Chapter 16: Chapter 16: A Tea Pillar Extends a Branch of Aid

“Sorry, but can you guys listen to me before going home?”

After the general hubbub upon receiving the test papers from Kushida, everyone excitedly rushed back to the dorms to memorise what they could in a day. 

Chiaki, Nene and Yukio were walking back to the dorms slowly, as they discussed the event.

“You don’t think we can access every test paper for the rest of the time here, do you?”

Nene, who was the least academically capable of the trio, but not to a horrible standard, asked Yukio. 

“I can’t say. But buying that paper from one of the seniors must have put a hefty hole in Kushida-Chan’s pockets, so if you want to revise everything from now you’re going to have to fork out quite a lot of points.” 

“Eh? Buying it from the seniors? Oh right… how else would they have acquired it?”

Enlightened, but then feeling glum at her own point balance, Nene made a cute depressed face which put a smile on Chiaki’s face and she said-

“It’s fine, no? Someone else can buy the papers or we just fork in a couple of points for each paper Nene-Chan. Or we could just… revise, you know?”

“Revise?! No way!”

Yukio was glad he hadn’t told them about the papers before today since it looked like Nene was not planning on taking her studies seriously. Though he’d make sure that she put in the work since he was such a good friend. 

“Hey, just make sure to stay on top of everything. Knowing this school, they might give us a surprise test that we have no time to prepare for!”

Talking casually as the walked to the dorms, Chiaki asked Nene to go up first so she could ask Yukio something. Leaving with a suggestive expression plastered across her face, the girl took the elevator, leaving the boy and girl downstairs, alone. 

‘I wonder what she’s got to say? Especially since she wanted us to be alone.’

“Yukio, did you know about the papers before today?”

‘Hm… Why’s she asking? Well… maybe I can figure out what she’s looking for if I reply positively.’

“I guess so. I had an inkling Ayanokouji-Kum and Kushida-Chan bought it the other day.”

“And you didn’t tell us?”

“If I’d told you about it, I reckon neither of you would have revised, Chiaki.”

Chiaki looked at Yukio profoundly, before deciding to say-

“Next time… tell me about something like that. I’m sure you can tell I’m not as dull-witted to rely solely on something like a previous year's paper.”

‘I’m not reading too into things her am I? Is she asking me to tell her of my moves beforehand? Is she opening up? Probably not… but this is a step in the right direction.’

“No problem. I’ll keep you in the loop next time. But how did you realise I knew about the paper?”

Chiaki looked as though she was contemplating something, before speaking up.

“You looked nonchalant about the reveal, just as you did on May 1.”

“I’m just that type of guy.”

Yukio replied, unbothered, to which Chiaki looked at him pointedly. 

“The other thing I noticed was you didn’t panic when Kushida told us of the exam content change. Nor do you even act worried about failing in your weaker subjects, despite claiming that you're not as proficient in them.”

‘She keeps targeting my calm persona. I think most people will associate being calm with naturally staying in control of my emotions, but she’s seeing it for what it is.’

“I’m pretty confident in my ability to pass a midterm exam, even if I’m weaker in some subjects, especially since, unlike some students, I actually study.”

Ignoring his sarcastic reply, she went on to drop the final nail in the head.

“And it was mostly just a shot in the dark. I feel like you know more than you let on. I plan to keep it to myself though.”

The two stared at each other for a long moment, before Yukio grinned cheerfully. 

“Well, we better get to revising quickly, or the time will fly by before we can finish memorising everything.”

Bidding farewell to the girl, he then got on the elevator, leaving Chiaki to stew in her thoughts. 

‘It seems I’m not a match for observant people. Hmm… is anyone a match for the really observant though? Even Ayanokouji was found out by Kouenji, and to an extent by Chiaki at the end of the year. Chiaki is fine, but I wouldn’t want some students with hidden potential noticing me yet, or at all if I could have my way. But life doesn’t go so perfectly so I should be ready for anything that comes my way.’

— — —

Chiaki was thinking over the conversation with Yukio just now. 

‘Despite saying he’ll tell me next time, he still acts ignorant. So… he’s willing to let me figure things out, but won’t explicitly tell me?’

Thinking over the time she spent with Yukio, she realised he hadn’t talked much about his past. Neither had she, but she couldn’t recall a single thing, besides attending a boys' school, about Yukio. 

‘No, even the boys’ school is a guess, since he didn’t confirm it. How should I go about finding out more about him? Should I tell him what I know? No… while the conversation today was a step in the right direction, I should take things slowly. We haven’t even faced any of the real challenges in the school yet.’

Falling back on her scarce knowledge of the school she received from her father, she put the train of thought to the back of her mind. She had no clue, however, that the knowledge she had was but a drop of water in the bucket that was Yukio’s knowledge.

