Chapter 061: Anxious Class C! Class B with No Choice!
"And as far as I know, the Student Council President has the opportunity to select the scoring criteria for each special exam," Sakayanagi continued.
"That is indeed the case," Katsuragi nodded silently.
At the same time, he understood what Sakayanagi meant.
Once Horikita Manabu graduates, if Hikigaya takes office as the next Student Council President...
Then.
Class C will have absolutely no hope. Because Hikigaya would very likely suppress and reduce the points awarded in every monthly special exam, ensuring Class C could never catch up.
Therefore.
Sakayanagi is treating this special exam as Class C's chance to return to Class A—a hard-won opportunity. That point is correct.
It was precisely because they realized this that everyone became even more silent.
"However," Morishita Ai's voice came from the side, carrying a trace of hesitation, "if we challenge Class A, can we really win?"
Sakayanagi looked at her. "I cannot be certain."
Morishita Ai was stunned for a moment.
"But if we don't challenge them, we will never know," Sakayanagi's voice lowered slightly. "During the Sports Festival, we felt that Class A was too strong and that we couldn't win. And the result? We lost. It wasn't because we were too weak, but because we were too afraid to take action."
Katsuragi remained silent upon hearing this.
The fact that the class had lost its fighting spirit was something he had already discovered.
It could be said that Sakayanagi's suggestion was still very radical.
However.
Katsuragi closed his eyes and opened them again.
"Challenge Class A." Katsuragi's voice was steadier than he had imagined. "If we win, we narrow the gap by 400 points. If we lose, the gap widens by 400 points. The difference between 1400 and 1000 is effectively the same, but if we can narrow it, we still have a chance. Even if we lose, at least we tried." Katsuragi's tone was calm.
But everyone knew that Katsuragi had already made his choice.
They could not give up this chance to narrow the point gap.
And 1000 points vs. 1400 points was indeed the same distance, as neither was easily shortened.
Therefore.
If they didn't charge now, they might never have the chance to charge again.
Furthermore.
Some worried that if this evaluation exam was the school giving the lagging classes a chance to rise, then their cowardice here might lead the school to conclude that they had lost the pride and confidence of Class A students, and thus fully support the current Class A.
Therefore.
They truly could not admit defeat here.
Thinking of this, the students immediately made their decision.
Someone nodded immediately.
Although not everyone agreed, no one opposed it at this moment.
Totsuka Yahiko's face was still a bit pale. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, he didn't. He trusted Katsuragi's judgment, just as he always had.
Mashima Tomonari stood on the podium, watching this scene, and said nothing.
As a qualified homeroom Sensei, he didn't ask "Are you sure?" at this time, nor did he say "Don't regret it if you lose."
He just stood there quietly, waiting for them to make their decision.
"Sensei," Katsuragi turned around and looked at Mashima, "Class C has decided to challenge Class A."
Mashima looked at him and was silent for a second. "Confirmed?"
"Confirmed."
Mashima nodded, took a form out of a folder, and handed it to him. "Fill it out and turn it in."
Katsuragi took the form and looked down at it. There were only a few lines—Class, Challenged Party, Representative Signature.
He picked up a pen, wrote "Class 1-C" in the Class column, "Class 1-A" in the Challenged Party column, and then signed his own name in the Representative Signature column.
The handwriting was neat, stroke by stroke.
Katsuragi handed the form back to Mashima.
Mashima took it, glanced at it, and put it into his folder.
"I will go submit this to the problem-setting committee right away." Sensei Mashima chose to turn around immediately.
He was actually a bit surprised that the students chose to challenge Class A.
After all, attacking Class B at a time like this would be optimal.
However, only by attacking Class A could they show the pride of the original Class A students.
Therefore.
After taking the challenge application form, he ran out of the classroom almost without regard for his image and headed toward the problem-setting committee.
As the homeroom Sensei of the original Class A, now Class C, he couldn't hold them back.
He had to convey the students' fighting spirit upward.
So that the school wouldn't discard this "original Class A" so quickly.
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At the same time, the Class 1-B classroom.
Of course, although it is Class B, it is based on the foundation of Class C, so the students in this class were even more anxious.
The homeroom Sensei, Sakagami Kazuma, stood on the podium and gently pushed up his glasses.
His expression was more serious than usual, but the corners of his mouth still carried a faint smile—after all, his class had risen from C to B, his salary and benefits had increased, and his confidence when speaking was different.
Of course, for the students, this exam was not very friendly.
"Three weeks from now, the midterm exam," Sensei Sakagami opened a folder and announced. "This exam is quite special; it requires team exams.
