“Look here, the fact that the 4 of you are in a group cannot be rescinded no matter what. So if you want to get good results for yourselves, make sure to get along here” Mashima-sensei scolds us. “Ahh…this sucks. I can’t deal with these three guys. I wanted Hirata-kun!” Karuizawa complains again. “Heh, but if the three of us work together and combine our wits we might be able to become just as good as Hirata-dono and form an ideal team for you” Sotomura says. “Huh? Disgusting. Even if there are 100 or 200 copies of you guys you all still won’t be as good as one hair from Hirata-kun” Karuizawa sharply retorts. I don’t particularly care what Karuizawa thinks about us but saying something like that in front of me is still hurtful, I thought. But since Karuizawa is also sticking with Hirata I guess it can’t be helped once she’s separated from him like this. “I’ll just call Hirata-kun and talk to him for now” Karuizawa then says.

Karuizawa gave us a glance while sighing in disgust. I thought to myself that she was going to be a troublesome partner. Most likely Yukimura must have thought the same thing as me. “If there are no more questions I will continue with my explanation” Mashima-sensei asserted. “Yeah, yeah. I understand that. But why are the four of us the only ones getting this explanation? You said there will be more members later on, why not just give the explanation then? If this is some sort of trick or harassment of students then I seriously want you to stop it” Karuizawa fired back at him quickly. “You don’t need to be concerned about the small number of our group if that’s what you’re worried about, this is neither a trick nor harassment. It’s not just one class divided up into groups but 3 to 5 people from each class being divided up into groups. We run the risk of confusing the students if the exam itself is not explained like this in advance” Mashima-sensei explained. So that’s the reason this small number was gathered in this room, I thought.

The other three don’t seem to have understood Mashima-sensei’s explanation and were mulling it over in silence. Naturally, it’s not like I could understand it instantly either. The ticking sound of the clock once again filled the now-silent room. “W-wait a minute. What do you mean we might be teaming up with groups from other classes? This is getting harder and harder to understand. Aren’t other classes supposed to be the enemy?” Karuizawa asked in confusion. “I agree with Karuizawa, sensei. So far we’ve only been competing against the other classes. It’s hard to accept that we’re supposed to abandon all that and team up with them all of a sudden”. I can understand Karuizawa and the others’ concerns but it’s not like we students have the right to choose, the rules are determined by the school after all. “Don’t think that way, Yukimura, your high school life has just started. Don’t always think about competing and be more thoughtful of the future” Mashima-sensei chided Yukimura who said that. “I-I’m sorry” he replied. “Right now you don’t need to think about ‘understanding’ but simply to ‘think’. The group you are assigned to is the zodiac sign (Rabbit). Here’s the list of all the members assigned to this zodiac. You will be required to return the list when you leave the room so feel free to memorize the list if you wish” Mashima-sensei explained further.

The postcard sized piece of paper was passed around between the four of us. The name of the group (Rabbit) was written as well as the names of all 14 students assigned to this zodiac. And just like Mashima-sensei said, aside from the four of us, the remaining students of this zodiac group belonged to classes A, B and C. The list was as followed:

A-Class: Takemoto Shigeru, Machida Kouji, Morishige Takuro

B-Class: Ichinose Honami, Hamaguchi Tetsuya, Beppu Ryouta

C-Class: Ibuki Mio, Manabe Shiho, Yabu Nanami, Yamashita Saki

D-Class: Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, Karuizawa Kei, Sotomura Hideo, Yukimura Teruhiko

In our group there were several names I recognized from other classes. Ichinose from Class B and Ibuki from Class C. It seems we’ve all been assigned to the (Rabbit) zodiac group. Of course I cannot imagine what the exam will instruct us to do next, but I do somewhat share Karuizawa and Yukimura’s concerns that we will not be able to work together after all that time spent competing. I peeked at Karuizawa who was sitting next to me and saw that she was also just as confused. Perhaps she was feeling misfortunate that she ended up in the same group as Ibuki. “Don’t worry, all those questions you’re probably having right now, I will answer them now. I believe you will be able to understand once I have explained all that. Most likely” Mashima-sensei continued. Most likely, huh? Perhaps he had doubts about Karuizawa’s ability to understand after all the complaints she’d fired at him. But he dutifully explains the reasons for this unusual grouping anyways.

