Chapter Summaries

Kazehara Tetsu forced Miyabi Nagumo to honor his promise to join Horikita Manabu’s group, helping the students form their groups quickly. After everyone dispersed, Kazehara invited Nagumo to scout the exam grounds, and Nagumo agreed to go with him.

• Kazehara challenged Nagumo to either keep his word or admit publicly that he had spoken without meaning it, and Nagumo agreed to join Horikita Manabu’s group.
• First-year groups formed through club connections, while the remaining students paired up through Rock Paper Scissors.
• Nagumo dismissed the students and watched them leave, including Horikita Manabu and the other members of their group.
• Kazehara stayed behind and invited Nagumo to explore the exam area with him.
• Nagumo accepted Kazehara’s invitation, and the two headed out together to scout the grounds.

On the Forest Path, Miyabi Nagumo questioned Kazehara Tetsu about his connection to Horikita Manabu and why he had placed them in the same group. Nagumo failed to uncover Kazehara’s motives and warned that boredom might lead him to cause trouble within the Large Group.

• Miyabi Nagumo asked Kazehara Tetsu whether he had a private relationship with Horikita Manabu, and Kazehara denied it.
• Nagumo accused Kazehara of ruining his chance to defeat Horikita Manabu by assigning them to the same group, while Kazehara said he had done it to maximize their chance of winning.
• Nagumo rejected Kazehara’s explanation and suggested he had helped Horikita Manabu to get closer to Horikita Suzune.
• Kazehara dismissed Nagumo’s romantic theory and pointed out that Horikita Manabu would see it as baseless gossip.
• Nagumo warned Kazehara that if the Large Group became too boring, he might cause trouble to entertain himself.

Kazehara Tetsu rejected Miyabi Nagumo’s proposed contest and warned him against trying to manipulate the results. When Nagumo pressed him about his encrypted background, Tetsu hinted that his family was the country’s biggest supplier and left Nagumo shaken.

• Miyabi Nagumo proposed comparing their groups’ average exam scores, but Kazehara Tetsu refused because the different year levels made the contest unfair.
• Nagumo offered Personal Points or Student Council privileges, but Tetsu said he knew Nagumo might bribe students to sabotage his group.
• Tetsu said his group was not united by loyalty, but that any student who betrayed him would be expelled and face ruin afterward.
• Nagumo revealed that he had found much of Tetsu’s student file encrypted and pressed him about his background.
• Tetsu pulled Nagumo close, made a gun gesture against his chest, and whispered that his family was the country’s biggest supplier.
• Nagumo froze, unable to dismiss Tetsu’s claim as a bluff, while Tetsu said it was only part of the truth.

Kazehara Tetsu and the other students began their first morning at Forest School with cleaning, meditation, and breakfast. Miyabi Nagumo proposed that the first-years take the first turn preparing breakfast, and everyone looked to Kazehara for his response.

• Kazehara Tetsu woke the first-years and led them to the classroom, where Onodera explained the cleaning routine and etiquette rules.
• The students cleaned outdoors in the cold, then gathered in the dojo for a brief meditation session.
• Onodera told the students that their small groups would prepare breakfast starting the next day, and the school provided their first meal.
• A second-year suggested that the three year groups take turns cooking, and Miyabi Nagumo proposed that the first-years go first.
• Miyabi Nagumo asked Kazehara Tetsu whether he objected, leaving the first-years waiting for his answer.

Tetsu organized his group’s cooking rotation and delegated the details to Katsuragi before the students attended a lecture and began long-distance training. The chapter ended with all forty-five students running on the sports field in preparation for the final-day relay.

• Tetsu’s group agreed to get up at four-thirty for their cooking shift, and Kanzaki, Ryuen, and Yukimura accepted the plan.
• Tetsu assigned Katsuragi to organize everyone’s cooking duties, and Katsuragi agreed to make a list.
• Tetsu and the first-years entered the classroom, where Ryuen sat apart from the group as the second- and third-years arrived.
• The students attended a lecture, then gathered on the sports field at noon for long-distance training.
• All forty-five students started running on the track to prepare for the relay race on the final day.

