6 Chapter 2: Paper Shuffle (Intro)

Introduction

One day, a heavy atmosphere hung over the class.

However, this atmosphere was by no means pessimistic. It was filled with just the right amount of tension.

The first to take this in was Class D's teacher, Chabashira-sensei.

"Please find your seats. All of you seem to have made plenty of preparations."

As soon as she walked into the classroom, the atmosphere quickly grew heavier and became more dignified.

Compared to before, the class we presented her with looked natural. In this respectful atmosphere, Chabashira-sensei didn't hide her surprise.

"Everyone looks rather serious. It's hard for me to believe that everyone here is part of Class D."

"That's because today is when you announce the results of the mid-term exam, right?"

Ike spoke with a slightly nervous look on his face. Chabashira-sensei responded with a sly smile.

"That's exactly right. You're required to drop out immediately if you fail your midterm or final exams. I've told you this before, so it should still be fresh in your memories. It's natural to be nervous or anxious, but none of you even had the proper mentality until now. I'm glad to see all of you growing up."

Chabashira-sensei commended her student's new, never before seen attitude, but that doesn't mean that our scores will be any better. The only real change has been to our mentalities.

As a matter of course, Chabashira-sensei dared to say this.

"However, you'll need to be prepared for the consequences if you've failed. So now I'm going to post the midterm exam results. Make sure you don't mix up your name and score."

The reason why she reminded us is precisely that this warning is genuine. If someone was unable to accept their scores and reacted violently, the school wouldn't hesitate to respond harshly with ample evidence from the cameras watching the students installed in every classroom.

"Sure enough, I can see everyone's test scores."

"Of course. It's one of the rules of the school."

Regardless of the students' willingness to have their personal information displayed, the results for all the students in Class D were posted on the blackboard. There's absolutely no privacy at all. The results are always revealed without reservation. Just as a salesman's performance chart is posted for the entire company, it reveals those at the top and those at the bottom.

In cases like these, the ones who stand out the most are those with particularly good or bad grades. Those who fall behind are the ones who will suffer and become subjected to selfish pressure and contempt from their surroundings.

"For all subjects, it's fine to consider the passing grade to be a score of 40 points or more. Those who do not meet this standard will be subjected to expulsion."

The threshold for passing the midterms was almost the same as it was for previous exams, but the situation was a little bit different.

"The scores announced from now on will also reflect your results at the sports festivals. In terms of results, those who achieved high scores and found success at the festival attained a score exceeding 100 points. In these cases, the score will be treated as a full score."

The ten students who achieved the worst results during the sports festival would have to take a 10 point deduction on their midterm exams. Class D's Sotomura had one of the worst performances in the entire grade, so he was one of the people who had to score 10 points higher in all subjects.

However, the students who didn't receive penalties such as Ike and Sudō still had very stiff expressions. A system of immediate expulsion due to a single failing mark places a heavy burden on all students both physically and mentally.

The students watched attentively as the test results were slowly posted onto the board.

However, Horikita showed no impatience for seeing the scores.

"Oh!? Oh!? You're kidding!?"

The ranking of the results began with the lowest score. In other words, everyone expected Sudō, who came in last during both the midterm and final exams of the first semester, to place in last once again this time around. However, the first name posted was "Haruki Yamauchi" along with his grades in various subjects. The next was "Ike Kanji", followed by Inogashira, Satō, and then Sotomura. Sotomura usually always placed a little bit low, but for him to drop this much was undoubtedly due to the influence of the penalty from the sports festival.

"What a crisis! Am I seriously in last place!?"

Fortunately, he was over 40 points in every subject, with his lowest score just barely passing with 43 points in English. His average score didn't even reach 50 points. After receiving these results, Yamauchi felt the sensation of being dead for an instant. A substantial amount of cold sweat broke out on his face and neck.

Sudō's scores were even more surprising. Until today, he had been consistently positioned at the very bottom of the class. However, with this exam, he moved up a total of 12 spots. Even when considering the points he earned from the sports festival, his accomplishments were obvious. This was shown by the look of surprise our classmates were giving him. His scores averaged out to 57 points.

"I've smashed my personal-record by so much in one go!!! Do you see it!? Furthermore, it almost averages out to 60 points!"

As soon as Sudō found his results, he shouted and stood up, dancing around happily.

