That was my honest assessment after looking at the rankings and points. Class A seemed to be led by either Takahashi or Ishigami, while Class D had a clear leader in Housen. But Classes B and C didn’t appear to have clear leaders at this point. Tsubaki and Utomiya from Class C are both memorable students, but there was little evidence that they were taking actions to lead their class at present. Also, although Yagami was leading the way for Class B, it was currently unclear on how things had changed in his class since his expulsion.
“Yes, they certainly may have a high number of Class Points, but that doesn’t mean we can assume that they’re exceptional overall because of that, can we? The special exams they’re being given are different from what we had last year. The environment they’re in is different as well, so we can’t easily judge them based on point values alone,” argued Horikita, perhaps displeased with me praising our juniors.
“Yes, ability may be another matter, I suppose. It might simply be that there were just more burdens in our grade level last year dragging us down, like Sudou at the start of the year, compared to other grade levels,” I replied.
“…I wouldn’t go that far. That’s a mean thing to say,” snapped Horikita. She had been the one to bring up the topic of the first-year students, but she seemed to have no intention of continuing the discussion any further, because she turned off her phone’s screen and took another sip from her cup.
“I’d like to move onto the main topic. Should I hear it from you first? Or should I come out and talk about the End-of-Year Special Exam?” asked Horikita.
I guess talking about the first-years and what they would deal with might have made her feel a bit more relaxed about our year’s ordeal.
“Let’s start with the exam. I wanted to talk about that too, anyway,” I replied.
“I figured that was probably what this was about. If that’s the case, I appreciate it,” said Horikita, her eyes creasing happily. She seemed pleased about the fact that I had contacted her myself in regard to the special exam. “Okay, well, then… First of all, do you think there are any steps that we can take to gain an advantage in this special exam at this time?”
As soon as she asked that, however, she immediately shook her head lightly from side to side, as if she were correcting herself.
“Let me put that in a more straightforward way. What do you think our chances of success are?” asked Horikita, rephrasing her question.
In this case, I actually much preferred that to being asked in a confusing, roundabout way.
“Honestly, it’s hard to say,” I replied. “The content and scope of the exam, based on what we can predict from the information revealed to us by the school, seems quite broad and difficult to narrow down. Without specifics, we can’t come up with a strategy that will lead us to victory.”
To put it bluntly, it would only be a waste of resources to rack our brains and come up with guesses about what the test would be like when there were hundreds or thousands of possible scenarios.
“…Yes, I suppose you’re right. Even Chabashira-sensei doesn’t know the details of the exam. There’s no way for us to produce countermeasures,” said Horikita.
If she was expecting advice from me, normally, Horikita would be disappointed. But for some reason, her expression seemed pleased.
“You look happy. I was expecting the opposite reaction,” I remarked.
“Really? It makes me happy, though. This is a special exam where I have no idea what will happen, but I guess I was expecting you to say, ‘I have an idea of how to win.’ My dissatisfaction with that would’ve been bigger than my hopes, so I guess I was a little relieved,” she said. Then she quickly appended her statement, saying, “That’s why I am happy to hear you say that. You have this air about you, like you’re quite likely to say outrageous stuff like that, after all.”
I didn’t remember having an air of any sort, but I wasn’t going to comment on that.
“As long as we don’t know what the exam will be about, then everyone should be in the same boat. Sakayanagi and Ryuuen are no different in that regard,” I replied.
“I suppose you’re right. In other words…there’s nothing we can do until the details are announced?” asked Horikita.
“Just about all we can do is carefully select three representatives who are likely to produce solid results, regardless of the content,” I answered.
It would probably be better to select students with the fewest shortcomings from among the class.
“Or you could take a gamble and go for an all-or-nothing situation by including a student with clear strengths and weaknesses,” I added.
“That’s…a little scary,” said Horikita.
“Yeah, I’m sure it is. That’s precisely why I’m sure that every class will focus on having a solid lineup instead,” I replied.
“While if asked directly, I would have to agree that the exam is fair, it’s still frustrating,” huffed Horikita.
It seemed like there would be a lot of time spent seeking answers to the unanswerable question of whether there was anything we could do at this current stage.
“The more you try to reason your way through exams and try to figure out a way forward, the more you’ll feel stuck,” I replied. “So, at times like this, it might be interesting to try to change your perspective a little.”
“What do you mean?” asked Horikita.
“Even if you don’t know what the exam will be about, you can at least imagine who your opponents will be, can’t you? If I were a student in the class that you’re up against, I could easily imagine that you would naturally be the general, Horikita, and that students like Yousuke and Kushida would be first choices as vanguard and center,” I answered.
“…Yes, I suppose you’re right.”
In fact, the names I had just mentioned should have been candidates that Horikita had in mind right now.
“In that case, who would you imagine from Ichinose’s class?” I asked. “There’s no doubt that Ichinose would likely be the general, but who else?”
“Well, sure enough, I would think that Kanzaki-kun would be a solid pick. No one else who stands out comes to mind, but people like Hatsukawa-san, Hamaguchi-kun, and Niiura-kun seem like they would be good enough candidates. But…” said Horikita.