While Hachiman and Matsushita were talking, a young man also emerged from Room 204.
This was Majima, the Class A Teacher.
He placed the materials he was carrying into a bag and walked out.
He headed towards the Floor.
There was a bar for adults there, and on the ship, the teachers would go there to drink.
The teachers would be there for the next few days.
"Work is finally done." When he arrived, the teachers of the other three Classes were already there.
The teachers were responsible for explaining the rules of this Beneficiary Exam.
As the rules showed, for the next three days, during the two discussion periods each day, students would be highly autonomous, so the teachers had nothing more to be responsible for.
Thus.
After finishing their work, the three teachers could be seen drinking.
"Ugh, this is so refreshing." Hoshinoimiya Chie, the Class B Teacher, ordered a large mug of beer and finished it in less than 10 seconds.
But her mood seemed very good.
"Hoshinoimiya, don't you think such behavior is unladylike?"
Sakagami Digital, the Class D Teacher, gently pushed up his glasses and said.
A mug of beer was also on his table, but his movements were much more elegant.
"Well, since Sakagami is the only male around, there's no need to worry." But Hoshinoimiya put down her mug and said, somewhat airily, "Because you're not within my scope of interest.
So there's no need to put on an act in front of you."
Damn.
"…" Sakagami Digital.
So, Sakagami, who felt Chabashira was pretentious during the Uninhabited Island Exam and didn't want to talk to her, now felt that he shouldn't talk to Hoshinoimiya either.
Sakagami looked at Majima, who was walking over.
"Majima, you're quite late today. Is it because you're struggling with explaining the rules to Class C? Indeed, their Class students must be difficult to handle; for example, they might not even be able to understand the rules," Sakanoue Digital said.
"That's possible," Majima said. "But my work is done."
"You're still so serious, but aren't you worried?" Sakagami said, "You know, in this exam, there are a total of 12 Benefactors."
"So your Class A might be surpassed."
Class D's Class evaluation was 0 points.
So, catching up would require at least several exams.
But Class A was only about 100 points ahead of Class B, and about 200 points ahead of Class C, putting them in a precarious state.
"If Class C surpasses you, then your Class might become famous," Sakanoue Digital said. "Even worse than my Class."
This school was about Class competition, so it was reasonable for there to be fluctuations between Classes.
However, if Class A fell so quickly, it would be humiliating.
After all, at the beginning, all the good students were placed in Class A.
So, if Class A really did fall, Sakagami would actually feel a bit comforted.
He initially led Class C, and Class C not only dropped but even became 0 points.
According to the normal progression of this school, Class C and D might swap places, but reaching 0 points usually happened in the second or third year, so becoming 0 points now was very embarrassing.
He couldn't even face other grades.
"Regarding this. If other Classes can surpass us, then they can surpass us. Our Class A can afford to lose." Although he said this, Majima pressed one hand to his hair.
Today, he was responsible for informing the Class C students about the exam rules. The Class C students were the lowest-ranked students in a set of evaluation criteria, meaning there were many dullards, so this job was not easy.
However, after Hikigaya Hachiman in Class C used a camera, that camera was passed around.
Every group that came in would have their group list photographed.
So, from this perspective, Class C had once again gained the upper hand this time.
Then, it was possible for the exam results to become ridiculously skewed.
Therefore, his position in Class A was indeed unstable.
Just.
Even so, Majima had no thoughts of acting selfishly or violating rules. Instead, he looked at the seemingly carefree Hoshinoimiya Chie from Class B. "Hoshinomiya, what are you trying to do this time?"
"You adjusted your Class students, didn't you?"
"Eh? What are you talking about, Majima?"
"Don't try to play dumb." But Majima said. "You tampered with this grouping list. Normally, we would arrange all the Class representatives into the Dragon Group, but you arranged Ichinose from your Class into the Rabbit Group, didn't you?"
"Ah, this… I just think Ichinose is very cute, like a little rabbit, so I put her in the Rabbit Group," Hoshinomiya said.
"Is that really true?" Majima looked at her with distrust.
"Ah haha, it really is," Hoshinomiya continued to respond with a carefree attitude.
Chabashira quietly drank her sake alone, but her brows were slightly furrowed.
Because.
When allocating student lists, it was customary to place the representatives of each Class in the Dragon Group.
After all, competition makes people grow.
So, strong individuals were placed in strong groups.
But.
When she made her selection, she didn't put Hikigaya in the Dragon Group; instead, she put him in the Rabbit Group.
As a result.
Chie actually put Ichinose in the Rabbit Group as well.
In other words, was Chie guarding against her? Was Class B going to launch an attack this time?
…
On the other side.
Hachiman here.
"Hey."
Hachiman dialed his phone, "Horikita, where are you now? I'll come find you."
Information about the Benefactors would be sent to each student's phone at 8 AM tomorrow, and given his Class's nature, 99% of people would act for their own benefit.
And these people, once they knew their Benefactor information, even if they wanted to hide it, would easily be discovered because they were dullards.
So some things needed to be confirmed now.
The time had already reached 10:30 PM.
Because there were people in the dormitory, Horikita Suzune was currently in a restaurant.
And she was quite clever. When Hachiman arrived, she was in a small private room, and at the entrance of the private room stood a girl with pink hair and plain glasses.
This was Sakura Airi.
She was standing at the entrance of the private room, looking around a bit nervously.
She seemed to be preparing to stand guard.
"To use Sakura as a sentry, you're really going too far," Hachiman said to Horikita Suzune. Then he returned the camera to Sakura. "Sakura, you also helped a lot in this exam."
"W-where, if, if I can help, then that's, that's great."
Sakura knew her presence was low, and her studies were poor, and she was not good at sports at all.
