SEVERAL DAYS HAD PASSED already since the opening ceremony ended.
The weekend came and went, and it was now Monday. A peaceful life here at
school. A regular routine that repeated itself over and over. The most
momentous change at the start of this new year was that the blackboards were
now digital and all our textbooks had been replaced with tablets. Last week,
we'd looked down at our hands, which held the new tablet devices that had
just been handed out to us.
The fact that the textbooks we were using had all been replaced by
tablets illustrated just how remarkable the spread ofe-books was. Each
student was given their own tablet, and newly installed high-speed charging
devices were in the back of the classrooms. We were also provided with
portable battery packs as well, in the unlikely event that our tablets died in
the middle of class. We were forbidden to bring the tablets themselves back
to the dorms, but we were allowed to transfer any data we needed over the
school's network, to access it from our rooms.
The annoyingly high number of textbooks we needed to lug around
were now all stored neatly inside this twelve-inch tablet, as data. Not only did
this mean we could frecly work with graphics and photos, but the tablets were also an effective response to globalization, allowing us to openly communicate back and forth with people from other countries, such as in English class. Considering that this school was overscen by the government, it seemed they were lagging somewhat behind in implementing these changes.
However, it remaincd unclear for now whether or not these changes
were necessarily the correct decision. I supposed we'd understand their
impact better after seeing how these children grew, and how they integrated
into society in the future.
The scope of our studies as second-year students would be more dificult than in our first year, of course. I didn't know exactly how this school compared to other high schools in that regard, but it was safe to
assume it was above average, at the very least. I wondered how much students like Sudou and Ike would be able to keep up with their studies on their own. If we wanted to make sure not a single student got expelled, it might be more essential than ever for us to support each other.
At any rate, while the biggest change came in the form of the digitization of our study materials, there were a number of other things to note. IfI had to mention one, it would be the ability to change seats, by way
of using your Private Points to secure the spot that you want.
I moved from my old spot near the window toward a seat on the
opposite side of the classroom, in the back by the hallway. Apparently, the
seats near the hallway were generally unpopular because of all the people
coming and coming, but it didn't really me all that much. Also, while
I'd been occasionally passing new students more and more often of late, I
obviously still hadn't actually talked to any of them yet, not being involved in
any club activities. As a result, nothing about my personal situation had rcally
changed.
I supposed that wasn't so strange, considering that when I was a first-
year, the first time I actually had a proper conversation with a senior student
was for a special exam, since that student had access to old test materials. At
any rate, the first few days of the new school year had been quict.
"Is everyone present?" asked our homeroom instructor Chabashira, striding into the classroom at almost the exact moment the bell rang.
As our morning homeroom bcgan, she stood at the teacher's podium
with a serious expression on her face. That, coupled with the fact that we
didn't have any classes for first and second period today, made me predict
something was going to happen. Apparently, this brief moment of peace was
about to come to an end.
"Sensei, is there a special exam?" asked Ike, before our homeroom instructor made her announcement.
It sounded like he was asking out of a sense of cager restlessness, rather than because he was messing around. And Chabashira understood that, which was why she didn't seem to object to him asking. In the past, every time a special exam was announced, most of the students understandably felt
anxious. But now those special exams were unavoidable obstacles we had to overcome on our path to the top. And our class was getting ready to face those challenges.
"I'm sure you're worried about that, but before we get into that discussion, there's something I'd like for you to do. Something that will be particularly important to how you lead your lives here at this school in the future," said Chabashira.
She took out her cell phone, continuing to speak while showing it to us.
"Please take out your phones and place them on your desk, everyone. If
anyone has forgotten their phone, I ask that you go and retrieve it immediately... But it seems as though no one has forgotten their phone," said Chabashira.
Cell phones were essential everyday items. You might even say they
were the most important objects of all, being something you kept on you at
all times.
Before long, Chabashira had verified that thirty-nine phones had been placed out on the desks. She resumed speaking once more.
"First, I'd like you all to go to the school's official website and install a new application. It should be available for download at this time. Though the official name for the app is Overall Ability,' it will just show up as OAA'
on your phone after you've installed it," explained Chabashira.
A live-action demonstration video with text captions popped up on the
blackboard screen and started to play. I supposed this was one of the
conveniences now afforded to us, thanks to the digitization of our classroom.
After following along with what Chabashira told us and what the instructions
on the screen showed, I installed the app on my phone. It crcated an icon that
had both the acronym "OAA" on it as well as what looked like an illustration
of the school.
