Act 11: Scene 1

Three days after the day of their midterm examination, the results were already out. In any other normal school, it would have taken a week at the very least for all the students' exam papers to be checked.

But ANHS was anything but a normal school.

To say that they were nervous would be an understatement.

It was funny; yesterday they were filled with confidence that they will be able to pass their midterms with no problem, especially after hearing that they will be rewarded with a nice vacation if they pass their finals.

But now that they were about to find out how they did in their exams, they had no idea what to do. A lot of them were already anticipating a low score in all of their tests to the point that they almost didn't want to see their results.

However, they couldn't exactly do anything the moment they heard the bell ring.

"Quiet down, everyone. We are starting homeroom right now," Chabashira-sensei spoke as she walked inside the classroom with her usual aura of seriousness.

Her face conveyed no emotion, which only made those who were nervous even more skeptical of their possible results. They couldn't tell if the woman was pleased or angry with them.

"Chabashira-sensei, we were told that the results of the midterms would be out today. Will you show them to us?" Hirata asked the biggest question that was on everyone's minds at the moment.

"About that," the woman stood behind the podium as anticipation and nervousness began to fill the students. "I'm supposed to show it to you in the afternoon, but I figured that doing it right now would lessen the burden on you for the whole day. Would you like to see your results now?"

A smirk had formed on their teacher's face, which only added to the growing anxiety that they were already feeling.

Despite that, a lot of them also wanted their teacher to just come clean and announce the results to get it over with. After all, the more they wait around, the more they'll feel nervous about their grades.

"Yes, sensei," most of the students chorused.

The smirk on Sae's face widened even more upon hearing their answers. With that, she took out a rolled-up poster and pasted it on the blackboard, but no one could see what it said because she was blocking it.

However, when she faced her class again, the expression on her face had changed. She was now smiling, looking genuinely happy which shocked a lot of her students. They had never seen her smile before, because smug and angry expressions were all that Chabashira-sensei gave them for the past two months.

"Your efforts weren't put to waste. Perhaps it's indeed too early to say that you're nothing but defectives. I acknowledge your efforts on a successful midterm examination, Class D."

Sae moved to the side, allowing her students to see the poster. Everyone's names were listed there, along with the scores they've gotten from each subject.

"Wow..."

"Some of us scored so high!"

"I actually did better than I expected!"

Three students had gotten a score of 100 in all subjects, which were Koenji, Yukimura, and Horikita. The next set of students with the highest scores were Wang, Hirata, and Kushida who did not get a score that was below 90.

The rest of the class got various scores that ranged from 70-100 in each area, which was a clear display of how much they studied for the exams. In fact, the student who had the lowest scores was Yamauchi but even so, his lowest subject was still 7 points above the passing grade so there was no need to worry.

In Kiyotaka's case, the young man scored 85 in all five subjects, which was something that he was satisfied with. It wasn't too high for his classmates to notice, and not too low for Suzune to be displeased with him.

In the case of the girls whom he had helped for the past weeks, both Airi and Kei couldn't believe what they were seeing when they noticed the score that they received. In all five subjects, they did not get a score that was below 70.

For Karuizawa, she was happy that the time she dedicated to studying wasn't wasted. She was also glad that her confident demeanor during the exams didn't end up being baseless words. She knew to herself that she worked hard despite not being one to take her studies seriously and for that, her efforts were rewarded.

In Sakura's case, she was already in tears, because in all her years of going to school, she had never gotten such results. Sure, her scores weren't really impressive when compared to Kei, Kiyotaka's, or the students who got a perfect score in every exam, but just from the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes, it was already a victory that she never thought was possible.

Chabashira-sensei simply stood back with her arms folded, letting everyone enjoy the outcome of their exams. She didn't bother scolding some of her students who stood up from their seats and cheered for their accomplishment, choosing to let them enjoy this victory for now.

While Airi was staring at her own scores with a dumbfounded look, Kei stood up from her seat and rushed over towards her friend's desk. She then slung her arm over Airi's neck, snapping the redhead out of her trance as Kei grinned at her.

"We did it, Sakura-san! This calls for a celebration!"

"Y-Y-Yes...! I... I can't believe it..." mumbled Airi.

Kei looked at her with a confused stare. "Eh? What's with that tone? You should be happy right now, you know?"

Airi quickly shook her head. "N-No, I'm... I am happy, it's just... I-I'm shocked that... I actually got a score like that..."

"Oh yeah, you said that you've never really been good at academics... my bad," the blonde chuckled nervously in realization before smiling again. "But hey, this means that I was right! There was no need to worry at all because we studied! No way we were going to fail with everything we did."

Even Airi wasn't able to stop herself from beaming in happiness. Her worries have now been laid to rest, even though Kei was right and that there wasn't any reason for her to be worried in the first place.

"I-I suppose so..."

"You two look like you're enjoying your results."

The two girls turned around to see Kiyotaka walking towards them, his hands in his pockets and his usual apathetic expression on display.

"Of course we are! What did you expect?" she flashed him a smirk at first, before it turned into a frown. "I told you that you didn't have to worry! But you just kept on insisting that I might not be able to handle myself!"

"K-Karuizawa-san, I think Ayanokouji-kun was only worried," Airi said in an attempt to calm her friend.

"Well, it didn't feel like it!" the blonde huffed.

Kiyotaka was prepared to apologize for his mistake the other day, only for the world around him to stop. Three new choices appeared before him and the young man could only shake his head in exasperation. The system sure knows when to intervene, huh?