“In this exam we will be completely ignoring any differences between classes A to D from the start. If you can do so too it will definitely be an easier path to clearing this exam.” he explained. “Ignore any differences…what do you mean?” Karuizawa asked again. “Please just shut up for a moment, I can’t concentrate on the explanation with you blabbering like that” Yukimura scolded her with an exasperated tone. “From this point onwards, you guys no longer belong to Class D but rather to the (Rabbit) group. Whether you pass or fail no longer matter on your class but on the entire ‘group’ as a whole now.” Mashima-sensei continued. I think I’m starting to understand what this is about although I’m not certain about the bigger picture yet.

“There are four outcomes in this exam, no more and no less. Explanations regarding this have also been printed onto paper for your perusual, however, you may not take them out of this room nor photograph them. So memorize them here if you wish to” Mashima-sensei instructed. A slightly crumpled paper was paraded before us, it seems other students have already seen this paper before us as we looked through the paper. The basic rules of the exam were as follows:

Explanation of the Special Examination of Different Groups

In this test, the cornerstone will be a “target” student that is chosen from each group. By using your critical thinking skills, you will achieve one of the four possible outcomes by the end of the exam.

-8am on the day the exam starts, you will need to mail the other groups of the fact that you have chosen a “target” student from amongst you.

-The exam itself will mostly take place between 4pm and 9pm tomorrow (students will be free to act as they wish during the day).

-For one hour each day, twice, you will need to gather together with your assigned groups and talk.

-Content of the talk will be left up to the discretion of each group.

-At the end of the exam, you will need to identify the “target” students of other groups. This will be done between 9:30 and 10:00PM. Only one answer can be submitted from each group.

-The answers must be sent to faculty members through a certain address that will be provided to your mobile phones.

-The “target” student cannot be the one to send the answers.

-You must only answer the identity of the “target” student of the group you are assigned. Any other answer will be marked as invalid.

-Details of the results of the exam will be mailed to students by 11:00PM of the same day.

Of course those were the basic rules we would need to follow for this exam. There are more detailed rules and explanations provided on the paper as well as prohibited items being listed. There seemed to be more rules and regulations than the ones we were given for the uninhabited island test. And the following are the four possible results we could get:

-Result 1: If the answers of the “target” student as well as the other group members are all correct, they will all receive private points (including members other than the “target” student themselves).

-Result 2: If there are incorrect answers or unanswered questions by people other than the “target” student, only the “target” student will receive 500,000 private points.

But before I could read any further into the rules, I noticed Karuizawa and Sotomura nodding their heads as if they’ve understood the contents of the exam. And Mashima-sensei who stood watching all this continued the explanation with a flat, unchanging tone.

“For instance, let’s just say Yukimura, you were chosen as the “target” student of this group. That means you must be the “target” student only since only one “target” is allowed for this exam. Now, supposing Yukimura is chosen as the “target” that means the (Rabbit) group’s “target” name will be written down as Yukimura. Once the choosing is complete, simply share this with the other members of your assigned group. And between 9:30 and 10:00 PM of the end of the exam everyone in the group simply needs to mail the answer “Yukimura” to the faculty. If this is done, the first outcome condition will be satisfied and everyone in the group will receive 500,000 private points as compensation. In addition, the “target” student will receive 1 million private points for successfully guiding the group to this outcome.” Mashima-sensei continued his explanation.

“1-1 million? Woah…”. “D-does that mean everyone gets 500,000 points and if you’re chosen as the “target” you get even more…”. This amount of points is something anyone in any class would want for themselves. Since the “target” student in this case will be receiving twice as much in compensation as points, they will suddenly shoot up to the top of the class in points.

