Pop Quiz

In the third week after enrollment, a subtle tension suddenly permeated the classroom.

On the podium, Mashima Tomoya clutched a stack of test papers and cleared his throat: "With the end of the month approaching, we will have a short quiz today. Everyone, please cooperate."

He handed the papers to the students in the front row.

"Pass them back."

Uesugi Hara took the paper passed to him by Morishita Ai and glanced over it briefly. It was indeed a short quiz, with only a few questions per subject.

"I want to emphasize," Mashima Tomoya said once everyone had their papers, his tone flat, "the results of this quiz are for future reference only and will not be reflected on your report cards. There is no risk, so please answer with peace of mind. However, cheating is strictly prohibited; any instance will be handled according to school regulations."

Uesugi Hara was quite puzzled after hearing this.

If the grades aren't reflected on the report card, then where are they reflected?

Can there be risks in an exam? What kind of risks?

And if there's no risk this time, what about next time?

Uesugi Hara pondered several questions through these ambiguous words.

Is it just Mashima Tomoya who is like this, or are all the teachers at this school the same?

If it's the latter, then things are going to get very interesting.

"Alright, you may begin." Mashima Tomoya's voice interrupted Uesugi Hara's train of thought.

Uesugi Hara refocused and looked seriously at the paper in his hand.

Are these questions that any high schooler could solve really necessary for university students? Surely no one could fail to answer them, right?

He flipped to the back.

The difficulty of a few questions suddenly skyrocketed, and Uesugi Hara couldn't see the answers at a glance.

Shouldn't the difficulty of a test be progressive? Why did it suddenly spike?

But after comparing them to the current curriculum, he realized these questions were not something students at this stage should be able to solve.

After discovering this, Uesugi Hara glanced at Mashima Tomoya out of the corner of his eye.

Mashima Tomoya was patrolling the classroom with a blank expression, presumably proctoring, but seeing his calm demeanor, Uesugi Hara judged that there shouldn't be a problem with the test. Surely a teacher wouldn't set questions that were beyond the syllabus without knowing it himself?

Thus, Uesugi Hara made up his mind to skip those few questions. Since he didn't yet know the school's purpose for setting the test this way, it was better to be conservative.

Besides, Mashima Tomoya had explicitly stated there was no risk this time, so he would just wait and see for now.

He finished the test quickly. Except for those few complex questions, he knew the answers to the others at a glance, so it didn't take much time at all.

Before the time to hand in the papers arrived, Uesugi Hara stared out the window, lost in thought.

Mashima Tomoya naturally noticed him, but he didn't interfere; as long as Uesugi Hara wasn't copying or cheating, it was fine.

"Uesugi, have you given up?" Taking advantage of the lull while papers were being collected, Kamuro Masumi snuck over and tapped his shoulder, her tone tinged with mockery. "You've been spacing out after only writing for a few minutes. Can't you do it? Want me to 'guide' you a little?"

Uesugi Hara raised an eyebrow and glanced at her: "Guide me on how to space out and sleep?"

"Obviously, I'd be teaching you how to study!"

"Ha, coming from you? I don't know who was scratching their head for ages earlier without coming up with an answer, or who is usually spacing out and dozing off in class." Uesugi Hara said dismissively.

"That's still better than you! You space out more often than I do!" Kamuro Masumi grew agitated. "And you only wrote for a few minutes? You're probably just guessing!"

"Guessing is still better than racking your brain and coming up with nothing." Uesugi Hara raised an eyebrow, intentionally provoking her. "Want to make a bet? See who gets the higher score?"

"You're on!" Kamuro Masumi immediately accepted, her eyes full of defiance. "Don't tell me the answers you guessed in these few minutes could be better than what I wrote seriously? The one with the lower score buys lunch for a week!"

"Easy, easy." Uesugi Hara waved his hand, a playful smile curling his lips. "Don't go back on your word when you lose and start saying things like 'I just didn't perform well'."

"What a joke!" Kamuro Masumi snorted. "When has Kamuro Masumi ever gone back on her word? Just wait to buy me lunch for a week!"

