I returned to my room and laid down on my bed. It's the most exhausted I feel after leaving the white room. First, the study group broke up then I saw Kushida's dark side. She tried to threaten me with fake evidence but I able to get the upper hand on her by recording her conversation with me on my phone. And last I fought with Horikita's brother, Horikita Manabu, the Student Council President.
"It's been a long day for me. I wonder going to happen next," I thought.
It's been three days since I confronted Horikita about her flawed thinking and yet she didn't take any action. I glanced at her. She was taking notes and Sudou was sleeping in the class as usual.
It looks like she still not fully convinced yet. She may be thinking that I'm just speculating. But the school already gave us various hints about how they evaluate students. If this school only value academics then students like Sodou would never be admitted into the school in the first place.
Then there are students like Hirata and Kushida who are both academically and physically good. They both have good communication skills. Then why are they placed in Class D. I didn't have an explanation for this before. But after seen Kushida's real face. I think it's because the school know about her personality. It's the same with Hirata although I don't know what kind of secrets he had, it doesn't matter to me.
It's safe to say that the school know everything about the students. They probably know Horikita flawed personality and that's why she was sorted out in Class D.
"Then what about me. Did they know everything related to me" I thought. There no way that's possible. I didn't go to any middle school, I don't have any government records. I don't have any history.
During the lunch break, Horikita finally makes up her mind and talk to Kusihida. She agreed to help Horikita once again. With Kusihida, we able to persuade Ike and Yamauchi to join the study group once again. But Sudou denied it.
"I'm busy with my club and I don't want to skip my basketball practice just to study, especially her study group," Sudou said angrily while pointing at Horikita.
"But if you failed the test, you won't able to play basketball and if you worried about missing your basketball practice, I already had a plan for it," Horikita said calmly. After hearing her plan Soudou reluctantly agreed to join the study group.
Since we only have a little over the week before the midterm exam, Horikita planned to hold the short study session during the breaks between classes. This way Sudou didn't have to skip his club activities.
Things are going smoothly but then we hit an unexpected blunder. Apparently, the test's topic has changed last week and Sensei said that she forget to inform us. When the students complain about it, she didn't show any guilt towards it.
"I'm sure you'll able to pass the exam one way or other," This what Chiyabashira-sensei said before she shoos us from the staff room.
"Is there are other ways to pass the test," I thought as we leave the staff room. I looked at Horikita. She seems to be calm but I could sense her anxiety. It's the first time she involved in something like this. If the class fail now it'll be a huge blow to her confidence.
At the end of the school Hirata hold up a meeting to discuss the next course of action for class D which includes me, Horikita, Kushida and Hirata.
"This really a bad situation for the class," Hirata worries are justifiable. We only have four days before the midterm test. These new topics are entirely different from what was covered in the study group. In short, Class D is back to square one with little to no time.
"Are we really able to get through this test without anyone failing," Kushida who always had a positive outlook (at least on the outside) couldn't help but be doubtful about it. This shows how grave this situation is.
"There's a way to prevent anyone failing the test," I spoke up. Everyone looked at me even Horikita who was quiet throughout the whole discussion.
"What way! Ayanokouji-Kun?" Hirata asked eagerly. He was really desperate to save everyone.
"But for that, we have to give up on class points," I said and looked at Horikita to see if she is okay with that. She nobbed her head.
"In the previous test, I noticed that the passing grade was set on the average score of the class. I'm sure Horikita has already done the calculation," I said as I looked at her. She appeared to be in deep thought. She seems to get where I'm going with it. Then suddenly, she spoke up.
"You wants us to score less intentionally to bring the average score down. That way the passing grade would be lower. Right?" Horikita accurately guessed it.
"That's right. But this plan requires the cooperation from the top scorers of the class," I explained. I looked at Hirata and Kushida. They're the only ones who can convince the students.
"If this can help the class, I see what can I do for it," Hirata agreed to talk with the students and hopefully convinced them to participate in this plan. Kushida also agreed to it and said that she also talks about this to her friends. And with that, we conclude our discussion.
On the next day, I headed toward the cafeteria instead of going to the library.
"Where are you going, Ayanokouji-Kun," Kushida stopped me in my tracks. After I discovered her secrets she has been keeping tabs on me. She always asks what I'm doing or where I am etc. She was suspecting that I might tell her secrets to someone.
"To the cafeteria," I replied.
"Can I come with you," She asked in a rather loud voice and now everybody was staring at us? So this is her plan, if I refused now then it only makes me look bad in front of the class.
"Sure," I sighed in defeat as I agreed. Even though I accept her offer, some students especially boys were glaring at me.
"I wonder, why?" I pondered.
As walking towards the cafeteria, we take about some random stuff. I guess that she wanted to know how I would interact with her after learning her secrets.
"I know you hate so you don't have to force yourself to talk to me," I spoke up.
"So you know that I hate you. Even then I wanted to talk to you Ayanokouji-Kun," Kushida said while smiling at me. I can't tell if it's her real smile or a fake one. Either way, I don't care.
When we arrived at the cafeteria I looked around to find my target and soon I find him sitting at the corner table with a gloomy face eating a free vegetable meal. I and Kushida quickly made our way to his table. Kushida sat down opposite of him while I sat down beside him. And the other side is blocked by the wall. He had no means of escape.
"Who are you," The student asked in panicking voice.
"Are you a second-year student or a third-year student?" I asked.
"Third-year student, you? The student asked. He looked uneasy.
"I'm Ayanokouji from Class D first year and this is Kushida also from Class D first year. You're also in Class D, right?" I introduced myself and Kushida.
"So what?" He getting more and more irritated. I should wrap this up quickly before anyone notices us.
"I want your help and if you agreed to it, I'll pay you for it. You didn't have that many points, right? That free vegetable meal doesn't look good either," I offered.
"What did you want," He asked with some hesitation.
"I want the midterm's test paper from the first semester of your first year," I said.
"How much you can pay," He asked.
"10,000 points at maximum," I said.
"That's too low. I need at least 30,000 points," He increased his price. After some bargain and with little help from Kushida and her charm, he agreed on 15,000 points. I also asked him to include the mock test paper.
"Is this okay? I mean, isn't getting the old test questions considered as cheating?" Kushida asked.
"In that case, the school would outline it in the school's rule," I assured Kushida that there nothing to worry about and Chiyabashira-sensei already hinted that there are others way to pass the tests. This is one of many ways.
When I received the old test papers. I compared mock test's questions, it turned out that questions from this year and question from two years ago are identical which means midterms questions are probably going to be the same.
"Kushida, could you tell everyone you the one who got the old test paper," I asked. She looked at me with a surprised expression.
"If you say so, but are you okay with that," She asked. She hesitantly agreed.
"I don't want to stand out and our classmate's trust you more than me. So it's okay," I said. I also told her to revelled these test paper on the day before the test. That way if anything unexpected happened they would be prepared for that.
"Okay, I understand," Kushida understand my reasoning and accepted my conditions. Now we can only wait and hope for the best.
To be continue