"After you've finished installing the app, please put down your phones. Plcase raise your hand if there's something you're having trouble understanding.
The process was quite simple. Everyone was used to handling a phone, so no one struggled with this, and things proceeded smoothly.
"You Class D students aren't the only ones being asked to install this app. Right now, everyone in school, across every grade level, is being asked to do so. This app is truly remarkable. It will certainly benefit the students of the Advanced Nurturing High School in a multitude of ways in the days to
come. But 'seeing is believing,' as they say, so please boot up the app," said
Chabashira.
I tapped the icon and launched the app. When I did so, my phone's
camera automatically came on.
"By scanning your student ID with your camera, the initial setup will be completed automatically," explained Chabashira.
Following her instructions, I held my student ID card out in front of the camera. It scanned the information on it, like my profile photo and student ID number, then continued the login process.
"Now, you should all have successfully created your own individual accounts. Moving forward, you won't need to log in anymore. But because your account is tied to your phone, we do ask that you take extra care not to lose it.
After finishing the login process, several diferent options were
displayed.
"This app holds personal data for the entire school. For example, if you
select Second-Year Class D, your names will be displayed, in standard order.
Try it out," said Chabashira.
Sure enough, profile pictures and full names for all 41 students were displayed, in order.
"You are free to look at any profile, but it would probably be good .idea for you to tap on your own name first," said Chahashira
I tapped on my name, just as she had suggested. I had expected that I'd
see only basic information like my date of birth, but that didn't seem to be the
case. What was displayed were items and number values that I haven't ever
scen before
2-D Ayanokouji Kiyotaka
First Year Results
Academic Ability: C (51)
Physical Ability: C+ (60)
Adaptability: D+ (37)
Societal Contribution: C+ (60)
Overall Ability: C (51)
"S-Sensei, uh, my results look like they've kind of turned into, like,stats in a video game or something!" shouted Ike.
"That's right. These are your own individual performance scores, calculated by the school based on your achievements through the end of your first year here. You aren't the only class who is able to access this
information. It's possible for students to view performance scores for students in other classes as well. In fact, any student in any grade level can do so. This system was adopted because it was deemed to be important for the future of your education," said Chabashira.
In other words, the app's purpose was to provide an overview of everyone's individual performance scores, represented as numerical data. It also seemed like it could be used to send public messages to all students.
There was a question mark in the upper-right part of the screen, along with the word "Description." When I pressed it, detailed information about each item was displayed.
Academic Ability: Calculated mainly based on scores on written exams, etc., given throughout the year.
Physical Ability: Calculated based on evaluations from physical
education classes, activity in clubs, and evaluations from special exams, etc.
Adaptability: Calculated based on your ability to adapt to society
around you. This includes things such as how many friends you have, your
position in your social circle and your communication skills, whether you can
think on your feet, etc.
Societal
Contribution: Calculated based on a variety of factors, suchas your attitude in class, including any lateness or absences on your record, whether you've exhibited any problematic behavior, contributions made to
the school via membership on the student council, etc.
Overall Ability: Student's overall abilities are derived from the four
values above. However, the effect that the Social Contribution score has on this calculation is reduced by half.
*Note: Method for calculating overall ability
(Academic Ability + Physical Ability + Adaptability + Social
Contribution x 0.5) + 350 x 100 (Rounded up to the nearest whole number)
I see. Based on the criteria, it made sense that my adaptability score
would be lower than the others. And when it came to the number of friends I
had and my communication skills, well, I wasn't exactly flourishing there. If
the other scores were evaluated based on what they typically saw from me,
those numbers seemed reasonable, too. There were also fields for my scores
for my second- and third-year evaluations in addition to my first year, but
those were currently blank.
"Right now, only the scores for your first year are displayed. But now
that you've begun your second year, your new evaluations will be given to
you as they are assessed by the school, the scores being updated as time goes
on. Scores will be updated at the beginning of the month, just like with Class
Points. For example, Sudou, your current academic ability score is E.
However, if you happened to get a perfect score on the next written exam,
you would be given an At on your second-year evaluations page," said
Chabashira.
Which meant our second-year evaluations would be separate from the
first-year evaluations. Our scores for this year would be evaluated based only
on the events of this ycar. This also meant our scores over the course of the
year were constantly being recorded. Even if Sudou got a perfect score in a
written exam in April and got an At for his academic ability score, if he got a
zero on the next written exam after that, he'd end up with a C rating.
