"I call it the 40 Million Plan." Houtarou said.
"40 million?" Suzune, who had been flustered about holding hands, immediately focused her attention.
"Yes. You've seen the exam rules, right?" He asked.
"I've memorized them." She replied confidently, "I can write them out now."
"...?"
Well, aren't you impressive. But why do you all memorize things directly? Couldn't you just record the group member list and understand the other rules instead?
Gently stroking his hair, Houtarou was being relatively gentle today.
"Let's review the exam rules." He said, "The school has divided the first-year students from 4 classes into 12 groups, with each group containing members from all classes. One privileged student will emerge from each group. The exam's objective is to identify this privileged student. There are 4 possible outcomes.
For groups that don't rush to answer and submit between 9:30 and 10 PM on the third day: Outcome 1 - Group members correctly identify the privileged student, earning 500,000 points per member and 1 million for the privileged student. Outcome 2 - Failed or incorrect identification results in no point deductions, with only the privileged student receiving 500,000.
For rushing to answer: Correct identification results in +50 points for the guessing class, +500,000 for the individual, and -50 points for the privileged student's class. Incorrect identification results in -50 points for the wrong-guessing class, 500,000 for the privileged student, and +50 points for their class.
These are the four final outcomes."
Houtarou wrote out the results and handed them to Suzune.
While she processed this, he added, "From what we know, your brother earned 400 Class Points in this month's exam, while Nagumo's side earned over 5 million Private Points. Your brother likely took a cautious approach to protect his earned points, while Nagumo focused on accumulation. As for us... remember, you still need to collect 20 million points."
"Ah..." Caught at a weak point, Suzune began listening more attentively.
"We've already secured the Class Points from the Uninhabited Island exam, so now it's time to collect points efficiently and boldly. Yes, the rules require students to meet morning and evening to determine the privileged student through conversation. But you need to read between the lines — this exam is about thinking.
Simply dividing into groups and meeting daily to observe and guess isn't real thinking — that's just following procedures. I suspect the real exam question wants students to think outside the box and consider the question setter's perspective.
If I were setting this exam, I would scatter the students but give opportunities to those who think critically. For instance, the selection of privileged students across the 12 groups must follow some pattern. We just need to obtain all group participation lists and verify the pattern of privileged student selection."
Suzune: "..."
She fell silent. As expected of him — he'd already found potential shortcuts before the exam had even begun.
It made sense. The exam wouldn't start until 8 AM tomorrow, yet four teachers had each spent 3 hours explaining the rules to different student groups.
The complexity seemed unnecessary. Following the rules step by step, discussing daily to identify the privileged student and decide whether to rush — that was just taking the exam mechanically. It missed the crucial "thinking" element.
So, was the school hinting that there was a pattern to the privileged students?
Houtarou continued, "Correctly guessing another class's privileged student only rewards 500,000 Private Points and adds 50 Class Points. So this time our goal is to collect a large amount of Private Points—"
"No, I only got 30 Class Points from the Island exam, so 50 Class Points are important to me too." Suzune interrupted.
Houtarou: "..."
He realized she had effectively silenced him.
She was referring to how she had cooperated with him and received only 30 Class Points, while without her knowledge, he had given the leader-guessing opportunity worth 50 Points to Kikyō. She was clearly comparing these situations.
"Well, that was to appease Kushida and maintain contact for later." He reassured her, "Since it's for something troublesome, I gave her a sweetener first."
Suzune: "..."
She continued listening.
"Ahem!" Houtarou cleared his throat, "I've listed the 4 exam outcomes for you."
"Notice Outcome 1?"
"Outcome 1: If everyone waits until the final deadline on the third day, and all group members correctly identify the privileged student, each member gets 500,000 points, while the privileged student receives 1 million. With 13-14 members per group, this adds up to 7-7.5 million points from the school per group. And that's just one group... Now for 12 groups—"
As he spoke, he noticed Suzune rapidly calculating on the paper he had given her.
Though this calculation could have been done mentally, she was being especially meticulous in writing it out.
7 million × 12 = 84 million 7.5 million × 12 = 90 million
In other words, if all students choose Outcome 1 — waiting until 9:30-10 PM on the third day to submit their answers, with no one rushing and everyone cooperating — they could legitimately earn 84-90 million Points from the school.
This kind of points—
{T/N: Let's say that even if the school wants to rob everyone and still maintain a 90% transfer rate, then 1 Point equals 1 Yen, so it would be approximately ¥90,000,000 = $597,150.00 x 0.9 = $537,435 at the current exchange rate.}
"For this exam, I want 15%." Suzune declared immediately.
Having calculated the enormous sum, she couldn't help but be tempted.
And who could blame her? Their monthly school allowance was at most a few hundred thousand or couple million points. But now, tens of millions were within reach. One major success could set them up comfortably for years.
She clearly didn't deny this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. After all, who wouldn't want to get as many points as possible?
She currently had 50 Class Points in Class D and could receive 200,000 Points monthly. That meant just over 2 million per year — 6 million in 3 years. Even adding her current 2 million, she was still far from reaching 20 million.
But now, with 90 million points at stake in this exam, she felt compelled to fight for her share. Even a single percentage point could make a significant difference.
"You're being greedy this time." Houtarou said, "10% maximum."
"That's too little." Suzune protested.
"It's not little." He replied, "We want to collect the massive points that the entire grade can generate. If we take everything, they definitely won't agree. So we'll only take half — about 40 million. It's profitable for them too, so they're likely to accept."
So this was his 40 million point plan.
"If I only get 10%... that's still 4 million." Suzune wavered.
Though it was still far from 20 million, getting 4 million at once seemed acceptable.
"You can only get 10%." Houtarou said, "But you won't lose out. Your brother is the Student Council President, and he's still transferring 50,000 points to me every month. So our cooperation isn't over. And what you're getting now is just your share of the 40 million plan. But there's another 40 million to give to the students, right?"
He smiled slightly.
"Having been at this merit-based school for several months, do you think they'll still spend money carelessly like at the beginning? They'll definitely save it up or hand it over to their class representatives. And when that time comes, we just need to get it back from their class representatives or from them. So, your 10% can get you another 3-4 million then. That's already quite a lot."
"... ???" Suzune stared at him in shock.
She already thought it was excessive that he wanted to take 40 million points from all first-year students.
But... he actually didn't want to let go of the other 40 million either?
So, her 10% share would be 10% of the over 80 million points that students could get from the school. Calculating this way: she had over 2 million on hand, and from her brother's side, although he knew she had points, he still transferred 50,000 every month. That would accumulate to 300-400 thousand in a year.
In three years, Class D could give her over 6 million, plus the over 2 million she already had. In other words...
The 20 million point plan, which only Houtarou had achieved so far... She might achieve it too.
Suzune: "..."
If she had three mouths, they would all be struck silent.
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