End

"Sudo told me that Teacher Chazhu probably found out." Horikita came over to where Mu Tianchen was sitting after school.

"Mm, I know. I'll go talk to her about it." Saying this, Mu Tianchen got up and left the classroom.

Since it wasn't his first time visiting Teacher Chazhu's office, he quickly found the location.

Mu Tianchen lightly knocked on the office door.

"Come in." Teacher Chazhu's voice came from inside. Logically, she should have already left for the day at this hour. So she really was waiting for him on purpose...

Entering, he saw Teacher Chazhu sitting with her legs crossed, a half-smoked cigarette in her hand. Teacher Hoshinomiya's seat from Class B was empty—she must have left shortly after school ended.

"I won't beat around the bush. The idea to let Sudo cheat was yours, wasn't it?" Teacher Chazhu stubbed out her cigarette, her gaze instantly sharpening.

"It was indeed me. Don't tell me you're planning to report it to the school?"

Mu Tianchen certainly didn't believe she would report it. If she wanted to do that, she would have called it out during the exam itself. There was no need to drag it out until now.

"Report it? That wouldn't benefit me much."

"However, as a teacher, I can't just let this slide. It's against the rules, after all." After saying this, she looked at Mu Tianchen thoughtfully.

"Name your price."

"Haha, talking to a smart person is so refreshing. I need 200,000 points as a hush fee."

"No problem. But don't forget our previous agreement." Mu Tianchen took out his phone and transferred 200,000 points to Teacher Chazhu.

"Naturally."

"That agreement is still in effect, you know. As long as you're willing to contribute to the class."

"If there's nothing else, I'll head back." Mu Tianchen ignored Teacher Chazhu's words and turned around.

"Fine. But I should remind you—there are no lucky breaks in this school. This incident was just an exception." Teacher Chazhu's tone suddenly turned serious.

"I know."

The next day was when the exam results were officially announced. As soon as Teacher Chazhu stepped into the classroom, she could feel the unusual atmosphere among the students.

"Teacher Kozaki, I heard the results are coming out today? I want to see how I did, hehe."

"Me too. This might be the best I've ever scored."

"Haha, I can't wait."

The class immediately erupted with chatter.

Teacher Chazhu took it all in, unhurriedly posting the Midterm Exam results on the blackboard.

"Honestly, I'm impressed you all managed such good scores. And congratulations—every single one of you passed."

The students looked at the exam results displayed on the board, each wearing a bright smile.

"Awesome!" Sudo yelled out after seeing his own score. He ranked in the upper-middle range, and even his English scored a surprising 65 points.

Looks like the student in front of him during the exam had memorized the answers pretty well...

"Teacher, did you see that? I told you I just didn't perform well last time, hahaha." Ike flashed a smug grin after checking his score.

"That does seem to be the case. I'll acknowledge your effort a little, then."

"So, Teacher, does that mean we'll get points again next month?"

Since Class D's class points were zero last month, they had been relying on the school's free supplies to survive.

Though they could get by, their quality of life was miserable compared to the first month. Getting points meant they could return to a slightly better life—though not by much...

"Naturally." After answering, Teacher Chazhu pulled another poster from the lectern and pinned it to the blackboard.

Class A: 1000 points

Class B: 700 points

Class C: 580 points

Class D: 100 points

"A full 100-point increase."

"So that means 10,000 points next month."

"We're still at the bottom, but it's not bad."

The students buzzed with discussion as they saw the class point rankings.

If he remembered correctly, last month's points were like this. Mu Tianchen pulled out his old notes and flipped through them.

Class A: 940 points

Class B: 650 points

Class C: 490 points

Class D: 0 points

So the point increases for each class were: Class A up 60, Class B up 50, Class C up 90, Class D up 100.

It seems there's no punishment mechanism for this exam...

Thanks to the Past Exam Papers, Class D achieved the best result this time, earning the highest 100 points.

Meanwhile, Class B, which had fallen behind, still gained 50 points.

According to Mu Tianchen's reasoning, since the school operates on the principle of meritocracy, the rewards should logically have been that the top two classes gain points and the bottom two lose points.

Is it because of a protective mechanism at the start... or is the school doing this deliberately?

Next time, there probably won't be such a good opportunity...

"Horikita, Horikita, thanks for this time."

After class, Sudo came to Horikita's seat and gave a slight bow to express his gratitude.

"It's nothing. This is what I should do."

"What do you mean, 'should do'?" Sudo scratched his head.

"I want to lead the class to Class A. For that goal, I'll do my best to help you all."

"I see... but still, thank you. Of course, next time, I'll work harder to improve my own abilities."

"Mm, actually, I should apologize to you too." Horikita shifted the topic. "I shouldn't have mocked your efforts, or your dream."

"Becoming a professional basketball player is indeed very difficult, but I shouldn't have disrespected you. If you can make changes and strive to improve from now on, you can still succeed."

Horikita's expression didn't change much, but she gave a slight bow.

"Alright, that's all I wanted to say." After apologizing, Horikita left the classroom directly.

Sudo watched her leave, then slowly returned to his seat.

"Hey, hey, did you see that? Horikita actually apologized." Ike, having witnessed the scene, asked Yamauchi.

"Of course I saw it. Maybe Horikita isn't as bad as we thought."

"How about we invite her to a celebration party today, and call Ayanokouji too?" Ike suggested.

"Not a bad idea."

"This mysterious boy, you did pretty well this time." Takagahara smirked as he looked at his deskmate.

"Even if I hadn't acted, others would have stepped up anyway."

There was no need to play dumb with Takagahara; he had probably seen through everything already.

"Hahaha, let's just say that's the case."

"I'm stepping out." Mu Tianchen didn't continue Takagahara's line of talk, turned around, and left the classroom.