Midterm Exam

The day of the Midterm Exam arrived right on schedule.

For most of the first-years at Kouyoku High School, the day meant judgment.

Yet Class 1-A's classroom felt like another dimension, cut off from the world.

There was no last-minute cramming, no fear of the unknown.

Instead, the room was filled with a lazy, almost vacation-like ease.

A few girls gathered together, chatting about a new dessert shop that had opened over the weekend.

Hashimoto Masayoshi leaned against a classmate's desk, animatedly recounting how he'd scored a major victory in a game the day before.

Most of the others were either slumped over their desks, catching up on sleep, or simply staring out the window.

Kazehara Tetsu leaned back in his chair, one leg resting casually over the other, his gaze fixed on the novel in his hands.

With Last Year's Past Papers in their possession, for most of Class A, this so-called "Midterm Exam" had already gone from a life-or-death elimination round to a dull, perfunctory open-book test.

It was even easier than an open-book test, since they didn't even need to flip through a book. The answers were already etched into their minds.

"Ding-ding-ding..."

When the bell rang and Majima Tomoya walked into the classroom with the exam papers, the chatter finally died down a little.

But there was no pre-exam solemnity on the students' faces.

"Keep quiet during the exam."

After announcing the rules as a matter of routine, he began handing out the papers.

When the exam landed in Kazehara Tetsu's hands, he gave it only a cursory glance.

Just as he'd expected, more than ninety percent of the questions were identical to the "past papers" he'd bought from Senpai.

The remaining ten percent had only minor changes to the numbers in the questions or the order of the choices. They were the same old thing in a different guise.

He picked up his pen and began answering.

He didn't even need to think. The muscles in his wrist seemed to have memorized the answers, guiding the pen across the answer sheet in smooth, flowing strokes.

One answer after another appeared on the page. The whole process was so fluid it felt like copying out a text.

He finished the entire exam in less than twenty minutes.

The classroom was so quiet that the only sound was the soft scratching of pen tips against paper.

But this silence didn't come from intense concentration. It was more like the dull quiet of people doing menial work.

Kazehara Tetsu's gaze drifted, almost without meaning to, toward the figure at the other end of the classroom.

Sakayanagi Arisu.

She sat just as straight as ever, but unlike the others, she wasn't writing furiously.

An exam paper lay in front of her, yet she hadn't even picked up her pen.

She simply gazed at the page, as if admiring a dull painting.

After a long while, she finally picked up her pen and began filling in the answers.

She wasn't taking the exam. She was just killing time.

From her posture, Kazehara Tetsu sensed a vast, silent disappointment.

Like a chess player looking forward to a grand showdown with her archrival, only to find a children's game of checkers laid out on the board.

When the bell rang to signal the end of the first exam, the students of Class A returned to their pre-exam chatter almost at once.

They gathered in small groups, not to compare answers, but to complain about how boring the exam had been.

"Hey, Kagihara, how'd it go? Was it so easy you almost fell asleep?" Hashimoto Masayoshi came over, wearing a teasing grin.

"Not bad. It would've gone even faster if a classical literature teacher had been lecturing nearby." Kazehara Tetsu stretched.

"Math is next, right? Now that's real torture. You know the answers, but still have to write out all those tedious calculations step by step. What a waste of life." Hashimoto Masayoshi sighed dramatically.

"You're lucky you've got the answers to copy. And you're still complaining."

"Well... having the answers is great, but it's still boring. Those are two separate things, aren't they?"

Kazehara Tetsu didn't reply. His gaze passed over Hashimoto's shoulder and settled on the classroom door.

Sakayanagi Arisu stood there, leaning on her cane.

Her gaze rested calmly on him.

Kazehara Tetsu waved to Hashimoto Masayoshi. "Excuse me. Looks like someone's calling me."

He stood and, amid Hashimoto's whistles, walked over to Sakayanagi Arisu.

The roof of the Teaching Building was one of the few places at This School where people could briefly escape the noise.

The May breeze carried a hint of warmth as it brushed against the railing, making it rattle softly.

Sakayanagi Arisu stood with her back to Kazehara Tetsu, gazing into the distance.

Her silvery-white hair fluttered lightly in the wind. Her small figure looked a little lonely against the open rooftop.

Kazehara Tetsu walked over to her and stood beside her, hands in his pockets, following her gaze.

"Nice view," he said, breaking the silence.

"You've disappointed me, Kagihara."

Sakayanagi Arisu ignored his pleasantry and turned to face him. The amusement that usually shone in her violet eyes had vanished, leaving only a cold accusation.

"You made Last Year's Past Papers available to everyone in Class A. Was that your choice?"

"Is there a problem?"

Kazehara Tetsu gave her an innocent smile. "This guarantees that Class A will get an overwhelming score on the Midterm Exam and further solidify our advantage. As a member of Class A, isn't it only natural for me to contribute to the class?"

He put forward that justification without the slightest hesitation.

Sakayanagi Arisu looked at him, then suddenly laughed.

It was a laugh tinged with scorn.

"Drop that phony 'collectivist' line, Kazehara Tetsu. Only idiots like Katsuragi Kouhei would believe that kind of thing. You're not him, and neither am I."

Her voice was quiet, but every word cut deep.

"You did this because you wanted to make our wager meaningless."

"When everyone can easily get a perfect score, the question of 'whose total score is higher' becomes a joke. With no winner or loser, our agreement naturally disappears. You won't have to become my sibling, and I won't have to risk becoming your 'girlfriend.' A beautiful move, really: sacrificing 'the thrill of a showdown' to secure 'absolute safety.'"

"So, in your eyes, our showdown is just something you can throw away whenever you want to avoid a risk?"

Her voice carried a trace of anger at being slighted, though even she seemed unaware of it.

Kazehara Tetsu listened quietly to her accusation, his smile unchanged.

Only after she had finished did he slowly shake his head.

"Sakayanagi, you're wrong about two things."

His voice was calm and firm.

"First, I never avoid risks. I just like... making the risks themselves part of my game."

"Second..."

He paused, then turned to face Sakayanagi Arisu directly. The distance between them suddenly narrowed. "Who told you our wager had become meaningless?"

Sakayanagi Arisu's brow furrowed slightly, a hint of confusion in her eyes.