Magician of Cote

Vol-3 Ch-3 The Rules

"You are free to behave as you wish. However, if ten students fall into poor health, then all your efforts will be for nothing. Once a student has retired from the test, he or she cannot come back."

The students who had thought it possible to get through the test by relying on their own endurance now looked perplexed. It would be impossible not to spend a single point, but that was true of every class.

However, whether you actively participated or resigned yourself to your fate in this test, endurance alone would not win the day here. Gradually, the shape of this very literal "special test" became clearer.

"In other words, using at least some points is unavoidable?" asked Shinohara, who'd been following along in the conversation.

"I disagree with the idea of compromising right away. I think that we ought to persevere for as long as we can." argued Yukimura.

"I understand how you feel, but it'll be bad if our health suffers." Hirata joined.

"Come on, Hirata, don't be so discouraging! This is a test of our patience, right?"

The more they understood the rules, the less they could agree on a course of action. There opinions were divided.

At any rate, there were a wide variety of items for purchase in the manual: essential equipment for surviving, like tents and cookware; machines and tools, like digital cameras and wireless transceivers/walkie-talkies; items for amusement, like umbrellas, floaties, stuff for a barbecue, and fireworks; and food and water, the bare essentials.

We could prepare for anything with our points. Apparently anyone could request something, and just report to their homeroom teacher in order to use points to purchase it.

"First things first, nobody other than me will try to buy anything. If you want to buy anything, talk to me about it." I said.

All of my classmates nodded at the declaration.

"Chabashira-sensei, can I ask you something? In the event that someone were to retire after we had already used all 300 points, what would happen?" asked Horikita, her hand raised.

"In that case, all that would increase is the number of people forced to retire. Your points can't be changed any more after reaching zero."

"So, in other words, we can't get into negative points during the test?"

Chabashira-sensei answered in the affirmative. Mashima-sensei had said that there wouldn't be any negative effects from this test. It looked like that was true. Chabashira-sensei continued talking, occasionally glancing at her wristwatch to check the time.

"Each one of the supplied tents is large enough to accommodate eight people. The tents weigh close to fifteen kilos, so please be careful when carrying them. Also, the school will not step in to help should your supplied items become lost or damaged. In the event that you need a new tent, remember to use your points."

"May I ask something? Where will roll call be held?" asked Chiaki.

"Each class will be accompanied by their respective homeroom teachers until the test is over. If you've decided where you want your base camp to be, report it. Once the base is set up, I will hold roll call there. Make sure that you think long and hard about it, because you can't change your base camp location without a justifiable reason once you've decided. The other classes are subject to the same conditions. There are no exceptions."

Did that mean that Chabashira-sensei was going to spend a week together with Class C, as our supervisor? Of course, she probably wasn't going to help us.