I didn't think you'd give up that easily.
Hearing Dokuho Kouya's words, Horikita Suzune was taken aback.
If he'd said anything else, she could've just claimed that Kono had misjudged her.
But Dokuho Kouya had praised her, so she naturally couldn't argue with him.
If she kept pushing back, wouldn't that mean she was saying she gave up whenever she ran into a little difficulty?
"Thank you for the compliment." Horikita Suzune let out a soft breath, then continued, "Since you've figured out this much, there's no point in me continuing to deny it."
"Just as you said, I only went to tutor Sudo and the others after hearing what everyone else thought."
"If I'd made the decision to tutor them myself, then I really wouldn't have stopped so easily."
Even if Sudo's bunch didn't want to study, she'd beat them until they did.
That was her attitude.
"It's good that you admitted it, Suzune."
Dokuho Kouya's lips curled slightly as he said with a chuckle, "Since your older brother helped me out a lot, I'll make a special exception and tell you something interesting."
"My... older brother?"
At the mention of something involving her brother, Horikita Suzune instantly lost her composure.
Dokuho Kouya paid no attention to the girl's change in expression and carried on as if talking to himself. "There's a way to get high marks on this midterm without studying. I've given you enough of a hint—you should be able to figure it out."
At that, Horikita Suzune furrowed her delicate brows. "How could such a thing be possible? If you can get high marks without studying, why is Class A holding study sessions?"
Dokuho Kouya didn't answer her question. Instead, he turned his back to her and waved as he walked away. "That's the end of my friendly advice. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do next."
After that conversation ended,
the comments section immediately came alive.
"Come on, come on! What exactly did Money Brother tell Horikita's brother? What did Horikita's brother do to help him?"
"You can get high marks without studying? Money Brother, take me under your wing!"
"Is there some hidden rule in the midterm exam too? Can one of the experts explain?"
"I rewatched the part where Chabashira-sensei explained the midterm exam rules to Class D. Chabashira mentioned it too. There's definitely some way to pass the exam."
"Neither Horikita nor Ayanokouji seem to have noticed. They're still holding study sessions with the Three Idiots of Class D, but Money Brother picked up on it."
"But Money Brother's also helping the girls study."
"You said it yourself—they're girls."
Seeing that the conversation had earned him nearly fifty thousand popularity points, Dokuho Kouya sat back down, satisfied.
He'd barely settled into his seat when Kozue Minami leaned over and whispered, "Kouya, is it really possible to get high marks without studying?"
Dokuho and Horikita hadn't exactly been speaking quietly.
And Kozue Minami was sitting quite close, so it had been easy for her to hear their conversation.
"Only on this exam." Dokuho Kouya reminded her with a chuckle.
At that, Kozue Minami looked a little dejected. "Oh... So it only works for this midterm?"
Japanese high school has three terms a year, and each term has midterm and final exams.
A method that only worked for the first term's midterm wasn't much use.
Even if Kozue Minami could get high marks this time, she'd be exposed for what she was at the next exam.
That would be embarrassing.
"Um..." Chihiro Shiranami, who hadn't said much until now, spoke up. "What exactly is the method?"
She wasn't very confident in her grades.
If possible, she still wanted to try to improve them.
There were only two ways to get through this midterm exam.
One was to buy points for the answers.
The other was to ask upperclassmen for their test papers.
But Dokuho Kouya didn't want to mention either of them.
"I'm not going to tell you." Dokuho Kouya smiled. "People in Class A don't need those sorts of underhanded tricks."
"If you're not confident about your grades, Chihiro, then make good use of the time you have to study. You can come ask me if there's anything you don't understand."
Dokuho Kouya was planning to stir up some trouble during the upcoming midterm.
If he told Chihiro Shiranami about those methods, he'd only be doing her harm.
"O-Okay..." Noticing how firm the boy's tone was, Chihiro Shiranami didn't dare continue the topic. She could only focus on her studies, as he'd told her.
The real world.
A certain video-sharing site where videos never went stale.
"Hello, everyone. I'm Emeng, an uploader who'll spend his whole life with anime."
"Today, we're going to talk about the Midterm Exam Arc of Classroom of the Elite."
"By the way, this anime really knows how to stretch things out. They spent a whole three episodes on one midterm exam. I didn't see that coming."
Emeng, the uploader, made his videos before uploading them to the site, so he couldn't interact with viewers in real time.
But that didn't stop viewers from posting comments to complain.
"The Fourth Great Ninja War says nothing."
"The Enies Lobby arc, Impel Down arc, and Marineford arc of One Piece approve."
"Honestly, the Midterm Exam Arc took a long time, but those final twists were really interesting."
Emeng continued his video, starting from the beginning and explaining the Midterm Exam Arc in detail.
The Midterm Exam Arc had three episodes and could be divided into four stages: exam preparation, gathering information, taking the exam, and announcing the results.
The exam preparation stage was when the protagonist, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, tricked the heroine, Horikita Suzune, into tutoring the three idiots in her class.
This part of the story was frustrating to watch. The Three Idiots of Class D had no redeeming qualities, and many viewers, Emeng included, felt especially irritated whenever they appeared.
If Money Brother, Dokuho Kouya, hadn't shown up at the very end of the episode, a lot of people would've given the show a low rating.
"After making his entrance, Money Brother tipped off the heroine that there was another way to get high marks on the exam. Then the story moved on to the second stage: gathering information."
"First, the story introduced a plotline where the beautiful classmate Kikyo Kushida wanted to be friends with Horikita. Then, it used Kikyo Kushida to show how to get test papers from upperclassmen."
"Yes, you heard that right. The so-called method for passing the exam was simply to ask upperclassmen for the original test questions!"
"Holy crap, they spent so long setting this up. I thought they were building to something huge, but that's it?"
"I'm sure a lot of viewers felt more or less the same way I did. But it wasn't until the final chapter of the Midterm Exam Arc that I realized I was wrong."
"So the real excitement starts after they announce the results!"
Before you continue