Time quickly arrived at half past nine in the evening.
According to the special exam rules handed down by the school, this was precisely the starting time at which each group was permitted to begin formally sending their answers to the designated email address.
Outside the cruise ship, night had settled deep over the sea, the waves lapping gently against the hull.
However, this calm did not last for long.
In a mere span of a dozen or so minutes, the official broadcast that blanketed every area of the cruise ship began to issue cold electronic announcements one after another, without pause.
"Notice: the Rat Group's exam has concluded."
"Notice: the Ox Group's exam has concluded."
...
Before long, the exams of all twelve groups had concluded. At this moment, inside one of the bars on the cruise ship, the homeroom teachers of the four classes were sitting at their spots in that bar, chatting idly.
Of course, it wasn't that the relationship between these several homeroom teachers was particularly harmonious—it was just... that there weren't many other places to go.
At this moment, they too had heard the broadcast. When the first group's exam-conclusion notice came through, they had actually assumed someone didn't want to play anymore and had deliberately ended it.
After all, this was only the first day, and... the notice hadn't even stated whether the preferential person had been guessed. If a group of teachers like them were to take part in this kind of exam, even they wouldn't hand over an answer so hastily on the first day—especially since this was an exam that concerned class points.
Class B's homeroom teacher, Hoshinomiya Chie, lounged lazily deep in the sofa, a half-full glass of whiskey in her hand.
She gently swirled the glass in her hand, the ice cubes knocking against the walls of the glass with a crisp ringing sound.
That delicate face of hers carried a few traces of drunkenness, along with a few traces of an amused smile.
"My, my, this year's first-year students really are something else."
Hoshinomiya Chie parted her red lips slightly, her voice carrying a distinctive sort of coquettish charm.
"It's only the very first night since the exam began, and yet they've gone and wrapped up this preferential-person exam already."
She narrowed her eyes slightly, as though reminiscing about the past.
"In the records of past years, this sort of thing has never happened, has it? Even if one of the classes had managed by sheer luck to work out the hidden pattern, they would never have chosen to end the exam early on the very first day."
After all, the rules were laid out plainly: each class held the quota for three preferential persons.
If one wanted to maximize the benefits for both the class and the individual, the most correct approach would be to hide these three preferential persons away tightly, stalling all the way until the very last moment of the final day of the exam.
But now the situation was completely different.
The answering period for the first day had only just begun, yet this lengthy battle line that should have lasted four days had already been declared over outright.
"Could it be that..."
Hoshinomiya Chie murmured softly.
"This time, several classes secretly formed an alliance? They all figured out the true purpose of this exam, and joined hands to uncover the assessment rules hidden behind it?"
Saying this much, Hoshinomiya Chie's tone abruptly shifted.
She tilted her head, casting her gaze toward Class D's homeroom teacher seated off to the side, who had kept a cold face the whole time—Chabashira Sae.
"But then again, it shouldn't be the case, right?"
The corner of Hoshinomiya Chie's mouth curled up into an undisguised arc of mockery as she spoke at a leisurely, unhurried pace.
"After all, some children are simply born not clever enough. This game isn't one that just anyone is qualified to take part in."
After hearing these barbed, pointed words, Chabashira Sae's frosty face couldn't help but immediately fall, her expression turning extremely ugly.
She was of course well aware.
These words of Hoshinomiya Chie's could basically be said to be openly ridiculing her Class D.
In this Advanced Nurturing High School, there really was no class that had become as much of a laughingstock as Class D.
In the very first month after school had started, they had actually managed to squander their initial one thousand class points down to nothing, getting deducted straight to an unprecedented zero points—something unheard of in the entire history since the school's founding.
Although being subjected to such cold sarcasm to her face by Hoshinomiya Chie made Chabashira Sae feel deeply humiliated, she had to admit one fact in her own heart as well.
And that was that, given the abilities of the current group of students in Class D, there really was no way they could see through the complex rules of this exam on the very first day.
Even though some people in Class D had decent exam scores—such as Yukimura Teruhiko and Horikita Suzune—that was still utterly insufficient.
Because in order to know the rules of this exam, one would at the very least need to know who the preferential persons were, and whether Class D could even find out their own class's preferential persons in the end was still an unknown.
Especially since Shikime Natsu had quite a few girls in Class D with whom he was on good terms, and in Chabashira Sae's view, these girls seemed to have no intention of competing against Class A, which couldn't help but make Chabashira Sae feel rather uncomfortable.
