Shwwwk—
The curtains, drawn to block out the sunlight, are pulled open. It must be Nagisa's doing.
"Why were all the lights off and the curtains drawn, Mika-san?"
The exams are over.
...Let me repeat that.
The exams are over.
The suffering of the past three weeks flashes before my eyes like a revolving lantern. But farewell to all the worldly woes that have tormented me. I no longer have to tremble in fear of failing. I no longer have to suffer like hell studying. Because I'm finished!
"Ahaha. Thanks for everything, Nagi-chan! But no matter how I think about it, this is the end of the line for me... So, before my test paper is etched into the annals of Trinity's history, could you do me a favor and send it straight to the shredder, and then help me with the transfer procedures? Yep, this is the only way. Or maybe it'd be fine to just end Trinity with my own two hands..."
"...What is it? Why are you being so dramatic again? The difficulty of the exam was perfectly passable with your current skill level. Unless you made some ridiculous mistake——"
Nagisa's expression hardened. Surely not. Right? She looked at me with that question in her eyes, and I gave a small shake of my head.
I didn't make a mistake.
...Or did I?
I don't know. If there had been a noticeable mistake, I think I would have realized it, but the exam went by in such a blur that I can't be sure.
Actually, whether I made a mistake or not doesn't seem to have much meaning.
Because, as far as I'm concerned, I completely bombed this exam. Even the subjects where I thought I'd be safely above the passing grade were filled with strangely difficult questions, and in the subjects I wasn't confident in, my brain simply broke. Rain fell in ballistics, of course, and in history, a ton of questions from the section I'd abandoned appeared.
My karma... what karma? Did I ask to be transmigrated into the body of a student with only three weeks left before exams? And I've been studying and working so much that I haven't been to the firing range once since that second day. It was so bad that even Nagisa, who was helping me, was completely drained and grumbled that she might do worse on her exams than usual. So isn't this the fault of whoever sent me here?
"Haa... It is not something to worry about so much, Mika-san. There is still a chance——"
"I'm doomed, Nagi-chan. Completely doomed! Ahah, at this rate, failing is a certainty☆ Now I'll become just another one of the washed-up students littering Kivotos. A delinquent no better than the Sukeban thugs who only think about extorting money from our Trinity!"
"Um, Mika-san... first, you need to calm down a little——"
"Ahaha, it's all over now... I've been cornered so badly that if an adult full of thoughts of putting me through a mind-break ending were to open that door, I'd actually hesitate for a second before putting a bullet in their face. What do I do, Nagi-chan?! I'd rather die than have a mind-break ending! I'd rather just die!"
"...Would you please be quiet! I'm trying to talk, you know?!"
"Whoa—...?"
Nagisa has activated her exclusive skill: "ENOUGH!!!". It's super effective.
"Why do you keep interrupting me? When are you going to shut that tiny mouth of yours? Do I have to sew it shut myself? You said you don't like having it stuffed with a roll cake. Then you should cooperate so I don't feel the need to do it!!!"
...Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry.
As I took the full brunt of Nagisa's finally-erupted fury, my body trembled. In terms of combat power, Nagisa was on par with Seia, but with her current aura, she looked like she could make even the strongest fighters of each academy shrink in fear.
"Failing isn't the end! Of course there's a chance for a supplementary exam! And if you pass that, you won't get expelled in the first place! The whole 'fail and you're immediately expelled' thing was just a story Seia-san and I made up to tease you! If you understand, then pull yourself together and let's start grading your papers with me!"
"...A joke?"
...Right. There were all sorts of circumstances, but it doesn't make sense to be expelled for failing just once. In the first place, wasn't the Supplementary Lessons Department created by Nagisa to get rid of all the suspicious people at once?
And why in the world would they publicize the fact that the Tea Party Host failed? They'd keep it as top secret as possible and make me retake the test internally to make sure I passed. It's a matter directly related to the school's prestige.
In the end, it just means I was too naive and believed their words, and was thinking too one-dimensionally.
"Ahaha, a joke... Yeah, so that's what it was. With the karma I've built up, I can't even complain."
Honestly, even I thought I was being unusually timid. I had easily talked about transferring to Gehenna and destroying Trinity, or going to Abydos and becoming Washed-up Senior No. 2 like Hoshino.
