Published at 12th of January 2022 12:40 pm

Volume 16, Chapter 3: Intro - Two Teachers, The Fated Special Exam

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

The morning after I was entrusted with managing the maid cafe(?).

(Note: The (?) is there in the raws)

Seeing Chabashira-sensei enter the room with a hardened expression, most students noticed that something was wrong right away.

But they probably didn’t think of the phrase “Special Exam” that would usually appear in their minds. The prime reason for that is likely because they were convinced that the next test would be the sports festival. And they were waiting for the cultural festival after that.

“Before the sports festival in October, you will be facing a new special exam.”

A little commotion passed through the students. At this time last year, there was no other special exam. We were already preparing for the school festival. But this year would be different.

“Even though we’ve finally gotten through that uninhabited island test, we’re really gonna have another special exam…”

Just as usual, Ike let his dissatisfaction verbally leak out before anyone else did.

From his perspective, he had only narrowly avoided expulsion in the uninhabited island test, and only recently did he start going out with Shinohara. He will likely have a difficult time.

No matter how much you deepen your relationships or how close you get with others, you can always be expelled at the drop of a hat depending on special exams.

Without a doubt, the students who have a low overall rating according to the OAA face that danger the most.

“Hmm, I wanted this. Before we stomp the sports festival, let’s have a little test, why don’t we.”

Having absolute confidence in his athleticism, Sudou bumped his fists together.

“Don’t get carried away.”

“…Yeah.”

Being warned on the spot by Horikita, Sudou shut his mouth with a hint of dejection.

What an awfully nice acquaintanceship… no, friendship they’re cultivating.

“Honestly speaking, last year there weren’t many tests in this time period. There were practically no special tests being carried out for the first and third years after all.”

“In other words, only us second years will have a special exam before the sports festival?”

Sudou leaned forward in his chair and asked.

Chabashira nodded without any sort of denial.

“It’s only because you second years are excellent enough for even the school to evaluate you as such.”

“Eeeh? Another test because of our evaluation… isn’t that strange?”

“Special tests indeed carry the risks you guys are so wary of. You can lose your class points or private points, and occasionally some people are expelled. But looking at it the other way, you get more opportunities to enhance your school lives. The more special tests are held, the more chances you get to ascend to A-class, which is more important than anything else.”

As she says, if we want to save class points, it would be extremely hard to do so through everyday conduct. It’s largely implied that if anything, having periods without special tests will prevent you from gaining a certain extent of class points. Whether it be in the uninhabited island or anywhere else, special tests bring opportunities to rise to a higher class.

“Blessings and misfortune are two sides of the same coin. It’s only because there is a risk that there is a merit, right?”

Horikita quietly listened and asked Chabashira from a close position.

“That’s right.”

“There’s nothing to be afraid of. We’re definitely closing in on A-Class now. This just means that a chance to break out of the three-way deadlock below them has already come.’

Every single chance is to our benefit. That was the collective consciousness of all the students who aimed for the top.

“That is true… and it’s not as if the test will get cancelled if we complain.”

Towards Horikita’s words, Satou and a few other students showed signs of agreement.

Though she was still imperfect, the growth of Horikita, who would probably act as our pillar, seemed to be showing good results with our classmates. I think that Chabashira is also happy deep inside, but her face doesn’t show it at all. She never was the type to smile, but she seems even worse now.

“This time, you will challenge what’s called the Unanimity Special Exam.”

As usual, the monitor lights up as she starts to explain.

“This special exam is extremely simple. Because of that, I will answer your questions as needed. It will start tomorrow. I believe you can guess the contents just from the name. From the given choices, you will be repeatedly voting as a class until you reach unanimous decisions.”

“Tomorrow? …That’s awfully quick.”

We don’t have much time to prepare. Of course, for the sake of equality there’s no one with advantages or disadvantages, but the class that had calmed down once again began to make noise.

“I just said it, but this special test is extremely simple. The school believes that there is no need to give you time and no problems in carrying out tomorrow.”

Voting as a class until we reach a unanimous decision.

If that’s all we’re told, then the contents are indeed not complicated.

“In other words, we will not be fighting with other classes this time?”

As if it were the most important thing, Yousuke inquires about that point right away.

