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★★★
"There are things you can learn from her." Hachiman said.
"For example, she's currently doing things that benefit the Class."
Therefore, if she keeps rejecting her, the bomb that is Kushida might explode.
Hachiman wanted to defuse the bomb.
Humans are not absolutely kind creatures.
And even when helping others, though no reward is gained, one's inner self still achieves a higher state.
Of course, Hachiman doesn't deny the existence of true angels.
But he was very clear that Kushida was definitely not a true angel.
However, for Kushida, constantly trying to curry favor with Horikita and getting no feedback could lead to an explosion.
In fact.
Because she's a bomb, she will definitely explode.
However, if that's the case, perhaps intentionally igniting Kushida during a special exam could produce a miraculous effect.
Hachiman thought to himself.
After all, the overall quality of the Class isn't enough to compete with other Classes.
They can only try to find an edge in other areas.
At this point, Kushida had also received the exam paper sent by the senior.
It wasn't the direct paper, but photos of the exam paper sent by the senior.
Normally, she would have to go back to her dorm to find past papers.
But she didn't.
Instead, she sent the pictures directly to Kushida.
This meant that the senior really wanted to sell the exam paper and get the money.
"The senior sent last term's mid-term exam paper, and also included the past mini-test papers." Kushida said.
"And Horikita, come take a look at this mini-test paper."
"..." Horikita Suzune.
"It's exactly the same as our mini-test." Horikita Suzune said.
"Right?"
"It seems the upperclassmen passed the exams using this method." Kushida said.
"With this exam paper, everyone will surely pass."
Hachiman also took a look at the paper.
The mini-test questions sent by the senior were exactly the same as the mini-test questions from last month.
Not only the numbers, but even the punctuation marks were unchanged.
So, it was highly likely that the questions for this exam wouldn't change either.
In that case, the 35,000 points spent were well worth it.
This mid-term exam included five subjects: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, English, and Mathematics.
And the exam paper obtained from the senior, although some parts were filled in, many more were incorrect or even blank.
But since the other party was still in school, it proved that they could pass.
"So that's how it is."
And Horikita Suzune also understood.
"The school actually allows this kind of tacit cheating to exist."
Presumably, for a top student like her, it must be very frustrating.
Because all her hard work wasn't being tested, and everyone else was taking shortcuts.
However.
Horikita Suzune noticed Hachiman looking at her.
Hachiman was looking at her.
And this must mean he wanted her to take action.
"..." Horikita.
So Horikita pursed her lips and looked at Kushida.
"This exam, thank you very much, Kushida." Horikita said.
"Eh...?"
Kushida was suddenly taken aback by Horikita's serious demeanor.
"Horikita-san, do you mean...?"
"I've seen all your actions before." Horikita Suzune said.
"It's just that I've always been alone since I was little, so I don't like having other people around."
"However."
Horikita seemed to be making a great effort to make up her mind.
Then she said.
"Can we be friends?" Horikita extended her hand to Kushida.
"Eh!"
Kushida was surprised again in a mere 18 seconds.
Because.
Every single day she would wait for Horikita Suzune at her door to go to school, and even proactively greet her, but she was always ignored by her.
Now, had the sun risen from the west?
Horikita actually wanted to be friends with her herself.
"I don't want to admit I'm trash, I want to climb up, so my goal is to be promoted to Class A, and can you assist me, Kushida?" Horikita Suzune said.
"Mhm, mhm." Kushida nodded quickly.
"I also want to be promoted to Class A."
"But." Kushida seemed to feel relieved.
"So, what's our relationship now...?"
"Partners, something like that." Hachiman said.
"..." Kushida, "Yes, yes, Hikigaya."
Kushida seemed to nod happily.
But it's useless, Kushida, when he tried to talk to you just now, you seemed to completely ignore him.
You thought he was in the way.
In other words, in Kushida's heart, Horikita's priority must be resolved.
Hachiman then said.