That was how things would be over the course of the year. And then,
our final average scores would be calculated at the end of the year. One of the
things worth noting about this app was that we weren't just able to check
scores for our own class, but could look up the other classes, too. Up until
this point, I couldn't know anything about students I'd never interacted with
unless I directly went out and gathered that infornation. But now, with only a
glance, I could see names, faces, and what kind of scores someone had,
regardless of what grade level they were in.
Incidentally, the data for the new first-year students seemed to be based
on information from their third year of junior high and from their entrance
exams. So, academic ability, physical ability, and societal contribution
rankings aside, it was possible their current adaptability scores might not be
all that accurate.
A handy tool for checking grades... Well, no. There was no way that
was all there was to it. It was obvious this was going to play some kind of
key role.
"I'm sure that the students who got rather unsatisfactory results aren't
thrilled about the idea of having their records retained like this. However,
those students simply need to come to terms with the fact that they were the
ones who spent their first year that way," explaincd Chabashira.
Basically, the closer your precious academic and physical ability scores
were to E, the more disgraced you would be.
"However, your first-year scores are nothing more than a past record.
They will have no effect whatsoever on how you are assessed in the future, as
second-year students. Which means it's especially important that those of you
who got disappointing results in your first year take this opportunity to
reevaluate your priorities. By visualizing your scores this way, we're hoping
you"ll be encouraged to grow into your best selves," she added.
.
I supposed that if our individual scores were going to be continuously recorded in an app that anyone could see from this point onward, many students would want to make an effort to make themselves look better. I was sure that would be effective to a certain degree when it came to prompting students to get thcir grades up, as Chabashira had said, but..
"Sensei, why is the evaluation metric for societal contributiona little bit different from the other three items, though?" asked Hirata Yousuke.
The effect of our societal contribution score on our overall ability score was half as much as the others. Hirata had his concerns about that, which was why he asked that question.
"Academic ability, physical ability, and adaptability. The school considers those three categories to be extremely important. Societal contribution, on the other hand, is a little different," said Chabashira. "It is
fundamentally bascd on 'morals' and 'manners.' Its an assessment of how you conduct yourselves as students, examined from every possible angle.Things like how influential your voice is in a group, or how often you're correct. Things like how you talk to and behave in front of your teachers, and whether you have any tardy arrivals or absences on your record. Whether or not you comply with various rules. Because these are basic skills and common courtesies you should naturally be striving toward anyway, their impact on your overall ability score is reduced."
So unlike the other three categories, which you couldn't dramatically
improve overnight, we could greatly improve our societal contribution scores
if we changed our attitudes from this day onward. That was the difference.
"This app is impartial. It doesn't matter if you're in a higher or lower-
level class. Everyone is assessed similarly. Right now, if a student has a high
overall ability evaluation, it's safe to assume that person has successfully
achieved something worthy of praise."
The list was arranged in order by name, but there was a 'sort' feature,
too. So I didn't need to look at each student one by one to know who had the
highest overall ability scores in Class 2-D. After trying out the sort function,
I saw Yousuke had the top score.
Class 2-D – Hirata Yōsuke
First-Year Evaluation
Academic Ability: B+ (76)
Physical Ability: B+ (79)
Adaptability: B (75)
Social Contribution: A- (85)
Overall Ability: B+ (78)
Yōsuke's excellence was obvious after just one look at his numbers. His ratings were objectively high-level all across the board. If he hadn't exposed his weakness at the end of the first-year, his scores might've been even higher.
On the other hand, when sorted in descending order, Ike was the one to take the top spot with an Overall Ability score of 37.
Right below Ike was the name Sakura Airi, with the same Overall Ability score of 37.
Sudō, somebody that many students had expected to take the lowest place on the rankings, was actually placed several places above that.
Class 2-D – Sudō Ken
First-Year Evaluation
Academic Ability: E+ (20)
Physical Ability: A+ (96)
Adaptability: D+ (40)
Social Contribution: E+ (19)
Overall Ability: C (47)
His Academic Ability and Social Contribution ratings were both profoundly low, given his bad behavior last year. However, his rating for Physical Ability was more than enough to compensate for that, saving him from the bottom of the list. Upon further inspection, I found that, out of every student in the second year, he was the only one who had gotten A+ in the Physical Ability category.
Sudō had grown both academically and mentally when compared to when he first came to this school, and his ratings would probably only continue to get better as time went on.
