Fated to Meet(COTE X Tomodachi Game)

Chapter 8: Special Exam

(Ayanokoji POV)
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"Now, I will explain your first special exam at the Advanced Nurturing High School."

Katagiri looked up to listen. Some people in the class were still rattled from finding out Katagiri had been saved by someone from Class A. Even Horikita kept stealing glances at him.

"This special exam will allow the class to gain class points and private points, so I recommend you take it seriously."

We had lost all of our class points the first month here, and almost everyone used up all their private points. This special exam was going to be very important for our class.
—
"At the specified special exam location, you will first get into groups of five students per group. Other classes will do this as well.
After you have picked your groups and the night passes the real exam begins.
Each one of you will be assigned a monetary value, such as 40 thousand points, or 100 thousand points.
This means that, as long as four members of a group agrees, that student can be sold for the amount that they are worth."

Students began murmuring. They were probably wondering what happens after that.
"Why would we want to sell them..?" asked Ike.

"Because this special exam is all about gambling. You will use the money from your sold students to gamble and either gain or lose more money. You can only use the money you receive from selling students.
You will only gamble against other classes, not your own.
You will all be working together but also separately. Here are the awards for classes:"

She rolled out a piece of paper
1st place class: 200 class points
2nd: 100 class points
3rd: -50 class points
4th: -100 class points

1st place group: 500,000 private points.
Last place group will receive one expulsion.

"Uh...sensei..what does it mean by expulsion?"

"That's right, the last place group with the least amount of money will have to expell one of their group members. Four people have to agree."

Some students began to freak out. This exam had some holes, but I think she was about to address them.
"When a student is sold, their value goes up by 10% so they can't immediately be bought back. When they are are bought back, their value goes back to normal.
Your value is assessed by your academic grades and your adaptability grades, which need further assessment.
If a group has less than five people, then each person in the group gets a 10% bonus added to their value. It is the same, but backwards, for groups that have more than five people."

It seemed the groups you pick were going to be very important in this exam.
"What type of games will we be playing," asked Horikita.

"Poker, blackjack, or any game you can think of that is considered a gamble."

Horikita nodded.

"The exam will take place, after today and two more days."

So three days, huh.
"When we get to the exam location, you will first pick your groups on the first night, then on the first day, you will gamble. Then on the next day, you will gamble until 6:00pm, and that is when the first part of this exam will end."

"First part?" asked Hirata.
"Yes this special exam is going to be in two parts, but I will explain the second part after the first part is over. The school is allowing you to go home today with no lesson, to prepare. I recommend you do just that, or our points will fall into negative territory."
"One more thing, each group will have a commander, and his or her value is raised by 10% automatically, but if the class gets in third or fourth place, all commanders in the class lose all of their private points."

After that, she left the classroom, leaving us to prepare or talk.

Horikita stood up, and walked over to Katagiri's desk.
"I will ask you more questions later, but first I want to talk to you both. Can you follow me?"

"Sure but.." said Katagiri.
"But?"

He smiled, "I suck at gambling."
—
We went to the coffee shop again. Only this time, we both refused to let Horikita get us anything.
"Before we get to the special exam, I want to talk about your friend in class A."

Katagiri let out a sigh as he took his drink away from his mouth. "It's not really a friend. Let's just say for now, their an admirer."
"Admirer?"
"Yes."

That just made Horikita more confused. I didn't really get it either, but with Katagiri's look after he heard someone had saved him from expulsion, I decided to leave it. Horikita must have had the same thoughts.

"Well what ever. We might need to use that connection in the future though."
"No, that won't be happening."

Horikita looked confused again.
"Why?"
"Because I'm going to get them expelled."

Katagiri had that look on his face again, so Horikita decided to drop it, no matter how bad she wanted to ask more questions.
"Let's talk  about the special exam. Katagiri, you said your bad at gambling, what about you Ayanokoji?"

"I've never really tried it."
That was the truth. I've never truly tried gambling games, but I was sure I could learn and win quickly.
"Well it doesn't seem anyone else has either. So I have a proposal for you."
"Proposal?" I asked
"I want you two to be in a group with me, and two other smarter people in the class."

I looked over to Katagiri, and he was slightly confused. "I'm not really smart though, you saw what I did on that test. And , I'm not trying to be rude, but Ayanokoji also got 50s, far away from your 100s"

Horikita nodded. "Yes, but you two still have the most potential. I don't think you would goof off in a group."
She was at least right about that.

"Okay, so who's going to be the commander?" Asked Katagiri
"I will. I am confident we can win, and if we lose, I will take the hit."

Me and Katagiri nodded. "Okay then."
She got up to leave, but Katagiri grabbed her arm with a little bit of force.
"You won't be mad, no matter how we win, right?"

She stared at him for a few seconds before saying:
"Yes, as long as we win in accordance with the rules."
"Okay, then there's no need to worry."
"Huh?"
"Don't worry, we can win."

She stared at him a few seconds again, before pulling her arm away, and leaving.
—
That night, Katagiri texted me. We had worked out a few things in the coffee shop after Horikita left.
Even though everyone is probably going to hate Katagiri and possibly me for this, our first move, was going to be a big one, the day before we left.
So, the day after tomorrow.
I received the text Katagiri had sent me, and began.
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Next chapter: The boys pool mission 9-7-22
A/N: