Chapter 036: Just an Exam with Old Questions! What's the Panic!
Eight o'clock in the morning. Homeroom began.
When Hikigaya stepped into the classroom, he found the Class B homeroom teacher, Chie Hoshinomiya, already standing at the podium.
He noticed several rolls of paper resembling posters in her hands; without a doubt, those were the ranking lists recorded from the entrance written exams mentioned in the original story.
This meant that, besides the routine revelation of the school's truth to the students, today's agenda would include announcing the format of this month's special exam: a written examination.
But before that.
"Your private account has received 91,100 private points from sender XF10001. Current balance: 1,465,670 points."
"Your private account has received 1,067,300 private points from sender ST10456 Ichinose Honami. Current balance: 2,441,870 points."
The first deposit was this month's living expenses from the school, while the second was the "carry fee" voluntarily given to Ichinose by the students of Class B for his role as class representative.
Checking the student ID page:
Name: Hikigaya Hachiman ID Number: ST1045666068 Class: 1-year Class B Gender: Male Private Points: 2,532,970 points
His personal points had climbed to 2.53 million, making him truly wealthy.
Hikigaya pondered whether he should experience the rich life this month, such as long-term booking a private room on the third floor of the cafeteria. The food on the third floor was indeed much better than the first and second floors, and the environment was superior.
Of course.
Was it a bit much to so extravagantly squander the points offered by his classmates? Such a psychological burden did not exist.
After all, he was doing better than the original story, wasn't he?
In the original story, Class B only had 650 points at this time, but under his leadership, the class evaluation score was as high as 911 points, sticking closely to Class A. Perhaps this month or next, they would have a chance to strike at Class A, giving Class B an "A-Class trial card."
At the podium, Hoshinomiya-sensei kept her eyes fixed on the clock hanging above the blackboard. As the needle precisely pointed to eight o'clock, she spoke.
"I think everyone already knows the results from passing the small blackboard on the first floor. Our class achieved quite a remarkable result last month." Hoshinomiya folded her palms together, her tone light and clearly cheerful.
Although she looked radiant today, compared to the Class D homeroom teacher, Sae Chabashira, who was always in a crisp suit and black tights, Hoshinomiya's attire was somewhat ordinary.
But that was irrelevant.
Hoshinomiya quickly wrote the evaluation scores of the four classes on the blackboard:
Class 1-A: 955 points Class 1-B: 911 points Class 1-C: 0 points Class 1-D: 0 points
When she wrote Class 1-D's glaring "0 points," her smile seemed to brighten even further.
Clearly, even though Class B achieved an excellent score far exceeding previous years and she felt honored as their teacher, what made her heart bloom the most was seeing the evaluation score of Class D—led by her best friend Sae Chabashira—drop to the lowest point in school history.
Yes, the most tragic 0 points ever!
As for Class C, also at 0 points? She ignored them completely.
"Even though you most likely already know the truth about the school, as your homeroom teacher, I still need to go through the motions." Hoshinomiya began reciting the information that was already common knowledge: the class competition mechanism, ranking rules, living expense composition, monthly special exams...
And... the risk of expulsion.
"Besides expulsion due to failing special exams, students also have the right to withdraw voluntarily. However, please note that the school values every student; therefore, if any student chooses to withdraw, their class will suffer a penalty of -300 evaluation points.
So, I don't recommend choosing to drop out on a whim.
Furthermore, the way to rise in classes, besides the whole class working together toward the goal of 3rd-year Class A, is the personal accumulation of 20 million private points. A holder of 20 million points can freely transfer to any class. These points can also be used to waive one expulsion penalty.
Although it is extremely difficult for an individual to gather 20 million points, if you collaborate as a class, it is not impossible.
Your senpais, 3rd-year Class A, have used 20 million points three times to waive expulsion penalties," Hoshinomiya encouraged.
