"The final result: first place, Class D—625 points!"
(Outpost check-ins: 20 × 3 × 7 - 20, 400 points total. Exam Points remaining: 75. Three people withdrew from the exam, deducting 90 points. Correctly guessed three classes, adding 150.)
The previously boisterous crowd fell into dead silence the instant Mashima finished speaking.
The next moment—
"Waaaah!!!"
Deafening cheers erupted from the Class D camp, sweeping across the entire grounds.
"Awesome! 625 points!"
"This is incredible! We're first!"
"625 points! That's over sixty thousand points a month! This is great!"
They crowded around each other in excitement, all their long-suppressed emotions bursting forth. Shouts rose and fell one after another, their faces filled with disbelieving ecstasy.
They had thought getting two hundred points would already be impressive, yet they had somehow earned a full 625. It was like estimating you would only get into a junior college after the college entrance exams, only for the results to come out and have Tsinghua and Peking fighting over you.
That kind of sudden surprise was simply beyond words.
The students from Classes A and B exchanged looks. As their opponents, they knew better than anyone what Class D had been up to these past few days.
No one could have imagined that a class like that could still take first place—and first place by nearly five times the score of second place.
It was utterly ridiculous.
Class C's camp.
Ryuen's expression was incomparably ugly.
His fists clenched tightly. Even as his fingertips dug deeply into his palms, he paid it no mind.
To him, the cheers coming from Class D beside him were more like resounding slaps.
They struck viciously across his face, humiliating and suffocating him.
Suzuki! Tsubame!
He repeated the name in his heart, word by word, engraving it