The cycle repeats. It's day three of the special exam, and after eating breakfast, we all went to the hall to receive our next challenge. Like usual, Hiden-sensei was doing the explanations.

"Good morning everybody! I hope you all slept well last night, since today's challenge is going test your brain to the max!"

Tired groans could be heard throughout the hall. Good thing I drank a coffee this morning, since I didn't get much sleep last night either.

"Your challenge for today is called the Creative Auction! All the groups will be participating in a one of a kind auction that tests just how well you know each other!"

Hearing that outlandish concept pretty much woke everyone up, including me. A low murmur spread throughout the hall as no one expected this to happen.

"Before I explain the rules however, each group must first nominate two people from your group to be your "buyers" at the auction. Choose wisely, because you can't change them afterwards!"

I found it suspicious they were making us choose before hearing the rules. I don't like how this challenge is shaping up already...

"If this is an auction challenge, we should pick two people who are good at finance and valuing items. Does anyone want to volunteer themselves?"

As usual, Ryouta took the initiative for our group. Zyriot nudged Satou, making him raise his hand meekly.

"...I don't mind."

"Sure thing! After seeing your budgeting skills yesterday, I feel confident leaving things in your hands, Satou-san."

"We just need one more person then..." Ikeda said.

For some reason, Matsushita drew his attention towards Machida. Noticing his gaze, Machida scoffed.

"What are you looking at me for?"

"I just remembered... back when I was class representative, you tried to strike a deal with our class in order to gain your cooperation in the E Class-B Class alliance."

"Yeah, and that fell through the water because of you. What about it?"

"Back then, there was a clause on the agreement letter saying you'd siphon a percentage of our class's private points directly into your bank account."

"...why are you bringing this up now?"

Machida looked a bit sheepish now that Matsushita was dragging this out into the public.

"It made me think... damn, this bastard is good with money. And that's the exact type of person we need for this challenge right now!"

"What? Are you deaf, we literally just chose the emo because he's good at finance. It'd be pointless to pick me."

"Oh yeah... I guess that's true."

Matsushita giggled, making Machida sigh.

"Is anyone here good at valuing items?" Ryouta said.

No one raised a hand. There was an awkward silence.

"Okay, this might be a bit of a hot take, but... I think you should go, Ryouta-san." Ikeda said.

"Eh? M-me?"

"Yeah. My logic is simple."

Ikeda pointed at the silver colour on Ryouta's shirt.

"You're from Stark White. That means you have money. That means you live in the most bougie area of the island. That means you're constantly surrounded by wealth. Compared to us mere peasants... you know what's expensive! You know what's luxury! You know what being rich looks like! That makes you perfect to value items for us!"

Ryouta reeled back in horror. Machida burst out laughing. Matsushita and Zyriot both nodded in agreement.

"He makes a good point."

"You're the most qualified out of us seven."

Even I nodded in agreement.

"W-wait, just because I'm from A Class doesn't mean I actually live my life like that..."

"Doesn't matter, you probably heard it from your classmates and friends anyways. Just face it, you're the only one who can do this, Ryouta-san!" Ikeda said.

"Well, if you guys want me to do it that much..."

Ryouta started blushing, looking away. The corners of his lips lifted a little.

"F-fine. I guess it can't be helped. I'll do my best in this challenge."

And with that, Ryouta and Satou had become our group's buyers. Other buyers included Albert and Nora from Mitsuba's group, Nakajima and Yukada from Shimada's group, and Masamoto and Shigeru from his own group.

They were all taken out of the hall by Mikazuchi-sensei and led elsewhere. The rest of us stayed behind to listen to Hiden-sensei's explanation.

"Wonderful! Now that our esteemed "buyers" are gone, I can explain to the rest of you what role you'll have in this challenge as "creators"!"

So this is where the "creative" part of the challenge name comes from, huh?

"Like the title suggests, your groups will be responsible for making the "items" that are being auctioned off. It can be anything, ranging from drawings, paintings, literature, music, crafts, and whatever else you can make with your own two hands! The name of the game is to be creative, so use whatever outlet and skills at your disposal to make a piece worthy of being sold to the highest bidder! However, each group is only allowed to make one "item" max, so pick what you'll submit carefully!"

It seems we were supposed to tap into our imagination and make something from the heart. Once again, I feel like our group has been stumped in this challenge, since none of us are really the creative type.

"Now, for this challenge, your rankings will be decided by how much your "item" is sold off for in the auction! In other words, your goal in this challenge is to be the group who made the most expensive "item"! But, hang on... how are the "buyers" meant to bid for them if they don't have any money? Once again, that's where you "creators" come in! We're aware not all of you have a passion for the arts and crafts, which is why you guys are also responsible for securing the funds for your "buyers" to use in the auction!"