"That score isn't worth making a racket over. You've only been saved due to the sports festival. It's honestly a broken system if you ask me."

"Oooh dammit..."

Sudō was shut down by Horikita's harsh words. He quietly returned to his seat, a bit discouraged.

He was just like a loyal dog. Reacting to his master's orders immediately and carrying them out.

"Sudō even scored an average of 57 points... The effects of the study group are outstanding."

Even with his worst subject, English. Sudō remarkably managed to score 52 points.

I heard that Horikita had once again taught Sudō and the others who were close to failing for this midterm exam. I wasn't invited to take part in teaching them, but that's only to be expected. From the perspective of other students, I don't appear to be a particularly smart individual. Moreover, Horikita herself should also be skeptical of my academic ability.

"The effect the study sessions have had are big indeed. If you are unprepared for a formal exam, it's all but certain that you'll fail it. However, this time the success is probably due to other factors. It was a major help that the midterm exam this time around was made up of relatively simple problems."

"Maybe so."

This midterm exam was no doubt a little bit easier than the usual exam. This is because there were several questions that I suspect the school to have put in by mistake. Based on this, it seems that Horikita isn't concerned about the results of the midterms, because she was convinced that the study group had managed to pass the exam. In contrast, Yamauchi, who finished last, seemed unable to completely hide his frustration at losing to Sudō by such a large margin. Horikita taught all of the students who were afraid of failing equally the same as she had before, but Sudō had taken his time to study one-on-one with her even during his days off. The power of love is a terrifying thing. Little by little, Sudō's academic ability seemed to be improving.

"You're averaging 64 points. How very ordinary. Why don't you give up this farce and get serious?"

"That's the best I could do."

Since I usually place in the vicinity of 50 points, if I was to suddenly score 100 points, I'd inevitably be creating new issues to deal with.

It's just a matter of doing it in a slow and steady way.

Having said that, it should be alright for me to raise my score higher next time, considering the jump Sudō made.

"I know you're playing the fool here, it's impossible for me to listen to anything you have to say on the matter anymore."

"I'm not sure if you've ever listened to me in the first place."

"That's true."

Honestly... and then she goes and agrees with me.

That said, even though it was the midterm exams, the questions were relatively simple, so a plethora of perfect scores composed the final names on the results. Other classes must have also gotten very high marks on this exam.

"As you can see, the number of people who've dropped out due to this exam is zero. Everyone overcame this exam without any issues."

Chabashira-sensei was upfront with her praise for her students. It appears that there was no need to criticize us, as her attitude reserved.

"Obviously. I'm looking forward to next month's personal points, sensei!"

With his elbows on his desk, Sudō got into the swing of things and spoke confidently.

Chabashira-sensei responds to his attitude with tolerance, without changing her smile.

"Well, there were no problems in particular during the sports festival, so it should be nice to expect some amount of private points in November. In the three years since I've arrived at this school, I have never seen a Class D that's managed to sustain zero dropouts for as long as you have. Well done."

Chabashira-sensei praised the class. Until today, she had never shown this type of attitude to us. Because of this, many of the students were very hesitant to accept this rare situation for what it was.

"Being praised by you makes me feel uncomfortable."

Those who are seldom praised are typically more embarrassed when they receive it.

Horikita, however, showed no signs of carelessness. Of course, it was great that nobody failed, but she knew that Chabashira-sensei wasn't the type of person who would end the conversation with praise.

The more gentle her attitude, the weirder the situation became.

Her tied ponytail swayed charmingly as she quietly began to move.

Sensei walked a lap around the classroom, slowly passing between the rows of desks.

When she arrived at Ike's seat, Chabashira-sensei stopped and said:

"You've overcome one exam without incident, so I'll ask you again, what do you think of this school? I'd like to hear your evaluation."

"Well... It's a good school. You can get a lot of spending money if everything goes well for you. The food and everything is delicious and the rooms are beautiful."

And then he continued, counting off with his fingers.

"There are games for sale, movies and karaoke, and the girls are cute..."

That last reason seems to be unrelated to the school itself.

"Uhm... did I say something wrong?"

No longer able to bear her silence any longer, Ike looked up at Chabashira-sensei and raised a question.

