The Upcoming Midterm Exams

People liked weekends.

Because weekends belonged to them alone.

It was a feeling of freedom.

That didn't mean they had to do anything in particular over the weekend.

On the contrary, weekends felt free precisely because they could do nothing at all.

But in my opinion, Friday, when you were racing toward freedom, was far more enjoyable than actually attaining it.

Today was the first Friday in May, and Class 1-B had been through a lot over the past week.

They had learned about Class Points, carefully planned and allocated their Personal Points under Ichinose's guidance, and discovered that this academy truly operated on the principle of ability above all...

With one event after another, everyone had inevitably felt the pressure mounting.

Taking a moment to relax over the weekend seemed like a good choice.

With two days of vacation ahead of them, most of the class excitedly discussed their plans.

For me, the most important thing this weekend was returning some books to the library.

Should I visit a couple of clubs that interested me, too?

Suddenly, the bell rang...

It was time for the last class of the day.

Chie Hoshinomiya's homeroom.

Ever since she'd introduced the principle of ability above all, Hoshinomiya had stopped showing up in class with her usual carefree attitude.

The woman I'd seen during the first month and the one standing before us now were like two different people.

In other words, school life was only now truly getting started.

Hoshinomiya walked up to the podium with a blank expression and first surveyed the class.

Then she took a poster from the folder she was holding.

It was similar to the one she'd used when announcing the Class Points last time.

"Oh, dear. Why does everyone look so serious? It's Friday!"

"In other words, once this class is over, you can all relax~"

"Why are you all so glum? That won't do. You're all rising suns, so cheer up!!"

She suddenly switched back into her cute mode, which left me a little taken aback.

"Teacher Hoshinomiya, is there something important you need to announce again?"

Shibata rose to his feet and asked, his expression grave.

"Oh, it's just some information about the quiz. There's no need to be so tense."

At that, most of the class breathed a sigh of relief.

If it had been something concerning Class Points or Personal Points again, it would probably have stirred everyone up the most.

Hoshinomiya suddenly spoke in a gentle voice.

"Oh, I mean that these are your quiz scores... not that the quiz is the main thing I'm here to talk about."

The relaxed atmosphere grew tense again.

"At the end of this month, you'll be taking your first-year midterm exams. The purpose of the exams is to assess your academic ability and aptitude. The questions won't go beyond what you've studied."

"That covers the basics. Now, for the important part, so listen carefully. Especially those of you who ranked near the bottom on this quiz. Make sure you understand this. If your midterm score is less than half the class average, you'll be considered to have failed. The consequence is expulsion."

"What!?"

"E-Expulsion!?"

"What the hell...? It's just a midterm exam."

The moment Teacher Hoshinomiya finished speaking, the class erupted into an uproar.

"Everyone! Why don't we wait until Teacher Hoshinomiya has finished before we discuss it?"

Ichinose stood up of her own accord, temporarily quieting the discussion.

Once the room had fallen completely silent, Hoshinomiya pinned the quiz scores to the blackboard.

Each name had a score beside it.

The class average was close to 72. Then, Hoshinomiya picked up a marker from the desk and drew a line through the chart at 36, splitting it in two.

"Congratulations, everyone~ A sizable portion of you have a solid foundation and a serious attitude toward studying. Of course, I'm not saying that those who didn't make the cutoff haven't been putting in effort. Still, if this quiz had been the midterm exam, three of you might have had to say goodbye to our school."

"No way..."

"Teacher Hoshinomiya isn't joking, is she?"

"But it's expulsion..."

Ryota Beppu 91

Ichinose Honami 90

Ryuji Kanzaki 83

Hajime Kashima 72

Shiranami Chihiro 67

Sou Shibata 64

Yui Ninomiya 42

Tetsuya Hamaguchi 39

I wouldn't dwell on the fact that the two most attentive students in class had taken the top spots.

Yui Ninomiya and Tetsuya had only just scraped past the cutoff, but I thought the students hovering around the passing line were in greater danger.

After all, anyone in that range had a good chance of ending up among the failing students.

Rather than hoping to scrape through, they should be more worried about falling into the Failing Group.

In other words, this was a game where you were out if you didn't work hard.

The three members of the Failing Group were:

Kozue Minamikata (female), Makoto Sumida (male), and Norihito Watanabe (male).

I glanced back. Kozue Minamikata's face was pale, while Makoto Sumida stared intently at his score.

If this had been the midterm, they would have had to say goodbye to the school and their class.

They would have become the first students to be eliminated by the school.

"I'll emphasize this again: the exams mainly test your academic ability and judgment. The questions won't go beyond what you've studied. The higher your overall scores, the more they'll benefit you as you pursue Class Points and Personal Points. Any student who fails will be expelled. That's all."

Although the light of the weekend should have been just around the corner, the entire class was silent.

Not even when Teacher Hoshinomiya asked if anyone had questions did anyone stand up.

After all, the exams simply assessed how well students had studied. You got points for answering correctly and none for answering incorrectly.

I was a little surprised that no one had angrily lashed out at the school.

But perhaps what was more discouraging than criticizing the school for setting up this system of rewards and punishments was realizing that you weren't good enough.

As the first exam capable of changing Class Points, students across all the classes seemed to be raring to go.

So, everyone, welcome to the Classroom of the Elite.