Kazehara Tetsu kept a measured pace during the long-distance training run, helping Yukimura Teruhiko avoid overexertion as other runners fell behind. He moved toward the front and was joined by Miyabi Nagumo, who questioned his apparent lack of effort.

• Kazehara Tetsu warned the struggling Yukimura Teruhiko to monitor his condition and conserve energy during the training run.
• Yukimura Teruhiko asked why Kazehara Tetsu was running so slowly despite his abilities, and Kazehara told him to focus on his breathing.
• As the pack spread out, Kazehara Tetsu maintained his pace and passed exhausted runners until only about a dozen students remained ahead.
• Miyabi Nagumo slowed down from running beside Horikita Manabu and dropped back to match Kazehara Tetsu's pace.
• Miyabi Nagumo criticized Kazehara Tetsu for appearing to stroll, while Kazehara claimed that endurance was his weakness.

Nagumo President confronted Kazehara Tetsu about his extraordinary speed in the Sports Festival, but Kazehara dismissed his questions and offered an explanation Nagumo did not believe. After the day's training ended, the students ate dinner and prepared for an early start the next morning.

• Nagumo President told Kazehara Tetsu that he had calculated his 200-meter time at 19.50 seconds and pressed him to explain his speed.
• Kazehara Tetsu claimed a higher-dimensional system enhanced his abilities, but Nagumo President dismissed the claim as a joke and assumed Kazehara was hiding a training method.
• Kazehara Tetsu returned from the long run without sweating while most of the students struggled to stand.
• Kazehara Tetsu and the others completed their afternoon classes and seated meditation before heading to dinner.
• Kazehara Tetsu warned the group they would wake at 4:30 the next morning for physical labor, and they filled up at the dining hall.

Kazehara Tetsu met Sakayanagi Arisu during dinner and learned how she had assembled the girls’ Large Group for the exam. The Class B recruit completed a four-class combination, leaving Class A in control of the core groups as the night ended.

• Kazehara Tetsu sat with Sakayanagi Arisu and asked how she was coping with the Forest School’s demanding schedule.
• Sakayanagi Arisu told Kazehara Tetsu that Shiina and Kushida had joined her group, while Ichinose Honami had declined so she could look after her classmates.
• Sakayanagi Arisu recruited Kobashi Yume from Class B by telling her that Ichinose had tacitly approved the plan and that joining could benefit her class.
• Kazehara Tetsu and Sakayanagi Arisu discussed how their groups had formed and prepared to take turns cooking.
• Kazehara Tetsu and Sakayanagi Arisu parted after he reminded her to stay warm and she wished him victory on the final day.

Miyabi Nagumo visited the first-years’ room with Kiriyama Ikuto and two third-years, claiming he wanted to strengthen friendly relations. He brought playing cards and invited the students to play, drawing Kazehara Tetsu into the exchange.

• The first-years settled into their shared room, where Kanzaki Ryuji chatted with students and Yukimura Teruhiko answered questions while Ryuen Kakeru kept to himself.
• Miyabi Nagumo arrived with Kiriyama Ikuto and two third-years, and Katsuragi Kouhei waited for Kazehara Tetsu’s nod before letting them enter.
• Miyabi Nagumo said the students needed a way to pass the long nights without electronic devices and produced a box of playing cards.
• Miyabi Nagumo invited the first-years to play cards to strengthen relations, and Kazehara Tetsu set his book aside and approached.

Miyabi Nagumo proposed a card-game wager that would redistribute breakfast duties among the three years, but Kazehara Tetsu rejected his choice of Old Maid as too simple. The confrontation ended with Kazehara challenging Nagumo to play a game that required skill.

• Nagumo persuaded Tsunoda and Ishikura to stay, then proposed betting on breakfast duties for the Training Camp.
• Ishikura questioned whether the students present could decide for the whole Large Group, but Nagumo insisted they could represent the others.
• Kazehara Tetsu agreed that the first-years would join the wager.
• Nagumo suggested six rounds of Old Maid, with each losing year responsible for breakfast for one day per loss.
• Kazehara called Old Maid boring and challenged Nagumo to choose a game requiring more brainpower.