A. [At least you two didn't fail. Otherwise, all my hard work would have been for nothing.]

B. [You two did very well. Even though you've struggled many times while studying, you managed to pass. I'm proud of you both.]

C. [How about a reward? I think I deserve one from the two of you for helping you pass~]

His attention was quickly drawn towards the second option and nothing else. There's no merit to be gained from choosing the first one, and there's no way he was going for the third choice right when he's in the middle of the classroom, surrounded by lots of people. It's a one-way ticket to trouble and he wanted to avoid that as much as he could.

"Here we go again..."

And so with that, he pushed Option B while sighing in defeat.

As the world returned to normal, he gave the two girls a warm smile. "You two did very well. Even though you've struggled many times while studying, you managed to pass. I'm proud of you both. It may only be the midterm exams, but you deserve to celebrate this victory."

Both girls blushed upon seeing him smile, which was just as effective as his laugh. Poor Airi had to turn her head away to hide her beet red face from him and while Kei took it in stride, it didn't stop her face from reddening not only because of his smile, but also because of his words.

"W-Well... we couldn't have done it without you," Kei muttered as she tried to keep a strong facade and face him, but was failing horribly.

Kiyotaka waved his hand in denial. "That's not true. I merely gave you a push in the right direction. It was you who decided to work hard and study for the exams. Your achievement was all on your own."

Kei blushed harder after those words, and she tried to calm herself down by chuckling in amusement. "Y-Yeah, but... you're literally the one who taught us, you know? As much as I want to say that I did it on my own, you helped me and Sakura-san."

"True. But I believe that even without me, both of you are capable of improving yourselves. You just needed a little bit of encouragement and proof that you can do it."

Neither girl said anything afterwards, too flustered and overwhelmed to get anything out of their systems. Despite this, they didn't feel any less thankful for Kiyotaka as if it wasn't for him, they wouldn't be in this position. If it wasn't for his willingness to teach them despite being asked to be a tutor at the last moment, then they wouldn't be able to get through their exams without feeling like a nervous wreck.

[Special Event 'Their Hidden Potential' has been cleared! You gained +10 in Aura!]

[You have gained 20 Affection Points with Karuizawa Kei!]

[You have gained 20 Affection Points with Sakura Airi!]

[You have attained the required number of Special Events to unlock a Bonus Scene!]

[Congratulations! You have unlocked Bonus Scene #1!]

"Oh. I forgot that this whole thing was a 'special event'..." the young man thought as he read through the notifications he received. He had forgotten that he triggered a 'special event' weeks ago, which was something that he has not completed ever since because there was no notification saying that he did. He once thought that the system might have forgotten about it completely.

But now, it looks like he can safely say 'mission accomplished' and it even resulted in a good increase with the girls' Affection Points. It also showed that these 'special events' don't happen in one sitting all the time. It could happen in the background too until the requirements for completing it are met.

However... that last notification was something that he didn't expect.

"Bonus scene? What does that mean?" the young man thought while raising an eyebrow.

The first thing that he thought of was that it would be another 'special event' but considering how it got 'unlocked', it's surely something bigger. From what he knew about dating simulators and eroges, this could also be another term for 'extras' or bonus content from a game. It might not be anything huge, just something that would enhance the 'experience'.

Kiyotaka wanted to think more about this, but he wasn't really in the mood at the moment. They had just finished their midterm exams and were allowed a moment of victory to celebrate their accomplishment. Even he didn't want to ruin this by focusing on the system instead.

Besides, he could just get back on this later. It didn't seem like something that he should be worried about, anyway.

"Although, I hope you understand that this is only the beginning. We still have our final exams to worry about, so our work isn't done yet," he added.

That snapped the two girls out of their little trance and it quickly made them realize he was right. This was only the beginning, as they now had their finals to worry about. Luckily, it would be happening two months from now, so they had plenty of time to prepare for it.

Kei grinned. "Oh, you don't have to worry then. The final exams aren't happening anytime soon. We have lots of time to prepare for that, don't we?"

"W-Will you tutor us again, Ayanokouji-kun...?" asked Airi, speaking for the first time since he praised them for their efforts.

"If you still want me to help you out with studying, then why not?" Kiyotaka shrugged. He was pretty sure that the system would make it so that he would remain as their tutor even if he declines. Why not just agree to it now instead of putting his sanity to the test again? "It's at least better than having to deal with more than two."

The happy look on Kei's face turned into a frown in a matter of seconds. "That better not be an insult, Ayanokouji-kun."

"Trust me, it's not," he defended himself.

All of a sudden, Chabashira-sensei clapped her hands, gaining everyone's attention and momentarily halting their celebrations.

"I suppose that's it for the results. Take your seats and try not to make too much noise until your next teacher arrives. Just because you have produced great results doesn't mean you are not being monitored, and you still have your finals to worry about," Chabashira-sensei reminded them before walking out. "Goodbye."

However, before she could truly leave the classroom, she stopped for a brief moment and seemed to be contemplating something. She stood there for a while and everyone was starting to get confused. Wasn't she about to leave?

Her students watched her closely, wondering if she had forgotten to do something or if there was another announcement that she's going to make.

"Ayanokouji," she suddenly blurted out while turning her head to look at the brown-haired teen who was just about to head back to his desk. In return, after hearing his name being mentioned, he turned and met his teacher's gaze with his own. "Meet me at the rooftop after you're done celebrating your accomplishment. There is something we need to discuss."

And with that, the woman finally left the room, leaving everyone confused at what their teacher had in mind for a moment there. They turned their attention to the one person inside the classroom who might have an idea on what Chabashira's intentions were.