[Why am I still last?! Why?]
'Because you've only narrowed the gap between yourself and the average person.'
Saiki responded to Sudo's confusion in his mind.
Although Sudo had made rapid progress, his foundation was still too weak.
Even though he was last, Sudo had achieved a score that was quite high for him. In fact, the entire class had performed surprisingly well.
[I thought I'd be in the top ten this time! I even remembered all the formulas!]
'You were as excited about figuring out which formulas to use as humans were when they first discovered fire.'
[I worked so hard... and I'm still last?!]
'What exactly did you work on? Feels like I'm the one who did all the work.'
Saiki sighed internally, but through Sudo's thoughts, he sensed that Sudo did have some ambition, which could be considered progress.
[But the class average is 65 this time. Not bad!]
'Forget what I just said.'
Saiki shook his head slightly and turned his gaze to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who was also quickly scanning the class's scores.
[Horikita is, as expected, first in total score. But Saiki's results are surprising. He's in the top ten in math but near the bottom in English... His total score is about the same as mine, still in the middle of the class. Is he controlling his scores? Or...]
'No matter how I score, you're going to suspect me, aren't you?'
"I must say, your exam results are quite impressive."
Chabashira smiled.
[I didn't expect these defective products to achieve such scores. Not bad. Although they're Class C now, they were initially rated as Class D—a class that has never achieved such results before. They're almost on par with Class A.]
[Everyone passed, which is surprising—even Sudo and the others managed decent scores.]
[Did someone do something? Did they fully exploit the school's rules?]
"It seems you've proven a bit of your worth, despite being labeled as defective products at the start."
"Chabashira-sensei!"
At that moment, Hirata Yosuke raised his hand.
"Yes?"
Chabashira narrowed her eyes slightly, her gaze locking onto Hirata as if she already knew what he was going to ask.
"Since you said our exam results are good... does that mean our class ranking has improved?"
Hirata asked curiously.
Hearing this, Chabashira's lips curled into a cold smile.
"While your exam results are decent, don't get too carried away. Are you already aiming for Class B? You're not there yet!"
Chabashira then wrote the class points for each class on the blackboard.
After this exam, excluding Class A for now, Class C had gained a significant number of points—but midterm points didn't count for much. Moreover, there was already a gap between Class C and Class B, so they still hadn't surpassed Class B.
However, it was undeniable that the gap between Class C and Class B had narrowed.
Looking at the numbers on the board, Ayanokoji's brow twitched slightly.
He noticed that Class D had gained about the same number of points as Class C.
[Class D's points are similar to ours... Does that mean their exam results are also on par with ours?]
[Based on the previous class rankings, Class D's academic ability shouldn't be that high. Yet this time, they scored similarly to us, who had access to last year's exam questions—]
[Does this mean Class D also obtained last year's questions? Did they figure it out themselves, or did someone from our class leak the information?]
Ayanokoji's reasoning was quick, but for now, he only considered it a possibility without concrete evidence.
Saiki, however, knew the whole truth.
His gaze shifted to Kushida Kikyo, who was chatting with her classmates about the midterms as if she knew nothing.
For Saiki, if Kushida had only informed Class D about last year's questions, it was somewhat beneficial. It would slow down their class's rise.
Now that they had Class D as an enemy, rising further would only create more adversaries.
However, if Kushida and Ryuen's actions started to affect Saiki, he wouldn't just sit back and watch.
"Enough with the smiles. This is just a midterm exam."
Chabashira took down the score sheets and scanned the class, observing their reactions.
"There are many more exams waiting for you."
[These guys' academic ability isn't high. The only way they could achieve such results is by obtaining the exam questions in advance, just like with the previous quiz—]
[But this method will soon become ineffective.]
[Because the upcoming exams won't have reference questions, and they won't just be academic tests.]
'Yare yare, looks like there's more trouble ahead.'
Saiki shook his head slightly, hoping that future exams wouldn't bring any more surprises.
However, only Saiki knew Chabashira's thoughts. The other students were preoccupied with their own concerns.
[Our scores... still haven't surpassed Class A? If this continues, the gap will only grow! We need to add more people to the study group.]
'Please, no. I'm begging you.'
[Everyone did pretty well this time. Let's have a celebration tonight.]
'That's completely pointless, and if you're going to do it, please don't do it in my room...'
[Let's have it in Saiki's room again!]
'Do you have mind-reading powers or something?'
...
And so, another month quietly passed by.