The Midterm Exams Ended, and Chaos Ensued

The days that followed were peaceful.

Nothing major happened.

Of course, little things kept cropping up.

From what Yuki Gyakukai had heard, after the blow he'd taken last time, Ken Sudō seemed to have become less obsessed with basketball.

Instead, he started asking the better students in class for help and studying on his own.

The change left quite a few people in Class D dumbfounded.

After all, it was the first time they'd seen a hopeless student who used to act like a delinquent humbly asking the better students for help.

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji knew that Class D had been set up and that there was a way to turn things around, but he chose not to act.

After all, whether anyone in Class D dropped out had nothing to do with him.

As for Sae Chabashira's threats to expel students, he'd looked into them a little.

He'd learned that the school had no authority to force a student out unless they withdrew voluntarily or were expelled as a result of a Special Exam.

That made Sae Chabashira's threat of expulsion fall apart.

So Kiyotaka Ayanokoji reasonably concluded that he didn't need to do anything.

After all, none of it mattered to him, a person pretending to be an ordinary student.

Whether someone in the class dropped out or Sae Chabashira wanted to move up to a higher class...

It had...nothing to do with him...

Kikyou Kushida and Suzune Horikita had finally added each other as friends, too.

But the two still hadn't said a word to each other, just as they hadn't during the previous month.

The only change between them was that they now had each other's contact information. Beyond that, they had no interaction at all.

At dusk, Ryuen Kakeru emerged from the library and glanced curiously at Yuki Gyakukai.

"Tomorrow's the last day, so what exactly is your plan?

"I still don't know what it is. Back in the private room, all you gave me was a rough outline. Tell me now. Class D will have someone dropping out the day after tomorrow, so I'd at least like to feel like I was involved."

Walking beside him, Yuki Gyakukai took a stack of Past Exam Papers from his bag and tossed them to Ryuen Kakeru.

"Tch, I was going to handle it myself, but since you want to feel involved, take these Past Exam Papers to the Student Council and report them."

He glanced down at the time.

"Go now, but hurry. I've already talked to Manabu Horikita.

"When you get there, just say the exam was unfair or whatever. You'll understand what happens tomorrow."

Ryuen Kakeru took the Past Exam Papers and rubbed his chin.

"I knew you'd come up with something like this, but I didn't expect you to have even bought off the student council president. You really have your fingers in every pie."

"Why are you still yapping? Get going."

Ignoring Ryuen Kakeru's nonsense, he waved him away impatiently.

"Hey, Gyakukai, what about our class's exam tomorrow?

"You don't really think the people in Class C will do well just because they got tutoring from Class A, do you?"

Yuki Gyakukai looked up from his phone in surprise and met Ryuen Kakeru's gaze.

The strange look made Ryuen Kakeru frown. He stared back, clearly annoyed.

"I asked you a question."

"Ryuen Kakeru, I thought you'd figured it out. The passing score is half the class's total score divided by the number of students. I didn't think you were still imagining that everyone in Class C could pass on their own merits."

"You mean everyone should score low?"

"Aren't you the tyrant of Class C? Is it really so hard to make everyone score low?"

"Heh... Thanks to you, we probably won't get many Class Points this time."

Hearing Ryuen's remark, Yuki Gyakukai was at a loss for words.

"Compared to losing 200 Class Points for every student who drops out, earning at least a few points isn't worth it?"

The next day.

The midterm exams began.

Most of Class D was brimming with confidence because they'd memorized the answers inside and out.

Of course, a few were nervous. The answers had been handed out quite a while ago, but they'd kept putting off studying. Some had stayed up all night memorizing them just hours before the exam.

They'd be expelled if they failed the midterm, so they had every reason to be nervous.

Once everyone in Class D had taken their seats, the exam's tense atmosphere inevitably enveloped the room.

Sae Chabashira, the homeroom teacher of Class D, walked into the classroom with a stack of papers, her expression dark.

Looking at the rows of adorably foolish students in their seats, she thought they were utterly stupid.

They still hadn't realized they'd been manipulated.

As she handed out the exam papers, she glanced at Kiyotaka Ayanokoji and Suzune Horikita, her gaze tinged with disappointment.

"What...!"

The moment the students of Class D saw the questions, they rubbed their eyes in disbelief and checked again.

Hirata stared at the exam paper on his desk, his expression grim.

The questions weren't difficult, and he could answer them, but that didn't mean everyone in Class D could.

Just as he opened his mouth to say something, Sae Chabashira's cool voice rang out.

"Begin the exam. No talking or cheating. Anyone who breaks the rules will have their score for this exam canceled and will be considered to have failed!"

With no choice, they lowered their heads and gripped their pens, deliberately answering only some of the questions to keep their scores low.

They had to make sure the students who'd been on the verge of failing last time passed, while also making sure they passed this exam themselves.

Some of the other students in class shared the same idea and deliberately kept their scores down.

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji went without saying, but since he'd acted strangely last time, he deliberately added ten points to his score this time, bringing it to sixty for this exam.

As for the other high achievers, they wrote down every answer they knew without a second thought.

Some didn't care about their classmates, while others desperately wanted this exam to make the underachievers in the class drop out.

Under that pressure, the students who usually did poorly felt utterly miserable.

They felt like tearing up their papers, but none of them did.

At last, the final exam ended.

Haruki Yamauchi, leader of the three-man group that always hung out in the back room, kicked aside his chair and slammed his desk.

The loud bang startled everyone, already exhausted from the exam. They all looked at him with disgust.

Haruki Yamauchi hadn't studied the Past Exam Papers properly from the start, but now it was clear that the exam questions were different. That wasn't his fault.

So he had plenty of nerve as he glared at Yousuke Hirata.

"Hirata, this isn't what you promised! You said the midterm would use the Past Exam Papers!

"I memorized all the answers overnight, so why were the exam questions completely different?!"

The other underachievers, who were already feeling insecure like Haruki Yamauchi, also vented their frustration at Yousuke Hirata.

"Hirata, are you on Kōenji's side? Do you want the rest of us to drop out too?"

"I can't believe I trusted you! You hypocrite!"

Sitting at his desk with his back to the others, Yousuke Hirata wore a dark expression.

He admitted that he was partly to blame for the exam, and felt guilty for betraying everyone's trust.

He also saw how divided the class was, with different groups pushing one another away.

And someone might drop out tomorrow. That was the last thing he wanted to see...

Seeing Yousuke Hirata keep his back turned and say nothing, Haruki Yamauchi and the others took it as a sign of guilt. They jeered even louder, until their anger boiled over and they started hurling insults.

Meanwhile, Kei Karuizawa's group of gyaru friends began defending Yousuke Hirata.

They hadn't benefited from the exam either, but all the same, there were plenty of reasons for them to dislike Haruki Yamauchi and the others.

The rest of the class began stirring the pot.

Just as Class D was descending into chaos—

Bang!!!

Yousuke Hirata stood up and slammed his fist down on the desk. The deafening impact silenced the classroom for a moment.

He turned around and faced everyone, his expression dark.

"Enough!"