Sae Chabashira stared coldly at him, as if he were a ridiculous clown making a scene.
She explained unhurriedly. "The academy's passing score isn't fixed at 60."
Her voice was as cold as a machine's. "It's set at half the grade-wide average for that subject, rounded to the nearest whole number."
She pointed to the figures on the classroom whiteboard. "The average score for this midterm was 79.6.
Divided by two, that's 39.8. Rounded to the nearest whole number, the passing score is 40."
Her gaze returned to Ken Sudō's ashen face. Each word fell like a judge's sentence.
"And your total score is 39. Exactly one point below the passing score."
"Thirty-nine... forty..." Ken Sudō repeated mechanically, as though he couldn't understand what the numbers meant.
The panic and anger on his face were quickly swallowed by overwhelming fear. His hands and feet began to tremble, and beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
"How could this happen...? I memorized the answers... How could I be one point short...? No... It can't be..."
He rambled incoherently, as if the entire world were crumbling before his eyes.
Sae Chabashira's tone remained utterly calm, even carrying a hint of indifference.
"Though we haven't known each other long, thank you for your efforts.
After school, I'll be in my office to give you your expulsion notice."
"An... an expulsion notice?" Ken Sudō's mind went blank. Only those words echoed frantically in his head.
Expelled? Over a single point? Even after memorizing the answers, he'd still fallen one point short?
A tremendous sense of absurdity and despair overwhelmed him. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
He could only stand there, his face ashen, like an empty shell with its soul ripped away.
"Sensei!"
Yosuke Hirata, seated at the front, could no longer sit still. He stood at once, his face full of urgency and disbelief.
He bowed deeply to Sae Chabashira, his voice trembling with emotion. "Sensei! Please... Is there really nothing we can do?
Sudō might have... might have just made a mistake this time, or... or could there have been an error in the grading?
Could you... could you give him one more chance? Even a retest would be fine!"
He had always believed in uniting the class and never giving up on anyone.
Seeing Ken Sudō standing there, utterly devastated, filled him with concern and anxiety.
"If you fail, there's nothing more to discuss."
Sae Chabashira's tone was firm, leaving no room for compromise. "The rules are the rules. There are no retests and no second chances."
"But, Sensei!"
Kikyo Kushida stood too, her eyes already reddening slightly. She braced her hands on the desk, her voice full of frustration and pleading.
(Changing faces doesn't cost beans; Kushida's the top-tier schemer.)
"Just because of this 0.2-point difference, which becomes one point after rounding... Sudō has to be expelled?
That's... that's too cruel! Can't we think of another way? Or..."
"The school rules are the school rules. They must be followed."
Sae Chabashira cut her off, her cold gaze sweeping over Kikyo Kushida.
It then passed over the other students, many of whom looked troubled or hesitant. "Give it up. This class meeting is over."
Her gaze finally swept, almost imperceptibly, over the back of the classroom, lingering for the briefest instant on a figure beside the window.
Then she looked away, no longer meeting anyone's eyes, and turned. Her heels struck the floor with crisp, decisive clicks.
She walked step by step to the classroom door, opened it, and left without looking back.
"Click."
The door closed softly, temporarily sealing the suffocating despair inside the classroom.
After Sae Chabashira left, the classroom fell into complete silence.
It was heavier and more oppressive than the silence while they'd waited for their scores.
The only sounds were Ken Sudō's ragged, uneven breathing and the faint noise of other classes outside the window—the bustle of the ordinary world.
Kushida stood still, watching the way Sae Chabashira had gone. Then she turned to look at Ken Sudō, still frozen in place.
She glanced at her silent classmates, most of whom had lowered their heads to avoid her gaze.
She took a deep breath and tried to steady her voice. With one last trace of urgency and pleading, she broke the unnerving silence.
"Everyone... Do you really think... this is okay?"
Her voice rang especially clearly in the quiet classroom, almost painfully so.
"If this goes on... Sudō really will be expelled!
Are we really going to... just stand by and watch? We're all in the same class!"
Her gaze swept over Yosuke Hirata, Kei Karuizawa, Kanji Ike, and Haruki Yamauchi, then over Suzune Horikita and Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, and finally even toward Lin Mu, who seemed indifferent in the back row.
But the only answer she received was an even deeper silence.
The students of Class D looked at one another, their faces filled with complicated emotions.
There was sympathy, helplessness, relief that it wasn't them, as well as confusion and uncertainty.
Of course they didn't want to see a classmate expelled, especially over such an "unfair" single point.
But... Chabashira-sensei was so unyielding, and the academy's rules were right there in black and white. What could they do? Protest?
They didn't even have any Class Points. What grounds did they have to protest? Plead? Did Sae Chabashira seem like the sort of person who'd soften?
Yosuke Hirata furrowed his brow and clenched his fists on his knees. He was clearly thinking as hard as he could, but for the moment, he had no ideas.
Suzune Horikita wore a cold expression, her eyes even carrying a hint of indifference that said, "He brought this on himself."
Kiyotaka Ayanokoji still had his head lowered, his expression hidden. Kanji Ike and Haruki Yamauchi hunched their shoulders, not daring to speak.
No one said a word. No one knew what to do.
They could only stay silent.
They let the cold shadow called "expulsion" rise like a swelling tide, slowly swallowing Ken Sudō as he stood frozen beside his seat.
It spread into every corner of the classroom, extinguishing in a pool of despair the flame of hope that had just been kindled by their "decent exam results."
Lin Mu leaned back in his seat and crushed the last hard bit of his lollipop between his teeth, savoring the last trace of sweetness as it vanished from his tongue.
He watched the tragedy unfold and observed everyone's reactions, his heart unmoved. He even found it a little boring.
Just as expected.
He'd "seen" this outcome long ago. Or rather, that "answer key" was less a lifeline than a sieve.
Anyone who could still fall below the passing mark after copying the answers probably hadn't belonged in the plans of this "meritocracy" academy from the start.
Ken Sudō's expulsion seemed all but certain.
But... was it really?
Lin Mu's gaze drifted, as if by chance, toward the inconspicuous boy nearby who still had his head down—Kiyotaka Ayanokoji.
He remembered that in the fragments of his Precognition: Future, the turmoil over this midterm exam seemed to have a few... minor aftershocks.
Never mind. It had nothing to do with him anyway.
All he needed to do was make sure his own score stayed well above the grade average.
As for everything else, he'd wait and see.
After all, the show might not be over yet.
Before you continue