Slowly, it started to make sense why they separated us from the "buyers" early on. It seems they want to leave them in the dark in order to make the auction fair for everyone. If they knew about all this information, it'd definitely influence how they'd bid.

"Just like in the last challenge, we'll be temporarily giving you access to private points! This time, your initial funds are decided by the worth of the "buyers" you chose, plus your placements from the last challenge! A Class buyers are worth 10,000 private points! B Class buyers are worth 8,000 private points! C Class buyers are worth 6,000 private points! D Class buyers are worth 4,000 private points! E Class buyers are worth 2,000 private points!"

Since our buyers were Ryouta and Satou, our initial total (without the ranking bonus) was 16,000 private points. Not bad at all.

"However, you can increase the funds for your "buyers" by participating in a gameshow style quiz about Vanguard against other groups! There are three different categories that you can enter: General Knowledge, Judge Rulings, and Format History! You can enter the quizzes as many times as you'd like, but you can't stay in the same quiz for more than three games in a row."

Oh, this looks like something I can do. I'm a big fan of Vanguard, and I know a lot about the game, so this would be the perfect role for me. I'll participate in the quizzes and earn private points for Ryouta and Satou so they can afford to bid more.

"You have two hours to make your item and earn additional points! Don't let your "buyers" down, "creators"!"

After Hiden-sensei finished his long explanation, an envelope was given to me by Hiryuu-sensei, since our leader wasn't here anymore. I opened it up to find the detailed rules inside.

Explode with creativity! Make an "item" that will sell a lot!
Rules!
● The time limit is three hours!
● Two hours for creation, one hour for the auction!
● You must submit only one item for the auction!
● You can use whatever materials you'd like!
● You can increase or decrease your budget as you like!
● You can participate in the gameshow style quizzes as often as you'd like!
● There are three categories: General Knowledge, Judge Rulings, and Format History!
● You must enter two people to play a quiz!
● You cannot participate in the same quiz more than three times in a row!
● Passing off work made by others as your own is prohibited!
● Sabotaging other group's works is prohibited!
● Violence between groups is prohibited!
● The top three groups will get private access to the hot springs!
● The group that comes last will lose 3 cumulative points!
Auction Fund - Ryouta Group
● Buyer value: 16,000 Pr
● Placement value: 5,000 Pr
● Total value: 21,000 Pr

"Woah, we can get private access to the hot springs if we win?!"

Ikeda's eyes sparkled as he circled in on the reward. Machida clicked his tongue.

"But it's with two other groups... is that even worth it?"

"Yes! The hot springs are usually overcrowded as hell since it's open to everyone, making the experience way less relaxing, so it being limited to just three groups means there'll be enough space for everyone to properly enjoy it!"

It sounds like Ikeda tried to use the hot springs before, only to be sorely disappointed finding a bunch of other people also using it. No wonder this reward looked so attractive to him.

"Honestly, after how tough the first two days were, I could really go for a dip in the hot springs too..." Matsushita sighed.

"You did nothing on day one and two, what are you talking about?" Machida said.

"I was Takanori-san's emotional support."

Machida turned to me with a deadpan stare. What kind of impression did he get of me this time...?

"...I swear, all you D Class guys are queer."

"...sorry to disappoint, but we have Mitsuba-san in our class. He's the straightest man to ever exist." I said.

"I can confirm. He once asked Alice-chan what cup size she was." Matsushita said.

"Oi, that's not being straight. That's just straight up sexual harassment." Machida said.

Zyriot coughed, trying to get us back on track. Without Ryouta here to guide us, it looked like he was going to take up the mantle of being leader for this challenge.

"Ahem... we should probably figure out a plan of action."

"Yeah, Zyriot-san's right. If we want to win this challenge, we need to create something really impressive so everyone will want to bid huge sums of money on it!" Ikeda said.

"Agreed. Let's first figure out if we have any creative types in our group. Does anyone here do arts and crafts as a hobby or in their spare time? Personally, I'll fully admit that I'm horrendous at anything related to that kind of stuff."

"Leave it to me."

Unlike yesterday, where Zyriot waited until the very last moment to announce his skills, Machida didn't waste any time and put his hand up with a cocksure grin.

"Eh, Machida-san?! You can make things?!" Ikeda said.

"You do art in your spare time? I can't imagine it..." Matsushita said.

Machida looked annoyed at how surprised they were.

"I don't do art, that's for girls. I do woodcraft, real manly stuff. I wouldn't call it a hobby either though, since I just picked up the skills for it from my granddad. He's a carpenter, so I've always been surrounded by handmade furniture since I was little. He taught me everything he knew, so I can make a set of mugs or even a pretty mean rocking chair if you give me enough time."

