The wonderful moments of a holiday always pass quickly.
Before the students could even react, they were back in the classroom, listening to their teachers' lectures.
In the blink of an eye, it was Friday again.
If it were a normal Friday, then today would usually be when students' spirits were highest.
Because if they just made it through today, it would be another holiday for them to enjoy.
With enough points, they might even discuss going to the shopping center.
Even without points, they could spend a nice holiday in their dorms, recharging their spirits.
But today was clearly different from usual.
The atmosphere in the classroom was exceptionally serious.
Because today was the day of the midterm exam.
Hirata's heavy dark circles made people worry about his physical condition.
But this was unavoidable.
Ever since the incident with Horikita's study group violence, Hirata had tried his best to persuade everyone to join his study group.
For boys who were unwilling to participate, he even went to their dorms privately to tutor them individually.
It was well-known that one person's efforts were limited.
So Hirata even managed to convince Kushida Kikyo, Yukimura Teruhiko, Wang Meiyu, and other students with decent grades in the class.
He organized a large study group, with the goal of helping everyone pass the midterm exam successfully.
This caused Hirata to severely overdraw his physical and mental energy.
However, Hirata's own mindset seemed quite good.
Clearly, the study group's results during this period had been fruitful.
Otherwise, Hirata, who was already so exhausted, would never have been able to smile.
These days, Horikita had also been tutoring Amane.
But to say it was tutoring... in reality, as they tutored, it just... cough cough.
However, judging by their usual grades, as long as no groundbreaking accident occurred, there shouldn't be any major problems.
As for what a groundbreaking accident would be?
For example, if it were announced that anything above ninety-five points was a failing grade.
In that case, Horikita and Amane might face a crisis.
Otherwise, Amane believed that such a simple exam would not pose any pressure for her.
Sudo walked into the classroom, carrying his backpack with one hand.
His other hand was still bandaged.
Two weeks were clearly not enough for Sudo to fully recover.
What?
Didn't Sudo drop out?
Oh.
I forgot to mention.
On the very first day Sudo submitted his withdrawal application, Hirata ran to persuade him.
What was unexpected was that Sudo's conditions were exactly as Amane had predicted, and he even escalated them.
He demanded that Amane and Horikita kneel and apologize, and compensate him with 100,000 points.
Setting aside the request to kneel and apologize for a moment, regarding the 100,000 points, Amane didn't think Sudo knew about her point situation.
If he did, he shouldn't have been so conservative.
Most likely, he just based it on his own perception and casually named what he considered an 'exorbitant price.'
Such conditions were naturally rejected by Hirata outright.
In Hirata's opinion, it might be possible for the entire D Class to gather 100,000 points, but asking two people to gather 100,000 points was a bit too harsh.
As for the first condition, Hirata, based on Amane's words, rejected Sudo without even thinking.
Seeing Hirata reject him repeatedly,
Sudo angrily drove Hirata out.
But Hirata was also patient; he went to find Sudo right after school.
He tried to persuade Sudo to change his mind.
As the seven-day deliberation period was drawing to a close,
Hirata even shamelessly visited Amane once in between.
However, Amane strongly refused any contact with Sudo.
Both sides were exceptionally stubborn.
This left Hirata, caught in the middle, feeling helpless.
He could only try every possible way to convince Sudo.
Unfortunately, Sudo remained unmoved.
However, what was interesting was that
On the last day of the deliberation period, Sudo suddenly withdrew his withdrawal application.
His reason was that he was moved by Hirata's spirit.
But given the current situation,
Everyone knew exactly what was going on.
Even Hirata could see through his little trick.
Yet Sudo still thought his handling of the situation was flawless.
Although he had taken a long leave due to the injury assessment,
Sudo still had to participate in special exams like the mid-term.
Considering Sudo's missed classes and physical condition, the school even specifically approved an extra ten points for his written exam.
This basically meant it would be very difficult for him to be expelled for failing the exam.
The moment Sudo entered the classroom,
His gaze first fiercely turned to Horikita.
Horikita, who was engrossed in reading, couldn't be bothered with him.
Then his gaze shifted to Amane.
Amane merely glanced indifferently at Sudo, forcing him to avert his eyes.
He still knew who the soft target was.
Not long after, Chabashira-sensei walked in, carrying a stack of test papers.
Her gaze first swept around the classroom.
Then she nodded with satisfaction.
"No one is absent. It seems the whole class is here."
Chabashira-sensei smiled with satisfaction.
"This mid-term exam is the first hurdle you'll face in this school. If you can't even pass a hurdle like this, then I can only say this school isn't quite right for you. If you want to prove you're not defective or substandard, then write the correct answers clearly on the test paper and let me witness your 'ability'."
After Chabashira-sensei finished speaking, the entire classroom fell silent.
Although the atmosphere was heavy, Chabashira still observed that many people looked confident.
It seemed they had come prepared.
However… they were too naive.
Soon, they would learn what frustration felt like.
Only frustration would allow people to grow.
Be it Hirata, Ayanokoji, or even Horikita, it didn't matter.
Those of you with leadership qualities, who can lead the class upwards,
Let me see what you're made of when you face setbacks.
Soon, the test papers were distributed from front to back to everyone.
The first exam was History, taught by Chabashira-sensei.
Amane roughly scanned the questions; they were incredibly simple.
Just as she was about to fill in the answers,
She heard a gasp.
Amane quickly looked up.
She saw Hirata suddenly stand up.
"Chabashira-sensei, what exactly is going on? The content of the exam is completely different from the pre-exam review topics you gave us!"
Hirata's tone, uncharacteristically, was tinged with accusation.
However, Hirata's questioning was met with a careless apology from Chabashira-sensei.
"Oh dear, I'm so sorry, I forgot to mention, there was a temporary change in the exam questions, so many questions are not within the review scope I outlined."
Chabashira-sensei's indifferent attitude angered Hirata.
"Chabashira-sensei! How could you do this? How could you forget such an important thing? Everyone reviewed according to the exam scope you provided!"
"So what? If you paid attention in class, questions of this difficulty shouldn't be hard, right? Now, Hirata, sit down!"
Chabashira's stern reprimand made Hirata reluctantly sit down.
He held his head in distress.
His study group had been entirely based on the review scope outlined by the teacher.
Now that the exam content had changed,
It meant that Hirata's efforts over the past half-month had all been in vain.
Hirata couldn't imagine what kind of despairing results Class D would get on the mid-term exam under such circumstances.
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