"Don't let your guard down. I think there might be current events questions on the test, too."
"Current...events?"
"Events of the recent past related to politics or the economy. That means that the questions may not be limited by what's written in the textbook."
"Ugh, isn't that against the rules? That means we have no idea what's going to be on the test, doesn't it?!"
"That's why we have to learn everything the teacher tells us to do," Miichan muttered.
"T-That's really troublesome," Inogashira said, thinking that she had to study all the material for the exam where she didn't know what questions would come out.
"Of course. But when we do, it's so satisfying, right? The hard work we put in paid off," said Miichan.
"Right," said Inogashira with a small smile.
"So that's why you should study everything."
"I suddenly hate geography..."
"Here's a question for everyone. Who came up with inductive reasoning?"
"Hm?"
The students tilted their heads in confusion, they were wondering why Horikita was bringing up that matter now.
"Um. It was that guy we learned about in class before, right? That was..." Ike wracked his brain and spun his mechanical pencil.
The students' confusion grew upon seeing Ike deep in thought. They were wondering if Horikita was really serious about the material or just testing their memory.
"Oh, that's it. That one guy. His name made me super hungry."
Laughter immediately erupted upon hearing Yamauchi's answer, Sudou and Ike shook their heads in embarrassment at their friend's answer.
"Francisco Xavier! Or something like that, right?" Sudou asked.
Close, but no cigar.
"I remember! Francis Bacon!" Ike cried.
"Hey, tell me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that question came up on the exam, right?" asked Hashimoto.
"Indeed, they didn't come out in the exam," said Kitou nodding.
"Then why are they talking about it now?" said Hashimoto frowning.
"I'm just as confused as you are."
"Maybe she's just testing?" Kamuro guessed.
"I don't think it's that simple," said Sakayanagi. She narrowed her eyes at the screen, she could sense something wrong was happening right now.
"That's correct."
"Yes! I'm definitely going to get a perfect score!"
"No, not really..."
If we all managed to keep up this pace for another week, everyone might just avoid failing.
If before everyone was still doubtful, now they firmly believed that something was terribly wrong right now after hearing Ayanokouji's words.
"Wait, wait, wait! I'm pretty sure questions like that aren't included in the exam," Shibata shouted in astonishment.
"That's right, haven't the teachers already given us the material we're going to study for the exam?" Asked Amikura who was also surprised.
Horikita and the others cringed at that, the fact that their homeroom teacher forgot to tell them what to study was still a bitter memory for them.
How come? They had spent a week of study wasted because of that problem.
"Suzune-san, why are you guys talking about that? That's not included in the exam, right?" Ichinose asked.
"Keep watching, it will be explained in a moment," Horikita said with a sigh.
"Oh, okay," Ichinose said nodding, then she turned her attention to the screen.
"Please be mindful of your health, everyone. If you get sick, you'll have less time to study!" Kushida understood that we had no wiggle room left.
"Don't worry. Not about those three, anyway," Horikita grumbled.
"Just as I'd expect from you, Horikita-chan! I feel like you're starting to have some faith in us!"
Actually, she probably meant something more like, "Idiots don't catch colds."
"HEY!!!"
Ike and Sudou simultaneously shouted angrily and glared at Ayanokouji with annoyed looks, while the other students burst out laughing.
Meanwhile, Ayanokouji was trying hard to ignore the glares being directed at him.
"Hey, quiet down. Your yammering is getting annoying." A nearby student turned to look at us.
"Oh great, this bastard," said Sudou with an annoyed snort, in the distance Ike also gave a disgusted look at the screen.
"Who?" whispered Hasebe to Miyake.
"That's Yamawaki from Ryuuen's class," Miyake replied, then he turned to Sudou, "You know him, Ken?"
"A little, and it wasn't a pleasant encounter. You'll find out in a moment," Sudou said.
Miyake nodded and looked back at the screen curiously.
"Sorry, sorry. Guess I got a little carried away. I'm just so happy I got something right. Did you know that Francis Bacon was the guy who came up with inductive reasoning? I won't lose points on that question!" said Ike, laughing foolishly.
