Chapter322 The Feeling of Being Protected is Actually Not Bad
"The number of Praise votes and Criticism votes will cancel each other out. Additionally, you cannot vote for yourself with either a Praise or a Criticism vote, and voting for the same person multiple times is prohibited. In any case, you must write down all six names. Even if you are unwell on the day of the exam, as long as you have a breath left in you, you must participate in the voting!" Chabashira Sae's answer completely plugged all the loopholes of the [In-Class Voting].
Ayanokouji Kiyotaka sat back down expressionlessly.
This method of forcibly creating an expulsion crisis gave him a sense of déjà vu.
Even Hikigaya felt quite surprised.
According to the previous methods of Advanced Nurturing High School, they would usually intentionally leave some bugs or even allow students to exploit loopholes.
Could this new Acting Chairman be some kind of maverick?
He completely ignores the conventional playbook.
It was as if he came here just to stir things up for a specific purpose and then planned to pat his butt and leave.
"Do you all find it unreasonable?
As a teacher, I feel the same way, but the exam has already been decided.
No one, including myself, can resist.
You can only follow the rules and honestly participate in the special exam."
Chabashira's voice made no secret of her dissatisfaction with the additional special exam, but under the pressure of the new Acting Chairman's authority, she was forced to accept it.
"How can this be!"
The members of Class D wailed as they realized the reality.
At the same time, the students of the other three classes in the first year were likely the same.
On this coming Saturday, one student from every class would be leaving this school.
Hikigaya, however, was unfazed.
He thought to himself, This isn't some life-or-death parting; is it really necessary to be this sad?
Expulsion.
To put it bluntly, the worst outcome was merely expulsion.
It was said that Advanced Nurturing would handle the entire process and manage the transfer to a new school.
Furthermore, due to the confidentiality of the government-enterprise partnership project, the school would not record the student's experiences at this school in their student records.
In short, it was an expulsion in name, but a transfer in reality.
The new school wouldn't even know you were a student of Advanced Nurturing.
It's just changing schools; what's there to be sad about?
Could it be that they are reluctant to leave their friends at school?
If the friendship breaks just because one leaves the school, then frankly, that so-called "friendship" was only worth that much anyway. True friends, like him and Saika, remain friends even if they attend school in different places and rarely have the chance to contact each other.
Yet their friendship won't disappear because of that—that is the "Genuine Thing"!
The only regrettable thing was that if Hikigaya were expelled, he wondered if he would still have those strange dreams...
Well, that was just a bit of sentimentality.
He definitely wasn't "reluctant" to leave!
As Chabashira Sae fully disclosed the explanation for the [In-Class Voting] exam, the students of Class D fell into a state of immense chaos and unease.
In particular, those students who usually contributed almost nothing to the class, as well as those with solitary personalities and poor social skills, were all potential candidates for the Criticism votes.
"Everyone, don't lose heart; it's still too early to despair.
There must be a way to avoid expulsion!"
Hirata Yousuke tried to dispel the unease in everyone's hearts, but the effect couldn't be called non-existent; it could only be called negligible.
After experiencing multiple previous special exams, Class D students' evaluation of Hirata Yousuke was that his personal stats were strong, but he lacked the ability to control the overall situation.
"Chabashira-sensei, is there a possibility?"
Horikita Suzune proposed an extreme suggestion: "Could we reject this exam through a class-wide strike?"
This actually made Hikigaya look at her in a new light.
Suzune, who used to do things strictly by the book, had now learned to think outside the rules.
"The exam rules don't say that you can't."
Chabashira's answer seemed to give everyone hope.
"Ohh!"
"As expected of Horikita-san, to think of a method like that!"
The Class D crowd cheered in unison.
Although Horikita Suzune's personality wasn't popular in class, everyone recognized her ability.
"Tch~"
Only Kushida Kikyo curled her lip in annoyance.
"Theoretically possible, but realistically almost impossible to achieve."
Chabashira quickly threw a bucket of cold water on everyone.
"The reason?"
Horikita frowned and pressed for an answer.