"That's... surprisingly wholesome." Zyriot said.

"Don't join in too, asshole."

"I've done some D.I.Y in the past, so I don't mind helping you out if need be."

"If we're gonna make something complicated to impress the buyers, that'd be appreciated."

"I guess that leaves us three to be doing the quizzes..." Ikeda said.

"Well, it's still an important role. Compared to yesterday's challenge, we have 2,000 less private points to work with. We need to get our funds up so Ryouta-san and Satou-san can make a huge bid." Zyriot said.

"To be honest, the quizzes might be the most important part of the challenge."

Everyone looked to me as I said that. Zyriot raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean by that, Yuuto-san?"

"Earlier, Hiden-sensei said this challenge would test "how well you know each other". It was a hint towards the true goal of this challenge."

Machida's eyes widened as he realised what I meant. Ikeda scratched his cheek, not following along.

"Did you figure something out that we didn't, then?"

"Let's move somewhere else so others don't hear us."

Our group left the hall and went back to our room. Machida sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"It's infuriating that a D Class defective like you saw that before me... it's so obvious now, I'm pissed I didn't think of it in hindsight."

"Did you figure out what Yuuto-san was trying to say, Machida-san?"

"More or less. The trick to winning this challenge is making it painfully obvious which item your group made. That way, Ryouta-san and Satou-san will know which one to bid the most amount of private points on to win us the challenge."

"That's right. We don't need to create anything impressive at all. All we have to do is signal to them which item is ours, which is the true goal of this challenge. Can we work together without using any words?"

If the first challenge revolved around "cooperation", and the second challenge revolved around "compromise", then this challenge revolved around "understanding". It was testing our ability to use nonverbal communication.

"Oh... so that's what he meant... this makes so much sense!" Ikeda said.

"If that's the case, let's make a personalised mug set for our auction item. We can carve the names of our group into the wooden mugs to make it obvious it's ours." Zyriot said.

"I was just thinking that as well. It doesn't get anymore obvious than that. My only fear is that some other group will realise this is the best way to approach the challenge, and submit an item that looks like it was made by another group." Machida said.

"What do you mean by that?" Matsushita said.

"It's a double layered trap. We don't know how the auction works exactly, but you can assume for the sake of fairness that the order which the items are being sold off is randomised, meaning there's a chance a "fake" item could appear before ours. Let's say for example... Shimada-san's group submits an item under the guise it's made by our group. If it shows up before our one, it could trick Ryouta-san and Satou-san into spending a fortune on it to try and make it the most expensive item sold. If that were to happen, not only would they lose most their funds to buy our actual item, but they'd also unknowingly be handing over a free win to Shimada-san's group."

The fund part was especially important. If they spent the majority of their private points on buying that fake item, it'd be impossible for them to ever surpass it's price tag with the leftover amount they have. Unless they recruit the help of another group, we'd end up in in last place because our item unintentionally sold for dirt cheap.

"In any case, there's one surefire way to win in this challenge, but you need to fulfil two points first." I said.

"And they would be?" Zyriot said.

"The first point is as Machida-san said. The buyers need to correctly identify which item being auctioned off is ours. The second point is a lot harder to achieve however. We have to be the group with the most private points, even if it's just by one."

"Wait, we have to become richer than everyone else? But why?" Matsushita said.

"Because if you control the highest amount of funds at the auction, you can rig whoever you want to be the winner of this challenge."

Zyriot's eyes widened as he managed to put two and two together.

"Is that why you said quizzes were the most important part of the challenge earlier?"

"Yeah. If you have the most points and spend it all on a single item, there won't be anyone else who can outbid you as it'd be physically impossible for them to have more points. As such, if you can correctly identify your group's item, and spend all your points to bid on it, you can win the challenge."

Basically, you had to win in the quizzes to win in the auction. That was the main crux of this challenge. After hearing my explanation, the group nodded in understanding.

"So this challenge is less about creativity... and more about getting rich quick, huh?" Ikeda said.

"Theoretically, you could also use this method to determine the rankings of this challenge before it even begins. All you'd have to do is find out how many points each group is going into the auction with." Zyriot said.

"That's only if all the groups realise this is how you can win the challenge. For most of them, they probably haven't even realised it yet." Machida said.

"It can't be helped. When it comes to unpicking things, no one can beat Takanori-san. Well, maybe Ryouta-san, but he's off on the buyer's side in this challenge." Matsushita said.

"I'm sure he's come to the same conclusion as Yuuto-san regarding the challenge. In that sense, I'm not worried about them bidding for our item. Ideally, we should prioritise our efforts into increasing our fund. Since me and Machida-san are making the mugs, out of you three, who wants to tackle the quizzes? We need two people."

