Gathering for the Special Exam / What Kind of Detective Game Is This?
"Hikaru, everyone wants to hold a singing competition tonight! There are lots of private rooms in the karaoke room on the basement floor. Shall we go and participate?" Ichinose Honami turned to look at the boy sitting upright next to her.
"How many people are going to participate?" Hashiba Hikaru glanced at the time on her phone. It was around 5 p. m. If they went to karaoke, they could probably wait until after dinner.
"There are quite a few. Everyone is really looking forward to Hikari's singing. How about we go together?" The pink-haired girl rolled over on Hashiba Hikaru's bed, changing from a prone position to a supine position facing the ceiling.
"Sure, I don't have anything too important to do these next few days anyway."
Hashiba Hikaru smiled. If this summer Cruise Ship trip was truly meant to help students relax, then of course they should enjoy it to the fullest.
"Okay, I'll reply to everyone like this, saying we'll all be going."
Ichinose Honami typed rapidly on her phone, sending her reply to the group chat.
But at that moment, both the phone in the girl's hand and the phone that Hashiba Hikaru had placed next to the table emitted an extremely sharp and high-pitched sound, instantly changing the expressions of the two of them.
This noise is the school's notification sound; even if an individual's phone is on vibrate mode, it will still force a clear sound.
This signifies that the school is conveying an extremely important message.
Ichinose Honami sat up abruptly from the bed, staring at the boy in the chair.
"What... what happened?" Hashiba Hikaru's expression was somewhat grave.
After the cell phone stopped ringing, announcements began coming from various locations on the ship that had loudspeakers. Although the announcements weren't made inside the rooms, they were still quite noticeable in the corridors.
[Dear students, please note that the school has just sent out emails containing contact information to all students. Please carefully check your email and follow the instructions. Also, if you have not received a text message, please immediately find a nearby faculty or staff member to request assistance.]
[Please note that the contents of this email are extremely important, so please do not overlook this. To reiterate, do not miss any information in the email; carefully follow the instructions...]
The broadcast wasn't just played once, but was looped three times. After listening to the first broadcast, Hashiba Hikaru and Ichinose Honami walked out of the room side by side.
"Looks like... it really is a new exam."
The boy glanced at the emails on his phone, a thoughtful glint in his eyes.
Chapter 178 Special Exam Assembly
After the first round of broadcasting ended, Hashiba Hikaru quickly checked her email. The text information was very detailed, allowing her to quickly understand what had happened.
[Notice: Special Exam is about to begin. All students are requested to assemble in their designated rooms at the designated time. Those who are more than ten minutes late will be punished.]
Please proceed to room 201 on the second floor at 8:40 PM tonight. This will take approximately 20 minutes. Please head to your room promptly after using the restroom or taking care of other matters.
[Important Note: Please put your phone on vibrate mode or turn it off before entering the designated room.]
"Another Special Exam? Two exams in a row, it seems the school planned this all along." Hashiba Hikaru put her phone on silent mode and looked at Ichinose Honami beside her.
"What did Ichinose's text message look like?"
"Let's swap and see." The girl exchanged her phone with Hashiba Hikaru. After they checked each other's information, they discovered that their meeting times were different.
Hashiba Hikaru's meeting time is 8:40 PM, while Ichinose Honami's is 6:00 PM. If we calculate based on a 20-minute interval, there is a difference of eight rounds.
"What's going on? Why is there such a big difference between my time and Hikari's? If it's Special Exam, shouldn't it be announced uniformly?" Ichinose Honami's pretty face was filled with disbelief.
"Perhaps there are other reasons, but anyway, time is almost up, Honami, hurry up and get to the assembly point, it's always good to be a little early."
Hashiba Hikaru checked the time on her phone; there were still a dozen minutes until six o'clock.
"Yes, I understand."
Having experienced her first survival on Uninhabited Island, Ichinose Honami has gained a deeper understanding of the Special Exam. In any case, it is crucial for the class to gain an advantage, so it's best not to make any mistakes.
"Hikaru, I'll be going now. Let's meet again tonight."
After the pink-haired girl disappeared, Hashiba Hikaru returned to his room, his mind racing.
Logically, the Special Exam should be a collective exam covering all first-grade students. During the last survival trip on the Uninhabited Island, the basic rules were announced by the teachers, and then each class's homeroom teacher explained the rules in detail.
However, the Special Exam being held now seems to have grouped different students, not only with different meeting times, but also appears to have scattered the students within the class.
Since this is Special Exam, to ensure fairness, would those who assemble first be on the same starting line as those who assemble later?
