Who's Really Going Too Far?

As for whether picking a fight with Kamio Tatsuya would make an enemy of the entire class, that clearly wasn't something he was concerned about.

On Monday, Kamio Tatsuya came to school as usual.

It was the last week of May. If all went as expected, the Class D students would receive another allowance of Private Points on Wednesday, June 1.

But that was only if they passed the Midterm Exam. Anyone who was expelled wouldn't have any Private Points to collect.

Well, let's see how many people managed to pass this Midterm Exam.

When Kamio entered the classroom, he noticed that the atmosphere was extremely tense.

There was no helping it. That was normal. If you failed even one subject, you'd be expelled. Of course people were under pressure.

On top of that, the old exam questions that Class D's underachievers had pinned their hopes on had mostly been useless. That only made things more stressful.

Nobody felt like talking. They sat silently at their desks, waiting for the results.

Looking at the quiet room, Kamio felt perfectly at ease. He even thought that it would be great if things were this quiet every day.

Well, it would be even better if Kouenji would stop humming while looking in the mirror.

It was in this somewhat heavy atmosphere that Chabashira-sensei entered the classroom.

"Looks like you've all prepared yourselves."

At the sound of Chabashira-sensei's voice, utterly free of tension, the oppressive atmosphere in the room gradually began to ease.

Chabashira-sensei looked almost exactly as she had three weeks ago, on May 1.

The pressure made quite a few Class D students swallow nervously.

"T-Teacher..." Ike, the first to buckle under the pressure, spoke up. "Our results... How did we do?"

Ike wasn't the only one. Yamauchi was fidgeting anxiously, while Sudo clenched his fists so tightly that cold sweat ran down his forehead.

Other students who weren't confident about their results also watched Chabashira-sensei nervously.

"Don't rush me. The results are ready, and I'll announce them now. There'll be too many procedures to handle after school, and there's no point in being nervous. Your results were decided the moment you handed in your papers."

That was true enough, but...

Procedures?

Hey, wait. Seriously?

Did someone really fail?

Chabashira-sensei, please don't get my hopes up for nothing!

With that thought, Kamio glanced at the Three Fools.

Of the three, the one Kamio hated most was the idiot Yamauchi. Ike came next. As for Sudo, he was brainless too, but his stupidity and Yamauchi's were completely different things. Kamio didn't particularly dislike this kind of single-minded fool.

As she spoke, Chabashira-sensei pinned a large sheet of paper to the blackboard. It listed every student's name and score.

As Chabashira Sae put it up, she addressed Class D. "As I've explained before, the failing mark at this school is calculated as half the average score. If the result has a decimal, it's rounded to the nearest whole number..."

Then Chabashira-sensei wrote several numbers on the blackboard: the average score and passing mark for each of the Five Subjects.

Japanese: 78.8--39.4--39

Mathematics: 78.5--39.25--39

English: 73.6--36.8--37

Science: 76.3--38.15--38

Social Studies: 76.7--38.35--38

Seeing the figures, Kamio quickly worked it out. The overall average was 76.78, which rounded to 77.

That meant the students who passed the exam would receive 7,700 Private Points as their living allowance on the first of next month.

Kamio quickly scanned the scores on the blackboard.

Eighty-seven in Japanese, ninety-eight in mathematics, sixty-seven in English, ninety-six in science, and seventy-five in social studies.

Well, it wasn't anything special, but he was safely above the passing marks. He didn't even need to compare his results to them.

He was the type who excelled in science subjects, though his English and social studies scores hadn't even reached the average.

Still, Kamio was fairly satisfied with his grades. He just needed to keep it up.

But it was strange. How did these scores land him in the top five? Was something wrong with this picture?

By then, quite a few students in the class were cheering.

"I... I passed!"

"Thank goodness!"

"I passed too~!"

Many students who'd been hovering around the passing marks were overjoyed. That might sound like an exaggeration, but they really were thrilled.

But none of that mattered. What did matter was that as Kamio continued looking over the results, he noticed several students' scores were very strange.

Hirata Yosuke, Kushida Kikyo, Horikita Suzune, and even Yukimura Teruhiko and Wang Meiyu had scores that looked suspicious in one way or another.

51 points.

Horikita Suzune had scored exactly 51 in all Five Subjects.

And the others also had one or more scores of 51 or 52.

Kamio's expression grew complicated.

Come on, man!

Did they really manipulate their scores just to lower the average?

Chapter 62: Who's Really Going Too Far?

It was easy to tell who had come first from the scores Chabashira-sensei had posted.

Koenji Rokosuke had scored 100 in all Five Subjects. He'd left the rest of the class in the dust.

