The academic situation in the class isn't promising.
Byakugan and Shiina could get an A in academics.
There might be 2-3 more students in the B range.
But after that, there's nothing else, most of the class would be in C or D range. Even Ryuen might only have a C- grade.
Although Sakagami-sensei made an effort and volunteered to give students extra lessons,
Byakugan thought: Is this really the solution? The school must know that the original C and D classes were filled with struggling students, and even Ichinose's class can't guarantee a stable average score of 70. So, are these rewards in the written exam simply a special treatment for Class A students?
"-sensei." Byakugan thought for a moment, raising his left hand.
"You may speak," Sakagami glanced over.
"Does every special exam require students to think carefully?" Byakugan asked.
Sakagami-sensei looked over, seemingly not understanding what Byakugan meant.
Byakugan continued.
"I mean, does every special exam, like last month's, require people to think and adapt flexibly?" Byakugan asked.
"Are you considering that point?" Sakagami-sensei, who had been holding the chalk with his left hand, completely put it down.
"Since the first month has already passed, you should have noticed what makes this school special," said Sakagami-sensei.
"Normally, just getting into this school is already a big achievement."
"Every month, the school will set up a special exam for you. While some exams might be aimed at specific skills, most of them still give you some room to think and come up with a plan."
"Otherwise,"
"If failing a written test meant automatic expulsion, a lot of you would probably get kicked out in your first year."
"That's not something we want to happen."
"And not just this time — for all the exams in the future, you should always think things through carefully."
"The school knows how each class is doing, but it won't go so far as to crush anyone. What you need to do is understand your class's situation and figure out the best way to deal with it," Sakagami-sensei said.
At first, it was just Shirogane who asked the question, but now, all the students started thinking about it too.
Still, since it was the former Class C, a lot of students quickly gave up thinking once they found it troublesome.
But Ryuen seemed to catch on to something.
Because from the way Sakagami-sensei said it, it sounded like there might be different ways to handle future exams too.
Taking the exam seriously was one way, but maybe there could be other ways too.
Like, was it possible to cut corners somehow?
"Of course,"
Sakagami-sensei glanced at Ryuen and added, "But there's one thing you must remember. Cheating in any exam is absolutely not allowed. If you are caught cheating during the exams between the 25th and 26th, you'll be expelled immediately."
"This rule also applies to all future written exams."
"If you're going to take the exam, don't cheat."
"So make sure you remember this clearly," Sakagami-sensei said.
"..." Shirogane sat back down.
Based on what Sakagami-sensei said, it seemed like the school really wanted to help all students grow. Even though only Class A could win the final prize, the school wasn't planning to abandon the other classes — it was still working to develop everyone.
And if the goal was to develop students, then that meant the school would guide them.
While the school gave some power to the student council, the design of the exams and the deeper goals behind them were all set by the school itself — in other words, this was part of their guidance.
From the start, whether it was the point system, class rankings, ways to earn living expenses, or the ban on part-time jobs, it was all designed to maintain the school's system.
They wanted the students to get serious about competing between classes and grow stronger through that competition.
If you could just do the bare minimum and get rewarded, it would seem way too easy.
That's why the school seemed to be pushing students to think more creatively, just like Sakagami-sensei said.
The school clearly understood the situation in every class.
If they just set exams based on Class A's standards, the other classes wouldn't stand a chance, so the school allowed different ways to approach the exams after thinking carefully.
Otherwise, how could there even be real competition? If the written exam simply expelled everyone who scored below 50 points, then Ryuen's class and Class D might lose half their students right away.
So the school still gave them a chance.
It was just like the behavior test right after enrollment.
Once you realized how the school worked, you could handle things more flexibly during the behavior checks. And even though the school must have known that not every student in Ryuen's class was following the rules on their own, it still judged them by the usual standards.
That's how Ryuen's class managed to hold onto 735 points, good enough to challenge Class A.
Looking at it from this angle, it seems there might be other ways to pass the written exam.
"I've said everything I could, so I'll leave the rest to you," Sakagami-sensei said, and the students were given some free time.
Ding ding.
Shirakinu felt his phone vibrate.
It was a message.
[I've handed over the authority in the class to Katsuragi-kun.]
It was from an unknown number.
However, Shirakinu had memorized the information about Class A and quickly recognized that this was likely Sakayanagi's number.
Only Sakayanagi would say something like this.
Her message sounded like she was directly giving power to Katsuragi. This meant that Class A, which had been split, was now temporarily unified as a whole.
But why was this message being sent to him?
Was this a sign of dissatisfaction? Was she trying to use a divide-and-conquer tactic on him?
To prove her innocence and to show that she wanted to weaken Class A's strength, she might have fully handed over power, allowing the divided class to merge and thus strengthen itself.
It was a really clever counterattack.
"..."
But honestly, Shirakinu had considered the idea of genuinely inviting her.
Sakayanagi was strong, but her personality was harsh, and it seemed like she wasn't really interested in the good position she had in Class A.
Then she wanted to go and challenge the boss of Class D or something.
Overall, it was still very risky.
But speaking of Class D...
"You mean, will Ayanokouji-kun from Class D take action in this exam?" Shirakinu started typing a message.
[Ah, it seems like you've figured it out. The person I want you to defeat is indeed Ayanokouji Kiyotaka from Class D, a 1st-year student.]
Sakayanagi's reply came quickly.
Class D had two geniuses: Kouenji Rokusuke and the hidden Ayanokouji.
So, people usually assumed the boss was Kouenji, but now, Shirakinu could identify that the real threat was the seemingly ordinary Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.
Actually, it wasn't quite like that.
Although Shirakinu had met Ayanokouji, they hadn't interacted directly, and the information he had about him came from his own observation system.
So, it was indirect help.
[Last month, Ayanokouji didn't make a move, and as a result, Class D's evaluation score dropped to zero. Whether he will take action this month is still uncertain.]
Sakayanagi continued sending messages.
[Also, I'm really free now, thanks to Shirakinu-san.]
The second half of the message seemed to be a complaint.
If it wasn't for what Shirakinu had said in the gym, maybe she would have had other things to do by now, and wouldn't have had to give up her authority.
Sakayanagi's message seemed to express this.
But Shirakinu wasn't fooled, because if Sakayanagi really cared so much about her class, there shouldn't have been two factions in the first place.
So the other party was just playing around. The so-called delegation of authority was likely something she had planned from the start.
So, Shirogane wouldn't take the blame for this.
"Sakayanagi, I'm saying if..." Shirogane was also typing out a message. "If I accept your terms, could you promise me something in return?"
Shirogane continued sending the message.
[...]
On the other side, Sakayanagi quickly replied, but with only an ellipsis.
That meant she was probably displeased with his attempt to make demands in return, right?
After all…
Based on the information from the narrator system, Ayanokouji was a genius trained by a special institution.
To defeat Ayanokouji, it might not actually require Shirogane's help.
For example…
There was already a genius in Class D—Kouenji Rokusuke. Wasn't he a ready-made genius?
So, Sakayanagi actually had other options.
And the 20 million points were a temptation that not everyone could resist.
But...
"Ding ding!"
At that moment, Shirogane's phone suddenly vibrated. This was different from just receiving a message.
Because…
Sakayanagi had called directly.
Shiina, sitting in front of him, had already noticed the sound and looked over.
"..." Shirogane.
Shirogane immediately hung up the call from Sakayanagi Arisu and quickly typed out a message.
"It's still our class meeting."
[...Our Class A is already done with class.]
Class is over?
In other words, although it was still within the scope of the class meeting, Class A had likely finished discussing the rules for the upcoming special exam.