19 Chapter 19: Midterm Exam
Ayanokoji Pov
The midterm exams are finally over. That was hard. Hopefully, I'll pass.
Sighing out of relief, I looked at the person sitting in front of me. It was Class D's leader, Kurushima Kaoru. He's someone who earned the praise and respect from each of us in the class.
Even among the trouble students like Koenji, Ike, Yamauchi, and Sūdo he earned their respect.
Whenever I'm talking with Sūdo, I hear him praising Kurushima about the basketball match they played. He was nearly on the same level as him, from what I heard. But there is this strange thing which Sūdo also told me.
Which is that Kurushima asked before playing for an thoroughly explanation of the basketball rules. And once he received the explanation, they played. Sūdo also mentioned that his moves got copied by him in an instant and that Kurushima was able to perform them perfectly.
Well, I'm not sure whether that is really true, or Sūdo just exaggerating. Nevertheless, it's the undeniable truth that with Kurushima Class C has a high chance to advance up to Class A.
A few days later
"Sensei. We were told that the results would be announced today, but when?"
"There's no need for you to get so worked up, Hirata. You should have passed quite easily."
"So, when will the results be released?"
"Well, if you'd like, now is as good a time as any. If we waited to do it after class, we wouldn't have enough time for other procedures."
Some of the students visibly reacted to the words "other procedures."
"What…do you mean by that?"
"Don't get flustered. I'll tell you now."
As usual, she revealed the details simultaneously and collectively. She stuck a large, white sheet of paper with everyone's names and test scores onto the blackboard.
"Honestly, I'm impressed. I didn't think that you'd score so well. Many students tied with perfect scores in mathematics, Japanese, and social studies more than eleven of you, actually."
Some of the students shouted in joy and delight when they saw the 100s lined up on the results sheet. However, some weren't smiling. The only grade that truly mattered was Sūdo's score in English.
Then—We saw Sūdo's test scores. He had scored sixty points in four of the five main subjects, which was considerably high. He'd scored thirty-nine points in English.
"Yes!" Sūdo leapt up and shouted with joy. Ike and Yamauchi stood and cheered, too.
There was no red line to be found on the results sheet. Kushida and I shared a glance and sighed in relief.
Horikita didn't smile or cheer, but she did appear relieved.
"We showed you, sensei! When we really try our best, we can do anything!" Ike wore a smug, confident look.
"Yes, I recognize that. You all did very well. However—" Chabashira-sensei held a red pen in her hand.
Sūdo unintentionally let out a "Huh?" She drew a red line right above Sūdo's name.
"Wh-what is that? What does that mean?"
"You failed, Sūdo."
"Huh? You're lying, right? Don't give me that crap! Why did I fail?" He cried.
Of course, Sūdo was the first one to protest this. In response to Sūdo's failing grade, the entire classroom did a complete one-eighty. We stopped our delighted cheering and erupted in confusion.
"Sūdo, you failed the English exam. That's all."
"Don't screw with me! I got thirty-two points! I passed!"
"When did anyone say that thirty-two points was a passing grade?"
"No, no. You said so, sensei! Right, everyone?" shouted Ike.
"Say whatever you want, it won't matter. This is the undeniable truth. You had to score at least a forty to pass the midterm exam. In other words, you were just one point short. You were so close."
"F-forty?! You never told us about this! I won't accept it!"
"Should I tell you how we determine the passing grade?"
Chabashira-sensei wrote a simple formula on the blackboard: 79.6 divided by 2 equals 39.8.
"We set a passing grade for each individual class, just as we did for the last test. We calculated that number by dividing the average score by two. That's how we arrived at our answer."
In other words, anything at 39.8 or lower was considered failing.
"I provided proof that you failed. That is all."
"No way… So… Does that mean I'm going to be expelled?"
"Although your time here was short, you struggled valiantly. You'll be Asked to fill out a withdrawal form after class, but you will need to have a legal guardian present when you do so. I'll contact them for you."