Two people per team, eight subjects, 60 points total for each subject. If any subject is less than 60 points, both will be expelled. If the total score of the eight subjects is less than 700 points, both will be expelled."
As expected, once this rule was announced, a low buzz of panic filled the classroom.
"However," Sensei Sakagami changed the subject, "this time the exam is not written by the school. Eight subjects, 50 questions each, all written by the classes themselves. Then you challenge one of the other three classes, and the two classes write questions for each other. The class with the highest total score can take 200 evaluation points from the losing class."
"Sensei," at this moment, a boy's voice came from the back row, carrying obvious anxiety, "our class has three students who ranked last in the Sports Festival. Minus ten points for all subjects, that means..."
Sakagami looked at him. "That's why choosing the right partner is very important. Students with minus ten points for all subjects need to team up with students with strong academic ability to make up for the score."
The boy's face changed, but he quickly recovered. He was an academic underachiever, but he could find an academic achiever to team up with. The problem was, would the achiever be willing to carry him?
And there weren't many academic achievers in Class B.
He felt that at least students like Shiina and Kaneda could save him.
Therefore.
The discussion in the classroom grew louder.
Some lowered their heads to calculate their own academic ability, some turned their heads to look at classmates next to them, and some had already started looking for suitable candidates in their minds.
Ryuen Kakeru leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed, his expression unchanged. His gaze swept around the classroom, stopped on Shiina Hiyori for a moment, and then retracted.
"If we encounter Class A or Class C, it will definitely be terrible," a girl's voice came from the crowd. "They are all academic achievers, and the questions they set will definitely be difficult. Our academic ability is already inferior to theirs, and if we are messed with by their questions, whether we can pass is a problem."
This was Manabe Shiho; her grades were very average, so it was natural for her to have such worries.
"So why don't we just attack Class D?" another voice followed.
"Class D?" Someone frowned. "Class D has Ayanokouji. Ayanokouji might not be an academic underachiever."
"Why do you say that?"
"Didn't he hide for so long and then show his physical ability at the Sports Festival? Maybe his academic ability is also hidden. Who knows if he's playing the pig to eat the tiger."
"But everyone else in Class D is trash. Koenji definitely won't take the exam seriously, Sudo's academic ability is lacking, and Ike Kanji and Yamauchi Haruki are all academic underachievers. Even if Ayanokouji is strong by himself, he can't carry the whole class, right?"
"But if his academic ability is super awesome and he sets super hard papers for us, won't we be doomed?"
"I think we need to be wary of him!"
The discussion became more and more chaotic, and no one could convince anyone else.
"That's enough." Ryuen's voice came from the back row, not loud, but the classroom went silent instantly.
Everyone's eyes turned to him. Ryuen straightened up from his chair, put his hands on the desk, and scanned everyone present.
"We will face Class D." Ryuen's voice was very steady, but he had already made his decision.
Ibuki Mio couldn't help but frown. "Why? Clearly, facing Class A might be better. After all, we were allies with Class A before—"
Obviously, if they were to face an outside class, Ibuki felt that Hikigaya, whom she had met on the uninhabited island, would be safer.
"Allies?" Ryuen looked at her, the corners of his mouth slightly curled, but there was no warmth in that smile. "Idiot. Although we were allies with Class A before, that was the Sports Festival. This kind of exam is not about cooperation, but points. Do you expect Hikigaya to hand over the test papers to us and let us all pass?"
Ibuki opened her mouth but didn't speak.
"Even if he were willing," Ryuen continued, "we would definitely still lose 200 points. You don't want those 200 points?"
Ibuki was silent for a few seconds. "Then... then what about facing Class C?"
"Class C?" Ryuen sneered. "Class C was just stepped on by us; do you think they will make it easy for us? The questions they set will be impossible for us to do. Therefore, the ones who will be unlucky or even fail will be us. As for bribery? We don't have that many points. And they won't be bribed; they are crazy about climbing back to Class B.
So the only possibility is that we give them money, and we still give them points—it's pointless!" Ryuen said.
"..." Ibuki was silent.
She couldn't deny that Ryuen was right.
Class A is too strong, and Class C is too hateful. Only Class D—with academic underachievers bunched together, minus 270 evaluation points—looks like the easiest persimmon to squeeze.
So it returned to Ryuen's plan.
"But," the girl who said they needed to be wary of Ayanokouji spoke from the side, "Class D has Ayanokouji. Will he..."
"What about Ayanokouji?" Ryuen looked at her.
The girl opened her mouth but didn't continue.
