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

In other words, during the competition, participants can request the Command Tower to intervene six times if they encounter a question they don't know how to answer. Obviously, the competition rules were designed to minimize the role of the Command Tower's intervention. With five people participating, each person only has one chance to ask the Command Tower to answer a question. Since this math test consisted entirely of multiple-choice questions worth one point, even if all the questions were answered correctly, using the Command Tower's intervention power would only add six points to the class's total score, which is insignificant in terms of the final result.

This is a competition that truly tests students' academic abilities.

"Miyako Girl, do you have any good suggestions?"

Koenji also found this competition item very troublesome, but helping to solve math problems was no problem for Koenji's academic level.

The problem is that the remaining students in Class B, apart from a few who are considered as trump cards, are all the type who would have a hard time even passing a math exam. Therefore, Koenji hopes to get some advice from Amane.

If Amane wanted to give it her all, Koenji would send out all the remaining students with decent academic abilities to win the match. But if he did that, Class B would be completely outmatched in the remaining matches.

According to the competition rules, the first class to achieve four wins will be considered the winner. However, this is only the third match. Even if Class B tries their best to achieve three consecutive wins, there is no guarantee that they will win a special exam in the next four matches.

So whether to take a gamble or give up the victory in this round put Koenji in a dilemma.

"Let it go. There's no need to fight head-on in their areas of expertise. We've already fallen into their trap. We need to hold onto a few trump cards. If we go all in now and then lose everything, that would be ridiculous."

Tianyin said half-jokingly.

Tianyin didn't believe that Class B would lose this special exam, but Class D was clearly well-prepared. No one could say for sure what other tricks Class D had up their sleeve. To throw out all their cards before the opponent revealed their hand would be reckless.

So Tianyin decided to wait and see if Class D had any unexpected trump cards up its sleeve.

"Then let's give up on this game. Hirata, could you please send up a few of the worst students in the class? We need to use sacrifices to replace their top students in this game."

Koenji gave Hirata the order through the headset, and Hirata immediately arranged for five students whose grades were not usually very good to come to the competition venue as Koenji instructed. Class D glanced at Class B's lineup and knew that Class B had chosen to give up this round, so they couldn't help but cheer loudly for their students.

Neither Koenji nor Amane showed any emotion in response. This was the price of falling into a trap. If you set a trap and the other party stepped into it without any consequences, what would be the point of setting a trap?

Class D used the strategy of "Tian Ji's horse racing" to lose two rounds in a row, hoping to avenge their previous defeat.

Both sides used the command tower intervention in the math test, and Koenji answered all six questions perfectly.

Ninomiya also answered all six questions correctly.

In the math test with a total score of 500, Class D crushed Class B with a total score of 467, compared to Class B's 308. The five students in Class D only scored a total of 308 points, which is almost a passing grade on average. It is worth mentioning that the best score among the five students was actually Sakura Airi.

Airi scored a respectable 78 points, but unfortunately, it wasn't enough to turn the tide. To be honest, Sakura's learning ability is quite good, but she has a fatal flaw: she gets nervous as soon as she enters the exam room, and her mind goes blank when she gets nervous. However, when she studies in private, Sakura can get scores of 80 or 90 points on both practice tests and private practice papers, which is comparable to a B-level academic achievement.

No matter how excellent her grades were in private, forgetting everything in the exam room would definitely affect her final score. Therefore, Sakura's grades were almost always at the bottom.

If she had been last in the exam in other classes, she would have definitely faced discrimination. Even if no one said anything too hurtful, she would have been subjected to ridicule. The reason Sakura wasn't mocked was because she could answer all the questions asked by both Chabashira-sensei and other teachers. This made the teachers unaware that she was actually the worst student in the class. No one in the class would easily embarrass Sakura in class. Apart from a few individuals who would make fun of her by mentioning the time she helped other classes, no one mentioned anything about her academic performance.

However... ever since that incident, Sakura has been subjected to cold stares from everyone. Even if she is bullied, she probably wouldn't dare to say anything, or perhaps she has already gotten used to it...

Putting aside all other issues, if someone could help Sakura overcome her tendency to get nervous during exams, Class B would have another excellent trump card.

Unfortunately, even Amane felt somewhat at a loss when it came to Sakura's question.

The results of the third match were announced quickly.

Class D won.

Next up is the fourth competition event.

As the large screen began to scroll, the hearts of students from both Class B and Class D were in their throats. Judging from Class B's performance in the third match, if the fourth match were also an academic competition, Class D would most likely be the winner.

And so, just when everyone's hearts were in their throats, the rapidly scrolling screen finally came to a slow stop.

When everyone saw the names of the competition events appear on the big screen, Class D erupted in even louder cheers than before.

"Well done!! This game will be won by our class again."

"That would make it a tie. If we had a few more of our signature events, I think we might be able to beat Class B!"

……

Looking at the cheering students of Class D, Koenji snorted lightly.