“Now for the 2nd possible outcome. In the case that the identity of (Rabbit) group’s “target” were to be uncovered incorrectly by the end of the exam and the faculty were to be notified of this. Only the “target” will be receiving the points of 500,000 while the rest will go without points.” Mashima-sensei explained further to us. It’s strange that the exam was structured this way, the way they put it, there is not much difference between outcome 1 and outcome 2. In either case, the “target” will still be receiving a tremendous amount of points. There’s no reason why anyone would deliberately sabotage their group and go for outcome 2 unless they wish to deny points to other classes and secure the points for their own class. “The position of “target” certainly is an enviable one. I’d say it’s even unfair to the other members. No matter the outcome we get, they’ll still have points and in the first one they even get a million points!” it seems Karuizawa wants to be chosen as the “target” student for a chance to get more points.

Of course I don’t blame her. It’s only natural to want to be the “target” given its privileged status. But it’s too early to say yet, there are still 2 other possible outcomes yet to be revealed and there must be some trick hidden in those outcomes for such points to be awarded to the “target”. “Sensei, what are the 3rd and 4th possible outcomes. You still haven’t explained it to us”. “Did you understand the first two outcomes? If so, I can proceed to explain the remaining outcomes” Mashima-sensei said. “Yes…I’ve got it. Please tell us the remaining outcomes”. Mashima then told us “The remaining outcomes are printed on the back of the paper, but be sure to wait before turning the paper over”. My hands froze just before we turned the paper to the other side. Mashima-sensei simply stared at us with his sharp eyes as we gradually started to understand the rules of this exam. It seems from the moment we read the instructions, the exam had already begun. “W-wait a minute, I’m not following”. Although Mashima-sensei did make the rules clear to us, it seems Karuizawa is still unable to understand the instructions. Her academic abilities were not as bad as Sudou and Ike but since Karuizawa doesn’t put much effort into it, it seems her ability to process information is exceptionally bad.

“Very well, I shall explain slightly more. Have you ever played the the Jinrou game before?” Mashima-sensei asked us. “Jinrou game? It was trendy for a little while so I have played it before. It’s pretty interesting”. I was slightly puzzled when he first mentioned the name to us. “D-don’t tell me, Ayanokouji-kun. You’ve never heard of the Jinrou game before? Unbelievable” Karuizawa told me. Even if you think that it can’t be helped, in the first place, the very concept of “games” was not something I was familiar with, neither was the concept of “playing with others”. I’m not….

However, Karuizawa also seemingly realized this and instead just looked me with sad, understanding eyes. “I don’t know how to put it, but not having friends is terrible, isn’t it?” Karuizawa said. Instead, Karuizawa offered to explain the Jinrou game to me.

“Friends gather together and are split up into two categories: villagers and wolves. And the last survivor’s group is the one that wins the game. Did you follow?” Karuizawa asks me. No! I’m not following at all, I think internally. I’m sure I’d be a god or a Buddha if I could understand it from that brief explanation. Mashima-sensei then began to explain in more detail. It goes like this:

It was an American who first invented this game called the Jinrou game. No restrictions on the number of players in the game although there is a restriction on the minimum amount of players required for the game itself. The game itself has players divided into two roles: villagers and wolves and each player must play one of these roles. There may be additional roles added but the gist of the game is that the last survivor’s group wins whether it’s the villagers or the wolves. Wolves mix in with the villagers and pretend to be one of them. The game itself takes around roughly two hours and in that time, the villagers need to identify which one of them is a disguised wolf and execute the the suspect. On the other hand, at “night”, the disguised wolf can ‘devour’ the villager. By doing this, each side can reduce the number of players on the other side. When the last survivor is the only one remaining, victory and defeat will be decided.

But I was wondering why this exam would be compared to such a game. With the currently established rules, “wolves” and “villagers” are being forced to cooperate with each other instead to aim for the most desirable first outcome. To put it simply, there is still a trick hidden in this exam that neither “wolf” nor “villager” knows of yet.

“Of course, you already know there can only be one “target” in the group. Once the identity of the “target” is revealed the third and fourth outcomes become possible for the group”. “And that…is what’s written on the other side of this paper…is it ok to turn it over now?”. Mashima-sensei simply nods when Karuizawa asks that and together, we turn the paper over to the other side. The remaining two possible outcomes were written there. For these two remaining outcomes, the answer will be accepted by the faculty at any time during the exam period in the 24 hours. We will also still be accepting answers for these remaining outcomes 30 minutes after the end of the exam. But if there is still a mistake in the answer during these periods a penalty will apply.

