The Exam Arrives

Somewhat disappointed, Ryuuen could only say Kushida Kikyo's cooking was slightly above average. Still, Kikyo had prepared a lavish spread, and he could tell she had put real thought into it: Pacific saury, miso soup, teriyaki, ginger pork, tonkatsu, macaroni, and sashimi.

More importantly, Kikyo had put on light makeup and even brought back a pair of black stockings. She knew how to please him, which satisfied Ryuuen. With nothing else to do after dinner, he taught Kikyo a couple of moves. Watching Kushida Kikyo wear his Boxing Gloves and sweat as she punched the sandbag left and right, Ryuuen laughed inwardly. Does this girl think she can beat me just by practicing a few more punches?

The next day, Kikyo went to see Horikita Suzune and repeated what Ryuuen had said. Although Kushida Kikyo hated Horikita Suzune, she still had to put on a smile and speak with her in order to complete Ryuuen's assignment.

Bitch, sooner or later, I'll make you drop out! Kushida Kikyo gritted her teeth and cursed Horikita Suzune inwardly after leaving.

Under Horikita and Hirata's lead, Class D also organized a study group. Since failing meant expulsion, they were understandably anxious. Once Ryuuen learned of this, he naturally had no intention of letting them study in peace.

Ryuuen still sent out Ishizaki's group of three. Those three were quite unpopular in Class D, considering they had been involved in the Sudo Incident. Sending them to disrupt the weaker students' studying was especially effective. Sudo in particular could not take in a single word from his books as long as Ishizaki's group stood nearby.

In the end, Class D's study group could only move from the library to a café, then to a bookstore. But Class C members haunted them like ghosts, always finding them no matter where they went. Of course, that was thanks to Kushida Kikyo. Eventually, they could only study in their dorm rooms. Even then, Class C students kept knocking on their doors.

"Shameless!"

Class D's students repeatedly wanted to teach Ishizaki and the others a lesson, but they feared getting trapped into losing a hundred thousand points like Sudo. They wanted to complain to the school, but Ishizaki's actions did not violate any school rules.

Under those circumstances, Horikita Suzune could only discuss matters with Ayanokoji and decide to buy past exam papers from upperclassmen.

"We don't have that many points to buy exam papers, Horikita," Ayanokoji reminded her.

"But judging by our class's current review progress, someone will definitely fail if we don't buy them."

"Then will you crowdfund it? It's for the class, and everyone will benefit, won't they?"

"Do you think the students who are good at studying would agree to contribute? And do you think the poorer students can really afford many points? They probably still think they might get lucky and not fail, so they won't be willing to pay."

What Horikita said made sense, but the prices the upperclassmen offered were absurdly inflated: five hundred thousand points. After approaching several upperclassmen in succession, Horikita Suzune finally found a third year girl who only asked for three hundred thousand points. Horikita did not have that many points, so she arranged to pay in installments—fifty thousand each month for seven months, for a total of three hundred and fifty thousand.

Signing the contract with the senior student went smoothly. A contract was something used to regulate transactions between students. If someone violated one, they could be reported to the school, which could enforce its terms or expel the student who breached it. Contracts could cover a wide range of matters and had considerable binding power.

The only thing that puzzled Horikita Suzune was one clause in the contract: "If Party B is unable to repay the points on time that month, Party B must handle Party A's household chores for that month."

That condition was entirely acceptable, but Horikita Suzune felt that the senior student before her did not seem like someone incapable of managing household chores. Still, she did not ask. Asking such a thing would have been impolite toward a girl.

After decisively signing the contract, Horikita took the exam papers the senior student gave her and carefully scanned them. However, her attention was entirely on the papers, and she failed to notice that the senior student put away the contract without signing it herself.

That night, the contract appeared in Ryuuen's hands. There was no such thing as a free lunch. That senior student was bait Ryuuen had bought off for five hundred and fifty thousand points.

Moreover, Ryuuen felt no guilt whatsoever. Horikita Suzune had come to him herself, after all. It was not as though Ryuuen had gone looking for trouble with her, nor had he broken his agreement with Horikita Manabu.

As agreed, Horikita Manabu submitted a proposal to the board to alter the exam questions. After hearing his arguments, the board approved his proposed questions.

Before the exam, studying was painful. During the exam, answering questions was painful. After the exam, the grades were painful.

Since it was the first time the exam papers had been reformed, the difficulty had not been set too high. Yet even Class C, which had studied so diligently, still had students who failed.

Yabu Nanami—the weak, innocent, and somewhat foolish girl who had previously supported Ryuuen's rule—watched her expression shift from surprise to panic and fear when the results were announced.

She had missed the English passing mark by one point!

Yabu Nanami was going to be expelled! That was what most people thought. Though they had not known her for long, most of them looked at her with sympathy.

Tears welled in her eyes. Covering her mouth, she could not bring herself to accept the reality. Even her long green hair seemed dull at that moment.

Ryuuen raised an eyebrow. Women really were made of water. Over such a trivial matter, they had to shed a few drops.

Hiyori, who had ignored Ryuuen these past few days, finally spoke to him. "Ryuuen, you said you would lead all of us into Class A. Are you going to abandon Yabu now?"

This was the true little angel of Class C. She had not been interested in reaching Class A before, but when a classmate truly faced the risk of expulsion, she stepped forward. Her words questioned Ryuuen, but that was fine. The reason Ryuuen had said nothing the moment the grades were announced was that he had been waiting for Hiyori. Only if Hiyori spoke first could she establish authority among the girls. As far as Ryuuen knew, quite a few girls still did not respect Hiyori, which was not good for class unity.

"I can make up that one point for Yabu, but I hope you remember this: every favor you receive comes at a price. Me leading you into Class A does not mean you have to do nothing. Those without value are the first to be discarded. If you cannot even handle something as simple as studying, you should leave this school as soon as possible."

Ryuuen's words struck the heart of every Class C student. They had already realized this school was different, and they wanted to rise to Class A as well. But getting something for nothing was not acceptable under Ryuuen. No one could slack off. The difficulty of this school's ordinary academic exams was not high; anyone who studied seriously could pass. The truly difficult part was the Special Exam.

Ryuuen did not want anyone in the class to fail an ordinary exam again.

For the one point Yabu Nanami lacked, Ryuuen spent one hundred thousand points to buy it from Sakagami Kazuma.

Class A's elite students naturally would not be tripped up by such a minor exam. Class B had Ichinose Honami organize a study group, so no one failed there either. Only Class D encountered the same problem.

When the exam papers were handed out, Horikita's expression became exceptionally grim, because the questions were completely different from the ones she had bought. Though she was confident she could pass, perhaps even earn a good score, Sudo and the others would definitely fail.

This exam only covered Japanese, mathematics, and English.

Sudo was two points short in Japanese and five points short in English, though he passed mathematics.

Ike Kanji was two points short in mathematics.

Sakura Airi was one point short in Japanese and four points short in mathematics.

When the results were announced, Sudo was the first to rush up to Horikita and seize her by the collar. "Didn't you say the exam questions would be very similar to the papers you gave us? Then why did I fail?!"

Chabashira stood at the podium and watched the farce, hoping Ayanokoji would step in and resolve the incident. Yet he remained silent. Even as he watched Horikita being treated so roughly, his expression did not change. Chabashira wanted to say something, but when she opened her mouth, no words came out.