Chapter 81: Is Finding the Old Exam Questions Really the Best Solution?
Hachiman returned to the dormitory.
Of course, he was heading to Horikita Suzune's dormitory. It would be strange for a boy to frequently visit the girls' floors here.
But after one visit, there was a second one, and when Hachiman was seen coming to the girls' floor again, no one was surprised anymore.
Previously, he had gone all out in class and clashed with Takahara, showing his ambition to advance to Class A.
It seemed that Horikita also had such a goal.
So, perhaps they were discussing class matters for this purpose.
But weren't they a boy and a girl?
However, no one would likely misunderstand.
Because Horikita was cold and aloof, not caring about others. In fact, it was hard to imagine her being interested in romance.
So when people saw Hachiman on the girls' floor, they only glanced at him once.
But there were also some who talked to him.
After looking around and not seeing any other girls, a girl with a beautiful golden single ponytail walked over to him.
"Are you here to see Horikita?" Karuizawa Kei asked.
"You don't need to worry about the exam." Hachiman said. "Just focus on your revision. I've already figured out the trick and am testing it. After that, you'll pass no matter what."
This was meant to be a comfort.
Horikita had repeatedly pointed out that Karuizawa's grades were poor.
Of course, while they were a bit bad, as long as she studied, she could still pass.
"Oh?"
Karuizawa glanced at him and then watched him enter Horikita Suzune's dormitory.
"..."
Horikita had probably prepared slippers for him, just like before, to make it easier for him to come in and discuss.
But.
She and Kushida weren't in the best state right now.
"To think the exam covers this topic."
"And this topic isn't even in the textbook. We might need to go to the library to check the past years' materials." Horikita Suzune said.
"..." Hachiman.
Hmm.
You guys are really taking this seriously.
And while Kushida didn't know why Horikita had suddenly changed her attitude and invited her, she certainly wasn't going to miss this opportunity to improve Horikita's impression of her.
She knew that Horikita wasn't the type to develop positive feelings just by asking how she was.
Right now, Horikita was working on the exam papers, searching for answers.
So, Kushida's way of improving her impression was probably just this.
Kushida was also going over the papers, searching for any version of past exam papers she didn't know about.
"Excuse me." Hachiman said. "Kushida, you spent 35,000 points to buy the papers, right? Now I'm transferring this amount back to you. You shouldn't bear this cost by yourself."
"Eh?"
Kushida blinked lightly.
"Hachiman, are you saying you're going to pay?"
"No," Hachiman said. "It's just that someone helped cover the cost."
"Well, that's really nice of them," Kushida said.
Currently, the class evaluation score was 450 points, and on the 1st, her account had also received a transfer of 45,000 private points from the school.
Although she still had about 40,000 points left from last month, if she had to pay the 35,000 points for the exam papers, her situation would become a bit tight.
But whether it was buying the papers or working on the problems at the print shop, neither Horikita nor Hachiman had mentioned how the points Kushida had already paid for the papers would be handled.
So, now that Hachiman was covering the cost, it was really great.
But.
No, Kushida.
If someone was covering the cost, they should ask who was wealthy enough to do so, and if it was a student from another class, it would mean they were leaking the exam papers to another class.
So, things were actually quite serious.
However, Kushida didn't think about it in that way at all.
Kushida seemed quite smart, but Hachiman's impression of her was always... a great fool disguised as intelligence.
She only saw one thing and missed everything else.
"Hachiman, do you want to join us for the problems?" Horikita said. "There are still a few problems in chemistry and biology that haven't been done."
"I'll pass on that," Hachiman said. "If it's Japanese, I can help, but with these subjects, I'll pass."
The subjects for this midterm exam were physics, chemistry, biology, English, and chemistry.
Actually, there were also subjects like history, classical literature, and Japanese, among others.
But for now, the five subjects were chosen for the exam.
"Then help me go borrow the past textbooks from the library," Horikita Suzune said. "Some of the knowledge points for these questions aren't covered in our book; they must be from previous years' materials."
"Okay." Hachiman didn't participate in doing the problems, so he was happy to do the task of borrowing the books.
He had just arrived, but Hachiman walked over to the entryway to change his shoes.
However.
"..."
He glanced back at the busy Horikita and Kushida, who were filling out the answers.
But then.
Hachiman suddenly thought.
Chabashira-sensei had said when announcing the exam rules that the older students also had written exams.
And.
Horikita and the others' actions now were undoubtedly the correct solution required by the school, asking for adaptability and flexibility. So, they grabbed this flexibility and made full use of it.
Now it had already been seven days since the teachers announced the midterm written exam.
In Hachiman's class, there were top students from the allied Class B offering free tutoring. But for other classes, especially the older students, they completely ignored this special exam.
In fact, most of them went out shopping after school.
Very leisurely.
And if you went to the library, you wouldn't see older students occupying seats to study.
From this perspective.
The older students were relaxed, enjoying campus life.
These were students who had already gotten used to and enjoyed the school's rules.
But.
Hachiman wondered if this was really the optimal solution for this exam.
...
The next day.
During lunchtime.
Hachiman still went to the third floor of the cafeteria, then to the private room reserved for Sakayanagi Arisu.
The room was reserved by Sakayanagi Arisu, and even if she wasn't coming to the cafeteria, the room had to be kept empty for her. She didn't like sharing a room with anyone.
And doing this required spending more money.
But she didn't mind.
She seemed to be someone with a strong sense of possession.
But.
Was the reason Sakayanagi Arisu called him today because Kamuro's purchase of the exam papers was exposed?
And then, did Sakayanagi Arisu want to seek justice for Kamuro, who was extorted with a high price?