"No. From a student's point of view, this school definitely provides a wonderful environment. Even from my point of view as a teacher, I also feel this school provides a lot of unimaginably good benefits to its students. It all really feels like it falls outside the realm of common sense."

Sensei began to move again, passed the seat at the end of the row, and wrapped around over to my side of the classroom.

It gave me the feeling that I was about to be given a question in front of the class. Can you please not ask something of me?

Fortunately, my wish came true as Chabashira-sensei stopped before Hirata's desk instead.

"Hirata, have you gotten used to the school?"

"Yes. I've made a lot of friends and I'm living a fulfilling campus life."

Hirata did well to give an exemplary, and reliable response.

"Don't you feel uneasy with the risk of having to drop out if you make a single mistake?"

"Each time that risk comes back up, I'm going to get through it together with the entire class."

Hirata, who always thinks of his classmates, didn't hesitate with his response.

After she finished going around the classroom, Chabashira-sensei returned to the podium.

She seemed to be trying to confirm something, but I couldn't determine what it was.

If I had to make a guess, she may have wanted to know more about the morale and atmosphere of the class. Was it to see whether or not we can confront the trials that have yet to come?

"As I'm sure you all know, there will be an eight-subject quiz next week as part of the second semester's final exam. I think some of you have already started studying for the exam, but I'll remind everyone again."

"Eh!? I'm just now feeling relieved that the midterm exam is over! Another test!?"

The cold season has begun, and students who aren't adept at studying will only continue to suffer from here. There will be a swift barrage of tests in the near future that students will not be able to escape. In particular, the interval between the second-semester exams is a short one.

"There's a week left until the quiz!? I haven't heard anything about this!"

Despite Ike's shouting, the teachers of each subject had been constantly informing us about the upcoming quiz. I couldn't help but feel like sighing at his ignorance of the situation.

"Saying that you haven't heard of it isn't going to work, I'd love to tell you otherwise, but I can't. Regardless, don't worry too much about it, Ike."

Chabashira-sensei smiled as if she was extending a thread of salvation to him.

However, we're all learning to know better than to think it's done purely out of kindness.

"Really sensei? So I can take it easy then!? Booyah!"

Learning...... at least we should be. Chabashira-sensei took her eyes off Ike and continued:

"First of all, the quiz will have 100 questions for a total of 100 points, but the subject matter of the quizzes will be at the same level as what is expected of a third-year middle school student. That is to say, this quiz will serve as a means for us to confirm whether you remember your foundations or not. Moreover, like the mock exam from the first semester, these quizzes will not have any influence on your grades. Even if you score a 0 or a 100, it doesn't matter. It will be used solely to determine your current ability."

"Oh! Ooooh! Are you serious!? Yesss!"

"However- Of course I'm going to tell you that this quiz is certainly not meaningless. Why? Because the results of this quiz will have a large influence over the upcoming final exam."

Should I say it was obvious or something?

The sports festival has already ended, so the next special test is going to begin soon.

"What do you mean by influence? Tell us in a way that we can understand."

I understand why Sudō wants to ask for more information. Chabashira-sensei dares put off touching upon the true matter at hand in order to stir up anxiousness from the class.

"It would be nice to explain it to you in a way that makes it easy for you to understand, Sudō. The school has stipulated that the results of this quiz will be used as a basis to pair you up with someone else in the class."

"Pair?"

Hirata expressed his doubt over the word that seemed the most out of place.

"That's right. The pairing created from the quiz will share the same fate and challenge the final exams together. The exam will be worth 100 points for each of the 8 subjects, and each subject will have 50 questions, for an overall total of 400 questions. This time around, there will also be two ways to fail the exam. The first way is similar to what all of you have already experienced. All subjects will have a minimum standard of 60 points. If the final grade your pair gets on any one subject is under 60 points, then both members of the pair will drop out of school. This 60 point standard is the combined total of each of the two partners. As an example, if Ike and Hirata are a pair, even if Ike gets a score of zero on one subject, as long as Hirata gets a 60, neither of the two will be required to drop out."

A voice of shock leaked out of one of the students. It appears that as long as you get a reliable partner, this will be a fairly easy test.

However, what's the second way to fail the final exam?

Chabashira-sensei ignored the students' reactions and explained the other means of failing the final exam.

