The Exam Begins

The day of the exam had finally arrived. The central auditorium of Advanced Nurturing High School had been temporarily converted into an examination hall, large enough to accommodate all the first-year students.

A stifling tension hung over the campus.

Students from different classes filed in and found their seats according to their exam numbers, speaking in low voices or silently checking their stationery.

Every face bore some degree of seriousness.

Yuefeng found his seat in the middle-left section of the auditorium—not too far forward or back, with a fairly clear view.

He sat down, neatly arranged his admission ticket and stationery, and seemingly cast a casual glance around.

It didn't take long for him to spot a few familiar faces.

A few rows away, Hiyori Shiina sat quietly with her head lowered and her hands on her knees, as though meditating one last time.

Today, her hair was neatly tied back, revealing her fair neck. Her profile was gentle, but her tightly pressed lips betrayed her seriousness.

Diagonally ahead sat Ishizaki Daichi and his lackey.

Ishizaki looked somewhat restless, occasionally scratching his head and glancing around.

His gaze darted between several high-performing students from Class C. He was clearly still thinking about certain "unconventional methods."

But remembering Kiyotaka's warning the night before and the potentially severe consequences, he could only reluctantly hold himself back.

Farther away, in Class A's section, Katsuragi Kohei sat ramrod straight, like a statue, resting with his eyes closed.

Beside him, several other Class A students also looked composed and confident, as if victory were already theirs.

In Class B, Ichinose Honami was speaking gently to the student beside her, apparently offering encouragement. Her smile was as warm and infectious as ever.

As for Class D's section... Yuefeng searched with his eyes. He spotted Horikita Suzune.

She sat with her back straight, staring ahead expressionlessly, while making one last review of a thin notebook in her hands.

Ken Sudō had an expression that said, "I'm going all out," as he fidgeted nervously.

Hirata Yosuke was quietly reassuring a few classmates who looked especially tense.

Then he saw Kiyotaka Ayanokoji.

Kiyotaka sat in an inconspicuous corner of Class D's section, relaxed, even a little listless.

He wasn't reading or talking to anyone. He simply stared calmly at the empty podium, his gaze unfocused, as if the tension around him had nothing to do with him.

That utter serenity seemed especially out of place amid the tension filling the auditorium.

Yuefeng looked away and took a deep breath, steadying his slightly quickened heartbeat.

Kiyotaka's last few cryptic remarks from the previous night still circled in his mind.

"Learn about each other's environments and resources"... "Class C's atmosphere isn't conducive to studying in peace"... What exactly was this guy planning?

But now wasn't the time to think about that. Yuefeng collected himself and focused on the exam that was about to begin.

With Hiyori Shiina's information, Kiyotaka's "hints," and the intensive studying he'd done over the past few days, he felt reasonably prepared.

He wasn't aiming to stand out—just to pass safely and secure those tangible rewards, giving himself more leverage to survive in Class C.

"Ding—"

The clear chime rang out, and the examination hall fell instantly silent. Several stern-looking proctors walked up to the podium and began reading out the rules and handing out the exam papers.

The paper in Yuefeng's hands was a thick stack. He quickly skimmed the questions and felt somewhat reassured.

As Kiyotaka had said, the questions were indeed quite "unorthodox."

There were many analysis questions based on real-world cases, drawing on overlapping knowledge from economics, society, history, and philosophy. They demanded strong logical reasoning and broad knowledge.

There were few questions based on rote memorization. Most tested comprehension and the ability to apply knowledge.

As expected, this isn't a standard exam... Yuefeng picked up his pen, cleared his mind, and focused on the questions before him.

Time passed second by second. The only sound in the auditorium was the scratch of pens across paper, occasionally interrupted by a suppressed cough or sigh.

The questions really were difficult. Before long, many students were scratching their heads and looking troubled.

Ishizaki's section was even filled with frequent, impatient clicks of the tongue. Clearly, many of the questions were beyond his abilities.

Yuefeng settled into his own rhythm. Thanks to the focused review he'd done, he could find an approach to many questions that at first seemed obscure.

Whenever he faced complicated logical deductions or questions requiring him to distinguish fine details, he concentrated, and his peculiar, "slow-motion"-like Perception Enhancement occasionally came into play.

It helped him grasp the key information and implicit conditions in the questions more clearly, allowing him to avoid some reasoning traps.

However, about halfway through the exam, Yuefeng got stuck on a massive question combining classical philosophy with modern international relations.

The question asked him to analyze a fictional international conflict and explain and extrapolate from it using the perspectives of at least two different schools of classical political philosophy.

The case details were complex, the philosophical concepts abstract, and combining the two was a headache.

Yuefeng tried several approaches, but none felt thorough enough or sufficiently coherent.

Time was running out. The question was worth a lot of points, and doing poorly on it could seriously affect his final ranking.

A fine sheen of sweat gathered at his temples, and his fingers tapped the desk unconsciously.

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he seemed to glimpse Hiyori Shiina shifting slightly in her seat diagonally ahead. Her arm appeared to casually nudge her scratch paper a little closer to the edge of her desk.

The movement was slight. In an examination hall where everyone was focused on answering questions, it would hardly attract notice.

But Yuefeng's "slow-motion" perception happened to be slightly heightened, stirred by the question, and he caught the detail.

His heart stirred. Without thinking, he glanced in that direction.

Along the edge of Hiyori Shiina's scratch paper, a few keywords and brief logical arrows had been written in tiny handwriting.

One of the keywords was the core concept of a philosophical school Yuefeng had been struggling to recall. The direction indicated by the arrows gave him a fresh perspective—and suddenly, everything clicked!

Yuefeng's heart gave a sharp leap. He immediately looked away and lowered his head, pretending to keep puzzling over the question.

But his mind had already begun rapidly connecting Hiyori Shiina's hint with what he knew. A much clearer path to the solution gradually took shape.

Was it a coincidence? Had Hiyori Shiina merely revealed her scratch paper by accident? Or...

Yuefeng didn't dare think too deeply about it, and he didn't have time to.

Grasping the flash of inspiration, he immediately began writing furiously on his answer sheet.

His blocked thoughts flowed freely again. His analysis progressed step by step, and he handled the case with ease.

When he finally finished the last sentence of the question and let out a long breath, his back felt damp with sweat.

He quietly looked up in Hiyori Shiina's direction.

The girl was still focused on her exam, her profile serene, as if that tiny movement had never happened.

But Yuefeng knew it hadn't been a coincidence.

Hiyori Shiina had helped him—in a way so subtle that it was almost impossible to notice, and even if someone did, impossible to accuse her of anything.

Why? Out of classmate solidarity? Because of the "help" he'd given her before?

Or because... she wanted the "class atmosphere" to improve, as she'd said?

Complicated feelings welled up in Yuefeng's heart.