During lunch break, Shiraishi Makoto arrived at the Student Council office.
“You mean to say you discovered these Class D students purchasing past exam papers from upperclassmen, and you’ve come to the Student Council to file a report?” Akane Tachibana accepted the photos Shiraishi handed over.
“Yes.
I believe this behavior violates the most fundamental principles of fairness, so I hope the school can take appropriate countermeasures.” Since he himself was a member of the Student Council, filing a report was much simpler for him than for others—he could directly submit the materials to the secretary or the president.
Manabu Horikita fixed his gaze on Shiraishi and spoke calmly: “We will bring this matter to the school’s attention.
However, the final outcome will likely just be a change in the exam questions.
You have no objections to that resolution, do you, Shiraishi?” “No, none at all.” Shiraishi gave a slight nod.
“Then please handle this first, Secretary Tachibana.
I have some things to discuss with Shiraishi.” At Manabu’s words, Tachibana—though somewhat puzzled—took the materials and left the office.
“This is your first step in the plan, isn’t it?” Manabu asked.
“Yes.
Does the President think I’ve gone too far?” Shiraishi countered.
“No.
I just don’t quite understand your intent.” Manabu shook his head.
Expelling students from a competing class was a standard offensive tactic—after all, expulsions under non-special circumstances would deduct a certain number of Class Points.
But Class D had no Class Points to begin with.
Aside from intimidating Suzune Horikita, he couldn’t see what other purpose this served.
“Even though Suzune Horikita has been consciously saving money, she still hasn’t noticed the true purpose of Private Points.
This exam should teach her a valuable lesson.” Shiraishi explained.
“I see.” Not knowing the specifics of Class D’s situation, Manabu indeed hadn’t realized that point.
External pressure can indeed help a person grow.
I hope Suzune can understand that.
With his doubts resolved, Manabu stopped probing further and shifted the conversation to Student Council work.
This week, he would be having Shiraishi study how to handle internal school disputes alongside him, while Ichinose would be following Tachibana to handle club-related matters.
Friday arrived—the day of the midterm exams.
Sae Chabashira walked to the podium with the exam papers in hand, her expression somewhat displeased.
“Everyone’s here.
It seems you all remember what day it is today.” The students below were all tense.
With only four days since learning about the exam scope change, most of them weren’t confident about what kind of results they’d achieve.
In comparison, Class D’s three idiots weren’t nearly as nervous.
They’d had a full week to memorize the past exam answers, and they were confident they’d pass with ease.
“Before we begin the exam, I need to announce something.” Chabashira placed the papers on the podium and spoke: “A student has submitted evidence to the Student Council showing that first-year students purchased past exam papers from upperclassmen.
Because this behavior severely undermines fairness, this exam will feature entirely new questions—and the same will apply to future exams as well.” “At the same time, to further ensure fairness, the school has established a special reward for this midterm.
The class with the highest average score will receive 100 Class Points, second place will receive 75, third place 50, and fourth place will receive none.” “I don’t know how many of you secretly memorized past exam answers, but I wish you the best of luck.” After reading the announcement, Chabashira began distributing the exam papers.
“What?” Haruki Yamauchi’s startled cry drew the entire class’s attention.
Ken Sudo and Kanji Ike’s expressions were equally grim.
Suzune Horikita instinctively looked toward Kikyo Kushida—only to find Kushida wearing an equally shocked and bewildered expression.
“What on earth is going on…” Horikita mechanically passed the exam papers along, when a name suddenly came to mind.
“The Student Council…
It’s Shiraishi Makoto…” Horikita identified the culprit.
This wasn’t because Horikita had suddenly become perceptive—it was simply that from her perspective, all clues pointed to this single answer.
The first subject was social studies, relatively the easiest of the five.
As soon as the exam ended, Kanji Ike suddenly shouted out loud.
“Who was it?!
Why did someone report us?!” His hands had been shaking the entire time he was writing.
Although he’d studied properly for the first two weeks, the exam scope was different—he felt like he was going to fail again.
Bang.
That was the sound of Ken Sudo slamming his fist on the desk in fury.
“What do we do, what do we do, what do we do…” Haruki Yamauchi frantically flipped through his textbook, trying to memorize a few more points during the 10-minute break.
Seeing the three of them like this, combined with Chabashira’s earlier announcement, the rest of the class immediately understood: these three hadn’t studied at all—they’d just been memorizing past exam answers.
The oppressive mood that had been weighing on everyone suddenly lifted, and someone even couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“Who’s laughing?
Stand up!” Ken Sudo rose from his seat, glaring furiously around the room.
But no one responded to him.
All he could do was continue taking out his anger on the desk.
Horikita had no mind to concern herself with Sudo’s disciplinary issues.
Realizing that everything had been a trap Shiraishi had set for her, she felt a wave of despair.
The expulsion of Sudo and the others seemed inevitable.
She hadn’t noticed anything wrong throughout the entire process.
Could Shiraishi’s next target be her?
She hadn’t yet proven her abilities to her brother—was she going to be expelled just like this?
“What should I do…” Kiyotaka Ayanokōji glanced at Horikita, then at Kushida, but said nothing.
“This is all your fault!” Haruki Yamauchi suddenly stood up, pointing at Kushida and shouting.
“If you hadn’t told us about those past exam papers, none of this would have happened!” “I…” Facing Yamauchi’s accusation, Kushida couldn’t refute it.
She could only clench her teeth and bow deeply: “I’m sorry…” “What good does an apology do?!
I’m going to get expelled because of you!” Yamauchi swung his fists about in fury.
“That’s enough.” Horikita, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke.
“Even though the exam scope was changed, everything on the test was still covered in class.
As long as you paid attention in class and reviewed properly, you could have passed.” Horikita looked coldly at Yamauchi.
“You chose to rely on shortcuts.
Now that there are no shortcuts, you have no one to blame but yourselves.” That’s right—Shiraishi had found their weakness and designed this trap around it.
As long as I have no weaknesses…
he can’t expel me!
“That’s right!
Kushida’s grades have always been good.
She only went looking for those past exam papers for your sake.
If you can’t even appreciate that, you have no right to point fingers at her!” Satsuki Shinohara, a girl with short blue hair, also stood up to defend Kushida.
“Kushida even borrowed money from me—it must have been to help you buy those papers.
How can you possibly say something like that?” More and more students began speaking up.
Facing the accusations from his classmates, Yamauchi could only slump back into his seat, clutching his head in anguish.
Horikita averted her gaze, no longer concerning herself with the fate of the three.