"Are you sure you're choosing Class A?"
"Yes."
After confirming a second time, Mashima-sensei entered the selected opponent class into the computer beside him.
Since Class A was already set to face Class D, the remaining matchup naturally became Class B versus Class C.
This decision surprised everyone, including the homeroom teachers. Even Chabashira-sensei raised an eyebrow, seemingly wanting to ask something but hesitating to do so.
"Heh, Ayanokoji, is this Suzune's decision?" Ryuuen chuckled as if he found the situation amusing. "Or perhaps, including you as the commander, all these unusual moves are part of Dead-eyes's scheme? Has he finally decided he can't stay in the shadows any longer?"
"Unfortunately, I was instructed not to say anything." Ayanokoji deflected the question with a calm tone.
"Hah, like I'd believe that."
It was only natural for them to have doubts.
No one could have predicted that the truth was far more absurd—Hikigaya, for some unknown reason, had withdrawn into his shell, leaving Class D with no choice but to randomly select a commander… and someone just had to get unlucky.
Sigh… Life is full of surprises.
Ayanokoji suddenly recalled the time on the uninhabited island when Ike had stuffed Karuizawa's underwear into his hands. If Hirata hadn't chosen to cover it up for the sake of class harmony, Ayanokoji would've been labeled an underwear thief.
This sense of helplessness was truly unpleasant.
And this time, the stakes were even higher—being framed as a thief was just social death, but now, he could face expulsion.
"Now then, to ensure the special exam proceeds smoothly, I will explain the exam system. Please direct your attention to the screen."
With Mashima-sensei's words, Chabashira-sensei began operating the computer in the room.
Immediately, the exam system's interface was displayed on the massive central screen.
"On the day of the exam, you will use these two computers in the multifunctional classroom for the match. The commander will assign students to various tasks in real-time. For instance, here is the Class A student list. You select a student's photo with the mouse and drag it into the designated event slot. If you make a mistake or need to change your selection midway, simply drag the photo out and choose again."
For students who had been exposed to electronic devices since childhood, this was hardly a challenge.
"Each event has a time limit for selection. The more participants required, the longer the selection time. You can think of it as roughly 30 seconds per person. If the selection isn't completed within the allotted time, the system will randomly assign students to the event based on the missing spots. Please take note of this."
These were simple instructions.
However, after experiencing the 'random' commander selection, Ayanokoji felt it necessary to remain cautious about whether it was truly random.
"Once the exam begins, the large screen will display the competition's progress in real-time. The commander's intervention options will be displayed as text. Let's use shogi as an example."
The screen first showed a shogi match, similar to what one might see on TV. Then, it switched to a computer interface.
A message appeared: "Paused—The commander may revise this move."
So, this was the commander's intervention ability.
"The commander's instructions will not be given through voice communication. Instead, they will be transmitted via text input, which will then be read aloud by the system and sent to the participants' earpieces. Additionally, if the commander takes an action that deviates from the allowed interventions, it may be considered a violation, resulting in an automatic loss."
Ayanokoji understood—the system was likely implemented to prevent unfair conduct. For example, in shogi, if the information was cleverly coded, one could relay moves in advance.
However, this was just the surface.
Although Mashima-sensei claimed that messages would be "directly sent" to the participants, was that the case?
A simpler way to prevent cheating would have been to assign teachers as referees on-site, just like before. There was no real need for such a convoluted system.
Something was amiss here.
"That concludes the explanation of the commander's role and its operations. Any questions?"
Mashima-sensei scanned the room, but no one raised their hand.
"In that case, today's session ends here. If any student wishes to review the system again, you may do so in the multifunctional classroom under a teacher's supervision. This option will be available until the week before the exam."
And with that, the briefing ended, and the students were dismissed.
Ryuuen approached, seemingly wanting to pry for more information.
But Ayanokoji had no time to waste on unnecessary conversations.
Before Ryuuen could say anything, he swiftly exited the room and hurried back to his class.
The good news: Hikigaya was still in the classroom.
The bad news was that he was still in a daze.
"So, Ayanokoji, how did it go?"
Horikita, who was still at the podium addressing the class's exam concerns, immediately questioned him upon his return. The other students also looked at him expectantly.
Under their hopeful gazes, Ayanokoji calmly delivered the news:
"Our opponent is Class A."
"…Huh?"
A brief silence followed.
Then, the classroom erupted into wails of despair.
"Man, Kiyotaka, your luck is absolute trash," Yukimura sighed. "I was thinking that facing Class B wouldn't be too bad, but Class A is the worst possible matchup. Not only are they naturally stronger than us, but they're also incredibly united. They never blindly overestimate themselves and always maintain a serious, steady approach. That's something no other class can match. I don't think any trick will break through their defenses… I don't see how we can win against them."
