Starting in class C: not completely defective.

Arc 10 chapter 1: even selection exam explanation

It was March 8th.
In class A, Sakagami was about to begin the final special exam of the first year of school. There were thirty-nine chairs and desks for each of the students in class A. There had been forty chairs and desks just up until a little while ago, of course, but now one was missing.

Manabe Shiho had been expelled.

It wasn't just class A, either. Yamauchi from class D and Yahiko from class B had been expelled as well. There was no doubt the event had been a huge shock to the first-years. "There must be some way to save them," everyone had thought, in the back of their minds. But now that thought had been shattered.

The days continued to March forward without stopping, without the students recovering from their shock and heartbreak. At the same moment that the bell signalling the start of homeroom sounded, Sakagami strode into the room. There was no idle chit-chat in the classroom.

"...well, then. Without further ado, I'll announce the details of the final special exam for your first year," said Sakagami, launching into his explanation for the exam.

I'd known things would end up this way, but I didn't hear a single word about Manabe. Yabu and Yamashita, her best friends, were probably trying their absolute hardest to accept the reality of the situation.

"In the final special exam, you will be asked to show the culmination of everything you've learned over this past year. Intelligence, physical ability, cooperation, and luck. You'll need to demonstrate your potential in every field. This special exam is called the 'Event Selection Exam." The classes will compete with another, based on their overall performance. Which class you will be facing off against will be decided according to the rules. This will be just like the Paper Shuffle."

I hadn't been here for that exam. I got the general gist though.

"To make it easier for you to understand what I'm saying, I'm going to use these ten white cards and a number of yellow cards, which correspond to the number of people in class."

As Sakagami spoke, he started lining cards up on the blackboard. Each card was roughly the same size as a regular playing card. While the ten white cards seemed blanked, the yellow cards, on the other hand, had one student's name on each of them.

A total of forty-eight cards had been placed up on the blackboard. If the number of yellow cards was meant to match the number of students in our class, though, then she was short one card. I wondered if that meant something.

"First, I'll explain what these ten blank white cards are about. On these cards, you will be asked to list a total of ten separate 'events' that you have jointly discussed and decided upon. These can be anything you want. A written exam. Shogi. Cards. Baseball. You can go ahead and write whatever events you think you can win at. Also, you'll have to establish rules for the events and how to decide who wins.

"Huh? So, we're free to pick whatever?"

Even though Sakagami had just told us we could write in anything we wanted, it seemed like the message hadn't quite sunk in for some students.

"You are free to choose whatever you like, but there are some rules to follow when deciding which events you settle on. For instance, if you choose an obscure sport or some kind of game that not many people had heard of, then no one aside from the person who proposed the event stands much of a chance of winning. Moreover, the rules of the event must be fair and easy to understand. Therefore, after an event is submitted, the school will judge whether it is appropriate and will be implemented."

True enough. If we picked extremely niche events like obscure sports or games, or set bizarre rules, then not many people would stand a chance of winning said events. But did we get to decide all the rules of these events?