Testing with the Paper Upside Down and Writing with the Left Hand? Training Reverse Thinking?

Uchiha looked at the purple-haired girl pacing back and forth in agitation and comforted her.

"Senior, I know you're in a hurry, but don't be."

"Think about it. This shady organization has stubbornly held on for years without falling. Rushing for a month or half a month won't help."

"I can give you a direction for the investigation. You can ask the chairman for a list of staff members, both on and off campus."

Tachibana Akane was a little confused and instinctively asked, "What do you need those lists for?"

Uchiha said nothing.

He gently smoothed out the banyan tree's gloomy old face.

Then he spoke.

"Focus on screening newly hired employees, preferably those who've worked here for less than half a year."

"There aren't many new employees, so investigating them won't be too much work."

"I imagine it should be easy to track which organizations they go to after work, right?"

"If all goes smoothly, we can follow the trail and wipe out their hideout in one go."

Hearing that, Tachibana Akane rested a finger against her chin and seriously considered the feasibility of the plan.

Then her eyes sparkled.

"Not bad, junior. Is your brain turbocharged or something? Your reactions are insanely fast. I'll go try it right away."

Uchiha waved her off.

"You flatter me. Hurry up and go. Don't delay the mission's progress."

With her fists clenched, Tachibana Akane pumped them up and down a few times, feeling completely energized.

"Right, right. I'm off first."

Watching the purple-haired girl's hurried retreating figure, Uchiha was overjoyed inside.

Senior was practically a workhorse, working for him without even realizing it.

"..."

A new day.

First-period math class in the morning.

Class D's classroom.

The ceiling fan spun weakly overhead, emitting a faint hum.

Sakagami entered carrying a stack of test papers, and his first sentence was enough to make the poor students cry.

"Pop quiz. Everyone, put away your math materials."

Yamauchi had been playing on his handheld console below. The moment he heard there was a test, his fingers flailed wildly over the buttons.

Game over!!

A closed-book test right off the bat?!

He hadn't reviewed at all. What was he supposed to do?!

He suddenly turned to look at Uchiha. Seeing that the other boy was still sleeping soundly, he instantly felt better.

With Uchiha there to finish at the bottom with him, they could at least roam the mortal world together in carefree style.

Sakagami tore the kraft paper wrapping to shreds, and he had also noticed Uchiha lying face-down on his desk.

This kid was seriously disciplined!!!

Disciplined enough to sleep in every class—there really was no one else like him!!

Suppressing his anger, he said, "Ayanokoji, wake Uchiha up."

Ayanokoji nodded, but the moment he turned around, he nearly lost it!!!

On the hooded boy's closed eyelids, two enormous eyeballs the size of lanterns had been drawn...

At first glance, it was both creepy and hilarious!!!!

Ayanokoji pressed his lips together and forced himself not to laugh before nudging him.

"Wake up. Hurry up, wake up. There's a test."

Feeling something strange against his arm, Uchiha slowly opened his eyes.

"Is it mealtime? I want ten bowls of beef."

The whole class: "..."

Eat, eat, eat. All he knew was eating. Why didn't he just eat himself fat!!

After his face darkened, Sakagami felt a surge of relief.

Good thing this kid wasn't in Class C. Otherwise, he'd be angered to death every day!!

Seeing that several other heavy sleepers were still out cold, he showed no mercy. He reached into the chalk box, snapped a piece of chalk into several sections, and tossed them one by one at Ike and the others.

The chalk hit him right on the head. Ike instantly got mad and roared reflexively, "Who?! Who interrupted my wet dream?!!"

He had just dreamed that he was with a room full of beauties, and things were about to get going when he was brutally interrupted!!

It was fucking unbearable!!!

"Pfft!!"

The nearby students nearly burst out laughing.

As one of Class D's three idiots, Ike provided endless entertainment.

The moment he raised his head, Ike saw Sakagami staring coldly at him and immediately cowered.

He wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth, sat up straight, and didn't dare make a sound.

After waiting more than ten seconds.

Once he saw that the whole class was awake, Sakagami distributed the papers while emphasizing the rules.

"Stay calm and honest during the exam."

"Read the questions slowly, solve them quickly!"

