Chapter 2
Special Test of Survival and Dropout
AFTER THE WINTER vacation, school life took a fresh start.
There was a bit of confusion in the greetings with classmates who hadn't seen each other for about two weeks until the new year, but other than that, the days were passing without change.
When would the next special exam be conducted?
While everyone in the class would have that in the back of their minds, Horikita, who had received hints from senpais, was more concerned.
Chabashira-sensei, the homeroom teacher who symbolized the start of a new school day, appeared.
Her expression was always stern, heading to the podium with a serious face without a hint of levity.
However, even though everything was as usual, some of the students naturally sensed that something was different.
Observing everything from the back of the room, I reached the same conclusion.
Thursday, when half of the week had already passed, it seemed finally time for the prelude to begin.
"Good morning. Today I want to talk about the implementation of the first special exam of this third term."
Just as teachers had been observing their classes for two years, students had also been observing the teachers as well.
"Fewer of you are surprised. You've gotten good at understanding the timing, I see."
If so, the announcement would be quick. Chabashira-sensei straightened herself and looked around the students.
"I'd like to get right into the explanation. This special exam has slightly complicated rules."
Chabashira-sensei turned on the monitor and started the software.
"This special exam will only be conducted among second-year students."
Initially, it was revealed that it wasn’t going to involve other years like the first and third years.
"This is going to be a different ruleset from the special exam where we compete side by side for first place or decide the winner in a one-to-one match with a specific class. I'll explain it with the help of diagrams to make it easier to understand. Let’s take a look at the monitor."
Data created by the school was quickly loaded and a file was opened.
'Survival and Dropout Special Exam.'
The first text that appeared was believed to be the name of the next special exam.
Despite being a mere exam name, there was a slight tension among the students.
"Survival and dropout? That sounds very dangerous..."
The usual candid words from Ike. However, that was an understandable impression.
When you saw the word 'dropout,' there was something that was inevitably associated with it.
While students didn't explicitly say it, everyone associated it with 'expulsion.'
Chabashira-sensei, without commenting on the name of the special exam, began explaining the test content.
"In this special exam, there are diversified tasks based on the category prepared by the school. Each class will choose a category, select a difficulty, and issue a task to the target class in a specific order."
A diagram of a square figure was given as an example.
①Class A→②Class B
↑ ↓
④Class D←③Class C
"While the arrangement of these classes is just an example, clockwise from Class A, they will have us solve the task they chose and gave to Class B; Class A is the attacking side in this case. On the other hand, Class B is the defending side. Class B scores points by solving the task, i.e., the attack that came from Class A. Then, once this offensive and defensive action is done, Class B will be on the offensive side and will issue tasks to Class C. We will repeat this attack and defense while moving around the classes, and the offensive and defensive war between Class D and Class A at the end of the rotation—this will be considered one turn."
From this initial explanation, it was clear that points for your own class didn’t increase when attacking, but rather, points would increase depending on how much of the prep work you could do correctly when defending.
"After 10 turns, the first half will be over. The second half will invert the arrows counterclockwise, and another 10 turns will be held. We are going to repeat the offensive and defensive battles for a total of 20 turns."
Another figure was courteously displayed for the counterclockwise rotation.
①Class A←④Class D
↓ ↑
②Class B→③Class C
It was still unsure how the class arrangement would be decided, but the fact that there wouldn't be any offensive and defensive actions against the class located diagonally couldn’t be overlooked.
It would be an additional mental burden to wage a defensive and offensive war against a class that posed the greatest threat to one's classmates.
"Next, I will detail the attack issues. The categories provided by the school, as I mentioned at the beginning, cover a wide range. From fundamental academic skills such as literature, economics, English, mathematics, kanji, and history, to subculture, and entertainment subjects which are not related to academics."
"Do students need stuff like entertainment...? I'm not good at that..."
Sudō expressed his aversion openly towards the unfamiliar term mentioned.
