Volume 1 Chapter 8 Part4 (2/2)
”Current… events?”
”Current events Events in politics or economics that ht be questions that cover material not in the textbook”
”Ugh, that's foul play! Doesn't that make the scope of the test useless!?”
”That's why you've got to study everything”
”I suddenly hate geography…”
Of course, current events questions nore for now
If you worry too ht not even be on the test, you'll miss the important parts
”Shouldn't we hurry up?”
As the conversation keeps going off-track, precious time is wasted
”Yea We're currently behind because a certain person was late”
”… Are you still hung up on that?”
”It's a problem for everyone Well then, who's the person who ca?”
”Uht? Uh…”
While thinking over the answer, Ike spun his pen around
”Oh, it's that guy His nary, so I remembered”
”Francis Xavier!… or soht?”
Sudou wasn't able to recollect the correct name
”I remembered It was Francis Bacon!”
”Correct:
”Yes! This is definitely a perfect score!”
”No, not at all…”
If we continued at this pace for the next week, desperately studying, everyone would probably pass
”Everyone, just take care of your health We don't have much time to study”
Kushi+da also understand that there was practically no room for error this time around
”It's ok, it'll be fine if it's these three”
”As expected of Horikita-chan It feels like you're trusting us!”
I think she was trying to say that ”Idiots don't catch colds”, but whatever
”Hey, be quiet over there Your yapping is loud”
A student nearby paused studying and looked at us
”Sorry, sorry, I was too loud I was happy since I got a proble is Francis Bacon, you knoon't forget since I learned it once~”
Ike said while laughing in joy
”Huh? … By any chance, are you guys in class D?”
A group of boys nearby all looked at us all at once At their reaction, Sudou bristled up in irritation
”So what? So what if we're in class D Do you have any problems with that?”
”No no, we don't have any problems with that I'm Yamawaki, in class C Nice to meet you
Ya
”Well, how should I say it… I guess it's good that this school divides classes by ability That way I don't have to study with people like you guys”
”What!?”
The one who bursted out in anger was, obviously, Sudou
”You're just getting ht inside of the school, I wonder which class' points will be deducted Oh wait, you don't have points to start with Thing is, you'll probably get expelled, you know?”
”You wanna fight? Bring it on!”
Sudou's outburst attracted the attention of the others in the quiet library
If this situation becomes worse, the teachers will probably find out about it
”He's right If you create a disturbance, we don't knohat'll happen You should keep inkicked out is really possible And I don't ht? It's not really a class you should brag about”
”There seems to have been some kind of calculation error between classes A to C But you guys are on a whole different level”
”What a nice way to put it The way I see it, every class but class A are just bunched up together”
Yalared at Horikita
”For an inferior product that doesn't have a single point, you're saying so just because you look cute?”
”Thank you for your words that have no logical connection to the topic I was never self-conscious aboutpraised by you”
”Tsu!”
Hitting the table, Yamawaki stood up
”H-hey It's dangerous for you to start since others will hear about it”
The other class C students tried to hold Ya at his sleeves
”For the next test, if you get a failingforward to seeing how roup”
”Too bad for you, but no one will drop out fro about us, why don't you worry about yourselves first If you're not careful, you ht fail, you know?”
”Kukuku Fail? Stop with the jokes”
”We're not studying so we can avoid failing et better scores Don't lu Francis Bacon is; are you sane? Why are you studying things that aren't even on the test?”
”Huh?”
”By any chance, do you not even knohat's going to be covered on the test? This is why you're the inferior class”
”That's enough out of you”
Sudou lost his terabbed Yamawaki by his collar
”H-hey hey, you're really going to use violence? You'll be deducted points You ok with that?”
”We don't even have any points to lose~!”
Sudou drew back his ar to knock him out?
I should really stop hiet up—
”Ok, stop, stop!”
A girl called out
Sudou stopped at the unexpected new character
”Hey, you're not a part of this; don't interfere”
”Not a part of this? I' to use this library, I can't just overlook this disturbance If you really wanted to hit him, can't you do that outside?”
At the blonde girl's reasonable words, Sudou let go of Yamawaki
”And you guys, aren't you provoking him too much? If this continued, do you think it would be fine if the school got word of this?”