-Result 3: In the case that someone other than the “target” answers the question before waiting for the allocated time and answers correctly, the class the answerer belongs to will receive 50 points each and the answerer themselves will receive 500,000 points for themselves. On the other hand, classes whose “target” have been identified will receive a penalty of -50 points for their whole class. Once this has been achieved, the test will be over for the group. However, if a member that belongs to the class of the “target” answers correctly, the previous result will be made invalid and the examination for that group will continue.

-Result 4: In the case that someone other than the “target” answers the question before waiting for the allocated time and answers incorrectly, the class the answerer belongs to will receive a penalty of -50 points each but the “target” will still receive 50,000 private points. If the answer is given incorrectly, the group’s exam will end. However, if a member belonging to the class of the “target” is the one who answered incorrectly, the answer will be considered invalid and will not be accepted.

I see, so the remaining outcomes paint a more detailed picture of the exam. If only outcomes 1 and 2 were possible, the “targets” will share their answers with everyone in the group and there would be nothing to do but cooperate. However, by adding the option to “betray” one’s own group, the dynamics of the exam were changed in a single stroke. If the “target” were to reveal his identity to everyone in their group, they will inevitably be preyed upon by “traitors” instantly. Since there are now more outcomes than the first one available, no one will wait that long. The traitors will immediately aim to secure points only for themselves. And the “target” themselves, in an attempt to sabotage the other classes’ chances for points and increase their own class’s chances, will deliberately hide their identity and try to pass off others as the “target” student. Of course, that means everybody gets less points for not ‘cooperating’ but in return, they will gain the chance to have the other classes penalized.

“Naturally, the school will take into consideration issues of privacy and even at the end of the exam, we will only release the results for each group and each student. The names of the “target” and the person who uncovers their identity will not be disclosed. It is possible to issue you a temporary ID if you wish. However, there need not be fear about having one’s identity revealed after the exam. Of course, if you do not wish to hide your name, you can proudly display the received points too” Mashima-sensei said. I understand now, there is also the possibility that the “target” can just keep silent about their identity without revealing it to anyone else in the group and secure a lot of points that way, or share their identity with the rest of the group and aim for the best outcome. For instance, even if Yukimura were the “target”, I could theoretically pass off Sotomura or Karuizawa as the “target” to the members from the other classes and mislead them that way. That means the outcome will depend on the amount of ‘goodwill’ between the members. Quite a bit of investigating and misdirection will be required.

It makes sense now to compare this to the Jinrou game. But the advantage of the “wolves” cannot be said as absolute. After all, the “villagers” also have the option to mercilessly slay their targets. In fact, there is even the possibility of infighting breaking out between the “villagers” in this case. I go over the rules again in my head silently. The school has established 12 groups based on the number of zodiac signs, allocating all the 1st year students to their respective groups consisting of a certain number of people. And each group contains a mixture of students from all classes being forced to cooperate as “friends”. The number of people might vary slightly depending on the group but roughly 14 people are placed into each group it seems. And in each group, there will only be one student marked as the “target” and said “target” will be informed that they are the target and they are the answer. So in other words, even if the “target” does not actively participate at all in the game their profit from this is also guaranteed. Therefore, if the rest of the members are unable to correctly identify the “target”, they are the ones who will be unable to answer correctly. In other words, that is the basic gist of the exam we are currently undergoing.

The four options available to the group now are:

-Share the identity of the “target” and clear the exam together as one.

-Answer incorrectly and the group loses but the “target” still receives points.

-A traitor uncovers the identity of the “target”.

-The traitor disregards the judgment of the “target”.

The only difference in those options are the amount of points awarded to each member of the group. The best outcome would be for the identity of the “target” to be shared with all and wait until the end of the exam to answer correctly to receive 500,000 points each with the “target” receiving 1 million points. But the difficulty of aiming for such an outcome is extremely high. There is a possibility of being betrayed from within. Since the members will naturally want points in reward for undertaking this examination, they will betray before they get betrayed themselves.

