A week had passed since the start of the Special Exam, where each class could choose their own events. By now, all classes had submitted their ten selected events.
That morning, during the homeroom meeting, Chabashira-sensei announced the ten events chosen by Class A as their lineup:
International chess, Go, tennis, billiards, 100-meter sprint, chemistry test, English test, math test, dodgeball, and relay race.
Class D's reaction upon hearing this was a mixed bag of relief and anxiety.
On the bright side, thanks to the intel provided by Hikigaya, most of the events had already been predicted in advance, giving them some degree of mental preparation.
On the downside, knowing in advance didn't help all that much.
Especially when it came to international chess and Go, there were hardly any students in the class who could even participate, let alone compete.
"Well, at least they didn't go all-in on written tests. That said, Class A must be extremely confident in their athletic abilities too. Don't forget, they took first place in the sports festival. Not opponents we can beat easily."
Horikita's comment earned widespread agreement among her classmates. Unlike Class C, known mainly for sports, or Class B, infamous for being bookworms, Class A was the total package—both brains and brawn.
You could tell just by looking at their selection—it practically covered every angle.
The only event Class D felt they might have a decent shot at winning… was karaoke. The rest of the list just seemed increasingly dreadful.
Still, despite all that, Horikita secretly let out a small sigh of relief.
The situation wasn't as dire as it could've been. Even though Class A had chosen three written exams, they were based on total class score, requiring five, six, or seven participants each, and the winner would be determined by cumulative performance.
Which meant Class D still had a decent shot.
If things had gone like Hikigaya had warned—say, Class A chose five academic exams as their main focus, each with ten or more participants—it would've turned into a pure academic brawl between the two classes.
For Class D, that would've been the real nightmare.
In that scenario, their only hope would've been for their own chosen events to be randomly selected more often.
But depending on luck was not a viable strategy.
Every time Horikita thought about it, she felt genuinely grateful that Hikigaya wasn't in Class A.
If he were, just that one strategy alone would've left Class D completely defenseless.
At that moment, Yukimura spoke up.
"Horikita, don't you think it's about time we start gathering intel seriously?"
"…You mean trying to find out which events Class A will ultimately submit?"
"Exactly. Honestly, any one of those ten events could end up being the final choice. If we don't dig up some information, our odds of winning are slim."
Easier said than done.
Class A would undoubtedly keep everything tightly under wraps. There was a high chance they'd come up empty-handed, wasting precious practice time in the process.
But Horikita didn't want to kill anyone's motivation, so she offered a tactful response.
"I understand how you feel, but it's hard for me to make a decision right now. Let me at least finalize our upcoming plans first."
With that, she started writing Class D's ten selected events on the blackboard.
Following Hikigaya's advice, the original draft had been heavily revised.
Basketball, English, typing skills, archery, and shogi remained unchanged. The rest were swapped out for Japanese language, mathematics, social studies, girls' swimming, and karate.
That's right—Class D deliberately chose four written exams.
Of course, Horikita had already explained the reasoning behind this to the class.
First, while it might seem like the two classes had overlapping choices, the rules for the events were completely different.
For Class A, the written exams were judged by total score. For Class D, however, the winner would be whoever scored the highest individual score.
In other words, if one of Class D's events got picked, they only needed to send out a top performer. The rest could be filled out with the class's worst students.
Class D was extremely polarized in terms of ability. They had a few standout elites, but their numbers were few. Class A, on the other hand, was more balanced overall.
So these rules were clearly in Class D's favor.
Secondly—and this was the key reason—each of those four subjects required at least fifteen participants.
The goal was to make sure everyone in the class got to compete at least once, triggering the condition that allowed a student to participate in a second event.
For example, if Sudō took part in the first match, he wouldn't be able to compete again under normal circumstances. But if every other student had already appeared in a match at least once, he'd be eligible to enter again.
No way around it—if Class D wanted to win, they had to find ways to reuse their limited star players.
Also, the swimming event had been changed to girls' swimming… which was a clever little trick.
Sure, Onodera was a strong swimmer, but she might not win against male competitors. So they restricted the event to female participants.
This was entirely within the rules. Almost all sports events could be gender-segregated—as long as they cited Olympic standards, the school had no reason to object.
The other classes hadn't thought of this loophole.
As for the karate event, that was nothing more than a red herring.
But to fool Class A, they couldn't just put it on the list and call it a day.
That job was given to Ayanokōji.
There were quite a few students in the class who were useless in practically every event. So during the lead-up to the exam, Ayanokōji would be in charge of training them—and more importantly, making sure to practice in highly visible locations.
Kanzaki from Class A had martial arts experience. Back when Hikigaya had been training with Horikita, they often ran into him at the gym. That's how he learned about his background.
If they could successfully mislead Class A, Kanzaki might end up wasting time coaching some of his classmates instead.
Not to put it too bluntly, but even if the ploy failed, there'd be no real loss. Those Class D students were dead weight anyway—if they went up, it'd just be as cannon fodder.
