COTE: Popularity System

The first-years at Advanced Nurturing High School experience two special exams during the second semester.

One is the Sports Festival, which tests the overall athletic ability of the class.

The other is the Paper Shuffle, which tests the overall academic ability of the class.

Briefly summarized, the rules of the latter exam require every class to choose an opponent to attack and create exam questions for them.

After the exam concludes, if your class's total score is higher than the opponent's class, the attack is considered successful, and your class gains 50 Class Points while the opponent loses 50 Class Points.

Conversely, if your class's total score is lower than the opponent's class, the attack fails, and your class loses 50 Class Points while the opponent gains 50 points.

For example...

If Class A attacks Class D and succeeds, Class A gains 50 Class Points, and Class D loses 50 Class Points.

If Class A attacks Class D, and Class D also attacks Class A, and Class A wins, then Class A gains 100 points, and Class D loses 100 points.

A class can only launch one attack and can only be attacked once. If a class is chosen as an attack target by multiple classes, the school will use a random lottery to select only one class to launch the attack, and the other classes must find different opponents.

"I recommend that everyone attack Class C."

On the podium, Class A's homeroom teacher, Hoshinomiya Chie, suggested.

The current Class C is the class where Hirata Yosuke, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, and others are, which was originally Class D. In terms of academic performance, this class is the worst in the grade. Choosing to attack this class guarantees victory.

"Indeed, if we want to secure points reliably, attacking Class C is the safest choice."

Hearing her words, Kanzaki Ryūji, sitting in his seat, furrowed his brow slightly in thought, finding her advice very reasonable.

If he were leading the class this time, he would definitely prioritize Class C as the target of the attack.

However...

Kanzaki Ryūji turned his head, joining the rest of the class in directing his gaze toward a certain boy in the classroom.

This special exam would still be led by Takada Hikaru.

Which opponent to choose, and what actions the class should take next, Class A must follow his command entirely.

Feeling everyone's gaze, Takada Hikaru knew it was his turn to speak.

"Sayo, what is the point difference between us and Class B right now?"

Takada Hikaru didn't immediately state which class to attack. Instead, he first posed a question to the girl next to him.

Andō Sayo paused slightly. "It seems to be 296 points."

Currently, Class A's Class Points are 1220, and Class B's points are 924.

Only three special exams had passed. The two classes, which originally had similar points, now had a gap of nearly 300 points in the blink of an eye.

"If Class A and Class B attack each other, and Class A ultimately wins, what will the difference between the two classes become?" Takada Hikaru continued to ask.

"Uh..." Andō Sayo recalled the rules she had just heard, then said, "If I haven't misunderstood, it should become 496 points."

Nearly 500 points!

After speaking, she felt a bit excited internally.

Besides her, even the rest of the class felt a stirring in their chests. If they could achieve victory, they would widen the gap with Class B to 500 points.

However, there were still people in the class who remained calm.

"Takada-san, isn't that too risky?" Kanzaki Ryūji poured cold water on the idea in time.

"Class B's academic performance is the best in the entire grade. It won't be easy to defeat them in exam scores."

Although winning would widen the gap to nearly 500 points, if they failed, however, the gap between the two classes would shrink to 96 points, returning to a very dangerous number.

"Ryūji, Class B and we aren't taking the same exam paper." Takada Hikaru said with a light chuckle.

In this Paper Shuffle, the attacking side sets the questions for the defending side. If Class A and Class B attack each other, Class A will set the questions for Class B, and Class B will set the questions for Class A.

The school only has two requirements for the questions set by the students.

1. They must not exceed the curriculum boundaries.

2. The questions must be solvable.

As long as these two conditions are met, the school will not interfere regardless of whether the questions are difficult or simple.

To use an exaggerated example, even if the questions given to the opponent were as simple as "What is one plus one?" there would be no problem.

"Are you suggesting we can surpass Class B in terms of question difficulty?" Kanzaki Ryūji quickly understood his meaning.

If Class A sets much more difficult questions for Class B, then even if Class A's academic performance is inferior to Class B's, there is still a chance to defeat the opponent in the special exam.

"I know a little bit in setting questions." Takada Hikaru said with a smile.

Possessing the skill [I Know A Little Bit], he had the level of a world-class expert when it came to creating difficult problems.

Taking shame in anyone passing, and pride in making students cry from difficulty.

"Is that so?" Kanzaki Ryūji frowned slightly, still lacking some confidence.

But he did not continue to ask.

Takada Hikaru would be fully responsible for this special exam. All he could do was appropriately voice his opinions, not blindly object. He could only hope that the questions Takada Hikaru set would truly stump the Class B students.

Hoshinomiya Chie asked, "Takada-kun, are you sure you want to choose to attack Class B? I still think attacking Class C is safer."

"I'm sure." Takada Hikaru nodded slightly, then rolled his eyes internally at her behavior.

Hoshinomiya Chie's suggestion sounded like she was thinking of the class. But in reality, it stemmed from her own personal desire.

She simply wanted to continue targeting the class led by Chabashira Sae, which is why she was trying to trick the students into attacking Class C.

Takada Hikaru naturally didn't fall for that, insisting on attacking Class B in the Paper Shuffle.

"The school will only officially accept the class's choice of attack target before next week's Mini-Test."

Hoshinomiya Chie's eyebrows drooped, her face looked somewhat disappointed, and her eyes gazed pitifully at the boy below the stage. "You can change it anytime before then."

She still hadn't given up on tricking the students into attacking Class C.

Unfortunately, Takada Hikaru ultimately did not change his mind, so Hoshinomiya Chie could only return to the Infirmary in disappointment.

"Takada-san, can we really win against Class B?"

After she left, Andō Sayo, sitting next to him, asked with some worry.

Although they won against Class B during the last Sports Festival, that was only a victory in athletics, and it was achieved thanks to Takada Hikaru's individual extraordinary performance, as well as Ryūen Kakeru and Sakayanagi Arisu helping with a backstab.

But the present is different from the past. Class B is now Sakayanagi Arisu's One-Man Domain, and the phenomenon of backstabbing will no longer occur.

Furthermore, since the Paper Shuffle examines the class's overall academic performance, even if Takada Hikaru promised to set extremely difficult questions, it might not necessarily cause the Class B students to score worse than Class A.

The students in the class still felt uncertain about directly competing with Class B.

Hearing her question, Takada Hikaru looked surprised.

Oh man. Was she asking him to quote a classic line?

If he really said that phrase, winning wouldn't be an issue, but losing would immediately turn him into a clown.

But... it seems like it could also bring a lot of hype?

After half a moment of hesitation, Takada Hikaru ultimately chose to give the same answer as a certain strongest sorcerer.

"If Class B is in their top form, they might give us a little trouble."

Andō Sayo asked, "So, will we lose?"

Takada Hikaru smiled confidently. "Nah, we'll win."