21st May, Monday.
Once the maths teacher left the class, Kushida quickly but gracefully grabbed the podium, earning the attention of the whole class.
"Hey everyone! I have a few things to tell you, so please give me some of your time." Seeing no one object, she continued, "We all have been working hard for the past few weeks for the mid-term tomorrow. So me, Hirata-kun, and Horikita-san had found a few things about the exams. But before that, please do not share this information with anyone outside of the class.
The study materials, which had been provided by Horikita-san, were made from the previous year's papers. Moreover, ever since the school started, they have asked the very same questions in the midterms! So today, I'll share with you the papers which will contain the exact questions that will be asked tomorrow."
"Woah! This is basically cheating! So awesome!" Ike shouted.
Following Kushida's line of sight, the class glanced towards Horikita, who was making her way to the podium.
"Yes, Kushida-san is indeed correct. I want you all to memorise all the questions in the test by tomorrow. Most of the topics in the paper have already been covered by our study groups, so it should be easy. I will be hoping for a score of 90+ average, if not exactly 100. Moreover, as Kushida-san said, do not share even a single piece of information we gave you here with anyone else outside the class."
Her words were a lot more distant than Kushida's, and sounded more like an order, but no one was bothered with that. She had just emerged as a Messiah one day before the exams, after all.
Yamauchi had decided to let her take the credits, so that others wouldn't question if she led the class later on. Kushida and Hirata were already popular enough that no one would question them interfering. Meanwhile he himself had gained enough recognition by subtly interfering and also helping out with Sudou.
That left only Ayanokoji and Horikita. But the former had no intentions to get slightest of attention or responsibilities. So Yamauchi decided to give Horikita, who normally wouldn't agree with getting the credits for something she didn't do, but surprisingly agreed without much resistance. Perhaps she understood his plan too.
"Also, the class points we will get next month will most likely be directly proportional to our average marks, so give it your all in memorising the paper."
Apart from Ayanokoji, Yamauchi, and Hirata, only Koenji and the students who had failed in the last exams were not surprised. Well, all except Koenji tried to show that they were surprised. They wouldn't want the rest of the class to know that the failures had gotten papers 2 days ago, right?
As Kushida distributed the papers to everyone, Yamauchi decided to look at his stats.
[Name: Yamauchi Haruki
Physical stats:
Stamina - 125
Strength - 121
Combat technique - 119
Average physical stats - 121.67
Mental stats:
Academic ability - 184
Memorisation power - 122
Critical thinking - 203
Average mental stats - 169.67
Available points: 114
Abilities:
(A Grade) Eye of Jealousy, (B+ Grade) Proficient cook, (B Grade) Gifted.
Disabilities:
Memory lock]
'Guess I'll have to use the points on Memorisation now…'
Even with his Academic stats increasing exponentially due to 'Gifted' and exceeding the daily tasks, he still couldn't solve a single one of the very difficult questions.
So memorising the questions was the only option for nearly everyone.
However, as he spent the rest of his class trying to memorise them, while slowly adding memorisation points in small batches, he realised that most of the class won't be able to do the same thing. Getting an average of 85+ was nearly impossible, let alone 90+ or 100.
In the end, he had to spend a total of 70 points to manage to memorise all three of them completely.
[Memoristion Power - 192 (+70)
Average mental stats - 193 (+23.33)
Available points: 44]
Once the classes that no one was listening to were over, Yamauchi glanced over the worst performing students of the last tests.
[Name: Sudou Ken
Class: 1-D
Physical stats:
Stamina - ??
Strength - ??
Combat technique - ??
Average physical stats - ??
Mental stats:
Academic ability - 63
Memorisation power - 52
Critical thinking - 54
Average mental stats - 54.67]
[Name: Ike Kanji
Class: 1-D
Physical stats:
Stamina - 35
Strength - 40
Combat technique - 39
Average physical stats - 38
Mental stats:
Academic ability - 57
Memorisation power - 55
Critical thinking - 53
Average mental stats - 55]
[Name: Sakura Airi
Class: 1-D
Physical stats:
Stamina - 34
Strength - 35
Combat technique - 32
Average physical stats - 33.67
Mental stats:
Academic ability - 52
Memorisation power - 52
Critical thinking - 48
Average mental stats - 50.67]
Sudou had improved the most in the past 20 days, without a doubt. And that was only when talking about his mental stats. His physical stats had likely increased a lot, too, but most importantly, it was his personality. While he still had a short fuse, he managed to get himself under control quickly, too. Most of the credit for this would go to his respect and likely crush, for Horikita, though he wouldn't admit it. And probably trying not to scare Sakura every moment, too.
Similarly, while Ike didn't improve that much academically, his personality saw a positive change. He didn't immediately give up on trying to solve the questions he didn't understand, and lessened objectifying girls as much as before, though he still needed a lot more progress on that one.
On the other hand, Sakura was learning to talk… literally. Since she had spent a lot of time with someone as hot-headed as Sudou, staying in the company of others naturally became far easier. She had also gotten quite close to Haruka.
Lastly, even Horikita had changed quite a bit. One look still told that she saw herself as superior to everyone, but she at least seemed to be questioning her way of looking at people. Moreover, she had become a bit more cooperative.
'Honestly, I get that she's an honor student, but she still seems near or even below my level in mental stats, contrary to what my ability shows.'