Despite his pessimistic speech, no one in the class objected. Many voiced their agreement.
To most students, Class A was the worst possible opponent.
Horikita spoke up to reassure them. "I understand your concerns, but since the decision is already made, we have no choice but to give it our all. Isn't that right?"
"I guess…"
Even so, the heavy atmosphere in the classroom did not ease immediately.
After all, the current Class A was formerly Class B at the start of the year. They had climbed their way up through sheer effort and had held onto their position firmly.
More importantly, despite experiencing setbacks, their unity had never wavered. There was no internal discord, making it nearly impossible to exploit weaknesses from within.
The class led by Ichinose had built a reputation as an unshakable fortress.
Given that, it was understandable why Class D students felt they had no chance.
"In any case, let's end it here for today. We'll resume our discussion after school tomorrow."
Noticing that the students were too distracted to continue productively, Horikita made a decisive call to dismiss the meeting.
That suited Ayanokoji just fine. Before seeking out Hikigaya, however, there was something he needed to tell Horikita.
"Horikita, I've been thinking about this, and I believe it's best to inform you now."
"Doesn't sound like good news," she replied, her sharp gaze locking onto him.
"That depends on how you define it," Ayanokoji said, lowering his voice slightly. "I was the one who drew the lot."
Everyone had assumed he hadn't. No one expected him to voluntarily choose Class A as their opponent.
But that was merely a play on people's assumptions.
If someone present at the time leaked the truth, it could cause unnecessary trouble.
So, rather than risk that, it was better to come clean to Horikita now and have her help cover for him.
"…I assume you have a reasonable explanation for this?"
After a brief moment of silence, Horikita's sharp eyes met his, a hint of irritation in her expression.
Ayanokoji dispelled her anger with a single, casual remark.
"I just did the same thing as you—Paper Shuffle."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Even though she put on a good front, Ayanokoji could see right through her.
Too bad, Ayanokoji immediately exposed it: "Isn't that the case? During Paper Shuffle, our original opponent should have been Class C, but for some reason, our class ended up attacking Class B instead. Wasn't that a decision you made on your own, keeping it from the rest of the class? Or rather, to be precise, you were following Hikigaya's instructions, weren't you?"
"That's not true at all. It was just bad luck."
"Then let's go ask Chabashira-sensei right now. I'm sure she wouldn't lie to her own students."
"Uh…" Although there wasn't 100% solid proof, it seemed the guess had hit the mark.
However, Ayanokoji had no intention of pursuing the matter further. Shaking his head, he said, "Horikita, I'm not trying to bring up old issues. As long as the result is good, that's all that matters. And my reason for doing things this way this time is quite similar to yours, so I hope you can understand."
"You're saying that our class has a higher chance of winning if we take Class A as our opponent?"
Calming down, Horikita realized there was no need to be so anxious.
Or rather, the one who should be truly worried was Ayanokoji—after all, if he lost this exam, he would be expelled.
"I can't guarantee it, but I do lean toward going up against Class A."
As he spoke, Ayanokoji glanced toward the other end of the classroom, where Hikigaya was slowly packing up his bag. Matsushita was lingering beside him persistently, seemingly waiting to leave together.
"Why are you looking at Hikigaya-kun?"
Noticing Ayanokoji's gaze, Horikita suddenly seemed to realize something and lowered her voice to ask, "Don't tell me… this is Hikigaya-kun's plan again?"
"I'll leave that to your imagination."
Ayanokoji neither confirmed nor denied it.
After all, it was just something Horikita had speculated on her own—if there were any mistakes, the responsibility would be hers.
"But no matter how you look at it, that's impossible." Horikita deliberately let out a heavy sigh.
"There's no way Hikigaya-kun would work with you. He already dislikes you enough as it is. The idea of you two collaborating is beyond even imagination."
"You never know."
"Heh, what a ridiculous joke."
Horikita's expression clearly showed her displeasure.
It was the same look she had when she saw her older brother showing more interest in others than in her… truly an amusing sight.
But now wasn't the time to tease Horikita.
"Anyway, I need you to do me a favor—get Matsushita away from Hikigaya. If possible, also make sure Kushida or anyone else doesn't come over to bother him."
"What a joke. Why should I help you?" Horikita was still sulking.
"Don't you want to win this exam?" Ayanokoji immediately targeted her weak spot. "Besides, Hikigaya staying like this isn't a solution either. Maybe I can convince him to get back on his feet."
"Hmph… You just want him to take over as the strategist, don't you?"
Despite her words, Horikita's tone had softened a little.
