"Damn it, damn it!"
In another room, Kushida was smashing the wall while continuously cursing out loud.
This exam, there wasn't a single thing that went the way she wanted.
Originally, she had planned to make Horikita Suzune become the leader, then use that chance to make the exam fail, in order to make Horikita Suzune take the blame.
But no matter what, Kushida had never thought that after that, it would actually be Saiki who became the leader.
And in the end, not only did Horikita Suzune become the leader again, but also because of getting first place in this exam, Horikita Suzune's popularity inside the class soared, and even gained an extremely large number of supporters.
To Kushida, this was a situation she absolutely could not accept.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it! I definitely, I definitely will make you drop out of school!"
Kushida's expression twisted, her eyes full of rage, and immediately she picked up her phone and dialed a certain number.
"Hello, Ryuen…"
———
After the special exam on the deserted island, everyone got three days of rest time.
In these three days, everyone seemed to have already thrown the fatigue of the previous special exam to the back of their minds, enjoying a three-day holiday on the cruise ship.
This cruise ship was extremely large in size, and the facilities inside were also all-inclusive; just three days of time was absolutely not enough to experience everything.
To Saiki, these three days also passed rather fully.
He tasted all sorts of various styles of desserts. Not only that, Saiki also specifically brought along a germanium ring, so in this way, he could also enjoy all kinds of movies in the cruise ship's theater. This was almost like a long-cherished wish for Saiki.
At this moment, Saiki was inside the cruise ship's café, drinking coffee while reading a novel. He was wearing the germanium ring, allowing him to obtain an extremely peaceful period of time.
But right at this time, Saiki's phone vibrated slightly, and before he could even take out his phone, the broadcast inside the ship also began to sound.
[This is to notify all students, the school has just sent out an email containing communication items to all students. Please each check your phones and follow its instructions. Additionally, in case you did not receive the email, please apply to the nearby faculty staff. Because the content is very important, please do not overlook anything during confirmation. Repeating once again...]
'Is there trouble again?'
Saiki sighed, had no choice but to take off his ring, and at the same time picked up his phone, looking at the text on the screen.
[Special exam is about to begin. Students, please gather at each of your designated rooms and at the designated time. Those who are more than ten minutes late will receive punishment. Please gather at Room 204 on the second floor before 6 PM tonight. The whole process will take approximately twenty minutes. Please use the restroom beforehand and turn your phone to vibration mode or power off before coming to the meeting place.]
'Yare yare, looks like there's another exam.'
Saiki looked at the contents on the phone, and had already guessed in his heart that with the school's usual style, this time definitely wouldn't be anything good.
And after Saiki removed the ring, he could also clearly hear the inner voices of nearby students.
[Huh? What is the school trying to do again?]
[Starting at 8,40 PM, what exactly are they going to do?]
[Eight o'clock huh... Don't tell me it's another exam?]
'Not everyone's gathering time is the same? Looks like we've been divided into several groups again.'
Saiki glanced at the time. Now it wasn't far from the designated time, so he left the café and arrived at the room mentioned in the email.
Standing at the door of the room, Saiki was already able to use x-ray vision to see the situation inside.
Class A's homeroom teacher, Tomonari Mashima, was sitting inside with a stern expression. In front of him were two students from Class D.
One of them wore glasses, was a bit fat, and the unkempt hair on his head even seemed to reflect a faint oily shine.
Sotomura Hideo, nicknamed "Doctor" in class.
'Yare yare, Doctor is here huh?'
Saiki slightly narrowed his eyes. To any normal person, he fit the stereotype of an otaku.
He extensively dabbled in topics like bishoujo games and anime. Usually would say things like wanting to go to the 2D world, or that a waifu must be 2D to be perfect. He was knowledgeable in history and mechanics, and even knew some obscure trivia.
Although he had mastered a lot of knowledge in certain special fields, this also meant that Sotomura Hideo had lost the right to choose a partner for the entire three years of high school.
His interpersonal relations in class weren't very good, especially with girls. However, his relationship with the idiot trio was not bad, and they usually chatted about strange topics.
The other person was called Yukimura Keisei, though it seemed that wasn't the name on his student ID. But he preferred others to call him Keisei.
Yukimura Keisei's grades in the class were considered top-tier, but he didn't seem to have very good relationships with the girls. There also hadn't been much interaction between him and Saiki before.
Saiki knocked on the door. After hearing Tomonari Mashima's response, he walked into the room and greeted the other two.
Right at that moment, knocking was heard again. Before the sound of knocking even rang out, Saiki had already known the identity of the person coming.
'Yare yare, two more troublesome ones are here.'
The room door was opened once again. One of them was Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.
[Saiki is also here?]
In Saiki's mind, another person's inner voice almost drowned out Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's.
[What the hell, why is it these guys?!]
The newcomer was Karuizawa Kei.
Her honey-colored hair was tied into a high ponytail. Her delicate face embedded with a pair of gem-like eyes looked somewhat playful.
However, in Saiki's mind, Karuizawa Kei's inner voice never stopped.
[That one called Sotomura, looks like a loser otaku, really disgusting to look at.]
[Yukimura, his grades are okay, but always has that stinky face. What the hell is he pretending?]
[Ayanokoji huh, looks okay, but his personality is too gloomy, has no presence in class.]
The moment they met, Karuizawa Kei had already scored each of the boys in her mind.
[Damn it, it's that Karuizawa again.]