"Huh? Hey, could you guys be Class D students, by chance?"
Immediately the mood of the Class C students immediately deteriorated, from those words alone they already knew where the conversation was going to go. Some of them have even sent sharp glares at one of the students in Ryuuen's class.
Yamawaki suddenly shuddered when he felt something sinister.
A group of boys all looked over at us at once. Sudou, seemingly irritated by this, sounded mildly angry as he said, "So what? What's the big deal if we're in Class D? Do you have a problem with that?"
"No, no, there's no problem. I'm Yamawaki, from FClass C. Nice to meet you." Yamawaki chuckled. "I have to say, I'm glad that they separate the classes in this school by ability. That way I don't have to study with losers like you."
"What'd you say?!" Sudou's anger flared.
"Don't get mad. I've only spoken the truth. I wonder... If we happened to fight, how many points would you lose? Oh wait, you guys don't even have any points to lose, do you? In that case, you'd probably be expelled, right?"
The thirst for blood was growing in the room while Yamawaki was speaking, while the boy himself was now shrinking away from the glares of the Class C students. Yamawaki simply couldn't stand the pressure he was now facing.
If this had happened a year ago, then he would have joined in the laughter and insulted Horikita's class, but things are very different now. His class had lost to Horikita's class, even though his class after this would rise back to class C, but the fact that his class was defeated by a class below him still damaged his pride.
"Fine with me. Bring it!"
Sudou's shouting attracted attention and looks of disgust. If things got much worse, then the teacher would probably hear about it.
"He's exactly right. We're not sure what'll happen if you create a ruckus. You should remember that you might be expelled as a worst-case scenario. I don't particularly mind that you're bad-mouthing us, but you're in Class C, right? Honestly, you shouldn't really brag about that," Horikita said.
"Clearly there were errors of calculation in placing Class C and A. But you guys in D are on a completely different level."
"That's quite an inconsistent standard of measurement. The way I see it, everyone outside of Class A is lumped together."
Everyone was again reminded of how cruel this school was, no matter how many class points one had it would be of no use if they didn't graduate as class A, because only in class A was their dream of getting a job and entering the university they wanted.
So Horikita's words about everyone outside of Class A being the same does make sense.
Yamawaki stopped laughing and now glared at Horikita.
"Hah! Eat that, I like that expression," Hondou said with satisfaction.
The other Class C students also smiled in satisfaction, they silently thanked Horikita for silencing Yamawaki.
"Wow. For a defective product that can't make a single point, you're pretty sassy, aren't you? Did you think you could say whatever you like just because you have a cute face?"
"Thank you for your wholly incoherent and irrelevant statement. I was never very concerned about my appearance until now, but after being praised by you, I must say I feel rather uncomfortable."
"For the first time I feel happy hearing Horikita-san's vicious words," said Onodera in admiration.
"Same," said Mori nodding in agreement.
"Tch!" Yamawaki slammed the table and stood up.
"Heh, look who's provoked now," said Hasebe grinning with satisfaction.
"H-Haruka-chan, your face is terrible you know," muttered Sakura from Hasebe's side.
"Hey. Relax. If we're the ones who start fighting, then word will get around and we'll be in trouble." The other Class C students tugged at Yamawaki's sleeves, holding him back.
"You do know that you'll be expelled if you fail the next test, right? I'm looking forward to seeing how many of you get kicked out."
"Unfortunately for you, no one from Class D will be expelled. Before you worry about us, though, perhaps you should worry about your own class. Pride cometh before the fall."
"Ha ha ha! Us, fail? Don't joke around."
"Hmm, you know, people like him often appear to be losers who always annoy the main character in the anime I watched, a character that ends up being a by-product for the main character's progress. I never thought that in the real world there would also be people like that," Sotomura said, pushing up his glasses.
Ike and his friends stared at the professor with their mouths agape when they heard what he said, they didn't expect the bespectacled student who was always aloof to say something out of character.