“That’s right. This is a special exam that will only be held within each individual class, so there will be no competition between classes. On the day itself, the school will offer you 5 『motions.』 Note that the contents of these motions will be the same throughout all classes.”

If the contents of the motions were different for every class then the difficulty level would also be different, so of course that’s the case.

“It’s sudden, but in order to deepen your understanding I will give an example.”

Example ・ lose 5 class points but all class members gain 10,000 private points

Choices Support Oppose

The motion reflected in the monitor. Its contents were as she said, simple and easy to understand.

“Hmmn? What’s this? Er… We’ll lose 5 class points, but everyone gains 10,000 private points… This is a motion? Is this good? Bad?”

It’s understandable that various doubts would come to mind.

Although it’s just an example, all the other choices were even more troubling.

Shinohara sounded her voice, put down her finger and made to calculate the advantages and disadvantages within her mind.

Every one class point gives 100 class points.

Which means that the value of 5 class points would be 500 class points.

If you think about it for just a moment, the latter choice to gain private points is overwhelmingly better.

However, class points hold long-lasting value on their own.

Although 5 class points wouldn’t give more than 500 private points per month, if you calculate in terms of one long year, a measly 5 class points are worth 6000 private points. For the time we have left until graduation, there will be 18 more times we gain private points. So they could be said to have the value of 9000 private points.

Gain 10,000 private points right away, or gain 9000 points with the passing of time until graduation. Taking into consideration only the private points, the former is slightly advantageous.

But, it’s not that simple.

Hypothetically, if we lose 5 points here, then if at the end, we lose to A-class by that margin, then this would be the worst choice. We would look back on it as such.

Of course, the probability for 5 points to determine that is likely not that high. If that’s true, then getting 10,000 points in advance may very well be advantageous.

No matter which view is taken, each choice has its merits and demerits.

“For these motions, the choice with 39 names anonymously written will be chosen. A picture is worth a thousand words. Let’s try it. Many of you likely have your doubts, but first, before you discuss among yourselves let’s try doing it. Cast your votes of support or oppose on this tablet.”

With Chabashira-sensei’s operation, all the students in the class including me had their tablet screens changed.

The tablets displayed the contents of the motions, and we could choose to agree or disagree. It was a different special test unlike anything we’d ever had before. For now I’ll try to think about it straightforward.

Private points don’t directly affect class points.

The obvious merit if I press it is that all of my classmates will receive 10,000 points. But if I do that then although only 5, our class would lose 5 points.

In this case, there is a need to consider how humans think in essence.

Not whether it is good to gain 10,000 private points, or whether it is better to not lose 5 class points, but the oposite. Whether they will come to regret this decision or not.

I lightly tapped 『Support』 and made to look at the results. Because I judged that we wouldn’t unanimously agree on the first try.

As if we had all finished before long, Chabashira-sensei raises her head from her tablet.

“Right. Because all of you have finished voting, I would like to show the results right away.”

With that, the monitor displayed the results.

1st Vote Result 3 in Agreement 36 in Opposition

I understood that there would be more opposition, but the difference was larger than I had imagined.

“W, wait a second. We get more out of 10,000 points than 5 small class points don’t we? Did I make a mistake in my calculating? Why are there so many against it?”

Ike casted a vote in support, looked at his classmates around him and asked in confusion.

“Indeed, if you only think about the quantity of private points then it would be better to take the 10,000 points. But class points are absolutely necessary in order to reach A-Class. If the difference is no more than 1000 points, then there is no reason to deliberately decrease our precious class points.”

Horikita likely voted against it. She explained why in a logical manner.

“In the worst case scenario, if those 5 points decided the match, then we wouldn’t be able to stop regretting it.”

Just as I thought, many students were of course worried about the risk of the 『worst case scenario.』 Likely nobody is forgetting that the other 3 classes will face the same motions. If the other 3 classes all unanimously refused this choice, then only we would be set back. Of course, it would be different if we were able to make the most out of those 10,000 private points.

“Everyone likely has their own thoughts but listen. There is an overwhelming difference with 36 naysayers, but since it is not unanimous this vote will repeat. In the real thing, there will be a time limit of 10 minutes until the next vote. In that time discuss as you like, stand up from your seats from time to time, and exchange ideas. But for now this will be omitted. Let’s start another vote.”