All in all, their study groups were an undetected boon. In fact, its other advantages were probably more important for the long term rather than academic success.
'Or probably not… I doubt Sudou, Ike or Sakura would even manage to pass the next exam without this.'
While walking towards the dorms, Yamauchi picked up his mobile and sent a message in the group.
Yamauchi: Since today we will all be giving tomorrow's paper as a mock, we'll meet at Ayanokoji's room. Let's meet in half an hour, if that is all right.
Ayanokoji's room was on the fourth floor, meaning it was closest to the girls' dorms, which were above that. More to that, it was mostly empty and clean, so it had become a meeting room for their group when they didn't want to use the library.
Haruka: You got it, Harumii!
'H-Harumi?! Whatever, if I reply, she'll just tease me more.'
Soon, they met again at Kiyopo– ahem, Ayanokoji's room.
"What kinda enchantments are there in your room, dude? No matter how many times I sneak into your room, it's always clean and empty!"
Apart from the man in question, everyone raised an eyebrow at Ike's words.
"Wh-"
Before Ayanokoji could say anything, Horikita cut in with a sigh.
"Forget it. We don't have much time, let's start the test already. Yamauchi and I will check everyone's paper right away after that."
———
The paper which students of class D had been unknowingly studying for the past few weeks, was quite similar in comparison to their mocks in terms of difficulty.
Though the 17 easy questions were a bit more difficult than before, the following 3 super hard questions seemed of the same difficulty.
"So only us two completely memorised it… That's disappointing."
Horikita said, after checking everyone's paper.
'The results are everyone's personal best, yet she says it's disappointing.' Yamauchi shook his head. 'Maybe we should have distributed papers a few days early.'
Though that would have its own share of problems. If even one student leaked papers to any other class, class D would lose its advantage.
"I'd say this is good enough. The lowest score is Ike's, at an average of 62. Followed by Sakura at 64. Both Sudou and Kikuchi scored more than 70, so it's safe to say they are all saved from expulsion."
While Miyamoto and Hondou failed the last exam too, they had also been studying under Hirata and Yukimura, respectively.
"Agreed. No offence, but your goal was just too high this time, Horikita." Akito said.
Horikita seemed to disagree, but rightfully chose not to argue more.
'Is this what they call character development?'
———
22nd May, Tuesday.
The atmosphere in the classroom was serious; Almost everyone was cramming, very few people were talking, and they too were simply discussing the papers which Kushida distributed.
"No absences; looks like everyone's here."
Chabashira walked into the classroom with a smile, which was a rare scene experienced by the students of class D.
"This is the first obstacle to being able to stay in the school. Does anyone have any questions?"
"Everyone has been studying diligently for the past few weeks. I don't think anyone will have to drop out."
Hirata confidently conveyed everyone's message to Chabashira.
"If no one fails on this exam and the finals in July, everyone will get a summer vacation," Chabashira replied after nodding at Hirata's words.
"Everyone… Let's do our best!" Ike shouted, as if it were a battle cry.
"Yeahhh!" Many students, though mostly boys, roared.
Chabashira's smile soon dimmed a bit, and the exams started quickly.
Yamauchi scanned through the paper, a small smile appearing on his face.
'It's exactly the same!' The same thought echoed in every class D student's mind.
Hirata and Kushida were given the role of intervening in the break and ask everyone to drop their scores by a bit if someone wasn't confident in getting 50 marks. Thankfully, nothing like that happened, and the tests were over without any problems.
"Sakura, how did your test go?" Yamuchi asked, turning back.
"U-umm.. I think it went even better than yesterday!" She said in a low but excited voice.
"Yeah! Most of my papers went nearly the same as yesterday, but I had studied more English later, so it went a bit better." Sudou said.
"I hope Ike didn't slip…" Yamauchi muttered, since Ike was the only one left.
———
25th May, Friday
"Wohoo! Everyone passed!" Ike shouted.
"You don't seem to be very unhappy about getting the last place, Ike." Sudou nudged.
"Grr… who cares? We all passed. That's all that matters, right?"
"True, if you plan to graduate from class D, it won't bother you, would it?" Horikita said in a sharp tone. "But it's highly likely that the future exams won't have the same questions as our seniors. What would you do then?"
"Th-That's…"
"Unfair? Well, even if it is, what will you do about it? That won't be the first time our lovely school does something like that, would it?" Yamauchi hopped in. "But let's forget it for now, not like we can do anything about it but try and adapt."
He turned back to their marks.
Including him, 9 people had scored a perfect 100.
While most of the others had an average score between 85 to 95, taking the average class score to 84.52, so the passing grade would be 42.
Hondou and Ike had tied for the lowest score of 63, so no one was getting expelled.
[Mission: 'No one left behind' complete!
Description: Ensure that everyone from your class passes the test.
Difficulty: B+
Rewards:
New ability - [(C+ Grade)Wilderness Survival]
+20 Available points]
[(C+ Grade)Wilderness Survival: You have high affinity and adaptability to natural places. +15 points to all physical stats when in wilderness region.]
The ability didn't seem too bad, but the problem was that he got it while being stuck in a school which didn't even allow students to have any contacts with the outside world, let alone go outside.
'Well… at least it'll be a bit useful after the three years. Wait, it won't send me back to reality after I complete school, right? That'd be such a scam!'