikita, and I were all planning to discuss this upcoming Paper Shuffle exam.
To pass this exam, we would need to be creative and have a collaborative effort on multiple fronts. So getting a variety of opinions, such as this group, would yield better results for us.
"The enemy could be anywhere, watching us, but... I suppose it's fine," Horikita replied to Kei's request.
Even a few weeks ago, Horikita would have never even responded to Kei's request, but now she was actually listening to others. And stepping into a powerful leadership role within Class D.
"Um, excuse me, could I join you all too?" Kushida asked as she snuck up on us.
"Of course," I immediately replied. "We need everyone's opinions. And you know the class very well, so you'll be a great help."
"I agree with, Fukumoto-kun," said Horikita. "Would you all mind heading to Pallet first? I need to collect my things before I join you."
"We don't mind at all," said Hirata.
All four of us turned to leave for the Pallet Cafe in hopes of securing an open spot. But as we walked away from Horikita, I couldn't help but notice Ayanokouji staying behind to talk with Horikita.
I know those two are close, but Ayanokouji wouldn't help Horikita gather her things out of the blue. It's not in his character.
Unless they were planning to discuss something entirely different.
Something only the two wanted to discuss.
~~~
"What took you guys so long?!" Kei fumed as Ayanokouji, Horikita, and even Sudo entered the cafe.
The four of us had already secured a spot for us all and ordered our drinks, but Kei seemed weirdly agitated by those two being late.
"We should get started right away," Horikita completely ignored Kei. "As Hirata-kun does have club activities."
"Should we discuss the upcoming short test?" I started.
"Why, though? It's a non-jeopardy test; shouldn't mean all that much to us," Kei replied.
"That is true, but I don't believe the school is forcing us to take this test to measure our academic ability, rather something else," Horikita said.
"So this test is not to measure our academic ability, but something else?" Hirata asked.
"Indeed, I believe the results of this test-,"
"Will determine the partner selection for the final, am I right?" I said.
Horikita looked slightly shocked for a moment but continued without a moment's hesitation. "Indeed, there must be some kind of process to select these pairs. Finding out how they are selected can give us a clear advantage for the final."
"Sudo, do you understand?" Ayanokouji suddenly asked.
"Uh, kind of, just barely."
Hirata and Kushida seemed to be having their doubts about this method of selecting pairs.
"Please, if you have any doubts, tell me," Horikita asked obviously sensing their worry.
"This seems like a shot in the dark to me," Hirata said. "There is a chance the final pairs are determined by this test. But if the test is the same as previous years, maybe asking an upperclassman to confirm would be best."
"An upperclassman I'm close with might be able to tell me," Kushida added.
"Maybe," Horikita continued, "finding out the rules for this exam is like a prerequisite. The school has never stopped us from trying to find out the rules, if we do we could save Class D from unnecessary harm."
"Eh, what do you mean, Suzune?" Sudo asked.
"She means that if we find out how the rule of the pairings works for the final, Class D could get through this without anyone being expelled," I replied.
"Oh, I see now," Sudo said. An obvious lie. But a good attempt.
"If weaker students happened to be paired for this final exam, it would justify as to why Chabashira-sensei told us only one or two pairs are expelled from this test every year. Which considering the student body of the first-years is rather low," I said.
"The pairs seemed balanced," Kushida said.
"The pairs are made up of high-scoring students, and low-scoring students," Horikita explained. "If I were to score one hundred points, and Sudo scored zero points. We would be paired for the final because of the discrepancy between our scores.
"I see," Kei mused. "But wouldn't the average students be at a higher risk then?"
"They would," Horikita replied. "Confirming this with upperclassmen would help confirm our next steps. Hirata and Kushida, could you do that for us?"
"Of course," the two replied in unison.
"However," I cut in. "Our class is in an excruciating position compared to the other classes."
"What do you mean?" Horikita asked.
"No one has been expelled from our year yet. Every other class has even forty students. While ours has forty-one. Because of my late transfer. Meaning, either one group will consist of three members or someone will be left to fend for themselves."
Everyone went silent for a moment. The possibility of someone writing this final alone was absurd, without any special conditions, they'd need to score near perfect on every subject to pass the school's point threshold.
"It will be a bridge to cross once the quiz results are announced," I said. "It's unpredictable what they might do."
"If that's true, and a group of three were to form, that wouldn't be the worst outcome. However, if one student were left to fend for themselves, they would have a far higher chance of being expelled," Ayanokouji summarized my thoughts.
"We can't let that happen!" Kushida said, obviously worried about the chance of a classmate being forcibly expelled.
"There is one possibility, though," I said.
"What would that be?" asked Horikita.
"If we consider that the test pairs up students based on the widest range of ability. In that, a student who scored one hundred on this quiz is paired with someone who scored zero. I don't believe the school would be so harsh if one student does have to take the test alone."
"What do you mean?"
"I believe the school wouldn't force a student who scored zero on this quiz to be forced to take the exam alone. Instead, they would more likely make the student with the highest score take it alone," I explained. "But that is only a possibility, we wouldn't know unless an upperclassman took this test with an odd amount of students. It's a shot in the dark, but it's our strongest theory at the moment."
"So, what you're saying is, the student with the highest mark on this upcoming quiz may have to take the test alone," Hirata said.
"Precisely. It would be easier for them than a student who scored zero. But they would still need to score near perfect on every test. And considering a different class would be making our test. It would be safe to assume the questions will be of the highest difficulty."
