The Exam Begins

"Rabbit Group, six o'clock, Room 204..." Ying glanced at the email on his terminal and instinctively blurted out the important information.

"I'm in Rabbit Group too," Hamaguchi said, and Beppu also raised his terminal, which also displayed Rabbit Group.

"Huh? You're both in Rabbit Group? I'm in Dragon Group. Plus, my meeting place and time are different from yours," Shibata said after checking the information on his terminal.

"It must be randomly assigned, but we just finished playing for three days and now there's another exam? I haven't had enough fun yet! This time, are we going to have to go swimming in the ocean or something? Please, no~!" Hamaguchi complained.

"It's three o'clock in the afternoon now, and the exam is starting soon, so let's go grab something to eat," Ying said.

"Yeah, let's go... Ying, why are you just standing there? Let's move," Hamaguchi asked, confused to see Ying rooted to the spot.

"You guys go ahead. I'm going to eat with Sakura," Ying began to daydream again.

The three of them left in silence and started placing bets on whether Ying would successfully get a girlfriend.

Shibata: No, five hundred.

Beppu: No, one thousand.

Hamaguchi: No, two thousand five hundred.

"Sakura, if there's something you want to say, just say it. I'll definitely agree to it," Ying sat at a cafe on the cruise ship with Sakura, looking at the menu and starting a conversation.

"There's nothing I need to trouble you with. It's just that I've realized that ever since I stopped avoiding my classmates, I've made friends with others. But I still want to contribute to the class. Ayanokoji suggested that I could try exchanging information with Class B," Sakura said sincerely.

"Sure, we can talk about some of the information that Class B can disclose from now on." After Ying finished speaking, Sakura nodded, and the two fell into silence.

"Um, Sakura. Which group are you in? I'm in Rabbit Group. Meeting at six," Ying said, sensing the awkward atmosphere and trying to find a topic.

"I... I'm in Ox Group. Meeting at seven," Sakura replied.

"Sakura, is there nothing else you want to say?" Ying asked.

"No. Besides, it's already five-thirty, so I won't disturb you any longer, Byakuya," Sakura said, checking the time and standing up with a shy expression.

Ying stood up as well, bracing his hands on the table, and asked anxiously, "Really, there's nothing else!?"

"Yes, thank you, Byakuya," Sakura tilted her head slightly and bowed to thank him.

Ying turned to stone for a moment, then staggered away with the gait of a zombie.

Today's result: Ying's defeat.

"Byakuya, what a coincidence," Hirata greeted Ying as he happened to pass by while Ying was preparing to return to his room to pack.

"Yeah, what a coincidence..." Ying looked at Hirata's popular-guy aura, then looked at himself, his body slowly deflating like a sponge.

"Um, are you okay?" Hirata asked with some concern.

"I'm fine! Which group are you in for the exam?" Ying suddenly perked up; he had already rationalized it, thinking that Sakura was just shy.

"I'm in Dragon Group. You?"

"Rabbit Group."

"Is that so? Karuizawa is also in Rabbit Group. Could you look after her?" Hirata asked.

Ying was a bit confused—why ask him to look after her?—but he decided to agree anyway: "I suppose I can. How is she doing lately?"

Ever since he told Hirata the correct way to handle things a few months ago, he hadn't paid much attention to Karuizawa's current situation.

"Sigh~. I feel like she still hasn't been able to step out of the shadows. Now she sticks by my side under the guise of liking me and pursuing me. Because I want to help her become self-reliant, I have frequent contact with her. Everyone in the class thinks we're about to start dating, and she's envied by other girls for her courage in pursuing love, earning the respect of most of them."

"Because of this, she has a high reputation in Class D and won't be affected by her inner inferiority for the time being. But I understand that she only acts so cheerful and strong in front of everyone in Class D because she relies on me. I feel it's very difficult to change her on my own, so I'm currently considering looking for help."

"But, I'm not from your class," Ying said. After hearing Hirata's words, he felt it was indeed a tricky situation, but a distant water couldn't quench a near thirst.