The current her had no way to intervene either. If that highly-rated Ayanokouji Kiyotaka were to make a move, would there be a different result?
Of course, that Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was also a problematic student. Up to now, Chabashira Sae had never seen Ayanokouji Kiyotaka make a move for the class—it was as though he had always been so utterly ordinary.
This time... was Class D going to lose again?
On the contrary, that student named Shikime Natsu whom Class A possessed—in just the span of a single semester, it now seemed as though the entire first year was already grasped in his hands. What Chabashira Sae wanted to express was naturally not about winning hearts; if it were about winning over people's hearts, Class D did have a few rather difficult fellows.
What Chabashira Sae had in mind was the game rules of this school—rules that Shikime Natsu seemed to not take seriously at all, toying with them however he pleased.
Seeing that Chabashira Sae wasn't answering, Hoshinomiya Chie found it somewhat dull.
Her gaze drifted, settling instead upon Class A's homeroom teacher seated on the other side—Mashima Tomoya.
"Mashima-sensei."
She probed with a smile.
"Judging by the commotion of this broadcast, this time it should once again be your Class A that saw through the exam's trick ahead of everyone, right? After all, your class does have that monster-level Shikime Natsu in it."
When mentioning the name "Shikime Natsu," a distinct trace of envy uncontrollably leaked into Hoshinomiya Chie's tone.
Of course, this envy was soon replaced by a flash of viciousness in the depths of her eyes.
In any case, as long as Class D was the one being trampled underfoot, that was enough.
To these words of Hoshinomiya Chie's, Mashima Tomoya's stern face showed not the slightest ripple, and he gave no response.
And it was at this very moment.
The work phones that the several teachers had placed on the table all let out a short vibration almost simultaneously.
The notification of the final results of this special exam had already been automatically sent over by the school's system.
After all, the exams of all 12 groups had already been answered and completed; no matter what the results were, there was no reason for the academy to keep dragging it out.
Mashima Tomoya picked up his own phone, unlocked the screen, and carefully looked over the detailed score sheet that had been sent this time.
When he saw clearly the various data and answering situations on it.
In Mashima Tomoya's heart, his feelings regarding this student Shikime Natsu grew rather profound.
He truly hadn't expected that Shikime Natsu could actually control the situation to such a degree—all the classes were within Shikime Natsu's grasp. Class A answered nine correctly, and then Class A's three were each answered correctly by one of B, C, and D—wasn't this obvious enough?
Mashima Tomoya silently made an assumption in his heart.
If, back when he himself had been a student, he had become the opponent of an existence on Shikime Natsu's level, he absolutely would not have been a match for him—that kind of all-around suppression was enough to make a person feel despair.
However, even though Shikime Natsu had displayed such formidable suppressive power in every single exam, Mashima Tomoya, for some reason, always had a strange illusion.
He felt that Shikime Natsu seemed to not place much value on those so-called "class points" set up by the school, nor on the obsession with keeping Class A's position secure.
But Mashima Tomoya soon understood.
With Shikime Natsu's rather terrifying personal ability, whether it was entering a top university to continue his studies in the future, or directly stepping into society to find employment, it would all likely pose no difficulty whatsoever for him.
This Advanced Nurturing High School had indeed been established with the original intent of cultivating outstanding talent.
But the so-called "cultivation" of talent, in the end, still had those two words "cultivation" in it. It meant that students needed to grow, learn, fall down and pick themselves back up within this environment.
Yet for Shikime Natsu, those two words "cultivation" seemed to be utterly inapplicable.
Shikime Natsu was like a "complete entity" that had long since been honed into its finished form, having airdropped directly into this academy.
Then, facing these peers who were still groping their way through the rules, all he needed to do was steamroll straight over them, and that was enough.
Class C's homeroom teacher, Sakagami Kazunori, seated across from them, had by this time also finished reading the results on his phone.
He pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose, put away his phone, and then looked toward Mashima Tomoya.
"Mashima-sensei, congratulations."
A faint smile hung at the corner of Sakagami Kazunori's mouth—though just how much sincerity that smile held was unclear.
"It seems Class A has once again achieved an overwhelming victory. If things keep developing at this momentum, over the next three years, your Class A's position can probably stay completely unshaken."
After saying these words, Sakagami Kazunori directly rose to his feet, preparing to leave this room.
