Chabashira's Empty Promises and the Midterm Exams

A week passed in the blink of an eye, and the midterm exams finally arrived!

Because they had obtained the answers, everyone wore a confident smile on their face.

"Ha! This time, I'm going to show those snobbish people in Class C what it means to make a stunning comeback!!"

Ike, in particular, shouted with excitement.

"We have Karuizawa and Shinjo to thank for this."

Even the eternal ice queen Horikita offered rare praise to others.

"This... actually, it's all thanks to Katsuya!"

Karuizawa giggled foolishly. Matsushita, standing nearby, couldn't help but cover her face at the sight of her best friend. She was usually such a sharp girl, but the moment Shinjo was mentioned, she immediately turned into this goofy, silly mess.

Could this be what it's like to be head over heels in love?!

Sae Chabashira looked at her students and revealed a fearless smile:

"For you all, this exam is undoubtedly the first hurdle. If you have anything to say, I'll give you the time now."

"Chabashira-sensei! Everyone has done their absolute best over these past few weeks! I believe that in this midterm exam, it's impossible for anyone in our class to fail!"

Chabashira laughed while organizing the test papers; no one could see through what she was thinking:

"Hahahaha! You really are confident, Hirata. But that's fine, it's best if you think that way. If no one fails this exam, or the final exam in July... I'll take you all on a vacation during summer break."

"A vacation?!"

"That's right... I'll let you live a dream-like life on an island surrounded by a blue sea~"

At the mention of a vacation, the already high-spirited group became even more ecstatic, especially the boys. After all, when thinking of the beach in summer, the first thing that comes to mind is the girls in their swimsuits, right?

Plus, with so many cute girls in the class, this... this was a world that only existed in dreams!!!

However!

The more Shinjo listened to Chabashira, the stranger he felt. He knew the true nature of this school very well, but everyone else had clearly forgotten the pain once the wound had healed.

Would the school give you any benefits for no reason?

Just wait! There would be a price to pay eventually!

Before school started, they talked about free career choices and a monthly allowance of 100,000 yen, but after a month, hadn't everyone been beaten bloody by the cruel reality?

Therefore, Shinjo firmly believed that this so-called vacation was definitely not a good thing for most people!

[An island surrounded by a blue sea... wait, they wouldn't just dump us on a deserted island to survive, would they? No way...]

Without realizing it, Shinjo had thought of the worst-case scenario he could imagine.

But the others weren't thinking in that direction; they were probably still lost in thoughts of girls in swimsuits.

What was even more excessive was that, spurred on by a few people, the boys actually started cheering:

"Everyone! For the sake of swimsuits, let's give it our all!"

"Oh!!!"

It wasn't just the boys who were egging each other on; the girls were also deeply longing for the beach.

But that was a story for another time; for now, they had to get past the midterm exams first.

After receiving his test paper, Shinjo glanced over it briefly. When he discovered it was identical to the past papers he had purchased, the last weight on his mind finally settled.

He then observed the expressions of those around him. As he did, he once again locked eyes with Ayanokoji.

Because the other boy was also observing humanity.

Should one say that history is a circle?

This time, Shinjo decisively turned his head away after making eye contact; he was afraid that those unpleasant thoughts would appear in his mind again.

However, it was clear that everyone in the class seemed calm and composed, which looked like a good sign.

As time went on, one subject after another concluded, but the good times didn't last.

Kikyo Kushida had basically greeted everyone to confirm how they did on the exams, but when she reached Sudo, she found his expression gloomy and somewhat dazed.

"Um, Sudo-kun? What's wrong?"

"Huh? Ah! Sorry! I... I'm a bit busy right now..."

As Sudo spoke, he stared fixedly at the answers to the English test paper in his hand, but the beads of sweat on his forehead proved he wasn't at ease.

With just that one look, Shinjo guessed what kind of situation this guy was in.

"That... you didn't memorize the answers, did you?"

!!!!!

Seeing the shocked expressions of everyone around, Sudo was momentarily at a loss:

"I, other than English, I looked at everything else, but I just couldn't memorize the English... Damn it!"

There were less than ten minutes left before the exam started. If he couldn't memorize them after seven days, these few minutes shouldn't be enough either.

Fortunately, Horikita remembered the point control strategy that Shinjo had proposed not long ago.

"Sudo, you should memorize the easy-to-remember and high-point questions first."

"Okay! I got it."

Then, Horikita quickly got up and explained to the whole class:

"Everyone, because Sudo hasn't memorized the answers to the English exam yet, could you please try to control your scores as much as possible for this subject? Even if it's just a little, we need to lower the average score as much as possible!"

"Huh?! No way?"

Clearly, this situation was beyond everyone's expectations, but they had no time to say anything.

After understanding the situation, Hirata also took the initiative to persuade other classmates to suppress their scores as much as possible to lower the final average.

Although Koenji remained indifferent, as long as everyone else helped, it should still be possible.

However, it turned out that everyone's efforts were in vain.

Sudo did try his best to memorize the answers, but English was different from Japanese. To him, these 26 letters were as obscure and difficult to understand as alien runes.

Even if he forced himself to memorize some before the exam, as soon as he saw the blank test paper, his mind went blank again.

Who am I? Where am I? What should I do?

Sudo occasionally stopped his pen and banged his head on the desk!

But now, there was truly no one who could help him.

The long English exam passed, and Ike and Yamauchi were the first to approach Sudo to check on him:

"Um, are you okay?"

"I... I don't know..."

At this moment, Ike didn't know what to say either, so he could only say something nice:

"I think you'll be fine! Although you didn't memorize the answers, we've studied for so long, and I even tried my best to keep my score around fifty. So, it'll definitely be okay!"

Sudo couldn't even force a smile at his good friend's concern. His mind was filled with regret. He knew English was difficult, so he should have prioritized reviewing it!

"Sudo."

Horikita walked over.

"What are you doing? If you're going to lecture me, please don't..."

Horikita shook her head:

"It's your problem that you didn't memorize the practice questions. But I saw your effort and sweat. If you've given it your all, I think you can be proud of yourself."

"Huh? Are you comforting me?"

"No, I'm just stating the facts. I can see that studying is very hard for you. So, I apologize again for disrespecting your basketball dream last time. I've caught up on my studies and realized I was wrong before. Becoming a basketball player is not an easy path. Therefore, I believe that if you apply the effort you've put into studying recently to basketball, you will definitely become a great basketball player."

With that, Horikita bowed to Sudo and walked out of the classroom.

The others were surprised that Horikita would apologize to someone and encourage them, but Sudo...

[Damn, I think I'm in love...]