Chapter 188: The Identical Exam Ten Years Ago and Ten Years Later
From a long-term perspective, this was clearly a loss.
With a little over two years remaining, opposing the proposal was obviously the more advantageous choice. Without hesitation, Hikigaya voted against it.
Once the system indicated that all students had completed their voting, the result of the first question appeared on the screen.
Class 1-B: 1 vote in favor, 39 votes against.
Due to the anonymous voting system, individual choices were not displayed.
For a moment, Hondō Ryōtarō looked completely stunned. He raised his voice in confusion.
"Huh? Did I miscalculate…? Wouldn't it be more beneficial for us to directly receive 10,000 points?"
The classroom fell silent.
Hachiman hadn't expected Hondo, who usually performed at an average academic level, to make such a mistake at this moment. Fortunately, this was only a mock question, not the real exam.
Horikita let out a helpless sigh, her expression tinged with concern, and spoke: "Hondo-kun, Ike and Sudou both answered correctly."
"Huh…?" Hondo scratched his head. "Could someone explain what's going on?"
Horikita adjusted her glasses and explained calmly: "In the long run, everyone will definitely earn more points than this. From the class's perspective, individual points can be obtained through many different methods. Class points, however, are different."
"Except during special exams, class points are purely consumable. Misconduct, rule violations, or tardiness will directly deduct class points. Even though it's only five points, with all four classes being so close in rankings, and positions capable of changing at any moment, class points are far more important."
Ike flashed a smug grin: "See, Hondo? Your perspective isn't long-term enough."
Sudo nodded: "I didn't think it through as deeply as Horikita did, but even I know how important class points are."
"…Okay," Hondo replied weakly.
At this point, Class B's collective awareness had clearly taken shape.
Through a full year of cooperation, and Hikigaya's unconscious integration of the class, the overall atmosphere had improved significantly.
However, perhaps because all the first-year students had worked together during the cultural festival, everyone had subconsciously softened their sense of competition between classes.
Even so, it didn't matter.
At the very least, Class B's growth was obvious, and it was highly likely that the other three classes would reach the same conclusion and choose the same answer.
Chabashira began adding to the rules.
Due to the appearance of multiple options, all students were given a mandatory ten-minute discussion period. During this time, they were allowed to move around and talk freely.
Hikigaya once again noticed Chabashira's unusual behavior. Normally, she would explain all of the rules at once. This time, however, despite this being described as a "simple" exam, she was revealing the rules gradually, step by step. This made Hikigaya increasingly suspicious that there were still more restrictive rules yet to be announced.
Throughout the entire process, Hikigaya's thoughts were barely focused on the exam questions themselves.
After ten minutes of discussion and voting, the results were announced.
Votes in favor: 1
Votes against: 39
Sudou frowned. "Uh… wait, what's going on? Let me double-check. Did someone accidentally vote the wrong way?"
Horikita replied coldly, "If anyone has an objection, they can stand up and state their opinion. Please don't waste everyone's time."
Seeing that no one spoke up, the students exchanged confused glances.
Hachiman gently shook his head and said, "That vote was mine, Horikita…"
Horikita blinked. "?"
Sudo stared at him. "Brother, did you misclick or something?"
Hondo laughed loudly. "Hahahaha! Hikigaya, were you asleep just now?"
Yukimura adjusted his glasses. "Are you trying to prove something?"
Hikigaya nodded calmly. "That's right. I wanted to test how many hidden rules this exam has."
Chabashira's eyes flickered slightly, but she didn't comment. Instead, she simply announced another ten-minute discussion period.
Hikigaya had already realized that this exam definitely had a hidden time limit. Once that limit was reached, an unavoidable penalty would occur. And as long as the class couldn't reach unanimous agreement, either agreeing or disagreeing, the discussion could continue indefinitely.
At this school, there were far too many exams that went against common sense. Especially under these circumstances, Hikigaya's vigilance was at its peak.
After the second ten-minute discussion period, everyone had already made up their minds. They were certain they would vote in favor this time.
So...
Third round of voting.
Votes in favor: 0
Votes against: 40
Chabashira continued calmly.
"Second question. Please listen carefully."
"If you were to give one student in the class one million personal points, would you agree or disagree?"
There was almost no hesitation. Unlike the first question, this one involved a pure benefit. Under normal circumstances, no one would deliberately vote against such a proposal.
Thus...
Second question, first-round voting results:
Votes in favor: 40
Votes against: 0
Although no specific target had been designated, the points were essentially being given away for free. The outcome was obvious.
However, the second question did not end there.
Since the first round resulted in a unanimous vote in favor, the second round of the second question automatically began.
After ten minutes of discussion, each student could vote for any classmate except themselves. The order of student names on each tablet was completely randomized to prevent deliberate targeting. The student who received more than half of the votes would become the target of the second round.
In other words… It was a multiple-choice question.
However, since this was still a mock exam, Chabashira skipped the actual voting process and instead used Ike as an example.
"Please listen to the question."
"If you were to give Ike Kanji one hundred personal points, would you agree or disagree?"
Second-round voting results:
Votes in favor: 0
Votes against: 39
Excluding Ike himself, who was not allowed to vote, the result was completely unanimous.
Just moments earlier, Ike had been grinning happily at the hypothetical idea of receiving one million points. Now, however, he was so dejected that he couldn't even lift his head.
"Why… why?!" Ike cried. "How can you guys be this cruel to a classmate?!"
Kushida smiled politely. "Even if it's just a hypothetical scenario, our class is very united. We know who 'should' receive the points. But Ike, you…"
Ike slammed his desk. "Kushida! What do you mean by that?! I'm going to fight you!"
Sudou, wearing a mischievous grin, patted Ike on the shoulder: "Alright, alright. It's just an example. Those hundred thousand points aren't actually going to you."
Chabashira ignored their antics and continued explaining the rules.
"For any vote involving a specific student, if no one receives more than half of the votes within ten minutes, a student will be selected at random."
"If the class chooses 'disagree' in the first round, the second round will not be conducted."
The classroom fell into a brief silence as everyone processed this information.
Students with sharper insight, such as Hirata, Yukimura, Horikita, and Wang Meiyu, were beginning to realize that this exam was far more complex than it initially appeared.
"Third question. Please listen."
"If you were to establish a new facility in the shopping mall, which would you choose?"
"A. Restaurant
B. General store
C. Entertainment facility
D. Medical facility"
"Please make your selection."
This question had nothing to do with the class's direct interests. Moreover, with four options available, it was a true multiple-choice question. Since discussion was not allowed during the first round, the results were predictably chaotic.
Third question, first-round voting results:
A. Restaurant: 20 votes
B. General store: 5 votes
C. Entertainment facility: 15 votes
D. Medical facility: 0 votes
The realism of the results caused several students to let out dry, awkward laughs.
After the voting ended, the discussion period still did not begin. Instead, Chabashira continued explaining the rules.
"There is a critical point in this exam. When choosing an option, each student is given a sixty-second countdown timer."
"You may end the timer early by making your choice, or you may wait until the time expires. Once all students have submitted their choices, the results will be announced immediately. If you manage your time well, you can significantly reduce the overall duration."
She paused briefly before continuing.
"However… if you exceed sixty seconds, the system will not automatically choose an option for you."
"Instead, you will enter overtime."
"Each student has a total of ninety seconds of overtime for the entire exam."
"If you exceed ninety seconds of overtime in total, you will be expelled immediately."
The moment the word 'expelled' was spoken, the previously relaxed atmosphere vanished.
Hikigaya frowned slightly.
The true nature of this exam had finally been revealed.
Although it was presented as a simple supplementary test, Chabashira's expression told a very different story.
Hikigaya couldn't predict what questions would come next, but he had a strong premonition.
The school would deliberately design questions that were impossible to answer.
Questions meant to corner him, force him into overtime, and ultimately… eliminate him from the school.
With that thought in mind, Hikigaya chose A.
The results of the second round of voting were soon announced:
A. Food: 23
B. Sundries: 2
C. Entertainment: 15
D. Medical: 0
It could be said that, despite the ten-minute discussion period, most students were still focused on their own interests. As a result, the class failed to reach any real consensus.
After the second round of voting concluded, Chabashira finally announced the full rules of the exam.
"This special exam consists of only five questions, and the total exam duration is five hours."
"If all five questions are completed within the allotted time, the class will be rewarded with fifty class points. However, if even one question is left incomplete or unresolved, three hundred class points will be deducted."
"In addition, protection points obtained through immunity passes will not be effective in this exam."
"Any student who is expelled during the exam will not be able to use protection points to avoid expulsion. The only way to reverse it will be to pay twenty million personal points."
"After the exam begins tomorrow, all communication devices, mobile phones, walkie-talkies, and any similar equipment, must be removed from the examination room. Anyone who violates this rule will bear full responsibility for the consequences."
After hearing these rules, Ichinose turned her head with a worried expression and glanced at Hikigaya.
Hikigaya met her gaze and responded with a firm nod.
It was now clear that this was the so-called exam capable of reversing the fortunes of all classes.