”S-sorry We didn't mean to do that, Ichinose”
Ichinose I re that name before
Oh, it was the student in class B as talking to Hoshi+nomiya-sensei
”Hey, let's move If we study here, we'll become stupid too”
”Y-yea”
Yaroup of friends left the area
”If you guys are going to keep studying here, keep it quiet”
At those words, I gave a sallant form
”Unlike Horikita, she keeps order to this place, huh”
”I wasn't trying to create a disturbance I was just saying the truth”
Saying the truth caused the disturbance, though…
”Hey… That guy said that this wasn’t on the test… right?”
”… What does this mean?”
We exchanged glances
The material that Chiyabashi+ra-sensei would be on the test was the Age of Exploration
We all definitely made sure to write that down
”Doesn't this ets a different test?”
”That's unlikely… the test should be sarade”
As Horikita said, all the problems on the test should be same for the five main subjects
Otherwise, the effect of our grades on the points becomes unclear
By any chance, was class C infore to the test before anyone else?
Or was class D the only one not informed…
From the unexpected new information, we couldn't help but be confused
What if different topics were tested on the history portion of the test between the classes?
… No… if only the history portion was different, it would be really weird
But if the whole test was different…
This whole week of studying would become wasted time
3
It was ten minutes before the end of lunchAll of the roup packed up and headed towards the staff room In any case, we can't proceed until we make sure we knohat's covered on the test
”Sensei We have so ant to confirm quickly”
”That was quite an entrance All the other teachers are surprised”
”Sorry for intruding”
”It's ok, but we're in theKeep it short”
She kept writing in her notebook, continuing her work
”Last week, when you told us as covered on the test, did you o, class C students told us that their test was different”
Without batting an eyebrow, Chiyabashi+ra-sensei listened to Horikita Then Sensei, as listening in silence, suddenly stoppedher pen
”…The topics covered on the test were changed last Friday Sorry, I forgot to tell you guys”
”What—!?”
After writing down the new scope of the test on a piece of paper, she ripped the page and handed it to Horikita The textbook pages on the paper were all material we had already covered, and Sudou and the others hadn't learned the material
”Horikita, thanks to you, I noticed my mistake Thanks to the rest of you too Later then”
”W-wait a bit, Sae-chan-sensei!? Isn't this way too late?”
”No, I don't think so If they study for the next week, everything will be fine, no?”
Without any second thoughts Chiyabashi+ra-sensei tried to get us out of the staff room However, no one moved
”Even if you guys refuse to leave, nothing will change You understand that, right?”
”…Let's go”
”B-but Horikita-chan! I can't agree to this!”
”As Sensei said, staying here would just be a waste of time We should just start anew and study the revised material”
”But still!”
Turning her heels, Horikita left the room Sudou, Ike, and Yamauchi all followed, albeit reluctantly Chiyabashi+ra-sensei didn't even glance at us as we left She didn't even say sorry for her ht the other teachers would've said so after that incident
Even though it was a pretty serious mistake for a homeroom teacher to make, there was no response from anyone else My eyes then met with Hoshi+nomiya-sensei for a moment With a small smile, she waved at me
Well, I guess that's a response However, I don't think that she just ”forgot” to tell us about the test
Walking out into the hallway, the bell for the afternoon classes rang
”Kushi+da-san I have a favor to ask of you”
”Hmm? What is it?”
”I want you to tell the rest of class D about the changes to the test”
With that, Sensei handed Kushi+da a piece of paper
”I'm ok with it, but… is it fine for me to do so?”
”You're the best person to ask here Also, it's i what it's about”
”Ok, I will infore”
”By tomorrow, I'll make sure to revise our study plan as well”
Even though Horikita was pretending to be calhtly anxious Our frantic studying the past few days are now useless Also, we only have about a week left until the test
However, the biggest worry was Sudou, Ike and Yamauchi's motivation
”Horikita I know it'll be hard, but I will rely on you”
Sudou bowed to Horikita
”I… starting tomorroill take a break from club activities for a week Will that work?”
”…That's…”
Considering that we only have a week left, it's a very reasonable decision
Even though it was the best possible thing she could ask for, Horikita couldn't immediately accept
”Is that really ok? It'll be hard, you know?”
”Studying is difficult, right?”
Broadly grinning, Sudou patted her shoulder
”Sudou, are you serious?”