Kazehara Tetsu challenged Miyabi Nagumo to a game of skill instead of Old Maid, then proposed a memory contest using a deck torn into fragments. After Nagumo identified memorization as a way to win, Kazehara began explaining the next rule.

• Kazehara Tetsu proposed a game with little to no luck involved, and Miyabi Nagumo accepted the challenge.
• Kazehara asked whether he could ruin the new deck, and Nagumo gave him permission.
• Kazehara tore all 52 cards into four pieces each, making 208 fragments.
• Kazehara explained that players would study the fragments for one minute, then try to find all 16 pieces matching a called number without making a mistake.
• Nagumo reasoned that players could memorize the fragments' positions for selected numbers, and Kazehara agreed before introducing another rule.

Kazehara Tetsu explained a punishing card game that required players to track 50 hidden card fragments and continuously update their positions after displacement commands. Miyabi Nagumo accepted the challenge, and the contestants began the one-minute memorization round before Kazehara sealed 50 randomly selected pieces in the box.

• Kazehara Tetsu explained how players had to search the scattered fragments while remembering the hidden cards and tracking their changing positions.
• Miyabi Nagumo refused to back down from Kazehara Tetsu's challenge and agreed to play to the end.
• Ishikura, Miyabi Nagumo, and Kazehara Tetsu studied the 208 fragments during the one-minute memorization period.
• After time ran out, Kazehara Tetsu randomly selected 50 fragments by touch and placed them inside the opaque box.

Kazehara Tetsu dominated the memory game, while Miyabi Nagumo also demonstrated impressive recall and Ishikura struggled. The rounds continued, with Ishikura failing again and the pressure shifting to Nagumo.

• Ishikura went first in the opening round but failed to find all the 10 fragments, giving Kazehara Tetsu the advantage of his mistakes.
• Kazehara Tetsu found all fourteen 3 fragments and correctly identified the two remaining fragments inside the box.
• Miyabi Nagumo found all sixteen J fragments outside the box, and Ishikura lost the first round, leaving the third-years responsible for preparing and cooking breakfast.
• Kazehara Tetsu continued to clear the board effortlessly in the following rounds, while the game grew increasingly tense.
• In the third round, Ishikura failed to find the Q fragments, and Miyabi Nagumo faced the task of finding the 4s.

Kazehara Tetsu defeated Miyabi Nagumo and Ishikura in their card-memory contest, winning the bet over breakfast duties. Nagumo promised to make Horikita Manabu honor the result, while Kazehara and the first-years went to sleep relieved.

• After several mistakes by Nagumo and Ishikura, Ishikura won the third round, giving Nagumo his second loss.
• Kazehara continued the contest until 9:50 p.m.; he remained undefeated, while Nagumo finished with two losses and Ishikura with four.
• The groups confirmed the breakfast schedule, leaving the first-years free of cooking duties for the next six days.
• Kazehara asked Nagumo to ensure Horikita Manabu accepted the bet, and Nagumo promised to make him honor it.
• Nagumo left with the defeated third-years and Kiriyama Ikuto, and Kazehara told the first-years to sleep before turning out the lights.

Kazehara Tetsu and his classmates followed their usual morning routine at Forest School before learning that daily speeches would be part of This Exam. The chapter left them facing an assessment that could favor confident speakers and challenge more introverted students.

• The students meditated and attended their morning lessons as usual.
• Kazehara Tetsu watched Ichinose Honami encourage and support her classmates during a run.
• The Moral Lecture teacher announced that students would give daily speeches as part of their assessment.
• The teacher explained the speech evaluation criteria and assigned different topics to each school year.
• Kazehara Tetsu considered how the speeches might benefit confident students like Ichinose Honami and disadvantage less communicative classmates.

