I'm in a real religion, why are all the people who confess to me girls?

Tianyin calmly watched the two leave, then looked at the tomato juice that had rolled on the ground, picked it up, and drank it all in one gulp.

"So it was because she played chess too hard that her pride was hurt? Her expression was really ugly. But there's nothing we can do about it, isn't there? At worst... I'll let you win a few more games next time we meet. Although it's a good intention, this tomato juice is really awful. Let's leave the rest of the bottle for Maple Flower."

As Tianyin muttered to herself, she turned her gaze back to the chessboard, preparing enough food for her upcoming mountain trip with someone.

Meanwhile, Horikita Suzune felt increasingly uneasy, as if she had forgotten something. What had happened back then?

Just as Horikita Suzune was about to turn around and ask Amane for an explanation, she suddenly heard someone calling her name.

"Ringling~ Wake up! We're almost there."

Horikita Suzune slowly opened her eyes.

Tianyin was staring at her with a silly grin on her face, while the scenery outside the window was flashing past quickly.

"Where...are we?"

"I don't know either, it seems like they said we were going to some grove of trees..."

A grove of trees?

"It's not some grove of trees, it's a forest school! Didn't Teacher Chabashira just say that?"

Upon hearing what Amane said, Karuizawa quickly spoke up to correct her.

"Aren't they all pretty much the same? A forest school definitely has a grove of trees, so you can go to the grove..."

"Hey, there are so many people on the bus, don't say weird things..."

"Hui, what are you talking about? I meant barbecue! Camping in a spacious grove and having a barbecue after dinner, just thinking about it is amazing!"

Watching Amane and Karuizawa playfully bickering.

Horikita returned to reality from that bizarre dream.

They had already boarded the bus to the forest school.

The enjoyable winter vacation has come to an end.

Chapter 113: Mixed accommodation

Having just celebrated the New Year, we immediately boarded the bus to the forest school. It's impossible to say that no one had any complaints. However, the school had been on holiday since the beginning of December. Although there were some minor hiccups like the final exams, it had given everyone enough time to rest.

Therefore, even if a very few individuals have some complaints, they can only suppress their dissatisfaction.

This very few individuals are Tianyin.

Amane, resting her head on Horikita's shoulder, looked utterly dejected. She had barely survived the pressure of Christmas and New Year's before she had to go to some forest school.

She had only just learned about this term from Teacher Chazhu. In her spare time, she searched it up and found out that the forest school actually involved mountain climbing, race walking, and learning activities, saying it was a relaxing vacation-like trip to get closer to nature and allow students to have a healthier physical and mental experience.

But why is the keyword search link below called "Desperate Forest School"? And some schools even require students to be vegetarian in order to be closer to nature.

Tianyin was already considering whether to sneak back to school after getting off the bus. Surely the school wouldn't expel her for something like this? Probably... not, right?

Although the new principal, Ms. Fujiwara, is beautiful, has a sweet voice, and is gentle and easy to handle, the new chairman of the board doesn't seem to be a good person... What if it gets reported to the old man?

hiss…….

Tianyin gasped. Actually, the forest school was quite nice. If she really was a vegetarian, it wouldn't be a big deal. When asked, she said it was voluntary.

Moreover, frankly speaking, she felt that now was not a good time to go to the forest school, especially for Class B.

"Alright, everyone, quiet down now."

Chabashira-sensei clapped her hands to draw everyone's attention to her. After seeing that Horikita had also woken up, Chabashira decided to tell them a little earlier than planned the real purpose of their trip to the forest school, which had originally been scheduled for summer but was moved up several months.

"We are about an hour away from our destination. I believe many people are still wondering why the trip to the forest school, which is usually held in the summer, is being rushed to everyone right after the New Year."

No sooner had Chabashira-sensei finished speaking than Sato immediately chimed in.

"It's definitely going to be troublesome again, right? Please don't tell me it's going to be another special exam, Mr. Chabashira."

The mere mention of the special exams sends a shiver down everyone's spine. This year, they're incredibly lucky, with geniuses battling it out from their very first year. Most ordinary people don't even have the chance to participate.

If one could stay out of it, that would be fine, but the special exams are related to everyone's quality of life, so it's not something you can just choose not to participate in. Even an unconventional loner like Koenji is bound by the school's rules and has to follow them.

Not to mention them, but special exams don't guarantee victory just because everyone works hard. Sometimes, even after months of concerted effort, all the results can vanish in a single day, not to mention the punishment for failure.

Therefore, everyone's attitude towards the special exam is surprisingly consistent, which shows just how unpopular the special exam is.

"That's great, Sato-kun. I didn't expect you to have learned to answer first."

Chabashira looked at Sato with some surprise, feeling that Sato had changed somewhat after the long break. As for the specific changes, Chabashira-sensei wasn't quite sure, but there was no doubt that Sato had grown.

"Is it really a special exam?"

The people on the bus made sounds of reluctance.

Teacher Chazhu also knew that in this situation, the more she tried to appease them, the more apprehensive they became about the special exam.

So, Teacher Chabashira simply called on students to cover the simple content of this special exam.