— — — 

“No absences; looks like everyone’s here.”

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It was finally the day of the midterms, and Sae was going through the formalities. Besides the happy mood at the news of the cruise during summer, the exams went on. 

Yukio was glad to note, that despite his presence and with multiple instances of affecting the plot, Sudou was still frantically going through the English paper before the exam. 

‘It looks like no matter the lifetime, Sudou is fated to be sloppy at his studies.’

“Hey! I think I might receive my first perfect score ever!”

Nene gushed, during several of the breaks between exams. 

‘These exams are so easy, that it’s just… unsatisfying.’

Yukio thought in his head while calming down the happy girl for the nth time that day. Chiaki also seemed to be having an easy time, so he wasn’t worried about any of his friends failing. 

“I guess we won’t need to worry about an adjusted passing grade then.”

Yukio remarked, which caused Chiaki’s ears to perk up.

“Adjusted passing grade? Isn’t it the same as the quiz… no, sensei never said it was, did she? Nor did she tell us how it was worked out.”

Looking enlightened, but on the whole unworried, Chiaki thought of how this new revelation might affect the results, before putting it to the back of her mind, since none of her close friends appeared worried about their grades. 

Like that, the final exam was over and the days passed by peacefully until results day rolled around on the class D students. 

— — —

Holding a red pen in her hand, Sensei slowly drew a thick red line right above Sudou’s English score, as the cheerful mood of the class began to simmer down. 

After Sudou’s outburst, sensei went on to declare that the passing grade was 41 marks, a mark higher than Sudou’s score, and one full mark higher than in the light novel.

‘So that means my presence has caused the boundary to increase. Doesn’t that mean I replaced an extra that was inept academically? How fascinating.’

At one point in the commotion, Sae instinctively glanced at him but moved on her gaze back to the failures sitting on the same column, a move that did not go unnoticed by some in the class. 

Smiling internally, Yukio listened to the ongoing commotion, thinking of how his intervention would affect the class. While he was expecting it would have a positive effect, he couldn’t deny that it might cause the class to have some added grievances towards Sudou. 

‘I remember Ayanokouji was chewing on the conundrum that is equality in society, in the first volume of the light novel. Society for sure was unequal but wasn’t his future knowledge then completely unreasonable? Which supernatural being would even bother to carry out such an elaborate action, and what could have been their purpose? Especially since it said to do as I wished and not to restrain myself in my student profile.’ 

Deciding that stray thoughts should be kept for before bed, he watched on as the light novel scene continued before him in delight. 

When Horikita began discussing the rounding mechanism, Yukio couldn’t help but contemplate the selfless action of hers that seemed so uncharacteristic of her. Dropping her grades on purpose was a clever move, but one that would ultimately fail since the point difference was pre-mediated. 

Revelling in the tense silence that followed Sae’s departure from the room he noticed Nene looking back at the Chiaki and him. He signalled her to keep quiet since everyone looked gloomy, and it wouldn’t do to stand out at this point in time. 

Yukio was just hoping that Ayanokouji would still notice the intricacies of the way Sae worded some rules at the start of school, and lo and behold, the boy got up while excusing himself to the bathroom. He also noticed Horikita leaving soon after him, but did nothing to intervene. 

— — — 

Horikita hid behind a bend in the corridor, as she listened to the conversation between her teacher and fellow classmate, Ayanokouji.

Her suspicions of his prowess had only grown in magnitude ever since the meeting in the guidance room, and once again, she had no doubts that the peculiar boy would be carrying out profound actions. She was right.

‘He bought the test questions? Wasn’t it Kushida who did that? Why would he then pass off the credit to that hateful girl? Stupid Ayanokouji.’

“Please sell me one point for Sudou’s English test.”

When she heard about Ayanokouji’s plan to buy a point from the school, her eyes widened in disbelief. Finally, at least to an extent, she understood the difference in their abilities.

“Hahahahaha. That’s an interesting proposal. As I thought, you’re different. I never imagined you would try to buy points.”

“Sensei, you said so on the first day. There’s nothing that can’t be bought by points in this school. The midterm is one such thing in this school.”

“I see, I see. Certainly, you could think of it that way. Do you even have the money to pay me, though?”

“Well then, how much is one point?”

“A very difficult question indeed. No one’s ever asked to buy a point before. Let’s see… I’ll give you a point for… 200,000 points.”

‘200,000?!’

[Taken Confused Translations Year 1 Volume 1 ‘The Beginning’]

— — — — — —

Favourite if you enjoyed! 

Some edits will be made to prior chapters, I’ll inform you of them in tomorrows chapter.

The second favour is now: 1 point below pass for ONLY Sudou and 200,000 private points per point.

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