"Indeed, some areas might not be primarily related to a student's responsibilities. But those who are ignorant of the world are often eliminated when they step into society. In other words, even if you can't study, those who can follow the conversation are often treasured. This means that this time, your general knowledge as a human being will be tested."
With that explanation, some understood while others were still confused. The air was tense.
Sensing this, Chabashira-sensei added to her explanation.
"It seems there are some who find it hard to understand, so let me simplify it. Basically, it has aspects similar to a quiz. The attacking class will present a quiz, and the defending class will solve it. It's as simple as that."
This description was extremely insightful, and many students began to show their understanding simultaneously.
At the same time, there were also those who wore baffled expressions.
Competing with a quiz—indeed, if you just proceed with that image alone, it wouldn’t be unreasonable.
However, not all successful people are only excellent in academics. Regardless of their final academic level, many possess something noteworthy besides that.
In that sense, it couldn’t definitively be said that knowledge in areas like entertainment was completely unnecessary.
If you were to enter into the entertainment industry, there would be a significant difference between knowing nothing and having an abundant amount of knowledge.
When facilitating smooth communication with superiors and subordinates, non-academic knowledge was also demanded. If you could fully utilize your skills, it would be a plus in many cases, without a doubt.
Offense
Select the category and difficulty. Nominate a student and attack.
Attack limit
There is no limit to the number of consecutive student nominations. It is also possible to continuously choose the same category.
Nominate five students of the target defensive class to the officer in charge within three minutes of starting.
※ If you cannot meet the time limit, the number of people who could not be nominated will be determined randomly.
List of possible categories for question
Literature, History, Science, Society, Sports, Entertainment, Music, Economics, General Knowledge, English, Mathematics, News, Kanji, Life, Gourmet, Subculture
Difficulty level
Three levels, from one to three. (The higher the number, the greater the difficulty)
Target number
Five people
Indeed, as the school had mentioned, it covered a wide variety of topics.
The choice of category alone was divided into 16 choices.
"The attacking class will first select a genre from among these—”
“Aren't others simply going to present high difficulty levels?"
During Chabashira-sensei's explanation, this seemed to have unintentionally slipped out of Ike’s mouth.
Uttering such, he hurriedly covered his mouth, but it was already too late.
In the awkward silence that followed, he timidly looked up at Chabashira-sensei.
While there was a strong negative impression around interrupting someone mid-explanation, Chabashira-sensei, albeit sighing, didn’t seem too harsh on him.
"Be careful with your careless remarks, Ike."
"Y-yes, I'm sorry!"
"The attacking class will select the difficulty level after choosing the category. The basic level is the average difficulty of the first stage. The second and third stages with higher difficulties can also be chosen, but to do so, you need to consume the points that you have acquired. For every point you hold, you can increase the difficulty level by one stage."
The special exam rules began to be broken down little by little.
Apparently, the attacking side was not just about choosing a category.
"The attacking side will nominate five people from the defending class and give a problem. It doesn't matter if the same student is continuously nominated, or if it's changed. The same applies to categories."
There seemed to be no restrictions at all on the nomination of students and the category selection. Whether to aim at an unspecified majority or to continuously target a specific student—it was all at the discretion of the attacking side.
"But what if the opponent's class is aware of the categories we’re weak in..."
It wasn’t unreasonable to immediately come to that conclusion.
If we’re consistently attacked in areas we aren’t good at, the probability of getting all the questions wrong wouldn’t be low.
"I understand feeling uneasy, but this isn't a special exam that specifically requires you to overcome your weak subjects ahead of time. In this special exam, individual knowledge is important, but it also becomes crucial how well the class understands each other. It isn't just about taking on the given tasks indifferently, but there's a system where, at times, a leader can protect students and decide when to attack based on the situation."
Defensive side
By the leader's nomination, up to five individuals can be protected for each task. If a student, who was nominated to be protected, is within the five individuals nominated by the attacking side, they will be treated as if they answered correctly.
Within three minutes after the attacking side has finished their task, the leader shall nominate five individuals from their class and declare it to the officer in charge.
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