Moss had just finished his test and noticed student number 12 exiting with him. Since Nat still stood at Long Sheng’s field, looking inside, Moss walked straight to her and asked, “How long have you been out, Nat?”
“Oh, not long at all. I just came out a while ago too.” Nat’s gaze seemed elusive because she had been out for a while.
However, she did not complete the ninth question within the stipulated time and felt depressed. The teacher called her off when she came out and discovered student number 6 had overtime on the eighth question.
When Noel finished his tenth question, Nat felt no pressure and smiled sweetly. When she discovered Moss was still inside, she waited for him to finish so she could talk to him again.
However, she did not expect to wait for a long time. Initially, she felt nothing but started worrying about Moss when she saw students seven, eight, nine, and ten coming out of their tests.
Nat paced around Long Sheng’s field exit as she furrowed her eyebrows, making her face look strange.
‘Is something wrong? Is he injured?’ She blindly wondered what had happened to Moss.
Nat waited five more minutes and wanted to barge into Long Sheng’s field when she saw Moss and student number 12 exiting their test together. Her worried heart felt relieved immediately after.
However, her mind was rapidly thinking about how to answer Moss’s possible questions.
Moss asked curiously, “Then how did the other students finish so quickly?”
“Their questions were relatively simple.” Nat secretly felt delighted since she had already predicted Moss would ask such a question.
Initially, Moss felt doubtful about the freshmen test, but his doubts disappeared after hearing what Nat said. After all, this was only an entrance test, and regardless of the questions’ difficulties, it would be enough if the school could achieve certain results.
Moss understood what he had just encountered in the test. Perhaps some of the teachers could not accept the fact that a knight had entered Kyoto. Nonetheless, he had grown accustomed to this, so he did not take it to heart.
He noticed Nat still standing around indifferently, so he asked, “Are you waiting for someone?”
Nat’s brain almost short-circuited again when she heard Moss’s question.
‘Tsk, he shouldn’t be asking these questions.’
“What kind of questions did you take just now?’
“How did you feel about the test?”
“How did you solve the eighth and ninth questions?”
…
Nat had prepared ample answers for Moss’s questions, but he asked, “Are you waiting for someone?”
Nat wanted to make up an answer, but her mind shut down on her. She noticed Moss looking at her with a puzzled expression, so she decided to follow her heart, so she said timidly, “N-No, I’m not waiting for anyone. Since we started the test together, I wanted to see when you would finish, so I stayed here for a while.”
Moss stretched and smiled at Nat as he suggested, “Oh, okay. Let’s go. I reckon we won’t be able to get our results for a while.”
Nat nodded like a chick pecking at rice and then walked toward the guest house with Moss. She had prepared many comforting words for Moss, but since he acted as if nothing had happened, Nat stopped mentioning the freshman entrance test.
In addition, she also wanted to walk around Kyoto with Moss, but ultimately, she dared not say it aloud.
Some of Nat’s secret admirers became even more jealous when they saw Moss and Nat’s receding figures. They started discussing how to deal with Moss and their “love rival.”
On the evening of the freshmen entrance test, Sofia stood opposite Monty in Kyoto Institute’s president’s office.
“President Monty, these are the freshmen entrance test results and analysis reports. Please take a look,” Sofia respectfully handed a 30-page report to Monty as she spoke.
“Continue, Sofia. I can read and listen at the same time since it’s more efficient that way,” Monty said smilingly after taking the reports from Sofia. His eyes revealed a sense of anticipation.
“The overall results from this year’s first-year students are pretty impressive. The completion rate of question six is over 80%. It’s the highest we’ve had in ten years,” Sofia reported the key points. Her tone contained traces of excitement.
The sixth question was a watershed. Only after answering this question would one be considered to have passed the freshmen entrance test. Otherwise, one would get sent to Kyoto’s secondary campus.
Of course, attending the secondary campus did not mean the students would stay there for four years. If their GPA rank rose to a certain level, the students could go and study at the main campus.
“83.7% is indeed a decent result!” President Monty nodded with satisfaction. Then he used a tissue to click on the number on the report, saying to Sofia approvingly, “You guys did an excellent job with the enrollments. Thank you for your hard work!”
Sofia revealed her signature smile and quickly said, “We didn’t work too hard. It’s our duty, after all.”
She continued, “This year’s new students performed steadily, especially the ones with high scores in the college entrance exams. They’ve all reached our expectations.”
Monty looked at the report summary and asked, “How did Noel perform?”
“Outstanding. Noel completed the tenth question,” Sofia replied with a clear understanding.
“It seems that my work was not in vain.” Monty noticed Sofia’s confusion and continued, “He wanted to attend Shuimu since it was closer to his home. Young people these days reject our school because of this.
“Fortunately, I had informed Number Four High’s director in advance, but he also spent a lot of effort to convince Noel,” afterward, he asked, “Who are the other students?”
Upon hearing that Noel had completed the tenth question, Monty believed Noel deserved the rank one position. Among the past first-year students, one could obtain the first rank if one could answer the tenth question.
“Noel, Charlie, Finley, and Nat,” Sofia remembered the top ten names well and answered Monty’s question.
“Noel isn’t the first?” Monty sped up as he flipped through the pages. Before Sofia could reply, he said in surprise, “What?! This student completed thirteen questions?!”
He looked at Sofia excitedly, like a child who had found his old toy. He urged, “Quick, fill me in on the situation.”
“Y-Yes, President Monty.” Sofia also felt excited. “Moss quickly answered the ten questions, and the test teacher continued giving him more, according to our usual practice.
“Who would have thought Moss would answer three more questions? He could have answered another one if he had another minute.”
Typically, the examinees only knew of ten questions. Still, if they answered all ten questions, the teacher would continue giving them more until the test reached its stipulated time. The primary purpose of this was to test the students’ upper limits.
“No one has ever completed 13 questions, if I’m not mistaken.” Monty’s eyes shined, and his face was full of joy.
“Yes, President Monty. Even Gullit, who had just graduated this year, only answered 12 questions in the freshmen entrance exam. However, Moss is younger than him.” Sofia could not suppress her excitement at that moment.
She had personally recruited Moss and felt touched by his spirit back then. Moss gave her a big surprise.
“This kid’s progress is astounding. I’m curious about what he experienced during his summer vacation.” Monty paused and laughed aloud, “I like that a lot, nonetheless.”
“So, will you allow him to enter the preliminary list for the first- and second-year exchange competition, President Monty?” Sofia suggested.
Monty stopped smiling and said thoughtfully, “No.” Then he looked out the window and fell into deep thought.