The object of this test is to reach unanimity.

Without unanimity, the vote will become meaningless, and we would get caught in a 10-minute interval.

There’s probably no mistake that this time limit is set with the structure of this special exam in mind.

If the opposition continues, we could run out of time.

If that happens then without thinking deeply about it, people will tend to cast their votes into oppose.

If they do then they will be able to reach unanimity.

That’s exactly why I purposefully voted 『Support』 for the second vote.

Because I thought that by doing that, my classmates would gain a better understanding of this special exam.

2nd Vote Result 2 in Agreement 37 in Opposition

“O, oi oi, there’s someone who voted support even after hearing that just now?”

“I’m sorry, that’s me Sudou-kun. I deliberately avoided reaching a unanimous vote. It looks like there is someone else who somehow thought the same thing… right?”

They didn’t turn here, but they could have pointed at me.

“These are the results of the second vote. Almost everyone opposed, but there are still two people who supported. In this case, 10 more minutes will be given and the vote will reopen. in this manner, the vote will repeat. Drawing out a unanimous decision of 39 supporting or 39 opposed will be the test. It goes without saying that everyone picking a choice means that everyone approves of it in practice. In this case, had there been 39 supporting, you would have all gained 10,000 private points but lost 5 class points. On the other hand, had there been 39 opposed then the motion would have become ineffectual, and nothing would come out of it at all.”

Which means that this motion would end without anyone gaining or losing any points.

“You haven’t reached unanimity, but in the interests of time we will proceed to the next example.”

Example ・ Give one person in the class 1,000,000 points

(In the event of unanimous support, another vote will be held to decide the student who will receive the points)

Support Oppose

“This is an example, but in the real test, whispering before the first vote will be prohibited. In other words, you must simply face the motion and vote.”

It’s because discussions about the motion are to come before the second vote, huh.

1st vote result 39 in Agreement 0 in Opposition

An obvious result was displayed. Even considering that among 39 people, nobody but one would receive points, the fact remains that there is almost no reason to say no. It would be difficult to have everyone vote no.

“In the test, in the case that a vote to select a specific individual appears, there will be a vote to first determine unanimous support or opposition like this example. If it is refused then when it is refused the motion will end, but if it is unanimously supported then instead of ending, the motion will go one step forward. Within the interval, discuss which 『someone』 you will recommend. On your tablets, all your classmates’ names will be displayed except your own.”

The tablet’s screen changed forcefully, and names aside of our were lined up.

However, instead of being arranged alphabetically, both boys and girls were arranged in disorder.

“In order to thoroughly protect anonymity, the positions of your names are changed every vote. These, as well as the support and oppose choices are placed randomly. It is to prevent peeking at nearby students to surmise their vote from the position of their finger.”

After telling us that reading others before the vote was completely impossible, she continued to explain the rules.

“Depending on your goals, each person can vote again at any time they wish. Just tap the student you wish to recommend. If this is done within the interval, then the changes will be registered. A majority within 10 minutes… in the case of this class, the student who gathers at least 20 votes will be chosen. Hypothetically, let’s say that Ike was recommended by many people.”

“Eh, I was!? Yay!”

“The person in question, Ike, will temporarily lose his right to vote, and the other 38 people will hold another vote.”

Of course, unanimity should come after having a majority of the students agree. That’s how recommendations work.

The motion advances by one step, another vote opens for us, and we vote.

Motion ・ Give Ike Kanji 1,000,000 private points

Support Oppose

2nd vote results 0 in Agreement 38 in Opposition

“Eeeh!? Wh, why didn’t anyone support!?”

“I mean, of course we normally wouldn’t give you 1,000,000 points.”

Sudou said what everyone in the class was thinking.

“In the case that Ike is unanimously opposed, it will be decided that 『Ike will not be given any points.』 He will be excluded from the list of candidates, but the destination of those 1,000,000 points will stay undecided. Thus the remaining 38 students will continue to choose. However, should you fail to reach unanimity within the given time limit, the test will be failed. Then those 1,000,000 points will not be given to anyone, so be careful.”

“Eh!? I lost all my chances to get it because of this!?”