[In a group with Karuizawa? What a pain.]
Whether it was Sotomura Hideo or Yukimura Keisei, both seemed to be a bit dissatisfied with Karuizawa Kei.
Saiki hadn't really gotten involved in internal class matters, so he didn't know what grudges were between them. It just seemed like they simply found each other unpleasant.
Saiki remembered that previously, Karuizawa Kei had seemingly set her "hunt target" as Hirata Yosuke, but perhaps due to a series of events happening at school, her plan had to be delayed.
[Really, compared to Hirata, these few guys are totally not it.]
[Oh right, Saiki is also here?]
[He...]
Saiki was a bit curious about what kind of existence he was in Karuizawa Kei's eyes.
Anything was fine, as long as he ranked higher than Sotomura.
[Although he looks very cold and indifferent, during the last exam, Saiki seemed to have performed very well.]
[He even got himself sick for the sake of classmates. He also looks quite handsome, a lot better than those three.]
[His popularity among girls seems to have slightly gone up. Maybe I can consider him as a backup plan for this summer vacation.]
'Yare yare, the evaluation's unexpectedly not low.'
Saiki hadn't expected that in Karuizawa Kei's mind, the evaluation of him was actually decent. But for him, this wasn't a good thing.
The other party was the kind of person who easily drew attention, completely incompatible with him, and Saiki had absolutely no interest in any so-called "summer backup" plan of hers.
Out of politeness, Saiki nodded at Karuizawa Kei as a greeting, while also casting his gaze onto her. The ability of his x-ray vision activated unconsciously.
Saiki slightly narrowed his eyes. He saw that her body was actually full of scars.
"You all are Class D's Sotomura, Yukimura, Ayanokoji, Karuizawa, and Saiki, right? Then next, I will explain the special exam."
Tomonari Mashima's voice was somewhat cold, like an emotionless robot.
"W-Wait a second, I don't understand. What does 'exam explanation' mean? Wasn't the exam already over? And where are the others?"
Karuizawa Kei voiced a series of questions, and it was obvious that Tomonari Mashima, as a teacher, was somewhat dissatisfied with her behavior.
"At this stage I won't accept any questions. Please quietly listen to me."
No emotional tone, but Tomonari Mashima still gave off an unrefutable seriousness.
"In this special exam, the school will treat all first-year students as the zodiac and divide them into twelve groups. We will conduct exams within those small groups. The goal of the exam is to test Thinking ability." Tomonari Mashima spoke slowly.
'Wait wait wait, did you just say Thinking? I know you have the setting of being an English teacher, but in this situation, suddenly switching that word into English is way too weird, right?' Saiki kept complaining in his heart.
"What is Thinking?"
Karuizawa Kei asked with a serious face.
'Are you serious?' Saiki glanced at her.
"I said already, I won't accept questions."
Tomonari Mashima scolded Karuizawa Kei again, then continued,
"Basic abilities required in society are roughly divided into three types, Action, Thinking, Teamwork. Those who possess these abilities qualify as excellent adults."
"The previous deserted island exam focused on teamwork. However, this time it's Thinking. This will be an exam that requires thinking ability."
"Thinking ability, in other words, is the ability to analyze the current situation, then clarify the task, to understand the process to solve the problem and make preparations."
"Also, the ability to exert creativity and create new value, you all will very much need these in the future."
'…This isn't just showboating?'
Even though Saiki thought so in his heart, he didn't say it aloud.
"Therefore this time's exam will be conducted in twelve groups, and you few will be in the same group..."
"Why am I in a group with them?" At that moment, Karuizawa Kei spoke up again.
"Wouldn't it be faster and more convenient to organize all the students together for explanation?"
"Could you quiet down a little and listen to people speak? The exam might have already started. If you say unnecessary things and get points deducted, can you take responsibility?"
"On the deserted island too, you held us back more than others. Stop causing trouble for the class."
Yukimura Keisei finally couldn't hold it back anymore, and snapped at Karuizawa Kei.
"What? Then you tell me when and where I caused trouble? You bastard, just looking at you makes me annoyed!"
Karuizawa Kei fought back without any mercy.
[Sigh.]
Saiki heard Tomonari Mashima, who usually had no emotional fluctuations, sigh in his heart for the first time. He even somewhat helplessly raised his hand and rubbed his temple.
[These brats, are they elementary schoolers?]
'I completely agree with that.'
[Totally unexpected, that this kind of class could rise to Class B in the first semester of first year... How did they even manage that?]
'Honestly, I didn't want this either.'
"Seems like you all really care about this small group gathering. Then I'll answer this question. This is neither a conspiracy theory nor a hateful prank. It's a very simple matter, because the small group isn't formed from just one class, but made up of about three to five people from each class."
Tomonari Mashima had finally had enough of this childish bickering, and continued speaking.
'Grouped with students from other classes?'
Saiki quickly understood the difference in this exam.
"This is our exam group member list. We are the Rabbit group."
As Tomonari Mashima spoke, he handed over the group list. Saiki also quickly scanned the names.
Class A: Takemoto Shigeru, Machida Koji, Morishige Takuro.
Class B: Ichinose Honami, Hamaguchi Tetsuya, Beppu Ryota.
Class C: Ibuki Mio, Manabe Shiho, Yabu Nanami, Yamashita Saki.
Class D: Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, Karuizawa Kei, Sotomura Hideo, Yukimura Keisei, Saiki Kusuo.
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