"So the next thing to do is to find someone to fill in the correct answers on the paper."
"And then distribute it to the students in the Class."
"As study material or something."
"And this kind of thing..."
Hachiman looked at Kushida and Horikita.
"Can I entrust it to you two?"
"Or, should we ask Yukimura again? Among the grades announced by the teacher, his name was also at the top."
The Yukimura here refers to Yukimura Teruhiko.
He wore glasses, wasn't very tall, was a bit thin, and had a somewhat bookish air.
But he was a top student.
His academic ability was only behind Horikita.
"Ah... Mm... I think Horikita-san and I can do it." Kushida said.
She had just scanned the exam paper, and although some parts were different from what they were currently studying, if she were to take the test, she could still get an 80.
And Horikita Suzune's academic ability was very good, so she could probably get over 90.
Although she didn't know why Horikita Suzune suddenly wanted to be her partner, now was definitely the time to seize the opportunity to build goodwill.
And not... every time she met Horikita, she was ignored, or treated as invisible, only being called 'Kushida' when she was needed.
"Actually, if you two can't do it, then we can also arrange Kouenji." Hachiman said.
"I'll go convince him."
Kouenji was the top student in the Class.
He was also the most athletic person.
He was an eccentric in the Class.
However.
"Oh, Hikigaya-kun." Kushida said playfully.
In other words, Kushida probably really disliked Kouenji.
While deepening his analysis of Kushida.
Hachiman took out his phone, pretending to check it, but actually turned on the video recording.
Then, when he put his phone away, he checked the recording.
In the recording, he noticed a girl with long purple hair and three hair clips in the corner of the cafeteria, constantly staring at them.
That was Kamuro Masumi, Sakayanagi's subordinate.
This meant that Kushida's buying and selling of exam papers might have been discovered by her.
Class A students were truly omnipresent.
...
Hachiman didn't intentionally acknowledge Kamuro, but instead invited Kushida and Horikita to the Shopping Street.
Because they had received photos from the senior, they needed to print them out to fill in the answers.
At the same time, as Class C students, their points were limited, so none of the three had bought laptops.
Naturally, they didn't have copy machines or printers either.
So they had to take care of it.
This process took 30 minutes.
Hachiman sat at the entrance of the print shop, pretending to be diligently looking at a printed exam paper, while secretly observing.
That's right.
He was secretly observing now.
This was multitasking.
Because he discovered that Kamuro, who was in the cafeteria, had followed them out and was now sitting in a cafe not far from the print shop.
Then, because she hadn't ordered for a while, her cheeks flushed slightly when the waiter came over, and she ordered a cappuccino.
However, her attention remained fixed on this place.
Kamuro usually acts together with Sakayanagi Arisu.
So, now that they discovered they bought and sold exam papers from an upperclassman, it means Sakayanagi also knows.
And Kamuro only needs to report it.
It seemed that was the original plan.
But Hachiman noticed that when Horikita and the others were printing and using the shop to answer questions, Kamuro surprisingly hadn't left.
So Hachiman looked at the exam papers.
There were five papers, corresponding to the five subjects of the midterm exam.
However, Hachiman found that some of the questions on these papers were beyond the scope of their curriculum.
On a 100-point paper, twenty to thirty points worth of questions were on topics they hadn't learned.
If they hadn't reviewed in advance, these points would be unattainable.
It was only when Hachiman considered that these exam questions had been used for an unknown number of years that he understood.
After all, textbooks have been revised, so it's normal for some questions compiled from old textbooks to not align with the current curriculum.
Two hours later.
"I barely managed to do the questions." Horikita Suzune said to Kushida.
"Then let's make copies." Hachiman said.
"Wait a little longer." Horikita Suzune said, "There are still some contents that need further supplementation."
"These contents are considered unimportant, marginal points in our textbooks. So I haven't fully mastered them either." Horikita said, frowning slightly.
In other words, it's now fully confirmed that the exams are all based on old questions, right?
