Failing Grade

A new day.

Kazehara Tetsu rarely felt such a sense of idleness.

He had no intention of going to the library, instead wandering aimlessly around campus, watching the students come and go.

When he reached the plaza between the teaching building and Beech Tree Shopping Mall, a familiar figure appeared in his line of sight.

Horikita Suzune.

Her posture was still characteristically straight, her black hair sliding down her shoulders.

But Kazehara Tetsu could tell at a glance that something was off with her.

She wasn't reading a book or looking at her phone; her gaze was vacant, fixed on the ground ahead.

On that face always covered in a layer of frost, a hint of something called "fatigue" had now appeared.

Kazehara Tetsu's footsteps stopped.

He studied her with interest.

He had already heard about Class D's midterm exam situation.

As expected, there were students who failed.

But even today, no announcement had come from the school about any Class D student being expelled.

The only explanation was that within Class D, they had scraped together that astronomical figure of personal points to forcibly "redeem" those "flawed products" who should have been weeded out.

Kazehara Tetsu stepped forward and walked toward that bench.

Horikita Suzune's shoulders trembled. Her unfocused gaze instantly refocused, and she looked up warily at this uninvited visitor.

When she recognized the face of the newcomer, her brow furrowed even tighter.

Him.

That man who, in the library, had used a string of venomous words to strike at the unease in her inner heart.

Kazehara Tetsu came to her side and plopped down next to her.

"Spacing out here all alone, Horikita?" His voice carried a hint of a smile, as if the two were close friends.

Horikita Suzune didn't answer. She just shifted her line of sight away from his face, looking forward again, using silence to express her wish for him to leave.

"There's a coffee shop nearby with pretty good reviews. Want to go sit together? My treat." Kazehara Tetsu extended an invitation.

"No need."

"Is that so? What a shame."

A look of regret appeared on Kazehara Tetsu's face, but he showed no sign of leaving. "Still, Horikita, you don't look so good."

He knew the answer but asked anyway, like a caring classmate.

"You look like... someone who poured all their heart into building a castle, only to realize when the storm came that what they'd worked so hard to protect was just a pile of sand ready to be washed away. That kind of futile exhaustion. Am I right?"

Horikita Suzune's hands on her knees suddenly clenched into fists.

Her nails dug deep into the soft flesh of her palms, sending a sharp pain through her.

"This has nothing to do with you."

She spoke each word deliberately, as if squeezing them out through her teeth.

"Yeah, it really has nothing to do with me. I'm just a little moved."

"Saving your comrades... that phrase always sounds so beautiful, doesn't it? But beautiful things often come with a hefty price tag. When a group needs to sacrifice the interests of everyone to fill a few bottomless pits, how long do you think that 'unity' can last?"

"When those who gave everything look back and see the 'comrades' they saved still being the same useless mess they were before, what do you think they'll feel in their hearts? Relief... or resentment?"

Horikita Suzune's body began to tremble slightly.

Not from anger, but because every word he said hit the truth.

She had witnessed it all firsthand.

Time rewound to the day the results were announced.

In Class D's classroom, the atmosphere was a mix of tension and anticipation.

When the bell rang and Chabashira Sae walked in carrying the report card, everyone's breath involuntarily caught.

She stepped up to the podium, her face wearing that unchanging, emotionless cold expression.

She slowly swept her gaze over everyone present.

She slapped the report card onto the blackboard with a sharp crack, her movements crisp and without any wasted motion.

"Whoa! I passed! I passed!"

The first to cheer was Chi Kuanzhi, pointing at his score, nearly jumping out of his seat.

"Great! Me too!" Xuteng Jian followed with a shout, his face full of the wild joy of surviving a disaster.

For a moment, the classroom erupted like a bomb had gone off.

"Awesome! We all passed!"

"See, with last year's questions, this exam was nothing!"

The joy spread like wildfire. Xuteng Jian even slammed his fist on the desk with a loud thump, his face brimming with unrestrained excitement and arrogance.

Those students who usually scraped the bottom of the barrel were now celebrating their "victory" as if they'd won a decisive battle, completely carried away.

Chabashira Sae just stood at the podium, arms crossed, watching the gesticulating students with cold eyes.

She didn't interrupt them. She let that cheap joy ferment and swell in the classroom.

Only when the fervor had ebbed a little did she speak slowly.

"Don't you think you're celebrating too early?"

One sentence, like a bucket of ice water, drenched them from head to toe.

The classroom fell silent instantly.

"What do you mean, Chabashira Teacher? Didn't we all pass the Passing Score?" Kushida Kikyo asked, puzzled.

"Who told you the Passing Score was the same as the quiz?"

She picked up a red piece of chalk and wrote a formula on the blackboard.

Total Subject Score / Number of Students / 2 = Passing Score

"Anyone below this score will be considered failing."

The red chalk screeched across the blackboard.

English Passing Score: 41 points.

Mathematics Passing Score: 40 points.

The air in the classroom seemed to freeze.

"How... how can this be..." Chi Kuanzhi's smile froze. His eyes widened as he stared at the numbers on the board, then down at his Report Card, comparing them back and forth.

Chi Kuanzhi Mathematics: 38 points.

Two points short.

On the other side, Xuteng Jian's situation was no better. His face, flushed red from overexcitement, had turned deathly pale.

Xuteng Jian English: 37 points.

Four points short.

"Damn it! What the hell kind of rule is this!"

A furious curse shattered the Deathly Silence of the classroom.

Xuteng Jian shot up from his seat, kicking his chair over with a bang.

"Why did the Passing Score change? Are you messing with us, woman!"

Chi Kuanzhi snapped out of it too, his voice trembling with tears.

"Chabashira Teacher, please, don't let me get Expelled! I'm only two points short! Give me one more chance—I'll study hard for the next exam! I'm begging you!"

He was incoherent, tears and snot mixing together.

But Chabashira Sae's face remained expressionless.

"I told you from the start: the real rule of This School is Might Makes Right. The school isn't a charity. It won't change established rules because of your tears or pleas. I'm just an executor. I have neither the power nor the obligation to change anything."

With that, she ignored the chaos in the classroom, turned around, tucked her Lesson Plan under her arm, and walked out with steady steps.

The door closed behind her, as if it had also shut the last shred of hope for Chi Kuanzhi and Xuteng Jian.

The classroom fell into a Deathly Silence.