You're Telling Stories Too?

It was Chabashira Sae, the one he hadn't sent the inquiry text message to before.

The other party first shared a photo of Hotaru eating cat food, and then got straight to the point, saying that she had all the information about the next Special Exam, and asked Kitagawa Ryo to meet her at the same old place.

Kitagawa Ryo and Chabashira Sae's usual meeting place was in the Special Teaching Building, but because Tsukishiro reinstalled surveillance equipment there, their meeting place was moved to the Drama Club's activity room. After all, only Kitagawa Ryo and Karuizawa Kei had the key to this place, making it quite secluded.

Seeing that the other party had brought up the next Special Exam, Kitagawa Ryo readily agreed. After putting his phone in his pocket, he took the key to the club activity room and headed towards the club building.

At this time, all the clubs had long since stopped their activities, and the club building was naturally empty. When Kitagawa Ryo arrived at the entrance of the Drama Club's activity room, Chabashira Sae was already waiting there.

Silently unlocking the door with his key, Kitagawa Ryo went inside first. After carefully drawing all the curtains closed, he turned on the light and looked at Chabashira Sae, whom he hadn't seen alone for a while.

Because it was her day off, Chabashira Sae wasn't wearing her usual professional office lady outfit. Instead, she was dressed more casually at home. Her tight jeans made her long legs look even straighter, and instead of her usual high ponytail, she had her black hair down, looking like she had just taken a shower, with the ends of her hair feeling a little damp.

Judging by appearances alone, Chabashira Sae certainly has the looks to make most of the unmarried male faculty and staff at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School go to great lengths for her cat for months. However, that's only true of her looks Mashima Tomoya was already aware of her terrible personality, has always kept his distance.

"Firefly..."

"Let's talk about the next Special Exam first."

Interrupting the other party's hesitation to speak, Kitagawa Ryo tried his best to appear to Chabashira Sae as if 'we'd try to talk about work.'

"Good."

However, Chabashira Sae didn't seem to care much, since that was the very excuse she used to invite Kitagawa Ryo here.

"Our homeroom teacher has received confirmation from the school that all students in all three grades at ANHS will be taking the Unanimous Special Exam's in the middle of next month."

When the name was mentioned, Chabashira Sae's eyes flickered somewhat unnaturally, clearly recalling the past.

"I'm telling you in advance because the specific details of this Special Exam will only be announced to the students by our class leader the day before the exam officially begins."

In other words, students are given almost no preparation time.

"The rules of the exam are quite simple. Just like the name suggests, students are required to vote repeatedly in class until Unanimous Vote decision is reached from the multiple options."

Although he had glimpsed that Special Exam from back then, Unanimous Vote, in Sakayanagi Arisu's simulation, Kitagawa Ryo listened quite attentively, considering that the rules might change.

"Although this Special Exam will be conducted simultaneously by all classes across all three grades, there is no competition or rivalry between the classes and grades. Each class will take the exam independently. On the day the exam begins, the school will give you five topics. Furthermore, the topics will be common to all classes within the same grade, but the topics for different grades will not be the same."

Seemingly to help Kitagawa Ryo understand further, Chabashira Sae quickly began to supplement her explanation with examples:

"Research topics can generally be categorized into these types."

Example 1: The class loses five Class Points, but each student gains 10,000 Private Points. Choose either "agree" or "disagree".

"This is a simple choice-based question."

"Then there's the second type, example two: Give one million Private Points to one person in the class, with the options being 'yes' or 'no'."

"This type involves the school issuing a voluntary assignment, allowing students to decide who gets the points. Even if Unanimous Vote agrees, a vote is still needed to determine which student will receive the points."

"When faced with this type of topic, students need to select specific students on a tablet. To maintain complete anonymity, the position of each student's name is changed after each vote. The 'for' and 'against' options are also randomly changed to prevent someone from peeking at the student next to them voting or guessing which option someone voted for based on the position of their finger."

