Time passed as the two chatted in her mind.
After a while, Hoshinomiya-sensei, sitting in the main seat, checked the time, then tapped the table to draw everyone's attention.
She began her instructions:
"Starting tomorrow, you will all go to a school-designated room at 1:00 PM and 8:00 PM. Please be sure to introduce yourselves at your first meeting. You are not permitted to leave the room during the exam period except in special circumstances. If a special situation arises, please contact your homeroom teacher."
"Additionally, for the sake of fairness, the school will strictly adjust the list of VIPs within the groups. The school will not accept any requests for changes, regardless of whether you were chosen as a VIP or not."
"Finally, all actions such as copying, forwarding, deleting, or modifying emails sent by the school are prohibited. Please understand this clearly."
"Now, are there any other questions?" Chie Hoshinomiya asked, smiling warmly at Hiyori.
Hiyori thought for a moment, then obediently raised her hand.
"Sensei, after the exam ends but during the answer submission period, what will the school do if some people answer correctly while others answer incorrectly?"
Although she could roughly guess the answer, it was better to ask for clarity.
"Regarding that question," Chie Hoshinomiya said, her smile unwavering, "we will review the results based on the first email we receive and process it as an early submission."
"I see. I understand."
Having received the expected answer, Hiyori Shiina asked no more questions.
...
Upon leaving the room, Hiyori Shiina ran into several others.
The doors to rooms 203, 204, and 207 opened simultaneously, and the people leading the way out were all familiar faces.
Class A's Katsuragi, Class D's Hirata, Horikita, and Kushida, and Class B's Kanzaki.
Everyone found themselves standing together in front of the elevator.
While waiting, Katsuragi crossed his arms, his expression calm as he spoke.
"It seems that starting tomorrow, we'll be assisting each other as members of the same group."
Kanzaki glanced at the situation with Classes C and D and remarked thoughtfully, "Looking at this grouping, it seems the school has intentionally gathered the key figures from each class."
"If that's the case, should you really be the one from Class B here?" Katsuragi casually questioned.
As the two faced off, Hiyori Shiina's eyes met Suzune Horikita's—
"So it really is you. I was a little surprised when I saw your name on the group list," Suzune Horikita said, as if it were an offhand comment.
"It has been a while, hasn't it?" Hiyori tilted her head and asked softly, "Is your health better now, Horikita-san?"
"Thank you for your concern. I'm fine now."
During their brief exchange, the elevator doors opened.
Out walked Komiya and others from Class C, who also appeared to be coming from a briefing on the exam rules.
After exchanging greetings, Hiyori glanced back, watched them enter Room 201, and after a moment of thought, stepped into the elevator.
Back in her own room, Hiyori Shiina picked up the personal terminal from her bedside table and opened the class chat room.
As expected, she saw—
『8:20』
『Kakeru Ryūen has enabled Mute All』
『You have been made an administrator』
『Satoru Kaneda has been made an administrator』
『Kakeru Ryūen: @everyone After 8:00 AM tomorrow, send your meeting time, room number, group and member information, and VIP status to @Satoru Kaneda.』
『Satoru Kaneda: Should I create a spreadsheet? Also, with all due respect, the school's reward for the VIPs is too high.』
『Kakeru Ryūen: I trust no one will dare to disobey. I'm leaving this to you.』
『Satoru Kaneda: ...』
『Kakeru Ryūen: Also—for those who voluntarily send their VIP status to Kaneda, I'll give you 500,000 points after the exam, regardless of the outcome.』
『Kakeru Ryūen: Correspondingly, for those who don't... I trust you understand what I mean. @everyone』
『Satoru Kaneda: It's great that you can understand.』
After she finished reading the messages, Symon teased her in her mind, "See? Someone's even more anxious than you are."
Hiyori casually set down her personal terminal and asked with some curiosity, "By the way, what are your thoughts on this exam, Mr. Ghost?"
Symon feigned thoughtfulness. "Hmm... Hiyori's playtime?"
Hiyori quietly rolled her eyes.
Noticing the girl's small gesture, Symon cleared his throat and said seriously, "As I see it, this game is, to put it bluntly, a winner-take-all scenario. The possibility of cooperation doesn't exist."
Hiyori Shiina tilted her head. "But..."
"Don't be so quick to object. Let me run a simple calculation for you, and you'll understand."
Symon began with a smile, "Now, let's assume all classes cooperate to achieve a perfect ending."
"In that case, the total S-point revenue from this special exam would be 86 million."
"Don't be mesmerized by that number."
"If we divide those points equally among the four classes, each class would receive 21.5 million private points."
"Converted to class points, calculated over 30 months, that's 180 class points."
Pausing there, Symon asked with a smile, "So, what do you think of this so-called perfect ending now?"
Hiyori Shiina tilted her head down. "It does seem a bit low..."
During the Uninhabited Island Special Exam, Class C had gained 600 class points (and the corresponding private points). If she were to go through all this trouble just to get 180 points in this VIP special exam, it felt like a terrible deal.
"Very good. Now let's calculate the benefits of guessing the VIPs."
Symon continued with a smile, "That Hoshinomiya-sensei said the school would strictly adjust the VIP list to ensure fairness. This means nothing less than each class having 3 VIPs."
"Let's assume you successfully identify all the VIPs from the other classes and have your classmates send the list of all 9 names to the school."
"According to the exam rules, Class C would receive 450 class points and 4.5 million private points."
"Let's convert it all to private points."
"The total value would be—54.5 million private points."
"Even if all of Class C's VIPs are discovered by the other classes, Class C would still receive 300 class points and 4.5 million private points."
"The total value would be—40.5 million private points."
"Let's calculate it again on a per-group basis: correctly submitting a VIP yields 50 class points + 500,000 private points."
"The total value is—6.5 million private points."
"Meanwhile, painstakingly unifying the entire group yields a total profit of only 7.5 million."
"And up to this point, we haven't even calculated the hidden benefits of suppressing the class points of other classes."
At this point, Symon offered his evaluation in a calm tone, "Looking at it now, the result is crystal clear—the school appears to have given you a win-win option, but in reality, that option is just for show."
"If you were to actually pursue that so-called perfect ending, I estimate the school's overall evaluation of your year would drop by more than a single grade."
"After all—from a flock of obedient sheep, no matter how you pick and choose, the best you can hope for is to find a few shepherd dogs."
"Understand?"
Hiyori nodded obediently. "I understand~"
...
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