The Price of a Perfect Score

The math quiz was held during the first period in the afternoon.

When Sae Chabashira walked into the classroom carrying a stack of tests, her gaze seemed to sweep casually over the class, but it lingered on Ayanokoji Kiyotaka for half a second longer.

"Forty minutes, ten questions." Chabashira's voice was as cold as ever. "Anyone who fails will stay after class for extra tutoring."

The tests were handed out. The only sound in the classroom was the soft scratching of pen tips against paper.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka glanced over the questions—function extrema, probability calculations, solid geometry... They might have been difficult for an ordinary high school student, but to Yang Ye, who possessed an adult's mind and had been enhanced by the system, they came as naturally as breathing.

More importantly, the boost to his mental clarity from [Insight (Beginner)] let him instantly see the core concepts and pitfalls behind each question.

He picked up his pen and began answering.

There was no pause, no hesitation. His pen moved smoothly across the page. Anyone watching over his shoulder would have been shocked by how frighteningly concise his solutions were. He skipped every unnecessary step and went straight to the answers.

Twenty minutes later, he put down his pen.

Check his work? There was no need. He knew perfectly well that this test would be a flawless perfect score.

But that raised a problem—turning it in too early would arouse suspicion. Given the average level Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had deliberately maintained in the past, he should take at least thirty minutes and make a few small mistakes on purpose.

"System," he asked silently, "how much extra attention would I attract if I turned it in early?"

[Evaluating... Based on Sae Chabashira's observation habits and the class's usual behavior, turning in the test early would increase the probability of 'being closely watched' by 47%. The host is advised to proceed at the originally planned pace.]

Yang Ye nodded to himself. He needed to show what he could do, but there was no need to reveal too much. In this school, showing all your cards too early was foolish.

He chose to wait, pretending to check his test while observing the others in the classroom.

Suzune Horikita's brows were knitted as she tackled the final geometry proof. Her profile was taut, the typical expression of a perfectionist facing a challenge.

Yosuke Hirata had already finished. He sat quietly, relaxed in posture but alert in gaze, occasionally glancing at a few classmates who were struggling with their studies, as if worried about their progress.

Kushida Kikyo... She seemed to have finished too, wearing an easy smile, but her eyes drifted toward the sports field outside the window. Yang Ye noticed that her scratch paper was unusually neat, with almost no calculations on it. Either she was exceptionally good at mental arithmetic, or...

[Insight (Beginner)] helped him catch a small detail: the edge of Kushida's eraser had faint scratches. Were they a coincidence, or some kind of mark?

The most interesting one was Ken Sudō. The basketball player was scratching his head, sweat beading on his forehead as he stared at the symbols and numbers on his test with an almost desperate expression. Several times he tried to peek at the answers of the student beside him, but each time Chabashira-sensei's sharp gaze forced him to stop.

"According to the original story, Sudō will fail this quiz, then Chabashira will keep him behind for a talk, making him the first 'weak link' in the class to be singled out." Yang Ye thought it over. "But if I intervene..."

[Ping! Side quest triggered: Save a Struggling Classmate.]

[Quest description: Help at least one classmate pass this math quiz and prevent them from becoming an obvious weak link in the class whom the teacher can target.]

[Quest requirement: Complete this without being discovered by the teacher.]

[Quest reward: 'Class Cohesion' points (hidden attribute), awarded according to the number of people helped and the results.]

Perfect timing.

Yang Ye checked the time. Ten minutes remained before the tests had to be turned in. Chabashira-sensei was looking down as she organized her lesson plans. This was a brief opportunity.

He tore off a small piece of scratch paper and quickly wrote down the solution approaches and key formulas for the last two questions—not the full answers, just the steps needed to guide someone through them. Then he crumpled up the paper.

[Insight (Beginner)] came into play once more. He calculated the exact force and angle, then flicked his wrist lightly.

The paper ball traced a low arc and landed precisely beside Ken Sudō's desk, looking as if it had fallen there by accident.

Sudō froze for a moment, glanced down, then looked sharply up at Chabashira-sensei. After confirming she hadn't noticed, he quickly bent down, picked up the paper ball, and unfolded it.

Yang Ye saw his eyes light up. He immediately began scribbling down the answers.

Three minutes later, the bell rang.

"Time's up. Put your pens down." Sae Chabashira stood. "Pass your tests forward, starting from the back."

After collecting the tests, she didn't leave right away. Instead, she stood at the lectern and slowly swept her gaze across the class.

"Your scores on this quiz will be posted tomorrow," she said. "But I can tell you now that some of you clearly weren't prepared for high school."

Her gaze lingered on Ken Sudō and several other students.

Sudō nervously lowered his head.

"Anyone who fails will stay after school." With that, Chabashira left the classroom, carrying the tests.