Because they have been passed down from seniors' seniors' seniors, the papers contain very old content, so the so-called key points are definitely different from what is taught now.
However, Hachiman also finished looking at the papers.
The difficulty of the papers was not very high.
Even if they were ancient papers, there were still some easy points.
So even if one studied diligently for the exam, one wouldn't fail.
It would just be difficult to obtain the Class evaluation points in tiers that Chabashira-sensei mentioned.
Because if they don't cheat, they won't get an average score of 80 points.
Or rather.
Does the School actually hope students achieve high scores by cheating?
Or does it hope students can become more adaptable?
If the School is treated as a simulated society, and the School is its guide.
Then perhaps each special exam is intended to guide students to develop into the way the School desires.
"Then let's continue back at the dorm." Hachiman said.
"For now, please make two copies of the current papers for me."
"…" Horikita.
Although she didn't know why Hachiman wanted the unfinished papers now, she still complied.
Thus.
Because the task was done, Horikita and Kushida left together.
For a top student like her, being unable to solve a problem was a kind of shame.
So what she probably wanted to do now was go back and quickly review her books.
...
Hachiman did not leave the Shopping Street immediately.
Instead, he went to the cafe where Kamuro had been observing earlier.
The reason for saying this was that the other party was still there.
Yes.
Two and a half hours had passed, and the other party was still there.
If it was just surveillance, being able to persist for over two hours meant she was a formidable person.
So.
"One coffee." Hachiman ordered directly.
"And one for that purple-haired girl."
Hachiman said to the waiter, "It's on me."
Then he sat down at an inconspicuous empty table.
And placed the exam papers on the table.
But very quickly.
"Clack—"
A girl's hand reached out generously in front of Hachiman, and then, at an extremely fast speed, instantly took all the other exam papers on the table.
Hachiman remained calm.
Then he looked at the girl who reached out.
She had purple hair, adorned with two hair clips, which were very noticeable.
This was Kamuro, who had waited for two and a half hours and drank five cups of coffee.
Then, upon discovering that Hikigaya from Class C was even buying her coffee, she immediately came over.
And now, Kamuro was staring at him expressionlessly.
"...Does Sakayanagi have something to say?" Hachiman said.
"Sakayanagi? What does this have to do with Sakayanagi?"
But Kamuro frowned.
"This is my own action."
"You guys bought exam papers from upperclassmen earlier, right?" Kamuro said.
"I'll buy them for double the price."
Is that so.
This means Class A's intelligence gathering is very strong.
Kushida contacted an upperclassman and managed to extract the method to clear this special exam from a Third-year D Class senior.
And do the students of Class A also know?
Perhaps.
Because most of the students in their Class are club members and would come into contact with upperclassmen, it's plausible that upperclassmen had already given them a heads-up.
"We spent 50,000 points." Hachiman said.
"Are you sure you want to spend 100,000 points to take them?"
"…" Kamuro.
"That expensive?"
"It's a solution for passing the exam, after all." Hachiman said.
Actually, in this written exam, Class A students had an advantage because many of their Class are top students with strong academic abilities.
So, even if they didn't know about the old questions, they could still get over seventy points, and perhaps by guessing, they might even get some correct, possibly reaching 80 points in a regular exam.
But if they got the old questions, they would probably get 100 points for the Class evaluation score.
And if Class A had such a need, they could also buy from other upperclassmen, so Hachiman decided to recover the 35,000 points that Kushida had advanced.
However.
"Then I'll buy them." Kamuro said.
"Don't tell anyone I bought the exam papers."
"Also."
She frowned and picked up a math paper.
She looked down at the exam paper in her hand, seemingly trying to find something unusual on it.
But unfortunately, she couldn't find any clues.
"Are these answers correct?" She pointed to the answers filled in by Horikita and Kushida and asked.
"...?"
Okay.
Hachiman confirmed it.
Kamuro wanted to spend 100,000 points not for the Class, but for... herself.
She might... be an anomaly in Class A.
....
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