Then if someone else answers incorrectly only the “target” will win in that case hence the other members will also prioritise finding the “target” in their own group firstly. Most of the students will likely wish to avoid taking risks by cooperating and if they cannot be convinced to work together, will most likely turn traitor within their group. Besides, it will be very difficult to aim for the first outcome if the “target” themselves simply stays silent and avoids having their identity revealed. In either case, the “target” will be receiving 500,000 points almost with a guarantee so it might as well be considered a ticket to heaven. However, there are also downsides to being given this position. Once you have been chosen as the “target” it is up to you to keep silent on this matter or share this information with others. Depending on the circumstances, there may be harassment or jealousy targeted at you from other classes or even your own class due to the preferential treatment given to the “target”. There is also the danger of a traitor uncovering the identity of the “target” in which case they will no longer have to wait until the end of the exam to mail their answer to the faculty. That way, the test for the group ends immediately and the traitor gets 50 points for their own class while getting private points for themselves too. That means while sabotaging another class, one can act to contribute to both themselves and their own class. An ideal result for most students.

Of course that is the most disadvantageous position for the group as a whole to be in. In this test, the ability to ‘think’ is certainly a critical factor but it is understandable considering the risks associated with this exam. There are 12 groups for which 12 different outcomes will be decided. Depending on what happens during this test, a massive difference in points which cannot be bridged can easily occur. In other words, it’s possible for Class A to fall down to D and for Class D to rise to A in one stroke if all goes well in this exam. I doubt this will happen here, but the very notion that it is possible in this exam amazed me. This must also be why the rules for this exam are much stricter than the uninhabited island test. “The prohibited items and actions are also listed here thoroughly so look through them too” Mashima-sensei advises.

The forbidden actions are, for instance, stealing the mobiles of other students and use of intimidation to coerce the reveal of information such as the identity of the “target” students. Mailing the answers to the faculty by using another student’s mobile without permission will result in the greatest punishment for the student known as “expulsion”. These are all strict conditions not present in the uninhabited island test.

Furthermore, in the case any suspicious activity is uncovered, a thorough investigation into the matter will be launched by the school to ensure no violations of the rules occur. Naturally, in the case you lie about the forbidden actions you’ve taken, the possibility of “expulsion” is always there. It seems everything will be monitored by the school behind the scenes. Once the exam starts, communication between students of different groups will also be forbidden for a certain period of time. To break this rule will be to risk “expulsion”. The severity of these rules causes them to be embedded deep in my mind as I memorize them. “You will be meeting at 1pm and 8pm tomorrow for your group discussions. The room you will be meeting in has your group name written on a plate in front of it. Once you have entered that room, you will not be able to leave until the required time for discussion has passed. If an emergency occurs in that time period, contact your homeroom teacher immediately. Make sure you’ve used the toilet before the meeting time as well.” Mashima-sensei says.

“What do you mean we’ll have to stay in the room? How long will we be in there?”. “As is written in the explanation, the time for discussion will be 1 hour each twice a day. Other than your self-introduction to other members of your group, you may use that time however you like. Once one hour has passed, you may choose to remain in the room or leave at your discretion” Mashima-sensei continues. Does that mean all the contents of the discussion will be left up to the students to decide? “It’s an annoying thing but I do understand it at least…waah I’d much prefer a fun test to this” Karuizawa says. “Once the “target” has been decided, the school will not accept any request for changes to this. In addition, any actions such as copying, deletion, transferring or alteration of mails to the faculty are strictly forbidden so keep this in mind” Mashima-sensei concludes.

In other words, altering the mail of one group for the benefit of another is absolutely forbidden. If you reverse this, then it means that the mail sent to the faculty is 100% certified to have been from the actual group. “Oi, Ayanokouji. You’ve been silent throughout the whole thing, are you sure you’ve understood it properly?”. It was Yukimura who asked me that with an ambiguously worried voice from my left side. “Yeah…I got it mostly. If I have any questions I’ll make sure to ask you afterwards” I tell him. “Damn, why is my group filled with such airheads?” Yukimura grumbles. Once that is done our group was told to leave and we stand up to leave the room at the same time. “Reluctantly as it may be, we are already united as one group so it is essential we deepen our unity as a team. The “target” will be announced tomorrow but why don’t we stay and have a chat just the four of us?” Yukimura suggests to us. However, Karuizawa completely ignored his words as she took out her mobile and started walking away from us.