"The new criteria that you'll have to overcome to avoid expulsion is a cumulative score requirement. Even if you get above 60 points in all eight subjects, if your cumulative score is below this second standard, both partners will be expelled."

"For this requirement, is it based on the collective total between both members of the pair?"

"That's right. The cumulative score will be determined by the total score of both members of the pair. The school hasn't figured out the exact number for the minimum standard that the cumulative score will need, but in previous years the score was around 700 points."

Both members of a pair will share their points and drop out together as well. Is this what she meant by sharing the same fate?

For 700 points, since there are 16 total subjects between two people, it will be necessary to achieve a minimum average of 43.75 points on each subject.

Even students with recognized academic excellence, such as Horikita or Yukimura, are at risk depending on who they're matched with.

"You said the school hasn't decided on the exact borderline that the cumulative score is required to be above yet, but why is that?"

"Don't be so hasty Hirata. I'll explain the borderline later. The final exam will be divided into two days, where you take four subjects each day. I'll let you know the order of the subjects later as well. In the event of an absence due to poor physical condition, the school will inquire about the legitimacy of the absence. If it is confirmed that the student had no other alternative, they will be given points based on rough estimates of their past exams. However, if the reason for the absence isn't satisfactory, the absentee tester will be given a score of zero for all tests they miss."

In other words, this is an absolutely inescapable test. The school even intends to regulate something like our physical conditions.

"Still, you're starting to look a little bit like a true student of this school. In the past, you would have screamed when you heard the rules of this exam."

"...Well, I've grown accustomed to it. I've had to do all kinds of things so far."

There was scarcely any surprise in Ike's response. He seemed to have a little confidence in himself.

"That's a confident statement, Ike. However, there are probably quite a few of you who feel the same way. Therefore, I'm going to give you all a single piece of advice. It's best not to think that you've mastered everything about this school just because you've gotten past the first semester of the first year. In the future, all of you will have to overcome countless exams that are far harder than this one will be."

"P-please don't say such horrible things, sensei."

One of the girls said, frightened by her advice.

"Since it's a fact, it can't be helped. However, this special test...... commonly known as 'Paper Shuffle', usually results in one or two groups of dropouts on an average year. Most of them tend to be students from Class D. This isn't a threat, I'm simply reciting facts."

Until this point, the class had still been somewhat optimistic, but now the atmosphere grew tense.

The arrival of a new special test. But what does she mean by 'Paper Shuffle'?

"Pairs that fall below the borderline will be expelled without exception. If you think my speech is just a mere threat, you're free to ask the senior students. You should have already begun making loose connections with them by now."

However, even though the rules of the exam seem horrific, isn't it a bit strange that on average only one or two groups of students have dropped out in the previous years? Depending on the pairings, the exam could turn out to be devastating.

Basically, it's like this right?

"Finally, I'll specify the penalties for the formal examination. Although it shouldn't need to be said, cheating is prohibited during the examination. Cheaters will be immediately disqualified and expelled from school together with their partner. This is not limited to this examination, it also applies to all midterm and final examinations."

Cheating is equivalent to dropping out of school. At first glance, this may seem like a severe punishment. If this was an ordinary high school, the punishment would be a zero on the final exams along with some admonition, or at most, suspension. However, since failing the exam will immediately get you expelled anyways, it's inevitable that cheating would be dealt with the same way. The significance of this special warning is to prevent students from getting ahead of themselves and making mistakes. I'll accept this as Chabashira-sensei's advice.

However, the problem for this exam is the pairing system.

"After I receive the results of the quiz, I will inform you about the decision method for the pairings."

Immediately after hearing this, I quietly grabbed hold of my pen. The person sitting next to me grabbed her pen at almost the same time and began to record the midterm results displayed on the blackboard.

I cast a glance at the situation and placed my pen back on the desk.

I immediately felt how unnecessary my actions were.

"After the quiz, is it? If you get matched with the person in last place, wouldn't you be in big trouble?"

"Ugh! I'm humiliated by Ken! I'll study and absolutely change this!"

"Don't force yourself. You're just talking big. There's still so much more to come from my studies."

Yamauchi was blown away with regret as he slouched down into his desk in agony. Although Sudō also spoke big, as long as Horikita was there, he seemed to be willing to continue studying endlessly, and for exactly that reason his words were somewhat convincing.