Perhaps the exams will start tomorrow?
Hashiba Hikaru read the text message several times. Because the information was so scarce, he could only make some very basic judgments. If he wanted to formulate a plan to deal with the exam, he would have to wait until his assembly meeting ended and then proceed according to the exam rules.
The boy, now silent, had lost all interest in reading. He sat quietly at his desk, closed his eyes, and waited for his own time to arrive.
Once the time displayed on her phone reached eight o'clock, Hashiba Hikaru quickly got up and left the room.
The meeting point was room 201 on the second floor. It required passing through an area where people ate, drank, and had fun, which seemed to be deep inside this floor, where there was a row of empty rooms.
Hashiba Hikaru arrived at the designated room 201 ten minutes before the exam began. He was certainly not the first to arrive; there were many students from other classes in the corridor, and it seemed that their destinations were different from the boy's, as they were standing at the doors of different rooms.
Hashiba Hikaru didn't intend to check if any of the students were acquaintances. Instead, with three minutes left until 8:40, she reached out and knocked on the door.
Knock knock knock.
After the door opened, a cold female voice came from inside. Hashiba Hikaru recognized it as the voice of Chabashira Sae teacher of Class C.
"Come in."
Upon entering, the boy indeed saw the black-haired woman in an office lady uniform ahead. She crossed her arms and nodded slightly to Hashiba Hikaru.
In front of her was a round wooden table with four chairs around it. Three people had already taken their seats there, leaving only one seat for Hashiba Hikaru.
These people were all students in Class A, and upon seeing Hashiba Hikaru, each of them showed a joyful expression.
"Classmate Hashiba!"
The first person to call out his name was Ando Sayo. Hashiba Hikaru was already quite familiar with her, so he nodded slightly to her.
"Hashiba, it seems we've been put in the same group."
The second was Kanzaki Ryuji, who had a faint smile on his face, seemingly quite satisfied with the group assignment.
"If Classmate Hashiba were here, perhaps we could have won this Special Exam again."
The last one is Tsube Hitomi, who was previously ordered by Hashiba Hikaru to monitor the students in Class D. She is a very carefree girl, and at this moment, there is still a hint of anticipation on her face.
"Perhaps. It seems this group will consist of the four of us." After Hashiba Hikaru pulled out a chair and sat down, it was exactly 8:40.
"Now, let me explain this Special Exam to you."
Chabashira Sae checked the time and began explaining the rules of the exam to the four of them.
"First, in this Special Exam, the school will assign all first-year students to groups according to the naming system based on the Heavenly Stems. We will hold Special Exam within these groups, and the subject will be called 'Thinking.' Please pay attention."
Heavenly Stems?
Hashiba Hikaru's expression changed slightly. If it were the Heavenly Stem, then all the first-year students would be divided into twelve groups for the exam, but there were only four students from Class A in the room, so this shouldn't be the whole list.
The project being investigated is named Thinking.
A literal translation would be "thinking," "thought," or "pondering." If we follow this terminology, perhaps this exam format requires students to use their brains to solve problems?
"Um, I'd like to ask, is 'Thinking' the literal meaning, or does it have some other deeper meaning?" Hashiba Hikaru raised her hand; after all, she wasn't told she couldn't ask a question.
"There's no deep meaning behind it; you can understand it in the simplest way," Chabashira Sae explained, though her expression was indifferent. "To cultivate the best students, the school will assess you in many ways. The last exam tested teamwork, and this time it focuses on critical thinking."
"Thinking, basically it means you need to analyze different situations, think about the problem, and finally come up with the answer through thinking, understand?" Chabashira Sae's gaze fell on Hashiba Hikaru. She knew that he was the leader of Class A, so as long as he nodded, the others wouldn't say anything.
"We understand. Please continue explaining the rules, teacher." Hashiba Hikaru glanced at the other three people, none of whom objected.
"As you've probably noticed, since all the first-year students have been divided into twelve groups, the people in the room right now aren't all of them. At this time, the others in your group are also receiving an explanation of the exam rules."
Just as I expected.
Hashiba Hikaru nodded to herself.
However, he then thought that if the groups were divided based on the same time period, Ichinose Honami should be a member of another group.
It seems likely that students from other classes will join the same group.
That's really malicious. First, they made everyone compete for a semester, and now they're in the same group.
The boy's lips curled slightly as he continued to look at Chabashira Sae and listen to her explain the exam rules.
"Each group consists of students from four classes, with about three to five students selected from each class to join. You will take the exam together and arrive at the final result."
"Do you want to be in a group with students from other classes?"