“Oi, Karuizawa. You listening to me?” Yukimura asks the departing Karuizawa. I was impressed she was able to ignore him like that, either she has a mind of steel or she has completely disregarded our existence. “Ah…Hirata-kun? There’s something I’d like to ask you” it seems Karuizawa wants to complain to Hirata about us. She simply walks away from us and soon disappeared. “Damn, my group really is full of airheads” Yukimura grumbles again. I didn’t bother to hide my sigh as I turned away too to return to my room. It seems our enjoyable cruise has ended and the second round of testing has begun. “This is a very troublesome thing indeed, to be teamed up with such a bitch” Sotomura starts spewing venom at Karuizawa once she left. Since Sotomura was in love with the 2D world and considers the girls in there perfect, a real 3D girl like Karuizawa would definitely repulse him. “I have to agree with you though to be honest, it seems like she’ll be pulling our legs the whole way” Yukimura says as Sotomura replies “She truly is the bitch among bitches” as if to agree with him.

“In the case that one of us is announced as the “target” tomorrow morning, let’s not tell each other straight away. There’s no telling who’s listening where. The walls have ears. Let’s report to each other in a secure location”. I agreed with that plan as well. It is indeed a large ship but there’s really no telling who has ears where. “Although Karuizawa is gone, I’d still like to discuss the plans for tomorrow with just the three of us. Please stay with me a little longer” Yukimura pleads with us. “I must decline since I will be unable to respond to your expectations. You see, from now on, I have to go back to my room to watch the new Love Love Alive anime” Sotomura says as he instantly disappears from us almost like a ninja. Yukimura dejectedly shakes his head and sighs as if he’s given up on us. Now that this is over, I’d better report this to Horikita. I’d like to know if her group received the same instructions as our (Rabbit) group and send her the details in our chat if necessary. Once I receive more information from Horikita, I can then begin to form a strategy.

Once I had returned to my room, I then struggled to sleep. I noticed a noise and looked up although I did not see my roommates Yukimura and Kouneji. However. “Sorry, did I wake you up?”. It was Hirata who said that as he organized his luggage neatly while looking at me apologetically. It looked like he was preparing to leave the room since he was putting on his uniform. “No need for apologies, I wasn’t sleeping anyways. Just thinking. I was about to go out for a drink anyways since I’m thirsty” I tell him. Of course, I did not mention this to Hirata, but I was on my way to check on Horikita’s state. “Might I accompany you? We received the mail from the school and it’s almost time anyways” Hirata says to me. The time was close to 20:30 the same time that Horikita’s mail instructed her to gather for the meeting.

“It seems a rather unusual exam is about to begin, at least that’s how I feel” Hirata tells me. It seems Hirata already knows what the exam will be about after hearing it from a previous student who received the explanation before him. “It’s Yukimura-kun. He told me in the cafeteria earlier. About your (Rabbit) group and how everyone was receiving explanations one after the other” Hirata admits. Yukimura doesn’t like Hirata very much, but he still told him because it might raise the chances of our class’s success even by a little? Either way, if you know the contents of the exam before the explanation it will be easier to gather hints from the explanation itself. In this case, by cooperating with a more popular person like Hirata it can be advantageous to you. “If there’s anything you’ve figured out, Ayanokouji-kun, please do share it with me” Hirata tells me. “I wonder about that, unlike Horikita, you or Yukimura I’m not particularly smart so I haven’t been thinking much about this exam at all…in particular” I reply to him. Of course, there was no way I would tell Hirata any more than necessary.

“I was wondering why they would go to all the trouble of separating us into groups to explain the same thing to us separately” Hirata freely tells me. Indeed as Hirata says, it would be far more efficient and less time-consuming to explain to all members of a group gathered at once then separately. The school is using an obviously inefficient method, but it’s most likely not just on a whim. There is more likely than not a reason behind this method. Perhaps the ‘thinking ability’ assessed in this exam is part of that. “I’m planning to ask sensei about it later on though” Hirata admits. I wonder if the gears will turn efficiently in this case. I wonder if Hirata, who nominally represents Class D, will be able to work efficiently with students of other classes considering all the rules we have to abide by in this exam.

