Classroom of the Elite: Free Will

V6: Chapter 2 - Paper Shuffle

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka POV

A few days later, our class's atmosphere was heavy. The feeling wasn't disappointment so much as nervousness. Class D's homeroom teacher, Chabashira-sensei, appeared to sense it.

"Take your seats. It seems you prepared quite a bit in advance for this," she remarked.

The moment Chabashira-sensei walked in, everyone went quiet and a bit stiff. We should've behaved like that originally. It was the natural way for a class to be, but Chabashira-sensei didn't hide her surprise at our mature conduct.

"My, my. You all look so serious. It's hard to imagine you're Class D."

"It's because today's the day you announce the midterm results, right?" Ike looked slightly nervous.

Chabashira-sensei grinned in response.

"That's exactly right. The school will expel you immediately if you fail the midterm or final exam. I told you as much before, so I imagine it's fresh in your memory. I'm happy to see that you've matured, but results are results. If you received a failing grade, you'll need to prepare for the consequences. So, without further ado, I'll now post the results. Read them carefully."

Her warning was genuine. The classroom's surveillance cameras always had their lenses trained on the students, observing everything. If someone acted out after seeing their test scores, the school would undoubtedly respond with draconian measures.

"So, we can see everyone's test scores?"

"Of course. Just like for the previous exams. It's allowed by the school's rules, after all."

There was absolutely no privacy, nothing concealed. Just like a company might post up every salesman's profits, our chart exposed the capable and the incapable alike.

The threshold for failing hadn't changed from the previous test, but the situation was a little different.

"A score of forty or higher is considered a passing grade for all subjects. Anyone with a score under forty will face expulsion. These scores also reflect your results from the sports festival. If anyone achieved a score of over one hundred points on this test because of their sports festival results, the school will treat them as having received a perfect score."

Meanwhile, the school would deduct ten points from the midterm scores of the ten students with the lowest sports festival results. Sotomura was one of the worst-scoring students in the sports festival from any grade, so he needed to score ten points higher in every subject to compensate.

Ike, Sudou and Yamauchi wore stiff expressions. Many students waited with bated breath as Chabashira-sensei slowly posted the scores on the blackboard. However, Suzune didn't seem nervous at all.

"Wh-what?! No way!"

The results started with those students who scored lowest and went up. Many students naturally expected to see Sudou's name at the bottom of the list, because he'd scored lowest on the midterm and the final exam. However, the first name to come up was "Yamauchi Haruki." Next was "Ike Kanji."

Following that came Inogashira, Satou, and Sotomura. Sotomura always had middling scores, but I imagined the penalties he'd incurred from the sports festival resulted in him ranking this low.

"Oh no! Dude, did I seriously got the lowest score?!" wailed Yamauchi.

Fortunately, he'd scored over forty points in every subject, his lowest grade being a forty-three in English. He barely passed overall, with an average just slightly below fifty points. Yamauchi probably felt as if his life flashed before his eyes for a moment. He broke out in a cold sweat.