As we witnessed the scene unfold, the teacher rattling off the information as if she were casually giving a report, we finally realized that this was actually happening.
"As for the rest of you, good work. You all passed without any issues. work hard so that you can pass your final exam as well. Well then, next—"
"S-sensei. Is Sūdo-kun really being expelled? Is there no way to save him?"
Hirata was the first to show concern, even though Sūdo hated him and had lashed out at him verbally.
"He's being expelled. He got a failing grade."
"Could we possibly see Sūdo-kun's answer sheet?"
"Even if you look it over, you won't find any grading mistakes. I was expecting that you'd protest."
She took out Sūdo's English answer sheet and handed it to Hirata, who immediately looked over every problem. His expression turned dark when he reached the end. "There…are no mistakes."
"Wait. Kurushima-kun, do you perhaps have any idea to save Sūdo-kun?" Hirata asked our leader desperately, hoping for an affirmative answer.
"I think I have an idea how to save Sūdo-kun," Kurushima expressed, making Chabashira-sensei and all of us furrow an eyebrow in surprise.
"Really?" Hirata asked, as he slowly composed, trusting everything in Kurushima's hands to save Sūdo.
"And what would that be?" Chabashira-sensei asked, her tone showing a hint of curiosity.
"Chabashira-sensei, at the first day you said anything can be bought with Points, didn't you? So how about selling us one Point which we can apply to Sūdo's English test?"
"Wwhaat?" The majority of the class shouted, unable to realize that an possibility like this might exist. Even now, many had doubts in their hearts.
"Hahahaha," she laughed, making us all attentive to the front. "You're truly interesting, Kurushima."
"Sensei, does that m—"
"Yes, Hirata. Kurushima is right. It's possible."
"Woaahh, for real?" Ike shouted, alongside many other of my classmates.
Sūdo's eyes suddenly brightened up. "Bro…"
"How much does it cost, Sensei?" Kurushima asked.
"It's 100.000 Private Points," Chabashira-sensei announced.
"100.000 Private Points?!" someone exclaimed in shock, due to the expensive price.
However compared to Twenty Million Private Points, this is nothing.
"But I only have 3.000 Private Points…" Sūdo muttered depressingly, as he had an habit of spending his Points on everything relating to basketball.
"How about this everyone; each one of us lays down 2.500 Private Points to buy Sūdo an additional point?" Kurushima asked, hoping everyone would agree.
"Yes, everyone, let's do that," Hirata said, as no one really complained, since each of us should have more Private Points than necessarily available. The only person who seemed to object was Koenji.
"Koenji, I guess you won't do it, right?" Kurushima asked, possibly narrowing Koenji's thoughts as he is the one in the class that knows the most about Koenji.
"You're right, Kurushima-boy. I don't see a single reason to give up my valuable Points for Gorilla-kun."
"Who do you call Gorilla? Wait…You meant me?" Sūdo exclaimed furiously, realizing that he was the one insulted.
"Sūdo-kun, calm down," Kurushima said. "It's in Koenji's nature to be like this. Don't mind him."
"Yeah, you're right. It's no use becoming angry."
"I'll pay in Koenji's stead," Kurushima said. "After all, with whom should I play basketball when you're gone?"
"Yeah, thanks bro. Let's play a game of basketball after this," Sūdo exclaimed, motivated and thankful.
All of us transferred the 2.500 Points to Chabashira-sensei. "Received," she said, walking away from the classroom. "It seems like you'll stay a bit longer. Good job."
Once Chabashira-sensei left the classroom, Ike spoke up. "Did she just say something nice?"
"Yeah…" Sūdo muttered.
"Kurushima-kun, your English scores…" Yukimura announced, who went to the front and looked at the scores.
"Yukimura-kun, what's wrong?" Mori asked, looking at the English test scores.
"What?" she shouted, gaining the attention of everyone. "He has…42 points in English."