“That’s right. Though if even one person supported then you wouldn’t have been erased from the list. You can again ask for cooperation from those who are still candidates. The first person to be decided as a candidate will accept the candidacy. However, each motion will only acknowledge up to one candidate.”

“Then, what happens if we don’t reach a majority consensus to decide a candidate within 10 minutes? I think there will be cases like that.”

“In those cases, a vote will be held for a random person within the class.”

Neither time nor the motion would wait for us. It looks like they’d force another vote.

“If we’re to pick an individual then we might end up wasting time.”

That’s right. Because everyone will have more choices to choose from.

Though it’s unthinkable that it would be resolved smoothly with a random choice.

“Everyone, focus. This special exam might be harder than expected…”

It’s not as if we’d definitely be able to settle the motions as long as we can discuss.

There’s an ample probability that we will be faced with choices that cannot be compromised.

No, if we weren’t then this would have no meaning as a special exam.

“Lastly, I will give just one more example. Try doing it as you actually would until the end.”

Example ・ A new facility will be established in Keyaki Mall. Which of these do you wish for?

(The item with most votes across the 4 classes will be adopted)

Restaurant General Goods Shop Amusement Facility Medical Facility

Unlike all the examples until now, instead of support or oppose the motion now has 4 choices.

I thought that there would only be yes or no motions, but it seems that’s not the case.

It looks like the choice here is supposed to be executed in actuality. Hypothetically if this weren’t an example, then I wonder if it the establishment would actually be created.

“If the motions are agreed upon, then they will be executed in reality. But motions which affect everybody will be treated differently. In this example, a unanimous choice from each class will be treated as only one vote. Even if this class unanimously voted for a restaurant, if the other three classes vote for an entertainment facility, then the entertainment facility with three votes will be established.”

Probably everyone understands what Chabashira-sensei is saying. In motions that hold significant influence, the choice of a single class can go either way. Regardless, it seems that we should still derive a unanimous vote through careful discussion.

Since we can’t speak before the first vote, I select using my intuition.

1st vote results Restaurant 20 General Goods Shop 4 Entertainment Facility 15 Medical Facility 0

“It wasn’t unanimous, so the 10-minute interval starts now.”

A 10-minute countdown started on the monitor behind the teacher’s podium. Once the time runs out, we will be forced to hold the next vote.

The students stood up from their seats at their own discretion and spoke to each other with big and small voices. They exchanged viewpoints as they liked. I watched my surroundings and waited for time to pass. Without anyone in particular giving orders, and with everyone chatting on their own, 10 minutes passed.

“Right before the interval ends you are to return to your seats and prepare to vote. You are granted 60 seconds to cast your votes. If everyone finishes voting early, the results will be displayed before the time limit is reached.”

Unlike the compulsory 10-minute time interval, it seemed that the voting time itself can be shortened depending on what happens.

“Those who are not finished voting after 60 seconds will not be overlooked. They will be given a penalty for going overtime. The total time given to each person to vote for this test is 90 seconds. Students who allow these 90 seconds to run out before the 5 motions are cleared will be expelled.”

This is the school’s way of making it absolutely certain that the students will vote. Even if anyone is obstinate about not wanting to vote, they will be expelled.

Even if they were delayed in voting everytime, if they don’t end the vote with 58 or 59 seconds left then they would lose precious time, so there probably won’t be any students who would do that on purpose.

Then came the results of the second vote.

2nd vote results Restaurant 23 General Goods Shop 2 Entertainment Facility 14 Medical Facility 0

It’s not as if we were able to settle our views, so it ended with results similar to the first time.

As long as the motions weren’t too blatant, reaching unanimity on the first vote wouldn’t be simple.

And as long as we are able to reach a consensus in opinion, it wouldn’t be so difficult to gather 39 votes into one item.

But that will only happen if all the motions will be within expectations.

Depending on the contents, some people may want to discuss more.

“With this, the examples are finished, but you should understand the flow. The object of this special test is to achieve unanimous votes on 5 motions within 5 hours. If you are not able to do so, then an extremely heavy penalty will be administered to you. You will lose 300 class points.”

“Th, Three-hundred!?”

So it’s a special test that absolutely demands for us to clear it.

“However, if you can clear it within the given time, you can receive 50 class points.”