I raised my hand.

"I'll do it. When it comes to Vanguard, I'm fairly knowledgable about the game."

"Sure thing. Ikeda-san, Matsushita-san, how about you two?"

I nudged Matsushita in the back, signalling to him to step forward and volunteer.

"I... I'll do it."

With a reluctant voice, Matsushita raised his hand and sighed.

"Thank you, Matsushita-san. Ikeda-san, are you okay with joining us?"

"Sure thing! I don't mind at all."

With that, me and Matsushita went to compete in one of the Vanguard quizzes. They were being held at the outdoor school's special annex in separate rooms. We signed up for the "General Knowledge" quiz which was being hosted by Hiden-sensei.

"Why did you choose me for this? I'm no good at Vanguard, you know."

Matsushita sighed as we took our positions on the set, standing behind the station on the right. There was a shiny red buzzer built into the table which we'd press to answer questions. It really felt like we were in a gameshow you'd see on TV.

"That's exactly why I chose you."

"...eh?"

"I would've preferred to have entered the quiz on my own, but since you need two people from a group to participate, I had no choice but to bring someone along."

"So it's just more convenient to force me to come along than Ikeda-san? You really are shameless..."

"Pretty much, yeah."

"You're not even going to deny it?!"

"Well, between you and Ikeda-san, I'd rather bring you along. It's easier to control you, plus I don't think he would've been a good partner in this quiz to begin with."

"I mean, both of us don't know that much about Vanguard either."

"Sure, but I can order you to just stand there and do nothing. With Ikeda-san, it'd be more troublesome to rein him in because of his personality."

"His personality?"

"...to put it mildly, he's a himbo."

"A... himbo? That's the impression Ikeda-san gives you?"

Matsushita looked at me with a disgusted face.

"Sort of, yeah. He's good looking for sure, even more so than you and me, but up here... it's kind of empty."

I hate to admit it, but Machida was right on day two. So far, the biggest liability in our group has Ikeda, since he hasn't contributed anything meaningful yet in any of the challenges we've done while the rest of us have.

Ryouta was the leader who brought everyone together. Me and Machida contributed on the first day. Zyriot and Satou contributed on the second day.

The only other person in our group who hasn't done much in this special exam either is Matsushita, but he has objectively higher value than Ikeda because I can make him move how I want.

"I don't know, I think I'm also pretty good looking."

"I just called Ikeda-san dumb, and that's the part you want to focus on? Maybe you two aren't that dissimilar after all... except the groupie part."

"Hey, what do you mean by that? I also have game."

"If you did, you'd still have a bunch of girls hanging on your coattails."

"Okay, but that's the school's fault. When the S System got revealed, no one from the upper classes had any interest in me anymore because I was in E Class. The only girls who continued to like me were the ones in our class."

"That's a lame excuse considering we're in D Class now. Where's your girlfriend?"

"Don't talk like you have a girlfriend either. Your game is worse than mine!"

"You dated Alice-san. We are not the same."

"That's a low blow, man."

"If you're dissatisfied with it, you're free to bite back. But don't blame me when you feel the consequences of it later."

Understanding the hidden threat behind my words, Matsushita clicked his tongue.

"Tch... must be fun for a... for a guy like you to go on a power trip, huh?"

I was certain he was about to call me a loner, a loser, or maybe even a shut-in NEET.

"It sounds like you wanted to add something on the end there."

"Oh, it's nothing. I totally wasn't going to call you pathetic or anything, nope."

"I don't think sarcasm deflects your intent. If you try it again, I won't hesitate to spread the message."

Now that I was being more overt about it, a sense of urgency hit Matsushita. He grumbled and finally stood down, rubbing the back of his neck. Honestly, what a handful... it's like I'm babysitting a younger brother.

"Point is, I wanted to avoid the possibility of Ikeda-san buzzing, saying something wrong, and making us lose a chance to earn points. All you have to do is just sit back, keep your hands off the buzzer, and watch. Can you do that much, Matsushita-san?"

"...yeah, I can. Are you sure you can really do it solo, though?"

"Yeah. As long as we don't go up against Akihiro-san or Mitsuba-san, we'll be fine."

The moment I said that, two pairs entered the room. Matsushita's jaw dropped. My eye twitched.

"...you jinxed it."

"...I jinxed it."

It was Akihiro and Imaishi from Akihiro's group, and Mitsuba and Mikitaka from Mitsuba's group.

"So you guys our first opponents for today. Bring it on!" Akihiro grinned.

"I hope you're ready to be taken down by the delirious double M duo, Mitsuba and Mikitaka!" Mitsuba cackled.

It looks like our first quiz was going to be a rocky one.