"If more than half of the students choose the same student, the vote will return to Unanimous Vote, where all students will decide whether to award the one million Private Points to the selected person."

"Of course, if Unanimous Vote cannot be reached, then we can only repeat the process or replace the candidate."

"Finally, this is a topic that has nothing to do with Class Points or Private Points, but is related to Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School itself."

"This is an example."

Example 3: The school has decided to add facilities to the Keyaki Mall. Which of the following facilities would you like to see added? (The answer will be based on the votes from the four classes, and the facility with the most votes will be selected.)

"Restaurants, grocery stores, entertainment facilities, medical facilities."

Unlike the previous examples, this is not a question of fore or against, but rather a question of choosing one of four options.

"If a topic passes with an 'Agree' option, its content will be actually recognized and implemented. However, in the case of a topic in Form Three, the option that reaches Unanimous Vote is merely a vote decided by one's own class. Even if our class Unanimous Vote votes for the restaurant, if more than half of the twelve classes Unanimous Vote for the amusement park, the amusement park with the higher number of votes will be added in the end."

Combining the detailed spoilers from Chabashira Sae and the information provided by Horikita Suzune today, Kitagawa Ryo has a pretty good grasp of the upcoming Unanimous Special Exam that everyone agrees on.

However, Chabashira Sae herself seemed to feel that this was not enough. After thinking for a moment, she handed Kitagawa Ryo opened it and saw that it was a summary of this Special Exam:

Rules Explanation:

1. For the assignments given by the school, all classmates will vote on the prepared options. (There are a total of five assignments, with a maximum of four options.)

Second, unless Unanimous Vote votes for one option, the same question will keep repeating.

Third, if the project expires before the deadline, no matter how far the project has progressed, it will not be recognized or implemented.

Fourth, any topic that is Unanimous Vote will be recognized and implemented regardless of whether the Special Exam is successful or not.

Fifth, completing all the assignments set by the school will earn you fifty Class Points.

6. If all tasks cannot be completed within five hours, 300 Class Points will be lost.

The process of the Unanimous Special Exam:

First, the school assigns a research topic and conducts the first vote (within sixty seconds).

2. If Unanimous Vote, move on to the next topic, proceeding to step 1. If there is no agreement, proceed to step 3.

3. A ten-minute break (only in the classroom, during which you are free to move around and discuss with each other).

40 seconds for voting (no discussion allowed, only voting).

(Student Council who fail to vote within 60 seconds will face cumulative penalties.)

(If the cumulative penalty exceeds ninety seconds, the student will face expulsion during this period.)

Fifth, announce the voting results. If Unanimous Vote is reached, move on to the next topic, following step one.

If Unanimous Vote cannot be reached, return to step three.

Repeat this process until all five questions are answered in Unanimous Vote, at which point this Special Exam will conclude.

"However, we teachers have no idea what kind of topic the school will set this time. Furthermore, it's important to note that this exam strictly prohibits any agreements or other practices that restrict other students' voting on specific options. Also, private Private Points trading to restrict someone else's choices is of course not allowed. These regulations apply not only to other classes but also to our own class."

"If the allegations are found to be true, the student will also be subject to expulsion."

"Furthermore, to ensure fairness, all communication devices, including cell phones, will be collected midway through this Unanimous Vote Special Exam, as external communication could create unwritten rules. Anyone found bringing such items will be expelled."

After recounting everything in one go, Chabashira Sae quietly waited for Kitagawa Ryo to gather his thoughts. She then slowly strolled to the trophy display case on the inside of the room, passing the time by looking at the names of the various awards.

In a sense, this was the deepest nightmare that had haunted her for over a decade before Kitagawa Ryo appeared during the Uninhabited Island Special Exam. In the countless nights that followed, Chabashira Sae would dream of that scene.

"I understand, thank you."

While Chabashira Sae was still somewhat dazed, Kitagawa Ryo had finished organizing all the information and politely thanked the other party.

