A Bug in the Pop Quiz

Student Council.

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Please, come in."

"Excuse me."

Shintō Katsuya pushed the door open and entered. The student council office wasn't particularly large; besides a long conference table, there was a desk facing the door reserved exclusively for the student council president.

Horikita Manabu was meticulously handling student council business.

Tachibana Akane stood quietly behind him, much like the secretary of a corporate executive.

"It's you? Are you here to pick up the application form today?"

Tachibana Akane still had a deep impression of Shintō Katsuya, especially after hearing that he was a student from Class 1-D.

"Yes, I'm counting on you, Tachibana-senpai."

However, Tachibana Akane didn't move. Instead, Horikita Manabu stopped his pen, a sharp glint of intelligence flashing behind his glasses:

"Shintō Katsuya, right? I have some questions regarding your club, so could I trouble you to wait for me in the reception room?"

With that, he returned to his work.

Tachibana Akane guided Shintō Katsuya to the adjacent private room and brewed some coffee. Before long, Horikita Manabu walked in:

"My apologies, I have quite a bit of work on my hands."

"It's nothing. After all, you are the student council president."

Horikita Manabu adjusted his glasses, which made him look even more mature and composed, adding to his already sharp and capable appearance:

"I heard from Tachibana that the club you intend to establish is called Yorozuya, correct?"

"That's right."

"May I ask why you want to establish such a club?"

What should he say at a time like this?

Shintō Katsuya had an answer ready on the tip of his tongue.

He deliberately put on a pained expression:

"Sigh, to be honest with you. Nowadays, the social pressure in Sakurajima is growing, and the responsibilities on young people are becoming heavier. Furthermore, the competition in our school is unexpectedly fierce. In such an environment, it's clear that everyone has neglected beautiful qualities like warmth, unity, and friendliness."

"As for me, while I don't have any grand dreams, I hope to use my own hands to help everyone and see them smile again. This feeling... do you understand?"

Horikita Manabu nodded, but the faint reflection on his lenses made Shintō Katsuya, sitting opposite him, feel a bit uneasy:

"You mean to say that you are establishing Yorozuya because you want to help others, is that right?"

"Uh, that's about the gist of it."

"If that's the case... why didn't you apply to join the student council?"

There's no way this guy in glasses saw right through me, right?!

Stay calm... he is the student council president, after all; it's perfectly reasonable for him to ask that.

"The student council is certainly great, but... because my superior doesn't seem very easy to get along with, so..."

Shintō Katsuya tactfully found an excuse for himself.

Sure enough, Tachibana Akane, who was listening on the side, angrily retorted:

"You have no manners! Who isn't easy to get along with?!"

Immediately, Shintō Katsuya spread his hands and looked at Horikita Manabu with an innocent expression:

"You see..."

"You!"

"Tachibana."

Tachibana Akane wanted to lash out again, but upon hearing Horikita Manabu's voice, she retreated decisively, though she still glared at Shintō Katsuya with resentment.

"Fine. Take the application form back with you. Fill in all the information and submit it to me for review. If it passes, your Yorozuya will be officially established."

Horikita Manabu pushed the application form in front of Shintō Katsuya.

"Then, thank you both, senpai."

After Shintō Katsuya left, Horikita Manabu leaned back in his chair, lost in thought.

[Yorozuya... a master at exploiting loopholes on the edge of the rules. Perhaps a more troublesome character, though he seems to be in the same class as Suzune...]

Class 1-D was facing a hellish life as May arrived. To improve the situation, leading figures like Hirata and Kushida specifically proposed a reform plan.

"There are currently three problems that must be addressed: tardiness, slacking off, and ensuring that no one fails the midterm exams!"

"The first two shouldn't be difficult to solve, but the problem is the third one..."

According to Chabashira, the difficulty of the midterm exam would be roughly the same as the recent quiz, so from Shintō's perspective, most of the questions were extremely easy.

Even so, seven people in the class still failed.

Furthermore, this included uncontrollable factors like Sudō; as long as he refused to cooperate or didn't want to study, there was nothing anyone could do about him.

However, since both class leaders were determined not to abandon a single companion, they mobilized every resource they could to organize study sessions for the students who were struggling.

"So, Shintō-kun, you're expected to come to the study session!"

Kushida Kikyo stared with her two adorable, wide eyes as she grabbed Shintō, who had been trying to bolt the moment class ended.

"Me? I don't really need to, do I?"

"That won't do! Even though your grades aren't exactly terrible, don't you want to aim for even higher scores?"

Higher scores? Shintō hadn't really thought about that.

In fact, if he wanted to, he could certainly score higher.

But...

"Is that really a good idea, Kushida-san?"

"Hm?"

Kushida clearly didn't quite understand what Shintō meant.

"Anything below half of the class average is considered a failing grade, right? In other words, as long as we keep the class average as low as possible, we can help the low-scoring students to the greatest extent, can't we?"

"Eh?! Is... is that so?!"

Shintō's theory clearly shocked more than just Kushida; it seemed most of them had never considered that such a strategy was possible.

According to Chabashira, the midterm exam scores could not be lower than the quiz scores, and they could not be lower than half of the average. Therefore, as long as they controlled their performance, passing the exam shouldn't be a problem.

"If you put it that way, we should have just turned in blank papers during the quiz!"

"No kidding, if that were the case, we could just turn in blank papers for every exam and sail through them every time, right?"

As they talked, the students of Class D began to cheer and celebrate, though some were happy while others were worried.

Those who had used their full strength and performed exceptionally well on the last exam couldn't help but feel a lingering anxiety: what if they had an off day and ended up getting expelled?

Horikita Suzune looked at Shintō with a hint of something different in her eyes, as she was now absolutely convinced that he, perhaps like Ayanokōji, was capable of perfectly controlling his own scores.

Unlike Ayanokōji, Shintō Katsuya's disguise was clearly more effective; after all, compared to scoring exactly 50 on every subject, his grades were far more ordinary.