"On another note, while this doesn't directly have anything to do with Class D, there are special exceptions in place for second-year students. Class 2-A's Sakayanagi Arisu's Physical Ability rating will take on the same value as the student with the lowest Physical Ability rating in the school year."
Sakayanagi Arisu had been physically handicapped from birth.
She had to use a cane to get around, even while walking.
In other words, physical activity wasn't something she was capable of, even if she wanted to.
Having said that, the Physical Ability category couldn't just be removed from the calculation for her overall score. So in that sense, having her take up the same score as the lowest placed student seemed like a reasonable compromise.
At any rate, this tool for visualizing abilities was probably an integral part of Nagumo's proposed individualist meritocracy.
"I'm sure this app will distinguish itself as an important tool, not only for changing your mindsets and improving yourselves, but also for interacting with others since you'll now have a medium to quickly familiarize yourselves with the names and faces of students regardless of what school year they're in. However… I also think there's more to it than that. This is just my own personal speculation, but… maybe a year from now, students who fail to keep their Overall Ability rating above a certain threshold will be given some kind of penalty of sorts."
"Penalty… You're not saying, like, expulsion, are you Sensei…?"
" It's possible. But, as I said, this is just speculation. It's not a cold hard fact or anything. But the closer your Overall Ability rating is to an E, the more dangerous of a position you're in. It's best you keep that in mind."
For the time being, Ike and Airi were ranked at the bottom, with both of their Overall Ability ratings close to an E.
If they spent this next year doing the same things they did last year, they'd be in hot water.
"Some of you are also probably dissatisfied with how the school's assessment may not line up with what you think you should've gotten, but keep in mind that this is just how the school sees you as of right now. If you're dissatisfied, then you've got this next year to prove us wrong. After all, the school isn't infallible."
"B-but Sensei, how are we supposed to do that!?"
Ike frantically raised his hand as he asked, having realized that he was at the bottom of the ranks.
"Well, as an example, the accuracy of the Physical Ability rating depends on whether or not a student takes part in club activities. If you're confident in your abilities, it might be a good idea to join a club."
Chabashira was saying that students who showed their abilities to the school would generally end up getting better results. That being said, it still depended on the individual. If a student were to appeal to the school in a bad way, it could end up coming back to bite them.
"It's like we're fighting on our own."
Horikita's quiet muttering didn't go unheard by Chabashira.
To Horikita, it probably felt like the introduction of this app did away with the notion of class-focused competition she had come to expect during her first year here.
And she probably wasn't the only person who felt this way either.
"You're both right and wrong, Horikita. The school approved and implemented a proposal by the current student council president, Nagumo Miyabi, and that is the very system we're introducing this year."
So Nagumo's dream of creating a system where individuals are evaluated based on their own merits was finally being realized. The reason why he wasn't very active last year must've been because he was busy pouring his time and resources into making this app.
"But, the fact that the school's emphasis lies on working together as a class still hasn't changed. Keep that in mind as you work hard to improve yourselves every day."
With the apps installed and the following explanation finished, the first period came to an end. As soon as the break between periods started, everyone's eyes were immediately glued to the screen of their cell phones. Not only did they want to see their own ratings, they also wanted to know how their classmates and the rest of the school were doing.
"I ain't happy with how they're treatin' me like I've got less common sense than Kōenji!"
Sudō complained loudly as he scowled at Kōenji, completely fixated on the ratings of the app.
I eavesdropped on his conversation (though, he was speaking so loudly it was hard not to hear him) while looking to confirm what he was saying on the app.
Class 2-D – Kōenji Rokusuke
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First-Year Evaluation
Academic Ability: B (71)
Physical Ability: B+（78）
Adaptability: D- (24)
Social Contribution: D- (25)
Overall Ability: C (53)
Kōenji had received high ratings in both Academic Ability and Physical Ability, which made sense given that he had demonstrated a certain degree of proficiency during our standard classes and tests.
"What're you on about? Your Physical Ability rating is like, way higher than his anyway."
Ike, who didn't have any particularly outstanding ratings of his own, enviously complained right back to Sudō.
"That's cuz Kōenji isn't taking this shit seriously. It's hard to come to terms with."