The penalty and reward can be seen as unbalanced, but considering the difficulty of the test it’s reasonable huh.

“There’s no need to panic. We’re not competing with anyone here, we only need to unite. As long as there’s still time remaining, we can redo the votes as many times as we want in intervals.”

“You’ve more or less seen the outline of this test right. I will display the summary of the rules. Those who think it’s necessary to preserve may capture it with their screens.”

Unanimity Special Exam Outline

Rules

・ The whole class must vote for one of the choices for the motions prepared by the school.

(Total motions: 5 ・ Maximum choices: 4)

・ As long as any motions are not unanimously voted upon, the same motion will repeat.

・ In case time runs out in the middle of a motion, the conditions of the motion will not be acknowledged at all.

・ The motions unanimously supported will be put into practice regardless of the outcome of the special exam.

・ If all motions are cleared, 50 class points will be given.

・ In case a class fails to complete all the motions within 5 hours, they will lose 300 class points.

Special Exam Procedure

① A motion will be offered and the 1st vote (within 60 seconds) will be held

② If the vote is unanimous, proceed to the next motion and return to ①. If not, then proceed to ③.

③ The 10-minute interval (Students are free to move and discuss freely within their classroom)

④ 60 seconds to vote (students cannot discuss and can only vote)

(Students who do not finish voting within 60 seconds will be given an accumulative penalty)

(In case the accumulative penalty surpasses 90 seconds, the student will be expelled)

⑤ The results of the vote will be displayed. If it is unanimous, proceed to the next motion and return to ①. If it is not unanimous, then return to ③.

This will repeat until the 5 motions will be cleared and the special exam finished. There is a penalty just in case we fail. Losing 300 class points here will likely be the same as losing our ticket to A-Class. That’s no exaggeration.

If all the other classes clear it, then this alone will create a gap of 350 points.

You can talk as much as you like, but sure enough the bottleneck would probably be knowing who voted for what under the guise of total anonymity.

Even if you vote in support, you can insist that you voted in opposition.

“Even us teachers are not aware of what kinds of motions will be given to you. Some of you are probably optimistic, but I warn you that this is nothing to be negligient about. In this special exam, doing things like extorting a promise out of other students to vote for a specific choice is strictly forbidden. Also, aside from that, exchanging money in order to sway others’ votes is out of the question. This does not only apply to other classes but to each individual class as well.”

Rigging a vote with force isn’t allowed huh.

Hypothetically, if a promise is made to only vote for the first choice or something, just because of the person who made that promise, the test would no longer be valid after all.

Just from that, you could deal a brutal blow on other classes.

“The school will monitor these rules thoroughly. If someone outside the class is proved to be involved in having someone within the class arbitrarily continue picking one choice, then that person along with their collaborator are both liable to be expelled. Resolve yourselves. Again, if someone attempts to strike an unjust offer, I promise to exert myself in order to notify the school right away.”

Which means that if time runs out on this special exam before it is cleared, then the school will definitely conduct an investigation.

Even if they only mention it, they would likely suffer a serious penalty. Probably even Ryuuen wouldn’t do something in broad daylight.

Looks like until the special exam starts, it’d be best to avoid associating with other classes.

“Further, for this special exam the 『protection point』 will temporarily become obsolete. Since if only a single student will be protected in the test itself, it would no longer be fair. If someone holding a protection point somehow gets an expulsion penalty, they would no longer be able to spend their protection point to avoid expulsion. However, if the individual or their collective class pays 20,000,000 private points, then they can evade expulsion.”

In this class, there is currently no such amount of private points.

Which means that a student who will be expelled would definitely withdraw from the school.

Even the private point, which can nullify expulsion for one time, occasionally has its huh.

If this were a special test that pitted classes against each other, then the nullification of this protection point could have lead to dissatisfaction. But this time it’s only a problem for the concerned class.

In that sense, the adoption of this special rule is understandable huh.

He wouldn’t be able to help if he was discontent about this, but Kouenji didn’t seem to mind at all.

“Furthermore, mobile phones and other telecommunication equipment will be collected for this special exam. It’s so that an unwritten rule would be established with the disallowment of external contact. Just in case, if you are proven to be hiding it – there’s no need to explain further is there?”

Like the other rules that must be kept, expulsion is involved.

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