Trust Game

The Trust Game, as its name suggested.

Rules for Everyone

1,Each Trust Card started with 100,000 points. Before entering the exam grounds, everyone had to hand their card to someone they trusted.

2,Trust Cards could not be held by both parties in an exchange. A trusted student could not hand a card to a student already holding one of the cards they were entrusted with.

3,Trust Cards could not be taken by force. Any transfer had to be witnessed by a teacher. Anyone caught illegally holding an extra Trust Card would be penalized 100,000 points per card.

4,Each class started with 300 Class Points, which could be used to buy supplies or saved. A Trust Card could be used to occupy each base. Every eight hours, the holder would receive 10,000 Trust Points, and the occupation status would be refreshed.

Rules for Trustors and Trustees

1,Trustees had two options: keep all the Trust Points from one card, or keep half the Trust Points from all their cards. If half the points on a card came to less than 50,000, it would count as 50,000. They could only do this once a day.

2,When a student's Trust Points fell to zero or below, they had thirty minutes to report to their homeroom teacher and withdraw from the Special Exam. Anyone who missed the deadline would be expelled.

3,Points kept for themselves could be used during or after the exam.

4,After the Special Exam ended, Trust Points could be transferred to Private Points.

Endgame Rules

1,From 23:00 to 24:00 on the sixth day, everyone would become a Devourer. They could not only devour Trust Points, but also use their phones to control the permissions of the trustors they had devoured, including phone permissions. After devouring a Trust Card, they could use all the cards belonging to that trustee.

2,It took twenty minutes to digest one card.

3,Every base had a microphone and a loudspeaker. Whenever someone was eliminated, an announcement would be broadcast to everyone.

4,Each class had one anonymous Water Ghost. Once they met the conditions for withdrawing from the Special Exam, they could name one person to withdraw from the exam or be expelled. This would not deduct Class Points. After expulsion, that person's points would belong to the Water Ghost. Format: class, name.

5,The exam would end at 25:00 on the sixth day. If one person from each class survived, the class would gain 10 Class Points. Each person lost by a class on the sixth day would cost it 10 Class Points.

6,To encourage competition among students, a Revival Ticket or Class Transfer Ticket cost 4,000,000 points.

Chabashira announced the rules of the Special Exam and handed out freshly printed leaflets one by one. Then she called students up individually to collect their custom Trust Cards.

The students sat awkwardly on the grass in the open area, their luggage beside them.

(When did the school get into running battle royales?)

The air still carried the fresh scent of plants and soil, but a faint smell of lumber mingled with it, seemingly coming from newly built paths or railings.

The Primeval Forest lay somewhere on Earth, though no one knew where. It was clearly been altered by human hands, and that was putting aside the paved paths.

The somewhat sparse trees showed subtle signs of careful landscaping. Tall trees still stood, but they were arranged more neatly than in a truly wild forest.

The forest vegetation was still lush, but many unruly shrubs had been cleared away.

(Had this once been some rich person's hunting grounds?)

Nagami peered through the layers of trees at this forest, which had been called "primeval."

"Wow, these rules are so complicated. I give up. There's no penalty to our Class Points this time anyway, so I'm just going to lie low."

Yamauchi, the shining example of human intelligence, was the first to declare that he was giving up.

"Yeah, just reading them makes my head spin. It feels like they made the rules this complicated just to give us a hard time. But rules are rules, so we have to follow them—or we'll get eliminated."

The Three Idiots chimed in.

"I just hope I can find someone I trust soon. I'll hand over my Trust Card first, then figure out the rest."

A classmate nearby agreed.

"Hey, Kanji. Let me hold your card. You might as well give the points to me instead of someone else."

Sudo suggested, sounding a little forceful.

"Actually, I'm the Water Ghost. If you devour my points, Sudo, you'll be expelled."

"Huh? Do you think I'm three years old?"

Even Sudo wasn't fooled by that.

"Everyone, listen up. If we use this Special Exam well, we might be able to make our class stand out."

Hirata addressed everyone enthusiastically.

"As long as we stick together and don't fight among ourselves, our class will have 3,000,000 points!"

"Three million!"

Hirata's gentle smile inspired many of them, and they nodded in agreement.

"Yay!~(≧▽≦)/~"

Quite a few students in Class D began cheering. After several months of scraping by with zero points since the start of the school year, they were finally getting their chance to turn things around.