”Yea I'ht now Both at our homeroom teacher and those class C punks”
I guess you could call this a blessing in disguise Because of this difficult situation, Sudou is starting to give studying a chance He probably felt that he wouldn't pass if he didn't try harder Sudou's newoff in Ike and Yamauchi
”Can't help it, guess we'll try harder too”
”Alright If you guys have prepared yourselves for it, then please cooperate with me However, Sudou-kun—”
Horikita brushed off Sudou's hand from her shoulder
”Don't touch ain, I won't show any mercy”
”…You're not cute, woman…”
”We'll absolutely do well!”
”Me too!”
Kushi+da, also feeling motivated, stuck out her first
”Ayanokouji-kun, you too!”
”Huh? No, I'll—”
”By any chance… did you give up?”
”…I' about it…”
”You already proet?”
Horikita kept an eye onme
”I's, right?”
Honestly, in ter others, Horikita and Kushi+da are better than I am
Also, I'm not someone cut out to teach
”No, your test scores aren't that good, right?”
”There's not much time, so I think it's better for Horikita and Kushi+da to teach together, rather than doing separate one-on-one sessions Also, there's so I'm worried about”
”Worried about?”
The events that just happened in the staff room are too serious to overlook
4
When it was lunchtioal in mind Then I headed to the cafeteria
”Where are you going?”
After having noticedin front of me, she leaned over and looked up to me
”Because it's lunch, I thought I would go to the cafeteria”
”Fuun Is it fine if I go with you?”
”It's fine, but you have a lot of other people you can ask too, you know”
”Even though I have a lot of friends I can eat with, you have no one Also, although you would usually talk to Horikita-san first, you didn't say anything today Didn't you say yesterday that you orried about so in the staff room? What was that?”
As usual, Kushi+da was listening to the surroundings; or rather, observing her surroundings Honestly, I thought it would be annoying if someone was always, but I think it's fine if it's Kushi+da I only got to know her secret by chance I won't do anything bad
”I can tell you, but will you promise not to tell anyone else?”
”Keeping secrets ispoint!”
We , we entered the confusion of the cafeteria and got to thea ticket for two portions, Imachine and didn't line up at the counter Froertips of the students ere buying their food
”What is it?”
Kushi+da looked at me in curiosity
”There is a possibility that this will lead to an answer to what I was concerned about”
I looked at all the students ere buying lunch After about 20 students, I found ht the meal and walked over to the counter with heavy steps
”Alright, let's go”
”What? Ok”
Quickly exchanging our tickets for meals, I walked over to the student and sat down
”Uht?”
”…Huh? Who are you?”
Quietly looking up, he looked at me, uninterested
”Are you a second-year? Third-year?”
”Third year You're a first-year, huh”
”I am Ayanakouji-kun of class D Senpai, you're also in class D, right?”
”…What does that have to do with you?”
Kushi+da looked at”How did you know?”
”Because he was restricted to the free meal It's not very tasty, is it?”
Senpai was eating the free vegetable meal
”What the hell,me feel annoyed”
He tried to get up with his try, but I stopped him
”I have soratitude”
”…Gratitude?”
My small voice was lost in the confusion of the cafeteria
The nearby students were also engrossed in their conversations with friends
”Do you still have the problems on the midterm from your first semester? Or if you know someone that has all the previous test problems, can you let us knoho he is?”
”Hey, do you even understand what you're saying?”
”It's not anything surprising I don't think it's against school policy to use old test problems to study”
”Why are you asking me?”
”That's easy I thought it would be easier to cut a deal with soetable s are different if you actually like eating that meal What do you say?”
”…How much?”
”10,000 points That's as far as I can go”
”I don't have any of the problems, but… I know someone who does If you want to ask him to help, you need at least 30,000 points”
”30,000 is way too much I don't have that kind of money”
”How much do you have, then?”