It has to be said that Class D was really lucky.

The fourth round of the competition was a "Modern Chinese Test".

While Class B wasn't as badly outmatched in the math test as they were in the modern literature test, they were still no match for Class D, so this round was obviously out of the question.

The competition rules for Class D are basically the same: it's all about the generals taking on one-on-one challenges, and if the command tower intervenes, they'll let you have your fun for six minutes—an extremely torturous method.

The final result of the competition was that Class D scored 481 points, defeating Class B by a score of 399 points.

It's clear that the students in Class B were doing their best, but that's how it is when you're playing against a class full of top students. If it's a contest of raw talent, ten Class D students tied together wouldn't be enough to overwhelm Tianyin alone. As a result, a special exam prevented Tianyin from even appearing in four rounds in a row.

Admittedly, Tianyin is extremely strong individually, but if the opponent simply refuses to accept your one-on-one duel, even Tianyin has no way to deal with them.

Although everyone in Class B could understand Koenji's decision, losing two games in a row was really too demoralizing. Even Ichinose couldn't help but suggest that she could play if there were any more academic tests.

Koenji readily agreed to the request. While it's true that you should keep your trump cards tightly under your belt, if you're about to be wiped out and still don't use them, then that person definitely has a problem with their thinking.

Moreover, if Koenji loses this special exam, he will be expelled from school. Even if Koenji says every day that it doesn't matter whether he is expelled or not, Koenji would never accept him being expelled as a loser.

So he had made up his mind that if the fifth round was another academic competition, he would go all in and send out all the top-performing players like Ayanokouji, Ichinose, and Horikita, determined to salvage some face in the next round.

The big screen started rotating again, finally settling on a competition that was impossible to judge as good or bad.

That was "rock-paper-scissors," a special game that Class D had specially applied for.

This competition item was added at Horikita's insistence, and it can be said to be a perfect option, because both academic performance and sports can be improved in a short period of time through repeated practice. There is a saying that "sharpening your spear at the last minute" describes this situation perfectly.

The game of rock-paper-scissors has a flaw: it's a game that can't be improved through practice and relies more on luck. A small number of people might be able to improve their winning rate by using cold reading techniques, but most people rely entirely on intuition and luck when playing rock-paper-scissors.

It was a fairly fair competition, but the problem was that it was too fair. If Class B hadn't fallen for the trap, this competition would have definitely put Class D in trouble, because it was difficult to decide whether to send the students with good grades or the cannon fodder. To a certain extent, it could disrupt the opponent's plans.

However... it is Class B whose plans have been disrupted. If a competition event that is particularly advantageous to Class B comes along, it might become the key to Class B's comeback in this special exam.

The result was an overly fair game of "rock-paper-scissors".

"I'm sorry, I didn't expect things to turn out this way. If I had known, I should have chosen a competition that would have been more advantageous for us."

Horikita also realized that this competition event had become a stumbling block for Class B, and said to Amane with some frustration.

"The problem with this competition event wasn't with you, Suzune. That idiot Koenji fell for the trap from the start, which caused your event to lose its original purpose. Otherwise, you should have been able to use this event to wear down many of the opponent's academically excellent students."

Amane doesn't believe that Horikita created B-Class's current predicament. She only thinks that they were a bit careless this time, and D-Class took advantage of their weakness, allowing them to snowball their advantage.

This has nothing to do with Horikita, but she seems to feel a little guilty and wants to participate in the competition to solve the troublesome project she proposed herself.

"Rin, now is not the time for you to play. If you draw 'Aikido' next and as a key player you can't participate, then even if you win this match, it won't be of much use."

When Amane saw Horikita wanting to go on stage, she quickly picked her up and brought her back.

What a joke! There are only a few capable fighters left. What if we draw a competition that requires physical combat and we don't have any fighters here? If we lose the competition and then get humiliated by Class D using Class B's signature event... that would be incredibly disgusting.

Therefore, no matter what, Tenon had no intention of letting Horikita go up and play rock-paper-scissors with them.

"But this competition event is mine..."

"Be good~ Listen to me, there's always a way to solve this. Besides, don't we still have a secret weapon we haven't used yet?"

"Secret weapon? When did we get something like that?"

Horikita looked at Amane with a blank expression. She was in charge of this special exam, and she had no recollection of preparing something called a secret weapon.

"Ayanokouji! Isn't it your turn to go up and show off your skills?"

Amane called out Ayanokouji's name directly, which made Ayanokouji, who was sitting in the crowd and planned to wait until the last moment to go up, stand up very reluctantly.

Are you sure you want me to play in this game?

"If you don't go, am I the one who has to go? If they dare to accept the one-on-one challenge, I can take them all down by myself. Rock-paper-scissors is my specialty. I used to beat Arisu so badly that she cried. But Class D is definitely too cowardly to challenge me one-on-one. If you don't go, we're probably in for a tough time to win this game."

