To be honest, Hoshino's exam results had surprised him a little, but he didn't feel particularly pleased about them.
"Thanks, Kushida...""Your old exam papers really saved me! I..."
After Chabashira-sensei announced yesterday's exam results, many of the students crowded around Kushida, all talking over one another as they thanked her.
But things didn't seem likely to turn out as they hoped, and Hoshino felt a little worried.
The passing line for the last quiz hadn't been the usual 60 percent, so Hoshino had tried to estimate it. It should have been half the class average. But this time, it looked like someone had failed.
"Honestly, I'm a little surprised. I didn't expect you all to get such high scores! I admit you've worked hard! But you failed, Sudo!"
Chabashira-sensei's face briefly showed a hint of satisfaction, but the disdainful expression she usually wore soon returned. She walked up to the podium, picked up the red pen on the desk, and drew a line above Sudo's name in the English scores column. There was a trace of mockery in her voice.
Just as he'd expected, Hoshino sighed softly.
"Huh? Are you kidding me? Why did I fail?" Sudo was still his usual hot-tempered self. He shoved his desk aside and stood up, looking thoroughly indignant.
"The failing score for this midterm was 40. Class D's average was 83.6. Half of that is 41.8, which rounds up to a failing cutoff of 42!"
"...42..." Sudo immediately went quiet, his eyes widening in shock.
"It was a short time, but you worked hard. Please submit your withdrawal application after school..." Chabashira-sensei slowly turned around, not a trace of sympathy in her eyes.
Sudo seemed to sink into deep self-doubt, staring blankly as he slumped in his seat.
"Wait a minute. Isn't there anything we can do?" Hirata, the most popular student in the class, hurriedly stepped forward.
"If you fail an exam, you have to withdraw." Chabashira-sensei didn't budge.
"Isn't there anything else we can do? I can't accept Sudo being expelled just like that..." Kushida also spoke up, sounding somewhat agitated, though it was hard to tell if she meant it.
"The rules are the rules. Give it up. Sudo, I'll be waiting for you in my office after school." Chabashira-sensei looked at them contemptuously and left the classroom as if it didn't matter to her.
Many of the students gathered around Sudo. After a brief silence, they began trying to console him.
Seeing it with his own eyes, Hoshino almost laughed.
Sudo had only just managed to offend everyone a few days ago. Hoshino couldn't believe they'd truly accepted him so quickly. They were probably just relieved that they weren't the ones getting expelled.
Still, Sudo really was an idiot. He'd had the old exam papers and still managed to fail!
There was probably only one way to handle this.
"Hey, everyone, do you really think this is okay? If this keeps up, Sudo's really going to be expelled!" Kushida looked at them with concern.
"Ayanokoji-kun?"
"Sorry, I'm going to the bathroom."
Ayanokoji rose unhurriedly, opened the door, and walked out.
Watching Ayanokoji leave, Hoshino felt helpless. Did he really think everyone else was an idiot? When someone left at a time like this, wasn't it usually because they'd thought of a way to solve the problem?
Hoshino had a rough idea of what he might do, but they were three points short! Hoshino didn't believe they could buy each point for only 10,000.
If 20 million personal points could be used to transfer someone to another class, then they should also be enough to exempt someone from a single expulsion penalty. At that rate, even 100,000 points per mark wouldn't be much! The whole class might not be able to scrape together enough to buy Sudo those three points!
Hoshino wondered if Ayanokoji had another plan, or if he really could get the price down.
At that moment, Horikita followed him out.
Hoshino's curiosity was piqued, but he didn't follow. The class was putting on quite a melodramatic show.
Sudo looked dejected, muttering something under his breath. The students around him chattered as they tried to comfort him. Perhaps aside from Hirata, few of them were sincere. But it was often at moments like this that people's emotions and true nature showed most clearly. Hoshino watched in silence.
But after failing to console Sudo, Sotomura quietly turned his hopeful gaze toward Hoshino.
Hoshino had somehow managed to get his hands on that many points, so perhaps he could find a way to save Sudo. As Sudo's friend, Sotomura didn't want him to be expelled just like that.
Although he'd worked with Sotomura for a while, that didn't mean they were close enough for Hoshino to help him with anything. Besides, Hoshino had already paid him; he didn't owe Sotomura anything. Hoshino ignored Sotomura's gaze and turned his attention elsewhere.
"Hoshino, can you come out for a moment?" Horikita returned to the classroom, opened the door, and looked at Hoshino from the doorway with some surprise.
There must have been a problem with Chabashira-sensei! Hoshino couldn't imagine how Sudo's situation had anything to do with him.
"...Okay..." Though puzzled, Hoshino obediently followed her out. It was better to find out what was going on sooner rather than later.
"What did you call me out for?" On the rooftop, Hoshino looked at Chabashira-sensei and Ayanokoji beside her in confusion. Horikita followed him up and closed the rooftop door.
"To put it simply, we want to buy back the three points Sudo lost in English. It's 100,000 personal points per point, and we don't have enough. Chabashira-sensei said you might be able to help."
Horikita walked over, and all three of them turned their eyes to Hoshino.
"Chabashira-sensei?" Hoshino looked at her in confusion. He didn't understand why she seemed to want to help Sudo after all. It didn't fit with the way she'd acted before.
"Hoshino, do you think Sudo needs to be saved?" Chabashira-sensei turned to look at the sky, a lit cigarette between her fingers.
"Objectively speaking, it'd definitely be better to keep Sudo in the class." Hoshino thought it over briefly, unsure what Chabashira-sensei was trying to pull.
"...Then I know you have enough points to keep Sudo here!"
"What do I get out of it?" With Ayanokoji and Horikita both present, Hoshino couldn't ask about some things, so he stuck to what he could bring up for now.
"It'll increase the Class Points you get in the future!..."
Hoshino was speechless. He almost wanted to tear into Chabashira-sensei. She really knew how to dangle a carrot!
"That won't convince me. Besides, Chabashira-sensei, if you really want to save Sudo, you can do it yourself."
As the homeroom teacher, and someone who didn't look like she'd only just started teaching this year, Chabashira-sensei must have a substantial number of personal points of her own. A mere 300,000 would be easy enough to come up with discreetly!
"Show them how many points you have. I can grant you any one request within my authority!"
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