chapter 3 part 2

2

"A special exam on an uninhabited island for the second year in a row. Although it's not like I haven't thought about this..."

"Thought it was coming and it really has."

After returning to the classroom, the routine conversation to prepare for the special exam began.

Everyone, along with Yosuke, gathered around the front row seat of Horikita, sorting out the current situation.

Kouenji also returned to his seat, using his usual mirror to look at himself, reveling in it.

"The particularly important part of this exam is, although there are certain conditions, we can form groups with anyone in the same year at will."

This is definitely a new rule that had never existed in the special exams up to now.

And in the end, the appearance of such a rule was beyond what was expected.

"But, what about the distribution of class points when you win? Although I understand the reason behind it, but there's no benefit in grouping up with other classes, it just feels like we'd be messing around if we do that."

Exactly. Sudo's thoughts that delved into this point was just a matter of course. This special exam was not just a competition across years, but also a battle between classes of the same year. Forming groups consisting of members of just your own class is the only way to complete this exam efficiently.

Even so, the school has prepared some interesting rules.

Grouping up with strong students within the school year would make it easier to get into the upper rankings. Low risk, but low reward. On the other hand, grouping up with only members of the same class would present a high risk, high reward opportunity.

The most ideal situation would be grouping up in twos or threes within the class, and then converging into big groups later.

However, it would be difficult to form the big groups after the special exam begins. If there's no guarantee of being able to freely form a big group before that, then the danger of failing would be great. But despite this, it's also true that this special exam hid  previously unimagined destructive power. If one class takes all three top spots, they'll receive 600 class points. If Class 2-D achieves this goal, it'll be an express ticket to Class 2-B.

"But if we rely on only our class, there are some talents that can't be offset. And if it's only our class that forms groups within ourselves... What if the other classes join forces? The worst-case scenario would be that only Class D falls behind as the gap widens."

It would be ideal to win with only Class D, but at the end of the day, that is just the ideal.

If any class chooses to challenge the special exam alone, that class would run the risk of getting targeted by all the other three classes working together. If that class lost, there wouldn't be any high  rewards.

"If it’s just that we can't win, that's a different story, but if we withdraw too early, we'll run the risk of expulsion. In other words, if we have enough self-confidence...No, if we can't be certain of victory, then we'll have to form groups of 6 with the other classes."

A special exam like this one, in which the other classes are both a comrade and an enemy, has never existed until now.

When considered this way, isn't it also an important part of strategy to form groups with the students in the other classes right from the start? However, there is no easy guarantee that the pace of the other classes will be in line with each other. Although in terms of results, there's not much advantage  in grouping up within your own class, but since there could be a large change in class points this exam, you'd want to try to outperform the other classes as much as possible. Not to mention the classes that are at the bottom.

And so, under the premise of having to form groups, which direction to turn the rudder to start with?

"How will Sakayanagi, Ryuuen, and Ichinose act?"

In order to decide on the groupings, Horikita used Yosuke's words as a basis to speak to everyone.

"Class A, who are in the leading position, probably wouldn’t be troubled by the mixing together of the classes. It doesn't matter which group wins, as long as the gap of points between their class and the other classes does not become narrower. On the contrary, the next three classes that rank below them, including us, would like to narrow that gap."

"Then how about an alliance among the three classes? If the gap is extended by Class A, let’s first establish an alliance from Class B to D, to be able to narrow that gap with Class A wouldn't be bad."

Sudo, who was listening to the conversations, came up with a good idea.

Joining forces with which we have a common enemy, to attack Class A together.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, is what you mean. It's not a bad objective to isolate Class A. If it is Ichinose, she probably would accept this proposal."

"But if we propose to isolate Class A, we have to be prepared for Class A's hostility. Considering Sakayanagi’s character, I think that, even with our Class D, the bottommost class, she'll still mercilessly use her resources to deal with us."

In general, Class A's energy would be focused on the 2nd place Class B that is trying to catch up.

But, as Yosuke said, Sakayanagi has a tendency to never let go of the prey that she had already decided to target.

"We still need to quietly get closer to the top classes as much as possible."

"Even if the three classes are to fight together, it's better if it's not us who makes that proposal."

This was like letting the other proposers accept Sakayanagi's hostility.

Easier said than done.

The most troublesome thing about this special exam is that only negotiating within  your own class cannot solve all the problems.

No matter how heated the discussion got here, nothing will get done. If we couldn’t grasp what Class B and Class C are actually thinking, if there would be no unified guidelines getting implemented, then it'll end up as nothing more than a theoretical plan, useless in practice.

That being said, it's not so easy to get the 3 classes to have a talk without any trouble.

Ichinose aside, it's hard to imagine Ryuuen would easily agree to it.

If Sakayanagi becomes aware of this information, she would naturally make her move as well.

"Seems hard to make a judgement..."

Although there is more than a month of time to form the groups, as the groups form one by one, there is no way to stay calm.

"It would be of great help if another class raises a similar proposal..."

The students of Class D were having a hard time with this.

"Just forming a group by itself is quite a headache."

Besides forming a group, there is another important thing.

That is, the existence of cards with various effects. Tomorrow morning, the school would give all students each a unique card that couldn't be transferred between classmates. And because cards that have been transferred once would be locked, they wouldn't return to the original owners’ hands. In other words, it can only be obtained by simply trading with students outside of the class, or through buying or selling them.

"In fact, most people will probably start to act tomorrow."

"Yeah. Gathering the effective cards into a group is also a key point."

The day where the prohibitions of forming a group for the next special exam were lifted.

Of course, there will be a big change in the situation of the classes, including Class D.