Ryuen retracted his gaze and looked at Shiina Hiyori. Hiyori was sitting by the window, her silver long hair draped over her shoulders.
However, when the exam rules were announced, her gaze fell outside the window, her eyes a little unfocused, as if she were looking at a place very, very far away.
"Shiina—"
Ryuen called her, but she didn't react. He called her again, and she still didn't react.
"Shiina." Ryuen raised his voice.
Hiyori snapped back to reality, turned her head, and looked at him. Those clear eyes had a trace of trance, as if she had just come back from somewhere and hadn't completely landed yet.
"What's wrong?" Hiyori asked.
"What are you thinking about?" Ryuen frowned.
Hiyori was silent for a second. "Nothing. Just thinking about the exam."
Ryuen stared at her for two seconds and didn't press. "How do you think facing Class D will go?"
Hiyori's finger tapped lightly on the cover of her notebook. She was thinking—Class D is currently at negative points. If they win against Class D, what can they get? She didn't know. The rules didn't say.
But if winning gets no points, then challenging Class D is meaningless. If they lose, they get 200 points deducted—the risk is too high.
"Sensei," thinking of this, Hiyori raised her head and looked at Sakagami Kazuma, "if we challenge Class D, and win, can we get 200 points from a class with negative points?"
Sakagami Kazuma pushed his glasses. "This question has already been asked by Mashima-sensei of Class C. The response from the problem-setting committee is—the class with
negative points will have more points deducted if they lose the game. But the winning class cannot get any rewards from the class with negative points."
The classroom exploded.
"What? We don't get points even if we win?"
"Then what is the use of challenging Class D?"
"We lose 200 points if we lose, and get nothing if we win—isn't this a guaranteed loss?"
"You can't say that... at least we won't fail because the questions are too difficult. The questions set by Class D must be simpler than those of Class A and Class C."
"But we can't afford to lose! If we lose, 200 points are gone!"
"Don't look at the fact that we have 650 points now, 350 of them have to be given to Hikigaya, so our own living expenses are only 300 points... if we lose another 200 points..."
The discussion grew louder and more chaotic.
Some thought challenging Class D was the safest choice, some thought it was a waste of opportunity, and others didn't want their living expenses reduced.
And Ryuen leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed, listening to those sounds. But he ignored them.
"Sensei," Ryuen spoke, and the classroom went quiet again, "if we challenge Class D, and get no points for winning, what is the point of facing Class D?"
Sakagami Kazuma looked at him. "At least, you won't fail because the questions are too difficult. The level of question-setting by Class D will not be too high."
Ryuen was silent for a few seconds. "So, challenging Class D is just to ensure we don't get expelled?"
"You can understand it that way," Sakagami said.
"So you all heard it!" Ryuen then addressed his classmates.
This question was asked for the students in the class.
And it was also the reason he considered facing Class D.
The goal of this exam was not to get points, but to... not get expelled.
This was the lowest requirement, and also the most basic requirement.
"Facing Class A, we will definitely lose 200 points," Ryuen's voice was very calm. "Facing Class C, there is basically no hope.
"So choosing Class D is a slightly better plan.
Written exams are not what we are good at, so let's avoid this exam!" Ryuen decided.
Finding that no one had any objections anymore, Ryuen turned to look at Sakagami Kazuma. "Sensei, we choose Class D."
Sakagami Kazuma pushed his glasses. "Confirmed?"
"Confirmed."
Sakagami Kazuma took a form out of his folder and handed it to him. "Fill it out and turn it in."
Ryuen took the form and looked down at it. There were only a few lines—Class, Challenged Party, Representative Signature. He picked up a pen, wrote "Class 1-B" in the Class column, "Class 1-D" in the Challenged Party column, and then signed his own name in the Representative Signature column. The handwriting was sloppy, but every stroke was recognizable.
Ryuen handed the form back to Sakagami Kazuma. Sakagami took it, glanced at it, and put it into his folder.
"I will go submit this to the problem-setting committee right away!" Sakagami Kazuma naturally knew that his class was full of academic underachievers, so choosing Class D was a nailed-on certainty.
But he was also worried about any unexpected turn of events, so he quickly grabbed the form and ran out.
Leaving behind slightly surprised classmates; after all, the others didn't quite understand why Sensei Sakagami was so anxious.
Ryuen also retracted his gaze; there was indeed no better plan for this exam.
So perhaps that was why Shiina was also in a daze.
Because there was no choice for this exam.
It's just that Ryuen didn't know the reason Hiyori was in a daze earlier.
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