The next day during class, Kushida Kikyō and Saiki Kusuo brought in photocopies of the exam questions and distributed them to the rest of the class.
"With these questions, there's no need to pay attention in class anymore!"
"This should guarantee a good score on the pop quiz, right? But why hasn't Chabashira-sensei mentioned anything about the exam? Could it be that there's no quiz today after all?"
"As long as we have these questions, the exam shouldn't be too hard... but I can't even understand them..."
With the exam questions in hand, students who previously didn't pay much attention in class seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
However, perhaps because of the leaked questions, the overall study habits of the class didn't improve much.
Many students still arrived late daily, and during lessons, plenty of them remained distracted. They cared even less about these issues than before.
They assumed that only class points and exam scores mattered. With the leaked questions, they believed the exam was a sure win, unaware that class points were evaluated on far more than just test scores.
Among the D-Class students, many had performed exceptionally well on the entrance exam.
Still, they reviewed the leaked questions to some extent. After school each day, some D-Class students gathered in the dorms to study the questions. Even Sudō Ken, who rarely studied, occasionally asked others about solving specific problems.
Whether he understood the explanations was another matter entirely.
...
A week passed, and Chabashira Sae still hadn't mentioned anything about the exam. Some students began to doubt if there would even be a pop quiz this year.
However, before the first period today, Chabashira Sae, who usually arrived just in time, showed up five minutes early—a rare occurrence.
"There's a pop quiz today. Pass out the papers starting from the front row."
Chabashira Sae quickly distributed the exams, a faint, meaningful smile on her face.
"These defective students probably never expected a pop quiz within the first two weeks of school. You'll likely ask why I didn't warn you about the exam or the school's rules—but in this world, not everything comes with a warning!"
"Judging by how you behave in class, I doubt any of you will score well!"
"Next month, when the class points are announced, I can't wait to see the despair on your faces!"
'Seriously, she's the homeroom teacher,' Saiki Kusuo thought. Normally, teachers want their students to succeed, but Chabashira Sae seemed like an exception.
Reality, however, might not align with her expectations.
"Finally, news of the pop quiz! I knew it!"
"Good thing we bought the leaked questions, or we'd be doomed!"
"Hurry and pass out the papers! I'm about to forget everything I crammed yesterday!"
The class showed no surprise, and some even felt relieved.
The papers were quickly distributed. Saiki Kusuo glanced at his exam—the questions matched last year's leak perfectly.
As the top government-funded high school, they wouldn't reuse questions to save resources. Instead, they likely aimed to test students' observational skills and whether they'd notice the repeated questions.
It also reinforced the school's rule: 'Everything can be bought with points.'
For Saiki Kusuo, it didn't matter much.
'I didn't really study the questions before, but now I see the difficulty varies quite a bit,' he thought. Even without preparation, the questions were easy for him—a quick glance was enough to determine the answers.
His real challenge was maintaining a mid-range score.
'Consistently average scores might raise suspicion. I'll need to fluctuate my grades slightly, but not too much—that would be even more suspicious.'
"With the leaked questions, everyone's scores should improve. Mine can't be too low," he added.
What mattered most wasn't his score, but everyone else's.
"The questions match the leak exactly! Perfect!"
"Glad I prepared ahead of time!"
"I should score pretty well on this exam!"
Saiki Kusuo could clearly hear their thoughts. Now, he needed to confirm how well they'd perform with the leaked questions.
He turned, his gaze landing randomly on a student. His vision pierced through the person, focusing on their exam paper to check their answers.
'Looks like everyone will score well with the leak,' he noted. Several students had correct answers for the first few questions, likely securing high scores.
His gaze shifted to Sudō Ken.
'First question is A, second is C, third is D...' Sudō Ken mentally recited the answers.
While others studied the solutions, Sudō Ken memorized the answer sequence and steps.
Fortunately, the exam matched last year's, or a few changed numbers would've ruined his 'hard work.'
'Wait, what was the answer to that question? D or C? Think, think!'
'This guy's hopeless,' Saiki Kusuo thought.
Even with the leak, Sudō Ken hadn't memorized the answers well. After a few multiple-choice questions, he'd already forgotten the correct responses.
'Still, you're doing me a favor, Sudō. You'll help lower the class average,' Saiki Kusuo smirked.