Shuffle

November arrived right on schedule.

The midterm results had been announced. Class A remained steady overall, with no major fluctuations in Class Points. The Sports Festival was well and truly behind them, too, leaving only the daily routine of schoolwork.

But this school never let its students get too comfortable.

During Monday's homeroom, Mashima walked into the classroom carrying a stack of documents.

"Ahead of this semester's final exams, you'll take a quiz next week covering eight subjects."

He placed the documents on the lectern and looked around.

"Some of you have already started preparing, but I'll go over it again."

A low murmur spread through the classroom. Their subject teachers had all mentioned the quiz, so no one was surprised.

"First," Mashima said, "the quiz will have a hundred questions, worth a total of a hundred points. The material will be at middle school level."

"In other words, this exam will check once again whether you have a solid grasp of the basics. Like the first-semester quiz, your scores won't count toward any assessment. Whether you get zero or full marks, it won't matter."

Sighs of relief rose around the classroom.

Not just the students near the bottom of the rankings-even the high achievers relaxed their shoulders.

An exam that didn't count took a lot of the pressure off.

"However-" Mashima changed tack. "That doesn't mean the quiz results are completely meaningless. They'll directly affect your final exams."

Was that really any surprise?

The Sports Festival had barely ended, and the next challenge was already here.

"Affect them how?" a student asked.

"Under school rules, you'll be paired with someone in your class based on your results in this quiz."

"Paired?"

"Yes. Those pairs will take the final exams as Fate-Sharing Partners."

"Fate-Sharing Partners."

Those words cast a pall over the classroom.

"The exams cover eight subjects, each worth a hundred points, with fifty questions per subject for a total of four hundred questions. This time, there are two conditions for failing."

Mashima continued, "The first is similar to before-you must score at least sixty in every subject. If you fall below sixty in any one subject, both partners will be expelled."

He added:

"Sixty refers to your combined score. For example, if Katsuragi and Totsuka were paired together, even if Totsuka scored zero, both would be safe as long as Katsuragi scored sixty."

A few startled murmurs rose from the class.

This exam sounded pretty easy.

But what did he mean by two conditions for failing?

Ignoring their reactions, Mashima continued.

"The second is a new addition. Besides individual subject scores, your overall total will also determine whether you pass. Even if you score at least sixty in all eight subjects, you'll still fail if your total falls below the required mark."

"Does that mean the partners' combined total, too?"

"Yes. Your total will be calculated by adding both partners' scores together. The exact passing mark hasn't been announced, but in previous years it's been around seven hundred."

"And if you fall below the passing mark, you will, without question, be expelled."

There wasn't much of a reaction. For the students in Class A, sixty per subject and seven hundred overall were nothing much to begin with.

And with the overall total being the sum of two people's scores, it would only be easier.

"The final exams will be held over two days, with four subjects each day. You'll be told the order later."

Mashima turned a page.

"If you're absent, the school will investigate the reason. If it's confirmed to have been unavoidable, you'll be given an estimated score based on your past results. But if your reason isn't accepted, you'll receive zero in every subject you miss. Keep that in mind."

"By now, you should be getting used to this school."

Mashima spoke unhurriedly. "So let me offer you a word of advice. Don't think that just because you've finished your first semester, you've figured out the rules here. The exams waiting for you will be far harder than these."

"Sir, don't make it sound so scary," a girl in the front row said quietly.

Mashima said, "In previous years, this Special Exam, commonly known as Paper Shuffle, has resulted in one or two pairs being expelled every time. Most have been from Class D, admittedly. But I don't want to see any Class A students on that list of expelled students."

Paper Shuffle.

Takahashi Ren silently repeated the name to himself.

It translated as "shuffling."

In other words, an exam that reshuffled the students into new combinations.

"Finally, the penalties for the actual exams. Naturally, cheating is prohibited. If you're caught, you'll be disqualified immediately and expelled along with your partner. This applies not just to these exams, but to all midterms and finals."

Cheating meant expulsion.

Takahashi Ren wasn't surprised. If failing got you expelled, what other outcome could there be for cheating?

"I'll explain exactly how the pairs will be decided once the quiz results are out."

The class exchanged a few remarks, then quickly quieted down again.

Even if the two worst students in the class were paired together, they could probably pass.

"One more thing. You'll be writing the questions for the final exams yourselves."

The classroom went silent for a moment, then erupted.

"We're writing the questions?"

"Yes. The questions you write will be given to one of the other three classes. In other words, you'll 'attack' another class, and the chosen class will 'defend.'"

Mashima continued, "Your class's total score will be compared against the other class's. The winning class can take fifty Class Points from the losing class."

Katsuragi raised his hand. "Will the points differ depending on the matchups? For example, if Class A attacks Class B, and Class D attacks Class A, Class A would gain a hundred points if it won both on offense and defense. But if Class A attacks Class D, and Class D attacks Class A, it would all come down to a single contest."

"The rules are quite clear," Mashima said. "In a direct matchup, the Class Points at stake will temporarily increase to a hundred. You needn't worry about that. If the total scores are equal, it's a draw, and no points change hands."

Mashima's answer was straightforward.

Katsuragi nodded and sat back down.

"Having us write questions, then making another class take the exam... I've never heard of anything like it."

Toba Shigeru raised a question. "What if someone writes questions that are impossible to answer? Deliberately includes material we haven't studied, or sets traps?"

"Yeah, exactly. Wouldn't that just be messing with people on purpose?"

"Of course, if we left everything to the students, that's probably what would happen."

Mashima nodded. "That's why the teachers will review all your questions. Anything outside the syllabus, logically inconsistent, or impossible to answer using the information in the question will be sent back for revision. We'll check them repeatedly until both the questions and the answers hold up. What you're worried about won't happen."

"Four hundred questions... Will there be enough time?"

There was a month left before the exams. If one person wrote them all, they would need to produce ten to fifteen questions a day. More people could share the workload, but the quality of the questions could easily become uneven.

The school had allowed them time, but considering that submissions might be returned for revision, the time they actually had was even shorter.

"If you don't finish the questions and answers, the school has a fallback measure."

Mashima said, "After the deadline, they'll all be replaced with questions prepared by the school. But you should expect those questions to be on the easy side."

If they were replaced with easy school-provided questions, everyone could score highly, and the gap between classes would disappear.

For Class A, that would mean giving away its advantage for nothing.

Besides, if another class wrote the questions, they would be sure to pile on tricky, difficult ones.

Thinking of it that way, the exam papers the school had set before seemed much gentler.

The high achievers had solid foundations, so they had nothing to fear. But for those already struggling academically, if they were paired with someone whose grades were just as poor, the outcome would be uncertain.

The faces of the few lower-performing students Takahashi Ren could see had visibly darkened.

"There are no restrictions on how you write the questions. You can decide within your class, consult teachers, discuss them with students from other classes or other years, or even look things up online. As long as the school approves them, it doesn't care whether the questions are easy or difficult."

"The final exams we take will have questions written by another class too, right?"

"Yes. Your main concern now should be which class to designate."

Mashima said, "The rules are simple. Tell me which class you want to designate, and I'll submit your choice. If it overlaps with another class's choice, the school will draw lots. If it doesn't, it'll be settled as is. I'll ask for your choice the day before next week's quiz. Think it through before then."

Exams normally pitted them against the school, but this time, it would be a one-on-one contest against another class.

They would just have to learn to deal with the school's little twists.

"That concludes the preliminary explanation of the quiz and final exams. The rest is for you to think through."

Mashima closed his documents, and homeroom ended.