"The reason is that, besides the in-class vote, you are required to pick one student worthy of praise from the other three classes to vote for. This vote is also counted in the statistical results."
I see; no wonder she said it was almost impossible.
Because even if all of Class D refused to participate in the exam and didn't vote...
As long as people from other classes gave Praise votes to Class D, the person with the lowest net score would still face expulsion!
In the environment of class competition, other classes wouldn't just stand by and watch Class D stay "united" without interfering.
As for wanting to manipulate the votes of every single person in the entire first year, that was even more of a pipe dream.
Even Nagumo Miyabi couldn't do it; at least, that guy couldn't control Kiryuin Fuuka.
If nothing else, Class D had one person who was completely unrestrained: Koenji Rokusuke.
Actually, having "Class D vote in unity" was a false premise to begin with.
The problem was that the voting was anonymous!
How do you know if someone else will write your name?
How does someone else know if you will write their name?
How do you know if someone else thinks you won't write their name?
How does someone else know if you think they won't write your name?
This is the Chain of Suspicion.
Facing a survival-or-death situation with an expulsion crisis, everyone will tend toward self-preservation and cast their Criticism votes.
"Is there really no other way?
A 100% expulsion exam is truly hard to accept!!"
Hirata Yousuke was still unwilling to give up.
"There certainly is a way. After the training camp exam, I'm sure your brains can figure out how to break the deadlock."
Chabashira was hinting at something.
In the finale of the training camp exam, because the group led by Tokito Yuya from Class C was attacked by a wild boar and multiple students missed the mountain climbing relay, Tokito, as the person in charge, was judged to be expelled.
In the end, Ryuen Kakeru paid the price of 20 million private points to save Tokito.
"20 million? How could we possibly have that!"
The Class D students complained bitterly.
Hikigaya keenly noticed a subtle gaze directed toward him.
Turning his head, he happened to meet Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's eyes.
"Hmph!"
Hikigaya's eyes were cold.
He did have 20 million, but if they wanted him to empty his savings to save an expellee—what a joke!
For Hikigaya, even if he himself were chosen by the Criticism votes for expulsion, he wouldn't spend 20 million to save himself.
He'd rather convert them into cash at a discount and just leave!
He had even already thought about which school to transfer to.
Sobu High School in Chiba, which was close to home.
Anyway, during the previous club exchange activity, he had already visited Sobu High and met some people.
Besides his best friend Saika, the little angel, Yukinoshita Yukino and Yuigahama Yui were also quite nice. Maybe he would even dream of... cough cough!
He wouldn't delve deeper into that train of thought!
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As expected, wanting to get points out of this man is just too difficult.
Ayanokouji lowered his eyes, seemingly pondering something.
"In short, I've finished saying everything I needed to say.
The only way to resist this exam is to produce 20 million points.
Other than that, no attempt to exploit loopholes will work.
You still have five days to think it over slowly..."
The homeroom period ended, and Chabashira Sae left the classroom.
There were still ten minutes before the first period began, but the classroom was not quiet at all. Some students began to shout and cause a scene out of intense anxiety!
"Aaaaah! This exam is too unreasonable! I don't want to be expelled, aaaaaah!"
"Starting with a battle cry? You girls are way too noisy!"
"What are the boys pretending to be calm for? And Okitani, your legs are shaking!"
"What are you looking at me for? You guys aren't thinking of casting Criticism votes for me, are you?"
"Shinohara, you ugly woman, I'm going to vote for you!"
The members of Class D began attacking each other.
Seeing this scene, Horikita Suzune helplessly gave up on the naive idea of "uniting everyone to vote consistently."
"So annoying! I'll just write down the names of the people I don't like!"
Venting emotions—that was likely the thought of the majority of people.
At that moment, a target student who sensed he might very likely become the vent for everyone's emotions took action.
"Heh."
"What a loser speech."
The one speaking was Koenji Rokusuke. He was rarely not messing with his hair or nails; he sat up straight, looking quite serious, but his words were still incredibly grating. "At this point, no matter how much you panic, it's useless. Why not be more elegant and face the upcoming exam head-on?"
