The Meeting Ends

"Oh, come on, Saeko, don't be mad~"

Chie Hoshimiya gently nudged Chabashira Sae beside her.

"This is all your fault..."

"Enough, both of you. Quiet down." Tomoya Mashima interrupted them, pressing a hand to his forehead.

Honestly, those two were something else. They could start arguing at the drop of a hat. They all knew each other, so he couldn't exactly reprimand them, but neither could he just let it go.

Still, he had to say something. The Board of Directors would be watching the meeting recording from beginning to end.

Kazuma Sakagami had no interest at all in what the two of them were arguing about. He didn't even take Class D or Class B seriously.

From the very beginning, he had noticed a promising student in his class: Ryuen Kakeru.

Ryuen was outstanding. He had practically whipped the class into shape on the very first day of school.

Even among the students he had taught before, talent like his was rare.

He was sure Class C would achieve remarkable things under Ryuen's leadership. Naturally, he would help him out a little, as far as the rules allowed.

When they saw Tomoya speak up, Chabashira and Hoshimiya quickly fell silent.

From Chabashira's remarks, Tomoya had more or less guessed why Class D had scored so poorly this time.

Still, judging by past experience, Class D might have been a little lacking, but they shouldn't have lost all their Class Points right from the start.

Some of it was probably Chabashira's fault, too. At the beginning, she couldn't reveal the school's rules, but she could still have given them a few basic pointers.

For instance, she could have told them to pay attention in class and spend their money wisely...

That wouldn't have violated any school rules.

Chabashira had probably failed to do even that. She might even have stirred things up a little...

Well, whatever she did was her business. Tomoya couldn't control that.

But the gap in points between classes had grown too large. He needed to do something about it.

"For the next Midterm Exam, the Board of Directors has decided to use two versions, A and B."

"What do you mean by versions A and B?" Chie asked, puzzled.

"The Midterm Exam will have two different sets of questions, but they'll be about the same difficulty," Tomoya explained.

"I see. But haven't we always used exams that upperclassmen have already taken?"

"That's right. But the Board of Directors has decided that every class except Class A will use the old exams. Class A will get a different exam of equal difficulty."

Tomoya glanced at Chie as he continued.

"Wouldn't that be unfair to Class A?" Chabashira asked.

"It's the Board of Directors' decision, Chabashira. But I don't think it's a bad idea. This will keep them from getting ahead through underhanded means."

"And make sure the results reflect their true abilities."

Chabashira nodded. She didn't quite understand their reasoning, but if it was the Board of Directors' decision, there was nothing she could do.

In all her years teaching at the school, she had never seen the Board of Directors take the initiative to interfere in the competition between classes.

That only went to show how strong this year's Class A was. They were strong enough that even the Board of Directors had stepped in.

"Hmph. Class C doesn't need any handouts."

Kazuma believed the Board of Directors' decision was a handout to the other classes. He angrily slapped the table.

He did want to move up to a higher class, but the Board of Directors' decision left him feeling deeply uncomfortable.

He could practically hear them discussing it:

These first-years are all garbage except for Class A!

Let's take pity on the other classes!

We can't let Class A pull too far ahead of the others. I don't want this year's Class A to turn out like the current second-years.

Just thinking about it made him grit his teeth in anger.

"Enough, Kazuma. The decision's been made. I've already explained it, and whether they can actually make use of this opportunity is another matter."

Tomoya looked at Kazuma calmly. Under his gaze, Kazuma suddenly found himself feeling less angry.

Back when he was a student, Tomoya had often looked at his angry classmates the same way. They usually calmed down quickly under his steady gaze.

That was probably part of his charm as a class leader.

Kazuma lowered his head. Thinking it over, Tomoya did have a point.

In past years, even when students realized that the Midterm Exam used the same questions as previous exams, they were usually from Class A.

Compared with the other classes, Class A had more clever students, so they were also more likely to spot loopholes in the rules.

Once someone suggested telling the others, they could rally more supporters and convince more people to believe them.

It wasn't as if no one in the other classes ever noticed the trick behind the Midterm Exam. A few students did, but they were often unwilling to tell their classmates.

They knew that in a lower-ranked class, even if they told everyone, few people would believe them.

They might even have to deal with a lot of unnecessary trouble.

Unless they could find a way to convince everyone without revealing who they were...

"Oh, I thought this was going to be some way to narrow the gap. It doesn't seem to help Class B much. I'll leave it to you, Saeko."

Chie cheerfully patted Chabashira on the shoulder. Chabashira didn't answer, just shot her an eye roll.

The reason Chie had said that was because she knew that even if Class B learned about the trick, they wouldn't use it under Honami Ichinose's leadership.

Class B had a wonderful atmosphere, and the students all worked hard. To be honest, Chie really liked that class.

But this school wasn't an ordinary one.

In future competitions, a class like that would often be at a disadvantage...

That was why, when she saw Chabashira calling two students to the Counseling Room, she had grown even more uneasy.

After talking to the two students, she had gotten the vague feeling that there was definitely something unusual about them.

It was a kind of intuition she had developed over many years of observing students.

She was worried that, in the future, her class might be overtaken by Chabashira's...

"That's all for today's meeting. I assume none of you are planning to tell the students what we discussed?"

After speaking, Tomoya looked around at the teachers present. They all nodded.

Tomoya trusted them, but the Board of Directors had specifically emphasized this before the meeting, so he had to repeat it.

To be honest, he didn't quite understand why the Board of Directors had done this. Did they really think it would give the other classes a chance to narrow the gap?

In the past, it had always been students from Class A who discovered and used the trick.

The only exception was the class led by Miyabi Nagumo among the current second-years. They had been in Class B.

But the gap in Class Points between the classes hadn't been very large that time, and his class had quickly risen from Class B to Class A.

Step by step, they had widened the gap between themselves and the other classes until they had complete control over the entire second year.

Thinking about it, he wondered if the school had made this decision because they were afraid this year's Class A would widen the gap too much and repeat what had happened with the second-years.

That would make sense.

But...

Would the other classes be able to make the most of this opportunity...?