Her warning was probably meant to serve as a deterrent, but it didn't seem to resonate with ryuuen
"So? You think you can win anybody over to your class? " sneered ryuuen
Horikita must have determined that there was no need for her to answer, because she kept her mouth shut.
" You figured something out when you were snooping around the meet and greet, huh? And then you hurried on over here to see who was left. That!? " said ryuuen.
" the same as you then, perhaps?"
" ku ku. Yeah, maybe."
Ryuuen continucd speaking to horikita after said that, as if all he wanted was to keep thing interesting.
"In that case, I'll tcll ya somethin' good, since we're on the same wavelength. This year's batch of fresh mcat are all real calm, even though they only just started here. Which mcans there's a real good chance that
somcone from the school is tclling these new kids how things work, to a certain extent," said Ryuuen.
If that was true, it was quite an unexpected bit of intel. Back in April, we'd no idea what was going on, and everyone just messed around as muchas they wanted as a result. Of course, the students from Class A and Class B were more composed, but that could probably be attributed to the significant difference between our backgrounds. Also, what Ryuuen was talking about wasn't just a specific class. He
was referring to the entire grade level. Maybe this was a measure that had been taken because they had to partner up with second-year students right at the start of school? Or did the school have other intentions, perhaps?
"Isn't it possible that this year's batch of new students are just especially quick-witted, and we were just exceptionally slow?" replied Horikita.
"There's signs that some of 'em are already coming together, as a class, right at this stage. That's way too early."
Even if they'd immediately started trying to come together as a class when the special exam was announced, they wouldn't have succeeded already. Ryuuen was saying they wouldn't have come together like this, now,
unless they started the process at an early stage. Right after they entered the
school.
"...What kind of cowardly trick are you trying to pull by telling me this?" asked Horikita.
"Nothing, no trick. You can't just pulverize your opponents in this special exam. Nothin' like that. But if you're gonna win overall, you're probably gonna have to pull several strings," said Ryuuen.
It wasn't going to be easy to get students from the other classes expelled in this special exam. The sense of anonymity in it, of wondering Who we was going to be partnered with who, was fairly significant. It was going to be quite difficult to ascertain exactly who people were partnered with on
the app, unless people were going around making partnerships known at gathering information. Even if you were able to get classmates who didn't do well academically to partner with students From rival classes, or even if you were to specifically designate someone for that purpose, it would be almost impossible to get that student to purposefully cut corners on the test.
If you got a low score onc out of keeping with the level of academic ability you were supposed to have it would clearly be intentional, and then you'd get expelled regardless of what grade level you were in. In the end, the difference between victory and defeat came down to two things: the abilities of the students in your own class, and the abilities of the first-year students. In terms of strategy, what you could do was win as many academically skilled first-years over to your class as possible.
It wasn't going to be easy for Class C to come out on top in this exam, considering their low levels of overall ability. There was no way they could hope to compete with Class A financially, and the academic skills of the two classes were on cntirely different levels. No matter how much money they
threw at the first-years to try and poach them, the results weren't going to be pretty. In that case, they should abandon the idea of trying to win first place overall and aim instcad for the individual competition, with rewards given to the top thirty percent.
Of course, Horikita didn't make any mention of that. Because it would be a problem for us if Class A and Class C weren't trying to duke it out with each other for overall points. Rather than let Class A easily snatch the top
spot, I was hoping A and C would fight it out on a grand scale, so they'd wear each other down, if only a little. Try your best to keep up," chided Ryuuen.
"I suppose I could say the same to you. Your concerns are completely unnecessary," said Horikita.
"Ku ku. Well, my bad."
Then Ryuuen immediately left., vacating the first-year students' floor. He had been here too short a time to have finished what needed doing.
"The first-years might resist us much more strongly than I thought they would," said Horikita.
If they were aware of the fact that they were basically locked in a desperate struggle to the death with the other classcs at this school, then yes, I supposed it was only natural they'd be hesitant to negotiate with us.
"In that case, shouldn't we try and negotiate with 'em at least a little, as soon as we can?" said Sudou.
Yes... Of course we should. But..."
Horikita directed her gaze towards the end of the hall. She was looking at where the Class 1-D was.
"Let's get goin'," said Sudou.
"I don't think it's going to be that simple," said Horikita.
Apparently, Horikita had noticed it too while she was talking with Ryuuen. The entire time they talked, from when Ryuuen strolled out of the classroom to when he left, not a single student had been seen leaving the classroom. And we didn't hear a single sound as we approached the room, either.
When we eventually reached the door to the classroom and opened it,our suspicions were confirmed.
"D-dude, what the hell's goin' on?!" yelled Sudou in a panic, as he scanned the inside of the classroom from end to end.
"Negotiating with Class 1-D might be much, much more difficult than I expected," said Horikita.
The classroom was completely empty. There wasn't a single person in sight. The forty students, who hadn't shown up to the meet-and-greet either, seemed to have suddenly disappeared without a trace.
"This class might be more trouble than I had thought," she added.
However, it wasn't like we could just sit here and wallow in our anxiety. We necded to take action before the other classes really started
making their moves in earnest. The competition was starting tomorrow. Horikita's battle was going to begin the moment that she contacted Class 1-D. As for me, I was going to head back to my dorm and memorize all the names and faces of the new students in the OAA app. Horikita had her battle to fight, and I had mine.
And as it turned out, on the day the special exam was announced, a total of twenty-two partnerships had been finalized.