Chapter 9 Part I

"No absences; looks like everyone's here."

In the morning, Chiyabashira-sensei walked into the classroom with a smile.

"This is the first obstacle to being able to stay in school. Does anyone have any questions?"

"We have been studying diligently for the past few weeks. I don't think there will be any dropouts in this class, you know?"

"You have a lot of confidence, Hirata."

All the other students also had a look of confidence. Lining up the tests by tapping them against the table, she then passed them out. First period is social studies. I guess you can call it the easiest test among all the subjects.

If anyone trips up here, honestly, all the other tests will be a difficult struggle.

"If no one fails on this midterm and the finals in July, everyone will get a summer vacation."

"Vacation?"

"Yea, that's right… You'll be on a dream-like vacation on an island surrounded by the blue sea."

Summer and the beach means… we'll be able to see the girl's swimsuits…

"W-what is this strange pressure…"

Chiyabashira-sensei took a step back from the pressure she felt from the students (mainly the boys).

"Everyone… Let's do our best!"

"Yeaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Ike loudly shouted in agreement. I also shouted, blending in with the confusion and noise.

"Pervert."

Horikita glanced at me. No more sound came out of my throat.

Before long, the tests were handed out to everyone. And with the teacher's signal, everyone started at the same time.

Looking through the problems, I quickly scanned over the whole test. Can the trio pass the test? I checked if the questions were similar to the old test questions.

—Alright.

I made a small triumphant pose. All the questions are recognizable. I didn't look at the questions too carefully, but I couldn't see any differences.

It was obvious that I could get a near perfect score if I memorized all the answers.

Looking around the classroom, I didn't see any students that looked confused or impatient. Seems like a good majority of the students did some last minute studying.

I also slowly went through each of the problems.

During second and third period, the test continued with the Japanese and chemistry sections. While I was solving the problems, I realized another thing. The topics that Horikita taught are pretty consistent with what the test covered. From the class lessons, she was able to accurately predict the type of questions that would appear. The silent girl who continued to write down answers in the seat next to me was more impressive than I first thought.

And then it was fourth period. Math. All the abnormally hard problems that were at the end of the mock test are, without a doubt, in this test. They probably don't understand what it means, but they should've done well if they memorized the answer.

And then it was break time.

Some of the study group members, like Ike, Yamauchi, Kushida, and Horikita all gathered.

"This is an easy pass!"

"I feel like I'll get a 120 this time!"

Ike was pretty relaxed. From the smile on his face, Yamauchi also looked pretty relieved.

While they were smiling, they were holding the old test questions for a final review.

"Sudou-kun, how are you doing?"

Kushida called out to Sudou, who was reviewing in his seat.

But Sudou looked gloomy, and was staring at the questions with great focus.

"Sudou-kun?"

"…Huh? Oh, sorry, I'm a bit busy."

He was staring at the English questions. He had a thin layer of sweat on his forehead.

"Sudou, by any chance… did you not study the questions?"

"I did everything but English. I dozed off in the middle."

Sudou was getting irritated. In other words, this is his first time looking at these questions.

"What!?"

Sudou only had about 10 minutes of break time left to go over these problems.

"Dammit, none of these answers are sticking in my head."

English is different from the previous tests and isn't that easy to memorize. In the first place, trying to memorize all the answers in the next 10 minutes is practically impossible.

"Sudou-kun, memorize the answers that are shorter and worth more."

Getting up from her seat, Horikita moved next to Sudou.

"O-ok."

And then he started studying the easier to memorize and worth more, as Horikita said.

"A-are you ok?"

Trying to not get in the way, Kushida asked from the side, looking anxious.

"Unlike Japanese, I don't know the basics, so this looks like a magic spell to me. Memorizing this will take some time."

"Y-yea. I also have trouble with English…"

10 minutes quickly passed by, and the unforgiving chime rang.

"I did what I could do. Before I forget, I'll try and do all the questions that I crammed first."

"Yea…"

And then the test started. While all the other students started solving the problems, Sudou was having trouble. Occasionally, he tapped the pen on his head while thinking and kept pausing while writing. But no one can help him now. The only way to pass the test now is for Sudou to work his way through by himself.