There was only one week left until the midterm exams.
Early in the morning, Karuizawa brought out the past exam questions and answers she had promised to share with everyone the night before.
"That's amazing, Kei! I can't believe you came up with this!"
The girls had already crowded around her. If they hadn't been in the classroom, they probably would have tossed Karuizawa high into the air.
"Well, actually, Katsuya and I bought them together..."
Since Shinjo had more or less made his relationship with Karuizawa public last time, and Karuizawa herself had blushed shyly when questioned about it,
everyone in Class D envied the first couple in their class.
Who didn't want to have a wonderful romance in high school?
"Thank you, Karuizawa, Shinjo."
Yosuke Hirata, who always put the class first, was even more delighted. Horikita had told him that Teacher Chabashira had given them the wrong exam scope, but now they had the answers handed to them. Wasn't this a case of every cloud having a silver lining?
"Even so, I still think Teacher Chabashira should give us an explanation! Otherwise, if she does this before every exam, we can't expect to get the answers every time, can we?"
Yukimura, a good student who hadn't been particularly worried about his exam results to begin with, was more concerned with why the teacher had done this.
This time, she had only given them the wrong scope. What if she deliberately taught them the wrong material next time?!
With Suzune Horikita and Kikyo Kushida leading the way, nearly half the class headed to Chabashira's office to demand an explanation.
"Teacher, could you tell us why the students in Class C said we'd been studying the wrong material for the exam?"
Horikita got straight to the point.
Chabashira, who was handling paperwork, seemed to have seen this coming. She merely raised her eyelids.
"Ah... I think I remember. The school changed the exam scope at the last minute, and I forgot to tell you."
"Teacher Chabashira, do you think we're idiots?!"
"Hmph. Even if I gave you the wrong exam scope by mistake, that material was all stuff you were supposed to learn anyway. Do you only study what's going to be on the exam? If that's the case, then there's no need to offer half your courses at all, is there?"
Horikita's face flushed with anger, but there was nothing she could do to Chabashira.
They had come to call her to account, but Chabashira was still their teacher, and they were her students.
The school rules didn't say teachers couldn't give students the wrong exam scope. So no matter how indignant they felt, they had no choice but to swallow their anger.
"Let's go..."
Seeing this, Chabashira wore a derisive smile, then looked toward the figure who had yet to leave.
"Aren't you going?"
"I have a few questions. As a teacher, you're supposed to answer your students' questions, aren't you?"
"That depends on whether I can answer what you ask."
"Here?"
Chabashira slowly rose at that, smoothing the wrinkles in her skirt from sitting.
"Come on. I was just about to have a cigarette."
"Go on, what do you want to ask?"
Shinjo waved the folder in his hand.
"Wasn't the reason you gave us the wrong exam scope this time to see whether we could get our hands on this?"
"If you got it, that was thanks to your own ability. If you didn't, it wouldn't have mattered. The class has exactly zero Class Points right now, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to use this chance to clean house."
She might lose a star athlete like Sudo, but Chabashira genuinely thought that people like Yamauchi and Ike were even more useless.
Better to cut off a limb than keep dragging it along.
"So you do still want to get promoted, then?"
Chabashira didn't answer. She took a deep drag from her cigarette.
"Well, I can understand. Given how this school operates, the four classes' homeroom teachers probably don't all earn the same amount each month, do they?"
"That's not something a student should be asking."
Shinjo shrugged. It was better to make a few things clear to Chabashira in advance. He had a feeling she was the sort of person who'd let countless others die for the sake of her own success. She wouldn't hesitate to do whatever it took to reach her goal.
"Fine. But I think your teaching methods have gone off course. You know the state Class D is in. Climbing up the ranks, let alone beating the lofty Class A... won't be easy, will it?"
Of course it wouldn't!
Chabashira couldn't remember how much she'd sacrificed for that goal.
"Shinjo, this is a rare opportunity, so I'll be frank. Your Class D is the worst class I've ever taught. It has the weakest overall ability, while this year's Class A is full of prodigies."
Chabashira spoke in a hoarse voice.
"But your class also has the most potential for change. I see hope..."
Hope?
Considering Koenji and Ayanokoji's personalities, it would be more accurate to call it despair.
"Heh... I heard your Odd Jobs Agency has started taking business?"
"Hey, you're not thinking of using me, are you? Let me make this clear: I'm not like Ayanokoji. I'll at least do my share when it comes to the class's big and small problems."
"But you won't give it your all! Right?"
Sae Chabashira had spotted the trap in Shinjo's wording.
"There are plenty of people who don't give it their all. You're one yourself, aren't you? You deliberately gave us the wrong exam scope... and deliberately set all those traps for us when we started school. You can deny it, but everyone knows."
"I won't deny that. But I was testing you, too!"
The teacher's professional ethics had to be shockingly low for her to say something so shameless out loud.
But nothing was surprising in a school like this. And Shinjo was increasingly convinced that the longer someone had been at this school, the worse their mental illness was.
It was supposed to be a school, but how was it any different from a prison?
"So I wanted to ask you: if you were me, how much could you do in your role at the Odd Jobs Agency?"
"As for that... I have four principles, but generally speaking, how much I can do depends entirely on how capable the client is."
In short, the more money you paid, the more effort he'd put in.
"I see..."
Chabashira stubbed out her cigarette and left the secret room.
Over the years, she had accumulated quite a lot of personal points. But the school had explicitly forbidden teachers from spending their points directly on students, such as helping them buy things beyond their means.
The Odd Jobs Agency was clearly a huge loophole.
She could pay Shinjo in the form of a commission, and then he could buy the things that were otherwise out of reach.
In other words, money laundering!
"The Odd Jobs Agency... As long as I can make it work for me, it's no different from having you on my side... As for that Hermit, I have a way to deal with him, too."
"Class A... Class A..."
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