April 30th, evening.

"Ayanokoji, how many points do you think your class will get tomorrow?"

Having just finished scrolling through Shizuku-chan's feed, Uesugi Hara lay in bed, chatting with Ayanokoji via his terminal.

"Zero is the most likely outcome."

"Is your class really that bad?" Although Uesugi Hara had only visited Class D a few times, while most of the people there weren't great, he didn't think they were bad enough to be deducted down to zero.

"I don't really want to complain, but that's pretty much the reality." Ayanokoji's voice held a rare hint of helplessness.

"Hey, tell me all about it!" Uesugi Hara became interested.

"I'd like to tell you, but isn't it a bit improper to gossip about others behind their backs?"

"What are you afraid of? I'm not in your class, I'm just curious about the legendary figures in your class. How about this: you'll probably have a hard time next month without points, so I'll personally sponsor you 10,000 points if you tell me."

"..." The other end of the terminal fell silent.

A few seconds later, Ayanokoji spoke, though it was unclear if he had been swayed by Uesugi Hara's offer.

A few seconds later, Ayanokoji's voice sounded again, and it was impossible to tell if he had been "bought" by the points: "This month, there were hardly any people in our class who actually listened during lessons. Playing games, reading novels, sleeping, spacing out, and skipping class... those people made up more than three-quarters of the class. That's why I think we'll get zero points."

"And you have no idea..." Ayanokoji offered a rare retort.

"6." Uesugi Hara choked on his words, silently comparing this to his own Class A. Well, he was the one who paid the least attention in class anyway.

"By the way, how did you end up in Class D?" Uesugi Hara was still puzzled. "With your abilities, getting into Class A shouldn't have been a problem, right?"

"I'm an advocate of living a secluded life. During the entrance exam, I controlled every subject's score to exactly 50 points, and the same goes for this recent quiz."

"There was an entrance exam?" Uesugi Hara was stunned. "And you hit exactly 50 points on every subject? If I may ask, did you not distinguish between the difficult and easy questions?"

"You didn't take the entrance exam?" Ayanokoji asked in return. "Is there a difference between difficult and easy questions?"

"I didn't even know there was an entrance exam." Uesugi Hara spread his hands. "I was worried about tuition fees right after the college entrance exams, and then this school just sent me an invitation letter, so I came. I never heard anything about a test. Besides, don't you think it's strange to get 50 points on every subject by getting the easy ones wrong and the hard ones right?"

"...That does seem to be the case." Ayanokoji fell silent for a moment again.

"Then if you didn't take an exam, how did I get into Class A?"

"Maybe it's because I'm handsome." Uesugi Hara said righteously. "After all, the most handsome guys in the entire grade are all in Class A."

The other end of the terminal fell into a long silence once more, with only the faint static of the connection echoing.

"I'm not ugly either." Ayanokoji's voice held a rare hint of confusion. "Why wasn't I assigned to Class A?"

"That's where you don't get it." Uesugi Hara stifled a laugh and analyzed it with a straight face. "Maybe you look too gloomy. You walk with your head down, and your eyes always look like you haven't woken up. You look like a 'problem child' at first glance. The school must have been afraid you'd affect the atmosphere of Class A, so they stuffed you into Class D."

The other end of the terminal went silent again.

After a long while, Ayanokoji's voice came through, sounding a bit uncertain: "...Is that reason correct?" It sounded a bit unreliable, didn't it?

"Absolutely correct!" Uesugi Hara slapped his bed frame, his tone firm. "It's getting late, I'm going to sleep. I need to welcome the new month with a fresh attitude tomorrow."

Without waiting for Ayanokoji to respond, he hung up the call decisively. He tapped his fingertip on the terminal, transferred ten thousand points, and sent a message along with it: "Goodnight."

A few seconds later, a reply from Ayanokoji popped up on the terminal, consisting of only two simple words: "...Goodnight."

Looking at the message, Uesugi Hara grinned, tossed the terminal onto his pillow, rolled over, and fell into a deep sleep.

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