"For big problems, write the solution first. That's one point secured."

"Don't forget the answer. Watch the unit conversions."

"Don't stare blankly after you finish. Check your work carefully..."

In less than a minute, every student had a test paper in hand and was hunched over, writing furiously.

Only Uchiha stared blankly ahead.

In truth, he was calculating—

Top students, write faster!!

That way, I can copy faster too!!

Photographic Memory, his lesser superpower, was finally about to come in handy.

As usual, Sakagami walked around the classroom to invigilate and soon noticed that the masked boy had not moved at all.

???

Always putting on an act, always putting on an act. Now he was putting on an act right in front of him?

He couldn't help reminding him.

"This quiz involves a very large amount of calculation. Time is tight and the tasks are heavy, so certain students should kindly start writing as soon as possible."

Hearing that.

Uchiha quickly scanned the test paper a few times, and the knowledge stored in his mind automatically surfaced.

This included every mathematical formula and theory from the Three Years of Exams, Five Years of Mock Tests he had done in his previous life.

He smacked his lips. It seemed...

This test was ridiculously easy!!

Apparently, he didn't even need to peek at the top students' answers. He could get full marks on his own.

No, no, no!!

Getting full marks was only expected of someone this awesome. There was no novelty in it.

Why not deliberately get the easiest first question wrong? Wouldn't that be even more awesome?!

He did it immediately.

Staring at the first question, he ignored the four options, A, B, C, and D, and directly wrote down an "∃"!!!

Don't ask. E was the greatest!!!

Just then, Sakagami happened to walk near Uchiha and casually glanced at him.

Then.

His entire body froze solid!!!

He stared blankly at Uchiha, his mouth hanging open.

"Y-you, why are you turning the test paper upside down... And why are you writing with your left hand?!!"

Uchiha said, "This can train reverse thinking."

You were all writing normally with your right hands, weren't you?

Then if he wrote upside down with his left hand, wouldn't that earn him some Boldness Points?!

The whole class: "????"

Yamauchi held back a laugh and muttered quietly, "Something's wrong with your brain. Writing with your non-dominant hand is already slow enough, and you're actually trying to write mirrored text too. Can you even write it clearly?!"

Horikita Suzune shook her head and offered no comment.

[Boldness +689]

[Boldness +542]

[Boldness +460]

[Boldness +783]

[...]

Meanwhile.

In an unnoticed corner.

A red-haired girl with twin ponytails suddenly shuddered. She had heavy dark circles under her eyes and looked exhausted.

The hand holding her pen trembled. Recently, Sakura Airi had not slept well at night. Nightmares always attacked her in that half-awake, half-asleep state.

The girl glanced at Uchiha. She had heard that he was a student council officer. Should she tell him about being harassed by that person?!!

Forget it.

I can't trouble my classmates. I can solve it myself...

Sunlight slanted in through the window and fell across her yellowed desk.

For a moment, the warm yellow hues seemed to turn black and white.

Sakura forcefully shook her head. She was a little dizzy from anemia, but I can still hold on...

Two hours later, Sakagami tapped the podium.

"Pens down. Hand in your papers."

"We'll go over this test tomorrow. There will be a questioning session in class, so everyone should be prepared."

The moment Yamauchi heard that, he perked up!!

He swore that in tomorrow's math class!!

He would become the most eye-catching guy in the whole class!!!

Faculty office.

Sakagami had something to do, so he specifically asked a second-year math teacher to help grade the papers.

"Sorry to trouble you. Next time, I'll return the favor and grade your class's papers."

The math teacher waved politely.

"It's fine. I happened to want to see whether Class 1-D has any hidden top students."

Sakagami smiled.

"There are some, but for this quiz, I'm afraid no one will score above ninety."

"There are several problems involving multivariable calculus and proofs of the mean value theorem. They're difficult, highly comprehensive, and worth a lot of points."

"Even academic geniuses like Yukimura and Horikita will find them challenging."

The math teacher nodded.

He carried the stack of papers back to his office.

As he graded them...

Then.

He noticed something was wrong!!!

Huh?!

Wasn't no one supposed to score above ninety?!!

Just who was this student named Uchiha?!!

He had actually scored...