Chapter 343: The New Special Exam, "Class Poll" / Sakayanagi's Strategy
Early this morning, Chabashira Sae walked into the classroom carrying a stack of report cards.
"Chabashira-sensei! How are the results?!" "Yeah! I couldn't sleep last night worrying I'd failed!" Ike Kanji, Sudo Ken, and several other students with unstable grades asked urgently.
Chabashira glanced at the papers and announced bluntly: "Congratulations. No one failed."
"Yes! Studying actually worked!"
"Thanks to Kushida, Hirata, and Yukimura for the help!"
"And Horikita and Wang-san's tutoring!"
The students broke into applause. Chabashira then posted the rankings on the blackboard.
Yukimura Teruhiko Koenji Rokusuke Shimizu Akira Horikita Suzune Wang Mei-yu ... Last place: Ike Kanji (preceded by Hondo, Sato, and Inogashira).
"Hmph! Short by 5 points! Yukimura-boy, well done!" Koenji raised an eyebrow at his second-place finish.
"Studying is the only thing I'm good at," Yukimura adjusted his glasses with a rare, proud smile.
Shimizu looked at his own rank. Third. He checked his specific scores: Japanese Literature: 92. Finally, he broke the 90-point barrier.
"You beat me," Horikita Suzune muttered, her face grim. "Only by one point," Shimizu replied.
Aside from Literature, he had aced almost everything. Suzune's grades were balanced (around 95 each), but despite studying 16 hours a day, she never hit first place.
'Does Suzune actually have zero talent for academics? Is it 100% pure sweat?'
Shimizu kept this thought to himself to avoid being stabbed by her compass.
"Your class's average score ranked third among the four classes," Chabashira noted. While Math and English were still low (around 50), most other subjects had risen to the 60s.
"We improved that much?!" Hirata looked genuinely happy.
"Ahem," Chabashira interrupted the self-congratulation.
"I won't deny your effort, but the main reason the average rose isn't what you think. The biggest contributor is Yamauchi Haruki."
"What?!" "It's because he was the bottom-most anchor," Horikita realized. "Correct," Chabashira nodded.
"Yamauchi never scored above 40. Removing that dead weight naturally pulled the overall average up."
The room went silent. It was a cold, realistic truth.
Chabashira tapped the blackboard.
"The final formal exam begins March 8th. But this year is an exception. Only one student has been expelled from the first-year grade so far. This is extremely rare.
The school has decided to implement an emergency additional Special Exam, starting today."
"What?! Because too few people were expelled?!"
"Is this a joke? Two exams in a row?!"
"Sensei, I don't understand!" Hirata stood up.
"You said there are usually only two per semester. We already had the Training Camp. Why now?"
"I did say that," Chabashira admitted with rare helplessness.
"Chairman Sakayanagi made that a rule. But he is suspended. The Acting Chairman, Mr. Tsukishiro, issued this order. He believes it is necessary to maintain the historical average expulsion rate of 3%."
The class was outraged. Shimizu narrowed his eyes. Tsukishiro's reason was flimsy—he was clearly using this to target him or Ayanokouji.
"Everyone, calm down," Kushida Kikyo shouted. "Let's hear the rules first."
Chabashira continued: "The exam is called the 'Class Poll.' Over the next four days, you will evaluate your classmates. You must choose three students to praise and three to criticize. You will vote on Saturday."
"The student with the most Praise Votes will receive a new reward: 'Protection Points.'"
"What's that?"
"Protection Points allow you to nullify an expulsion once. They cannot be transferred," Chabashira explained. It was essentially a "Get Out of Jail Free" card.
Shimizu raised his hand. "If the reward is that grand, the penalty for last place must be severe."
"Indeed. The student with the most Criticism Votes will be expelled. The school's goal is to reduce the student population."
The room turned pale. Chabashira wrote five specific rules:
Net Result: Total = (Praise Votes) - (Criticism Votes). Self-Voting: Strictly prohibited. Accuracy: No duplicate names, no blanks, no abstentions. External Vote: Every student gets one Praise Vote for a student in another class (mandatory). Conclusion: The exam continues until a clear 1st and last place are determined.
"What if we force a tie to resist?" Horikita asked.
"Don't," Chabashira warned. "The school has handled collective resistance before by forcing the homeroom teacher to vote, deducting 100 Class Points, or randomly selecting a victim. Don't try to find loopholes."
The reality set in. This was a forced elimination.
"However," Chabashira added, "20 million Private Points can still void an expulsion. And since this exam is specifically designed for expulsion, no Class Points will be deducted from the class for the loss."
"20 million?!"
"Can we even raise that much?"
Ike yelled, "So they want to expel us and drain our points? Is the school that broke?!"
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In Class A, the students turned to Sakayanagi Arisu.
"How many points do we have in the class fund?"
"Do we have 20 million?"
"We have 24 million," Sakayanagi smiled. Class A had never dropped below 1000 points, and they had accumulated massive amounts over 11 months, despite paying Ryuen 780,000 monthly.
"Are we going to use it to save someone?"
"This is an expulsion exam! We should use it to kick out the dead weight without losing Class Points!"
"You'd just watch a classmate get expelled?!"
"Of course!" Morishige Takuro of the Sakayanagi faction pointed at Katsuragi Kohei.
"Katsuragi! Ever since the island, your failures have cost us millions. It's time for you to go!"
Surprisingly, several students stood up for Katsuragi.
"Don't blame him for everything! Hashimoto was the traitor on the island! And Katsuragi took responsibility during the Training Camp, joining Shimizu's group to stop other classes from winning. We have the 24 million—I won't agree to force him out!"
Katsuragi was stunned. He hadn't expected support from those who had previously defected to Sakayanagi.
"Hehe..." Sakayanagi walked to the podium.
"Katsuragi-kun, your popularity is more stable than I thought. But are you all misunderstanding something?"
She looked at a defender.
"You say I'm no better than Katsuragi? Let's be clear. Katsuragi succeeded at the camp because he joined a group of 'monsters' like Shimizu Akira. I won first place in the girls' group through my own strategy. There's no debate on who is more capable."
She tapped her cane.
"20 million points is a massive shield. If we spend it now, will we have enough for the next crisis? This exam tests our ability to integrate resources and make sacrifices. Are we united enough to pay a huge price for one person? Or wise enough to choose a sacrifice that minimizes harm to the class?"
The room went silent.
"So," Katsuragi spoke up, "you're saying we should rationally choose someone to be expelled instead of using points?"
"No," Sakayanagi smiled.
"I'm saying we need to evaluate. We have four days. Tomorrow, we will hold a mock vote. Everyone will cast a criticism vote for whoever they think contributes the least or poses the highest risk. No colluding. We need to see the 'will of the people' first."
It was a brilliant, wicked move. It distributed the pressure and gathered intel.
"And if someone popular gets a high score?" a girl asked.
"Then we ask that person why they are disliked," Sakayanagi replied perfectly. "If they are sincere and promise to work for the class, maybe they are worth the 20 million points."
Katsuragi saw through it. She was using "democracy" to purge anyone who wasn't loyal to her.
As the lunch bell rang, Sakayanagi's phone vibrated. She looked at the screen and laughed.
Message from Tsukishiro Tokinari: Sakayanagi Arisu, I want you to expel one specific person.
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