The bliss of a day off always seemed to slip away in the blink of an eye.
Before the students could even process it, they were already back in the classroom, listening to their teachers' lectures.
Friday arrived in a flash.
On a typical Friday, the students would be at their most spirited.
After all, once they made it through today, another day off awaited, ready for them to enjoy. Those with personal points might plan a trip to the shopping mall.
Those without could still have a pleasant rest in the dorm, recharging their energy.
But today was clearly different.
The classroom atmosphere was unusually tense. Because today was the day of the midterm exams.
Hirata's heavy dark circles made anyone who saw him worry about his well-being. But there was no helping it.
Ever since the violent incident at Horikita's study session, Hirata had done his utmost to persuade everyone to join his own study group. For the boys who refused, he even went to their dorm rooms to tutor them privately.
As everyone knows, there's a limit to how much one person can do.
So Hirata managed to persuade students like Kushida Kikyo, Yukimura Teruhiko, and Wang Mei Yu—all fairly strong academically—to help.
Together, they organized a large-scale study group.
The goal was to get as many people as possible through the midterms successfully.
But this came at the cost of Hirata pushing his body and mind to the brink.
Even so, Hirata himself seemed to be in decent spirits.
Clearly, the study sessions had borne fruit. Otherwise, there was no way he could still be smiling, exhausted as he was.
During this time, Horikita had also been tutoring Amane.
Although "tutoring" might not be the most accurate term.
More often than not, their sessions would end up…
Ahem.
Anyway, judging by their usual academic performance, as long as nothing completely unexpected happened, they should be just fine.
What would count as "completely unexpected"?
For example, if the school announced that scoring below 95% would be considered failing.
Only in a scenario like that would Horikita and Amane face any real danger.
Otherwise, Amane felt that an exam this straightforward wouldn't pressure her in the slightest.
Sudo walked into the classroom with his bag slung over one shoulder.
His other hand was still wrapped in bandages.
Two weeks clearly hadn't been enough for him to fully recover.
Wait—wasn't Sudo expelled?
Oh, right.
I forgot to mention.
On the very day Sudo submitted his withdrawal request, Hirata went to talk him out of it.
Unexpectedly, the conditions Sudo demanded were exactly as Amane had predicted.
Only worse.
He demanded that Amane and Horikita kneel and apologize to him. On top of that, he wanted 100,000 private points as compensation.
Setting aside the kneeling and apologizing for a moment…
As for the 100,000 points—Amane didn't think Sudo had any idea about her financial situation.
If he had known, he wouldn't have lowballed it like that.
Most likely, based on his own understanding, he just threw out what he considered an "astronomical" number.
Unsurprisingly, Hirata immediately refused these conditions.
In Hirata's view, it might be possible for Class D to scrape together 100,000 points.
But for two people to come up with that amount? That was far too harsh.
As for the first condition, following Amane's stance, Hirata didn't even think twice before rejecting it.
Seeing Hirata refuse him again and again, Sudo angrily kicked him out.
But Hirata was nothing if not persistent. Day after day, he went to see Sudo after school, trying to persuade him to change his mind.
As the seven-day decision period drew to a close, Hirata even swallowed his pride and visited Amane once.
But Amane firmly refused to have any contact with Sudo.
Both sides were unyielding, leaving Hirata stuck in the middle, feeling utterly helpless.
All he could do was try everything to convince Sudo.
Unfortunately, Sudo wouldn't budge.
Then, something interesting happened.
On the final day of the decision period, Sudo suddenly withdrew his withdrawal request. His reason? He claimed he was moved by Hirata's sincerity.
But given the circumstances, everyone knew what was really going on. Even Hirata could see through his little act.
Yet Sudo still seemed to think his plan was flawless.
Although he had been on extended leave due to his injury, special exams like the midterms were mandatory.
Taking into account Sudo's extended absence and physical condition, the school even granted him a special advantage: an extra 10 points on the written exam.
This basically made it nearly impossible for him to fail and face expulsion.
The moment Sudo entered the classroom, his gaze first fell fiercely on Horikita. But Horikita, absorbed in her book, couldn't be bothered to pay him any mind.
Then he turned his eyes to Amane.
Amane merely glanced back coolly, and Sudo was forced to look away.
He still knew who was an easy target and who wasn't.
Before long, Chabashira-sensei entered, carrying a stack of test papers.
She swept her eyes across the classroom, then nodded in satisfaction.
"No one's absent. It seems the whole class is here," she said, a pleased smile on her face.
"This midterm exam is your first real hurdle in this school. If you can't even clear this, then I'd have to say this school isn't for you. If you want to prove you're not defective goods, write the correct answers on your test papers. Show me what you're made of."
After she finished speaking, the classroom fell completely silent.
Although the mood was heavy, Chabashira noticed that many students wore confident expressions.
It seemed they had come prepared.
But…
How naive.
They'd soon find out what real frustration felt like.
Only through frustration do people grow.
Whether it's Hirata, Ayanokouji, or even Horikita—it doesn't matter.
You, who have the qualities to lead this class upward…
Let's see how much you're really worth when faced with adversity.
Soon, the exam papers were passed from the front to the back, reaching every student.
The first test was History, taught by Chabashira-sensei. Amane skimmed through the questions—they were ridiculously easy.
Just as she was about to start writing her answers, a startled exclamation made her look up.
Hirata had suddenly risen to his feet.
"Chabashira-sensei, what's the meaning of this? The exam content has almost nothing to do with what you outlined for us to review!"
His tone was unusually sharp, almost accusatory.
But all he got in return was Chabashira's offhand apology.
"Oops, my bad. I forgot to mention—the exam questions were changed last minute. A lot of them aren't from the review material I gave you."
Her indifferent attitude only angered Hirata further.
"Chabashira-sensei! How could you do this? How could you forget something so important? Everyone studied based on the scope you provided!"
"So what? If you paid attention in class, this level of difficulty shouldn't be a problem. Now, Hirata, sit down!"
Chabashira's stern command forced Hirata to reluctantly take his seat.
He buried his face in his hands, utterly distraught.
His entire study group had been built around the review scope the teacher had provided.
Now, with the exam content changed, it meant all his efforts over the past two weeks had gone to waste.
Hirata couldn't bear to imagine what kind of devastating results Class D would see on the midterms under these circumstances.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.