Monday morning.
In the Class B classroom.
Hoshinomiya walked into the classroom carrying a large stack of A4 papers. Everyone looked curiously at the pile.
"Teacher, let me help you." Ichinose stood up to lend a hand.
"Thank you, Ichinose. Could you please hand these out?"
"Sure." Ichinose took the papers, glanced at them, and paused in surprise before starting to distribute them.
Kobashi Yume, sitting in the front row, sniffed. Looking puzzled, she said, "Hoshinomiya-sensei hasn't been drinking today. How strange."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Hoshinomiya put her hands on her hips, looking aggrieved. "Is that really the image you all have of me? You're breaking your teacher's heart."
Horikita Etsuka took the A4 paper passed to him by Hamaguchi Tetsuya. He saw four large characters printed on it:
[Special Exam?]
The others also began exclaiming one after another.
"Wow, summer vacation is only a few weeks away, and there's a special exam?"
"There seem to be so many rules. This is giving me a headache..."
Clap, clap, clap...
Hoshinomiya clapped her hands a few times to quiet the class. "Everyone, I have good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?"
"Obviously the good news!"
"Oh? Is there something that'll make us happy?"
"Teacher, stop keeping us in suspense and tell us the good news first!"
Everyone chimed in at once.
Hoshinomiya smiled. "The good news is that summer vacation is only a few weeks away. You'll be able to have all the fun you want then."
Horikita Etsuka glanced at Hoshinomiya, who was being her usual frivolous self at the front of the room, and his mouth twitched. He looked at the A4 paper in his hand, then raised his head and asked,
"Hoshinomiya-sensei, is this special exam the bad news you were talking about?"
"Oh my, little Etsuka guessed it right! What a shame." Hoshinomiya pouted, as if she were unhappy that Etsuka had guessed correctly.
With that, Hoshinomiya picked up a piece of chalk and wrote several large characters on the blackboard.
Intelligence Defense and Offense Battle!
"Now, let me explain it to you!"
"This special exam was created to train students' thinking skills and strengthen class unity. It's called the Intelligence Defense and Offense Battle."
"The key is to create a [Class Key] and protect it from being discovered by other classes, while also finding out the [Class Keys] of other classes!"
As Horikita Etsuka listened to Hoshinomiya's explanation, he read through the rules on the A4 paper.
The exam would last one week, ending at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday.
I. Core Rules
1. Setting the Key:
Under the homeroom teacher's supervision, each class must hold a meeting and, with the approval of more than half the class, decide on a key. It must be no longer than six digits or characters.
Examples: 54182, "Cherry Blossoms in Bloom That Year," and so on.
Submission: The homeroom teacher must confirm the key on the spot and submit it to the school system. Once submitted, the key becomes "absolute truth" and cannot be changed.
Inside the Class D classroom.
Hirata raised his hand. "Teacher, if the key can be any five characters or fewer, can we freely combine special symbols, numbers, and letters?"
Horikita Suzune nodded slightly as she listened to Hirata.
Indeed, if they wanted to ensure a high level of secrecy, freely combining characters or using a few rare ones would greatly reduce the chance of the key being leaked.
After all, even if students from another class came to investigate the key, they might get it wrong because it contained rare characters.
Chabashira Sae shook her head slightly.
"You can read the rules carefully. They clearly state that rare characters and special symbols cannot be used, and the key must be coherent."
Kiyotaka Ayanokoji expressionlessly turned the A4 paper over and saw a few large characters at the very bottom.
[Rules and Safeguards]
1. The key must be composed coherently and cannot contain rare characters or special symbols.
Chabashira Sae spread her hands. "So you can give up on that idea. The school has already thought of everything you might come up with."
Then she paced slowly around the classroom, her long legs clad in black stockings moving with each step.
"The second point is about the spies."
2. Spy Deployment:
[Deployment Mechanism]
Each class must secretly submit the class it most wants to infiltrate with a spy.
If multiple classes choose the same target, the order in which they may deploy their spies will be decided by drawing lots.
The class with higher priority gets to deploy its spy. Those who lose the draw must choose their second choice or have the school assign a target at random.
Note: The spies' identities are strictly confidential. The school will not reveal them.
The school will create opportunities for spy activities in the following ways:
1. Mandatory mixed-class lessons, with some classes rearranged.
2. A temporary Anonymous Chat System will be activated on the Student Terminal for use as the main intelligence battleground.
3. Designated public areas will be opened.
After reading the rules, everyone began discussing them excitedly.
"Oh? Spies?" Yamauchi Haruki immediately perked up. He struck what he thought was a handsome pose. "I played Liar Game all the time back in high school. I think I could be a spy."
"You're not even as reliable as Kanji Ike," Sudo mocked without mercy.
"Hey, I'm not that bad." Seeing Kushida look over, Kanji Ike quickly straightened his clothes. "I might be a little better than Yamauchi, but I think someone else should be the spy. After all, I'm an honest person!"
As he spoke, his eyes unconsciously drifted toward Kushida. He wanted to see if she looked impressed by his act.
Unfortunately, Kushida had already turned away and started chatting with her deskmate. Yamauchi Haruki, on the other hand, wasn't having it.
"Hey, hey, what do you mean you're better than me, Ike? You should know I won plenty of awards back in high school."
"Hah. Do you mean those awards you have absolutely no proof of, or that talent of yours that could supposedly take you to the top at any moment?" Kanji Ike shot back without holding back.
"Hey, you..."
Chabashira Sae watched the two argue right in front of her without reacting. She didn't even seem to consider stopping them.
Hmph, this is Class D, a class of worthless trash.
Then her eyes shifted toward Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, seated by the window at the back. At the same time, Ayanokoji seemed to sense something and looked up, meeting Chabashira Sae's gaze.
The Class C classroom was silent. Their homeroom teacher, Sakagami Kazuma, was the only one speaking, explaining the rules of the special exam from the front of the room.
3. Offense and Defense Phase
Review Mechanism: Each class may hold one anonymous vote per day to select the "most suspicious mole."
If the vote identifies a spy from another class: That spy's operation fails, and the class that deployed the spy loses a massive number of points.
If the vote does not identify a spy: The class that held the vote loses a massive number of points.
Note: Anonymous voting is not mandatory.
Individual Rewards (Key Options): Any student, including spies, who provides crucial intelligence that directly leads to another class guessing a key will receive a huge personal reward of 1 million points. Providing information about a spy that directly leads to a correct guess will earn a personal reward of 500,000 points.
4. Final Verdict
On Sunday, each class may submit two final answers:
1. [Guess the Spy] The name of the spy in hiding and the class the spy belongs to.
2. [Guess the Key] The true key of another class that they have obtained.
Note: Submission is not mandatory. A spy may submit a key at any time. If the guess is correct, their class will complete the special exam immediately and begin summer vacation early.
[Scoring System]:
1. Successfully protect your class's key so that no other class guesses it: gain 100 Class Points. Otherwise, lose points.
2. Guess another class's true key: gain 100 Class Points. Otherwise, lose points.
3. Correctly identify another class's spy and the class they belong to: gain 50 Class Points. Otherwise, lose points.
4. Classes that do not have enough Class Points to cover deductions will go into negative points, which will also affect next month's point allocation.
[Note]: The school reserves the right to interpret all rules.
Before you continue