Some upperclassmen even suspected that this year's Class D had so many curvy, beautiful girls because they'd been eating diet meals every day.

In the distance, students were gathered in an open area belonging to Class 1-B.

"Are they doing a try-not-to-laugh challenge? I admit defeat."

Nagami watched from afar and sighed.

"Kagami? Did you come here with another plan?"

"No. I was wondering if Honami had enough money to buy me."

"Ah! That's so direct."

Ichinose was used to being surprised, but she still hadn't gotten used to Nagami's bold jokes.

Ichinose's follower, Kanzaki, stepped forward. "Nagami is certainly worth 20 million points. It's 4 million now. But if you say it so loudly, won't your classmates resent you? To them, it's practically an act of betrayal."

"I'm just joking. On a cold day like this, only my heart is warm."

"You're certainly full of energy, Kagami!"

"Ichinose, could you hold on to this for me?"

Shiranami Chihiro spoke softly from behind them.

[Many people may have forgotten this character. She's the sweet girl who confessed to Ichinose not long after the school year began. Putting aside the fact that she likes girls, she's still a very cute girl.]

"Honami, it's great that everyone trusts you, but I don't recommend holding everyone's cards yourself. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. It's easy for everyone to get wiped out that way."

"I know."

Ichinose pouted in protest.

(At least in theory, this exam needs to be divided into three or more groups that keep each other in check to prevent anyone from making a break for it. The more groups there are, the more unpredictable things become, the calculations grow exponentially more difficult, and it gets harder for anyone to scheme.)

(The school never said how the Water Ghost was chosen. It seems like only the Water Ghost knows who they are, too.)

"We need to come up with a strategy. There are plenty of loopholes in these rules. If we use them well, we might be able to make Class D stand out."

Horikita rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"For example, the existence of the anonymous Water Ghost has to be kept at the highest level of secrecy. If they're exposed, this exam will turn into a one-sided battle royale."

"But only a few people they absolutely trust should know about the Water Ghost."

"That Water Ghost is overpowered."

The small group gathered around and began discussing things seriously. They exchanged ideas, gradually piecing together a plan.

The complaints about the complicated rules gradually gave way to earnest discussion. A strategy for playing the Trust Game was quietly taking shape.

So trustors needed to spread their risk among trustees who were trusted by fewer people, while trustees needed to resist temptation.

Once they had more than 4,000,000 points, the ugliness of human nature would follow.

"Kagami, this time, your card, I'll—"

"Where is he?"

Kushida turned around and found that Nagami, who had been standing there moments ago, had vanished. She shook her head and looked around.

"I'm here."

Like a ghost, Nagami suddenly appeared from the shadow behind Kushida.

Kushida hadn't expected him to appear from that direction and was at a loss for words.

"Kagami, being so mysterious—did you sneak off on another date?"

"Of course not. Being one of those masters of time management would be exhausting. I couldn't handle it."

"So you've tried it?"

Nagami felt a chill run down his back and spoke with only slight hesitation.

"Of course not. I'm not interested in that sort of thing at all."

Kushida smiled faintly. For a sweet-on-the-outside, dark-on-the-inside character like her, the art of language had just reached a new level.

Class D split into three groups: Horikita and Ayanokoji's group, Nagami and Kushida's group, and Hirata and Karuizawa's group.

"Other than Kushida, do I even have any other friends?"

"Ayanokoji, sort of."

"Kiyotaka, can you hold on to my card for me?"

Karuizawa stepped forward with an expectant look.

"Sure."

"Kiyotaka, c-can you hold on to mine too?"

The members of the study group came forward one after another. It seemed they'd all had the same idea. Great minds thought alike.

"Then take my card too, Horikita."

"Of course. You should have said so sooner."

Horikita took the Trust Card in a tone that brooked no argument.

"I actually wanted to give it to Hirata."

After some discussion among the group leaders, they settled on this order for holding the leaders' Trust Cards:

Hirata's group → Nagami's group → Ayanokoji's group → Hirata's group.

A perfect loop.

"Is everyone here?"

Mashima, the Class A teacher, glanced at his watch and raised a loudspeaker.

"This is the only entrance and the only exit. Now, I hereby declare the Primeval Forest Special Exam officially underway."

At 10:00 a.m. on the first day, the Special Exam began.