I think I was a little scared of being forcibly separated from Nagisa and Seia. Was that a fragment of the original Mika's feelings? Or maybe it just meant I had grown that attached to these two.
One thing is for sure: the word "expulsion" had paralyzed my reasoning to the point where I had temporarily forgotten even my knowledge of the original story.
"Hey, Nagi-chan. I completely bombed the exam...?"
"It is alright, Mika-san. You just need to be sure to pass the supplementary exam."
"Yeah, I guess that's all there is to it..."
"If you just keep doing what you've been doing, you can definitely pass. You worked really hard, didn't you? It was just a lack of time, so there's no need to be so disheartened."
"Ahaha, the thought of having to study like that again just kills my motivation. But since you'll keep helping me, Nagi-chan, I'll do my best."
"...Excuse me?"
Wipe that question mark off your face, Nagi-chan. I'm serious, without you, ballistics is a lost cause. Do you really want to see your childhood friend get expelled?
"You'll help me... right?"
"...Haa. What am I going to do with this person? Fine, I get it. I feel like I'm going to die from exhaustion helping you, Mika-san! But since you're so earnestly begging me, even offering to gift me the Golden Tip I've had my eye on recently, I cannot refuse!"
"...Huh?"
Nagi-chan, you get your own stipend... do you really have to be so stingy?
"...You cannot refuse!"
"Hey. I'll get it for you, so I don't think you need to emphasize it that much, Nagi-chan."
Well... whatever. I'm the one in a pinch, so it can't be helped.
"Hmph, very well. Now, we need to grade your papers, so take out your answer sheets."
For some reason, I had a feeling this would come up, so I didn't make the mistake of throwing my papers away. I did doodle on them here and there, but that shouldn't be a problem for Nagisa to see, right?
And so the preliminary grading began. For all subjects except ballistics, the passing grade is 50. For ballistics, the catastrophically low score of 30 is the cutoff. If it were any higher, students would probably be dropping like flies.
First, Language: 84.
"...This is as expected. If the rest are like this, you'll pass with ease."
You know full well the other subjects won't be like this, so why do you say that, Nagi-chan...?
Second subject, Math: 94.
"...What is this? Why did you score higher than me?"
I slyly avoided Nagisa's gaze as she shot me a look of disbelief.
But, you know, if I was bad at math to begin with, then even with your help, Nagisa, ballistics would have been a lost cause. Besides, while studying ballistics, I got a better feel for math again, which created a synergy effect.
After that, Comprehensive Science and Social Studies/Economics were both in the mid-60s. For having half-abandoned them, they came out pretty well.
"Well, you've passed everything so far without any major problems. Though the real challenge starts now..."
Next up was History, which I had a chance of passing on my own. The loophole of using the short preparation time to memorize specific parts of the syllabus as much as possible was effective, as expected.
"...52 points. If this preliminary score is wrong by even a little, you'll be in the failing range."
As Nagisa said, it was a score that could dive straight into failure the moment the preliminary grading proved wrong, but for now, I had passed. Since it was a method that relied on short-term memory, if I had to take a supplementary exam, it would have been much harder, so it was a relief to have passed.
Theology, which was an ordeal just to study: 58. The power of self-torture using the audio Scripture, combined with guessing based on what looked plausible, resulted in a fairly stable passing score.
"Mika-san."
"Yeah?"
"Why were you moping around here all alone?! You passed everything except for ballistics!"
"But Nagi-chan, that ballistics is the biggest problem right now, isn't it?"
"Weeell... that is true, but..."
I think I did as well as I could, or even better, in the other subjects. But I have absolutely no confidence in ballistics. This subject just exists to screw me over, I swear.
"...Well then, I'll start grading."
Gulp.
I thought it was me swallowing, but the sound came from Nagisa. Seeing her just as nervous as I was made me feel sorry. I should have done better.
"Well, the first three problems are correct. Number four is wrong because you used the wrong x-value, and then up to number six are correct again... Number seven, you misinterpreted the context a little..."
As Nagisa continued to grade, I was half-resigned and on the verge of accepting my fate. Before the final question, my preliminary score was 28. Since Nagisa herself said she gave up on solving the last question, the result was obvious without even looking.
