At 6:25 PM, Houtarou arrived at Room 204 five minutes early, following the instructions on his phone.
He wasn't alone — two others were also participating in this exam: Shigeru and Kōji, both members of Kōhei's faction.
Shigeru was slightly overweight, while Kōji was thin and tall, standing about 5 centimeters taller than Houtarou.
According to information gathered by Honami and Kikyō, this was an exam for all students. Groups entering each room varied between 3 and 4 people, with 4 being the maximum.
For this 6:30 time slot, only the three of them were scheduled to enter Room 204.
Ding Dong—
Shigeru, being a Class A student, promptly rang the doorbell upon arrival.
This was the same person who had lent Houtarou an umbrella to follow Honami during the rainstorm on the island, as Masumi had told him.
"Come in—" aalled a deep, energetic voice.
The voice was familiar to all Class A students — it belonged to their homeroom teacher, Tomonari.
Shigeru and Kōji exchanged glances, then looked at Houtarou, who stepped forward to open the door.
The room's layout came into clear view.
It was reasonably sized, about 30 square meters. Among the many folding chairs along one side, only five were set up — Tomonari, dressed in a suit, occupied one while the others stood empty.
Based on the information compiled by Honami, Masumi, and Kikyō about all classes, only the three Class A students were scheduled for this time slot.
Yet Tomonari had prepared 4 chairs, despite there being only 3 of them.
As Class A's homeroom teacher, he was meticulous — similar to what Kōhei might become when older, avoiding unnecessary actions.
The extra chair was likely for students from other classes who would arrive later. This made sense.
The room would be used for multiple announcements, with students divided into groups.
This raised a question: with announcements being made to only 3 or 4 people at a time, wouldn't this batch-style examination take too long?
Houtarou noticed another detail — Tomonari held only documents, with no pen in hand and none provided for students. This wouldn't be a written exam.
Was this exam targeting only the three Class A students?
"Take your seats." Tomonari said.
Houtarou took out his phone and dialed the homeroom teacher's number from his contacts.
『 The number you have dialed is currently switched off— 』
The message confirmed the phone was powered off.
"For the exam, phones must be set to vibrate or turned off. Photography is prohibited during this exam." Tomonari said.
"Sorry." Houtarou said, switching his phone to vibrate mode. Moments later, his phone vibrated with a message.
| Suzune Horikita — Lone Girl |
| Chabashira-sensei's phone is unreachable, it's turned off. |
The message was from Suzune, though Houtarou had already anticipated this result. Like Tomonari, Sae's phone being unreachable suggested she was conducting similar exam duties. All teachers had likely turned off their phones to prevent interference.
This confirmed that the teachers were committed to testing students in small groups, despite the logistical complexity.
Was such complexity necessary?
Houtarou pondered this as Tomonari checked the time. At 6:30 PM, the teacher distributed documents from his stack. He had four papers, and after handing out three, he set the remaining one aside.
"Well then — This will be a special examination. The school has divided the entire first year into twelve groups. We will conduct the exam within these groups. The group assignments and exam rules have now been distributed to you. This exam's focus is on testing Thinking ability. So I won't say much more."
His brevity implied students would need to reason things out themselves. "Thinking ability" meant exactly that — the capacity for analytical and deep contemplation.
Houtarou examined his paper. The first section listed the group members:
Class A: Shigeru Takemoto, Kōji Machida, Houtarou Oreki
Class B: Honami Ichinose, Tetsuya Hamaguchi, Ryōta Beppu
Class C: Mio Ibuki, Shiho Manabe, Nanami Yabu, Saki Yamashita.
Class D: Akito Miyake, Kei Karuizawa, Hideo Sotomura, Teruhiko Yukimura
Students had been selected from each class, with some classes having three members and others four. With the first-year total of 160 students split into twelve groups, each group would contain 13-14 members.
The 12 groups were named after the zodiac: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.
