The next day during class, Kushida Kikyo and Saiki Kusuo brought 39 copies of the exam papers to the classroom and distributed them to their classmates.
[With the exam papers, I don't even need to pay attention in class anymore!]
[This surprise exam should be a breeze now! But why hasn't Chabashira-sensei mentioned anything about the exam? Could it be that there's no exam today?]
[I just need to focus on these papers. The exam shouldn't be too hard... But I don't understand these questions...]
With the exam papers in hand, the students who hadn't been paying attention in class now felt a sense of relief.
However, perhaps because they had the papers, the students' study habits didn't change much.
Many students were still late every day, and many still zoned out during class. They cared even less about these things now.
They only thought that class points were tied to exam scores. With the exam papers, the exam would be no problem. They didn't realize that class points were influenced by far more than just exam results.
After all, even in Class D, there were students who had performed well in the entrance exams.
Still, the exam papers required some study. Every day after returning to the dorms, some Class D students would gather on their own to work through the questions. Even students like Sudo Ken, who usually didn't study, would ask others for help with certain problems.
Of course, whether they actually understood was another matter.
...
A week passed quickly. During this time, Chabashira Sae still hadn't mentioned anything about the exam, leading some students to wonder if there would even be a surprise exam this year.
However, before the first class today, Chabashira Sae, who usually arrived exactly on time, showed up five minutes early.
"Today, there will be a surprise exam. Starting from the first row, pass the papers back."
Chabashira Sae immediately handed out the exam papers she had brought with her, a meaningful smile on her face.
[These defective students definitely didn't expect a surprise exam within the first two weeks of school. Some of you will surely complain that I didn't warn you about the exam or the school's rules—but in this world, not everything can be prepared for in advance!]
[Looking at your usual behavior in class, I doubt you'll score high!]
[When the class points are announced next month, I can't wait to see your despair!]
'Hey, hey, you're the homeroom teacher.'
Saiki Kusuo complained internally. Normally, a homeroom teacher would want their students to score high, but Chabashira Sae was, in a sense, a complete oddball.
However, reality might not align with Chabashira Sae's expectations.
[Finally, news of the surprise exam! I knew it!]
[Good thing we bought the exam papers in advance. Otherwise, I'd be doomed!]
[Hurry, hurry, pass out the papers! I might forget the answers I memorized yesterday!]
The class wasn't surprised at all. In fact, many felt a sense of relief.
Soon, the exam papers were handed out to everyone. Saiki Kusuo glanced at the paper. The questions were exactly the same as last year's.
As a government-funded elite high school, they wouldn't reuse the same exam papers just to save resources. Their goal was likely to test the students' observational skills—whether they could discover that the same exam papers were being used.
At the same time, it reinforced the idea that "anything can be bought with points" in this school.
For Saiki Kusuo, it didn't matter.
'Yare yare, I didn't look at the papers beforehand, but now I see the difficulty varies quite a bit between questions.'
Saiki Kusuo thought to himself. However, even without the papers, these questions were no challenge for him. A quick glance was enough to determine the answers.
For Saiki Kusuo, the hardest part was controlling his scores to stay in the middle range.
'Keeping all my scores in the middle made the teacher suspicious. I'll have to fluctuate my scores a bit, but not too much, or it'll still look suspicious.'
Saiki Kusuo thought to himself.
"Since everyone else's scores should improve thanks to the papers, my scores can't be too low either."
The most important thing wasn't how high he scored but how high others scored.
[The questions are exactly the same as the papers! This is great!]
[Good thing I prepared in advance!]
[I should be able to score pretty high this time!]
Saiki Kusuo could clearly hear everyone's thoughts. Now, he just needed to confirm how well they could score with the exam papers.
He turned his gaze to a random classmate, his vision penetrating their body to see their answers on the paper.
'It seems everyone can score high with the papers.'
Saiki Kusuo glanced at a few people. Their answers to the first few questions were mostly correct, so they should score well.
His gaze then landed on Sudo Ken.
[The first question is A, the second is C, the third is D...]
At this moment, Sudo Ken was mentally reciting the answers he had memorized.
While others studied the solutions to the questions, Sudo Ken had simply memorized the answer order and steps.
Luckily, the exam questions were almost identical to last year's. Otherwise, even a slight change in numbers would have ruined his efforts.
[Ah, crap, what was the answer to this one again? Was it D or C? Come on, remember!]
'This guy is hopeless.'
Saiki Kusuo made his judgment.
Even with the exam papers, Sudo Ken hadn't bothered to memorize the answers properly. After just a few multiple-choice questions, he had already forgotten the correct answers.
'But in a way, you're doing great, Sudo. You'll probably drag down the class average a bit.'
A slight smile appeared on Saiki Kusuo's lips.