27 #27 Mock Exam

Days were passing by very quickly and Yuichi kept attending club practices with Sudo and from time to time he went to Library with Horikita, though they haven't really talked much during their times spent there. Still, both appreciated the calm and silent atmosphere so none of them felt awkward.

It's been 3 weeks from the opening ceremony and Yuichi's what many people liked to call "fateful match" will be held in just a few days.

During those 3 weeks, many groups were formed, for example, a group named "The Idiot Trio" with Ike, Yamauchi, and Sudo as members. Unfortunately, even Sudo had to be part of that group but Yuichi mostly ignored it. At this time, it was practically impossible to make friends anew, unfortunately for Ayanokoji who seemed to talk only with Horikita, Yuichi, and sometimes with Idiot Trio. Well, Ayanokoji's talks with Horikita were the same as always, not really exciting and Yuichi was mostly busy so he usually just ate lunch together with Ayanokoji before tending to his things.

Hirata and Yuichi were working hard, trying to convince most people not to slack off and at least have their eyes open and look towards the board. With their influence, a lot of people stopped being absent in many classes and instead of using phones in classes, they were drawing into their notes. Of course, not everyone was able to follow their requests which created quite a chaotic atmosphere within Class D. More than a third of class blaming other individuals who did whatever they wanted despite others doing their best to at least pretend to be awake during classes.

There were also rumors of Karuizawa dating Hirata which slightly confused Yuichi since Hirata never mentioned anything like that. Even if he felt that mentioning it would be just bragging, at least he wouldn't act like he knows nothing even when those rumors reached Yuichi's ears.

What was the most suspicious for Yuichi was the fact that Hirata never officially acknowledged his relationship with Karuizawa yet he also never refuted it.

The Class-D for their 3rd period had history class with their homeroom teacher.

When Chabashira-sensei walked into the classroom, the noisy atmosphere quite quickly died down as only a few whispers could be heard from the back. This prompted her to raise her eyebrow in a suspicious manner. Even she began noticing big changes in the behavior of her students, most of them looked bored or uninterested but they still paid attention to her in a quiet manner.

Chabashira-sensei looked towards Yuichi who was sitting, holding his pencil, ready for the class. Despite noticing her stare, he remained unmoved as he stared in front at the board.

"Today's lesson will be a bit serious but I guess most of you should already be ready." She narrowed her eyes at Yuichi but decided to quickly stop and addressed the entire class.

"What do you mean by that, Sae-chan-sensei?"

Some of the bolder students even created a pet name for her but she completely ignored their rudeness. Even Yuichi frowned down upon hearing these students but requesting them to stop even this behavior would be too presumptuous.

'The only reason why she wouldn't care for their respect is that she treats them as nothing...Usually, adults like to be respected by younger people like the previous lady from the bus however there are also those who don't care for other's opinions. For example, Horikita who doesn't hesitate to say something blunt into someone's face because she treats them as if she was above them. However Horikita and Chabashira-sensei are two different age categories, Horikita ignores her peers while Chabashira-sensei ignores those she teaches which is very obscure.' Yuichi thought.

"The end of the month is slowly approaching, we are going to have a short test. Please pass these back." She replied with a calm expression, completely ignoring the pet-name while handing out the papers.

"Wha-?! There was no mention of this! I am not prepared for this!" A student cried out with a dissatisfied expression.

"Yeah!" Yamauchi and Ike quickly joined in to protest in expectations...that she might reconsider...? To be honest, no one was sure what those 2 expected.

"Quiet down, this test is just for future reference. It won't be reflected in your report card, therefore there is no risk involved. Of course, despite all that, cheating is prohibited." Chabashira-sensei replied with crossed arms.

Everyone quickly sighed in relief upon hearing her words.

'Then where it will be reflected in?' Yuichi thought but he didn't even think of asking aloud since she would just say that she can't say or something similar. Yuichi was sure that this test is for something particular if this wasn't the test for normal grades. There would be no reason to hold a short test if there wasn't a clear reason to do so, however, despite knowing all this, Yuichi still couldn't come up with the real reason.

When the test sheets arrived at Yuichi's seat, he took one and handed the last one to Ayanokoji without even looking behind.

Yuichi quickly scanned through the test sheet and saw 20 questions, each one for 5 points, four questions for one subject. While everyone was busy with the test sheet, Chabashira-sensei kept patrolling the classroom, keeping an eye on everyone.

'These questions are seriously easy...' Yuichi thought while he was fairly quickly answering all questions however when he arrived at the end...

"What the...? These last questions are seriously way too hard" The one student muttered and a few others groaned in response as if they agree with him.

'I might be able to solve those math problems but only thanks to those tutoring lessons from Horikita.' Yuichi thought however even all those formulas he learned had to be somehow combined and interconnected to solve those questions. These definitely weren't questions meant for a High School freshmen.

'Well, I will just write something down and see what will happen.' Yuichi shrugged his shoulders and started attempting to solve the math problems on his sheet.

.

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After everyone finished with their tests and bell rang, Yuichi could hear Ayanokoji asking Horikita if she doesn't want to join him for a lunch. She naturally refused and judging by her answer, it seems like Ayanokoji is planning to go eat with Idiot Trio. Yuichi could feel Ayanokoji's eyes on his back but in the end, Ayanokoji never called out to him, most likely because he feared double rejection? Or maybe even he realized that the group he is going to eat with is quite unrefined. He also learned from swimming classes that Yuichi doesn't really like their narrow-minded judging of girls so asking Yuichi to join Ike and Yamauchi for a lunch was definitely a bad idea.

Ayanokoji left the classroom with a quite tired sigh.

"So? Do you think you have got a perfect score?" Yuichi suddenly heard Horikita's voice from behind him.

"I don't know, most likely I have at least one question wrong answered. There were quite hard questions at the end." Yuichi replied with a helpless smile.

Horikita just nodded her head with closed eyes to agree with his statement even though she didn't look like she had any problem answering everything herself.

'Guess I will go clear my head and get some fresh air' Yuichi thought as he pushed himself up from the desk with the help of his hands. He took his bag and went towards the classroom's doors.

"Have you noticed Chabashira-sensei's surprised expression when she arrived?"

Just when he almost passed Horikita's seat, Horikita asked while reading her book.

"It was just for a moment but yes..." Yuichi replied while stopping a few steps next to her seat.

"It must mean that your intention to change everyone's behavior truly holds some meaning." Horikita admitted, in truth, she felt conflicted about this...about Yuichi. After seeing today's sensei's reaction, she was a bit positive that what Yuichi previously talked about was right on the spot. However, she couldn't accept it...she couldn't think of a reason why would he even be able to think of it.

"Then I just hope that they will reveal more information once this month ends or others might not be able to endure it. The upperclassmen from before mentioned hell and it was supposed to come very soon so I think on May 1, we will get answers to the most questions that confuse us all." Yuichi replied with a bit tired tone.

"Why do you sound so tired? And why May 1 of all days?" Horikita also noticed his tired tone so she asked with a frowned expression before also asking an additional question. Although she agreed with him, she still wanted to know his reasons.

"Because that will be the day we are supposed to receive our 100.000 points. And I am not exactly tired, I just feel a bit uneasy. Anyway, I am going for fresh air, feel free to follow me, or just remain here." Yuichi said before going over to the doors and sliding them open.

Horikita just stared at the doors for a few seconds before throwing her head to the side, continuing reading her book. Horikita said to herself that she won't follow him because she doesn't need to be friends with him however, the real reason she wasn't even aware of yet, was that she started feeling inferior to Yuichi despite tutoring him a few times a week.