"Senior, I've already told you the plan. Are you going to give it to me or not? Besides, I never said I wanted to come first. I'll take second place. Sakayanagi Arisu will be first."
"Huh?" Kiryuin was even more confused now. She could understand arranging for someone to come first—she could do that herself—but how could anyone arrange for someone to come second?
And third, too?
This...
Could the teachers manipulate the exam scores?
"Senior?"
"Fine, no problem. I'll give it to you." Kiryuin Fuka answered casually, still wondering how she was supposed to pull off something like that.
The next day.
Yagami Shizuka successfully got all of Kiryuin Fuka's exam papers and took clear photos of every one.
Then he rewrote the questions on a tablet, editing them as he went.
[Hahahaha! Were you calling for me? You want me to find every question on the exam for you? I have to say, you're pretty bold—but I like it.]
[For a genius like Sakayanagi Arisu, all she needs to do is review a few question types she hasn't seen before and a few key long-answer questions.]
[Come on, turn to page five of your math textbook, second section. Circle this—there's a line here that'll be on the test.]
[Next question... Draw a circle around this. It'll be on the test!]
Yagami spent the entire night organizing the practice questions he'd compiled, then sent them to Sakayanagi Arisu.
Sakayanagi Arisu: What's this?
Yagami Shizuka: A review guide for the midterms. I hope you'll go through all of it.
Sakayanagi Arisu: I can do well even without this.
Yagami Shizuka: No, no, you have to look at it—and be able to solve every question. I need you to come first.
Sakayanagi Arisu: I can come first without any of this! Got it?
Yagami Shizuka: How about we stroll around the shopping street after the exams, then go sing karaoke together?
Sakayanagi Arisu: Okay!
Yagami Shizuka: Then first, do all the practice problems I sent you and check your answers.
Sakayanagi Arisu: Okay!
All set.
Back in the library, Horikita Suzune had made up with the idiot trio again. Their motivation to study came from Kushida Kikyo's promise: "Whoever gets the highest score gets to go on a date with me."
Those words had gotten them so fired up that they'd studied eagerly for two whole days.
They'd gone from struggling with basic arithmetic to making a little progress.
No matter how difficult the first-year material was, it had its limits. If they followed Horikita Suzune's study plan and worked hard, they could at least learn the basics.
That day, the group finished studying at noon and left in high spirits. Horikita Suzune was about to get up when Shiina Hiyori called out to her. "Horikita Suzune, could I ask you to wait a moment?"
"You know me?" Horikita Suzune had no intention of stopping. She remembered this girl as an avid reader who spent every day in the library.
"Yes. I've heard others mention your name."
"Oh. I have to go. My time is precious." Horikita Suzune picked up her bag and stood to leave.
"If you're willing to hear me out, your classmates can be saved," Shiina Hiyori said gently.
Horikita Suzune stopped. She said nothing, merely glancing at her from the corner of her eye.
"It's like this: there's someone who can help you. He can save your classmates, but he says you'll need to pay points for his information. Would you like to meet him?"
Horikita Suzune usually wouldn't believe or bother with something like this. But if there really was a way to help and she missed it, she'd regret it.
"I have his contact information. I can ask him to come over right now. Could you wait a little? It won't take too much of your time."
Horikita Suzune frowned, then sat down. "Fine. I'll wait a bit. If he hasn't arrived in five minutes, I'll have to leave."
"Okay." Shiina Hiyori sat beside her with her book, and they waited together.
Before long, Yagami Shizuka arrived. He walked over and held out his right hand to Horikita Suzune. "Hello, Horikita Suzune. It's nice to meet you. I'm Yagami Shizuka from Class A."
Horikita Suzune looked at his hand, then at his face, before turning away without doing anything.
Yagami Shizuka knew she wasn't easy to deal with, so he didn't take it personally. He sat down too. "I think you understand that getting those few to pass in such a short time will be extremely difficult. I have information that can help them pass. Do you want to hear it?"
Horikita Suzune still said nothing.
This was getting a little hard to discuss.
"My demand isn't much. Just pay me twenty thousand points, and I can guarantee they'll pass." Yagami Shizuka took out his phone, set it to payment mode, and placed it on the table.
"You haven't told me anything, and you want me to pay you twenty thousand points? Are you sure you think I'll give it to you?" Horikita Suzune finally spoke.
Yagami Shizuka tried to reassure her. "Don't rush. Hear me out first. If you pay and I don't help you, you can ask for a refund. And I won't leave you with nothing for your points—I can also give you some other information.
"It's not that I need those twenty thousand points. I just want you to understand that nobody helps you for no reason. There needs to be a reason, and the reason is points.
"In other words, if I helped you outright, you wouldn't believe me anyway, would you?"
Yagami Shizuka continued, "You know it yourself. With so little time, no matter how much you focus on the basics, it won't be enough to get them safely over the passing mark."
There are only ten days left until the exam. Think it over.
This exam is worth 100 Class Points. If you get those points, your class will receive 400,000 personal points this month. Without my information, one of your classmates might get expelled, and your Class Points will stay at zero.
Do you understand what I mean? Even if I were trying to scam you, I wouldn't ask for such a small amount of points."
"If your information is wrong, I'll make you regret it." Horikita Suzune threatened him as she completed the payment, then glared at Yagami Shizuka. Her stare made him uncomfortable.
"Good. Now that you've paid, I'll give you one free piece of information first. This one's on me." Yagami Shizuka brought up a table of exam topics and showed it to her.
"First, the topics covered by the exam have changed. None of you know about it. Given your current situation, you're going in completely the wrong direction. All your effort will be wasted."
"What did you say?" Horikita Suzune snatched Yagami Shizuka's phone. Her eyes nearly bulged out. "Th-this can't be possible. Chabashira-sensei never told us."
She wanted to check whether it was true right away.
"Don't get worked up yet. Hear me out first. You can check afterward.
"Chabashira-sensei is actually trying to help you. As for why, you can ask me later. There's no point explaining it now—you wouldn't understand."
Yagami Shizuka continued, "There's a shortcut to this exam. You don't have to take it step by step. The school wouldn't give you an exam you couldn't pass.
"For example, the first month was actually a test of awareness. The point was to see how well each class could gather information. But all of you turned in blank papers, which was the same as not taking the exam at all, because you never thought to gather any information.
"This month, it still looks like an exam, but what it's really testing is your ability to think. The topics changed ages ago, and none of you noticed.
"The other classes weren't told by their teachers either. Their students figured it out for themselves.
"The school had decided on the real exam questions from the beginning. It didn't change them at the last minute, but it deliberately set a trap for you.
"Clearly, it never occurred to you that the topics might change."
He paused, then continued patiently. "You can't blame your teacher for that. The information you have on a battlefield isn't always accurate, either. The enemy's tactics can change at any moment.
"Even if they changed on the day of the exam, it wouldn't be surprising.
"But your homeroom teacher must have given you a hint. An exam that awards Class Points like this is definitely not an ordinary exam.
"The most important thing in an exam like this is to use your heads."
Before you continue