End of Month Quiz

The calendar turned silently, but even the bright sunshine over the Artificial Island seemed unable to dispel the tension quietly spreading through the air. When Hoshinomiya Chie-sensei entered the Class B classroom, carrying a thick stack of pristine white test papers and walking with her trademark buoyant steps, it seemed as though an invisible hand had plucked the string called "month's end."

"Good morning, everyone!" Hoshinomiya-sensei's voice was as sweet as ever, as though coated in honey. She set the test papers on the lectern and smiled as she surveyed the students' varied expressions. "Time really flies, doesn't it? It's almost the end of the month already~ So," she drawled, a playful glint of mischief in her eyes, "we're going to have a little End of Month Quiz!"

A low chorus of sighs rose through the classroom, weary but unsurprised.

The test paper soon made its way to Shimiya Kuki's desk. He lowered his eyes and scanned it. There were five core subjects, with four short questions each, for a total of twenty questions and a perfect score of one hundred. The first seventeen questions were ridiculously easy, even simpler than the Entrance Test. They were all basic concepts and straightforward formula applications. Class B's Academic Ability was generally above average, and relaxed smiles appeared on most students' faces as the tension quickly faded.

"Don't worry, don't worry!" Hoshinomiya-sensei smiled sweetly, pressing her palms together. "This test is just for the teachers to get a better understanding of you all. It absolutely won't show up on your Report Cards! There's no risk at all, so just relax~" Her words were like warm, sweet tea, soothing everyone's nerves. But then she planted her hands on her hips, tried to widen her eyes and bare her teeth, and put on an "ogre" act. "But—cheating is strictly forbidden! Otherwise, there'll be a terrifying punishment!"

Kind laughter rippled through the classroom.

Only Shimiya Kuki's fingers tightened almost imperceptibly around his pen.

"It won't show up 'on' your Report Cards"...

That "on" was an interesting choice. It seemed to imply that although these results wouldn't appear on the Report Cards, they might be reflected in another form, in another dimension. Something outside the Report Cards? Class Points? Individual evaluations? Or... a test?

"Begin!"

The scratch of pen tips against paper immediately filled the room. For Shimiya Kuki, the first seventeen questions were as effortless as breathing. His pen raced across the page without a hitch, as smoothly as if he were copying answers he already knew. Kanzaki Ryuji was making equally steady progress, carefully checking each answer after finishing it, as meticulous as ever. Ichinose Honami also wore a relaxed smile, writing with an easy hand. The whole of Class B was immersed in the feeling that they had it in the bag.

But when they turned the test over, the final three questions loomed at the end of the flat plain like three sheer cliffs, appearing without warning. Compared with the first seventeen, their difficulty was worlds apart, shooting up four or five levels at once! These were far too difficult for a "quiz"—even the final question on the Entrance Test had been less devious and obscure!

Cutting and reassembling a spatial solid to calculate its volume—this required extraordinary Spatial Imagination and multiple steps of deduction, nearly reaching competition level.

An abstract Momentum Conservation problem under Non-standard Conditions—the question itself was a tangled mess. Untangling and understanding it was already a challenge; setting up equations and solving them was harder still.

Analyzing the central metaphor in an excerpt from an obscure philosophical text—in English. The vocabulary was daunting, the Sentence Structure complex, and simply reading it was an obstacle, let alone analyzing it in depth.

"Hiss..."

"Wh-what is this?"

"Is this a joke?"

"I can't understand any of it!"

Gasps and stunned whispers rose one after another. The students' relaxed smiles froze, replaced by confusion, bewilderment, and disbelief. Kojou Yume stared at the English question, her little face scrunched up as if she were about to cry. Shibata Kaede irritably scratched his hair and glared at the Physics Problem. Ninomiya Yui furrowed her delicate brows and reread the philosophical passage in English, her eyes full of confusion.

Kanzaki Ryuji also frowned, a rare sight, evidently startled by the difficulty of the final questions. Still, he quickly began sketching the geometric solid on his Scratch Paper, his pen moving rapidly, then pausing as he sank into thought. He was clearly trying to tackle all three questions, but uncertainty filled his expression, as though he were repeatedly checking whether his approach was correct. Ichinose Honami's smile had vanished too. Biting her lower lip, she focused first on the English question. She seemed to have an innate sensitivity to language and abstract concepts. Though the vocabulary was difficult, she worked to untangle the Sentence Structure and identify the connections between Keywords. Her eyes gradually brightened, and she began writing down her understanding in the Answer Area. Next, she turned to the math question. Spatial Imagination did not seem to be her strong suit; she drew and erased sketches on her Scratch Paper until she finally seemed to find a workable way to cut the solid, then cautiously wrote out her solution. But when she looked at the strangely worded Physics Problem, her brows knitted tightly. She reread the question several times, picked up her pen and put it down again, then finally let out a quiet sigh, leaving a helpless blank in the Physics Problem Area—she had given up.

At the lectern, Hoshinomiya-sensei continued to sip her cup of black tea, a flawless sweet smile on her face. She didn't walk around the room. Instead, she leaned leisurely against the teacher's desk, her curved amber eyes scanning the students below like high-resolution probes. Who was scratching their head? Who was staring blankly at the test? Whose pen had stopped in midair? Whose Scratch Paper was covered in scribbles, then torn up? Who had already started writing on the back of the test? She precisely caught and analyzed every tiny expression and movement. When her gaze occasionally met that of a student struggling with a question, she offered an encouraging smile, as if to say, "Keep it up!" But beneath that smile was a knowing amusement.

