Chapter 23: Strategies for Dealing with the Exam
Hikigaya was just about to send Kamuro-san a message asking her to leave, but Sakayanagi-san suddenly sighed: "Hikigaya-kun, your little dog is very worried about you."
'No, what little dog? I've never heard of it. The only dog Hachiman knows is Chiba's mascot, 'Chiba-kun'.'
"Hikigaya-kun, forcing a girl is a crime. If you don't want to stand in court, you should hurry up and apologize to Kamuro-san."
Although Sakayanagi-san referred to Kamuro-san as a little dog, Yukinoshita-san seemed to completely agree with the statement. She not only concluded that Hikigaya was forcing the girl but also treated him as a criminal.
"Kamuro-san, please come over." Sakayanagi-san beckoned in Kamuro-san's direction, then turned to Hikigaya. "Hikigaya-kun, since this is your little dog, I'll leave it to you to make her keep it a secret."
"No, that..."
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. So, what are you three staying here for?" Before Hikigaya could react, Kamuro-san had already straightened up and walked toward the three with a cold expression.
For some reason, Kamuro-san did not refute Sakayanagi-san's description of her as a "little dog."
"We plan to discuss the future direction of Class A. After all, after this month, I will be the class representative of Class A."
"No, if I remember correctly, what Katsuragi-kun said was that you would be the class representative of Class A during this month."
'Is that so? Did her sickly body not only prevent Sakayanagi-san from participating in any sports but also affect her hearing? What is going on with this school? How do they shove just anyone into Class A? I really want to lecture this school's director properly.'
Hikigaya was brooding with resentment when he suddenly felt a chilling coldness crawl up from his heels.
He fearfully turned his head, only to see Sakayanagi looking at him with a beaming smile: "Hikigaya-kun, can you tell me what you were just thinking?"
"Eek—N-Nothing at all."
Sakayanagi's eyes held absolutely no humor. Hikigaya even bit his tongue from fear; it really hurt.
"Stop talking about irrelevant things. Can we please get to the main point quickly?" Yukinoshita-san crossed her arms, imitating Kamuro-san, and her tone was a little impatient.
'Even if you try hard to imitate Kamuro-san's pose and strike that attitude, due to the limitations of your physical build, you simply can't give off a heart-fluttering feeling.'
"Mhm, let's get to the main point." Sakayanagi-san finally stopped staring at Hikigaya and said to Kamuro-san, "Kamuro-san, please find a place to sit."
"No need, I'll just stand. You three go ahead; just pretend I don't exist." Saying this, Kamuro-san walked over to Hikigaya's desk and stood behind him like a servant.
Sakayanagi-san gave Kamuro-san a meaningful look but ultimately put aside her curiosity: "Regarding this midterm exam, what are your thoughts?"
"Mashima-sensei specifically mentioned when explaining that we 'won't need other methods to pass the exam,' which means there are other strategies for dealing with this midterm exam." Yukinoshita-san held a light blue notebook in her hand, carefully checking the notes she took during class.
Sakayanagi-san nodded: "Exactly. Although the midterm exam rule states that you will be expelled if you fail one subject, there are a large number of students with poor academic performance in Class C and Class D. It's unlikely that the school would expel all those failing students at once."
"Speaking of passing... how is the passing score set?" Hikigaya asked with some curiosity.
"If we take the last assessment as an example, the passing score should be the class average score divided by two. Seen this way, Katsuragi-kun's follower didn't pass, yet he wasn't expelled." Sakayanagi-san tapped her chin with her finger; although she looked very cute, what she said was quite harsh.
'Ah, is that the roaring Golden Retriever? It's a pity he wasn't expelled.'
"Mashima-sensei already said that the last assessment would only be used as a reference for the future and would not be reflected on the report card, so there was no risk. I feel like something is not quite right..." Yukinoshita-san must have very diligently recorded what Mashima-sensei said.
"It won't be reflected on the report card, which is to say, it will be reflected on something other than the report card. Maybe it will affect the school's evaluation of the students or something... It's completely a word game."
'That's right, Hachiman is best at word games and riddles.'
Hikigaya proudly wagged his finger.
"C-Can it be understood that way?" Kamuro-san looked bewildered, seemingly completely unable to keep up with the trio's rhythm.
"Getting back to the main topic... the students in Class C and Class D have very poor academic abilities. To avoid a large number of expulsions, what should those students do?" Yukinoshita-san frowned and looked up, asking.
"It's simple, isn't it?" Hikigaya turned to look at Sakayanagi-san: "There are also a large number of students with poor academic performance in the higher grades, and they must have gone through similar exams, yet they still remain at this school."
"Hikigaya-kun makes a good point. Among the senpais, there are somewhat more students expelled in the second year, but even so, the numbers in Class C and Class D of the second year are still over thirty people."
"Considering it from that perspective... perhaps there are similar questions in the exam papers every year? To deal with the exam, the new students must either work hard to improve their grades, or they can get a practice exam similar to the actual test questions from the senpais and know the exam content in advance." Yukinoshita-san tapped her notebook with the ballpoint pen she was holding.
"Is that allowed? Isn't that cheating?!" Kamuro-san couldn't help but interject.
"It's not cheating as long as you don't get caught." Hikigaya shook his head.
'By the same logic, as long as you don't treat a problem as a problem, there will be no problem.'
"Assuming our line of thought is correct, now that you know the Class C and Class D strategy for passing, Sakayanagi-san, what do you plan to do?"
"Let's see... since this is something that could potentially affect the midterm exams for the entire grade, I'll have someone confirm it first."
Saying this, Sakayanagi-san took out her phone and sent a message to a student from the Sakayanagi faction.
Not long after, Sakayanagi-san's phone sounded with a message received notification.
She lit up the screen and gently placed the phone in the middle of the desk so everyone could see the content on the screen.
"Princess Sakayanagi, I have asked several senpais, and they do indeed have past years' exam papers, and they are supposedly exactly the same as the midterm exam questions, but they seem to have been given an order and are unwilling to sell them for anything. I've tried many methods, but they still refuse to budge and won't say the name of the person [who gave the order]. That is all."