Chabashira Sae saw the same confidence on his face as always, which inevitably made her wonder what choice he would have made if he had been there and faced the same dilemma as her.

If the other person can pass this Unanimous Special Exam, she will probably be even more determined to push for his class transfer.

However, what Chabashira Sae was unaware of at this time was that another class in the second year had reached an astonishing Unanimous Vote on the issue of Kitagawa Ryo transferring to another class.

"Just before the Summer Large-Scale Special Exam."

Ryuen Kakeru thus set the tone.

P. S.: Thank you for reading and subscribing.

Chapter 55: You're here to tell stories too?

Perhaps because it was getting late, Chabashira Sae did not make any further invitations to Kitagawa Ryo, such as to go to her dormitory room. After all, if such a thing were discovered, whether intentional or unintentional, it would inevitably cause quite a bad influence and unpredictable consequences.

Like other middle schools, Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School is quite strict about managing close contact between teachers and students. In fact, the more a school cares about its social reputation, the more it will care about this aspect. If such a scandal were to occur, Kitagawa Ryo and Chabashira Sae would only face expulsion.

After all, just last year, Totsuka Yahiko's death note was enough to make the school nervously invite both of them to the academic affairs office for investigation. It was precisely because of this that even though Chabashira Sae's thinking was somewhat different from that of ordinary people, she still couldn't bring herself to invite Kitagawa Ryo to a teacher's single dormitory at this time.

However, before leaving, she gave a meaningful hint:

"I will take good care of your cat. If you want to come see it or take it back, please contact me by text message in advance."

"... good."

After watching Chabashira Sae leave, Kitagawa Ryo didn't follow her. Instead, he turned off his phone and sat alone in the Drama Club's activity room for a while, seemingly waiting for someone.

Sure enough, about two minutes later, Kitagawa Ryo, who had successfully been lying in wait, found the two girls acting suspiciously in the corridor near the classroom door.

Sakayanagi Arisu and Amasawa Ichika.

Speaking of which, ever since the latter joined the Student Council, the two of them seem to have been Matoba much more often. Today's Special Exam was no exception. Hotaru had mentioned to me that she had run into them, but she was vague about the specifics of their conversation and glossed over it rather perfunctorily.

Are you looking for me?

With one in each hand, as if lifting two kittens, Kitagawa Ryo easily grabbed the brim of the hoods around their necks and carried them into the activity room. It can only be said that neither Amasawa Ichika nor Sakayanagi Arisu tall, but despite having similar heights, their physical development is quite different.

"I set up couple location services with Arisu, not so you could monitor my location in real time..."

"Today is just an exception, okay? After all, anyone would find it strange to see Ryo suddenly showing up at the Drama Club late at night, right?"

"And what about last time?"

"Um, which time?"

"Of course it was that time with Yuki and Sakurako, having the younger sister bother the older sister. I can't believe you even thought of Arisu."

First, Kitagawa Ryo Sakayanagi Arisu a verbal reprimand, then looked at Amasawa Ichika on the other side, his tone somewhat helpless:

"Why is Ichika starting to join in Arisu's antics too?"

"It's not exactly causing trouble, well, it's just that I'm genuinely a little worried about what Ryoma and Chabashira might do here... So, Ryoma, could you also give me a couple's location? That way, I won't have to share it with Arisu."

"So you can check up on things by yourself now, right?"

Seeing Amasawa Ichika trying to act cute and foolish to get by, Kitagawa Ryo could understand what she meant. After all, the situation was different now than when school started. Yuki and Sakayanagi Arisu's behavior was much more human-like, so she naturally didn't need to maintain that image of a good wife anymore and could let her true nature shine through a little.

"No, it's clearly Liang who was secretly meeting with some beautiful homeroom teacher behind our backs, right? How come we're the ones being questioned? Liang should explain herself."

At this moment Sakayanagi Arisu finally regained her senses from the initial panic of being caught red-handed, and realized that, objectively speaking, she should have been on their side this time.

