Intro
Results of the fifth round of voting:
1 in favour
38 against
Results of the eighth round of voting:
1 in favour
38 against
Results of the tenth round of voting:
1 in favour
38 against
"S-since the vote is not unanimous, we shall move to another interval and vote again once it ends."
Ever since Horikita had convinced Kouenji to vote with the class due to the deal she had made with him, the result of one unknown individual still voting against the rest of the class had continued to rumble through the next hour.
In between one of the rounds, Chabashira had decided to confess to the class that she had also taken part in this exam 11 years ago. It was a risk for her to do so with the invigilator sitting at the back. Luckily, the invigilator did not count Chabashira telling her story as advice and so she got away without being punished.
Even with Chabashira telling her story, the unknown student still voted against the class and doubt began to fill the room. Horikita began asking several students what they were actually voting for, but everyone responded the same way. Kiyotaka tried to support her a bit but just got the same responses from everyone, even with a little light prodding at a certain someone.
Kiyotaka, who had been watching in silence for the moments, had his eyes closed as the situation turned dreary. No one was looking at him, but if anyone was, it would be a little bit obvious to them that he was contemplating something.
[After the next vote, I should probably put the plan into action. There's not much time left so I gotta do it sooner rather than later.] Kiyotaka thought.
Since the start of the fifth question, Class B had about 3 hours and 35 minutes of time left to complete the special exam. And now in the present, that time had drastically reduced to a little less than 2 hours.
This concerningly reducing time meant that it was either now or never that Kiyotaka had to execute the plan he had. If he couldn't do it soon, there would probably never be an opportunity for him to do so.
"It's still the same... Is there really anyone who's voting in favour?"
As Yukimura spoke in disbelief, Kiyotaka opened his eyes and rejoined the escalation. It was not hard to see why Yukimura would ask that question. At this point, the debate had already been exhausted in all its forms. How many times had Horikita and Hirata tried to persuade them?
"If you placed your vote against... please raise your hand."
Calling on those who voted in favour of the motion was futile as it had been tried way too many times already. So, Hirata tried a different method and requested that students who were against the motion to raise their hands. He was determined to find a way through this peacefully, even if it meant proposing meaningless reverse patterns.
Students across the room raised their hands, including Kiyotaka and Hirata himself, and when the last hand raised, there were a total of 38 hands raised. The only one who didn't raise his hand was Kouenji.