The previous mock questions were not continued. After Chabashira left the classroom, Hirata, Horikita, Ichinose, and the others immediately gathered and began discussing countermeasures.
Everything had happened far too quickly. If the exam was starting tomorrow, then they needed to prepare for every possible contingency today.
Although the questions shown so far did not appear particularly difficult, any mistake or unexpected situation could trigger severe penalties. If that happened, Class B could easily plummet straight to Class D.
Time was extremely limited, so Horikita quickly began formulating strategies, aiming to maximize the class's rewards during the exam the following day.
---
[In the chat group…]
[Hoshinomiya and Chabashira stared at the video in front of them, both wearing stunned expressions.]
[Hoshinomiya: "I'm really curious. Will that exam question from back then appear again?"]
[Upon hearing this, Chabashira's body visibly trembled.]
[Ten years ago, her class had also faced an exam like this. Everyone had believed it would be easy, but when the fifth question appeared, their class's fate took a catastrophic turn, plunging them straight to the bottom.]
[Chabashira: "No… the school won't use that kind of question again."]
[Hoshinomiya sneered. "You're so arrogant. That's exactly what I can't stand about you. Any class is fine, but I absolutely refuse to accept you reaching Class A!"]
[Chabashira replied quietly, "We've been competing for so many years, Hoshinomiya… haven't you let it go yet?"]
[Hoshinomiya's gaze sharpened. "If the past were truly the past, there would be nothing left to say. But now that I'm a sensei at this school, it's impossible to forget."]
[Chabashira let out a helpless sigh. At this point, all she could hope for was that her students would not encounter that kind of question again.]
[Kushida: "Chabashira-sensei, I'm really curious. What exactly was your question back then?"]
[Horikita: "What kind of topic could make you regret it so deeply, Sensei?"]
[Chabashira remained silent.]
[Hoshinomiya answered in her place.]
["The original fifth question back then was: 'If one student is expelled, your class will gain one hundred class points. Do you agree or disagree?'"]
["At the time, we were third-years, and we were only a few dozen class points away from reaching Class A."]
["Because everyone came to this school with the goal of graduating from Class A, we discussed it and ultimately voted in favor."]
["And back then, your sensei was in love with a boy. They were a couple."]
["So when the class finally voted to expel that boy, Chabashira kept opposing it."]
["In the end… no one was expelled."]
["Our class was deducted three hundred class points and fell all the way to Class D."]
["And since then…"]
[Hearing this, Hikigaya suddenly recalled something Hoshinomiya had once said to him in the video.]
[At that time, she had warned him that love and friendship were not everything in this school.]
[But for Hikigaya, if he had already acknowledged a relationship as genuine, then what did it matter if they lost three hundred class points?]
[Karuizawa's lips trembled slightly, while Ichinose stood completely speechless.]
[There was no clear right or wrong in this matter. A question that appeared so simple on the surface had, at the final moment, brought such devastating consequences.]
[Hirata quickly stepped in to comfort everyone: "Don't worry. We're only first-years, we still have plenty of time. Our class has always been united, climbing from Class D to where we are now. We don't need to abandon any classmate. We'll definitely vote against it."]
[As Hirata spoke, the tension in the room gradually eased.]
[After all, they still had a long way to go, and there was no need to expel anyone at this stage.]
[For them now, this must be the easiest question to answer.]
---
Sima Zhongda, on the other hand, had placed all his plans on one student from Class 1-B and one student from Class 2-A.
At this moment, he needed to get both of them expelled before the investigation into the cultural festival concluded.
This entire exam was his creation. It was obvious that he intended to recreate the challenge from ten years ago, or perhaps something even more terrifying.
Horikita had already coordinated plans with everyone and had reached a secret agreement with Hikigaya.
For certain class-interest questions that required deliberate vote splitting, Horikita would always choose the first option, while Hikigaya would choose the second, regardless of whether the options were good or bad.
For questions that did not require vote splitting, however, there was no need to waste time. This understanding was known only to the two of them.
After a night of preparation, the exam finally arrived the next day.
The seating arrangement was completely rearranged, and Matsushita was seated next to Hikigaya.
The invigilator was still Chabashira. However, unlike ordinary academic exams, several sensei stood behind her, closely monitoring the proceedings. As the homeroom sensei, she could not afford to give any hints.
All communication devices were swiftly collected and managed by Chabashira.
Class B's situation was relatively favorable. There were only five questions, and if the difficulty level remained the same as the previous day's mock, they could finish everything in about an hour.
The bell rang.
The classroom fell silent.
