"Everyone, do your best to show your true ability on next week's quiz."
After class, Sawahara announced to the whole class, "Starting tomorrow, we'll hold study sessions every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evening until the final exams are over."
Desperate times called for desperate measures. Since this exam would test nothing but academic ability, they only needed to help their classmates make up some ground. They probably wouldn't win this time, but they had to leave themselves a chance for the future.
As usual, Shiina, Ryuen, and the others came over to Sawahara to discuss their strategy for the exam.
"It's not hard to guess who'll be assigned to us this time. Either Class A or Class D will attack us, and we'll target one of them too."
"That's what I thought." Ryuen nodded in agreement.
Shiina had no doubts about that conclusion either.
Kaneda, though, looked a little confused. He didn't understand why they were all so certain, so Sawahara briefly explained when he saw that Kaneda still hadn't caught on.
"Class D has no choice. Their only hope is to attack us. Of course, if they're clever, they might cooperate with Class C instead, though that's unlikely.
"Class A will definitely target us. They won't pass up a chance to step on us in an exam they're certain to win.
"For various reasons, Class C is unlikely to attack us, so those are probably the only two possibilities.
"Besides, if Class C wants to play it safe, they'll target Class D, which is also our best option.
"If the lottery to attack Class D doesn't pick our class, then we'll randomly choose between Class C and Class A. We can make a deal with Class C and pass the exam, but if we draw Class A..."
"Whichever lottery