Kōenji's physical abilities were extraordinarily high, just like Sudō said. His potential was on the same level as Sudō's or maybe even greater, but, he wasn't a member of any club and his participation during PE classes was largely dependent on his mood, so there was no way to tell for sure. Unless he's personally invested, he was one to just suddenly give up on something or skip out on doing it altogether. It wasn't even all that uncommon for him to not even lift a finger in the first place either. Sudō, on the other hand, tackled physical problems head-on and always pounded out top-class results, no matter what task he's been faced with. Even though their physical abilities may be similar, it was obvious why there was such a great difference in the ratings they had been given.
That being said, the category Sudō was upset about was the Social Contribution category.
That is, the category that had to do with morals and manners.
In that regard, Kōenji, the one being singled out and criticized, was just as much of a problem child as Sudō.
It seemed that Sudō couldn't stand the fact that his Social Contribution rating was the lower of the two of them, even though that was only just barely the case.
It's not like I couldn't understand why Sudō wanted to complain, but…
The reason why Kōenji's Social Contribution rating was higher than Sudō's was probably because he hadn't had as many opportunities to cause problems for the class or the school. Given the suspensions and violent behavior Sudō exhibited last year, the fact that he was below Kōenji wasn't all that surprising.
Even though Kōenji himself could hear everything Sudō said, he paid no heed to any of it.
He also hadn't bothered with using the OAA app any more than necessary, unlike those around him who were completely engrossed with it.
Over the course of the last year, Kōenji was probably the one who had changed the least.
In any case, thanks to this app, we were now able to quantify the results of our first year at this school.
And, there were both advantages and disadvantages for us as a result.
For example, the existence of the Overall Ability category had created a provisional competency ranking of sorts.
Now, if a troublesome special exam were to take place again, the class probably wouldn't even need to discuss who the expulsion candidates would be. The students with the lowest overall scores would be the ones in the hot seat.
Deep down, Airi, who was ranked at the very bottom together with Ike, probably wasn't very happy about that either.
With the introduction of the OAA app still on everyone's minds, the second period began.
And yet, the class was probably more concerned that Chabashira would officially start getting into 'that' now.
Unsurprisingly, this prediction had been spot-on.
"Now, I'll give you guys an overview of the next special exam."
With that, Chabashira broached the subject, almost as if she was starting off a normal, everyday lesson.
"The first special exam you'll be taking this year will incorporate new experiences that you've never come across before, just like with the introduction of the app."
Was this Tsukishiro's doing, or was Nagumo the one behind it? Either way, the school seemed to be going through some major changes.
"The bottom line is that the exam will take the form of a written test where you second-years will be partnering up with the newly admitted first-years."
"Partnered with… the first-years…?"
We had only rarely ever done something that skipped across the different school years before.
There were exceptions to this such as the training camp, but the established trend was for classes of the same year to compete against each other.
Had the barrier between school years been broken due to the introduction of the OAA app?
"This special exam will primarily focus on your test-taking and communication skills."
Test-taking skills and communication skills.
Two concepts that, at first glance, didn't seem to have anything to do with each other.
"The importance of test-taking skills needs no further explanation. However, before now, this school has never had any in-depth interaction between students of different school years other than during things like athletics festivals or training camps. Therefore, the school determined that your communication skills have fallen by the wayside."
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"B-but we'll still be competing with others in our own school year, right? Something feels suspicious about this."
The idea of getting heavily involved with the first-years seemed to make Ike a bit frustrated.
"It's not like I don't understand where you're coming from, but try and think about it objectively for a second. In your first year after entering the workforce, the people you come in contact with won't be fresh graduates like you. Some will be in their second year at the job, while others will be veterans touting 20 or 30 years, and you'll be competing with them all the same. Despite the huge gap in experience, they very well might become rivals for you."
"That's… well, I guess I can imagine that."
"While the world as a whole is slowly shifting over to a meritocracy, many Japanese companies are still bound up in the concepts of seniority and lifetime employment. For those of you who felt that it would be uncomfortable to interact with your upper or underclassmen when you heard about this special exam, I suggest that you reconsider. Put in a way that's easy for you to understand, let's consider the concept of grade skipping. Grade skipping is a fairly commonplace occurrence in other countries like America, Britain, and Germany. In those countries, it isn't all that rare for small, young children to study together with high school or college students. Can any of you imagine or even accept the idea of an elementary school student studying together with you here, in this classroom?"
At Chabashira's inclination, the class began to visualize the scenario. A scenario that they almost certainly weren't able to comprehend. They must have felt that it was strange or even impossible.
