Chapter 46: Midterm Exams
As soon as Hikigaya and Himeno finished exchanging contact information, they saw the three Class A girls walking towards them, signaling that the conversation between the two classes had ended.
Yukinoshita and Kamuro looked at the rotten-eyed Hikigaya, then at the dead-fish-eyed Himeno Yuki, and finally at the pair who were simultaneously giving each other puzzled looks. They wore complex expressions.
"Hikigaya, I didn't think your dead fish eyes were contagious..." Kamuro looked at Himeno Yuki with pity and sympathy and said.
"As expected of Hikigaya-germ! Oh, I accidentally bit my tongue." Yukinoshita said, feigning innocence.
'What in the world are you two rambling about?!
Also, treating me like a pathogen stimulates my psychological trauma, so please stop saying that. In elementary school, those guys would say things like, "It's the Hikigaya-germ," "Let me touch it," and "I had my protective shield up just now," when they touched me. Elementary school kids are cruel, aren't they? Some even said the savage thing, "The shield is useless against Hikigaya-germ."'
Himeno glanced at Hikigaya, who returned a helpless look. She then nodded, deep in thought.
Seeing the two exchanging glances, Sakayanagi slightly narrowed her eyes.
Just as Sakayanagi was about to say something, Ichinose walked over, smiling broadly, and spoke to Himeno: "Himeno-san, I'm so sorry to keep you waiting. Let's go find the others now."
"Ah, I'm sorry, Ichinose-san. I'm starting to get a bit of a headache, and I feel a little weak. May I go back first?" Himeno massaged her temples with her finger, showing an apologetic expression to Ichinose.
Hikigaya could tell at a glance that Himeno was intentionally feigning this state to avoid the gathering. He raised an eyebrow at Himeno, who responded with a glare.
"Of course. Himeno-san, would you like me to accompany you back?" Ichinose's face showed a look of concern.
"No, it's fine. I'm not a child. Ichinose-san, you should go find the others first." Himeno waved her hand, declining Ichinose's kind offer.
"Alright then. Please take care of yourself, Himeno-san."
"Don't worry... I'll be going now." Himeno's last sentence was directed at Hikigaya, and she shook her phone lightly at him. Hikigaya responded by raising his hand and waving back, a faint, almost imperceptible smile on his face.
'For the first time, I feel it's truly great to have come to this school. Period.'
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The midterm exam, which Sakayanagi and the others had meticulously planned for, arrived quickly amidst the flurry of intense studying.
A few days before the exam, Sakayanagi collected 40,000 private points from each student in the class, then distributed practice exams mixed with past questions. She demanded that the Class A students master all the specifically marked parts of the practice exam, even if they had to memorize them by rote.
On the day of the midterm exam, the Class A students who entered the examination room and received the test paper were surprised to find that the exam questions were identical to the marked parts on the practice exam. After their initial surprise, the Class A students calmly filled in the familiar answers on the paper. Even after the exam ended and they walked out of the room, the Class A students felt it was all a little too smooth to be real.
On this day, after Mashima-sensei entered the classroom and stepped onto the podium, he looked at the Class A students with a look of surprise. The students held their breath, waiting for the midterm exam results to be announced, and an unusual atmosphere permeated the classroom.
"Sensei, I heard the exam results are being announced today. When will that be?" Katsuragi was the first to stand up and ask.
"Don't worry, I'm announcing them now," Mashima-sensei said, posting a large white sheet of paper listing the students' names and scores on the blackboard.
On that paper, many perfect scores of 100 were neatly lined up as if copied and pasted. More than half of the Class A students' names were followed by five 100-point scores, meaning these students achieved full marks in all five midterm subjects. Even Totsuka Yahiko, who had the lowest score in the previous assessment, scored above 90 in every subject.
"Although I know that those placed in Class A are all talented and elite, I didn't expect you to achieve this level," Mashima-sensei praised generously: "Well done!"
Looking at the excellent results, the Class A students all showed proud expressions.
"As expected of Sakayanagi-san!"
"We have Sakayanagi-san's practice exam to thank!"
"This is great! Let the other classes see the elite of Class A!"
After class, the Class A students gathered around Sakayanagi, praising the strategic little princess of Class A. Even the students who were previously loyal to Katsuragi-kun were now cordial towards Sakayanagi.
A few students even chose to abandon Katsuragi and switch their allegiance to the Sakayanagi faction.
"Hikigaya, Yukinoshita, I have something I want to ask you." Seeing that the Class A students were immersed in joy, Kamuro quietly approached Hikigaya and Yukinoshita's desks while no one was paying attention. She had a trace of fatigue and relief on her face, and she asked in a lowered voice: "Why did you want the students to score as high as possible? Wouldn't it have been enough just to pass the threshold and avoid expulsion?"
In order to pass the midterm exam, Kamuro had originally only planned to get the paper, quickly memorize some answers, and be done with it.
However, Sakayanagi and Yukinoshita demanded that the students maximize their scores, forcing her to stay up late for several nights to memorize all the content on the exam paper.
"Kamuro-san, this is a strategy that Sakayanagi-san and I agreed upon," Yukinoshita said, taking out her notebook and flipping through her records as she explained.
"First, Mashima-sensei mentioned there would be a reward for passing the exam, but he didn't give the specific rules for the reward. Since we obtained the 'walkthrough guide,' Sakayanagi-san and I formulated this plan to obtain the maximum reward. If things go as planned, Class A will have the highest individual total score, average score, and class total score among the four classes, ensuring Class A receives the most rewards.
Second, the news that over half of Class A students achieved full marks in all five subjects will not only increase the students' sense of belonging to Class A and their trust in Sakayanagi-san, but it will also effectively demoralize the other classes. Although this might invite other classes to gang up on us, since we already have the command right of Class D, we are not completely isolated.
Finally, while we can't know the school's criteria for evaluating students, academic performance is undoubtedly a crucial component. Improving the overall quality of the class might give us a greater advantage in future exams."
"Yukinoshita-kun is right. And..." Sakayanagi, having somehow slipped away from the students surrounding her, had appeared beside them. Her delicate little face was adorned with a cute smile: "Since I was the one directing it, I had to make sure we did it the best way possible."
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