Third Semester. Thursday morning after the start of school.
All the students in the school met at the school gate and boarded buses. Several buses formed a long line and sped out of the gate, racing along the highway.
Hikigaya sat by the window, gazing outside.
This time, the school had provided no explanation or reason.
But there are no free lunches in this world; without a doubt, this was going to be a special exam.
"It's definitely going to be a special exam, right?"
Shibata, sitting in the aisle seat, spoke in a low voice.
As expected, there aren't many idiots in Class B. Shibata is at least the third-in-command of the class, and he sensed something was wrong the moment he got on the bus.
"Probably." Hikigaya's expression remained flat.
He felt an odd connection with this pure-hearted youth, though he didn't care much.
Although he felt a bit helpless regarding Ichinose, just as Kobashi Yume and the others said, there was really no other leader more suitable for Class B than her.
Kanzaki wouldn't have any issues if communication wasn't required.
Unfortunately, even if one doesn't want to admit it, this society is composed of relationships between people.
Therefore, the lack of communication skills alone is enough to disqualify many people.
"Speaking of which..."
Seeing that Hikigaya didn't seem to like that topic, the pure-hearted Shibata changed it.
"Hikigaya-kun, what did you do during the winter break? I hardly saw you at all."
"Uh..." Hikigaya's face stiffened.
Going out every day to shop with different girls was something he really couldn't bring himself to say.
"Just spent it casually."
Hikigaya looked embarrassed and leaned back against his seat, closing his eyes.
Forget it. It was better to sleep. This winter break had truly exhausted him.
Seeing this, Shibata gave up and started chatting with the person across the aisle.
After an unknown amount of time had passed...
"Hikigaya, the teacher is about to start the exam explanation."
Feeling someone nudge him, Hikigaya woke up slowly and looked up at the front of the bus.
Hoshinomiya was holding a megaphone, preparing to explain the exam.
It really was a special exam.
"This mountain school will involve an eight-day, seven-night cross-grade group activity. The special exam is called the 'Mixed Training Camp'."
"A verbal explanation might not be enough to put everyone at ease, so I'll pass out the materials now~"
Soon, Hikigaya received the exam explanation passed from the front row.
Just as he thought the teacher was going to slack off again...
"This special exam is a training camp with the primary purpose of spiritual growth. You will be based on the fundamentals of surviving in society and confirming whether you can smoothly build relationships with people you usually have no interaction with."
Hoshinomiya, the class advisor, spoke with a rare, serious expression on her pretty face.
Hikigaya couldn't help but sit up straight.
Although he wasn't good at communicating with people, if it was just a professional handover for work, Hikigaya felt he could manage it. It wasn't a huge problem.
What surprised him was Hoshinomiya's attitude; this unreliable teacher actually had such a serious side.
"After arriving at the destination, the school will ask you to separate by gender. The entire grade will hold discussions, and then you will be asked to form six small groups."
"There are minimum and maximum limits for the number of people in a group. You can check page five of the materials in your hands."
Hikigaya quickly flipped to page five.
If there are more than sixty boys in the same grade, the group size is eight to thirteen people. If more than seventy, it's nine to fourteen; if more than eighty, it's ten to fifteen.
Hikigaya wasn't sure if there had been any dropouts among the first-years, but if there were, the news would have spread throughout the school by now.
Most likely, there weren't any. So the group size would be ten to fifteen people.
Thinking that the purpose of this exam was to communicate with people one usually doesn't interact with, there would likely be requirements for the group's composition.
"According to the rules, as long as you stay within the size limit, you are free to team up with people from any class. However, you must mix at least two classes or more. Most importantly, the group composition must reach a unanimous consensus through discussion, with no one objecting."
"As group members, you will attend classes, cook, wash clothes, bathe, and sleep together. You will spend all aspects of daily life together."
Hmm. If it was just to this extent, Hikigaya didn't think it was that difficult.
It was like a model business trip; you have no choice over housing or food and just have to listen to the superior.
What a garbage school.
Class B didn't seem to have any issues; except for a few people, most had no problem communicating with other classes.
The few exceptions could be assisted by teaming up with classmates. No problem there.
"Regarding the results of the special exam, they will be determined by a comprehensive exam held on the last day of the mountain school. It's recorded on page seven of the materials; please read it first."
Hikigaya flipped to the page. Hoshinomiya's serious attitude made him feel inexplicably uneasy.
Morality, mental discipline, discipline, autonomy. The evaluation items were all vague things like that.
Specific projects would wait until the last day.
Waking up, morning assignments, Zen meditation in the dojo, cleaning, breakfast, classroom learning, lunch, afternoon learning, Zen meditation, dinner, bathing, and sleeping.
It didn't seem hard at all.