Well, that's not what's important here. The school doesn't intend to teach us how the pairs are decided at the present time. That is, there's a high chance that there's something that we can learn that will influence who we're matched with. Undoubtedly, some of the students who have taken part in the special and written exams should have noticed this by now, including Horikita who was writing next to me.

"There's one more thing. The school will ask you to consider this final exam from yet another perspective."

"There's one more thing we need to do?"

As the class was slightly upset, Hirata responds as if to summarize the situation.

"Yes. First of all, you will be asked to brainstorm and write your own final exam questions. The questions you write will be the questions on the final of one of the other three classes. This is to say, you will have to launch an 'attack' against one of the other classes, and the class that intercepts this attack will have to 'defend'. The school will compare the overall grades on the finals between the two classes, and the class who wins will receive a total of 50 Class Points from the losing class."

In other words, in order for a pair to avoid failing, they have to score above a 60 in all subjects, as well as collectively exceed a total score of around 700 points. Furthermore, as a class, we have to achieve an overall score higher than the classes that we're competing against.

"Depending on the combination, is it possible for there to be a gap in the private points? Let's say Class A attacks Class B and Class D attacks Class A. Assuming that Class A successfully manages to attack and defend, they will get a total of 100 Class Points. But if Class A attacks Class D and Class D attacks Class A, it would only be a trade-off of 50 Class Points, right?"

"There are clear rules on this. In the case of a direct confrontation, the number of Class Points being wagered will change to 100, so don't worry. It's rare, but if the overall grades of each class end up being the same, it ends as a draw. In which case, there won't be any change in the overall number of points."

"We have to come up with problems and write out questions for the students of other classes...... I've never heard of such a thing. How will this be executed? If someone was to make their questions impossible to answer, I think the test will end up being very difficult but......"

"Oh, yeah! Such as stuff we haven't been taught, or nonsense trap questions! That's impossible!"

Ike and the others were holding up their hands in defeat.

"Of course, it will certainly end up that way if it was all left up to the students. For this reason, the questions you create will be strictly and fairly checked by our teachers. If there are problems that fall beyond the scope of the material, or can not be answered with what is provided in the question, we will require that you amend it. Through a system of constant revision of unacceptable questions, we will ensure that everyone creates fair questions. It won't be anything like the situation you're concerned about. Ike, does this make sense to you?"

"Um, somewhat..."

It's easy to say, but it isn't that simple.

"Making 400 questions... that seems like it's going to be a pretty tight schedule."

There is about a month left until the exam begins. One person would have to make ten to fifteen questions a day. Although it should be said that they will need to be prepared even faster than that so we'll have time to make corrections when the school doesn't accept some of the questions. After you take into account Class D's 'shortcomings', the next month begins to look quite bleak. Hirata seems to understand this as well, and looked like he was losing his bearings a little.

"In the event that the questions and answers are not completed in time, relief measures will be implemented for you. Our own pre-made questions will be used after the deadline. However, please note that that difficulty of the questions prepared by the school will be lower."

The so-called relief measures sound nice, but in reality, it would be like admitting defeat.

At all costs, we will need to create the questions and answers. In addition to their own studies, the leaders of each class have to think about the questions they'll give to the other classes. It's likely that this will be a very hard exam.

"When it comes to creating your questions, you are free to consult students in other classes and school years, utilize the internet, consult your teacher, or decide amongst yourselves. There are no particular limitations. As long as it is a question the school allows, difficult or easy, we do not care about the content."

"The final exam that we have to challenge, of course, will be one that another class will create for us, right?"

"That's true. You're probably curious about how the class you're attacking is chosen, but the method for determining that is easy to understand. A student simply needs to nominate your desired class and I will report it to the school. If and when there's more than one nomination for the same class, the school will call upon a representative and you'll draw lots. In turn, if there is no overlap, your nomination is accepted and that's the class you'll be writing questions for. I'll hear your nomination the day before the quiz next week. You should think carefully about your decision until then."

The final exam is usually about facing the school, but this time it's essentially a one-on-one fight with another class?

In this way, complex mechanisms are involved in this exam, in addition to what exactly the point boundary for each pair is.

"That's it for the preliminary explanation of the quiz and final exam. The rest is up to you to think about."

Chabashira-sensei summed it up this way, and with that, today's class came to an end.