Midterm Exams (Part 1)

On the morning of the midterm exams, he changed into his uniform, left the dormitory, and headed for the school building. Quite a few students were in the hallway, some still flipping through notebooks. He ran into Kushida at the classroom door.

"Good morning," Kushida said with a smile. "You're here pretty early today."

"Yeah. I couldn't sleep, so I came over."

"Nervous?"

"Not really. You?"

"A little." Kushida lowered her voice. "I studied a lot, but I'm still afraid I'll mess it up."

"You studied so seriously. You won't mess it up."

Kushida smiled, pushed open the door, and entered the classroom. The desks had been rearranged, with space between every one. Yuto found his seat, sat down, and placed his pencil case on the desk.

Most of Class D had already arrived. Hirata was discussing questions with several classmates, and Kushida went over to join them. Compared to the academic ability test a month ago, the mood today was much more relaxed. The exam paper Horikita Suzune had shared had been a huge help. Over the past week, everyone in Class D had gone through that paper several times. Hirata had organized group answer-checking sessions, while Kushida had posted the explanations on the bulletin board.

Yuto took two pens from his pencil case and placed them on the desk. He did not need to review his notes. After seeing that paper once, he had remembered the direction the questions would take. His advantage was not memorizing answers, but knowing how the exam would be structured.

He glanced around the classroom. Horikita Suzune sat slightly ahead of him beside the aisle, with only a pen and eraser on her desk. Her expression was calm, but the knuckles of the hand holding her pen had turned slightly white. For Horikita, this exam was an opportunity to prove herself.

Kushida was chatting with several girls in the front row. When she turned and saw Yuto looking at her, she blinked once.

The three people in the back row were all in different states. Yamauchi had his head down on his desk, a crumpled photocopy of the exam paper spread out before him. Ike was drawing comics on scratch paper with a pen. Sudo sat in the last row with his arms folded, staring at the paper with an expression less like he was solving it and more like he was locked in a grudge match with it.

Yuto withdrew his gaze. The first two were not much of a problem. The third was harder to say.

The proctor entered carrying the exam papers. He wore glasses and had a stern expression as he began reading out the exam rules. The classroom fell silent.

Once the papers were handed out, Yuto did not rush to start writing. He first skimmed all the questions. The question types were highly similar to last year's paper. The reading comprehension approached the questions in almost exactly the same way; only the passage had changed. He had not seen the classical text section before, but the annotations provided were detailed enough.

He began answering. His pace was neither fast nor slow, and he carefully read through the options for every question before choosing one. For anything he was unsure about, he marked it in pencil first and planned to review it later.

Beside him, Horikita Suzune was bent over her paper, the tip of her pen moving at a steady pace. She paused when she reached the classical text question, reread the passage, then began writing her answer.

Only the sounds of pages turning and pen tips scratching across paper remained in the classroom.

After the first subject, Japanese, was over, most of Class D let out a sigh of relief as they walked outside. Hirata checked answers with a classmate beside him and found that their multiple-choice answers matched, revealing a relaxed smile. Yuto noticed that Horikita Suzune also let out a soft breath after handing in her paper.

The second subject was mathematics. It was a nightmare subject for many people. If you did not know math, you did not know it. Blank answers stayed blank.

Yuto did not care much for mathematics, but his foundation in the sciences was solid. This math paper was moderately difficult, leaning toward the harder side. The multiple-choice questions were fairly friendly, though the final parts of the last two major questions were a little convoluted. Still, after analyzing them calmly, he found the key to solving them.

After finishing every question, he looked up at the time. There were still twenty minutes left. He did not hand in his paper early, instead setting down his pen and leaning back in his chair to rest.

Ike was working on a fill-in-the-blank question, his scratch paper covered in numbers. His expression grew increasingly agitated. Yamauchi was not doing well either; he had crossed out and rewritten the question in front of him several times.

Sudo was in the worst state. The sections for the last two major questions on his math paper were completely blank. There were more unanswered multiple-choice questions in the front than answered ones. He gripped his pen so tightly that his knuckles turned white, but its tip hovered in the air for a long time without coming down. He turned a page, found that he could not solve the next question either, then turned back.

The bell signaling the end of the exam rang. The proctor began collecting the papers.

The moment Ike handed in his paper, he turned to Yamauchi and asked, "What did you get for the last fill-in-the-blank question?"

"I put down five," Yamauchi said.

"I got eight," Ike said.

They both fell silent for a moment, knowing one of them had to be wrong.

Sudo did not say anything to anyone when he handed his paper to the teacher. His face looked awful. As soon as he turned it in, he walked straight out of the classroom.

During the lunch break, Kushida carried her lunchbox over and sat beside Yuto's seat.

"How did this morning feel?" she asked as she opened her lunchbox.

"Not bad. You?"

"Math was much easier than I expected." Kushida took a bite of fried chicken. "That paper predicted so many of the question types."

"Yeah. It means we reviewed in the right direction."

"Exactly. It was all thanks to your plan." Kushida lowered her voice. "But Sudo left a lot blank. The final two major questions were completely empty."

Yuto did not respond.

"There's still English and science this afternoon," Kushida said. "He's even worse at English. He only got a little over thirty points on the last quiz. What if he fails?"

"Even if he can't hold on, he'll have to," Yuto said. "The paper was given to him, and so were the answers. The rest depends on his own luck."

Kushida looked at him but did not argue.

The first subject that afternoon was English. It was the easiest one for Yuto, since his foreign language skills had been decent in his previous life. He finished all the questions in less than half the allotted time, then checked everything again from the beginning.

There were quite a lot of English reading questions this time. Horikita Suzune was not particularly fast, but she was steady. In the back row, Sudo could not even recognize all the keywords in the questions, and he could only guess his way through the reading comprehension. The more he worked, the more panicked he became, and the more frantically he flipped through the paper.

The final subject was integrated science. By the time Yuto wrote the final word of his answer, it had already become evening outside the window. He put down his pen and waited for the bell.

The bell finally rang. The proctor collected the last exam paper, and a burst of chatter erupted in the classroom.

As he walked out of the classroom, he saw Ayanokoji Kiyotaka in the hallway. Ayanokoji leaned against the wall, holding a carton of milk.

"Finished?" Ayanokoji said.

"Yeah."

"Did you hand in your paper early?"

"No. I just finished and sat there waiting."

Ayanokoji nodded, took a sip of milk, and then said, "The person in the back row doesn't look too promising."

He put it very vaguely. But Yuto knew who he meant.

"I know."

"What are you planning to do?"

"See what luck has in store for him."

Ayanokoji did not press further. He finished the last sip of milk, tossed the empty carton into the trash, and headed toward the stairs. After taking a few steps, he stopped without turning around and said, "That one point could be very expensive."

Then he left.

Yuto stood in the hallway, watching his retreating back.