As the chief examiner, Chabashira once again reiterated the rules she had explained the day before:
1. Except for the first round, where discussion is not allowed, any inconsistency in voting will trigger a mandatory ten-minute discussion period.
2. If multiple options remain after the first round, a second round of voting will be conducted, and the next question will not begin until a single option is determined.
3. Each selection has a sixty-second time limit, with an additional ninety seconds of overtime allowed. If a student fails to make a choice within this time, they will be immediately expelled, and the next round of voting will be forcibly initiated.
On the surface, the rules appeared simple.
However, because protection points against expulsion were invalid during this exam, any student who dropped out could only reclaim their position by paying twenty million personal points.
And since the rewards from the cultural festival had not yet been distributed, it was virtually impossible for any class in the school to gather that amount after such a massive loss.
The exam consisted of five questions with a five-hour time limit.
Completing all five questions would earn fifty class points.
Failing to do so would result in a deduction of three hundred class points.
And so, the unanimous special exam officially began.
---
First Question. Please listen carefully.
"For the final exam of the third semester in the first year, which class do you want to compete against?"
"If you defeat the designated class, you will receive the class points listed in parentheses as an additional reward."
"Even if class rankings change later, the class selected at this moment will remain the opponent."
Rewards:
Class A: 100 points
Class C: 25 points
Class D: 0 points
Since discussion was not allowed during the first round, everyone silently made their selections.
Hikigaya did not hesitate.
Based on his agreement with Horikita, he immediately chose the second option.
First Question, First Round of Voting
Class A: 5 votes
Class C: 21 votes
Class D: 14 votes
Since no consensus was reached, a mandatory discussion was initiated. As Chabashira gave the signal to begin, Horikita slowly stood up and was the first to present her suggestion.
"I hope everyone will choose Class C. The reason is simple. Our previous victory against Class A was largely due to luck. Although the reward points are high, they are meaningless if we don't focus on securing consistent victories."
"As for Class D, they are troublesome and offer no real rewards. Even if we win against them, it would be pointless. Therefore, the only reasonable option left is Class C."
"I know what you're worried about, Ichinose. The class you led before was undoubtedly successful, but in this school, competition is inevitable. I only hope that we can win as much as possible. Class C's methods are relatively straightforward, so even if we become opponents in the future, they won't be too troublesome to deal with."
Ichinose then stood up and said: "I've already come to terms with this. So… thank you all for your concern, but please listen to what Horikita-san said."
Since even Ichinose had expressed her support, there was nothing more to argue about, and the rest of the students raised no significant objections.
First Question, Second Round of Voting
Class A: 0
Class C: 40
Class D: 0
The decision was unanimous. The first question was completed.
Those who could have caused trouble did not do so, and the exam proceeded smoothly. As a result, the second question began immediately.
"Please listen to the next question: Where do you want to go for the school trip at the end of this semester?"
"Hokkaido, Kyoto, or Okinawa."
"Please choose."
Upon hearing the question, the entire class was momentarily stunned. Was this really an exam? The fact that such a question appeared in an official test instantly eased everyone's tension, and some students even felt as if this were a benefit deliberately provided by the school.
However, this decision was not determined by Class B alone. Even if Class B chose Hokkaido, the final destination would still depend on the option selected by the majority of the entire grade.
Second Question, First Round of Voting
Hokkaido: 18 votes
Kyoto: 3 votes
Okinawa: 19 votes
Almost immediately, as soon as the discussion period began, Ike jumped to his feet.
"Compared to freezing-cold Hokkaido, Okinawa is basically paradise! Beaches, bikinis, volleyball, and the sea!"
Shinohara instantly shot back, "What are you even thinking about?!"
Yukimura adjusted his glasses and responded calmly. "We've already experienced enough beach life on the deserted island. Compared to Okinawa, skiing and ice skating in Hokkaido are far more interesting. A true white wonderland, that's the true meaning of life."
The discussion gradually spiraled into something more and more absurd. Not knowing how to intervene, Hikigaya finally offered a suggestion.
"How about this? We send one student from each of the three options, then have them compete in overall abilities to determine the final result."
Karuizawa nodded. "I agree. That would be relatively fair."
Hirata smiled. "Yes… Hachiman's suggestion is excellent. This way, the decision will be fair."
Everyone moved quickly. Representatives were immediately selected from each group, and a competition was held. Naturally, Hachiman, who had proposed the idea and appeared to have no personal agenda, was chosen as the judge.
Finally…
Second Question, Second Round of Voting
Hokkaido: 40
Kyoto: 0
Okinawa: 0
The decision was unanimous.
(Additional note: Hachiman's most desired destination is Hokkaido.)
(End of this chapter)