Kamuro was indeed extorted, because the exam papers only cost 35,000 points, but she ended up paying 100,000 points.
She was truly the victim here.
Since Hachiman arrived a bit early, he waited for a while before he noticed a girl with silver-white hair, wearing a small black beret, leaning on a cane and walking slowly toward him with her slender legs covered in white knee-high socks.
It was Sakayanagi Arisu.
Her follower, Kamuro, didn't seem to be around.
But.
"Hachiman-kun, it's rare to see you here before I arrived."
Sakayanagi had a playful smile on her lips, her sapphire-like eyes gleaming with teasing, "You've been looking forward to seeing me, haven't you? But I'm sorry, you're not really my type."
"I like someone unique and intelligent," Sakayanagi Arisu continued.
She even took the initiative to say so.
However.
The power of this "not your type" card was really strong.
Hachiman thought to himself.
"So, what's the purpose of today's invitation?" Hachiman asked.
"I was feeling a little bored," Sakayanagi replied.
"…" Hachiman's expression was probably something like -0-.
She called him here just because she was bored?
Sakayanagi continued.
"My people have found out that this special exam is a unified exam for the whole school."
"But the older students aren't studying. After inquiring, we found out that the written exam is the same as past years' exams."
"So, as long as you buy the past papers from the older students, you can easily pass," Sakayanagi Arisu said.
Well, she was quite sharp, laying out the way to easily pass the exam so clearly.
But this also meant that this midterm exam didn't really have much value.
Because Class A, Class B, and even Hachiman's Class C all had access to the past exam papers.
So, if everyone worked hard, all the classes could earn a good class evaluation score reward.
In this case, even Hachiman wouldn't be able to maximize the benefit.
Class A already had a strong academic foundation, and now that they knew they could buy the old papers, getting 100 points for the class evaluation score was almost a sure thing.
As for Sakayanagi, there was nothing for her to operate on.
So, this exam was certainly quite boring for her.
And since the whole school was taking it, it became even more meaningless.
There was very little space to maneuver.
But.
"Even though it's based on past papers," Hachiman said. "This is a unified exam for the entire school, and except for the first-year students, second-year and third-year students have long known they can buy the papers from the senior students."
"Oh?" Sakayanagi Arisu looked at him.
There was another reason why she had invited him here.
That was because his actions and ideas were different from the norm, and to some extent, she needed to pay attention to him.
"Although eating together is nice, I think sometimes breaking the bowl might be better," Hachiman said. "Because the bowl is expensive."
"Oh?" Sakayanagi blinked lightly.
"What are you trying to do?"
Sakayanagi's eyes seemed to light up, indicating that she was interested. This meant that she actually disliked following the rules and was instead more interested in rebellious and unconventional things.
She was quite a scary little brat.
"The whole school is using the past papers for the exam," Hachiman said. "And this has become the norm, but I don't think this is the best way to approach the exam."
"So, I have an idea," Hachiman said. "What would happen if we broke this tradition?"
"For example, three days before the exam, the papers they bought and memorized get leaked and can't be used. What would happen then?"
What would happen? It would turn into despair.
"So," Hachiman looked at Sakayanagi Arisu. "Sakayanagi, would you be interested in this?"
Interested…?
"If the papers are leaked before the exam, then you're truly a devil," Sakayanagi said.
Her tone didn't reveal her feelings.
But.
"This kind of thing can't be recognized by the school," Sakayanagi Arisu seemed to regretfully say. "Because it would lead to a massive number of expulsions, and the school won't support or agree to that."
This point was indeed true.
Most of the students were carefully selected to attend this school, and everyone was an important specimen.
The school also provided points and resources, so expelling a large number of students would be a waste of money.
So, the school wouldn't support it.
However, since she had already analyzed everything so thoroughly, it seemed that she was indeed interested in this kind of terrifying act.
"So, we need to find a balance," Hachiman said. "We don't need to actually break the bowl. Even if we leak the papers, we can prepare new papers to replace them as a backup."
"And during this process, it's very likely we could gain support from the older students."
"The student council president election requires the participation of the entire school, so we can use this method to gain some votes."
"As the representative of Class A, although Sakayanagi was rejected by Horikita, I'm sure she still wants to achieve this position through her own efforts, right?" Hachiman continued.
These words sounded appealing, but Sakayanagi Arisu had only casually submitted an application to the student council.
Then, on the 1st, she was rejected by Horikita face-to-face along with Katsuragi.
Although Sakayanagi had kept a cute demeanor at the time.
She wasn't without dissatisfaction.
So, Hachiman's proposal did indeed make her somewhat interested.
The student council president election requires a recommendation from the current president, and it also needs support from the entire student body.
The latter part is much more difficult.
So, the opportunity must be seized.
And right now, isn't this opportunity right here?
Sakayanagi thought to herself.
But soon.
"…" Sakayanagi Arisu.
Sakayanagi Arisu immediately realized what was going on. "Hachiman-kun, are you trying to trap me? You want me to fully rush into the student council."
To this, Hachiman remained expressionless.
However.
It was indeed a trap for her.
On one hand, Hachiman wanted to target Class A, so he needed to keep Sakayanagi Arisu in check.
She was a genius, and if not for her physical condition, she might be an all-around genius.
If she led Class A, then Hachiman's class wouldn't be a match for it.
So... what to do?
Naturally, the plan was to restrict Sakayanagi Arisu.
Make her divert her attention away from class competition and focus on the student council, so she wouldn't have so much energy left to lead Class A.
As for Katsuragi, that type of person was the ideal target for Hachiman's class to easily deal with.
So.
Hachiman thought to himself.
Sakayanagi Arisu, go ahead and focus on the student council, forget about class evaluation scores and all that.