But Kanzaki was a core member of Class A. If they could tie him up in this, it would be a huge win.
By the way, Ayanokōji originally had no intention of accepting this task and came up with all sorts of excuses to dodge it.
But like Hikigaya said—unless he was willing to step up as commander, he had no right to refuse Horikita's request.
So in the end, he had no choice but to pinch his nose and take it on.
Thanks to their earlier predictions, Class D already had candidates lined up for most of Class A's events.
There were only two that still left Horikita completely stumped.
"…Just to double-check—besides Miyake-kun and Ayanokōji-kun, is there anyone in this class who's ever played Go or international chess?"
Silence.
No one responded.
Seeing that, Horikita let out a sigh. "Yeah, that hit a nerve… Is anyone willing to learn international chess from Ayanokōji-kun?"
The moment she said that, Ayanokōji quickly raised his hand.
"Hey, hey, Horikita. Don't forget I'm already in charge of karate."
"No problem. You still have your evenings free."
"But—"
"Or what? Are you planning to go out and party tonight?"
"…You're impossible."
He was completely unwilling, but there was no way he could refuse this ridiculous task shoved onto him.
The so-called "masterpiece" was now being bossed around by none other than little Miss Horikita, all because he didn't want to be the commander or risk expulsion.
"So, anyone willing to volunteer?"
Horikita honestly had no idea how good Ayanokōji actually was at chess—it was all just a shot in the dark.
Unfortunately, even if she could wrangle Ayanokōji into cooperating, the rest of the class wasn't so easily convinced.
Everyone suddenly developed selective hearing, pretending they hadn't heard a thing. Not a single person stepped forward.
Left with no choice, Horikita decided to call on someone directly.
"Then… Hikigaya-kun."
"…Huh?"
Hikigaya, who'd been hiding in a corner watching the chaos unfold, had never expected his name to be called.
Caught completely off guard, he could feel the weight of the entire class's gaze shift toward him. Internally, he couldn't help but curse Horikita for dragging him into this out of nowhere.
"Wait, hold on—what do you even want from me all of a sudden?"
He was nothing but confused.
"You're good at shogi, right?" Horikita replied matter-of-factly. "So I figured, maybe you also have some experience with Go or international chess?"
"…Those are completely different games, you know."
Sure, technically, he did know how to play them—just barely. But his skill in either was nothing to write home about, and he had no desire to make a fool of himself in front of everyone.
Plus, the leap from Horikita's logic to her conclusion was completely absurd.
Where the hell had she even pulled that from?
"Well, they're all board games, so I figured someone with experience might pick it up faster… Anyway, I'd like you to learn from Ayanokōji-kun. Can I count on you?"
Of course you can't!
Repeat that again—sure, it's all board games, but these three types are completely unrelated!
Still, it wouldn't be great to reject her outright, especially since Hikigaya had already promised Horikita that he'd help out as much as he could in this exam.
…What a pain.
"Horikita, I think you need to change your approach."
"Change my approach?"
"Put simply, you should just give up on Go and international chess."
"But…"
Horikita had considered that.
But doing so felt like surrendering before even stepping onto the battlefield—it was a bitter pill to swallow.
"I get that we're short on time," Horikita said hesitantly. "A week's worth of practice probably won't get us very far, but I still think it's worth trying. What if, by some chance—"
"There is no 'what if.'"
Hikigaya cut her off with a shake of his head.
"When it's time to give up, you give up. And it's not just me—honestly, I wouldn't recommend anyone waste time on this. The core issue is: it's just not worth it."
"Not worth it?"
"Any student who can somehow make massive strides in chess in just one week… is probably also capable of getting great results in other events."
In truth, Hikigaya was already putting it very tactfully.
He knew Ayanokōji was exceptionally skilled at chess. If he were the one teaching, and if the students were smart—like Horikita or Yukimura—then maybe, just maybe, they could be molded into decent players within a week.
But the problem was, those kinds of promising students were almost always top academic performers.
No matter how good Ayanokōji was, it's not like he could turn just anyone into a chess prodigy.
In short, it doesn't matter how much time you waste on someone who can't be put on the frontlines.
But you should never gamble your limited firepower on uncertain outcomes.
Seeing that the others didn't quite seem to grasp the point, Hikigaya decided to give an example.
"Let's say, during the exam, we draw Class A's Japanese language test. There are seven total participants. But our class can only field six students with top scores. In that case, should we keep me in reserve for a possible chess match and send in a mediocre student for Japanese, gambling on a win… or should we give up on chess entirely and have me enter the Japanese exam so we can secure a solid victory there?"
"Hmm…"
Horikita touched her chin, a contemplative look on her face.
"If we go with the first option, there's a good chance we lose both the Japanese test and the chess match… But even if we go with the second, there's no guarantee we'll win the Japanese test, right?"
"Well, that's just how it is." Hikigaya shook his head. "If we can't win even with an all-star lineup, it means our class never had a chance from the start—no amount of struggling is going to change that."
"…You're right."
