Quiz

"Quiet down, all of you!"

Teacher Chazhu walked into the classroom before class had even started and immediately stopped the students who were fooling around.

She seemed different from usual today. Normally, she only came in right as the school bell rang, clearly unwilling to teach even one extra minute. But today...

"What's going on, Teacher Chazhu?"

A boy sitting in the front row was the first to ask.

"Since the end of the month is approaching, we'll have a short quiz today." After answering, Teacher Chazhu looked over the class, fixing a stern gaze on the students who hadn't returned to their seats.

"A test? The handbook never said there'd be a test near the end of the month!"

"Exactly! We haven't even had time to study. That's so unfair."

Ike and Yamauchi grumbled when they heard there would be a test.

"Don't worry. This test is just a diagnostic assessment, only meant as a reference. It won't show up on your report cards, and there won't be any punishment, so relax."

Hearing that, Mu Tianchen sensed something was off again. Under normal circumstances, if there was a test, there would certainly be a score, and wouldn't that score be reflected on the report card?

She had even gone out of her way to emphasize that it wouldn't show up on their report cards.

So what was the point of this test?

How should he put it... It gave him the feeling that it would show up somewhere other than their report cards.

After all, when she'd explained the points the school gave them, she'd acted the same way. She always seemed to deliberately mislead people, but would leave behind a few subtle clues.

"You noticed it too, Desk Buddy?" Takagahara suddenly turned around and looked at Mu Tianchen.

Could he read minds? Or had Mu Tianchen been too obvious while thinking just now? Mu Tianchen was a little puzzled by Beauty Bro turning around to speak to him.

"N-no... I just thought that if that were the case, this test wouldn't mean anything."

"Hahaha, let's say that's what you thought." After hearing Mu Tianchen's answer, Takagahara turned back around and continued combing his hair in the mirror.

Beauty Bro had definitely noticed something too, but his actions could be pretty baffling sometimes. Then again, he was a strange person to begin with.

"Can we cheat, Teacher Kozaki? Or turn in a blank paper? I don't know any of this stuff."

Yamauchi spoke up again, completely ignoring the disdainful looks everyone around him was giving him.

After all, saying something like that out loud was a bit...

"Cheating is of course forbidden. I'll be supervising this test myself. As for whether you want to turn in a blank paper, that's up to you. All right, pass out the papers!"

After answering Yamauchi, Teacher Chazhu checked the time. It was about time, so she handed the test papers to the students in the first row and had them pass them back.

She'd emphasized that the test wasn't important, but she still wouldn't allow cheating. Wasn't that contradictory?

Given her usual behavior, she should have turned a blind eye to this test too.

After all, she'd barely paid attention to them during class before.

That made it seem like they should take this test seriously after all.

When the bell rang,

the test began.

After getting his paper, Mu Tianchen gave it a quick look. Sure enough, most of the questions covered material the teachers had emphasized in class, so it should be easy to get a high score.

But as he worked through it, he noticed something very unusual: the last few questions on the paper.

Compared to the rest, these questions were clearly out of the ordinary. Mu Tianchen wasn't exactly a top student, but it wasn't as if he usually had no idea how to approach a question.

It was obvious they hadn't learned this material.

Mu Tianchen decided not to bother with them. He couldn't answer them anyway, so he instinctively glanced at Beauty Bro to see how he was reacting to the questions, only to find...

He was already asleep at his desk, even drooling!

That was so like him...

He still wanted to see how Ayanokouji was doing, but Teacher Chazhu had already turned her gaze toward him when he looked over at Beauty Bro.

She fixed her eyes on him. This was a test where cheating wasn't allowed, but... Mu Tianchen wasn't a telescope. Looking over couldn't possibly let him copy the answers?!

Or had Teacher Chazhu already started paying attention to him?!

After all, the number of points on his phone was rather unusual for a Class D student who'd been at the school for less than a month.

And the teachers might have access to something that let them check every student's points.

Feeling uncomfortable under Teacher Chazhu's stare, Mu Tianchen decided to rest his head on the desk and sleep until the test was over.

Her rule had only been that cheating wasn't allowed. As long as he didn't disturb anyone, he could do whatever he wanted.

Otherwise, Beauty Bro wouldn't have gone straight to sleep...

The same thing happened in the next few subject tests. The questions at the beginning were easy and straightforward.

The questions at the end were still about things they seemed never to have learned.

Now Mu Tianchen was sure of his theory: the tests had been deliberately designed this way!

The reason was obvious: they were meant to identify students with real ability.

If someone could answer correctly when none of the students had learned the material, then their ability spoke for itself.

But this seemed to be more of a way to alert the teachers. The students couldn't know how their classmates had done unless someone had an especially outstanding score or they discussed it privately.

The result was a way to help the teachers identify talented students early.

Thinking about it, Mu Tianchen began to wonder.

Was there competition among the teachers too, not just among the students? Otherwise, they wouldn't have deliberately used a method like this.

But over the past few weeks, Teacher Chazhu had always given the impression that she couldn't be bothered: she was more eager to leave school than they were, deliberately spoke in riddles about the rules, encouraged them to spend money, and so on.

She didn't seem at all interested in leading the class to the top.

Forget it. Maybe she was just too disappointed in them. After all, the school had labeled them the worst class, Class D, from the very start.

And they hadn't been doing well these past few days, either. There were hardly any self-disciplined students in the entire class. It was only natural for her to give up on them.

Mu Tianchen came up with a fairly reasonable excuse for Teacher Chazhu in his mind.

After the test ended, Mu Tianchen noticed Kushida looking over at him.

It made sense. Several days had passed since he'd agreed to help her, and during that time, Mu Tianchen hadn't contacted her at all. He hadn't told her that Takagahara wanted proof of the one million points, either.

She was probably getting anxious. The deadline she'd agreed on with Beauty Bro was almost here, too, so it was about time to ask him for his contact information.

As for helping Kushida out this time without asking for anything in return, that was also a step toward building a good relationship with her.

She might come in handy later...