That 3rd-year Class A was indeed powerful. In the original story, Horikita Manabu carried 39 people by himself, and now, they had even dropped 20 million three times—consuming a full 60 million points to protect their companions.
As the class representative of Class B, Hikigaya didn't need to do everything himself; instead, his classmates spontaneously took on many tasks.
Just as Shibata took the initiative to "wait for the rabbit" at the blackboard for the student council updates today, someone had already scouted the third-year area's notice board earlier.
Before this morning, the 3rd-year data was as follows:
3rd-year Class A: 1,650 points 3rd-year Class B: 1,200 points 3rd-year Class C: 340 points 3rd-year Class D: 120 points
Specifically, 3rd-year Class A had 1,650 points. Although scores fluctuated along the way, 40 students could collect nearly 6.6 million points from the school monthly. Paying 60 million to protect classmates from expulsion meant they had spent an entire year's total income.
However, they were only in the first month of their third year, with an actual time at school of only two years. Half of their two-year income was gone just to prevent expulsions. Surely there were other expenses.
To some extent, this class was indeed fierce, and... quite tragic.
To save points to protect their comrades, many daily material desires had to be forcibly banned or restricted. Thus, even under the leadership of the strongest student council president in school history, Horikita Manabu, keeping all companions safe in this school was an uphill battle.
After announcing all necessary information, Hoshinomiya-sensei unfurled the paper she brought and taped it to the blackboard. Those were the written test results for the three subjects from entrance—Math, English, and Japanese.
"Since everyone knows that special exams will be held every month, I will tell you now: the content of the second month's special exam is a written test.
If the entire class passes and no one fails, there will be an opportunity to receive a reward of up to 100 class evaluation points.
The scope of the exam is limited to the content taught before the middle of this month. However, please note that those who fail will face expulsion.
Our class's grades are relatively balanced. Even if individual subjects are a bit weak, as long as you work hard at tutoring, it shouldn't be a problem."
Speaking of this, Hoshinomiya's gaze finally turned toward Hikigaya—the class representative she had arranged to contact Horikita Suzune, only for the "plan to be forcibly aborted."
The reason was simple: in the entire class, only his grades were particularly "special." His liberal arts scores were extremely bright. Ichinose was the top scorer in the entrance exam, already possessing excellent academic ability, yet Hikigaya's score in Japanese was actually one point higher than hers. He achieved the only 100 in the entire grade.
However, his science scores were only mediocre, and when it came to Math, it was simply appalling.
Only 9 points.
Yes.
Actually only 9 points! Even among all the students Hoshinomiya had seen, it was rare to see a single-digit score in a subject.
This was simply ridiculous.
This guy is a super-specialized "subject eccentric."
So, when Hoshinomiya-sensei finished posting the transcript, the eyes of the entire class converged on Hikigaya. Because, as it turned out, the one in most desperate need of emergency tutoring was their class representative.
Hikigaya "..."
Well, he wasn't surprised by these grades. Although he had transmigrated, the data seemed to have directly used his past records. What should be weak was still weak, and what should be strong was still strong.
But 9 points was indeed a bit of a shameful number. Back at Sobu High, individual subject scores weren't publicized, but now, his "Math 9" secret was out.
However, the atmosphere in this class was entirely different.
Hikigaya could clearly feel the gazes from all directions; it wasn't mockery, but a surge of determination from his classmates: 'We're holding a study session for him right after class! We must help him catch up! We can't let him fall behind!'
But...
Tutoring?
It shouldn't be necessary. Since he was already a second-year student at Sobu High, taking first-year content again meant he could pass smoothly; he wouldn't get that kind of... score again.
Furthermore, knowing the plot, he was well aware. This exam, the syllabus says "content from the start of school until the middle of this month"?
So one can pass safely by burying their head in books?
Fake!
This time, the cunning school was using old syllabus questions buried deep in the archives from god-knows-how-many years ago!
So, what's the panic!
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