It's true that there were hardly any cases of students skipping grade levels in Japan. Although specific conditions had to be met, most people were probably unaware that it was even possible. In Japan, the concept doesn't really align with the status quo where the education system is relatively linear. But, that doesn't necessarily mean that Japan wasn't willing to consider the concept in and of itself. For example, the White Room didn't conform to this structure of education, so I could understand this fairly well.
However, I was certain that this wasn't all there was to what Chabashira was saying.
It wasn't just about imitating what other countries are doing. It's also essential for Japan to adopt an education style suited to the Japanese climate. Chabashira was most likely aware of this herself, but had no choice but to give this explanation to us as instructed by the higher-ups.
"In the future, there will probably be more cases where you'll compete against the first and third-year students. However, this particular exam is about helping you build cooperative relationships, so do well to keep that in mind."
I found myself wondering if this was the reason why the special exam required both test-taking and communication skills. Some students seemed to be unable to wrap their heads around what the rules would be like, as they looked visibly confused at this point.
"The easiest way to get all of you to understand would be to remind you of one of the special exams you went through last year. You can think of this exam as an improved version of the Paper Shuffle exam, where you were partnered up from among your classmates."
Paper Shuffle.
It was a special exam where we partnered up with a classmate and tackled a written exam together.
Essentially, this meant that we'd be partnering up with one of the first-years this time instead of partnering up with a classmate.
Even though that seemed to be the only difference, it was quite a large one.
"You're free to partner up with anyone you want from the first-year students. The testing period will last until the end of the month, which is about two weeks from now. You'll have plenty of time to both carefully choose your partner and focus on your studies."
With a special exam like this, it made sense why they had us install the OAA app.
The first-years wouldn't be familiar with the names and faces of the upperclassmen.
And naturally, the second-years wouldn't be familiar with the names and faces of the underclassmen either.
During the Paper Shuffle exam last year, we were able to freely choose our partners after coming up with some workarounds thanks to the fact that the exam's partnering system was handled from within the class.
In other words, students who weren't very good at studying were able to just rely on someone else to survive the exam. However, the exam this time around would be different. Partnerships would be made on the premise that both sides would be looking for excellent students to pair up with. Moreover, instead of partnering up with our peers, we'd be partnering up with underclassmen we had little to no relationship with. The circumstances we were facing now in our second year were different from our first.
Above all else, it takes a fair amount of time to build up a trusting relationship from scratch.Without the app, it would almost certainly be impossible to establish a meaningful relationship in just two weeks' time.
But thanks to OAA, some shortcuts could be taken since you could just match someone's face to their name in the app.
Furthermore, since the app also provides you with a rough idea of a prospective student's academic abilities, it'd be easy to use it as a reference when making your decision on who to partner up with.
"You'll be tested on five subjects on the day of the exam. Each subject will be worth 100 points, for a total of 500 points. Now for the most important part… this time, you'll be evaluated based on two different standards. The first being your results as a class, and the second being your results as an individual."
Chabashira tapped on the screen of the blackboard, bringing up the details for the special exam that she had just talked about.
Class Rewards (Split Based on School Year):
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The inter-class competition will be based on the average score of each class in your school year. This will be derived from the combined scores of each person in the class added together with their respective partners.
Each class will be rewarded with either 50, 30, 10, or 0 class points, based on how their overall average score compares to the other classes in their school year.
Individual Rewards:
You will be graded based on the combined score of you and your partner.
The top five pairings will each receive a special reward of 100,000 private points.
The top 30% of pairings will each receive 10,000 private points.
In the event a pairing's combined score fails to exceed 500 points, the second-year student will be expelled from the school and the first-year student will not receive any private points for the next three months, regardless of how many class points they might have.
Additionally, any student judged to have deliberately marked questions incorrectly or otherwise found to have manipulated or lowered their scores will be expelled regardless of their school year. Similarly, in the event a third party is found to have forced a student to lower his or her score, said third party will be expelled from the school as well.
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"You should already be somewhat aware of this, but in this exam, the students with high Academic Ability ratings will be sought after first."
If OAA didn't exist, nobody would've been able to find out the true abilities of the other students. But now, with the advent of the app, that information was exposed for all to see. The lower your Academic Ability rating was, the harder it'd be to find a partner.
In all likelihood, the students who seemed weaker academically would get left in the dust.
Smart students would naturally join up with a smart partner and aim for the top rewards. Academically insecure students would also seek out intelligent partners in order to survive. The students with weak academic abilities would inevitably partner up together and, in the end, probably fall below the 500 point baseline. In which case, the harsh reality is that second-year students would then be expelled from the school.