And Kamio Tatsuya had somehow come second.

What the hell?

Were they really that desperate to save those idiots?

Whatever. That was their choice, not my problem.

But even after all that effort, they still didn't succeed. Hahahaha!

Uh, I shouldn't laugh. Why do I sound like a villain?

"N-no way..."

"You're... kidding..."

Ike and Yamauchi's faces went deathly pale. They seemed unable to believe what they were seeing.

Sudo looked as if all his strength had left him, and slumped in his chair.

Kamio glanced at the bottom of the list. Yamauchi, Ike, and Sudo's names were lined up neatly at the very end.

Their scores had improved since last time, but unfortunately...

"I'm sorry."

Chabashira Sae delivered the verdict without expression.

"Ike, Yamauchi, Sudo. You failed at least one subject. Pack your things and come with me to complete the withdrawal procedures."

Chabashira-sensei's words made them realize this wasn't a dream. It was the undeniable truth.

The classroom, where some students had been cheering just moments earlier, fell silent again.

What Kamio most wanted to see wasn't the Three Fools' expressions, but Horikita's.

She'd worked hard to teach the three of them. She'd even teamed up with several of the class's top students to deliberately manipulate their scores and lower the passing marks. And yet things had still turned out this way.

Unfortunately, Kamio couldn't see any regret on Horikita's face.

She was completely calm.

She looked as though she'd done all she could and was leaving the rest to fate.

How boring.

Nearly everyone in the class was watching Yamauchi Haruki, Kanji Ike, and Sudo Ken.

Those three were noisy and annoying most of the time, but at that moment, many of the students felt the sorrow of seeing a fellow creature die. This was only the beginning.

They still had nearly three years until graduation, and there would be plenty more exams.

Would they be the next to get expelled?

Or would it be one of their friends?

At that thought, nobody could bring themselves to smile.

Except Kamio Tatsuya.

As long as nobody interfered, those three were definitely getting expelled.

He hoped nobody stuck their nose in.

"Teacher, are Ike, Yamauchi, and Sudo really going to be expelled?" Hirata Yosuke stood up, making one last attempt to intervene. "Isn't it too harsh to punish them like this just because they failed a single exam?"

Kushida Kikyo also stood up and chimed in. "That's right, teacher. Is what the school is doing really fair?"

At their words, Chabashira Sae seemed to hear something ridiculous. A cold smile unlike anything they'd seen before appeared on her face.

"Too harsh? Don't forget that your tuition and boarding fees have been free since you enrolled. You even receive a living allowance every month. The country is practically educating you for free.

"And yet you haven't met the country's minimum requirements. Do you still expect it to keep supporting you for free? Hirata, say that again. Who's the one being unreasonable?"

The entire class fell silent.

Kamio felt that if Hirata and Kushida kept arguing, they might get expelled too.

Chabashira Sae was absolutely right about that.

Even if this school seemed like a rip-off, in reality, it covered tuition, boarding, and living expenses, all for free. It also gave them the chance to rise through the ranks based on their abilities.

As long as they worked hard enough, they could secure a future full of promise.

They were already luckier than ninety percent—no, ninety-nine percent—of their peers.

At least Kamio Tatsuya was perfectly content. In fact, he felt that anyone who dared to come after this school while he was attending it would become his sworn enemy!

As for Ike, Yamauchi, and Sudo, the three of them had brought this on themselves.

Did they think cramming at the last minute would get them through?

Heh. This was never a place where you could get by that easily.

"Regretting it now? Too late. Go ahead and laugh at your own stupidity."

The classroom was quiet for a little while. Then Yamauchi, who'd been told he was expelled, suddenly snapped and shouted hysterically.

"It's all your fault! It's all your fault for scoring so high! If only you'd scored lower! If only you'd scored lower, we would've passed! We were only a little short!"

After Yamauchi spoke, quite a few students who'd done well lowered their heads guiltily.

Hey, why were you lowering your heads?

Why feel guilty?

Kamio couldn't understand the way these Japanese people thought.

"Hmph. How unsightly." As Kamio puzzled over it, Koenji Rokosuke suddenly spoke. "Blaming other people's hard work for your own lack of effort. How utterly unattractive."

At Koenji's words, Yamauchi Haruki exploded.

"It's your fault! If you hadn't scored 100, if you'd scored 50, I would've passed! And you too, Kamio! This is all your fault!"

He wasn't wrong about the numbers. Yamauchi Haruki had missed the passing mark in English by one point. If Koenji had scored 51 too, the average would've dropped by more than one point, and Yamauchi would've passed.

But why should they?