The place where Hirata’s meeting would be taking place was not as crowded as when my meeting had occurred. Still there were a few students, some were sitting on the stairs near the elevator, some were playing around with their phones and some were still speculating about the explanation they were due to receive. “I…doubt these all going to be part of my group” Hirata mutters. Even a cursory inspection showed that there were more than 10 people gathered here. They all glanced at each other while playing with their phones sometimes. Unfortunately, I was not acquainted with students from other classes and could not identify most of them. “Who’s the one we just passed?”. “That’s Morimiya-kun from Class A. And the one near the elevator is Tokito-kun of Class C”. I see. I make sure to remember the names and faces of the students from the other classes. Of course, this number is still few compared to the crowd I saw earlier this evening. When I came together with Hirata to his meeting location, several male and female students were gathered in front of the door of the meeting room. And so we approached the crowd silently.

“If I’m not wrong, you’re also from the 20:40 group are you not?”. The one who asked that with a low voice was Katsuragi of Class A. A calm person with a mature attitude that is hard to believe is actually a 1st year student in high school. His physique is pretty good as well. First impressions of him might be more in the range of a college student. There are still quite a few people who favour him as leader of Class A. “If so, does this have something to do with you?” a girl with long black hair answered his inquiry without any hesitation or fear. “No. But I just wanted to talk to you all since starting from tomorrow we’ll be cooperating together as part of the same group” the girl that Katsuragi made this statement to was none other than Horikita Suzune. It seems Hirata and Horikita will be in the same group as Katsuragi as well. “You want to talk now? That’s funny. The other day you brushed us aside when we came to talk” Horikita spat back at him. On the uninhabited island test, Horikita and Katsuragi met each other just once. At the time, Katsuragi showed little to no interest in Horikita. It seemed to be different now.

“If one day you rise from Class D to Class C, remember that Class A will show no mercy before crushing you into pieces” Katsuragi warns Horikita. “That’s a very petty thing to say, after all, between A and the other classes, the point gap is far too wide to bridge” Horikita counters. “Naturally but caution is required every time a class can potentially rise to a higher position. I would say the same thing to Class B or Class C”. It almost sounded like Katsuragi was declaring war against Class D. But it couldn’t be helped, after the last test, we would obviously be recognized as a threat. Almost as if in sync, the students around Katsuragi all gathered together to glare at Horikita in an intimidating manner. An ordinary girl would burst out crying after being glared at like that, but Horikita barely showed any reaction at all to this intimidation. Suddenly, the face of the girls around us turned into expressions of adoration as a man silently passed by us.

It was a student from Class B named Kanzaki. Although his hair was rather long for a male student, he does have a straightforward personality and does not engage much in frivolous activities. I don’t know much else about Kanzaki in detail but the leader of Class B, Ichinose, seems to trust him. Having met during the island test, Kanzaki seems to be aware of Horikita’s intellect and moved towards Katsuragi as if to protect Horikita from him. “You don’t need to talk with Katsuragi, after all, the situation is what it is” Kanzaki said to Horikita. “Don’t worry, I’m used to people looking down on Class D” Horikita counters his offer to help. “I see, someone from a class like D must be used to getting this treatment, I must admit I shared the same view towards your class as well. But the incident that happened on the island made me revise my view towards your class” Katsuragi made that remark while swiping some dust off his clothes. “But just because you got lucky and won once, I’d like you to not get arrogant and think we’re equals now” Katsuragi follows up. “…What is that supposed to mean?” Horikita asks him in response.

“What I’m trying to say is that there is a time in everyone’s lives when they get lucky once and manage to close the gap a bit. But don’t get in over your head just because of this one lucky incident. The difference between our class points is still a tremendous one” Katsuragi tells her. I see, it seems he’s saying the results of one test won’t affect the standing of the classes all that much. Of course, Horikita surely knows that as well. Since none of this was her accomplishment in the first place, Horikita was neither happy nor dismayed by his words. But it is vital that the credit goes to her in order to continue hiding my existence. “We’ve just started our high school life, the difference may be large, but do not forget that it is the school that arbitrarily decided who went to which class and we were distributed to those classes accordingly” Kanzaki interjected in a dignified manner. “Hirata, it looks like you’re part of a rather troublesome group” I told him. “It was inevitable the moment we were grouped with Katsuragi-kun and Kanzaki-kun, I think”. “No…that’s not it” I muttered. “Hmm?”.