The second-year students understood how the school worked and had developed lasting friendships with many of the people in their class.
Even if they didn't go after the top rewards, they would probably still move to help support their classmates.
The first-year students, however, hadn't had the chance to get very close to their class yet. As a result, the concept of somebody that they're not very close friends with having to go without private points for three months probably wouldn't seem like a very big deal. It would be just like at the beginning of last year when most of Class D was fine with abandoning Sudō… No, it would be even more extreme than that.
"Partnerships will be formed once both sides agree to it, and you can finalize the process by confirming it on the app. You're allowed to form your partnerships whenever you want after this, but once you've confirmed who you're going to pair up with, you won't be allowed to change to someone else."
With that being said, it would be difficult to make an immediate decision unless your partner's academic abilities were insanely high.
A careless decision could lead to regret later on.
The monitor on the blackboard updated, presenting us with information on choosing partners.
Rules and Regulations for Choosing a Partner:
Once per day, you are allowed to send a partnership application to a prospective student through OAA. (If the other party does not accept, the application will be reset after 24 hours.)
If the other party accepts your application, the partnership will be finalized and you won't be allowed to cancel it thereafter.
※ The only exceptions being extenuating, unavoidable circumstances such as expulsion or serious illness.
Once a partnership has been finalized, the information displayed on the OAA app will be updated at 8:00 AM the next morning and no new applications to either student will be accepted.
※ The details about who a person has chosen to partner up with won't be listed on their profile.
Due to these restrictions, one couldn't just send out a large number of applications at random. And, even if you sent an application to somebody, you wouldn't know if they ended up partnering up with another student on that same day until 8:00 AM the next morning, meaning that it was possible for you to waste an application entirely.
To be fair, I don't know if anyone would actually accept an application from a student they didn't know all that well anyway.
It's possible that these rules were implemented to help obscure who partnered up with whom. After all, if the information was updated as soon as a pair formed, it'd be rather easy to analyze the overall strength of each class.
"Sensei! There's no way that one of the first-years is gonna wanna pair up with me! Is an idiot like me really supposta rely on communication skills in order to get through this!?"
Ike's lament was understandable.
Unless all of the good partner options were taken already, the probability that somebody would actually want to pair up with someone with a poor Academic Ability rating was very low.
Or at least, that's how it should be as long as nothing shady happens.
"Don't worry. It has been set up so that, no matter how many of you are unable to find partners, nobody will be left without one. This is because, in the event that you don't pair up with somebody, a partner will be randomly selected for you at 8:00 AM on the day of the exam."
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Upon hearing that there were protective measures in place, Ike breathed out a sigh of relief.
"That being said, those who aren't able to find themselves a partner before the deadline shouldn't expect the same level of treatment as those who do. Therefore, pairs formed past the deadline will be subject to a 5% penalty to their overall score."
This short reprieve lasted only a second, as the class collectively groaned the moment Chabashira mentioned the penalty.
While you'd still be allowed to take the exam, you'd be put at a fairly painful disadvantage.
"Sensei, there have been three expulsions amongst the second-year students so far. Won't the first-year students have three people left over?"
Upon hearing Yōsuke's trivial question, Chabashira replied indifferently.
"The three extra students will have their exam scores doubled to make up for their missing partner. However, they'll also be subject to the very same 5% penalty, so there probably won't be very many of them who would want to face the exam alone."
Essentially, one person would be playing out both roles. It seemed that the three first-year students leftover at the end wouldn't have anything to worry about as long as their academic abilities were good enough.
Either way, I couldn't afford to be worrying about just Ike and Sudō during this special exam.
After all, this was going to be an exceedingly difficult special exam for me as well.
The reason it was going to be so difficult was the rule where, if my partner and I didn't score over 500 points, I'd be expelled from the school. Put another way, this meant that my partner absolutely had to score at least 1 point in order to clear the special exam. Even if I were to get full marks in each of the five subjects, if my partner scored a 0, my expulsion would be set in stone.
Under normal circumstances, this would be an extremely pointed, dangerous rule. Because the first-year students aren't at risk of expulsion, if they purposefully took a low score and threw the exam, this rule meant that the second-year student would be unreasonably forced out of the school… However, in order to prevent that from happening, the school had come up with another rule.