"I know this might seem a bit abrupt to everyone, but that's how special exams are. Since you don't usually have much contact with older students, the school has carefully prepared this eight-day, seven-night special exam, the 'Mixed Training Camp,' to help everyone get along harmoniously. I'll send you the relevant information about the mixed training camp beforehand. Since the information will be collected after we get off the bus, please study it very carefully."

Looking at the more than twenty pages of documents in her hand, Tianyin simply chose to give up.

"Rin, I'm hungry."

"Hungry? Didn't you just have breakfast before leaving?"

As Horikita spoke, he rummaged through Amane's bag for food.

When Chabashira-sensei told everyone to change into their sportswear and bring extra changes of clothes, Horikita knew that this was a long trip, so she specifically reminded Amane to remember to bring some 'useful' things.

As it turned out, if Tianyin wasn't told in advance what counted as useful, she would fill her bag with as much food as possible.

Horikita was dumbfounded when she saw her backpack full of various foods. Normally, shouldn't it contain entertainment items and a change of clothes? How come it all turned into food?

"Rin-nee, I'm hungry~"

Tenon urged him on again, so Horikita had no choice but to stuff a sandwich in his mouth to shut him up.

After receiving the sandwich, Tianyin was as happy as a child. She tore open the packaging and began to enjoy it in the car. Her way of eating, like that of a small rodent, was quite adorable.

While Amane was eating, Horikita finally had time to look through the information about mixed training camps in her hand.

Horikita froze as soon as she turned to the first page, because the information clearly stated that the mixed training camp would be divided into twelve large groups with the second and third-year students to participate in this special mixed training camp exam.

Boys and girls are divided into six groups each. They are not allowed to meet or contact each other normally, except for one hour during mealtimes when they are not subject to school restrictions.

In other words, the boys' side needs one or two strong leaders to step forward and lead the boys in Class B to successfully pass this exam.

With her and Amane on the girls' side, there shouldn't be any major problems. If all else fails, they can mobilize capable individuals like Sato, Kushida, Karuizawa, and Matsushita. They should be more than capable of handling the forest training camp. As for the boys... Hirata or Ayanokouji should be fine.

Horikita continued flipping through the documents and discovered that things were more complicated than she had imagined. Not only did she have to form large groups with the older students, but the classes themselves also had to be divided into groups based on gender. Then, in order, the class groups would first merge with the grade groups, and then the grade-based groups would be integrated into the older students' groups, finally forming one large group.

Furthermore, there are quite strict regulations regarding the grouping conditions and the number of participants, as if the school is paying special attention to the mixed training camp for forest schools this time. However, it is understandable that the A-class camp on the deserted island was hit by a major fire, Shibata attempted suicide by jumping into the sea during the preferential treatment exam, and the sports festival was finally held, only to encounter the Amane incident.

These messy things have affected the school's image, both internally and externally, so they decided to use the forest retreat to salvage their reputation.

If something goes wrong at the forest school again... the consequences are too terrible for Horikita Suzune to even imagine.

Group formation is not something that can be done arbitrarily.

The most important rule is that "a group must contain students from at least two different classes".

In other words, it's impossible to simply and crudely fill the group with students from your own class.

"This forces students to be paired with students from other classes. Although it's possible to form groups with the majority of your own students plus one student from another class, I doubt many people would willingly join a group consisting entirely of students from other classes."

Horikita frowned. This grouping was a bit tricky for her, while the limitation on the number of people was secondary.

The school also stipulates that if there are 60 boys and 60 girls in a grade, they can form groups of 8 to 13 people.

各有七十名就可以组建9～14人的小组，超过80名则是10～15的小组。

In other words, the ideal is to form groups of 10 to 15 people. However, the dropout rate in the first grade is not optimistic, so this requirement is basically not met. Only by adhering to the standard ratio of 50% boys and 50% girls in a class can the requirement of 80 people for a certain gender be met.

But that means no one can drop out. As of today, four boys and one girl have dropped out of Class B, which is Horikita's class; one boy has dropped out of Class C, which is Ryuen's class; and one girl has dropped out of Class D, which is Ichinose's class.

The number of male students decreased by five, and the number of female students decreased by two.

Therefore, only groups of 9 to 14 people can be formed.

There are 78 first-grade girls, and we need to divide them into six groups. We can only hope that we can resolve this issue harmoniously when we meet with the girls' representatives from other classes.

But the thought of names like Sakayanagi Arisu, Ichinose Honami, and Shiina Hiyori gave Horikita a headache.

The top students in the first year, both boys and girls, are of exceptionally high quality, making it virtually impossible to gain an advantage over them.

"Tea Pillar Teacher, does the grouping mentioned here mean that people from other groups will participate in the tasks with us?"

Hirata raised his hand and asked Chabashira a question. He keenly sensed the unease in the class, so in order to reassure everyone, he had to gather as much information as possible to help them fully understand the special exam, just like before.

