"I—I cannot accept this!"
The moment his name was called, Hideo Sotomura suddenly shot to his feet and raised an objection.
Naturally, the other two girls whose names had been called also had their complaints.
"I… I don't want to be expelled…"
"Uwaa… uwaa… Hirata-kun, what should we do…"
Soft sobbing filled the classroom as one of the girls wiped her tears and turned toward the one person she believed could help them.
Yōsuke Hirata.
But… the result was the result.
The exam scores were already there…
Even Hirata couldn't think of a solution.
"Te—Teacher, is there really no way to fix this?"
After hesitating for a long time, Hirata raised his trembling hand.
"Is there any possibility that a question was graded incorrectly? Or that there was some mistake in the exam questions themselves…?"
Coldly, Saé Chabashira shattered his hope.
"No."
"The school does not make mistakes. If you want, you can come to my office after class to confirm it."
"But I doubt the result will change."
Although Chabashira's authority had weakened repeatedly lately, a teacher's words still carried credibility.
…At least Hirata believed them completely.
"W-Why?!"
The one who finally burst out was Kanji Ike.
He had thought that even if he failed, even if he was expelled, his best buddies would still accompany him as they left this painful school together.
But if he was the only one being expelled, what kind of joke was that?!
"I refuse to accept it! I protest! I will never accept this result!!!"
He would fight it to the end.
"If it weren't for you—if you hadn't given us the wrong exam range—we… we wouldn't have failed!"
Ike suddenly stood up and pointed straight at Chabashira.
"Don't think we forgot just because you fainted once! You're deliberately trying to drag our class down again, aren't you?! Just like last time!"
At first, he had only intended to speak for himself.
But soon he realized he needed to stir up the emotions of the entire class, just like Yamauchi did before.
So naturally, he dragged the other failing students onto his side.
That way it would benefit him more.
"…"
"Sorry."
Even though the old incident had been brought up again…
Even though she was once more accused of sabotaging the class…
This time, Chabashira simply lowered her head.
Calmly.
And apologized to her students.
Trials. Hardship. Unity.
None of that mattered anymore.
Trump cards. Comebacks. Reaching Class A.
She had stopped thinking about any of it.
For the current Chabashira Sae, there was only one thing she hoped for:
That these three years would end sooner.
Next year…
Once the next batch of students arrived, no one would talk about the past anymore.
"What's the point of saying sorry?!"
Seeing her give in only made Ike even more aggressive.
"If apologies worked, why would we even need the police?!"
"If apologies worked, could you stop us from being expelled?!"
"If apologies worked, could you make us pass?!"
"If you can't do anything, then don't casually say sorry!"
After shouting all that, Ike gasped heavily, his heart pounding wildly.
This was the first time in his life he had publicly cursed a teacher like this.
And not just any teacher—his homeroom teacher.
More importantly, she was just standing there letting him scold her.
Damn.
It felt incredible.
Even if he got expelled now, at least he'd have something to brag about later.
"Back when I was at Advanced Nurturing High School, I shut my homeroom teacher up with just a few sentences. If I hadn't decided the school was beneath me and dropped out myself, I'd have been their top graduate."
The exhilarating feeling rushed straight to Ike's head.
Just as he was about to keep yelling at Chabashira—
She suddenly raised her head.
"…It's not that there's absolutely no solution."
As if guided by fate, she turned toward Suzune Horikita.
"You could try asking Horikita."
If it was only a hint at this level, it probably wouldn't cost her any penalty points.
And Horikita—who had once repeatedly paid for information—would surely understand what she meant.
"Horikita-san?"
Like grabbing onto hope, Hirata looked at Horikita.
The other failing students also turned toward her with desperate expressions.
Horikita Suzune: "…."
Why did the spotlight suddenly shift to her?
Of course she knew the solution.
Buy points.
What else could it be?
But where would Class D get that kind of money?
Chabashira was talking as if it were easy. Expecting the current Class D to pay for those points was like expecting someone to suddenly shower them with money.
…Shower them with money?
Horikita suddenly felt like she had grasped something.
She knew someone who could lend enough points to buy passing scores.
But—
"'Points can buy anything.'"
A soft voice spoke before she could.
Kikyō Kushida calmly gave the answer.
"Tell us, Chabashira-sensei. How many points would it take to buy them passing scores?"
An unexpected statement.
An unexpected answer.
The entire class froze.
Horikita stared at Kushida in shock.
She actually said it out loud?
Hadn't they agreed to do nothing?
Hadn't they agreed to just watch?
Not only had she ignored Horikita's calls, now she was openly revealing the solution.
…Horikita increasingly felt that she no longer understood this "friend."
"T-Teacher, is what Kushida-san said true?!"
Grabbing onto this last lifeline, Hirata hurriedly asked Chabashira.
"As long as we pay points, we can buy passing scores for Ike and the others?!"
"…But where would we get that kind of money? Maybe we should just let them fend for themselves."
Someone in the class muttered quietly.
Hirata immediately turned toward the direction of the voice.
"There must be a way!"
"Whether it means kneeling or begging, I'll do anything! If we don't have enough points, I'll borrow from students in other classes!"
"Don't say things like abandoning our classmates!"
His fists clenched tightly.
His voice trembled with emotion.
The students he was staring at couldn't withstand his gaze.
They quietly looked away.
…"Classmates," huh.
That was a bit too much.
After all, they had only been in the same class for less than two months.
Could that really be called companionship?
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