Volume 8, Chapter 3: Premonition of defeat Part 4

In the middle of the night, I lay on the bed of our shared room. It's 1 o'clock in the morning, already way past lights out. Obviously that means everyone's sound asleep. There's a reason why I'm awake at a time like this when I should be sleeping in preparation for what's coming tomorrow. That reason lies in the small piece of paper placed under my pillow. The number '25' is written on it.

It's precisely because it's so simple that it doesn't leave much to the imagination. It's a memo signalling that the time is now 25:00. I haven't the faintest clue who left it here but the reason I'm awake now is to find out.

If this is just a prank or something that carries an entirely different meaning, then that'll be the end of that. Then I'll be able to use this time to relax and think about where the true essence of this special exam lies.

I'm slowly beginning to see the bigger picture behind the contents of this special exam. Of course, since we didn't exactly get a detailed explanation on how the scoring works this is going to involve some guesswork but there are several things that this special exam almost certainly entails.

'Zen'.

From the way they were acting prior to Zazen, it appears even things like our postures during Zazen are being scored. Things like inappropriate behavior or being hit with a Zen stick are all likely causes for a demerit.

'Long-distance relay race'.

This one's probably going to have a simple evaluation system based on order and time.

'Speech'.

Each person in each large group must give a speech individually. The scoring criteria has already been disclosed.

It's the following four: 'Volume', 'Posture', 'Subject' and 'Communicativeness'.

'Written exam'.

I expect this to be an exam focusing mainly on the subject of morals. Just like your average run-of-the-mill exam, this one should also be determined by how good or how bad your marks are.

There are also other things to consider such as 'cleaning' and 'cooking meals' but I can't draw conclusions on them just yet. Problems that arise within a tardy group are beyond the jurisdiction of the exam but depending on the context, they may also be part of what's being assessed.

Perhaps a lot of students are fretting over how to overcome this multi-front exam. A necessary strategy one can only see after understanding the true essence of it.

To properly unite the group, cover for one another and secure a high average score. In other words, the simple approach. It looks easy yet with considerably difficult obstacles in its way. That much can be gleaned from seeing the formation of the groups. It's exceedingly difficult to completely cooperate with students who you would normally have an antagonistic relationship with.

It would be a strategy that Horikita and Hirata from our class, or Ichinose and Katsuragi from the other classes would have chosen. Being influential in one's group and possessing leadership skills makes all the difference.

Picking members for your group is, of course, important. But at this stage, it's almost impossible to determine which students are capable of performing well in an exam like this.

Keisei, who excels academically, struggled with five minutes and two sets of Zazen on the very first day and there were students who were unable to even cross their legs.

At this stage, you can't use academic or athletic excellence to measure anything and going forward it's going to be students with the most adaptability who stand out.

And there are definitely more than a few students who opted to go with other strategies. I could also tell from the moment they explained the rules of this exam that even the school had a hard time preparing this unorthodox exam.

This has been the case since our first special exam on that uninhabited island but in each case there's always been an exploitable loophole in the rules.

Because there's always a blind spot, like when Horikita and Ibuki fought on the uninhabited island despite any sort of violence being prohibited. Of course, if the foul play is exposed then the consequences are also extreme. Since immediate expulsion is on the table, the majority of students won't actually make their move. In the first place, it's not like committing foul play is a surefire way to win. To take your shot with the few loopholes and blind spots you have or not. You would need to overcome that difficult obstacle.

I've executed various strategies in all the special exams so far. On the uninhabited island, I had Horikita retire and switched leaders. On the cruise, I pulled off the cell phone trick. I made a bold move during the sports festival and during Paper Shuffle, I shut Kushida down.

But this time around, I decided early on to not do anything. I would gather information and only play the role of the observer. That is because I've deemed this a necessary move to make if I am to fade out and graduate as an ordinary student.

Even if it means Class C will suffer a massive loss now, I still won't do anything. Partly because I want to show Sakayanagi and Nagumo, who have both taken a certain amount of interest in me, that I have no intention of fighting. I'm skeptical about the effectiveness of such a move though.

That way, since I am carefully observing, the older Horikita would have no grounds to blame me on either.

However, if there's a measure I can take, that would be defense. If there's a student who's out to expel me, then it's only natural that I react in self-defense. It's already past 25:00. Looks like nothing out of the ordinary's happened. If so, I should sleep. But just as I thought that, the door that connects this room to the corridor outside slightly cracked open and a bit of light streamed in.

It's Morse code. Utilizing blinking lights as a form of communication. In the middle of the night at the training camp, the corridor itself was very dark and so several flashlights had been placed in our room.

In all likelihood, that means I'll have to bring one along with me.

I understood that this is a signal calling me out. Light makes no sound. I silently stood up. Our room doesn't have a toilet. The act of going to the toilet in the middle of the night in itself is not a suspicious one.