A chorus of discussion immediately erupted around the room.

"I'm done for. I had no idea how to do the last question..."

"Chabashira-sensei is so strict..."

Ken Sudō sat at his desk, his face pale. He clenched his fists, then relaxed them, doing so several times. At last, he stood and walked over to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

The classroom fell silent for a moment. Everyone remembered the confrontation during yesterday's PE class and assumed Sudō was looking for trouble again.

But to their surprise, Sudō stopped in front of Ayanokoji's desk and said in a low voice, "Um... Thanks."

He said it vaguely, but the gratitude in his eyes was genuine.

"You're welcome," Ayanokoji Kiyotaka replied calmly.

"No, I mean..." Sudō hesitated, then lowered his voice. "That paper ball... Thanks anyway."

With that, he quickly turned and walked away, the tips of his ears a little red.

Many people had witnessed the subtle exchange.

Kei Karuizawa raised an eyebrow with an amused smile, Yosuke Hirata looked thoughtful, and Suzune Horikita frowned, seeming confused by Ayanokoji's decision to help a "bad student."

And Kushida Kikyo... Her smile remained perfect, but her fingers tightened slightly around the strap of her schoolbag.

After school, in the hallway beside the teachers' office.

Sae Chabashira looked at the graded tests in her hands, her brows drawing together in an unusually deep frown.

One perfect score.

The name was Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

She checked every question over and over. There wasn't a single mistake, and his solutions were even more concise and efficient than the answer key. This didn't look like the work of an ordinary high school student. It looked more like the work of an experienced math competition contestant.

The problem was that Ayanokoji's math score on the entrance exam had only been somewhat above average. He definitely hadn't seemed capable of getting a perfect score.

"Was he hiding his abilities? Or..." Chabashira stood and went to the filing cabinet, taking out Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's enrollment file.

The file was thin, and its lack of information was suspicious. He came from an ordinary middle school, had average grades, and had no records of club activities. The recommender section was blank—a rarity at Advanced Nurturing High School.

"Blank..." Chabashira murmured, a sharp glint in her eyes. "At this school, a blank slate usually hides the biggest secrets."

She put the file back and picked up another test—Ken Sudō's.

Fifty-eight points. A failing grade, but much better than she had expected. In particular, although he had made calculation errors on the last two questions, his approach had been correct. That didn't match Sudō's usual performance in math.

Chabashira looked at the somewhat messy handwriting on his test, then at Ayanokoji's neat, flawless one.

A theory began to take shape in her mind.

Meanwhile, in the library's study area.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka sat by the window with a physics textbook open in front of him, but he wasn't reading it.

[Ping! Side quest "Save a Struggling Classmate" completed!]

[Classmate helped: Ken Sudō (1 person)]

[Assessment: Successfully prevented him from becoming the first weak link to be publicly targeted. A potential crisis in the class has been delayed.]

[Reward issued: Class Cohesion +5 (current: 5/100)]

[Special bonus reward: Since your act of helping indirectly changed the teacher's assessment of the class's ability, you have received 1 'Strategy Point'.]

"Strategy Point?" Yang Ye asked silently.

Strategy Points can be used to simulate how events might unfold in specific situations or unlock special response plans. Current points: 1.

Interesting. The system had more features than he'd expected.

"Simulate a situation... Like how Chabashira-sensei might react if she found out I helped Sudō?"

```

[Simulating... Simulation complete.]

[Scenario: Sae Chabashira suspects that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Ken Sudō's unusual test results may be connected (82% probability).]

[Possible reactions: 1. Ask directly (35% probability); 2. Set a trap to test you (45% probability); 3. Wait and observe while gathering more information (20% probability).]

[Recommended response: If asked directly, admit part of the truth ('I saw a classmate having trouble, so I helped him'), but conceal the extent of your true abilities. If tested, keep your performance within the range of 'excellent but not suspiciously so'.]

That was very practical advice. Yang Ye closed the system interface and looked out the window.

Advanced Nurturing High School's campus looked especially peaceful in the setting sun, but beneath that tranquility, countless undercurrents were stirring.

Competition between classes, battles over personal points, the threat of Special Exams... and the forces hidden behind the scenes.

"In the original story, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka took an entire year to gradually reveal his abilities," he thought. "But now that I have the system, I can speed up the process considerably. The question is, what will accelerating it cost me?"

Revealing himself too soon would attract attention from all sides, including the Student Council, the leaders of other classes, and... the man who had sent Ayanokoji to this school—his father.

Footsteps came from behind him. They were soft, but [Insight (Beginner)] let him identify the person instantly.

"Ayanokoji, studying by yourself?" Kei Karuizawa's voice rang out, carrying her usual carefree lilt.

She naturally took the seat across from him and set her schoolbag beside her.

"Is something up?" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka asked.