The Forty-Fifth Chapter: Sudo Is Expelled, but It's Not Over Yet

Chabashira Sae looked at him coldly, as if he were a clown throwing a tantrum.

She began to explain at an unhurried pace. "The academy's passing grade isn't a fixed 60."

Her voice was as cold and mechanical as ever. "It's set at half the average score for that subject across the entire grade, rounded to the nearest whole number."

She pointed at the figures on the classroom whiteboard. "The average score across the grade on this midterm was 79.6.

"Half of that is 39.8. Rounded to the nearest whole number, the passing grade is... 40."

Her gaze returned to Ken Sudō's pale face, and she pronounced each word like a judge delivering a verdict.

"Your total score was 39. Exactly one point below the passing grade."

"Thirty-nine... forty..." Ken Sudō repeated the numbers mechanically, as if he couldn't understand what they meant.

The panic and anger on his face were quickly swallowed up by overwhelming fear. His hands and feet began to tremble uncontrollably, and beads of cold sweat formed on his forehead.

"How could this...? I memorized the answers... How could I be one point short...? No... This can't be..."

He spoke incoherently, as if the whole world were collapsing before his eyes.

Chabashira Sae's tone remained completely even, almost indifferent.

"Though we didn't spend much time together, thank you for your efforts.

"After school, I'll be in my office to give you your expulsion notice."

"Ex... expulsion notice?" Ken Sudō's mind went blank. Those two words alone echoed wildly through his head.

Expelled? Over a single point? Even after he'd memorized the answers, he'd still fallen one point short?

A crushing sense of absurdity and despair overwhelmed him. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

He stood rooted to the spot, his face ashen, like an empty shell with its soul torn away.

"Teacher!"

Hirata Yosuke, sitting in the front row, could no longer bear to stay seated. He sprang to his feet, his face full of urgency and disbelief.

He bowed deeply to Chabashira Sae, his voice trembling with emotion. "Teacher! Please... Is there really nothing we can do?

"Sudō may have... may have just made a mistake this time, or... or could there have been an error in the grading?

"Could you... could you give him another chance? Even a makeup exam would be fine!"

He had always held to the belief that the class should stick together and never give up on anyone.

Seeing Ken Sudō standing there, utterly lost, filled him with sympathy and anxiety.

"If you fail the exam, there's nothing more to discuss."

Chabashira Sae's tone was firm, leaving no room for negotiation. "The rules are the rules. There are no makeup exams and no second chances."

"But, teacher!"

Kikyo Kushida stood up too. Her eyes had reddened slightly, and she braced both hands on the desk, her voice full of frustration and pleading.

(Face-changing doesn't cost beans; Kushida's a national server veteran.)

"Just because of a 0.2-point difference—a single point after rounding... Sudō's going to be expelled?

"This... this is too cruel! Can't we think of another way? Or..."

"The school rules are the school rules. They must be followed."

Chabashira Sae cut her off, her icy gaze sweeping over Kikyo Kushida.

It swept over the other students below, too, many of whom looked reluctant or uncertain. "Give up. Class meeting's over."

Her gaze finally drifted toward the back of the classroom, pausing for the briefest, almost imperceptible moment on a figure leaning by the window.

Then she looked away, no longer sparing anyone a glance. She turned, her high heels tapping crisply and decisively against the floor.

She walked to the classroom door, opened it, and left without looking back.

Click.

The door closed softly, temporarily shutting the suffocating despair inside the classroom.

After Chabashira Sae left, the classroom fell into dead silence.

It was heavier and more oppressive than the silence while they had waited for their scores.

The only sounds were Ken Sudō's rough, ragged breathing and the faint, ordinary bustle of the world outside—the noise coming from the other classes.

Kushida stood where she was, looking toward the door Chabashira Sae had left through, then back at Ken Sudō, who remained frozen in shock.

She looked at the silent classmates around her, 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 note of urgency and pleading, she broke the unsettling silence.

"Everyone... do you really think... this is okay?"

Her voice rang out in the quiet classroom, unusually clear and almost grating.

"If this goes on... Sudō really will be expelled!

"Are we really just going to... stand by and watch? We're one class!"

Her gaze swept over Hirata Yosuke, Kei Karuizawa, Kanji Ike, and Haruki Yamauchi, then over Suzune Horikita and Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, and finally toward Lin Mu, who seemed completely uninvolved in the back row.

But the only response 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, confusion, and uncertainty.

Of course they didn't want to see a classmate expelled, especially over such an "unfair" single point.

But... Chabashira-sensei's attitude had been so firm, and the academy's rules were written in black and white. What could they do? Protest?

They didn't even have any Class Points. What grounds did they have to protest? Beg? Did Chabashira Sae seem like the sort of person who would soften?

Hirata Yosuke furrowed his brow and clenched his fists on his knees. He was clearly racking his brain, but he couldn't come up with anything.

Suzune Horikita's face was cold, and her eyes held even a trace of indifference, as if to say, "He brought this on himself."

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji kept his head lowered, his expression impossible to read. Kanji Ike and Haruki Yamauchi hunched their shoulders and didn't dare speak.

Nobody said a word. Nobody knew what to do.

They could only remain silent.

They could only let the cold shadow of "expulsion," like a rising tide, slowly swallow Ken Sudō as he stood frozen beside his desk.

It spread to every corner of the classroom, too, extinguishing the flame of hope that had just been kindled by their "decent exam results" in the icy depths of despair.

Lin Mu leaned against his seat and crunched the last hard bit of his lollipop, feeling the last hint of sweetness disappear from his tongue.

He watched the tragedy unfold before him, calmly observing everyone's reactions without the slightest stir of emotion. He even found it a little boring.

Just as expected.

He'd seen this outcome long ago—or rather, that "answer sheet" was less a lifeline than a sieve for separating the capable from the incapable.

Anyone who could copy straight from the answers and still fall below the passing grade might never have belonged in the plans of this "meritocratic" academy in the first place.

Ken Sudō's expulsion seemed inevitable.

But... was it really?

Lin Mu's gaze drifted, seemingly by chance, toward the unremarkable boy nearby who still had his head lowered—Kiyotaka Ayanokoji.

He remembered that the vision of the future had hinted at a few... small aftershocks surrounding this midterm exam.

Never mind. It had nothing to do with him anyway.

All he needed to do was make sure his score was well above the grade average.

As for the rest, he'd wait and see.

After all, the show might not be over just yet.

(Event period: May 1 to May 5)