The final competitive exam of the year had begun, with each student being teleported, as always, to a new location. Though unlike in the special exam, they had not been separated. Instead, each class was directly next to the other. Professor Reed had not given them any instructions unlike he usually does before every exam. Confusion was very much present, though it seemed everyone managed to stay calm for the time being. Shin forced himself through to Yamato, who was currently occupied by Yuki trying to get him to say "I love you too", which he flat out refused. Though Yuki would not accept a no for an answer, causing them to just repeat their conversation again.
"Ah, Yamato, I'm sure you have another brilliant plan, which I am willing to challenge once again. Fighting you is one of my greatest pleasures in life, though I do hope you can control your appendage more than last time… You didn't look so well back then. I do hope you are at full strength, as a victory against a weakened opponent would only discredit my achievement."
"I'm not saying it…"
"Why not?!"
"Do you want me to lie to you?"
"That's so mean!! Sometimes a girl just wants to hear nice things! And maybe if you say it over and over again for hours straight it will come true!"
"I feel like you just want to get on some sort of emotional high and you don't actually think that would work…"
"But it could…?"
"I guess theoretically, repetition could- No, I'm not even indulging your fantasy that much. I will say it when I mean it."
"Ah, that's so nice~… But say it just once while holding me!"
Yamato let out a heavy sigh, now having to start over again. Shin, who was being completely ignored, became increasingly agitated by that but tried to keep his composure.
"My dear friend, if you find yourself able to mock my honest approach, I shall assume you are very well and in top condition, which I will see as reason to give it my all.
Yamato let out another sigh, this time directed at Shin as he turned to him, causing Yuki to look at him as well. Both Yamato and Yuki were completely unreadable in their facial expressions, despite Shins best attempts to get a read on them.
"…Shin, what you fail to grasp is the obvious. But I see your request, and I'm willing to teach you this once. When this exam ends, and it will as they all do, with me as victor."
"From what I could tell, the last exam was won by class 3. Which does make me wonder, are you truly the opponent I should worry about?"
Yamato just stared into his eyes, remaining unreadable, though Yuki mirrored that image, her words and actions made her somewhat readable.
"Careful, proud last place, was it? Weren't you in the hospital after our last encounter for what… Two weeks?"
"…"
"That's what I thought. Now hush hush, go back to your soon to be class 2."
"You little-"
An unfamiliar male voice rose above the others and stole everyones attention. A blond, short guy, barely taller than the twins, with messy hair and a bright smile.
"My dear camerades, please don't remain under such tension, I'm sure there is no need for such a situation to escalate, as we have yet to receive instructions from the headmaster. What point is there, in already senseless violence, when there is no clear goal in mind?"
"And who the fuck are you? Ah, wait… I remember you. Maruyama Kenshin, was it? Class 3 listens to you, for some reason…Didn't I crush you in the first exam together with your whole class?"
"Oh, but a temporary set back, to a position I do not mind to be in. And, do correct me, but was it not you who lost in the end as well? The way I see it, your class is the only one that has yet to win an exam. And for a supposed class 1, dare I say that to be quite the embarrassment?"
"Maruyama…"
"Yes, please?"
"I will crush you, as I did last time. And while I am at it, you too, Yamato. When I'm finished you both drop onto the rank of class 3 and stay there until we graduate."
"Why so angry? Life is too short for you to let emotions take over and cloud your mind."
Yamato seemed fascinated by Maruyama, so much so that Yuki had to consider killing him on the spot so Yamato would focus on her again. Of course, she did no such thing. However she did picture doing it and getting overly affectionate praise from Yamato for it, momentarily getting lost in fantasy.
"Besides, the only emotion one should devote their life to… Is love! Oh, yes, love is so wonderful, the concept of loving a person, to be utterly encapsulated by someones existence to the point of physical and emotional longing, what more could life have to offer? Is it not so, beloved Yuki?"
Yuki snapped out of her fantasy, and everyone else went quiet. It was an awkward silence, even more so by Maruyama's dramatic tone. The one who broke that silence was none other than "beloved Yuki" herself.
"…Excuse me?"
"It is right, just now, as our eyes first met each other, I fell in love, with no chance to defend my heart, but the choice of willingly giving it to you."
"…Ah. Did you know that when you freeze a body part at -150°C for even a second, and then move it, it shatters?"
"…How knowledgeable you are, truly you are one of a kind!"
"…I'm taken, fuck off."
"I shall fight to the end!"
"You can get an end alright…"
"Any end together with you is a good end!"
"Okay, pause!"
Yuki grabbed Yamato's hand and pulled him away from the crowd and whispered to him.
"Master, just that one, please?"
"No."
"But aren't you getting all worked up over how he's hitting on me?!"
"Even if it's just an act…"
"It's real."
"Even worse! Let's stab him to death together! Ooh, or throw stones at him! Or, I always liked the way people's heads were cut off by a sword! There are so many ways to execute someone both publicly and privately!"
"No one's getting executed… Let's just focus on winning the exam."
"…"
"Don't make that face… What do you want me to do about him?"
"Die, die?"
"…I will think of something, okay? Just don't do anything drastic."
"Fine! But note that I'd rather have him dead!"
"Is noted…"
They then turned back to the crowd of students, which seemed to be on the verge of fighting to the death. Luckily, that did not seem to be in professor Reed's interest, since he put a barrier around each class and teleported everyone into them so that no class was in contact with an opposing class.
"Alright, sorry for the delay but I fell asleep reading the rules for this exam, haha."
"Don't you make them, as headmaster…?
"Oh, well yeah but then I forget them again. Final exams always have the most complicated rules… But whatever! That's why I wrote them down, after all! Nothing you need to worry about, Yamato!"
"…"
"Anyway, to the exam! You will be brought to a lake, my favorite lake by the way, and your directive is to reach the island in the middle of said lake. How exciting! But that's not all! For a class to win the exam, all participating students of the class must be present at the same time, so you can't just send one student and win. Additionally, the armbands of your test exams have a glorious return, whoohoo! In case you forgot, all damage gets transferred, losing the armbands results in disqualification, but additional, due to one incident in one of your exams, it is now prohibited to take them off or trade armbands, as it will result in disqualification! There will not be a way to come back after being disqualified as well, as we have concerns that this mechanic might get taken advantage of again. Looking at you specifically, Yamato!The central island is guarded by a number of six shrines at the shore on the main land, which hold up a barrier around it. You have to deactivate all the shrines to deactivate the barrier, and to do that, you need a group of at least five students at a shrine stationed there for one hour. So if you do all simultaneously, you could deactivate them all at once in one hour, or one by one, which takes, without taking into consideration the way you have to travel from shrine to shrine, six hours! But be careful, the barrier might not be your only obstacle on your was to the island. There is no time limit for this exam, so how long you wait is completely up to you, though there will be only limited recourses of food and water brought to you at the end of each day, keep that in mind. That's all from my side, good luck to you all!"
And with that, each barrier containing a class was teleported with them to a side of the lake, which was extremely big, so that you could hardly see the other side of it, just the trees were visible. Yamato's first instinct was to search for two shrines, to calculate the distance each shrine would be away from the other and so estimated their positions on a map which Yuki would draw while they deactivated the first one. Since their class consisted of 15 students, they could deactivate three shrines at once, while class 1 could only deactivate two since they were only 14 students, thanks to some not so recent events which proved to still have affect on many things. Though it might be smarter not to deactivate them yourself and have the other classes do that. Depending on how close each shrine is to the island, and where the closest land space in general lies, where they would need to be at the end could vary as it would be imperative to move instantly after the barrier has been deactivated.