After about ten more minutes, two more teams signed up and the challenge was full. Hoshinomiya couldn't keep chatting with Yukio.
With so many students watching, she couldn't favor her boyfriend and neglect the job—she sat back down, picked up the staff tablet, and announced, "All right—starting the general-knowledge quiz."
"Take out your tablets."
It wasn't like Hoshinomiya would ask the questions aloud and everyone would buzz in—each team had a tablet.
Hoshinomiya tapped her admin platform and the challenge pages popped up on the five teams' tablets; tapping in would allow them to answer.
These quizzes were usually multiple choice: you either knew the answer or you guessed. When the page appeared, everyone's expressions turned serious.
Even Yukio focused, curious what the school would ask.
[Question 1: If a cup of hot water and a cup of cold water are placed in the freezer, which freezes first? A. Hot water; B. Cold water.]
That's it? Yukio raised an eyebrow. This was only the first question—likely the quiz would escalate in difficulty. He quickly tapped A.
Hot water can freeze faster than cold water in a freezer.
The tablet didn't indicate right or wrong, only moved on to the next question—apparently you had to answer all of them, or keep answering correctly, to determine ranking.
[Question 2: In international etiquette, are ceremonial salutes fired an odd number of times or an even number of times?]
Also easy. Yukio selected odd without hesitation—tradition said even numbers were unlucky, a longstanding ritual.
[Question 3: In marathon running, 'marathon' refers to? A. The founder's name; B. The name of an athletics foundation; C. A place name; D. A story title.]
Yukio knew this. It was a place, not a person or an organization.
The options had already expanded from two to four—difficulty was clearly climbing. Early questions could be guessed with a decent chance, but later ones would be tougher.
At first everyone answered methodically, but as the questions got harder, some students in the other teams began to look uncomfortable.
"What should we pick for this one? It's hard—they're asking which constellation Polaris belongs to? Who knows that? This isn't on any test—"
"Idiot! Don't shout like that! If you want to discuss something, can't you keep your voice down?!"
"Hahaha, classmate, we're all working on this assignment together now—no need to be so guarded. We happen to know this one. The answer's D: Leo."
As the students chatted, Yukio and Yagami both smiled inwardly. Well, well—already scheming. The North Star belonging to Ursa Minor had somehow been twisted into Leo.
Actually "Ursa Minor" and the like were just world names; on the land that raised Yukio, they'd always called the Pole Star Beiji Ziwei—the Northern Purple Rose.
No matter what others thought, Yukio felt Beiji Ziwei sounded a hundred times nicer than Ursa Minor.
He smiled faintly and decided not to dwell on it—just keep answering. At that moment, Yagami, perhaps misunderstanding Yukio's smile, immediately turned, eager to chime in. "President, you don't happen to know the answer? If you need, I can tell you."
On the surface Yagami was being polite, acting like he was helping the student council president; inside he was full of disdain.
Hmph. Of course—just a mere student council president, a commoner who hasn't come out of the White Room system. In knowledge, compared to him—the top student of the fifth generation—there's no comparison.
Just hearing the wrong answer "Leo" has him so pleased? What a knowledge-starved student council president. He can't even tell right from wrong. Tsukishiro-san must've praised him too much. I knew it—someone who didn't come from the White Room can't possibly be better than a White Room student.
In Yagami's worldview, there were only two kinds of people: outstanding White Room students, and ordinary people unworthy of competing with them.
He couldn't even know such basic astronomy? He should be asking Yagami at once. Yagami would, magnanimously and with pity, tell him the answer.
The thought alone made Yagami beam brighter, like he'd cracked open an ice-cold soda—all chill and glee.
"?" Yukio blinked. Did Yagami have some kind of problem? He didn't even bother to respond and silently kept answering, leaving Yagami stunned.
W-what's with the president's attitude?!I wanted to show mercy and you just ignore me?! A real frog in a well, so shallow! Hmph—fine, pick Leo then!
Thinking that, Yagami grew even more displeased and answered the quiz with mounting anger. But the more he answered, the more serious the questions got. Some of the later ones he simply didn't know at all.
Like. "What's the name of the little green running figure on the emergency exit sign in hallways?" Even proud Yagami was dumbfounded—what kind of question is that, did a carbon-based lifeform invent this?!
And it was already question twenty-seven, with eight options to choose from! Even random guessing had a much lower chance than the early two-choice questions.
Yukio smiled again. This one he actually knew—he'd read it in a novel: Mr. Pitto.
The questions got tougher and tougher. Even Yukio couldn't answer the last thirty questions; they involved church doctrines and myths, subjects he genuinely didn't care about.
"All right~!" Over at Hoshinomiya they'd finished and saw the rankings. Her smile turned sweet. "Congratulations, Yukio-kun—first place. Here, food and water for you."
Yagami froze completely at the sight of himself in second place after thirty questions—his face went as black as ink.
He, the White Room's top of the fifth generation, actually lost to a commoner from a random school?!
For proud Yagami, who always looked down on ordinary people like insects, this was an indescribable blow—like the satisfying act of stamping a bug flat suddenly reversed, with the bug doing the stomping. The psychological drop left him reeling, humiliated and disoriented.
Only when Yagami came to did he realize the students from Class 1-B were watching him with concern. He couldn't care about that; he quickly scanned for Yukio.
Yukio was already carrying the food and water, saying goodbye to Hoshinomiya, heading toward the SUV.
Perhaps sensing Yagami's stare, Yukio glanced back and gave Yagami an unforgettable line. "That's it?"
Two simple words. Yagami felt like his face had been slapped numb.