"Is Kurushima-kun also bad in English?" someone asked.
"No," Yukimura said. "Don't you remember that he's the one who scored in the entrance exams a perfect score. Which means…"
"Yes, Yukimura-kun," she asked, unable to realize what he was hinting at.
"He deliberately made his score low, so that Sūdo could pass," he announced.
"Horikita-san too," he said, showing her 52 Points in English.
"Kurushima, Horikita…thank you," Sūdo exclaimed in thankfulness.
"Humph, I did it for the class's sake," she expressed, walking away.
"No worries, Sūdo-kun. That's for what friends are there, right?" Kurushima expressed.
"Yeah, you're right."
With that, Sūdo's expulsion got negated.
One day later
"Everyone, I didn't have yesterday the chance to say this, but I have a proposal. Just like we saw yesterday Private Points can pretty much change everything. Whether it might using them for survival or to help someone in need. So, I suggest we create a Private Points bank for the class where each of us allots 20,000 Points per month," Kurushima proposed, standing in front of the class.
"Why should we do that?" a classmate of mine asked.
"Well, we can use these Points to help each other out in situations like Sūdo-kun's. We can pool our resources together and help out our classmates who are in need," Kurushima explained.
Kurushima continued, "Moreover, as we are in Class C, we know that we are at a disadvantage compared to Class B and A. They have a larger number of Private Points, and that means they have better access to resources and opportunities. By pooling our Private Points together, we can create a more level playing field for ourselves. We can use our collective resources to take advantage of opportunities that may come our way."
"And let's not forget that we're in a special school where competition is everything. The more Private Points we have, the better chance we have to survive and succeed in this ruthless environment. This is especially important now that we're in a competition against the other classes, where we might lose Class Points depending on the situation that occurs, preventing our united goal of advancing up to Class A."
Hirata nodded in agreement, and almost every girl in the class showed their support for the proposal. Next to my side, I saw Horikita deep in thought, considering the potential benefits of Kurushima's proposal.
I, too was considering it. But it wasn't just me. It was everyone in the class currently.
"If there are some worries about whether we can trust an individual student with these large amounts of Private Points, don't worry, I might have an option that satisfies each of us."
"How about we buy another smartphone, where these Points are kept in? It should be possible, right, Chabashira-sensei?" Kurushima asked, tilting his head to the side from the podium, looking at the person entering. It was our homeroom teacher Chabashira-sensei.
Chabashira-sensei gave Kurushima a nod, signaling her approval of the idea. "Yes, it is possible. I can arrange for another smartphone if that's the reason for the request."
"So normally we wouldn't be able to ask for another smartphone, right, Chabashira-sensei?" Kurushima asked, looking at Chabashira-sensei with a smile.
"I'm not allowed to disclose this information," Chabashira-sensei said.
"I see," Kurushima sighed. "So that clarifies it," he murmured.
"So, what do you think?" Kurushima asked all of us.
"I think both are great proposals," Hirata exclaimed, replying as the first one as usual. "It would be beneficial to our class in the long term, sparing Private Points after all," he added.
"Yeah, I think that's also a good proposal," Karuizawa Kei, Hirata's girlfriend replied.
There was no one to oppose this proposal. After all, we've just seen yesterday how Private Points can save our lives in this school.
It's a viable solution which offers a lot of potential benefits for the class. No one here wants to be expelled. And if a price of 20.000 Private Points per month can contribute, then it's worth it.
"Alright, everyone. Let's put this proposal to a vote. All in favor, raise your hand,"
Without hesitation, every hand in the room shot up. The vote was unanimous.
"Well, that settles it then. Chabashira-sensei, how much does it cost to buy another smartphone?"
"It's 100.000 Private Points," she responded, without the slightest hesitation.
"Ah, I see," he murmured, not expecting the price to be this expensive.
"Kurushima-kun, why don't you just become our banker?" Matsushita asked, narrowing her head in slight confusion why we don't allot 20.000 Points to Kurushima per month.