So, she was quite happy that she could be useful.
"Do you want me to get you a chair?" Hachiman said.
"No, no need, just, just stand like this is fine," Sakura quickly waved her hand.
But Hikigaya went into the private room and got her a chair, and then Sakura had no choice but to sit down.
"What's wrong?"
Hachiman entered the private room and found that the people inside were looking at him intently.
"Nothing, I just think you're quite considerate," Horikita Suzune said.
Hmm.
Kushida also deeply felt the same way about this.
Hikigaya Hachiman, this guy, was truly ridiculously meticulous and considerate at times.
And asking Sakura to stand at the door was actually for lookout.
Previously, Ryuen had arranged for Ibuki to come as a spy on the Uninhabited Island, so they were also worried if their discussion would be overheard by Ryuen Class again.
This was a lesson learned.
"So, have you figured it out?" Hachiman said.
He had already sent the photos from Sakura's camera to his phone, and then sent them to Horikita Suzune.
Inside were the lists of the 12 groups, and also the exam rules.
The Class students were divided into 12 groups, but the rules explained today were the same; only the group lists were different.
"I already understand the exam rules."
"12 groups, and within one group. Four outcomes will appear."
"Outcome 1: Everyone gets 500,000, and the Benefactor gets 1,000,000.
Outcome 2: Only the Benefactor gets 500,000.
These two are the results that can be obtained by honestly answering according to the regulations within the specified time."
"And another is the quick answer situation.
Outcome 3: Guess the Benefactor's identity correctly, then Class evaluation point + 50, individual increases 500,000. Benefactor's Class - 50 Class evaluation points.
Outcome 4: Guess the Benefactor's identity incorrectly, Class evaluation point - 50, Benefactor's Class point + 50, Benefactor receives 500,000 reward."
"If you answer honestly, then there's only a fluctuation in private points, but if it's a quick answer, then the Class evaluation points will increase or decrease."
Horikita Suzune was briefly explaining the exam rules.
But after she finished speaking, she found Hikigaya was still looking at her. Did he think it wasn't enough?
It was indeed not enough.
So, she furrowed her brow slightly and continued, "Although the rules formally require students to meet every morning and evening, and determine who the Benefactor is through conversation, find out who the Benefactor is, and conceal their identity as the Benefactor, however, for exams, you must read the question carefully."
"The question is 'Thinking'."
"It's about thinking," Horikita Suzune said.
And after saying that, she found Hikigaya was still looking at her.
"…" Horikita Suzune.
In other words, he wanted to see if she had anything else to say?
Horikita Suzune then continued, "I think the key to this exam is the identity of this Benefactor."
Hmm.
Hachiman crossed his arms, deciding to continue listening to her analysis. See if she grasped the point.
And Horikita's finely arched brows slightly relaxed, and then she said, "A total of twelve groups, twelve groups, so there are twelve Benefactors. And each group has members from each Class. So, I'm thinking, is the distribution of Benefactors even?"
"If the distribution of Benefactors is even, that means each Class can have three Benefactors. If that's the case, is there any pattern in the selection of Benefactors? Or is it just a simple random selection?"
Horikita thought with a headache, shaking her head involuntarily.
If there was a pattern, then that would be best.
Although such a pattern would certainly be difficult to find, as long as it was found, they could deduce the Benefactor identities of other Classes based on their own Class's Benefactors.
"Is there anything else?" Hikigaya said.
"…" Horikita Suzune. "That's probably it."
"Then what about you, Kushida?" Hachiman asked. "What do you think?"
"…" Kushida.
What did it matter to her?
Besides, why did she have to think?
Perhaps because her seat was next to Horikita Suzune, and Horikita wasn't looking at her now, Kushida probably showed this kind of expression to Hachiman.
Eh.
Karuizawa was like this, and Kushida was also like this.
Hachiman had already seen two people who didn't want to think and only followed orders.
But now.
"First, Horikita, your direction of thinking is not wrong." Seeing Kushida directly give up, Hachiman turned to Horikita and said. "My thoughts are consistent with yours."
"Dividing into groups, and formally meeting every day to observe and guess, to test each student, but this is only the school's requirement, this is not 'thinking'. So, I infer that the real exam question actually hopes that students will jump out of the question and stand from the perspective of the question setter. If I were the question setter, I would indeed let the students scatter, but I would also definitely give opportunities to those who can think. For example, the selection of Benefactors for all 12 groups would be traceable."
"In other words, I believe that the selection of Benefactors has a pattern."
"At the same time, it must be 3 for each Class."
"So, the grouping lists of the 12 groups need to be obtained."
"And that's also why I asked you to take photos."
"…"
"…" Horikita.
As expected of you, even though the exam rules were just announced, you've already thought of a shortcut and are fully prepared.
...
The exam questions are out, and it's also inferred that the exam has a pattern.
If there's a pattern, and our Class can have 3 VIPs, then obtaining the VIP information of our own Class, or knowing the VIP information of other Classes, allows for pattern deduction.
Once the pattern is grasped and the information of all 12 VIPs is known, the opportunity to control other Classes is acquired.
At that point, whether one wants to go for Result 1, Result 2, Result 3, or Result 4, it all becomes possible.
"Our Class can even be promoted to Class A through this opportunity." Kushida finally started thinking.
"If our own Class has 3 VIPs, and the other Classes have 9, guessing all of them would yield 450 points, and at the same time, other Classes would be deducted 50X3 = 150 points because their VIPs were guessed."
"Doesn't that mean that Class C will become Class A in this exam?"
"Will the promotion… succeed?" Kushida said.
But can such a thing… really happen? Or rather, is it necessary to add 450 points to Class C?
-------------------------------
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