Hikigaya looked at Hoshinomiya with a slightly resentful gaze. Could she stop being so cryptic? This serious Hoshinomiya was making him a bit scared.
"After the first-year students establish six small groups, they will merge with the small groups formed by the second and third-years. In short, a large group of about thirty to forty-five people from the first through third years will eventually be completed."
"The results will be evaluated based on the average test scores of the members of these six large groups. In other words, the performance of other grades will also have a significant impact."
This was something Hikigaya felt didn't need much concern.
After all, there was the age factor. While it couldn't be ruled out that there were idiots in the upper grades, they had at least one more year of learning. Even the worst second-year Class D should be stronger than the first-year Class D.
Rather than considering the upper grades, it was better to consider how to avoid first-year Class D.
But... Hikigaya looked up at the pink-gold hair in front of him.
Class B and Class D were in a cooperative relationship...
"And then there are the rewards. For the classes that rank first to third in average scores, the school will give rewards in Class Points and Private Points. Those from fourth to last will have points deducted."
Base rewards:
First place: 10,000 Private Points; 3 Class Points.
Second place: 5,000 Private Points; 1 Class Point.
Third place: 3,000 Private Points.
The above rewards will be distributed to every student in that large group.
Fourth place: Deduction of 5,000 Private Points.
Fifth place: Deduction of 10,000 Private Points; 3 Class Points.
Sixth place: Deduction of 20,000 Private Points; 5 Class Points.
"The exam has a reward multiplier."
"There is a mechanism where rewards increase according to the number of classes in the group."
"If the total number of people in the group is high, the reward ratio will increase even further."
"These rules only apply to the top three ranks; they don't apply to the deductions for fourth place and below, so you can rest easy~"
Hearing this, Hikigaya was somewhat moved.
Clearly, the school was encouraging them to cooperate across multiple classes and with more people.
Rewards could double, but punishments would not. This was practically a windfall.
"Next."
Hoshinomiya Chie's face became even more solemn.
"There will be a severe penalty for the large group that finishes last. If the group's average score falls below the threshold prepared by the school, the group leader will be expelled."
So that was it.
Hikigaya suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.
They had to fall below the school's average; as long as one didn't intentionally boycott the exam or get framed, exceeding the school's average shouldn't be hard.
Hoshinomiya had made it sound so serious that he almost thought something huge was happening.
However, even the unreliable Hoshinomiya, who didn't care about Class A, would get serious when there was a possibility of a dropout in her class.
Maybe she was a decent teacher.
"How is the leader decided then?"
"You will be asked to discuss and choose a leader within your small groups."
Hoshinomiya Chie was more serious than ever: "Although the leader faces expulsion, there are benefits. For students in the same class as the leader, the rewards will be doubled."
"The leader must be decided by the morning of the day before. If a group cannot decide on a leader, that group will immediately lose eligibility for the exam, and everyone in it will be forcibly expelled."
"Additionally, if a leader is expelled, they can command one person in the group to be expelled with them as joint responsibility—essentially dragging someone down with them."
This...
Hikigaya was momentarily stunned.
He definitely wasn't going to be the leader, but if someone were to drag him down... well, probably not.
As long as he did his best, no one would likely drag down a "salted fish" like him.
Safe!
"Teacher?"
Ichinose's voice rang out from the front. "Although I think it would be difficult, if someone becomes a leader, couldn't they just arbitrarily take down the leader of another class? The school surely wouldn't allow that to happen, right?"
"Exactly."
Hoshinomiya Chie smiled and patted her head.
"Only if the school recognizes that the specific student is one of the reasons the score fell below the threshold can they be targeted for 'joint responsibility'."
"As long as you don't intentionally fail or boycott the exam, there won't be any problems."
Hmm? Hikigaya frowned.
Intentionally failing was easy enough to understand, but how would the school judge if a student was boycotting the exam?
After all, this was a mountain school; it was impossible to have cameras everywhere. Wasn't this a loophole?
Seeing that no one around him had questions, Hikigaya didn't ask further.
Perhaps his thoughts were just too dark again.
After all, it was unlikely someone would deliberately drag another person down.
And such problems were easy to solve anyway, so there was no need to worry.
"One last important thing: any class that has a dropout will receive a corresponding penalty. The penalty content always changes with the exam."
"If a dropout appears in this special exam, 100 Class Points will be deducted for each person. If Class Points are insufficient, they will be cleared from future point additions until the debt is paid, keeping the balance at zero until then."
"That concludes the explanation. If you have questions, you can ask me anytime~"
Hoshinomiya Chie blinked her beautiful eyes, returning to her usual unreliable expression.
As soon as she finished speaking, Hikigaya saw Ichinose stand up gallantly.