"People who didn't study seriously before can complain all they want now, but it won't do them any good." That was Horikita Suzune's assessment of her classmates.
"There's only one day left before the exam. What can we possibly do now?"
She had been planning to work hard to move up a class and avoid embarrassing herself in front of her brother, only for something like this to happen. Even her normally unshakable nerves couldn't help but give way to despair.
They couldn't even get past the first hurdle. No wonder her brother had said what he did. It was so frustrating.
Ayanokoji listened quietly from the side without saying a word. They had no way to pass the exams? Even without the answers, and without studying, it wasn't impossible to pass the midterms.
But he had no intention of saying anything. All he wanted was to get through high school in peace.
"There's another way to pass the exams besides studying seriously or buying the answers, but it comes with some risks."
Sawahara said this to Ryuen.
"Oh?" Ryuen raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected there to be a way after all.
"We all know there are two special types of questions on the exams: multiple choice and true-or-false. Apart from Japanese, every other subject has questions of both types." Sawahara gave him a hint.
"I see... If everyone in the class agreed beforehand to answer only those two types of questions, and everyone put down the same answers, then we could ensure that everyone got the same score. No one would end up with less than half the average." Ryuen quickly understood what Sawahara meant.
"As for Japanese, we'd have to put some effort into the essay at the end. For example, everyone could memorize and write the same essay. There might be a few mistakes, but the final scores wouldn't differ much." Sawahara added.
"The biggest risk is that the whole class might get zero. It's hard to say whether the school would take action if that happened.
"But they'd probably just deduct Class Points. The chances of them expelling the whole class are extremely low."
"Heh. Easier said than done. For this to work, you'd have to get the whole class on board. The top students won't be keen to get such an ugly score on their transcripts, especially since no one knows whether something like this will be recorded..." Ryuen pointed out the obvious prerequisite.
"With Class D in its current state, there's no way that'll work."
That class was a complete mess.
"So that's where you come in, Ryuen." Sawahara smiled and handed him the midterm exam he'd gotten from the Student Council.
"Tch. You're just taking advantage of people when they're down." Ryuen clicked his tongue in annoyance, but still took the exam. He didn't ask where it had come from. "What are the terms?"
"All they have to do is sign this contract." Sawahara pulled out the contract he'd prepared earlier and handed it to Ryuen, reminding him, "A teacher has to be present when it's signed. Don't forget to bring Sakagami-sensei along."
"Hmph." Ryuen took the documents and said nothing more. He stood up and called to his underlings, "Ishizaki, Yamada, come with me."
After school that afternoon, Class D's classroom.
None of the Class D students had left yet. They used the time to arrange study sessions with each other, hoping to avoid expulsion. After all, a last-minute cram session was better than nothing.
Of course, not everyone felt that way.
"Studying now won't make a difference, right? I'll just leave it to luck. I've always been lucky." That was Ike.
"I'm a top student, you know. I just haven't shown what I can do until now. I'll have no trouble with this exam." That was Yamauchi.
Well, Koenji had left as soon as class ended to go on a date. The exam would be no challenge for him.
The rest of the class didn't mind. Having two scapegoats drag down the average score was a pretty good thing, after all.
Bang—
"Hey, you're all still here, Class D." Ryuen kicked the door open and strode into the classroom.
"Though I doubt you'll be here much longer."
"Who are you?" Quite a few Class D students were angered by Ryuen's words, but when they saw the two burly men and the teacher behind him, they didn't dare say much.
Even Sudo held himself back and stayed silent.
"Tch. You're all trash. Haven't you even bothered to gather basic information?" Ryuen frowned irritably. "Class 1-C. Ryuen Kakeru."
"What brings you here, Ryuen?" Hirata asked, picking up the conversation.
"I came to admire this school's rarest sight: a bunch of trash." Ryuen's opening words were a taunting provocation.
"You bastard! Who are you calling trash?"
"Is your Class C any better?"
His words instantly infuriated the Class D students, but Ryuen didn't care. It was just the impotent barking of a pack of losers.
"I'll give you a chance, while I'm at it."
As he spoke, Ryuen took out a stack of exam papers and gave them a wave.
"These are the questions for the upcoming exam. So, do you want them?"
"Huh? Are you an idiot? They already changed the questions."
"Exactly. Do you still think old exam questions will work? That's just stupid."
The Class D students had finally found a chance to mock him, and they all took it, hoping to vent their pent-up frustration.
"Heh. Trash is trash. You're not just stupid—you can't even see properly." Ryuen sneered. "Take a good look. The paper I'm holding is the revised Version B."
"T-That's real."
"How could that be? They just changed the exam..."
As if someone had grabbed them by the throat, the Class D students fell silent. Everyone stared intently at the papers in Ryuen's hands, breathing hard.
They didn't know whether it was real, but if it was... with those papers, they could pass the exam...
But after mocking him just moments ago, no one spoke up. Most of Class D looked to Hirata.
"Ryuen, would you sell us the exam papers?" Hirata knew Ryuen had come to Class D because he'd calculated that they were desperate and had already prepared to pay through the nose.
"Sell them to you? Sure. One hundred thousand points, and everyone has to sign this contract. Then you can have the papers." Ryuen tacked on another hundred thousand points without hesitation. He might as well squeeze them for as much as he could.
"One hundred thousand..." The Class D students fell silent at the figure. Quite a few of them looked at Sudo and Kushida.
They had already spent almost all their points because of those two. There was no way they could come up with such a huge amount now.
Many of the students looked at Sudo and Kushida with resentment. If it weren't for their problems, they wouldn't have ended up in this situation.
Feeling their gazes, Kushida's expression stiffened for a moment. She couldn't help cursing inwardly.
When we got the answers back then, you were all thrilled. And now you're in this mess because you spent all your own points.
But for the sake of her reputation, Kushida forced down her anger and managed a strained smile as she spoke to Ryuen.
"One hundred thousand points is far too much. Could you lower the price?"
"Oh?" Ryuen narrowed his eyes and looked Kushida over like a piece of merchandise. The hundred thousand points were just an extra anyway. He wouldn't mind taking something else instead.
"Fine. I can forget about the hundred thousand points."
The smile on Kushida's face froze completely. She screamed inwardly.
That's not what I meant!
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