Last Year's Past Papers

Midterm Exam.

Expulsion.

Those two words hung over every poorly performing student like a sword.

He could use this rule to force someone in Class D to drop out, crippling the other classes from the very start.

The idea flashed through Kazehara Tetsu's mind, but he immediately dismissed it.

The odds were too low.

Passing was certainly a huge challenge for the students in Class D, who had been deemed "flawed products" because of various problems.

But it wasn't impossible.

The content of the first Midterm Exam was the same every year. As long as they got their hands on Last Year's Past Papers and studied them carefully, they would have no trouble scoring above the Passing Score.

What's more, they could use Points to buy exam scores and guard against any mishaps.

In other words, using the Midterm Exam to make other students drop out was practically impossible.

The exam was relatively easy, and students had several ways to ensure they passed.

Since he couldn't easily "eliminate" his opponents, he would take a different approach.

He would wring as much benefit as he could from the upcoming Midterm Exam, which would determine the fate of every first-year student.

He took out his phone and deftly scrolled to a contact he'd saved long ago.

Ichinose Honami.

He sent her a message.

"Honami, are you free right now? I have a proposal about the Midterm Exam that could make things a little easier for everyone. Interested in meeting up to talk?"

The message was marked as read almost instantly.

A little while later, she replied.

"Sure! Where should we meet?"

"How about the School Canteen? See you in half an hour."

After ending the call, Kazehara Tetsu headed for the canteen.

Half an hour later, Kazehara Tetsu was sitting in a relatively quiet corner of the canteen when Ichinose Honami arrived right on time.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Kagihara." She pulled out a chair and sat down, smiling apologetically.

"Not at all. Beautiful ladies always have the privilege of being late."

Kazehara Tetsu slid a glass of lemon water toward her. "But it seems you've graciously given up that privilege."

"There you go again..."

Ichinose Honami gave him a helpless look, but took the glass all the same. "So, what exactly is this 'proposal' you mentioned? Is it about the Midterm Exam?"

"Honami, who do you think we should ask if we want to find the most accurate and useful information about the exams at this school?"

"Who...? The teachers, of course," Ichinose Honami answered without hesitation.

"The teachers will tell us the rules, but they won't give us the answers."

Kazehara Tetsu shook his head. "The answers are in the hands of people who've played this game before us."

"Upperclassmen...?" Ichinose Honami's eyes lit up.

"Right. The school can't completely overhaul its exam format and difficulty every year. So, wouldn't last year's exam questions be extremely useful to us?"

"You mean... buy last year's exam papers?"

Ichinose Honami immediately caught on. "Th-that's cheating, isn't it?"

"Honami, the school rules allow us to buy information with Points. It's not cheating; it's 'making reasonable use of the rules.'"

Kazehara Tetsu corrected her. "The question isn't whether to buy them. It's how we can get the most valuable information for the lowest price."

"I need your help with that." He looked at Ichinose Honami.

"My help?"

Ichinose Honami still had some doubts, but after a moment's thought, she nodded firmly. "Okay! I'll help! What do you need me to do?"

Over the next ten minutes, Kazehara Tetsu explained his entire plan to Ichinose Honami in detail.

After a long search, the two finally found a Third-year Senior who had last year's exam questions.

The senior was short, wore glasses, and looked shrewd.

"Oh... I do have last year's past papers, but why do you want them?"

The senior pushed up his glasses and glanced between Kazehara Tetsu and Ichinose.

"We... We're students in Class D. You know our class... our Points have already hit zero. If we fail the Midterm Exam, our class might be done for."

Kazehara Tetsu delivered his lines with such emotion that he perfectly portrayed the despair and helplessness of a struggling student with nowhere left to turn.

Beside him, Ichinose Honami struggled not to laugh at his award-worthy performance. She lowered her head, playing the part of an equally worried Class D girl.

"Class D, huh..."

The senior's face showed a hint of disdain. "I see. But rules are rules. The package price for last year's Full Subject Midterm Paper and the answers to the Pop Quiz Bonus Questions is 30,000 Points. Not a single Point less."

"Thirty thousand..."

Kazehara Tetsu put on a troubled expression. "Senpai, you can see we're truly desperate... Could you lower the price a little? Fifteen thousand... We only have fifteen thousand Points left! It's all we have!"

As he spoke, he nudged Ichinose with his elbow.

Ichinose Honami immediately caught on. She raised her head and looked at the senior pleadingly, pressing her palms together. "Senpai, please! Won't you help us out?"

A request from a sweet, cute underclassman delivered in such a voice and with such a look was hard to resist.

The senior seemed to waver. He thought it over for a moment.

There really wasn't anything left to squeeze out of Class D. Getting 15,000 Points from them was still a nice windfall.

In the end, he gave in. "Since we're all classmates, 15,000 it is."

"Thank you, Senpai! Thank you so much!"

Kazehara Tetsu immediately put on a grateful expression and quickly transferred the 15,000 Points through his Mobile Terminal.

The senior scrolled through his phone for a while. It seemed the files were hard to find after so long.

Once he found them, he didn't send them to Kazehara Tetsu, but to Ichinose Honami.

It was obvious why: he wanted to get Ichinose Honami's contact information so he could try reaching out to her later.

The two found an empty spot nearby.

Ichinose Honami opened the file the senior had sent her.

It contained every subject from last year's Midterm Exam, along with... a separate document of Pop Quiz Bonus Questions.

Ichinose first opened the document of Pop Quiz Bonus Questions.

The moment those familiar questions appeared on the screen, her breath caught.