Tenon was telling the truth. There are techniques to rock-paper-scissors, and you can improve your chances of winning by using other methods. But people who have mastered these tricks are extremely rare. Since Tenon had no choice but to let Ayanokouji try it out, she had no option but to do it herself.

After thinking for a moment, Koenji did not refuse.

That's just how rock-paper-scissors is. It's hard to say who's good at it and who's not. You can't select someone by having a class-wide competition because sometimes someone can win against anyone at a certain time, but then after a while, they can't win against anyone.

Therefore, Class B did not hold any rock-paper-scissors competition.

Since we can't think of anyone suitable for this kind of competition, let's just field anyone. Even if we lose, we still have a margin for error of one game.

Now that things have come to this, there's no turning back.

The rules of the rock-paper-scissors game are simple: each side has four chances, which means there are four spots. The winner is determined in one round, and the winner can continue to play rock-paper-scissors with the next person. The side that runs out of four chances first loses.

In a one-on-one situation, the two generals will play a best-of-three rock-paper-scissors game, which is very simple.

The rock-paper-scissors game with the Command Tower intervention is more interesting. With the Command Tower intervention, the game becomes a game where the Command Tower tells you what to play next.

This was also a trap set by Horikita on a whim. If it were a face-to-face rock-paper-scissors game, you could increase your chances of winning by using cold reading techniques or something. The commanders are all sitting in the multi-functional teaching building watching the game through a large screen. It's impossible to ask the camera to give the other person a close-up. So even if the commanders can intervene and direct something, it still comes down to luck. It's just that someone else is gambling on luck.

Ninomiya's side was clearly misled by the competition, and actually sent up a team of four whose academic abilities were not weak.

For Class B, Ayanokouji led the way, followed by three boys with average grades. Since luck played a big part in this competition, using cannon fodder would suffice.

Ayanokouji looked at the boy in front of her, whose hands were trembling with nervousness, and couldn't help but shake her head.

This isn't a physical or academic competition, so there's absolutely no need to be so nervous.

"Relax."

Don't give me that! I'm going to beat you!

The boy opposite me had bloodshot eyes, which meant he was under a lot of pressure. It wasn't hard to predict what he would do first.

What can make a very nervous person feel safe?

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

Ayanokouji demonstrated his ability to draw fabric.

The boy opposite him looked at his fist and sighed in frustration.

It was clear that Ayanokouji, whose 'cloth' was superior to 'stone', took the first victory.

The second opponent was a petite girl who looked to be less than 1.5 meters tall. Ayanokouji won against her opponent's paper with 'rock'.

Ayanokouji seemed to have found his rhythm after winning two games in a row.

In the third round, 'rock' continued to win against 'scissors'.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, if they win just one more round, the victory will fall into the hands of Class B, who will have three more chances to recover, making their win virtually certain.

The last boy, perhaps fearing responsibility, requested intervention from the command tower.

Meanwhile, Koenji and Ayanokouji also connected to their headsets.

"The Ayanokouji boys are doing well! At this rate, we should have no problem winning the match. Do you need my help?"

In Koenji's view, the command tower wouldn't be of any help in this competition; it was all about luck anyway, and Ayanokoji's luck was good right now, so there was no need for him to interfere.

"No need, I think I should be able to win."

Ayanokouji was quite confident in herself; it would be a bit unreasonable for her to need help even in a game of rock-paper-scissors.

In the multi-functional classroom where the D-class commander's tower was located, it was so quiet that only the beeping of the machines and the breathing of people could be heard.

As the supervisor, Sakagami was very interested to see how this girl named Ninomiya would win the match.

"Gu Cheng, don't be nervous. Just listen to me from now on. Even if we lose this game, the responsibility will be mine. But if you make a mistake because you're nervous..."

"Don't worry, I think I will follow your instructions."

Gu Cheng wiped the sweat from his forehead. He was under much more pressure than the previous few people. If he made a mistake, he would lose the game. He knew without thinking that if he lost the game because of nervousness, he would definitely be criticized by his classmates after the exam. So, after wiping away the sweat, Gu Cheng stared intently at his palm.

"Bring out the scissors."

"Scissors, rock, paper!"

Ayanokouji shrugged when he saw the result, then turned and left the arena.

His 'cloth' was defeated by Gucheng's 'stone'.

Because there was an element of luck involved in the competition, Ayanokouji simply felt that his last attempt was just due to bad luck.

But right after he stepped down, the situation on the field underwent a complete 360-degree turn.

Under Ninomiya's command, Tanigi won three consecutive games.

In the final game, Koenji personally took charge but was still defeated by Ninomiya.

Ninomiya won four rounds of rock-paper-scissors in a row!!!

The cheers that erupted like a tsunami drowned out the sighs of Class B.

boom!

Koenji slammed his fist on the table in anger.

He had never encountered anything so humiliating in his life. He originally thought that with his academic ability, physical strength, and background, he should be able to do whatever he wanted, no matter where he went.