Circle This, It Will Be on the Test

"Senior, I've already told you the plan, are you going to give it to me or not? Besides, I didn't say I wanted to take first place; I'm taking second, Arisu Sakayanagi is the one taking first."

"Huh?" Kiryuin was even more bewildered at this moment. She could understand rigging first place—she was capable of that—but how could rigging second place even be possible?

And rigging third place too?

This...

Are the teachers manipulating the exam scores?

"Senior?"

"Fine, no problem, I'll give it to you." Fuka Kiryuin replied offhandedly, still wondering how one would even go about pulling off such a feat.

The next day.

Yagami Shizuka successfully obtained all of Fuka Kiryuin's test papers and took high-resolution photos of every single one.

Then, he recompiled a set of exam questions on his tablet and began making modifications.

[Hahahaha! Are you calling for me? You want me to dig out all the content of the exam papers for you? I have to say, you're quite bold, but I like it.]

[For a genius like Arisu Sakayanagi, you only need to find a few question types she hasn't seen before and a few key major problems for her to preview.]

[Come, come, flip the math textbook to page 5, section two, circle it—there's a line of text here that will be on the test.]

[The next question is... mark this here, it's going to be on the test!]

It took Yagami Shizuka an entire night to organize the questions he had compiled, which he then sent to Arisu Sakayanagi.

Arisu Sakayanagi: What is this?

Yagami Shizuka: A summary of the midterm exam. I hope you can look through all of it.

Arisu Sakayanagi: I could do well even without this.

Yagami Shizuka: No, no, you must look at it, and you must know how to do all of it. I need you to take first place.

Arisu Sakayanagi: I can take first place even without these! Understand?

Yagami Shizuka: How about we stroll through the shopping district after the exam, and then go sing karaoke together?

Arisu Sakayanagi: Okay!

Yagami Shizuka: Then first, do all the practice problems I gave you, and then check your answers.

Arisu Sakayanagi: Okay!

Done.

In the library, Suzune Horikita had once again reconciled with the "three idiots," whose motivation for studying stemmed from Kikyo Kushida's promise that "whoever gets the highest score gets to go on a date with me."

With just that one sentence, they had been studying for two days with the intensity of people pumped full of adrenaline.

They had gone from struggling with basic arithmetic to achieving some small success.

No matter how difficult the first-year curriculum was, it wouldn't exceed a certain limit; as long as they studied diligently according to Suzune Horikita's plan, they could learn the basics.

That day, after finishing their noon study session, the group left happily. Just as Suzune Horikita was about to get up, Hiyori Shiina called out to her, "Student Suzune Horikita, could you please wait a moment?"

"Do you know me?" Suzune Horikita had no intention of stopping; she remembered this girl as someone who loved to read and spent every day in the library.

"Yes, I've heard others mention your name."

"Oh, I have to go. My time is very precious." Suzune Horikita picked up her bag and started to leave.

"If you are willing to listen to me for a few words, your classmates could be saved," Hiyori Shiina said in a very gentle voice.

Suzune Horikita stopped in her tracks. She didn't speak, only glancing at her from the corner of her eye.

"It's like this: there is someone who can help you. He can save your classmates, but he says he needs you to pay points for his information. Would you like to meet him?"

Suzune Horikita usually wouldn't believe or pay attention to such things, but if there really was a way and she missed it, it would be a great regret.

"I have his contact information and can notify him to come over right now. Could you wait a little while? It won't waste much of your time."

Suzune Horikita frowned, then sat back down. "Fine, I'll wait. If he isn't here in five minutes, I'll have to leave."

"Okay." Hiyori Shiina sat down next to her with her book to wait with her.

Not long after, Yagami Shizuka arrived. He walked straight over and extended his right hand to Suzune Horikita. "Hello, Suzune Horikita. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Yagami Shizuka from Class A."

Suzune Horikita looked at his hand, then at his face, before turning her gaze away. She did nothing.

Yagami Shizuka knew she wasn't easy to deal with, so he didn't mind and sat down as well. "I think you are well aware that it would be extremely difficult for them to pass the exams in such a short time. I have information that can help them pass. Would you like to hear it?"

Suzune Horikita still didn't speak.

This was becoming difficult to talk about.

"My requirements aren't much. Just pay me 20,000 points, and I can guarantee they will pass." Yagami Shizuka took out his phone, switched it to payment mode, and placed it on the table.

"You want me to pay 20,000 points without saying a word; are you sure I'd actually give them to you?" Horikita Suzune finally spoke up.

Yagami Shizuka soothed her, "Don't be so hasty. Hear me out. If you pay and I don't end up helping you, you can demand a refund. Besides, I won't let you pay those points for nothing; I can also provide you with some other information."

"It's not that I'm lacking these 20,000 points. I just want you to understand that no one helps others for no reason. There needs to be a justification, and in this case, that justification is points."

"In other words, if I were to help you directly, you wouldn't believe me, would you?"

Yagami Shizuka continued, "You know it yourself. In such a short amount of time, no matter how much you drill the basics, it won't be enough to ensure they safely clear the passing line."

"There are only ten days left until the exam. Think about it."

"This exam is worth 100 class points. If you secure those points, your class will receive 400,000 private points this month. Without my information, you might have students dropping out, and your class points will remain at zero."

"Do you understand what I mean? If I were trying to scam you, I wouldn't be asking for such a small amount of points."

"If your information turns out to be wrong, I'll make you regret it." Horikita Suzune spat out a threat while completing the transfer, then glared at Yagami Shizuka, making him feel quite uncomfortable.

"Fine, since you've paid, I'll give you a piece of information for free. This one is on the house." Yagami Shizuka pulled up a table of the exam subjects and showed it to her.

"First, the scope of the exam subjects has changed. None of you know about it. Given your current situation, it's like trying to head south by driving north; no matter how hard you work, it's all in vain."

"What did you say?" Horikita Suzune snatched Yagami Shizuka's phone, her eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. "This... how is this possible? Chabashira-sensei never told us."

She felt an urgent need to go and verify the truth of this matter right now.

"Don't get so worked up. Listen to me first; it won't be too late to verify it later."

"Chabashira-sensei is actually doing this for your own good. As for the reason, you can ask me again later. It wouldn't make sense to you even if I explained it now."

Yagami Shizuka continued, "There is a shortcut to this exam. You don't have to follow the standard procedure to pass. The school wouldn't give you an impossible exam."

"For instance, the first month was actually a test of perception. It was a competition of each class's ability to gather information, but you all handed in blank sheets. It was as if you didn't participate at all because you never thought to gather information."

"As for this month, it looks like a standard exam, but it's actually testing your wits. The subjects have been changed for quite a while, yet none of you noticed."

"The other classes weren't notified by their teachers either; they discovered it themselves."

"The school determined the real exam questions from the very beginning, not as a last-minute change, but they intentionally set a trap for you."

"It's obvious that you never even considered the possibility that the subjects might change."

He paused for a moment, then continued patiently, "You can't blame your teacher for this. Even on a battlefield, the intelligence you possess isn't guaranteed to be accurate; enemy tactics can change at any moment."

"It wouldn't even be strange if they changed the questions on the day of the exam."

"But your homeroom teacher must have given you a hint. An exam that offers an increase in class points is definitely not a standard test."

"The most important thing in this kind of exam is to use your head."