"Are these the current Class Points for each class?" Sawahara looked at the information in his hands.
The current Class Points for the first years were:
Class A: 1010
Class B: 760
Class C: 670
Class D: 50
After this midterm exam, each class's points had increased to some extent.
Class A still held a commanding lead. To think an ordinary exam like this would have any real impact on Class A was nothing but a dream.
Second years
Class A: 1450
Class B: 860
Class C: 450
Class D: 220
Third years
Class A: 1520
Class B: 980
Class C: 420
Class D: 180
If the first-year Class A could be said to have merely gained an advantage, the point totals of the upper years made it clear that at this school, the strong only grew stronger, and the gap between classes would only widen.
And...
"Only the top two classes in the upper years still have a shot at Class A, huh." Sawahara wasn't surprised. A solid foundation was always the most important thing, and it was no wonder the bottom two classes were in this position when they lacked the strength to compete.
After posting the information in his hands on the school bulletin board, his task was temporarily finished.
As he left, a bald man who looked extremely stern and a white-haired little girl leaning on a cane approached him.
Katsuragi Kohei and Sakayanagi Arisu from Class 1-A? Various thoughts crossed his mind, but his pace didn't change at all as he headed straight back to class.
"Sagara Zoya from Class 1-C?" Sakayanagi turned to look at Sagara's retreating figure, her eyes carrying an inscrutable glint.
"A celebration?" When he got to class, Sawahara looked at Ishizaki in surprise. It wasn't that he was surprised they wanted to celebrate; they'd worked hard to pass the midterm exam, so there was nothing wrong with celebrating.
"Didn't we already have one yesterday?"
"Since you had something to do yesterday, Big Brother Sawahara, we put it off," Ishizaki said, scratching his head with a sheepish smile. "This exam went so smoothly because you made arrangements in advance. The celebration wouldn't mean anything if you weren't there."
He'd had a Student Council meeting yesterday, and he also had a shift with President Horikita, so he'd messaged the class ahead of time to say he couldn't make it and told them to have fun.
"..." Sawahara fell silent for a moment, then gave a soft chuckle.
"Okay, got it."
Maybe the people in this class weren't very bright, but they were pretty decent.
That evening, in a karaoke room.
"To celebrate passing the exam, cheers!"
A group of students in their uniforms raised glasses of juice, imitating adults as they celebrated. It looked a little ridiculous.
"Cheers!"
"Ah, it's a shame we can't have beer instead." Ishizaki smacked his lips as he drank his juice. Without alcohol, it felt too tame.
Well, even if the law prohibited minors from drinking, it was only natural for delinquents to break the law now and then, right?
"Yeah, we should've invited Teacher Sakagami." Quite a few people in the class agreed.
"Even if we could invite him, we shouldn't." Sawahara shook his head. "We've got class tomorrow. Be careful you don't drink so much you can't get up. Don't say I didn't warn you if your points get deducted."
"Don't say such a buzzkill thing when we're out having fun." Manabe Shiho, the leader of the class's group of gyaru, playfully tried to take the seat beside Sawahara.
"Sawahara, could you pass me the tissues?" Shiina leaned across the table, reaching for them, and happened to block the seat on Sawahara's left.
"Here." Sawahara picked up the tissue box and handed it to her. Shiina took it, then smoothly sat down in the seat to his left.
Seeing this, Manabe could only retreat in disappointment.
The boys in the class weren't very interested in singing. Ishizaki and the others, in particular, gathered with a few of the class's delinquents and started playing drinking games with juice instead of alcohol... Ibuki was in the group, too.
The girls, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy it. The microphone was almost always in their hands.
"Why don't you give it a try, Shiina?" Sawahara asked. She had a lovely voice, so she must sing beautifully, too.
"I'm not very good at singing." Shiina shook her head, her mood dipping slightly.
She hadn't had many friends in the past, let alone gone singing with them. She wasn't very confident in her voice, and since this was her first time at karaoke with friends, she didn't want to make a bad memory—or leave her friends with a poor impression of her.
"I see." Sawahara could guess some of the reasons, so he quickly changed the subject. "Speaking of which, that book you mentioned last time..."
As soon as they started talking about books, Shiina perked up.
Talking about books in a karaoke room was a little odd, but as long as everyone in class was having a good time, nothing else mattered.
This Thursday was the day of the third years' Special Exam. Under normal circumstances, Class A of the Third Year should have won, given how obvious the gap between them had become over the past two years.
However, the world was never short of surprises.
Class A's points remained unchanged, Class B's points increased by 300, Class C's points decreased by 200, and Class D's points decreased by 100.
Those were the exam results Sawahara received, and the change in points made him realize something.
"The Special Exams at this school really do have a huge impact on Class Points."
Just one exam had brought Class B of the Third Year 300 points closer to Class A. If there was another major blunder in a Special Exam, the lower-ranked class could overtake the higher one.
Sawahara now had a much clearer understanding of the school's Special Exams.
Sawahara asked Tachibana why Class A of the Third Year had suffered such a crushing defeat. Just thinking about it made Tachibana angry.
"Class B suddenly got a huge amount of Private Points. They only won this Special Exam because they had those points."
If Tachibana called it a huge amount of points, there was probably only one person at this school who could have come up with that much: Student Council Vice President Miyabi Nagumo.
"Is that guy crazy? Spending points on something like this—doesn't he worry they'll run into trouble in the next Special Exam?"
Of course they wouldn't run into trouble. He already had the second years completely under his control.
After becoming a Student Council member, Sawahara had gathered some information about Vice President Nagumo. He'd learned only two things: the one above, and that Nagumo's private life was rather messy.
I can completely understand why he's set his sights on Ichinose.
But since the other man was willing to interfere in the third years' exam, Sawahara had to be on his guard.
"Senior Tachibana, could you tell me about the clubs?"
Before you continue