"Of course. I plan to find a comrade I can trust within Class D. But I haven't found one yet, so I can only ask you to look after Karuizawa during this exam, Byakuya."

Ying also felt that compared to the relationship confirmation in the original story, Karuizawa's dependence on Hirata might actually be even greater now. For an exam like this, which involves group assessments, it would be hard to guarantee that Karuizawa wouldn't have any accidents due to her past if she were to leave Hirata's protection.

"Hajimimanbo~..." Ying was startled and quickly turned off his alarm.

"Damn it! There's only ten minutes left! I'm going, I'll keep an eye on her for you!" Ying finished his sentence and sprinted to the second floor.

"Sorry, I'm late." Ying opened the door to Room 204 and entered just in time. He saw the three members of Class A sitting in chairs, listening to Sakagami explain the exam rules.

"Sorry, I went to the wrong room." Ying walked out along the room and double-checked the room number.

"Wait, this is 204, right?" Ying was confused and walked back in.

"Ahem, you must be Byakuya from Class B. There are ABCD labels next to the room numbers to indicate the four classes; this is the one for Class A," Sakagami explained.

"Oh~, sorry for the interruption." Ying closed the door and looked around, discovering that the nearby rooms were all 204, and the Class B room was across from Class A's.

"Ying, you're late!" As soon as the door opened, Hamaguchi scolded him.

"I ran into some trouble on the way, otherwise I wouldn't have been late." If he had entered the right room the first time, he wouldn't have been late. Ying thought to himself.

"Since everyone is here, I will begin explaining this special exam. It is the VIP Exam, which focuses on testing thinking..." Chabashira-sensei didn't waste any time and started explaining the detailed rules of the exam.

The exam rules can be summarized simply: students from the four classes are shuffled into 12 groups, corresponding to the twelve zodiac signs.

Each group has one "VIP." Group members must identify the VIP through discussion. The identity of the VIP is sent to the students' terminals via email at 8:00 on the first day of the exam. After the discussion ends on the fourth day, there is a thirty-minute window to submit an answer. Submitting an answer before the designated time is considered an act of betrayal.

There are four possible outcomes for the exam:

1. If all group members (excluding the VIP and their classmates) answer correctly within the allotted time, all group members receive 500,000 private points, and the VIP receives an additional 500,000 points.

2. If no one buzzes in but someone answers incorrectly or fails to answer: only the VIP receives 500,000 private points.

3. If someone buzzes in early and answers correctly, the buzzer receives 500,000 points and their class gains 50 class points, while the VIP's class loses 50 points.

4. If the buzzer answers incorrectly, the buzzer's class loses 50 points, and the VIP receives 500,000 points while their class gains 50 points.

Ying had just remembered the distribution rules for the VIPs in this exam a while ago: based on the Japanese syllabary order of the first character of each group member's surname, if the order of the Chinese zodiac signs within the group matches the order of the names, that person is the VIP.

For Ying, this exam was as good as over. He could even have all the students from Class B buzz in for the VIPs of the other classes, then rack up 450 class points to firmly secure the position of Class A.

But would that really be okay? If he did that, others might think Ying was impressive, but in reality, Ying would just be cheating. Besides, others were striving for Class A to ensure a 100% employment and advancement rate, but Ying didn't need that.

He had already signed a slave contract; no matter where he graduated from, he was going back to be a slave anyway.

He felt a bit like breaking the rules this way wouldn't be fair to the people in the other classes.

"Quack, quack, quack." (Notification sound)

Ichinose: "Are you free, Byakuya? Would you like to meet at the Blue Sea Cafe on the first floor tonight to talk about this exam?"

Ying: "Will there be anyone else?"

Ichinose: "You can bring anyone you'd like to invite, Byakuya, but I was hoping to talk to you alone."

Ying: "In that case, I'll tell you the secret of this exam in a little while. Looking cool (Animated emoji)"