"I just chatted with Chabashira about the next Special Exam and some things about Hotaru. It was just a simple information exchange, like before."

"So, Hotaru's matter can be included in information exchange? I'll tell Hotaru next time, hmph."

"It's talking about Neko-yaki (Firefly)."

"Oh yeah, it seems like some people on the forum were talking about cats today."

Upon hearing this, Amasawa Ichika nodded in understanding, then gestured with her chin towards Kitagawa Ryo:

"So, do you still want to come back? If it's inconvenient for Ryo to go to that Chabashira dormitory, either Arisu or I can go in your place."

"You two might not be able to bring Hotaru back..."

Although Kitagawa Ryo meant to express that the kitten's running away from home was entirely at the other person's behest, to Sakayanagi Arisu and Amasawa Ichika, who were unaware of the details, it sounded like they were saying that they weren't very familiar with Hotaru.

I feel that Hotaru and I still have a very good relationship.

Sakayanagi Arisu made this declaration without even realizing it. Even if Hotaru herself wasn't here, Kitagawa Ryo would have rolled his eyes at Sakayanagi Arisu on her behalf. After all, he could sense that among the four heroines in the chapter simulation, Hotaru's ranking was clearly first, followed by Horikita Suzune, Ichinose Honami and Karuizawa Kei, and finally Sakayanagi Arisu.

God knows what this guy did to the poor kitten while he was away.

"I think I'll pick it up myself when I have time; that's what Chabashira himself thinks too."

"Going to the teachers' dormitory alone... um, how about having Hoshinomiya or Mashima, your homeroom teacher, accompany you?"

"The latter is still debatable, but you really dare to suggest the former? I certainly can't imagine what that would look like."

At this point, Kitagawa Ryo waved his hand, indicating that he would figure out a solution himself, and then directly shifted the topic to the Unanimous Special Exam that would be held in mid-June.

As someone who witnessed the Unanimous Special Exam more than ten years ago alongside Kitagawa Ryo in a simulation, Sakayanagi Arisu is no stranger to this type of Special Exam. However, what interests her more at this moment is the content related to the Summer Large-Scale Special Exam that Kitagawa Ryo Horikita Suzune.

"Using this Special Exam to determine the type of the next Special Exam feels like a first for ANHS School since its founding."

Compared to the enthusiastic Sakayanagi Arisu, Amasawa Ichika was clearly still somewhat resentful that this Summer Large-Scale Special Exam wasn't held on the Uninhabited Island. After all, the Uninhabited Island was her lucky place, filled with wonderful memories in every way.

"If the Uninhabited Island is gone, then the big cruise ship will also be gone..."

"It's not that the Uninhabited Island is gone yet, is it? We'll have to see the final vote. Maybe everyone will still choose the Uninhabited Island in the end?"

Although Kitagawa Ryo was comforting Amasawa Ichika with these words, he didn't even believe it himself when he said it. After all, if you were to interview second-year students, probably not many of them would genuinely enjoy the arduous experience of 14 days of wilderness survival. What decent person would choose to take Uninhabited Island Special Exam for no reason?

Amasawa Ichika was well aware of this fact, and could only sigh, as if reminiscing about the Uninhabited Island that was getting further and further away from her.

"However, even returning to the point about the exam itself, Unanimous Vote, our class's situation was really not good."

Sakayanagi Arisu has always been keenly aware of the current situation in Class 2-B.

The End-of-Year Special Exam two months ago not only pulled them down from Class A, but also exposed all the problems and hidden conflicts in the class. Although they did not erupt in a more intense way, Class B can hardly be called a united group now.

This can also be seen from the First- and Second-Year Partner Special Exam last month. In this Special Exam, only Class A and Class D, under the full coordination of their respective class Leader, formed pairs with the First Year and successfully passed the test.

Class B, like Class C, adopted a completely individualistic approach where students had to find their own partners. This behavior itself conveyed a crucial message, and Horikita Suzune herself didn't have a good solution for it.