Chapter 085: Sakayanagi Arisu's Challenge, I'm Here to Confront the Student Council
Because of the leak of the first-year exam papers, the test was changed.
This situation made the students who had been preparing to memorize the exam questions from the beginning feel miserable.
After all, failing the exam and being expelled from school was terrifying. Not only was there the pressure of academics, but also the pressure of possibly losing their place at school.
"If I had known, I would've studied more,"
This wasn't just a thought from a single student in Class C. Even someone like Sudo, who had been previously regretful, was now lamenting.
Although Kanzaki from Class B came to teach them, they hadn't taken the studying seriously enough.
The idea of being expelled for failing the written exam was unbearable.
Currently, he was a key player on the school's basketball team, receiving both class and basketball team point subsidies, and life had been relatively easy for him.
Moreover, his seniors had told him that this school was unique—it was tuition-free and could even lead to being promoted to Class A.
If he graduated as part of Class A, Sudo could also achieve his dream of playing professional basketball.
His parents were deadbeats, and he didn't want to be a loser, so he had discovered his talent for physical ability and had decided to play basketball.
His goal was to become a professional basketball player.
So, he absolutely didn't want to stop here.
Of course, this was his optimistic mindset.
"Ah… no exam paper…"
"I'm definitely going to fail." That was Yamauchi.
He probably felt that with only three days left, it was too late to cram, so he had just given up and chose to slack off.
The situation wasn't much better for the girls either.
Aside from Horikita Suzune who remained silent, the group of "delinquents" led by Karuizawa was also getting anxious.
Because whether it was Karuizawa, Sato, or Shinohara, none of them had particularly good grades.
Matsushita Chiaki's academic performance was average, but she was already considered the best among them.
So, they were all worried about the exam.
"Ex-Exam—"
Among the people Hachiman knew, even Sakura seemed troubled.
This was something inevitable.
The school had only given them less than 20 days of extra study, and in such a short time, the students' knowledge in various subjects was weak, so they were just covering the basics.
They were nowhere near ready to take the exam.
From Hachiman's perspective, as someone who observed people, most of the students in the class were anxious.
And it was quite hopeless.
This clearly showed the overall academic weakness of this class.
But.
[During lunch break, go to the railing near the lake. Someone will be waiting there to hand over a package.]
Hachiman took out his phone and sent a message to Karuizawa.
"…" Karuizawa.
Karuizawa was chatting with the girls. However, it seemed that she had tagged Hachiman's message, so the notification sound was different.
When she looked at the text Hachiman had sent, her eyebrows furrowed slightly.
Because what kind of strange request was this?
"Did something happen?" Sato asked.
"Kei?"
"Ah… no, it's nothing. What were we talking about again?" Karuizawa rejoined the conversation.
Because although Hachiman's request seemed strange, it seemed like she only needed to run an errand.
But.
"Kei, you're a member of the student council, so is there a chance you could have access to some other information?" Matsushita asked.
Although Karuizawa was a member of the student council, she was just a low-level disciplinary committee member. She didn't need to show up much and only had to report once a week.
But to other students, being a member of the student council was impressive.
And now.
Matsushita actually asked if there was any chance Karuizawa had access to the student council and knew about the so-called B exam paper.
After all, how could she possibly know about something like that?
The exam papers weren't made by the student council, so how could she have any?
...
However, the exam papers did end up in the student council's hands.
During lunch break.
Karuizawa found an excuse to leave her friends and headed to the railing to make the exchange.
She thought Hachiman's request was strange, but she couldn't refuse.
Being a member of the student council granted her some authority, and it had certainly improved her standing among the girls.
But unfortunately, her academic performance was also not great.
And Hachiman had said not to worry, that she would definitely pass.
But now, since the exam paper had been leaked, she actually wanted to go back and study more.
After all, there are only three days left, and her grades are poor, making even Horikita think she's hopeless. However, she is making progress. But it's still not enough. At least she needs to study a bit more to be safe.
Because she worked so hard to get into this school, she doesn't want to leave.
Thus, due to the "leak" of the exam papers, the students had different reactions. Most of them were pessimistic.
But for the student council:
"President Horikita went to the chairman's office." In the student council, Vice President Nagumo was on duty, and there was also Vice President Kiriyama present.
Nagumo was from Class A, and Kiriyama was from the former Class A, now representing Class B.
Actually, Class B's failure was largely due to the fact that they had someone with great potential in their class who never participated in any activities.
They claimed to prefer individual battles, saying that class-wide competition was meaningless.
In the end, Kiriyama felt that Kiryuin was just too frustrating. She clearly had power, but she didn't put any effort into her class.
But for Kiriyama, there was nothing he could do about it anymore.
He was already in his second year, and Nagumo had control over everything. He had no chance to move up.
Even though he was now the vice president of the student council, he had no choice but to compromise with Nagumo.
Kiriyama probably understood why the president arranged for him to join the student council—it was to oppose Nagumo.
However he just couldn't fight back.
But.
"The first-year exam papers being leaked, the president can only handle it cautiously," Kiriyama said.
"So, first-year students are really unlucky," Nagumo said. "It was reported by Class C's Hachiman. Originally, the president had even invited him to join the student council. I thought he was different."
"Maybe there's something I didn't see."
"But now I see," Nagumo continued. "It seems there's no backup plan."
"Because the exam papers were leaked, they need to be rewritten. With so many underachievers in their class, they have no way to handle it."
"So when they first found out that others had bought the old exam papers, they shouldn't have focused on maintaining fairness, but should have thought about the class and bought some papers themselves."
Yes.
Nagumo was also a top student, a scholar.
He knew that the exam wasn't just an exam but a high-handed act of allowing the students to cheat.
But he was also adaptable.
