Saiki Kusuo's gaze continued to shift, eventually landing on Horikita Suzune.
At this moment, Horikita Suzune was deeply focused on solving the problems in front of her.
Earlier, Kushida Kikyo had copied a set of test questions for her, but Horikita Suzune had refused to accept them. However, she still transferred her own points to Kushida Kikyo.
Even without the test questions, Horikita Suzune possessed the top academic ability in the class. Saiki Kusuo glanced at her work and noticed that she had answered almost every question correctly, with an accuracy rate higher than most of those who had seen the questions in advance.
Just then, Saiki Kusuo heard another voice.
[What should the normal academic ability of an average high school student be?]
[After seeing the test questions, what kind of scores would they get? I'm not entirely sure.]
[Well, I'll just keep each subject at 50 points, like during the entrance exam. This question is correct, this one is wrong...]
Saiki Kusuo recognized the somewhat lazy inner voice. It belonged to none other than Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.
'As expected, he's a strange guy.'
Saiki Kusuo could confirm that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was indeed different from the average student. He was far more unique. Through his telepathy, Saiki Kusuo knew that Ayanokoji could easily solve every problem, but he deliberately chose to get a few wrong to precisely control his score.
'Is he trying to avoid standing out, just like me?'
A slight smile formed on Saiki Kusuo's lips as his gaze finally settled on the test paper in front of him.
'But when it comes to hiding yourself, Ayanokoji, you're still far from skilled.'
'To truly avoid drawing attention, it's not about scoring in the middle range. Instead, you should aim for a rank closer to the middle of the pack. Keeping every score at 50 points will only make you more conspicuous.'
'And it's not just about the rank. Deciding which questions to get right and which to get wrong is the real core of this exam.'
For Saiki Kusuo, these questions posed no difficulty at all. He wasn't even sure how challenging they were for an average high school student.
But he had telepathy.
Using this ability, Saiki Kusuo could sense which questions other students found difficult, even if they were relatively simple. This allowed him to determine which questions he should deliberately get wrong.
Only by doing this could he appear as ordinary as possible.
'Because of the leaked test questions, the accuracy rate for the first few questions is very high, with almost no mistakes. So, I can't afford to get those wrong on purpose.'
'However, even with the leaked questions, the later problems are more difficult, with complicated steps, and the accuracy rate isn't very high... I'll deliberately get this one wrong.'
'After a rough estimate, the average score this time shouldn't be too low. I'll just have to score slightly higher.'
Thinking this to himself, Saiki Kusuo picked up his pen and quickly began filling in the answers on the answer sheet.
...
After several hours of testing, the bell rang, and Chabashira Sae immediately began collecting the exam papers.
[How strange. These defective students don't seem panicked at all. They don't even look surprised.]
Chabashira Sae's eyes carried a hint of confusion. Based on her experience with previous classes, most students would be very surprised upon hearing about a surprise exam.
However, Class D remained calm from start to finish, as if they had known about the exam in advance.
After collecting all the exam papers, Chabashira Sae skimmed through a few and noticed that the accuracy rate of her students' answers was much higher than she had expected.
"Oh?"
Chabashira Sae's eyebrows raised slightly as she quickly glanced through several more exam papers. Just like before, the accuracy rate was remarkably high. In fact, several students had even solved the extremely difficult problems.
[Interesting. This is supposed to be a class of defective students. I know their academic abilities very well. Given their attitude in class recently, there's no way they could have scored this high.]
[This means they must have purchased the previous year's exam questions. Have they realized that in this school, anything can be bought with points?]
[It seems they're not as foolish as I thought. At least some of them have excellent insight or observational skills. This class might not be as trashy as I imagined.]
A faint smile appeared on Chabashira Sae's lips as her gaze swept across the entire class.
...
Unbeknownst to everyone, a month had already passed since the start of the school year.
During these past two weeks, Chabashira Sae had not publicly announced the class's exam results. The students had returned to their normal routines, seemingly forgetting about the exam altogether.
May 1st, early morning, classroom.
"Did you receive the points transferred from the school?"
"I did, but it's only around 50,000 points. Wasn't it supposed to be 100,000?"
"Did the exam results affect the points? That shouldn't be the case. We all bought the exam questions and studied in advance. There's no way we should have lost so many points. Could it be that the other classes also bought the questions and scored even higher than us?"
During the self-study period before class, the students were all chattering about the points.
Looking at his nearly 100,000 points, Saiki Kusuo's expression remained unchanged.
Although exam results could affect class points, they weren't the only factor. Clearly, their class had lost a significant number of points in other areas.
For Saiki Kusuo, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Just a few seconds before the class bell rang, Chabashira Sae slowly entered the classroom.
"Teacher, is there something wrong with this month's points?"
Seeing the teacher enter, one of the students raised their hand and asked.
Hearing the student's question, a meaningful smile appeared on Chabashira Sae's face.
"I thought you all had some understanding of the school's S System. It seems I overestimated you."
"The S System? What does that mean?"
The students below looked at each other in confusion.
"Perhaps some of you thought that the points you receive each month are related to your exam results, which is why you prepared for this exam in advance. However—"
Chabashira Sae narrowed her eyes slightly.
"The S System evaluates students in real-time and calculates their scores. The factors involved in the assessment aren't limited to just exam results. There were 98 instances of tardiness and absences, and 391 instances of talking in class or playing with phones. All of these behaviors are reflected in your points."