But other than that, they couldn't agree more with what Sotomura said.
"Ooooh, you put out the best words I've ever heard from you, Professor!" shouted Ike excitedly.
"That's right," said Hondou nodding.
"Great Professor!"
"Good work."
"You made our class proud."
Ike and his friends praise Sotomura for his courage making the bespectacled boy scratch his cheek in embarrassment.
"H-Hey, please stop it, guys. It was quite embarrassing," said Sotomura.
In the distance, Yamawaki was grinding his teeth loudly in utter humiliation, but no matter how much he wanted to return the insult, no one dared to support him, even Ryuuen as the class leader was indifferent.
In the end he kept the annoyance to himself.
"We're not studying just to avoid failing. We're studying so we can improve our test scores. Don't lump us together with you," Yamawaki said. "Also, being happy because you know who Francis Bacon is? Are you nuts? Why are you studying things that aren't even on the test?"
"Huh?" Horikita looked stumped.
"Wait, do you guys not know what's on the test? No wonder you're called defective products."
"That confirms it. They really don't know," Minamikata said confidently.
"But if they really don't know, that means..." Shiranami said.
"Chabashira-sensei didn't tell them," Ichinose added.
They glanced at the row of teachers in unison. Information on what lessons must be studied for the exam is provided by the respective homeroom teacher, if a class does not know what subject they must learn, then the error should come from their homeroom teacher.
Chabashira as usual kept her expressionless face to ignore the stares directed at her.
"But why didn't she tell them, did she forget?" Asked Amikura surprised.
"Perhaps we'll see in a moment, for now let's keep watching," Ichinose said, her friends nodded in agreement and turned their attention back to the screen.
"That's enough out of you." Sudou, on the verge of really losing his temper, grabbed Yamawaki by the collar.
"Uh-oh, this is going bad," Miyake said.
"Well that guy is quite the bitch I guess he deserves what he started" Hasebe said gruffly.
"But Ken-kun will get into trouble if he starts a scene," said Hirata worriedly.
"It's okay, Yousuke. It's already passed and I'm still here too, that means I'm not in trouble, right?" said Sudou.
Hirata then widened his eyes when he realized that, "Ah, you're right," said Hirata with a relieved smile, he had almost forgotten that this incident had already happened.
"Hey, hey! You're really going to get violent even though it'll lose you points? You're okay with that?"
"We don't have any points to lose!"
"Humph, how ironic to think zero points could be our advantage," said Karuizawa with a wry smile.
"Yeah, but at the time we didn't know what trouble we'd get into if we messed up when we had zero class points," said Ayanokouji.
"Wasn't that the case until now? Since we no longer have zero points, we will never know if there is such a punishment?" Karuizawa asked raising an eyebrow.
Ayanokouji only shrugged in response.
Sudou pulled his arm back. Uh oh. Was he really going to beat the crap out of this guy? I knew I should stop him. I got up, then—
The students especially the girls stared at the screen tensely, they were anxious and wondering if a fight would break out. Some of them do not want to see scenes of violence.
"Okay, stop. Stop!"
The Class B students straightened up after hearing that, they recognized that voice very well.
A female student shouted at us. Sudou stopped in response.
"Ah! It's you, Honami-chan," said Amikura excitedly.
"As expected of Honami-chan, always making sure things are always safe," said Minamikata nodding in satisfaction.
"Hm hm~, leave it to Honami-chan for matters like this," Andou said with a big smile.
Ichinose can only scratch her cheek in embarrassment at the compliments from her friends.
"Ah, I remember. If I'm not mistaken there used to be commotion when we studied at the library, right?" said Kobashi.
"I remember that too. So I see, this is the commotion we heard then," said Amikura while looking at the screen.
"What? This doesn't involve you. Stay out of it," he said.
"Doesn't involve me? I'm trying to use the library, so it does involve me. If you want to get violent, might I suggest that you do so outside?"
In response to the blonde beauty's disinterested yet logical argument, Sudou let go of Yamawaki.