"It's a grave situation we are in, but we must move forward. No matter who ends up taking the test alone, we must prioritize their studying for the highest chance of success," Horikita replied.
"That's good and all," Sudo suddenly spoke up. "But who would we target? I mean, isn't part of this test to take out another class."
"That was another reason I called us here today. As for which class to target, I believe Class C is the only option. Of all the other classes, Class C has the most inferior academic ability."
That's true. At our current state, it wouldn't be a wise choice to attack an academically superior class like Class A or B. That being said...
"I see what you mean, Horikita-san," Hirata said. "But, if Class C is so inferior, wouldn't that mean the other classes target them too? By default, if one other class nominates Class C, Class D could, unfortunately, lose the ability to attack Class C and be forced to fight against an academically strong class."
"That would seriously suck! I wouldn't be able to answer any questions on a test from super smart kids," Kei voiced her concern.
"There is a clear academic gap between Class A and B, isn't there? I wonder how different we are from Class C," Ayanokouji added.
"From my perspective, if I were in Class A. I would be targeting the closest threat at the moment. That being Class B. If they did target Class B and won, they'd essentially gain one hundred class points over them. Indeed, targeting our class would ensure their victory. But Class B would also have an easier time taking on Class C. Effectively making no gain since Class B would be victorious too," I said.
We never fully understood any of the other classes. With special exams like the Sports Festival, we had a clear understanding of physical ability. And we could only gauge how smart a class was based on the change in their Class Points.
"You're awfully quiet, Sudo-kun. Usually, you'd be complaining by now," Horikita said.
"Well- that might be true. I don't really understand anything. So, I thought it would be better to just shut up and listen," Sudo replied.
Everyone was silent at Sudo's response.
"What? Did I say something weird?"
"N-no," Kei responded. "It's just weird that you were so restrained."
I was just as shocked as everyone else. At the beginning of the year, Sudo would've easily gotten frustrated at what he couldn't understand and throw a childish tantrum.
If anything, his restraint now was a clear example of the changing Class D.
Everyone at this table was an indication of that change.
Originally, it would've been a hassle to make this collaboration of egos work. Namely Horikita and Sudo, but now, there was clear camaraderie between all of us. Whether we knew everyone's true self or not.
This was a large step forward in Class D's success in the future.
We could only grow from this point on.
~~~
Finally, the day was upon us.
The quiz would decide who we would partner with for the final exam.
Horikita and Hirata explained to everyone the approach we would be taking with this quiz to yield the best results for the final exam.
As it was confirmed by Kushida through upperclassmen, the students with the widest gap in scores would be paired together.
There were only two uncertainties with this approach.
Who was going to be the odd one out because of our uneven number of students? And if the free spirit known as Kouenji, would cooperate with this plan.
All would be known soon after Chabashira-sensei finished handing out the quiz.
"Now, before you start today's quiz," Sensei said as she made her way to the front of the classroom. "It seems luck is on your side. All requests for which class to target during the Paper Shuffle were accounted for today. Class A has decided to target Class B and Class B the same. Which means you'll be facing Class C for this final exam."
A few students let out a sigh of relief. Probably because they wouldn't have to be studying so hard.
It was interesting that Class A targeted Class B, though. If Katsuragi was still leading Class A, he would've taken the safe bet and targeted Class D. Seems like Sakayanagi now has complete control over Class A.
It's not like that bald guy could control that class forever.
"Well then, we should begin. I needn't remind you that any form of cheating will result in immediate expulsion. You may begin now."
Simultaneously, every student in Class D turned the papers around.
"Oh..."
An audible gasp came from Ayanokouji once he took a look at the test.
And I'm sure many other students felt the same way. We expected the difficulty level to be low, but this was surprisingly low. Almost below middle school level.
This would be a very tempting trap for some students. Even someone like Yamauchi could get fifty.
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Fortunately, the short quiz ended without incident. And the results were to be announced today.
Until recently, Class D had gone into these tests blindly and without cohesion. But now, we oppositely approached this test.
I wondered how much time we would have until our luck ran out though.
"I'll now announce the pairings for the final exam," Chabashira-sensei said.
She unrolled a large sheet of paper near the front that displayed the names of all the partners.
Horikita and Sudo.
Hirata and Yamauchi.
Kushida and Ike.
Yukimura and Inogashira.
Ayanokouji and Satou. Haha, what a coincidence.
Kouenji and Okiya.
"The results showed that most of you understood the purpose of this short quiz," Chabashira-sensei said.
But there was one name that stood out alone on that paper.
Once everyone had recognized that name, their vision turned back to me.
"This test was to decide your partner for the final exam based on the discrepancy of your scores. The students with the highest score on the quiz would be partnered with the ones who placed the lowest, however..."
"I can't believe you predicated this," Horikita mumbled under her breath towards me. "You better not do anything stupid to get yourself expelled."
One sole name was at the top of the list.
Fukumoto Akio.
"But since we have an odd amount of students, thanks to our late arrival of Fukumoto," Chabashira-sensei continued. "One student will be taking this final alone. Multiple students scored one hundred points on that quiz, including Fukumoto. So it was decided by alphabetical order by first name who would be taking the test alone. And since Fukumoto was the only student who started with the letter A, it was decided that he will be taking this final; solo."
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AN's:
woah woah woah
another chapter not a week apart
big W
i have alot of free time rn so im planning to write quite a few chapters. lets gooo
until next time, legends