Shimiya Kuki looked away and refocused on the back of the test. Unlike the others, he showed no obvious signs of trouble. His expression had simply grown more focused and composed. He quickly looked over the three difficult questions, and his mind began working at high speed like a precision instrument. Spatial solid... non-standard Momentum Conservation... philosophical metaphor...

Spatial geometry? A clear 3D Model appeared in his mind. It was cut with the precision of an invisible blade, rotated and reassembled, and the Volume Calculation Formula came naturally, as if flowing water. His pen moved smoothly across the Answer Area, lines, formulas, and deductions following one another without pause.

Abstract Momentum Conservation? He swiftly stripped away the confusing Non-standard Conditions in the question and extracted the Core Physics Scenario. He established a Coordinate System, assigned variables, and quickly constructed a Non-standard Equation on his Scratch Paper. The Solving Process was concise and forceful.

Philosophical metaphor? The difficult English vocabulary and Complex Sentence Structure were like a transparent code to him. He grasped the central concepts at once, calmly dissected and stripped away the author's intent beneath the ornate phrasing, and turned it into precise, insightful Analytical Text.

His pen barely paused. Thought and writing proceeded in sync, at astonishing speed. The three questions that seemed like insurmountable chasms to everyone else were, under his hand, as easy to cross as a Smooth Path laid out before him.

"Ding-a-ling—"

The end-of-class bell rang like a trumpet of liberation, and like an unforgiving gate slamming shut.

"Time's up! Put your pens down and pass your papers forward from the back!" Hoshinomiya-sensei set down her teacup.

The classroom erupted in an instant.

"What the heck was that? Was the Last Question even meant for humans?"

"I couldn't even draw a diagram for the math question!"

"I couldn't understand the Physics Problem at all!"

"That English passage was a Heavenly Book!"

"Thank goodness the teacher said it was just for reference and wouldn't count toward our grades!"

"That scared me to death!"

A wave of complaints and confusion swept through the classroom. Shibata Kaede blurted out, "Who cares! As long as it doesn't count!" Kojou Yume patted her chest, still shaken. Ninomiya Yui quietly packed up her stationery, her brows still slightly furrowed.

Kanzaki Ryuji remained seated, the back of his test paper covered in Calculation Processes. He had attempted all three questions. But now he stared at his answers, unconsciously tracing lines on the desk with his finger, brows tightly furrowed as his sharp gaze moved back and forth between the Scratch Paper and the test. He was clearly scrutinizing and checking his work again and again, deeply uncertain about his answers. "The answers seem reasonable... but are the steps complete? Is that assumption sufficient? Is there a flaw in the Equation Establishment for the Physics Problem?" The questions circled in his mind like a whisper.

Ichinose Honami walked over to Kanzaki, wearing a helpless but open smile. "Are you still checking your work, Kanzaki-kun? You did all three? That's amazing! I had no idea how to tackle the Physics Problem, so I had to give up. I managed to write a little for the English and math questions, but I don't know if I got them right..." She pointed to the limited writing in the English and math sections on the back of her test, then to the glaring blank in the Physics Problem Area.

Kanzaki glanced at Ichinose's test, then at his own answers, filled with writing but also questions. He analyzed the situation calmly. "The questions were beyond the syllabus—that's a fact. But the teacher stressed that they 'wouldn't show up on our Report Cards.' She didn't say the test itself was completely meaningless. The timing and difficulty of those last three questions were far too deliberate. This seems more like a..." He paused, his gaze growing thoughtful. "A test of our limits. Especially our Stress Resistance and the depth of our thinking when faced with unfamiliar problems."

Ichinose blinked, thoughtful. "A test?"

Shimiya Kuki had already placed his test on top of the stack that had been passed forward. Beneath the three long questions on its back were clear, complete, and logically sound solutions, written neatly with almost no signs of correction. It stood in stark contrast to the large blank spaces and messy working on the papers around him.

He calmly stood up and picked up his things. Hoshinomiya-sensei was sorting the papers at the lectern. When her gaze fell on the test filled with complete solutions, her sweet smile faltered for an instant. Her long eyelashes quivered slightly, and in the depths of her amber eyes flickered the faintest, hardest-to-detect surprise, like a tiny ripple on a still lake after a pebble dropped into it. But the unusual look vanished in a flash, so quickly that it could have been a trick of the eye. She immediately restored her flawless smile and continued sorting the papers, as though that perfect answer sheet had caused no stir at all.

Shimiya Kuki had caught that fleeting look of surprise. His expression unchanged, he walked out of the classroom, leaving behind the noisy debate in Class B about the questions being "beyond the syllabus" and "not counting toward their grades." But in his heart, his doubts about what lay "outside the Report Cards" were no longer ripples; they had sunk into deeper, darker waters. This quiz was a probe. And, whether intentionally or not, he had shown the observer beneath that sweet smile just how deep the probe could reach. Was that exposure a blessing or a curse? The answer might lie in the test papers Hoshinomiya-sensei was about to take back to the faculty room, carrying with them the secret of Class B's limits. The beacon at the edge of the fog seemed to be shining with an unusual light because of his unusually "complete" answers.