Today was Friday, and the Midterm Exam was about to begin.
The answers to the Archaeological Questions that Ayanokōji had originally asked Kushida to distribute were ultimately handed over to Horikita Suzune, who had been relatively unaffected by the incident, so she could distribute them in advance.
This allowed Horikita, who had already gained some popularity among the boys through the Study Session, to shine even brighter.
Compared to the gender divide caused by her previous arguments with the girls in Class D, Horikita Suzune—who hadn't said a word after that Class Meeting—was now much closer to the boys in Class D.
Horikita herself didn't notice the change at all.
It had all been part of Ayanokōji's calculations.
Afterward, Kushida Kikyo, who had recently joined the Student Council, finally left her dormitory after taking three consecutive days off, encouraged by the girls in her class.
After she returned to class, most of the boys in Class D no longer dared to talk to Kushida. They even instinctively looked away when their eyes met, however briefly.
However, though Kushida Kikyo no longer wore her former Angel Face, she was still actively working to repair the divide between the boys and girls in the class.
Her face was frosty, but she spoke briefly with every boy and girl in Class D.
Simply put, she told them she forgave them.
She unconditionally forgave every classmate, even those who had nothing to do with the perpetrator, Yamauchi.
This moved the girls in Class D even more, while the boys felt ashamed.
The colder Kushida's words were, the more they could sense her compassion and admirable strength beneath them!
Kushida Kikyo's standing in Class D skyrocketed, at one point even surpassing that of Hirata Yousuke, the former leader of Class D, who had been silent for a long time.
And on Friday, the day of the Midterm Exam, the "old" leader of Class D, Hirata Yousuke, stood bravely at the front of the classroom to speak, under what seemed to be the "encouraging" gaze of a certain man:
"Given everything that's happened in class lately, I, as the leader you all trusted, bear responsibility. Kushida, I'm truly sorry you had to suffer through such a terrible ordeal."
Hirata Yousuke bowed deeply to Kushida.
"I'm fine. Thank you, Hirata."
Her calm, emotionless reply was Kushida's current persona. It was actually her true self, but by now, no one was surprised by it.
"Thank you for understanding, Kushida." Hirata raised his head and continued to speak from the heart. "Today is the Midterm Exam, and I also want to thank Horikita for everything she's done for the class lately."
"I believe this Midterm Exam will also mark a new beginning for Class D!"
"So I hope everyone will focus on the exams ahead, and that no one else will be expelled."
When he finished, he bowed once more.
"And as for me, Hirata Yousuke, after this exam is over... No, I should say starting right now, I'm stepping down as the class leader."
Murmurs rose from the students below, but Hirata remained composed.
"My negligence allowed one of my classmates to suffer unimaginable harm. Please give me a chance to start over as an ordinary member of the class!"
Hirata's heartfelt confession that day was the result of Ayanokōji encouraging him beforehand to bravely move beyond the shadows of his past.
Hirata had once been a model student.
But after witnessing a close friend from middle school get bullied to the point of suicide, he had sworn to protect everyone around him in the future.
He had even resorted to violence, ruling his entire middle school class and becoming its sole tyrant!
That's right, Hirata Yousuke had once been an even more perfect tyrant than Ryuen!
His past experiences had left him with no chance of ending up in Class A or B. Perhaps that was why he was in Class D instead of Class C.
Because kings didn't share the same stage!
After Hirata's moving confession, the deeply touched and unusually united Class D did as expected and tried their best to persuade him to stay.
Come on, if the girls in Class D gave up on perfect Hirata too, would there even be any normal boys left in the class?
In the end, Hirata remained the leader in the girls' eyes;
while, to everyone's surprise, Horikita became the leader the boys in Class D were more inclined to follow.
The class seemed divided, but Kushida's newfound charisma had bound everyone tightly together.
Actually, over the past few days, the students in Class D had truly come to regard kindhearted Kushida as their leader—the sort recognized by the entire class, boys and girls alike.
In the end, however, Kushida politely declined, giving the perfect excuse that her work as Student Council Secretary kept her too busy. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, they were finding it hard to treat Kushida the way they used to. Fortunately, although she had grown a little colder, she was still the kindhearted angel of Class D.
"Tennoji Kaede: Kikyo, life must be a lot easier now than it was before, right?"
Kushida Kikyo lowered her head and gently rubbed the Student Terminal with her jade-like fingers, again and again, rereading the message the man had sent her.
She curled her lips into a smile, her expression inscrutable.
The Midterm Exam ended perfectly, in the wake of the Yamauchi Incident.
At the beginning of June, it was time to announce the results of the Midterm Exam held at the end of May.
First Year Class C.
Sakagami posted the results on the blackboard. He looked around, then nodded with satisfaction.
"Everyone in Class C did very well on this Midterm Exam. And, without a doubt, no one was expelled."
Everyone cheered.
According to rumor, the results of this Midterm Exam could earn each class up to 100 Class Points.
Given Class C's good results this time, the Class Points that refreshed today, June 1, should have increased quite a bit.
Tennoji Kaede silently estimated...
Back in May, Class C had been 60 points behind Class B.
Although Class C had the Archaeological Questions, its scores still wouldn't be that far ahead of Class B. They might even be worse than what Class D could achieve by copying the answers.
On top of that, they had to account for the daily rule violations that had cost each class points in May. So Class C's new Class Points for June would probably still fall short of Class B's.
As expected, the class rankings hadn't changed at all.
The updated Class Points Table for the First Year classes in June was:
Class A 940→935 Class B 650→699 Class C 590→633 Class D 1→0 (Yamauchi Haruki was expelled at the end of May)
The two factions in Class A seemed to be locked in a fierce struggle.
They'd lost more points to rule violations in May than they'd gained from the Midterm Exam!
It seemed Sakayanagi Arisu was starting to make her move.
As for the gap between Classes B and C, it had widened from 60 points to 66.
As expected, Class B wasn't an opponent Class C could easily catch up to just by copying answers on a single Midterm Exam.
To be fair, the Archaeological Questions were only useful this time. Class C had barely kept up with Class B by resorting to underhanded methods.
By the end-of-term exam in late July, they wouldn't be able to copy the answers anymore.
At that point, the Class Points gap between Classes B and C might widen again because of their difference in academic ability.
As for Class D, it had suffered an even worse fate.
Yamauchi's expulsion had cost them points, making the Midterm Exam pointless too.
And in the Original Work, on July 1 of the following month, the School Administration would normally award 100 Class Points to every class that passed the Midterm Exam without anyone being expelled.
Would Class D still receive those points now?
Tennoji Kaede wasn't sure either.
In theory, Yamauchi had been expelled two days before the Midterm Exam, so Class D was guaranteed to have 0 points in June. But what would happen in July was hard to say.
In the original timeline, the Class Points for each class on July 1 were:
Class A 1004 Class B 663 Class C 492 Class D 87
Those 87 Class Points were what remained after Class D got the 100-point reward from the School Administration for free and lost 13 points over ordinary rule violations in June.
It wasn't hard to see that, because of their wild behavior when they first enrolled in April, Class D had been stuck at 0 points in both May and June.
Even if Yamauchi hadn't been expelled, Class D would have lost more points to rule violations in June than they gained from the Midterm Exam, just like Class A.
But if, in this current timeline, Class D lost the School Administration's 100-point reward because Yamauchi had been expelled at the end of May...
That would mean Class D would spend three consecutive months—May, June, and July—at 0 points.
The most exemplary Defective Product class in history!
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