"That's right. And once the group is formed, you must stay together whether you're eating, sleeping, or completing the task. If someone gets sick or injured, the others must work even harder as if that person were still there. When assigning tasks to your group, we won't take those who are sick into account. So please try to choose students who are in good health to form a group before you start. Otherwise, it will be very tiring later on."

"very tired?"

Hirata pondered the word, feeling that there was something Chabashira-sensei hadn't explained to him clearly.

"That's right. After you boys and girls are divided into six groups, you'll have to join the second and third-year students to form a large group of about 35 people. When it comes to the final grades, we'll look at everyone's average score. If it's just a matter of poor grades, you can make up for it with the help of other high-achieving students in the large group. But if there are fewer people..."

Teacher Chabashira didn't continue, but everyone could imagine what the result would be. For example, if the average passing score is 60, and someone only scored 30, then if someone scored 90, they could help average it out so that both of them would be at the passing mark.

But if one person is missing, it means that the others in the group must first make up the score for one person before averaging it.

When the strength of each group is roughly equal, if someone in a group gets sick or injured, it can basically be considered a defeat.

"What will be the punishment if we lose?"

Hirata asked a question that many people were concerned about: the exam subjects this time were different from those in the past. The courses included subjects like making, public speaking, and meditation, which seemed unbelievable. If there were no exam, there would be no need to list them. This made many B-class students, who were usually worried about their grades, even more worried.

"Rewards and penalties are determined based on the average score to confirm the ranking, while rewards and penalties are based on the number of people."

First place: 10,000 personal points and 3 class points.

Second place: 5,000 personal points and 1 class point.

Third place: 3,000 personal points.

The reward may seem meager, but since it is distributed based on the number of people, if their group wins first place, their group can be formed according to the rules, consisting of 9 to 14 people. If they are grouped according to the maximum advantage of their class, that is, 13 girls from Class B plus one girl from any other class, they can get 130,000 personal points and 39 class points.

The punishment for failure is quite severe.

The fourth-place individual will have 5000 points deducted.

The fifth-place individual will have 1 points deducted, and the class will have 3 points deducted.

The sixth-place individual will have 2 points deducted, and the class will have 5 points deducted.

In other words, if they're unlucky, with each person losing 5 class points and 20,000 personal points, a group of thirteen people would lose 65 class points and a total of 260,000 personal points in one go.

It is obvious that the punishment and reward are not commensurate.

Teacher Chabashira noticed that the atmosphere was a bit heavy, so he read out one of the sentences in the reward and punishment conditions in advance.

"The rules I'm about to explain apply to the bonus results for first to third place. If the group consists of members from two classes, the rewards for the top three remain unchanged. If the group consists of members from three classes, both types of point rewards become doubled. If the group consists of members from four classes, it increases to tripled. Furthermore, the multiplier seems to change depending on the total number of people. It's 1x for 10 people, and 15x for 1.5 people, which is the maximum. However, since we don't have enough people to form a group of 15, we can ignore that for now. But even with 14 people, there's a multiplier of 1.4x."

In other words, if a group of fourteen people consists of students from three different classes and wins first place, theoretically each person can receive three times the original reward multiplied by 1.4 (rounded to the nearest whole number). That is, each person can get 42000 personal points and 13 class points.

A group of fourteen, minus three students from other classes, leaves eleven people. With a bit of luck, they could earn 143 class points in one go!

Moreover, the bonus only applies to the top three teams. If another team gets second place, they will get nearly 200 class points in total.

In terms of timing, the mixed training camp runs from Friday to the following Wednesday, with Thursday being the last day, which is also the day of the exam.

She could earn nearly 200 class points by spending just eight days at the forest school. Wouldn't that be more profitable than trading with Ichinose?

However, Horikita quickly calmed down. This was only the theoretically optimal choice. How could they possibly take first and second place at the same time in reality?

And if you're unlucky and end up near the back of the line...

"Is it just a matter of punishing individual and class points?"

Matsushita rarely asked a question, because she always felt that the school couldn't be so merciful as to only punish the last place student with more than 200,000 personal points and then deduct more than 60 class points and that would be the end of it.

"Of course it can't just be like that. Just like the top three get bonus points, the last-place group also gets an extra penalty, which is—you all guessed it, right? That's right, expulsion."

Chapter 114: Would you like to take a Heavenly Sound home? (6K)

"Another expulsion, as expected. Can't this school come up with a more thoughtful punishment method? Making students take special exams on tenterhooks every time must have a big impact on their exam results, right?"

Sato's criticism resonated with a considerable number of people.

These days, Kushida has been spreading real secrets and mixed rumors, keeping Sato busy resolving conflicts. In addition, he also has to find ways to deal with the negative impact of these secrets or rumors. Although Sato felt physically and mentally exhausted for a time, it greatly accelerated Sato's growth. In the end, because Sato actively fought against the rumors in the class, he established a shining image in Class B of fighting against Kushida who spread rumors.

For a time, Sato's popularity rose instead of falling, and he seemed to be surpassing Horikita. Of course, this was only his reputation in private. Just like Kushida was once trusted by everyone in private, but he couldn't even get a word in edgewise when it came to class affairs, which was due to the difference in their own abilities.