The Brutality of the Midterm Exam (3)

"Ike, sit down. This is school policy, and your questioning will not be tolerated. Since the results are out, prepare yourselves to accept them."

"How could this happen? I don't want to be expelled!" Yamauchi said in despair.

"This is all your own doing. If you had actually attended the study sessions, it wouldn't have come to this," Yukimura Teruhiko, who had never spoken before, chimed in.

"What did you say? If it weren't for the test papers Kushida provided, I wouldn't have slacked off on my review," Sudo retorted stubbornly.

"Oh, are you blaming Kushida? It was clearly you who wanted to take shortcuts. Kushida was just being kind enough to help you," the students who usually hung out with Kushida said one after another.

"It's not like you're the ones being expelled, otherwise you'd..."

"Enough, quiet!" Seeing the argument in Class D escalating, Hirata, unable to watch any longer, shouted to stop them.

"I won't let anyone in this class be expelled. I'll find a way to handle their situation," Hirata solemnly promised his classmates.

Hirata then turned to Chabashira and asked, "Teacher, is there any way to prevent them from being expelled?"

"A way? Of course there is, but you cannot afford the price," Chabashira, who had been observing the class's behavior, replied.

"Chabashira, please tell us what that way is. At the very least, we can try to solve it together," replied Karuizawa Kei, Hirata's girlfriend.

"That's right, Teacher, please tell us," the people around them echoed.

"The method to solve the problem is simple: points. To cancel the expulsion penalty, you only need 20 million points."

"20 million points?" Hirata muttered, then shifted his gaze to Kitahara and asked, "Kitahara, could you lend us the points you have? We will pay you back in the future."

"Ah, Hirata, you seem to have misunderstood what Chabashira meant. She wasn't saying 20 million points would cover all the expulsion penalties; she meant that each person's penalty requires 20 million points to resolve."

As Kitahara's words fell, the hope in Hirata's eyes vanished once again, for he knew Kitahara would not deceive him without reason.

"Teacher, I would like to ask how many points they are short of the passing grade. If possible, please sell those points to me," asked Horikita Suzune, who had remained silent until now.

Hearing Horikita's words, Chabashira laughed loudly: "I never expected you to think of such a method, Horikita. It seems I really underestimated you all."

After saying this, Chabashira turned around, posted the grades on the blackboard, and told us: "The baseline for expulsion is 50% of the class's average score for a single subject. Your average score for this exam was 60.56, so the passing line is 30.28."

"And the scores for Sudo, Yamauchi, and Ike Kanji are 24, 26, and 22, respectively."

"I have to say, you guys are truly impressive. Even with such a low passing line, there are still three people who failed."

"Teacher, just tell us how many points it costs to buy back those points," Horikita Suzune continued to ask.

Chabashira replied quickly: "100,000 points per point."

"Is that so? Then we are short by 18 points, which means we need to pay 1.8 million points." After saying this, Horikita did not intend to continue; she simply looked at Ayanokoji, signaling that she had said what he wanted her to say, and the rest was up to them.

Seeing this, Hirata stood up again and said, "Everyone, we only need 1.8 million points to buy them back. I ask that you please help out."

Koenji was the first to take action. As he stood up to leave the classroom, he said, "A beautiful person like me has no obligation to save them."

Faced with his behavior, no one said anything because they all knew he was that kind of person—he wouldn't care about anyone in the class.

In this situation, Kushida, the class angel, spoke up again: "I still have 20,000 points. It's not much, but I still want to contribute my part."

Hearing Kushida's words, the three of them looked at her with emotion and said, "Thank you so much, Kushida. You really are our savior."

Driven by Kushida, a group of people began donating some of their points, but suddenly Karuizawa Kei said, "We are already struggling to maintain our daily lives with our current points. If we take out even more, it will be even harder. It would be better to just ask Kitahara, who has enough points..."

Although she didn't finish her sentence, everyone knew that Kitahara Seiichi possessed a staggering 10 million points. If he could help, they wouldn't have to contribute their own points.

Everyone then turned their gaze toward Kitahara, who had been watching the show the entire time.

"Um, Kitahara, could you help them out?" Kushida asked with a smile.

Listening to Kushida's request and seeing the desperation in their eyes, Kitahara said without a change in expression: "No!"

After hearing Kitahara's refusal, the class instantly erupted, as they hadn't expected Kitahara to be so indifferent to the class. Sudo walked over in a rage, grabbed Kitahara by the collar, and said, "You guy have so many points, yet you refuse to help us. You're being incredibly selfish."

Seeing that a conflict was about to break out, Hirata quickly grabbed Sudo again, pulled them apart, and said, "Kitahara must have his own reasons. If he doesn't want to help, that's his choice."

Kitahara tightened his collar and looked coldly at Sudo: "This is the second time you've done this. If there is a next time, I won't hold back."

Hearing Kitahara's threat, Sudo flared up again: "What the hell do you mean? Are you looking for a fight?"

"Heh, you guess. You're getting expelled anyway," Kitahara said flatly.

Amidst the heated argument between Kitahara and Sudo, the genius Ike Kanji spoke up: "Kitahara, you've been hanging out with that person Sakayanagi these past few days, and it just so happens that the test papers this time were provided by Sakayanagi. Don't tell me you betrayed us and collaborated with her."

Hearing Ike's words, Kitahara chuckled: "Sorry, I couldn't help it. I only learned about you guys buying test papers from the upperclassmen the day before the exam, so..."

As Kitahara's words fell, the classroom fell into silence once again. Seeing that the class still couldn't scrape together the points, Chabashira lost her patience: "If you can't resolve this by the end of the school day, then I'm sorry, you'll have to choose expulsion." After saying this, Chabashira turned and left the classroom.

Seeing this, Kushida suggested: "We could also borrow points from people in other classes."

"That's right, Ichinose is so kind, she would definitely help us," those in Class D who were on good terms with Class B said one after another.

Hearing this, Hirata seemed to recall something and continued to speak.