”…20,000 points”
”Then 20,000 points… No, 15,000 points will do Nothing less”
”15,000 points, huh…”
”If you would go as far as to ask a coer about past problems, you must be really desperate After all, the school expels everyone who fails I've already lost a lot of my friends”
”I see …Ok I will pay 15,000 points”
”Then the deal is good Of course, you'll have to pay in advance”
”I don't ive you I'll et expelled”
”…Fine I don't want any bad records If rumors pop up that I ripped off a kouhai, I probably won't be forgiven”
”Now then, senpai, since I will pay you 15,000 points, can you give me a freebie? I want to see the answers to the mock test”
”Alright, I'll include that Well, I think that whatever you're trying to do is useless, but sure”
It looks like senpai understood what I was thinking
”Thank you”
The senpai quickly left his seat I guess he didn't want to be noticed
”H-hey, Ayanokouji-kun… Was that… was that really ok?”
”There's no problem at all The transfer of points is allowed by school rules, so there aren't any violations”
”That's fine, but isn't it dishonest to get past year's questions?”
”Dishonest? I don't think so If the school didn't allow it, there would've been so when I was just talking to the third-year senpai It looks like these kind of transactions aren't that strange”
”Huh…?”
”He wasn't particularly surprised, and he quickly agreed to listen toHe has not only the answers to the midterms, but even the mock test There's no mistake”
Her eyes were spinning in astonishment
”Ayanokouji-kun, you were really different I was surprised”
”It's just insurance to et expelled”
”But this ht turn out to be useless Past questions are past questions, right? This year's test may be completely unrelated”
”The problems may not be exactly the same, but there will definitely be soave me that hint”
”Hint?”
”You noticed that there were really hard probleht?”
”Well, yea Those were the last problems of each section I didn't understand those questions at all”
”When I looked into it after, those were proble In other words, they don't expect first-years to be able to solve those problems Isn't it useless to throw in those kind of unsolvable problems? They're probably there for a reason other than to actually test us If the problems on the mock exam were the exact same as previous mock exams, ould happen?”
”…If I saw those problems, I would be able to ace the test”
The sa is applicable to the midterm
Soon after, I got a e from the third-year senpai with an attachment It was the old tests
First, I checked the mock test The key question is, are the last three problems the same?
Kushi+da also tried to look at my phone
”Are they? Are they the same?”
”It's completely identical The problems, sentences, and all the words are the same”
”That's a! If we showed this to everyone, it would be an easy success! Don't show it to only Sudou-kun, but everyone else too!”
”No, on't show it to Sudou, Ike, and Yamauchi yet”
”W-why? You went as far as to use so many points”
”If they hear that these are the test questions, they'll lose all est problem The midterm may not be the same as the mock test; there's a possibility the problems are different on the midterm”
It's essential to keep in mind that these old tests are insurance
”Then what are you going to use them for?”
”Release these problems the day before the test Then we tell everyone that these problehly the same as this year's test What would everyone do then?”
”That night, everyone would try to memorize the problems!”
”That's how it is”
The students who are don't understand the basics probably can't le day But, it's not difficult to understand the problehest score possible on this next test We're trying to avoid failing If we ask for too ht fail
But with this, we can probably get everyone to pass in class D
”Hey… When did you think to get these old tests?”
”Since we learned that the test was different However, I had an inkling that the old tests ht be similar ever since the midterm was mentioned”
”Eh!? T-that early!?”
”When Chiyabashi+ra-sensei firstin an unusual rades and attitudes, she spoke with absolute confidence In other words, she confirmed that there was a surefire way to save them”
”Is that… the old tests?”
The reason why Sudou, Ike, and Yamauchi were all admitted to this school, despite their academic ability, rades by studying hard, this is a sort of escape route for theet near perfect scores by getting the old tests That's how I understood it, at least
”…Ayanokouji-kun, you're really observant, aren't you?”
”I' I didn't think that I could pass thefor a way to reliably pass”
”Fuun”
As if she had so on her mind, Kushi+da had a mischievous smile
”I have a favor to ask Could you say that you got the old questions? Say that you got the old tests fro with”
”I'm fine with it, but… are you really ok with that?”
”I like to avoid trouble, after all I don't want to stand out Also, our classmates trust you It'd be a lot better for you to tell everyone else”
”…Ok If you say so”
”Thanks I don't to stand out unnecessarily”
”Well then, let's keep this a secret between us”
”Yea, that sounds good”
”Don't you feel like there's some kind of trust between us e share this kind of secret?”
”Well, dunno I hope so”
”Thanks”
Kushi+da curtly replied I don't knohat her thanks was exactly for, though