For ballistics, the difficulty difference between the early and late problems is night and day to differentiate between students. Nagisa had repeatedly stressed that it was essential not to get the early problems wrong, as it was highly unlikely that someone who couldn't solve the beginning could solve the end. But unfortunately, for me, who had accidentally blown a couple of those important early problems, there seemed to be no hope.
"...It cannot be helped. Mika-san, let us make sure not to make any mistakes on the supplementary exam."
"Ahaha, sorry. To think I'd make a mistake like this even after you taught me so diligently. Maybe passing was just impossible for an idiot like me☆"
"I would appreciate it if you did not talk about yourself like that. The fact that you came this far in such a short time is amazing enough. You were just one step short, so you can do it next time..."
Somehow, Nagisa seemed more disappointed than I was. I tried to console her by tempting her to go to the dessert cafe I'd been to with Hifumi. I had to pass the supplementary exam, but for today, I just wanted to forget about ballistics. So let's just take one day off. We'll start again tomorrow.
...By the way, this Golden Tip is a little more... no, quite a bit more expensive than I thought. Was I receiving paid tutoring instead of help?
◇─◇───◆─◈─◆───◇─◇
A few days later.
The exams were over, and I had a rough idea of my current level. Perhaps because of that, my mind was a little more at ease. I was taking a break after finishing my first mock combat training at the firing range.
As I was drinking water and cleaning my gun, I saw Nagisa approaching with quick steps from a distance. Something good must have happened; I thought her eyes were sparkling strangely.
"Mika-san! Mika-san, what is this?!"
"Hm? What's wrong, Nagi-chan?"
"You passed..."
"...?"
"Mika-san! You passed, you passed! You don't have to take the supplementary exam!"
For a moment, I thought I had misheard her. Passed? What could I have possibly passed...?
What, was today the day the exam results came out? I had naturally given up and erased it from my mind. This is truly unbelievable.
"The last question. How on earth did you solve it? 7.04, I couldn't get that answer no matter what I did..."
"I just guessed on that one. The answer to the last question was 7.04? C'mon, Nagi-chan, that's not a funny joke! It's one thing for other questions, but does it even make sense to guess a short-answer question correctly?"
"No, I'm telling you, you definitely got it right! Here, your final scores, Mika-san."
Language: 82. Math: 94. Comprehensive Science: 66. Social Studies/Economics: 62. History: 52. Theology: 54.
Overall, the scores were a little lower than my preliminary grading, but thankfully, History, which was the most dangerous, was the same.
And Ballistics was...
"33 points?"
"Congratulations, Mika-san. I am so relieved...!"
"Oh. Does this mean I don't have to take the supplementary exam...?"
"I told you just a moment ago. You don't have to!"
"Then what about the Golden Tip you squeezed out of me?"
"...Ah?"
While Nagisa was flustered by my unexpected words, I shot up from my seat and hugged her tightly. I couldn't contain my gratitude. More than anything, I was so happy that I wouldn't have to be separated from the friends I had grown attached to.
"Ah, ouch... Mika-san?!"
"Just kidding, just kidding☆ Think of it as a thank-you gift for your help! Ahaha! To think I passed! I had completely given up, so hearing it now, it doesn't feel real!"
"Um, please let go..."
"Come to think of it? Does this mean I passed the exam all thanks to you, Nagi-chan? I guessed the last question using your birthday, and it turned out to be right!"
"...What? Whaaat...?!"
"Thanks, Nagi-chan! From now on, I'll call you my goddess of good luck☆"
Surprisingly, it was true. I had thought it was wrong anyway, so I gave up halfway through solving the beginning and just doodled. It was a short-answer question, and as I was wondering what to write, Nagisa's birthday came to mind.
July 4th. 0704. I dropped the leading 0, put a decimal point, and submitted 7.04 as the answer. To think it would actually be correct. Wasn't this truly a miracle from the heavens?
It was almost a full minute later that I finally released Nagisa from my embrace. For some reason, it felt like Nagisa's hands, which were holding onto me, had no intention of letting go, but it was probably just my imagination, right?
Hmm, whatever. On a joyous day like this, we have to celebrate, right?
"Nagi-chan, let's go find Seia-chan first! Yep, today, we're going to have fun! Let's drink until we can't see straight!"
"...What is this crazy person saying right now!"
...Oh, right. We're students, aren't we? This world truly is the worst.