----"Twelve Branches."
That was a method the ancients used to tell time. It was divided into the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, though nowadays it was mostly only used for calculating lunar calendar years and representing the Twelve Zodiac Animals.
The Heavenly Stems referred to Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, and Gui.
The Earthly Branches referred to Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai.
The Twelve Branches Majima Tomoya had mentioned were, in fact, the Twelve Earthly Branches.
The Twelve Earthly Branches were now mostly used to represent the Twelve Zodiac Animals, making them their visualized representations.
Zi represented the Rat.
Chou represented the Ox.
Yin represented the Tiger.
Mao represented the Rabbit.
Chen represented the Dragon.
Si represented the Snake.
Wu represented the Horse.
Wei represented the Goat.
Shen represented the Monkey.
You represented the Rooster.
Xu represented the Dog.
Hai represented the Pig.
Therefore, when Majima Tomoya said that Fang Li and the others belonged to the Mao Group, or the Rabbit Group, they meant the same thing. Only the name differed.
Presumably to make things easier for students to remember, the group names of the Twelve Branches all included the corresponding Twelve Zodiac Animal.
After all, compared to the Twelve Earthly Branches, the Twelve Zodiac Animals were far more widely known in modern times.
Majima Tomoya understood this as well, which was why he directly used the zodiac names.
"From this point onward, you will no longer act as Class D. You will act as the Rabbit Group. Whether you pass this exam, and the outcome of it, will likewise be decided by you yourselves, the students assigned to each group."
As he spoke, Majima Tomoya took four more documents from his folder.
"In this Special Exam,