Chapter 8 Part II

One minute later than we had promised, we all met in the library.

Everyone was ready to take notes and was waiting to start. There were also a lot of other students that were currently studying in the library. From first-years to third-years, everyone was making an effort to study.

I could tell with a glance.

"You're late."

"Sorry, we were a bit late because it was crowded."

"Did you two eat together!?"

Ike asked us, feeling suspicious because the two of us came together.

We did indeed eat together, but I don't think we should say anything here.

"Yea, we did. We had lunch together."

Like I said, you didn't have to say that… With a disgruntled expression, Ike glared at me. As if he saw me as his rival. Without looking at me, Horikita continued to talk.

"Hurry up."

"… Ok."

I quietly sat down and took out my notes.

"I thought I would need more help, but geography is surprisingly easy."

"Chemistry's also easier than I thought."

Ike and Yamauchi spoke up.

"That's because there's a lot of memorization problems. Subjects like Math or English have questions that you can't answer if you don't have the basics."

"Don't let your guard down. There might be current events on the test."

"Current… events?"

"Current events. Events in politics or economics that may have occurred in recent years. In other words, there might be questions that cover material not in the textbook."

"Ugh, that's foul play! Doesn't that make the scope of the test useless!?"

"That's why you've got to study everything."

"I suddenly hate geography…"

Of course, current events questions may appear on the test, but I think it's something we can ignore for now.

If you worry too much about things that might not even be on the test, you'll miss the important parts.

"Shouldn't we hurry up?"

As the conversation keeps going off-track, precious time is wasted.

"Yea. We're currently behind because a certain person was late."

"… Are you still hung up on that?"

"It's a problem for everyone. Well then, who's the person who came up with inductive reasoning?"

"Um… it's that guy we learned last class, right? Uh…"

While thinking over the answer, Ike spun his pen around.

"Oh, it's that guy. His name made me really hungry, so I remembered."

"Francis Xavier!… or something like that, right?"

Sudou wasn't able to recollect the correct name.

"I remembered. It was Francis Bacon!"

"Correct.:

"Yes! This is definitely a perfect score!"

"No, not at all…"

If we continued at this pace for the next week, desperately studying, everyone would probably pass.

"Everyone, just take care of your health. We don't have much time to study."

Kushida also understand that there was practically no room for error this time around.

"It's ok, it'll be fine if it's these three."

"As expected of Horikita-chan. It feels like you're trusting us!"

I think she was trying to say that "Idiots don't catch colds", but whatever.

"Hey, be quiet over there. Your yapping is loud."

A student nearby paused studying and looked at us.

"Sorry, sorry, I was too loud. I was happy since I got a problem right. The person who came up with inductive reasoning is Francis Bacon, you know? I won't forget since I learned it once~"

Ike said while laughing in joy.

"Huh? … By any chance, are you guys in class D?"

A group of boys nearby all looked at us all at once. At their reaction, Sudou bristled up in irritation.

"So what? So what if we're in class D. Do you have any problems with that?"

"No no, we don't have any problems with that. I'm Yamawaki, in class C. Nice to meet you.

Yamawaki looked at us while laughing.

"Well, how should I say it… I guess it's good that this school divides classes by ability. That way I don't have to study with people like you guys."

"What!?"

The one who bursted out in anger was, obviously, Sudou.

"You're just getting mad at the truth. If we fought inside of the school, I wonder which class' points will be deducted. Oh wait, you don't have points to start with. Thing is, you'll probably get expelled, you know?"

"You wanna fight? Bring it on!"

Sudou's outburst attracted the attention of the others in the quiet library.

If this situation becomes worse, the teachers will probably find out about it.

"He's right. If you create a disturbance, we don't know what'll happen. You should keep in mind that getting kicked out is really possible. And I don't mind that you're badmouthing us, but you're in class C, right? It's not really a class you should brag about."

"There seems to have been some kind of calculation error between classes A to C. But you guys are on a whole different level."

"What a nice way to put it. The way I see it, every class but class A are just bunched up together."

Yamawaki stopped laughing and glared at Horikita.

"For an inferior product that doesn't have a single point, you're saying some cheeky things. Did you think you can say anything just because you look cute?"

"Thank you for your words that have no logical connection to the topic. I was never self-conscious about my appearance until now, but I feel uncomfortable being praised by you."

"Tsu!"

Hitting the table, Yamawaki stood up.

"H-hey. It's dangerous for you to start since others will hear about it."

The other class C students tried to hold Yamawaki back, tugging at his sleeves.

"For the next test, if you get a failing mark, you know you have to drop out, right? I'm looking forward to seeing how many people will drop out from your group."

"Too bad for you, but no one will drop out from class D. Before worrying about us, why don't you worry about yourselves first. If you're not careful, you might fail, you know?"

"Kukuku. Fail? Stop with the jokes."

"We're not studying so we can avoid failing marks. We're studying to get better scores. Don't lump us in with you guys. Also, being happy over knowing Francis Bacon is; are you sane? Why are you studying things that aren't even on the test?"

"Huh?"

"By any chance, do you not even know what's going to be covered on the test? This is why you're the inferior class."

"That's enough out of you."

Sudou lost his temper and grabbed Yamawaki by his collar.

"H-hey hey, you're really going to use violence? You'll be deducted points. You ok with that?"

"We don't even have any points to lose~!"

Sudou drew back his arm. Ah man, is he really going to knock him out?

I should really stop him. I pushed back my chair to get up—

"Ok, stop, stop!"

A girl called out.

Sudou stopped at the unexpected new character.

"Hey, you're not a part of this; don't interfere."

"Not a part of this? I'm trying to use this library, I can't just overlook this disturbance. If you really wanted to hit him, can't you do that outside?"

<Illustration >

At the blonde girl's reasonable words, Sudou let go of Yamawaki.

"And you guys, aren't you provoking him too much? If this continued, do you think it would be fine if the school got word of this?"

"S-sorry. We didn't mean to do that, Ichinose."

Ichinose. I remember hearing that name before.

Oh, it was the student in class B who was talking to Hoshinomiya-sensei.

"Hey, let's move. If we study here, we'll become stupid too."

"Y-yea."

Yamawaki and his group of friends left the area.

"If you guys are going to keep studying here, keep it quiet."

At those words, I gave a small nod, feeling admiration at her gallant form.

"Unlike Horikita, she keeps order to this place, huh."

"I wasn't trying to create a disturbance. I was just saying the truth."

Saying the truth caused the disturbance, though…

"Hey… That guy said that this wasn't on the test… right?"

"… What does this mean?"

We exchanged glances.

The material that Chiyabashira-sensei would be on the test was the Age of Exploration.

We all definitely made sure to write that down.

"Doesn't this mean that each class gets a different test?"

"That's unlikely… the test should be same for everyone in the grade."

As Horikita said, all the problems on the test should be same for the five main subjects.

Otherwise, the effect of our grades on the points becomes unclear.

By any chance, was class C informed of a change to the test before anyone else?

Or was class D the only one not informed…

From the unexpected new information, we couldn't help but be confused.

What if different topics were tested on the history portion of the test between the classes?

… No… if only the history portion was different, it would be really weird.

But if the whole test was different…

This whole week of studying would become wasted time.