"Oh."
Winter was approaching.
The second semester was about to end, and winter break was coming soon.
After the wonderful school trip, the class points had not changed at all.
On the first day back at school, Hikigaya arrived at the classroom and sat in his seat, preparing to welcome the new special exam.
Hoshinomiya Chie stood on the podium, brimming with energy.
"I think you should be used to it by now. That's right—before entering winter break, you have to participate in the final special exam of the second semester."
After all, it had already been two years; everyone more or less expected this.
However, the expressions of Hikigaya and the others remained solemn.
Currently, the class's individual points were less than twenty million. For a class that valued companionship, this was actually the most dangerous moment.
"However, everyone can rest assured. This isn't the kind of special exam where you need to worry about expulsions."
"Then, Hoshinomiya-sensei, what kind of exam is it specifically?"
Ichinose and the others immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as there were no expulsions, Class B could face the current situation with optimism.
"This special exam has no rules you need to memorize by rote. It's a simple one-on-one academic competition against another class."
"The winner will seize 200 class points from the loser."
"Win and gain 200 points. Lose and deduct 200 points."
"And our Class B's opponent is—Class A!"
Hoshinomiya Chie's expression turned somewhat serious.
Originally, the cultural festival and the school trip had been decided in advance by the school, so there were no major changes.
But now, the implementation policy of the new Student Council was finally beginning to take effect.
Every single special exam had the potential to cause a huge shift in class points.
Take this exam, for example.
Class A currently had 1,358 class points, while Class B only had 928.
If they could defeat Class A and plunder 200 class points, the gap would instantly shrink to just 30 points—well within reach.
But conversely, if Ryuuen were to defeat Class D, Class B could be overtaken in an instant.
Even Katsuragi and the others, who occupied the seat of Class A, couldn't afford to relax.
Every special exam had to be taken seriously; a momentary lapse could allow someone to catch up—or even cause them to fall to Class D.
If someone could achieve victory in two consecutive special exams, it wouldn't be impossible to instantly rise to Class A. The competition was only going to grow more intense.
And it wasn't just the second-year students.
No one could relax.
At the same time, Kiriyama Ikuba from the third year must have seen hope of rising back to Class A once more.
Next, Hoshinomiya-sensei explained the exam rules in detail.
Second Semester Final Special Exam: Collaborative Comprehensive Written Exam
Overview:
The entire class will jointly solve a total of 100 questions.
Rules:
Students will answer questions in a pre-determined order.
Each student may answer up to a maximum of five questions, but must answer at least two, regardless of correctness.
Including entry and exit time, each student is given a maximum of ten minutes.
Students who are not currently answering will wait in another room.
Only the next student in line may wait in front of the entrance.
If the time limit is exceeded, the student will be disqualified and unable to obtain points.
Any hints related to answering, cheat sheets, or verbal communication are considered rule violations.
Once a violation is confirmed, the exam will be forcibly terminated and counted as nine points.
Based on the total remaining time of all students when the exam ends, special bonus points will be awarded:
Remaining 60 minutes or more: +10 points
Remaining 30 minutes or more: +5 points
Remaining 10 minutes or more: +2 points
All questions award points based on the solver's own academic ability, regardless of difficulty.
(The solver's ability is based on the OAA Academic Ability as of December 1st.)
Academic Ability A: 1 point
Academic Ability B: 2 points
Academic Ability C: 3 points
Academic Ability D: 4 points
Academic Ability E: 5 points
Schedule:
December 22 — Conduct the special exam
December 23 — Announce results and hold the second semester closing ceremony
"These are the special rules for this written exam. Class A has many students with high academic ability, which may seem advantageous. However, having a high proportion of students with Academic Ability B or above means the total points gained per correct answer will inevitably be lower."
"Stated this way, you should understand, right?"
Simply put, this exam was more advantageous to lower-ranked classes.
Furthermore, OAA academic ability includes plus and minus distinctions, and the exam favored students with a 'plus'—who made up the majority of Class B.
After Hoshinomiya Chie left the classroom, everyone gathered around Hikigaya.
Kobashi Yume and the others spoke optimistically.
"I don't know if I'm mistaken, but doesn't this exam seem more advantageous for our Class B?"
"There's no problem. It really is more advantageous for us," Kanzaki said calmly, looking at Hikigaya. "It's just that our opponent is Class A. If it turns into a serious contest, the outcome is uncertain. And since it's Katsuragi, I wonder if he has some strange strategy prepared."
"Hm…"
Hikigaya pondered for a moment before speaking.
"The only thing I can think of is bribing students in our class to deliberately answer incorrectly. Class A should have a large amount of individual points right now, so the possibility isn't low. But for us, that probably isn't something we need to worry about."
"Of course. There's no way we'd betray our companions for individual points."
With Class B's cohesion, that wasn't a concern.
Moreover, they were already very close to Class A.
Unless there was an extremely special reason, whether rationally or emotionally, betrayal simply wouldn't happen.
"Another possibility is using methods like drugging or threats to prevent our classmates from participating in the exam."
Hikigaya laughed lightly.
"Although I think the chance of Katsuragi doing something like that is very low, everyone should stay a little cautious just in case. If anything feels strange, discuss it with me or Honami. And remember to leave video or audio evidence."
"Given Katsuragi's personality, he probably won't stoop to the same methods as Ryuuen. So what should we do on our side?"
Kanzaki, Shibata, and the others nodded in agreement.
"Hm," Hikigaya continued. "This exam is undoubtedly more favorable to lower-ranked classes. Even though conversation is prohibited, there are still many ways to communicate."
"For example, hand signals, or writing codes on scratch paper that only we understand."
"As long as we arrange the answering order properly, have strong students choose simpler questions for those after them, and let students with Academic Ability C and D handle the easier questions as much as possible, our chances of winning will be very high."
With only a little thought, Hikigaya had already come up with several strategies.
"That's amazing."
"As expected of Hikki—coming up with so many ideas at once."
"At this rate, we'll rise to Class A in no time."
Kobashi Yume and the others were clearly excited. Nearby, Ichinose and Himeno Yuki couldn't help but smile.
If it were them, they would only think of upright but not necessarily effective strategies.
Although Hikigaya's methods weren't exactly upright, they didn't harm anyone either.
"No, it's just a bit of cleverness. Of course, study sessions are still essential. Everyone needs to make use of this time to study."
"Especially for those of us who aren't good at studying—this is exactly our chance to shine."
Hikigaya shook his head awkwardly.
In truth, it really was just a small trick. For an exam so clearly advantageous to lower-ranked classes, anyone should be able to think of this, right?
"There you go again. Hikki, your academic ability is B-rank. How can you call yourself bad at studying?"
Amikura Mako and the others rolled their eyes. Hikigaya was clearly saying this on purpose.
After all, it wasn't easy to bluntly tell Nakanishi and the others to work harder.
Still, it wasn't a big deal.
Class B's initiative might not have been strong, but it certainly wasn't weak either. Even if their growth was slow, everyone was improving little by little.
The chances of winning this special exam were indeed high.
It even made Hikigaya feel that this exam was almost… child's play.