Chapter 080: Kamuro is a Poor Student!
People are not inherently kind creatures.
Even when helping others, although no reward is gained, one's inner self might achieve a certain elevation.
Of course, Hachiman doesn't deny that there really are people who can be considered angels.
But he's very clear that Kushida is absolutely not a real angel.
However, for Kushida, if she continues to flatter Horikita without getting any feedback, it could explode.
In fact, because she's like a ticking bomb, it's inevitable that it will explode.
But, if that's the case, maybe, during a special exam, deliberately triggering Kushida might have an unexpected effect.
Hachiman thought to himself.
After all, the overall quality of their class wasn't enough, and they couldn't compete with other classes. They had to find a way to excel in other areas.
At this point, Kushida had already received the exam papers sent by the senior.
But it wasn't the physical exam papers; rather, it was a photo of the exam papers sent by the senior.
Normally, she would have to return to her dorm to find the papers from the previous year's exams.
But no.
Instead, the senior sent the photos directly to Kushida.
In other words, the senior really wanted to sell the exam papers and get some points in return.
"The exam paper the senior gave me is from the previous year's midterm exams, and she also included a test paper from a quiz that was already taken," Kushida said. "Horikita, take a look at this quiz paper."
"…" Horikita Suzune.
"This is exactly the same as our quiz," Horikita Suzune said.
"Right?"
"It seems the upperclassmen used this method to pass their exams," Kushida said. "With this exam paper, everyone will definitely pass."
Hachiman also took a look at the exam papers.
The quiz questions that the senior had sent were identical to the ones from the quiz they had taken last month.
Not only the numbers, but even the punctuation had remained unchanged.
So, it's highly likely that the questions for this exam wouldn't change either.
In that case, spending 35,000 points was probably worth it.
This upcoming midterm exam had five subjects: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, English, and Mathematics.
The exam papers they received from the senior, although some parts were filled out, had more incorrect answers, and some were even left blank.
But since the senior still remained at school, it meant they could still pass.
"So, this is how it is," Horikita Suzune understood. "The school really allows this kind of cheating to go unpunished."
For someone like her, who worked hard, it must be unpleasant.
Because all the effort put into studying goes unacknowledged, while others just resort to shortcuts.
However.
Horikita Suzune noticed that Hachiman was looking at her.
Hachiman was looking at her.
And this was probably a signal for her to take action.
"…"
So, Horikita pressed her lips together and looked at Kushida.
"This time's exam, thanks to you, Kushida," Horikita said.
"Eh…" Kushida was stunned for a moment by Horikita's serious tone. "Horikita, do you mean…"
"I've been watching everything you've been doing," Horikita Suzune said. "But I've always been alone, so I don't like having others around."
"But."
Horikita seemed to have made up her mind.
Then, she said.
"Would you be my friend?" Horikita extended her hand toward Kushida.
"Eh!"
Kushida was shocked again in just 18 seconds.
Because.
She had been waiting in front of Horikita's door every day, even proactively greeting her, but she had always been ignored.
Now, was the sun rising from the west?
Horikita wanted to become her friend?
"I don't want to admit I'm trash. I want to climb higher, so my goal is to move to Class A. Kushida, can you help me?" Horikita Suzune said.
"Mm-hmm." Kushida nodded quickly. "I also want to move to Class A."
"However." Kushida seemed to feel a little more at ease. "So, what's our relationship now?"
"Something like partners?" Hachiman said.
"…" Kushida, "Yes, that's right, Hachiman."
Kushida seemed very happy as she nodded.
But it's useless, Kushida, just now when I spoke to you, you seemed like you didn't want to acknowledge me at all.
You probably thought he was in the way.
In other words, in Kushida's mind, Horikita must be a priority to resolve.
So, Hachiman said.
"Next, what we need to do is find someone to fill in the correct answers for the exam paper."
"And then, send it to the students in the class."
"As learning materials or something."
"And this…"
Hachiman looked at Kushida and Horikita. "Can I entrust this to you two?"
"Or should I ask Yukimura for help? His name is also among the top in the teacher's reported grades," Hachiman said.
The Yukimura here refers to Yukimura Teruhiko.
He wore glasses, wasn't very tall, a little thin, and had a bit of a bookish vibe.
But he was a top student.
His academic score was only slightly lower than Horikita's.
"Ah… yeah… I think Horikita and I can handle it," Kushida said.
She had just glanced at the exam paper, and although some parts didn't match what they were currently studying, if she were to take the exam, she could probably score around 80 points.
Horikita Suzune was very good academically, so she'd probably score above 90.
Although Kushida didn't know why Horikita suddenly wanted to be her partner, she figured that taking this opportunity to improve her favorability was definitely a good move.
It was much better than being ignored or treated like air every time she met Horikita, only being used when needed.
"Actually, if you two can't do it, we can arrange for Koenji to help," Hachiman said. "I'll go talk to him."
Koenji was the top student in their class.
He was also the best at sports.
He was a rare talent in the class.
But.
"Ugh, I hate him, Hachiman," Kushida said playfully.
In other words, it seems that Kushida actually disliked Koenji.
Hachiman deepened his analysis of Kushida.
Meanwhile, he took out his phone and pretended to check it, but actually opened the recording. When he put the phone away, he was looking at the recording.
In the recording, it was clear that in the corner of the cafeteria, a girl with purple hair was staring in their direction.
That girl was Kamuro Masumi, who was usually with Sakayanagi.
In other words, Kushida's trade of exam papers might have been noticed by her.
Students from Class A are really thorough.
…
Hachiman didn't intentionally engage with Kamuro, but instead invited Kushida and Horikita to the shopping street.