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[Any student judged to have deliberately marked questions incorrectly or otherwise found to have manipulated or lowered their scores will be expelled regardless of their school year. Similarly, in the event a third party is found to have forced a student to lower his or her score, said third party will be expelled from the school as well.]
This rule was probably an extremely indispensable factor behind the legitimization of this special exam.
It was designed to protect against unfair behavior such as threatening the other party that you'd cut corners or demanding for them to hand over private points. It made it impossible to blatantly misbehave during the exam. In a sense, it meant that the average student would be more robustly protected by the rules.
However, even though the rule would usually be more than enough, it still fell short of ensuring anything.
Because─ for the White Room student, it was a completely different story.
The White Room student was setting up on the premise of being expelled later anyway, so this rule wasn't a deterrent to them at all.
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If they successfully managed to pair up with me, they'd most likely end up taking a 0 without even the slightest hesitation.
In other words, if I chose the White Room student as my partner, I'd be done for. Even though the special exam only just started, I already had at least a 1 in 160 chance of being expelled.
Typically, there'd at least be a rule stating something like: 'In the event one student is expelled from the school due to dishonest conduct, the other will be treated as though they passed the exam without any further penalty.' However, based on everything I had heard so far, there was no way of guaranteeing that.
The reason why nobody bothered to ask about it is because everyone was under the same self-serving assumption, convinced that nobody would dare do something that would deliberately get themself expelled. No, that wasn't the only reason.
In the unlikely event that somebody actually did, the school itself would probably deal with it quickly.
After all, the school most likely felt that it would be far too harsh to expel a student who simply got caught up in their partner's unfair behavior. However, if I was the one who ended up getting caught up in it, that man would probably force me out of the school without batting an eye.
He'd say it was my fault for partnering up with somebody who didn't take the exam seriously.
He had set up a small loophole in the rules so that he could react flexibly depending on the student in question.
The image of that man, Tsukishiro, rose up in the back of my mind. I had no doubt that he was the one who had concocted these rules.
There was no way he wouldn't take advantage of this opportunity. If I was too slow at finding a partner, the regular students would start getting chosen one after another and my chances of ending up with the White Room student would go up.
It'd be nice if I could act quickly and pair up with somebody that doesn't seem like they came from the White Room, but according to the OAA app, my Academic Ability rating was a C. I didn't have the luxury of being able to choose whoever I wanted.
Having said that, even if I wanted to choose someone with an extremely low Academic Ability rating, my C rating wouldn't be enough to dispel their worries about the exam, so they probably wouldn't be willing to partner up with me.
In which case, the logical conclusion was to find a partner with a rating similar to mine that I wouldn't have any issues pairing up with, but it's possible that my opponent was already lying in wait in anticipation of that.
Even though we had only just been told the rules, it was already clear that this exam would be more challenging than any other special exam we had taken before.
"Sensei. How difficult are the exam questions going to be?"
With the raise of her hand, Horikita asked Chabashira a crucial question that most of the class was probably wondering about.
"To tell you the truth, there are many extremely difficult questions on the exam. It'll definitely be one of the most challenging exams you've taken so far. But… that's only the case if you're looking to get a high score on it. The exam has been designed so that even students with an E rating in Academic Ability can score at least 150 points without any prior preparation. With a couple days of studying under your belt, 200 points should be more than manageable. This is only a rough estimate, but─"
Chabashira cut off mid-sentence as she displayed a table of estimated scores for the exam split up by Academic Ability rating.
E Rating – Between 150 and 200 Points
D Rating – Between 200 and 250 Points
C Rating – Between 250 and 300 Points
B Rating – Around 350 Points
A Rating – Around 400 Points
"If you study properly, you should be able to get a score close to those shown here. However, don't forget that if you're conceited and neglect your studies, you may end up with a lower score than this."
Chabashira was saying that we shouldn't just blindly trust the scores being shown to us on the monitor.
"In addition, as you can see from the part of the table that says that students with an A rating are expected to score around 400 points overall, it's unlikely that anyone will score over 90 points in each subject, let alone get a perfect score."
This was probably what she was talking about back when she said it would be one of the most challenging exams we had taken so far.
In any case, this simply meant that, if two students with E ratings were to pair up with each other, the second-year student would be at risk of facing expulsion.
"That should be everything for the overview of the special exam you'll be taking in April. Get ready to buckle down and do your best."
At this point, Chabashira began to explain the scope of topics that'd be covered in the test for each subject.
According to her, as long as we went back over the material we learned last year, we should be fine for the most part.