{T/N: I thought about making this more Western with our zodiac signs, but I remembered they are Asian and practically everyone uses this Chinese zodiac. But for those curious: Rat (Sagittarius), Ox (Capricorn), Tiger (Aquarius), Rabbit (Pisces), Dragon (Aries), Snake (Taurus), Horse (Gemini), Goat (Cancer), Monkey (Leo), Rooster (Virgo), Dog (Libra) and Pig (Scorpio)}
Houtarou's group was Rabbit. He had known all the member information beforehand, except for the Class C students.
As he held the paper with both hands, he noticed it was double-sided — the texture revealing text on the reverse.
{ This examination is based on the "Privileged Person" assigned to each group.
1 - The school will send a unified email notification to students at 8 AM tomorrow. Those selected as "Privileged Persons" will be informed of their selection at this time.
2 - The exam period runs from tomorrow until 9 PM three days later.
3 - Group members must gather in designated rooms twice daily, from 9–10 AM and 8–9 PM, for one-hour discussions. Students who do not cooperate will have Points deducted from their Class Points.
4 - Discussion content is entirely up to the group's discretion.
5 - Students may submit answers at any time during the exam period. Each person may answer only once. Once an answer is submitted, that group's exam ends immediately. Only answers submitted between 9:30–10 PM on the third day will not affect Class Points.
6 - The school will only accept answers submitted via students' personal phones to the designated email address.
7 - "Privileged Persons" are not authorized to submit answers via email.
8 - Answers submitted for zodiac groups other than one's own will be considered invalid.
9 - The school will email detailed exam results to all students at 11 PM on the final day. }
The rules this time were much more numerous than those on the uninhabited island.
Houtarou immediately began organizing what he knew.
The school would send a message to students at 8 AM tomorrow, announcing who had been selected as privileged persons. One student from each of the 12 groups would be randomly chosen as a privileged person, making them special entities within their groups.
The setup resembled a mole game — group members would try to identify their privileged person to earn rewards or avoid punishments. The process had several intriguing aspects.
At the final deadline (9:30–10 PM on the third day), if everyone correctly identified the privileged person and worked together — with all members except the privileged person submitting correct answers — each person would receive 500,000 Points, while the privileged person would receive 1 million Points (Each group member 500K, privileged person 1M).
However, if during this final period anyone answered incorrectly or if submissions weren't unanimous, only the privileged person would receive 500,000 Points (Privileged person alone receives 500K).
Answers submitted during this final period would not affect Class Points, positively or negatively.
There was also the option for early answers.
Throughout the three-day exam period, answers could be submitted at any time. However, these early submissions would affect points both positively and negatively.
For correct early answers: If students identify another class's privileged person during this period, they receive 500,000 Points and their class gains 50 Class Points. The identified privileged person's class loses 50 Class Points (Class +50 points, individual 500K, privileged person's class -50 points).
But what happens with incorrect guesses?
When someone guesses wrong, their class loses 50 Class Points. The actual privileged person receives 500,000 personal points, and their class gains 50 Class Points (Wrong-guessing class -50 points, privileged person 500K, privileged person's class +50 points).
The setup resembled the leader-guessing game from the uninhabited island, but with a twist — this time, the "leader" was called a privileged person. The name made sense, given that they could earn points in every scenario except when identified early.
Unlike before, the school — not the students — would choose the privileged person, announcing their selection at 8 AM tomorrow.
Tomonari added, "The written materials will be collected immediately after you leave the room, so take notes now if necessary. You have 15 minutes."
The exam's "thinking" label was fitting — it featured complex rules, batch notifications, a mole-hunting game, and groups drawn from all four classes.
Houtarou sat with his hand supporting his chin, deep in thought.
When Kōji and Shigeru heard about the 15-minute note-taking limit, they began frantically memorizing everything, sweat beading on their foreheads.
This showcased Class A's top students' strength — when faced with complex rules, they'd memorize first and analyze later.
After all, they had three full days to think it through.
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