“Kukuku. It looks like there are quite a lot of weaklings gathered here, let me have some fun here”. It was Ryuuen who said that. “Ryuuen, huh?”. Katsuragi lost his previously calm expression and even Kanzaki’s expression changed to an alert one. “Have you also been allocated to this room? Or did you just happen to be walking by?”. “Unfortunately I’m with you” Ryuuen instantly replies to that question while three other students obediently walk behind him.

He almost resembled Katsuragi in that regard but the context was different. It almost seemed like a situation with a king and his servants. The students behind Ryuuen had terrified expressions on their faces and moved quietly with obedient movements. “How about you put on a show for me? Beauty and the Beast could be the title” Ryuuen said as he looked at Horikita and Katsuragi respectively. Now having realized the obvious provocation, Katsuragi returns to his normal, calm self. “I originally thought our group would have students with high academic ability but after seeing you and your lackeys I can see this claerly isn’t going to be the case” Katsuragi fires back. “Academic ability? What a bunch of nonsense, having academic ability won’t mean anything” Ryuuen retorts.

“Hearing that from you is a shame, academic ability is the most important factor determining your future success in life and your ability to impact the future. It is even said that Japan is built on a society of academics” Katsuragi chides Ryuuen for his earlier remark but it doesn’t seem to have fazed Ryuuen at all. I thought to myself that saying something like that to an idiot like Ryuuen would be ineffective. Behind him, his three lackeys obediently nod their heads at their leader’s words. “I won’t forget this insult”. “Huh? Insult? I don’t recall having done anything like that, care to refresh my memory?” Ryuuen mocks Katsuragi. “It doesn’t matter, since we’re in the same group we should have the opportunity to talk at length later” Katsuragi ends the conversation seeing how the explanation for their group was almost about to begin. “Hmm? Hirata-kun? And even Ayanokouji-kun? What are you guys doing here?”. It was Kushida who called out to us as she approached the group with a strange expression on her face.

“Could it be that Kushida-san is also in the 20:40 group?” Hirata asks her. “Yeah. I don’t understand what’s going on but I was told to come here at this hour in the mail…and wow…it seems like an amazing group of people have gathered here” Kushida says as she walked around greeting the gathered students here individually. “Are you ok, Hirata? It looks like it’s shaping up to be a hard one” I ask Hirata. “Its ok, I don’t mind, no matter who’s in my group I’ll just have to do my best” Hirata as usual answered in a very positive way. Kushida may not know the circumstances but Hirata is a smart guy. Since I had already received the explanation for this exam earlier, looking at the group of people gathered here I could more or less understand what will be happening. “Ummm…in any case it looks like something difficult’s about to start?” Kushida asks. “Yeah it seems like it, you’d better prepare yourself for it” I tell her. “Ahaha…like Hirata-kun said, I’ll just also have to do my best here. Also, I never got the chance to talk much with Katsuragi-kun or Ryuuen-kun, I’d like to be friends with the two of them too” Kushida says towards Katsuragi and Ryuuen.

“I’m not going to stay here for this stupid conversation, I’ll be going ahead. It’s almost time” Horikita simply shook her head and turned her back to us but not before looking coldly at Ryuuen and his group. I’d like to praise Horikita on this. People with a weak will tend to lower their heads and ingratiate themselves into the group and treat themselves as the lower one in the hierarchy. Horikita, on the other hand, without missing a beat, coldly rejected them all and remained the way she always has been. “It looks like I shouldn’t have even bothered worrying” I muttered. Of course, I’m not sure how long she can keep up that attitude with the members in her group but it shouldn’t be long. That’s my intuition. “Good luck then” I threw a sympathetic good luck wish in Hirata’s direction and decided to leave the scene.