Because they had only received the photos from the senior, they needed to fill in the answers, which meant they had to print them out.
At the same time, as students from Class C, their points were limited, so none of them had bought notebooks.
Thus, they didn't have access to a copier or printer.
So, they had to take care of that.
This process took 30 minutes. Hachiman sat outside the print shop, pretending to seriously look at the printed exam papers, while secretly observing.
Yes.
He was secretly observing.
This was multitasking.
Because he noticed that Kamuro had followed them out of the cafeteria and was now sitting in a nearby café, not far from the print shop.
Then, because she hadn't ordered yet, when the waiter came over, her cheeks turned slightly red, and she ordered a cappuccino.
However, her focus was still on the situation here.
Kamuro usually acts with Sakayanagi Arisu.
So now, having discovered that they were selling old exam papers, it meant that Sakayanagi must also know about it.
And all Kamuro had to do was report it.
It seemed that things were supposed to be like that.
But Hachiman noticed that even after Horikita and the others printed the papers and started answering questions, Kamuro had not left.
So Hachiman looked at the papers.
There were five sheets, 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 the curriculum.
Out of a hundred-point paper, twenty to thirty points were from material that hadn't been covered.
If you hadn't reviewed it in advance, you wouldn't be able to score those points.
But then Hachiman thought that these papers had likely been used for many years, and that made sense.
After all, the textbooks had been revised, so it's normal that the questions based on older textbooks wouldn't align exactly with the current curriculum.
Two hours later.
"I've managed to finish most of the questions." Horikita Suzune said to Kushida.
"Let's make copies then." Hachiman said.
"Wait a bit." Horikita replied. "There are still some sections that need to be supplemented."
"These parts are just minor details in our textbooks. So I haven't fully mastered them." Horikita said, frowning slightly.
This confirmed that the exam would indeed consist of old questions.
Since they were passed down from seniors, the papers contained outdated material, so the so-called focus topics weren't the same as what they're learning now.
However, Hachiman also finished looking over the papers, and while the difficulty wasn't very high, even with these ancient questions, there were still a few that could easily be scored.
So even if someone studied seriously for the exam, they wouldn't fail.
But it would be hard to achieve the class evaluation score Chabashira had mentioned.
Because without cheating, you wouldn't be able to achieve an average score of 80.
Or maybe...
Was the school actually hoping students would cheat to get high scores?
Or were they trying to make the students more adaptable?
If we view the school as a simulation of society, with the school as the guide...
Then perhaps these special exams are meant to guide students into becoming what the school wants them to be.
"Let's continue when we get back." Hachiman said. "For now, just make two copies of the current paper for me."
"..." Horikita.
Although she didn't understand why Hachiman wanted the unfinished papers, she still followed his instructions.
So, after finishing the task, Horikita and Kushida left together.
For someone like her, a top student, it was quite embarrassing to encounter questions she couldn't answer.
So now, she probably wanted to hurry back and start studying.
...
Meanwhile, Hachiman didn't immediately leave the shopping street. Instead, he went to the café where Kamuro had been watching earlier.
The reason he said that was because she was still there.
Yes. Two and a half hours had passed, and she was still there.
If it was just a surveillance task, and she could last more than two hours, that person must be tough.
So.
"One coffee." Hachiman ordered. "And give one to the girl with the purple hair."
Hachiman told the waiter. "It's on me."
Then, he sat at an inconspicuous table.
He placed the exam papers on the table.
But soon.
"Clink—"
A girl's hand boldly reached in front of Hachiman, and with lightning speed, she took all the papers from the table.
Hachiman remained calm.
Then, he looked at the girl who had reached out.
She had purple hair and two hairpins, looking quite striking.
This was Kamuro, who had been waiting for two and a half hours and drinking five cups of coffee.
Upon realizing that C-Class's Hachiman was treating her to coffee, she immediately approached.
And now, Kamuro was glaring at him expressionlessly.
"…Does Sakayanagi have something to say?" Hachiman asked.
"Sakayanagi? What does Sakayanagi have to do with this?" Kamuro frowned. "This is my own action."
"You bought the old exam papers from the seniors, right?" Kamuro said. "I'll buy them from you for double the price."
Is that so?
It seems like A-Class has quite the intelligence network.
Kushida got in touch with the seniors and obtained the special exam solutions from a third-year student in D-Class.
And A-Class students actually knew about it too?
Perhaps.
Because most of the students in their class are club members and have connections with older students, it makes sense that older students had already warned them in advance.
"We've spent 50,000 points." Hachiman said. "And are you sure you want to spend 100,000 points to take them?"
"...?" Kamuro. "Is it really that expensive?"
"After all, it's the solution for passing the exam," Hachiman said.
Actually, for this written exam, Class A students had an advantage because many of them were top students and very strong academically.
So, even if they didn't know that the exam was based on old questions, they could still score above 70 points, and with a bit of guessing, they might even get 80 points in a normal exam.
But if they got their hands on the old questions, they could probably score 100 points and get full class evaluation points.
And if Class A had such a need, they could buy the papers from other seniors, so Hachiman decided to collect the 35,000 points that Kushida had initially advanced.
But.
"Then I'll buy them," Kamuro said. "But don't tell anyone that I bought the papers."
"Also."
She furrowed her brows and picked up a math exam paper.
She lowered her head, looking at the paper in her hands, seemingly trying to find something unusual on it. Unfortunately, she couldn't find any clues.
"Are these answers correct?" she asked, pointing to the answers filled out by Horikita and Kushida.
"...?"
Alright.
Hachiman confirmed.
Kamuro was spending 100,000 points, not for the class, but for... herself.
She might be... an anomaly in Class A.