Starting in class C: not completely defective.

Arc 10 chapter 6: the event selection exam

After a long period of preparation, the day of the final special exam for the first-year students was here. The commanders of the two losing classes would be expelled—or, more accurately, stripped of their protection points. While no one would be getting expelled, you might say the most important aspect of this exam was that class points could fluctuate significantly. Depending on the outcome, there was a significant possibility that the entire class hierarchy would be flipped.

I entered the special building and headed toward my destination. When I got there, I saw that Sakayanagi and Ichinose, who had arrived before me, were chatting. Apparently, the multi-purpose room hadn't been opened to us yet.

Ichinose looked slightly downcast. I wonder what that was about.

"Good morning, dragon boy," said Sakayanagi.

"Good morning, Ryuuen-kun!" Said Ichinose.

They both greeted me at the same time. I raised my had to give them a relaxed wave in response.

"Seems like we're not allowed in yet," I remarked.

"They told us to let them know once all four of us had arrived here," said Ichinose.

That was probably to ensure that the exam was carried out as fairly as possible. If someone were allowed to go in the multi-purpose room before everyone else, they'd be able to get a feel for the test locations perhaps even use that to calm their mind. Considering this is as a particularly unique special exam, I supposed there was no limit to how far they'd go to ensure it was fair.

Just then, my opponent came up the stairs.

"Good morning, Ryuuen-kun," said Horikita.

"Ah, Suzune. How nice of you to join us. I must say, you look as stern as ever. C'mon give us a smile, Suzune," I taunted.

She ignored me, and we entered the multi-purpose room. When we got inside, we saw a newly constructed wall that hadn't been there on the first day. It divided the room into two perfect halves. Though it was a temporary construction, it looked quite sturdy, and seemed to be quite soundproof, too. The four instructions in charge of the first-year classes were lined up, waiting for us.

"Class B and class C representatives, please move over to the other side," said Chabashira-sensei.

As per her instructions, Ichinose and Sakayanagi went over to the other side of the wall, disappearing from view. Sakagami followed them. We, the commanders of class A and class D, were guided by class B's Mashima-sensei and class C's Hoshinomiya sensei. It seemed the teachers had been put in charge of classes other than their own.

"The exam will begin in five minutes, so take this time to mentally prepare yourselves, okay?" Hoshinomiya-sensei advised us, before going off to have what looked like a final talk with Mashima-sensei.

Suzune and I had a little bit of time alone before the exam started. Just the two of us.

"*insert sexually harassing comment here*?" I asked politely

"Kill yourself."

"All right! The exam is just about to begin. Please take your seats!" Said Hoshinomiya-sensei.

In response to her instructions, Suzune and I sat across from one another, with the computers and equipment between us. Naturally this meant we couldn't see each other's faces.

Displayed on my computer screen were pictures of the faces of everyone in class A. 38 people, excluding me. These were the people I would be assigning as participants to the events that were selected.

Next, the ten events that we had prepared were displayed.

"I am Mashima, am I will be in charge of proctoring this special exam for you. So, without further delay, let us begin the final special exam for the first-year students. We ask that the representatives from each class press select five events and then press the confirm button."

I selected the five events that we had been training for and pressed the button without hesitation. Horikita must have finished making her choices for class D not long after, because the results were displayed on the large monitor.

The five events I had chosen from our list were: karate, judo, 50m sprint, dodgeball and volleyball.

I had selected physical activities because it is where class A excelled, what with people like Albert, Ibuki and Ayanokouji.

The five events that Horikita had chosen was exactly as Ayanokouji said: chess, Basketball, typing skills, tennis and archery.

A lot of those made sense. Class D had Sudou, the first-years resident basketball ace, after all.

"Now, we'll be holding a completely randomised drawing to determine the seven events you'll be competing in," said Sakagami-sensei. "The results of the drawing will be displayed on the large monitor in the centre. Please take a look," said Sakagami-sensei, urging us to look at the screen, which was now displaying something new.

A 3D image flashed on the screen, followed by the titles of the selected events displayed. The first event that came up on the screen was...

Basketball
5 players

So, the first game was one they chose, huh?

I chose 5 players who I believed would be match enough for Sudou and company. In the lineup I included Komiya and Kondou, two people who were on the basketball team. We should be able to take the win.

The five students in class D were: Hondou Ryuutaro, Minami Setsuya, Ike Kanji, Makida Susume and Onodera Kayano.

They hadn't gone with Sudou? So, they were hoping to win without Sudou and to save his strength for another event. If someone even Ibuki's strength went up against Sudou in karate, which I had pre-selected her for, she probably wouldn't win.

(I cannot be bothered to explain the basketball game 😩)

Unknown pov

I was getting ready.

I knew in my mind that the final event would be chess. I don't know, it was just something about it, it just seemed so...so right?

Yeah.

I had asked Horikita to be allowed to play chess. Whilst I wasn't any good at the game, I knew who class A would select to play chess, and I had business with them. Besides, Horikita was pretty clever, I was sure she could wipe the floor with Ayanokouji, or even Ryuuen.

1045 words
Eh, L chap tbh.
Not much else to say really
Hope you're all doing well and I hope you enjoyed