Let's trust him for now

"Few of you are absent today. It seems you're all pretty confident about this exam."

Teacher Chazhu said as she walked into the classroom with the test papers.

Today was the official Midterm Exam. Everyone in the class had shown up—even Takagahara, who sat next to Mu Tianchen, wasn't slumped over his desk asleep for once.

"I've already emphasized that anyone who fails this exam will be expelled. Is there anything you'd like to say before then?"

Teacher Chazhu looked around the class and continued, as if asking soldiers about to head into battle for their last words.

"Teacher Kozaki, we've all been studying hard lately~" Ike said with a cheeky grin, even calling Teacher Chazhu by name.

"Ike, if I remember correctly, you only got 25 points on the last quiz, didn't you?" Chabashira Sae asked in response, without getting angry.

"Th-That was just because I didn't do well that time. This time, I'm going to show everyone what I can really do. I'll get a high score—no, a perfect score!"

"A perfect score? That's quite a boast." Teacher Chazhu clearly looked unconvinced.

"I'm confident I'll get a high score too," Yamauchi chimed in.

"Yeah, yeah! We're not idiots. We're all confident we'll get high scores this time."

"This time, we'll show those other classes what Class D can do!"

As more and more students who usually did poorly spoke up, Chabashira Sae couldn't help feeling a little doubtful. After all, their confident expressions seemed genuine.

She couldn't believe that these underachievers had changed so much in such a short time. Had that person really done something after all...?

With a bet on the line, it looked like she'd have to pay up this time...

However, she noticed that Sudo, who usually got along well with Ike and Yamauchi, hadn't said a word. He sat silently with his head in his hands, looking rather out of character.

"If you get good results on this exam, I'll take you all on a vacation to an island."

Seeing how confident everyone was, Chabashira Sae promptly dangled a tempting reward in front of them.

Summer was just around the corner. They could feel the gentle sea breeze and lounge on the beach, surrounded by countless beautiful sights...

It was the kind of life high school students could only dream of...

"Is that true, Teacher Kozaki?"

"You're not messing with us, are you?"

One student looked wary. Teacher Chazhu had tricked them once before over points, and common sense told him he'd better be careful.

"Of course it's true. I have no reason to lie to you."

"Th-That's great!"

"Everyone, let's give it our all!"

The boys immediately gave off a rather intimidating aura, and Shinohara shot Ike a scornful look.

These guys were way too easy to fool. This was exactly the same routine as last time. Mu Tianchen covered his forehead with his hand and couldn't help sighing.

Maybe it was some kind of test again...

"Teacher, may I ask a question?" Beauty Bro spoke up for once, standing to ask.

"Go ahead, Takagahara."

"Will it just be our class going, or will we go together with the other classes?"

"Well, I suppose we'd go together with the other classes. The school does like group activities."

"Good. I have my answer." Takagahara seemed to have gotten the answer he wanted, and pulled out his chair to sit down.

Most of the class didn't understand why Takagahara had asked that, but most of them didn't care to find out.

After all, Takagahara had always been a weirdo.

So it was another group exam...

As the exam bell rang, the test papers were handed out.

Mu Tianchen glanced over his paper. Just as he'd expected, the questions were from the Past Exam Papers, and even the order was the same.

If they'd studied hard yesterday, they were sure to get high scores...

Most of the students around him began scribbling away as soon as they got their papers. He started answering the questions too.

The remaining exam subjects were all the same: every question came straight from the Past Exam Papers, and the students found them quite easy.

Before they knew it, only the final English exam remained.

During the break, most of the students chatted about how simple and easy the exams had been, their faces bright with smiles.

Sudo was the only one acting strangely. He pulled out the Past Exam Papers they'd been given earlier and began looking through them.

"Sudo, how did you do?" Kushida seemed to notice something was off and went over to ask him.

"Sudo?" Seeing that he looked troubled and hadn't answered, Kushida asked again.

"Huh? S-Sorry, I was looking at the questions and didn't notice you." As he answered, Sudo flipped through the English exam paper in his hands, looking terribly flustered.

"Sudo, did you not look at the questions yesterday?"

"Yeah, Kushida even went out of her way to remind you yesterday."

Ike and Yamauchi, who had been chatting nearby, noticed something was wrong with Sudo and came over.

"Ah, I was so tired from training yesterday that I accidentally fell asleep."

"What! You fell asleep? You'll be expelled if you fail this exam!" Ike said loudly, exasperated by Sudo's answer.

His raised voice drew more and more people's attention, including Horikita and Mu Tianchen.

"Sudo, did you only skip the English questions, or did you skip all of them?" Kushida asked with concern.

"Just English."

"That's good, but there are only ten minutes left."

"Ugh." Sudo grew even more frantic at that and let out a heavy sigh.

Horikita started toward him, but Mu Tianchen reached out to stop her.

"What do you mean?" Horikita asked, eyeing Mu Tianchen warily, puzzled.

"Doesn't Sudo have excellent eyesight? Let him cheat."

"Cheat? Are you joking? It's against the rules. He could be expelled on the spot."

Horikita's voice turned stern at the mention of cheating. Fortunately, most of the class's attention was on Sudo, and no one noticed them.

"Then tell me: does what we did with the Past Exam Papers count as cheating?"

"Th-That's... But Teacher Chazhu is proctoring, and there are cameras here."

"That's why I brought up his eyesight. He can look at the answers of the people around him. As long as he doesn't leave behind evidence like a cheat sheet, it'll be fine."

"But..."

Seeing Horikita waver, Mu Tianchen continued, "I don't think the school would take this sort of thing especially seriously. Otherwise, they wouldn't have given us the Past Exam Papers."

"As for Teacher Chazhu, even if she catches him, I don't believe she'd report him to the school."

"Why do you say that?"

"Don't worry about it. Tell Sudo. I'll handle Teacher Chazhu." After saying that, Mu Tianchen returned to his seat.

"You really are a weirdo."

If she hadn't seen his astonishing number of points in Teacher Chazhu's office last time, Horikita never would have gone along with something like this. For now, she'd just have to trust him.