Though his words were discouraging, Horikita couldn't deny their truth.
Removing Ayanokōji and Kōenji from the picture, selecting seven students with decent grades was already pushing Class D to its limits.
There was no more left to squeeze out.
"Think about it, Horikita. Do you think Class A is going to have Shibata suddenly start training in archery?" Hikigaya continued patiently. "Even if archery is chosen, they'll probably just drop it too. So why should we waste time cramming at the last minute? Wouldn't it be better to spend our training time on events we're confident in?"
Whether it was Go, international chess, or archery, all of them required extensive practice well in advance.
Class A probably already knew Miyake was in the archery club. Even if they didn't yet, they'd likely find out once the event choices were made. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that dropping it would be the better play.
There was no point wasting time on something that gave them no edge.
"…Alright. You make a good point."
With a sigh, Horikita finally relented and agreed to drop both Go and international chess.
But right after that, she arched an eyebrow. "Say, Hikigaya-kun, what you said did make a lot of sense… but why do I get the feeling you were mostly just trying to avoid trouble and used all that logic as an excuse?"
"…That's not true."
Hikigaya averted his gaze, clearly flustered… because, well, she was right.
No way in hell was he going to subject himself to lessons from Ayanokōji.
Seriously, no thanks.
Just imagining it gave him the creeps.
While Class D was busy preparing feverishly for the upcoming exam, Class C was also holding a strategy meeting.
After school that day, Ryūen took his crew to a karaoke lounge.
In addition to his usual inner circle—Ishizaki, Albert, and Ibuki—this time, Shīna and Kaneda were also summoned.
It was likely that Ryūen was feeling the pressure from this exam.
"Ishizaki, go order some food and drinks."
After giving the command, Ryūen slouched into the sofa and silently stared at Ibuki.
It didn't take long for Ibuki to start feeling creeped out under the gaze. She finally snapped.
"What the hell are you staring at? Got something to say, say it already."
"It's not like I want to look at you," Ryūen said with a mocking grin. "I'm just evaluating who among you might be useful in the upcoming fight… and I'm thinking it's probably not you."
"The hell did you say?! Say that again, I dare you!"
Ibuki slammed her hand on the table, glaring daggers at him.
Even in front of Ryūen, she wasn't the type to back down.
"Kuku… You get this pissed from just a few glances? Not cut out for the big leagues."
"...What the hell are you trying to say?" Ibuki rubbed her temples in irritation.
Still, she seemed to sense there was more behind his words, so she managed to hold her temper in check.
"No rush. First, I want to hear from all of you," Ryūen said, looking around at the others.
"So… what've you all gotten out of this past week? Ibuki, you go first."
"Why me?"
Grumbling, Ibuki nonetheless gave her report. "Thanks to your ridiculous orders, I've managed to make myself public enemy number one in Class B… And that annoying girl told me our class is full of idiots and we should just surrender already."
"Who said that?!" Ishizaki yelled, clearly offended.
"Honestly? She's not wrong," Ibuki replied with biting sarcasm. "Ryūen told us to find out what Class B's specialty events were. But turns out they didn't even bother hiding it—they straight-up told us it's the five written subjects. So, Ishizaki, how many points do you think you can get?"
"Huh? Well…"
"You're confident you'll even pass?"
"W-Well, we don't know if they're telling the truth, right?! And hey, we've got smart people like Shīna and Kaneda too. Who knows who'll win in the end!"
"…Idiot."
Ibuki didn't even bother engaging with that nonsense.
Unlike the simple-minded Ishizaki, she was at least clear-eyed enough to realize that Class B's chosen events were a total nightmare for Class C.
Their average scores were abysmal—by far the worst out of all four classes.
And based on Class B's rules, every written exam event required at least fifteen participants. No matter how brilliant a few individuals were, it wouldn't make a difference.
At that moment, Ryūen suddenly cut in.
"Hey, Ishizaki. You found the same thing?"
"Y-Yeah. Komiya and Kondō heard the same… Albert, you too, right?"
He turned to the large, silent figure standing like a bodyguard behind Ryūen.
Albert said nothing, but gave a small nod.
"Looks like that settles it," Ryūen chuckled darkly. "By the way, that 'annoying girl' Ibuki mentioned—that was Kamuro, right? The one close to dead-eyes… Heh. I thought with Sakayanagi out of the picture, Class B would be in chaos. Maybe someone boring like Katsuragi would take charge. But to think they'd come up with this move… I wonder whose idea it was."
His final words were laced with deeper meaning.
Ibuki didn't quite follow and said impatiently, "Even if we do figure out who planned it, what difference does it make? Shouldn't we be focusing on how to deal with it?"
"Heh heh… That's where you're wrong."
Ryūen shook a finger with a mysterious smile.
"If we can figure out whether it was Sakayanagi's idea, that'll determine what we do next."
"…What are you talking about?"
As Ibuki stared at him in confusion, Ryūen slowly laid out his plan.
Class C and Class D—two underdog classes, now struggling in their ways to survive this exam.