"Koenji! You're the one—on what basis do you put on that composed attitude?"
"Do you have no idea how much trouble you've caused the class up until now?"
Okitani Kyosuke was the first to attack him.
To be fair, Koenji Rokusuke's self-centered way of doing things had indeed caused a lot of trouble for Class D.
For example, during the deserted island exam and the training camp exam, he either withdrew or slacked off.
Of course, Okitani wasn't attacking Koenji out of a sense of justice.
He just wanted to drag a target out so that he wouldn't be the one receiving the Criticism votes.
However, for Koenji, his stepping up to speak now was also for the purpose of self-preservation.
"The one who has no idea is you, Yamauchi-the-Second boy."
Koenji showed a mocking expression. "Even if it was on a whim, I earned 50 class points during the VIP exam. Based on that contribution alone, I've surpassed most of the people in this class."
"Who are you calling Yamauchi-the-Second...
That time in the VIP exam, you were just lucky."
Okitani's face darkened, but he stammered, unable to speak a word of rebuttal.
On the cruise ship, on the first day of the VIP exam, Koenji had submitted an answer on the very first night like a mindless guesser, ending the exam for one group.
Just when everyone thought it was all over, the day the exam results were announced left everyone wide-eyed!
"Even luck is a part of one's strength.
It only proves that I am too beautiful, and the Goddess of Fate has fallen in love with me."
Koenji spoke shameless words of self-praise, then shifted the conversation. "It seems none of you understand the meaning of the [In-Class Voting] exam."
"What do you mean?!"
The Class D crowd was led astray by his pace.
"This is a special exam focused on the future."
Faced with the incomprehending expressions of most of the class, Koenji's "intolerance for stupidity" flared up. He couldn't help but look at Hikigaya.
"Dolphin boy, you explain it."
Hikigaya looked speechless. "Why do I have to explain it? Also, I am not a dolphin!"
"Hachiman."
Horikita Suzune cast a gaze toward him, seeking an answer.
"What, you still haven't given up?"
Hikigaya sighed helplessly and was forced to explain: "This additional exam is an exception. According to previous special exams, a class that produces an expellee would be deducted a large amount of class points. But this time, no points are deducted.
So if you just change your way of thinking... you understand, right?"
Hikigaya felt his hint was obvious enough.
After a few seconds of contemplation, Horikita Suzune quickly reached an answer: "You mean to say that this exam is for the sake of weeding out students who are harmful to the class?"
Tsk tsk~ This girl's level of sharp-tonguedness really hasn't diminished at all.
To actually call her classmates "harmful students"!
"..."
'Wait... the person most harmful to the class, isn't that me?'
Hikigaya was quite self-aware regarding his own positioning.
For instance, during the peeping incident over the summer, Hikigaya showed no mercy and personally arranged for Yamauchi and his gang to all be expelled!
Hearing these words, many people in Class D cast ill-intentioned glances toward him.
"Waaa~ Hachiman-kun is so smart to have thought of that."
Kushida Kikyo suddenly spoke up to praise him.
"That's right! Hachiman-kun is the most useful person in this class!"
Karuizawa Kei quickly followed suit.
The two women with the highest level of influence in the girls' cliques stood up for Hikigaya.
Instantly, the ill-intentioned thoughts held by those toward Hikigaya were extinguished.
'Uh, how should I put this?
The feeling of being protected is actually quite nice.'
Hikigaya felt a touch of emotion in his heart.
"..."
Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's eyes widened, and a look of sudden realization appeared on his face.
'I see, so this is the function of dating?
As long as you date multiple girls at the same time, you can receive the protection of multiple girls at the critical moment!'
Unfortunately, his reputation in Class D was already completely ruined...
Well, his reputation in other classes wasn't much better anyway.
However, Ayanokouji didn't lack a chance to turn the situation around.
For example, his face was quite good. When they first entered the school, Ayanokouji was even ranked in the top ten of the "Boys People Most Want to Date" list.
Relying on his face to win Praise votes from girls in other classes wasn't out of the question!
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