Kanzaki Ryuji's expression was somewhat serious, and the other two girls also looked rather unwell.
While everyone in Class A can unconditionally trust their classmates, building trust with students from other classes would likely be much more difficult.
"Everyone, don't be nervous yet. The rules haven't been explained completely, so let's not put pressure on ourselves," Hashiba Hikaru told the three of them.
"Yes, we understand."
His long-standing prestige and ability within the class quickly calmed everyone down. He looked at Chabashira, signaling her to continue.
Having witnessed Hashiba Hikaru take control of the situation with just a few words, Chabashira Sae was somewhat surprised, but still spoke up.
"The group's members are listed on this card. If you think it's necessary, you can write them down now, but you are not allowed to take the card out." She handed a card to everyone, which had several rows of names written on it.
"OK."
After taking the card, Hashiba Hikaru placed it on the table to show it to the others.
There is a word "chen" written on the top. If it is according to the heavenly stems, it should mean the dragon group.
Below is a detailed list of group members, separated by class.
Class A: Hashiba Hikaru, Ando Sayo, Kanzaki Ryuji, Tsube Hitomi
Class B: Katsuragi Kohei, Nishikawa Ryoko, Matoba Shinji, Yano Koharu
Class C: Kushida Kikyo, Hirata Yosuke, Horikita Suzune
Class D: Oda Takumi, Suzuki Hidetoshi, Sonoda Masashi, Ryuen Kakeru
Wow, looking around, there are so many familiar faces.
After reading through the names in the group, Hashiba Hikaru couldn't help but chuckle to himself. He had met many of these people before, and there were even two stock market figures among them—quite a coincidence.
However, after scanning the names a second time, the boy discovered new information.
Katsuragi from Class B, Hirata Yosuke and Kushida Kikyo from Class C, and myself from Class A.
Then there's Ryuen Kakeru from Class D. Although the undercover agent from Class D lied and claimed to be the new class leader when they were on the Uninhabited Island, Hashiba Hikaru, who guessed the leader's name, knew very well that he was still working towards that position. However, the abilities he had shown were already enough to warrant attention.
The common thread behind these names is their connection to class leaders, so the list was definitely carefully selected.
This is the boy's first step in making a judgment.
Chapter 179 What Detective Game
"In short, after reviewing the group roster, I will now explain the specific examination format to you."
After glancing at the four students in Class A, Chabashira Sae calmly spoke.
"This Special Exam is designed so that there will only be four possible outcomes. There will be no exceptions in the final exam results for the twelve groups. Therefore, in order to ensure that you understand the rules in detail, this document contains a clear explanation. Please pass it around among yourselves."
"This document is also not allowed to be taken out, and photography is prohibited. Please remember these rules."
This document was the first to reach Hashiba Hikaru's hands. The remaining three students from Class A all agreed to let the boy read it first. He did not refuse and immediately began to carefully examine the rules.
After reading all the rules, he handed the information to the next person.
Well, the rules for the second Special Exam weren't very complicated. Compared to the previous test on the Uninhabited Island, everyone had only one goal this time: to guess the name of the VIP.
The exam will begin at 8:00 AM tomorrow and continue until 9:00 PM four days later, with a one-day break in between, so the exam will last for three days.
The group members will receive an email from the school tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM, informing them whether they have been selected as VIP.
Once the exam begins, there will be free discussion time for groups at 1 PM and 8 PM every day, with each discussion lasting one hour before the group can disband.
After the exam, the answer submission period is from 9:30 PM to 10:00 PM on the last night. If anyone guesses who the group's VIP is, they can submit their name during this period. The results will be announced at 11:00 PM that following.
To ensure the smooth conduct of the exam, the VIP cannot answer the questions, while each of the other group members has only one chance to answer. This means that the submission of names must be done with utmost care, as it will affect the final result.
The four results previously mentioned by Chabashira Sae have all been explained in detail in the materials.
Result 1: If everyone except the VIP answers correctly, then everyone will receive 500,000 Private Points, while the VIP will receive 1,000,000.
Result 2: If everyone except the VIP either gives up answering or answers incorrectly, then only the VIP will receive 500,000 Private Points, while the others will receive no points.
The two results mentioned above will only be generated after the exam has ended. However, the rules state that there is no time limit for answering questions during the exam period, and you can even start answering immediately after the exam begins.
Therefore, answering in advance will lead to two other possible outcomes.
Result 3: If someone other than the VIP answers correctly beforehand, their class will receive 50 Class Evaluation Points, and the individual will receive 500,000 Private Points. However, the class whose VIP is discovered will have 50 points deducted.