"Besides, don't you think you're provoking him? If things continue like this, I'd have to report it to the school. Do you want that?"
"S-sorry. We don't want that, Ichinose," Yamawaki said.
Ichinose. I'd heard that name once before. Wait... That was the Class B student who'd been talking with Hoshinomiya-sensei.
"Come on, let's go. If we try studying here, we'll catch the stupid going around."
"Yeah."
With those last words, Yamawaki and his group left.
"If you're going to study here, please act like adults. Thank you," Ichinose said.
Watching her gallant departure, I had to nod in admiration.
"Oh~ you amazed him, Honami-chan," said Amikura grinning.
"S-Stop it, Mako-chan," said Ichinose with a blush on her cheeks.
"Unlike Horikita, she managed to keep everyone in line."
"Pfft! You are too direct, Kiyopon," said Hasebe with a laugh.
"But what he said is true," said Yukimura pushing up his glasses.
"I didn't intend to create chaos. I only spoke the truth."
The truth had led to chaos, though...
"Hey. He said that this question wasn't on the test, didn't he?"
"What do you mean?"
We exchanged looks. Chabashira-sensei had told us that material about the Age of Discovery would be on the test. Horikita and I had written that down.
"Did she forget to tell them?" Kamuro asked raising her eyebrows.
"Or she deliberately didn't tell them," thought Sakayanagi narrowing her eyes, from the beginning of the meeting she could already feel something was wrong but for now she didn't know what Chabashira Sae's goal was.
"Does this mean that each class gets a different test?"
"That seems unlikely. The test should be the same for everyone in the same grade."
Horikita was right. The same fundamental problems from the five main topics should be featured on everyone's midterm. Otherwise, it'd be unclear how to judge our aptitude. Had Class C learned that the test would change before anyone else?
Or was Class D the only group being left out of the loop? We were mystified in the light of this new information. What if every class's test had different social studies questions? No... What if it wasn't just social studies? What if all the test questions were completely different? If that were the case, then we'd wasted a whole week's worth of studying.
Many of the students from Class C snorted in annoyance. How come? They've wasted a week's worth of time studying material that didn't make it to the exam. And it all happened because their homeroom teacher forgot to tell them, just remembering that incident pissed them off.
Meanwhile Chabashira braced herself for what was to come, knowing she would definitely be the center of attention once again.
= = =
We dismissed the group ten minutes before our lunch break was over. We packed up and headed toward the faculty room. We needed to confirm exactly what the test would cover.
"Chabashira-sensei, we have an urgent question."
"Phew. Get to the point," said Hashimoto, whistling.
"The situation is very urgent for them," Kitou said.
"Quite the theatrical entrance. You surprised the other teachers," she said.
"I sincerely apologize for the sudden intrusion."
"It's fine. We're in the middle of something, so please keep it brief." Chabashira-sensei continued to write in her notebook.
"Chabashira-sensei, last week when you told us what material the test would cover, did you make a mistake? A little earlier today, some Class C students told us that the test's material would be different than what we were expecting."
Chabashira-sensei listened in complete silence and didn't even bat an eyelash as Horikita spoke. Then, she put down her pen.
"That's right. The test's topics changed last Friday. Sorry, I must've forgotten to inform you."
"HUH!?"
Everyone gasped at what Chabashira casually said.
"What the hell! Did she just say she forgot!?" Ibuki said unexpectedly.
"I heard that too, Ibuki-san. Chabashira-sensei did say that," said Shiina covering her mouth in surprise.
"What?!"
She scribbled something down on a page in her notebook, tore it out, and handed it to Horikita. She'd written down textbook page numbers that referred to material we'd already covered in class. Most of the new material was from before we'd started the group, stuff that Sudou and the others hadn't learned.
"Thanks to you, Horikita-san, I was able to correct my mistake. I'm grateful to all of you. That's all. Thank you."
"Thank You!? Is that all she said? We wasted a week because she forgot!" said Yukimura irritably, he still remembered himself trying so hard to study the exam materials only to be shocked when Kushida announced in front of the class that the exam materials were
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