Katsuragi Kouhei outlined the likely scoring rules and risks for the Forest School exam, then asked Kazehara Tetsu about his strategy. Kazehara chose to leave the capable group to operate as it was and went to sleep, while Katsuragi settled down to read.

• Katsuragi Kouhei identified meditation rules, the final relay, speeches, the written exam, and lateness as likely scoring factors.
• Katsuragi warned that the group’s confidence and differing opinions could create risks, and suggested preparing weaker speakers and runners while keeping Ryuen in check.
• Kazehara Tetsu praised Katsuragi for handling the details and asked what he thought the group should do.
• Katsuragi asked Kazehara about his exam strategy and plans regarding Horikita Senpai and Nagumo President.
• Kazehara said they should let the capable group run on its own and chose to sleep.
• Katsuragi accepted Kazehara’s decision, entered the dormitory, and read while Kazehara rested.

Kazehara Tetsu joined Kanzaki Ryuji for dinner, where Kanzaki explained that he wanted to discuss the upcoming exam with Ichinose Honami. At the Cafeteria, Ichinose described how some girls in her group struggled with the speech portion, leaving the three of them poised to consider how to help.

• Kazehara Tetsu woke from his nap and agreed to go to dinner with Kanzaki Ryuji.
• Kanzaki Ryuji told Kazehara Tetsu he wanted to discuss exam strategy and preventing anyone from falling behind with Ichinose Honami.
• Kanzaki Ryuji and Kazehara Tetsu found Ichinose Honami dining with a group of girls, and she invited them to sit with her.
• Kanzaki Ryuji asked what the group had been discussing, and Ichinose Honami explained the speech topics and their subjective scoring criteria.
• Ichinose Honami said several girls were too nervous to speak confidently and that she was looking for ways to help them.

Kazehara Tetsu explained how to manage speech anxiety by treating the audience as empty space, avoiding direct eye contact, and performing a confident role. Ichinose Honami planned to use his advice to coach the students, while Kazehara left the conversation having offered help for practical reasons.

• Ichinose Honami praised Kazehara Tetsu's leadership, but he reflected that his position depended on victories and practical agreements rather than trust.
• Kanzaki Ryuji and Ichinose Honami described how nervous students were struggling with the speech exam, especially its subjective delivery score.
• Kazehara Tetsu advised the students to stop thinking of speeches as communication and to look above the audience's heads instead of meeting their eyes.
• Kazehara Tetsu told the students to act out a confident role so they could focus on performing rather than feeling embarrassed.
• Ichinose Honami thanked Kazehara Tetsu and said she would use his advice to coach everyone.

Kazehara Tetsu confronted Ichinose Honami with questions about whether her kindness came from helping others or atoning for past sins, leaving her shaken. After bathing, he returned to the Dormitory and noticed that someone had moved his pillow.

• Kazehara Tetsu asked Ichinose Honami to speak with him alone after dinner.
• Kazehara Tetsu questioned whether Ichinose Honami helped others out of kindness or to atone for past sins, and left before she could answer.
• Kazehara Tetsu bathed while thinking about Ichinose Honami's reaction.
• Kazehara Tetsu returned to the Dormitory and noticed that someone had moved his pillow.

Kazehara Tetsu met Horikita Manabu in secret after receiving a note summoning him at night. Horikita questioned Kazehara’s motives for confronting Nagumo, and Kazehara pointed out that Horikita was wary of his unpredictable influence.

• Kazehara Tetsu found a note marked “25” under his pillow and kept it in his pocket.
• After the dormitory fell asleep, Kazehara Tetsu followed a flashlight signal to the Entrance Hall, where Horikita Manabu was waiting.
• Kazehara Tetsu joked that Horikita had summoned him over the wager about breakfast, but Horikita dismissed the wager as unimportant.
• Horikita Manabu accused Kazehara of deliberately humiliating Nagumo and weakening his standing as the next Student Council president.
• Kazehara Tetsu denied having any interest in the Student Council and suggested Horikita was uneasy because he could not predict Kazehara’s intentions.