Originally, Sakagami Kazunori had placed high hopes on Ryuuen Kakeru of his class; he believed that Ryuuen's kind of wolfish nature that stopped at no means was enough to tear open a bloody path in this school.
But now it seemed that scheming and trickery of Ryuuen Kakeru's level, in the face of Shikime Natsu's kind of absolute strength, really still couldn't measure up after all.
Had he enrolled a year earlier, or a year later, Ryuuen Kakeru might well have been able to shine brilliantly.
But as it happened, he was born at the wrong time, running into that insurmountable high mountain that was Shikime Natsu.
Watching Sakagami Kazunori's departing back, Chabashira Sae, off to the side, said nothing at all either.
She silently stuffed her phone into her pocket and stood up; the current her no longer had any interest in continuing to stay in this place.
Hoshinomiya Chie watched Chabashira Sae's appearance as she prepared to leave, the smile at the corner of her mouth growing even thicker.
She lazily raised the glass in her hand and swirled it toward Chabashira Sae's back.
"Aiya, won't you stay and keep me company for a few more drinks, Sae-chan?"
Hoshinomiya Chie's voice carried a few traces of a smile, but that smile sounded somewhat unpleasant.
"After all, in this exam, apart from Class A, every one of us is a loser, you know."
Hoshinomiya Chie put extra emphasis on those three words, "a loser."
Chabashira Sae's footsteps paused slightly, but she did not turn back, nor did she pay any heed to these words of Hoshinomiya Chie's. Instead, she pushed open the door and quickly left the room.
Before long.
The summary of the final results of this special exam was soon broadcast to all the students through the cruise ship's broadcast system.
"Notice to all students: as all groups have already completed their answers ahead of schedule, the special exam has officially concluded. The final score changes for all classes are now announced as follows..."
Accompanying that utterly emotionless data report over the broadcast.
After hearing the scores and point changes of their respective classes, the students throughout the cruise ship reacted in starkly different ways.
Inside Class C's guest room.
Ryuuen Kakeru sat on the sofa, and after listening to the results over the broadcast, his expression instantly turned incomparably gloomy. "Tch!"
He suddenly slammed a fist down onto the coffee table in front of him, cursing under his breath.
By this point, he had completely thought through the problem within it.
Just as expected! That bunch from Class A had been up to no good from the start!
Their proactively selling off a so-called Class A preferential-person list slot—so it turned out they'd been lying in wait for him right here!
Ryuuen Kakeru gritted his teeth, and recalling the events that had occurred not long ago, only then did he realize that he had unknowingly already stepped into the trap the other party had meticulously laid out.
Class A's Katsuragi Kouhei had, of all things, come to seek him out only belatedly at exactly nine-twenty this evening to conduct that transaction selling the information of Class A's preferential-person list.
Nine-twenty! From the school-mandated nine-thirty formal answering time, there were only a short ten minutes left!
In that pressing ten-minute window.
Even someone as cunning as Ryuuen Kakeru, after obtaining one of Class A's preferential persons' names, had no way to immediately carry out an effective comparison of the information, much less reverse-deduce, in such a short span of time, that "gojūon ordering" pattern hidden behind it!
Class A was not only earning Class C's personal points—they were also exploiting this extreme time difference to directly cripple all his possibilities of counterattack and thought!
When all was said and done, Ryuuen Kakeru hadn't expected Class A to act so swiftly either. It was only upon hearing several groups' exams conclude in succession that Ryuuen Kakeru had hurriedly had his people submit their answers, lest those fellows from Class A sell the same preferential person multiple times, leaving him unable to even recoup his losses.
Class B's area.
Ichinose Honami, hearing the results over the broadcast, couldn't help but let out a sigh as well, though a heartening smile soon hung on her face as she marveled that Shikime Natsu really was quite formidable.
As for Class D's side.
People like Kushida Kikyou and Hirata Yousuke, Class D's nominal leaders at present, could be said to be quite worried about this result.
This exam had directly thrown away the bulk of the class points they'd worked so hard to earn on the Deserted Island exam, and now they'd have to live a tight, penny-pinching life once again.
Of course, the likes of Ike Kanji and Yamauchi Haruki began to look around hostilely at the Class D members surrounding them, demanding to know which preferential person had proactively leaked the information to those fellows from Class A.
____
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🔥 New history: A Martial Arts Master Will Never Be Humiliated
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