"But let me warn you first—although the rules allow for substitutions, the student being replaced won't be able to participate at all… Wait, don't tell me you planned this just so you could slack off?"
"That's a misunderstanding."
Seeing Horikita's skeptical look, Ayanokoji quickly explained, "Putting aside the issue of protection points, I simply think Hikigaya might be the most effective weapon against Ichinose… You understand, don't you?"
"…That's an unpleasant way to put it."
"Sometimes, you have to use any means necessary to win. And even if it doesn't work, getting Hikigaya back in shape is still a good thing. There's no harm in letting me try."
"…Sigh. Fine."
Horikita didn't explicitly say whether she agreed or not, but she picked up her bag and walked toward Hikigaya.
Not long after, she dragged a reluctant Matsushita out of the classroom, the latter glancing back repeatedly as she left.
This helped a lot.
Silently thanking Horikita in his heart, Ayanokoji quietly followed behind Hikigaya, who was walking home alone, tailing him out of the school.
However, perhaps because he was wearing glasses, the rate at which girls turned to look at him was unusually high.
Some even seemed like they wanted to approach him.
Helpless, Ayanokoji had no choice but to step out from the shadows and stare at them intently on purpose, successfully scaring off those meddlesome women. [T/N: Ayanokoji is kinda sus! Don't tell me- 😘]
…But why were they looking at me like I was some kind of pervert?
At that moment, Hikigaya suddenly stopped in his tracks ahead.
Ayanokoji also halted, watching as the other turned around and said irritably, "You've been following me this whole time. What exactly do you want?"
"So you noticed."
"No shit, it's not like I'm blind… Ugh."
Hikigaya weakly waved his hand, looking completely drained.
"I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now. Go bother someone else."
"In that case, I'll just walk you back."
"…Huh?"
"I'm heading back to the dorms anyway. It's just on the way," Ayanokoji added.
But rather than appreciating the gesture, Hikigaya only grew more impatient.
"You're seriously annoying…" He furrowed his brows tightly. "Let's cut the crap. You just want me to replace you as the commander, don't you? You think I wouldn't figure that out?"
"As expected of you. You're the only one I can turn to now."
Even though he was in a state of self-imposed isolation, Hikigaya's sharpness was still intact.
This left Ayanokoji with mixed feelings—while it was good that they could still communicate, someone too smart was difficult to deceive.
"Hmph, the moment I heard you got randomly chosen as the commander, I already knew… Anyway, you attended the briefing just now, didn't you? Tell me exactly what they said."
"…Alright."
Ayanokoji then repeated what he had heard from Mashima-sensei.
As expected, Hikigaya let out a cold laugh.
"I knew it… Hah."
He suddenly glanced over and said something strange. "Hey, Ayanokoji, have you ever gambled before?"
"If you mean casinos, then no, but I do know the rules of most games."
In reality, Ayanokoji was quite the expert.
Almost all forms of gambling were closely tied to mathematics. There was even a movie called Rain Man that depicted such a scenario, and in real life, many skilled mathematicians had been blacklisted by casinos.
"But I don't quite see how this relates to what we're talking about."
"It's completely relevant," Hikigaya smirked maliciously. "But I'm not talking about casinos. I mean online gambling—scam gambling."
"Online gambling…?"
"Yeah. No matter how smart you are, if you gamble online, you'll only end up losing everything. Because online gambling isn't gambling—it's just fraud."
Hikigaya hit the nail on the head, exposing Ayanokoji's predicament.
"The problem you're facing right now is the same. This exam is entirely graded by the system, and even the commander's instructions have to be transmitted through it. In other words, it's just like online gambling. As long as someone tweaks a few numbers behind the scenes, they can control any outcome they want."
"…I can't deny that possibility."
As expected of Hikigaya. With just a few words, he had grasped the entire picture.
Even Ayanokoji couldn't help but admire him for that.
The commander's orders had to be read by a computer before they could be relayed. The reason for such a convoluted setup was likely to facilitate external monitoring—or even tampering.
If students tried to file a complaint, finding evidence would be nearly impossible.
If they wanted to, the system could outright rig the competition results.
For instance, in a language test, if the competing students had similar academic performance, the system could secretly adjust their scores. A one- or two-point difference wouldn't arouse suspicion.
While one could attempt to select competitions like basketball, where altering results would be more difficult, the final seven events were supposedly chosen randomly by the school.
"Oh yeah, remember what I told you before?"
"Which part?"
"Even if a dog became the director, it could still expel you with ease."
Hikigaya's tone was laced with ridicule—though it was unclear who exactly he was mocking.
"So yeah… Ayanokoji, this time, you're done for."