Many people agreed with her, Horikita and I too.
"Well…you see…I have a problem with managing Private Points," he murmured, in complete embarrassment. "I even now spent almost all of my monthly allowance up," he exclaimed, scratching his head in embarrassment.
"I think because of that our Points would be safer in another smartphone, where without the individual interference Private Points can be safely allotted," he continued, explaining a valid reason which might happen.
"Ah," Matsushita responded, becoming aware of Kurushima's nature of spending Private Points.
Not just her, but each of us began to reminisce that on the 3rd day in the school, he had 16.000 from the 100.000 Private Points remaining.
"I completely forgot about that," I exclaimed in a quiet tone, only hearable for Horikita next to me.
"Yeah…me too," she sighed, unable to realize how someone could have so excessive problems about managing Private Points.
"Aha, well, Kurushima-kun is right. We should better buy another smartphone, right?" Hirata muttered painfully, also unable to realize how someone could have such excessive problems managing their Private Points.
"Yeah, you're right, Yosuke," Karuizawa said, scratching her head in awkwardness about the situation deriving in front of her.
Each one of us couldn't help but to painfully look at our leader who offensively has immense problems with managing Private Points. All of us abided the request, out of awkwardness about the situation in front of us, I presume.
With that, we also bought a separate smartphone for 100.000 Private Points. We all came to the agreement that we would entrust Kurushima with the new bought smartphone about Class C's Private Points bank.
Also, the first allotment would start at the 1st Juni, which is tomorrow.
Class A – 1004 (+64)
Class B – 705 (+15)
Class C – 682 (+89)
Class D – 601 (+14)
We'll receive 68.200 Private Points, which is equivalent to 682 Class Points.
Seems like this year will become quite…
…bothersome.
Kurushima Pov
Tch…
I wasn't able to expel idiot one and idiot two. Damn…
There's someone in the class that is intervening with my plans. I anticipated that Ike and Yamauchi would most likely fail the midterm exams, which is why I didn't buy the midterm exam papers from the upperclassmen or from the student council members.
That was how everything was supposed to go.
But one day before the midterm exams Kushida appeared with old midterm exams from an upperclassman.
I'm sure Kushida wasn't the one who thought about that possibility, so who else could have interfered?
Wait…
If I'm reminiscing correctly, Kushida smiled at…
Ayanokoji's direction…
And meanwhile, I heard a small sigh from him at the same moment she looked and smiled at him.
Also, when she handed out the old midterm exams from the upperclassmen she didn't enter the classroom at that time alone, but with Ayanokoji whom she had most likely had a conversation priory.
So…
Ayanokoji is the one who intervened, huh?
Since the day on the bus, I always thought that Ayanokoji is someone different from everyone. At that time I only differentiated him because of his facial expression, which I never have seen before…
No…
He has the same facial expression I had when I was seven years old until ten and a half years old...
That's the reason why I immediately got attentive of him in the first place…
That was truly the only reason.
Ayanokoji…
Just like in most cases, my intuition which I usually ignore most of the times stroke also at you…
Although as much as I don't want to rely on my intuition it has proven itself in almost every case right…
And the weird feeling I got from you tells me…
That you're dangerous for my plans…
.
.
.
A/N: Kurushima is doing some actions behind the scene again. Damn...I really love writing an manipulative Protagonist. Especially writing him when he´s basically lying the whole time is really fun.
Also the sudden development with Koji potentially being a danger to his plans was something I wanted to write so much. Finally, that´s also written down here now that the perfect opportunity has arised.
Also, soon Volume 1 will be finished and then Volume 2 will come about the special exams.
I really want to mention it again, but I really like foreshadowing, using Symbolism, Methaphors, or a foil and much more literary devices for my fic so I´ll be including those too.
Some other aspects too, but I won´t be mentioning them (:
Well, that´s all.
Have a great day.
