"First year Class D's Hirata, right?" Katsuragi walked straight over to the Class D students. Class D had yet to decide how they should form their groups.
"Hello, Katsuragi. Is there something you need?" Hirata greeted him before asking why he had come.
"I think you've probably noticed as well. In this exam, Class B and Class C have already completely joined forces..." Before Katsuragi could finish, someone interrupted him.
"No way, seriously?" It was Ike. He had been busy trying to get Hirata to place him in a relatively capable group and had not paid attention to the other classes.
"..." Katsuragi fell silent. There was not much to expect from Class D; he had known that long ago. But the situation might have been even worse than he had imagined.
"Sorry, Ike. Let's first let Katsuragi explain why he came," Hirata said apologetically to Katsuragi, then somewhat helplessly addressed Ike.
"Class B and Class C have formed groups together. Even so, our class has no intention of joining forces with Class D." Katsuragi laid out the facts plainly, making Hirata abandon any illusions.
"So if you want to pass the exam and avoid having anyone expelled, struggle on your own. All we can guarantee is that no one in our class will deliberately slack off during the exam. That's all."
Katsuragi had not intended to do much. He merely wanted to put pressure on them—make Class D realize that one misstep could leave them facing expulsion, forcing them to adjust their group compositions.
As long as every Class D group had one or two capable people, the remaining two groups should not end up with anyone being expelled.
Of course, this meant Class D would be unable to form a group capable of competing for the rankings, but