So from this perspective, Hachiman, whom President Horikita valued, didn't seem all that impressive.
And clearly.
Because of the first-year students' strange actions, even reporting the leak, everyone ended up without the old exam papers. The older students from other grades just watched the spectacle.
However, at that moment.
Knock knock— The door to the student council was knocked.
"Come in," Nagumo said as he placed the student council president's sign back on the desk.
The reason he put the sign back was simple—to make himself more noticeable and to get the first-year students who came to the student council to pay more attention to him.
He was the vice president of the student council, controlling the second-year students.
But if he wanted to be elected the next student council president, he would need more votes.
Every student had one vote.
So if he could secure the first-year students' votes, he would be guaranteed the presidency.
Click—
At this moment, Nagumo thought the visitor would be a first-year student, and indeed, it was. However, there were four people who entered.
But.
There was something strange about it.
Because these first-year students had an imposing air about them.
They seemed like a group, with an aura of arrogance and high prestige.
The leader, however, was a small, delicate girl with silver hair, fair and translucent skin, and perfectly symmetrical features. She was excessively cute, almost as if she were a girl from another dimension. This girl was named Sakayanagi Arisu.
Her health wasn't very good, so she had to use a cane.
She didn't move quickly, but everyone else followed her closely, waiting in perfect coordination.
This adorable silver-haired girl.
"First-year A class, Sakayanagi," Nagumo said. "So, what brings you to the student council this time?"
Nagumo was familiar with a few of the first-year students.
Among them was Ichinose from Class B.
And from Class A, there was Sakayanagi Arisu and Katsuragi.
Of course.
Nagumo didn't just judge people based on how attractive they were. He also considered their abilities.
Sakayanagi Arisu was the representative of Class A.
She had been praised by President Horikita before, but when she and Katsuragi applied to join the student council, President Horikita had rejected them.
From Nagumo's perspective, however,
This was actually a good thing for him.
Because even though President Horikita rejected them, Nagumo could accept them, gaining their votes in exchange, which was a win for him.
From this angle, Nagumo was in a good mood.
"Is President Horikita not here?" However, Sakayanagi Arisu ignored Vice President Nagumo. "I specifically came today to find President Horikita."
"..." Nagumo.
"?"
What's going on?
This extremely cute girl gave Nagumo a feeling similar to that of Hachiman.
Does she not respect him, a senior and the vice president of the student council?
He was the vice president of the student council, after all, and there were many matters that the president had to deal with that he could handle too.
So why is she only seeking the president?
"Sakayanagi!" At that moment, Horikita and Tachibana appeared at the door of the student council.
"What's the meaning of this?"
Horikita had just returned from the chairman's office and had now come to the hallway.
Then he saw Sakayanagi Arisu and her group.
"This kind of imposing attitude," Horikita said. "Are you here to provoke us?"
"That's really unfair," Sakayanagi Arisu said with a cute smile. "Actually, I'm here to bring warmth to the student council."
"Oh?" Horikita pushed up his glasses.
"Our class heard that the student council was facing some difficulties, so we came here to help," Sakayanagi Arisu continued.
"This exam leak incident has had a serious impact, and now, at this time, if the exams are rewritten, a large amount of the first-year students will probably fail and expelled."
"Because from what I've heard, it seems that students from Class C and Class D had known about the old exam papers for a long time. For example, students from Class D haven't been studying for this entire month."
"..." These words made Horikita fall silent.
Because it was indeed true.
If half of the students from Class D or Class C were eliminated in the first written exam,
The school would be under a lot of pressure.
At the same time,
If so many underperforming students were eliminated, the remaining lower-ranked classes might improve.
This could lead to a chance to challenge the higher-ranked classes.
However, the school wasn't very willing to let them rise.
For balancing purposes, the school had been considering adding a few "bad students" to the lower-ranked classes to lower their scores.
So, eliminating too many students would create bad press, and leaving the "bad students" could make the lower-ranked classes even more competitive, which wasn't ideal.
The school was in a difficult situation.
"So what's the plan you brought?" Horikita said. "If it's useful, I will consider it."
"It's this," Sakayanagi Arisu said.
She handed a folder to her classmate, Hashimoto, who passed it to Tachibana.
Tachibana took it and handed it to Horikita.
Horikita opened the folder, and what caught his eye was…
[First-year Midterm Exam Papers for the First Semester of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School]
"This is…"
"This is just a test paper I made in my free time. I compiled it based on the lecture content of the four classes. The difficulty is appropriate, and as long as you attend the classes, anyone can pass the exam," Sakayanagi Arisu explained. "And now, this paper can be sold to you."
Sold.
"Hehe…" Nagumo, who had been ignored earlier, almost laughed out loud.
She's just saying she'll sell it?
Wait a minute.
"Why do you have this paper?" Nagumo asked. "Did you prepare it in advance?"
"Could it be…"
Nagumo's expression changed with surprise. "Could it be that you instructed Hachiman to report it?"
"I'm not very familiar with Hachiman," Sakayanagi Arisu said. "But after he did that, I just wanted to help the student council."
No.
No one in the student council said that it was Hachiman that reported it.
So, this is basically an admission.
But Nagumo furrowed his brow.
His gut was telling him something was off.
"As for the exam papers…" Horikita carefully reviewed the paper and nodded.
The difficulty wasn't high, and the content didn't go beyond the syllabus.
It was indeed appropriate to present to the school.
At the same time, since it was made by a student, there was also the possibility that it was leaked by students themselves.
So, after all the twists and turns, they were back at square one.
Everyone just wanted to conclude this exam in a decent way.
"I can accept this exam paper," Horikita said. "And I will apply to the school to give you one million…"
"Points and such aren't important," Sakayanagi Arisu interrupted. "Consider it a gift to you."
"Oh?"
"So, what do you want?"