A LITTLE OVER an hour had passed since the start of the special exam.
Class A, led by Sakayanagi, was making good progress on the questions, completing the polls with breaks in between. And then they arrived at the final question.
[QUESTION FIVE:]
Gain 100 Class Points in return for the expulsion of one classmate.
(In the event of a unanimous vote in favour, a vote will be taken on the student to be expelled)
[Choices:]
For
Against
Surprised by the keyword "expulsion", the students cast their first votes silently, as per the rules.
To avoid any unforeseen circumstances, Sakayanagi, like Horikita, had instructed the four classmates closest to her in advance to make sure that their votes would be split.
As there are two options, the result of the vote, which took place with two confirmed votes in favour and two against, was...
[Results of the first round of voting:]
2 in favour
36 against
That was the outcome.
With the exception of the two controlled votes in favour, the results reflect the opposition expressed by all students.
"Well, that's to be expected. So what are you going to do, princess?
Are we all going to vote against next time?"
Hashimoto, who was in charge of always voting option 1 first, and therefore would have voted in favour here, asked for confirmation immediately after the interval.
"What do you think? Hashimoto-kun."
Not expecting to be asked that question, Hashimoto was a little surprised, and went over the question again in his mind.
"When drawing a quick conclusion, I disagree. However, when I think about it calmly, I feel that 100 class points is surprisingly not ridiculous."
"So you're saying I should go for the 100 class points even if it gets one of my classmates expelled?"
"No... I wouldn't go that far. I just think it's a question of whether we should take it lightly."
"If this had been the end of the competition and the end of school life, I would have been forced to adopt a policy of cutting classmates. However, this class is alone at the top. It would be rather nonsensical to choose to drop one superior student in order to pick up 100 class points here."
"Of course. I just don't want to have to cry about that 100 class points in the future, okay?"
"The reduction in the number of students is at the same time a disadvantage. Simply put, the total amount of private points gained each month will be reduced, as well as the morale and trust within the class. An interesting way to solve this would be to take expel a student and save them using 20 million private points. It is also possible to gain class points by not sacrificing someone, but this would affect the forthcoming sports and cultural festivals, and even though there would be a 100-point gain, if you take into account the future unseen factors, I don't think there would be much of a gain or loss no matter how you look at it. Or is there anyone in this class who will volunteer to leave the school?"
After saying that, Sakayanagi took a look around the class. There is no way that any of the students in Class A, who are alone in the lead as Sakayanagi says, would voluntarily offer to drop out of school.
"The other classes in the three-way battle will be troubled. And even if you make the difficult choice of selecting a student to leave the school, the class wouldn't necessarily rise. It's not that simple to lose a fellow student."
With that one statement, Class A's policy was set.
If Class A had chosen to expel someone, they would have done so unanimously, without any sense of dismay.
And nine times out of ten, the student chosen by Sakayanagi would be expelled.
"I do not see you and your classmates the same as Katsuragi-kun and Yahiko-kun, who have left us. I'm not going to cut off my friends, who are helping me."
Sakayanagi told such a lie to the class.
In the unlikely event that Class A were to be driven to the brink of ruin, Sakayanagi would have no hesitation in choosing to expel a student.
However, if she chooses to expel the students when the class is not in a crisis, it will create a sense of distrust. She simply decided that she had more to lose by going into that situation now.
That marked the end of the first interval, which left more than half a minute to ensure that all students submitted their votes.
[Results of the second round of voting:]
0 in favour
38 against
The classes lead by Ryūen and Ichinose were also unanimous in their opposition to the proposal.
"With the above, all questions of the unanimous voting special examination are completed. This class has the fastest time to complete the special examination. All other classes are still in the middle of the special exam, and therefore you are asked to quietly leave the room as instructed by your teacher. You will spend the rest of the day in the dormitory for self-study, as scheduled."
Although students we're not allowed to go out of the campus, the time they had was practically free.