COTE: Daily Life of Saiki K

'Hey hey hey, do you really think that, with the brain capacity of these few people combined, which probably isn't even broader than that of an ordinary ape, they can truly grasp these knowledge points?'

Saiki sighed helplessly in his heart. This meant that all of his previous actions had completely lost any meaning.

'So... in the end, does this study group still have to continue... Then everything I did from beginning to end... what exactly was it all for?'

In the period of time that followed, every day Saiki was forced to receive Suzune's lessons together with Sudo Ken and the others.

And their entire class had also already obtained, in advance from upperclassmen, the materials of last year's midterm exam questions. With the help of these materials, they were even more filled with confidence about this exam.

Saiki was also continuously observing Ryuen and Kushida in secret. During this period, it seemed they did not have any particularly special actions.

Just like that, two weeks quietly passed by, and the time for the midterm exam arrived as scheduled. It was divided into four main subjects, all of which would be completed within a single day.

"The midterm exam is officially starting. I hope you all clearly understand the importance of this exam. Anyone who fails will be subjected to expulsion punishment. This point, you must absolutely not forget."

In the classroom, Chabashira Sae looked with a smile at the students in front of her.

[Starting from the midterm exam, anyone who fails in the formal exam will be expelled. Since this school was established, there has never been a class originally assessed as Class D that, after the midterm exam results were announced, managed to have no students expelled.]

[Although I don't know how you were able to rise to Class C before, I am very clear about this: in the end, you are nothing more than a bunch of defective products. As long as you cannot rise to Class A, you are all nothing but trash.]

[No matter what methods you use, just let me see a little, let me see what kind of results you can achieve in this midterm exam.]

Then, Chabashira Sae began distributing the test papers to her students. Saiki swept a glance over the questions. They were basically identical to last year's exam questions. As long as one reviewed according to the materials prepared in advance, one should be able to achieve a rather decent score.

However, Suzune's study group couldn't be said to have been completely useless. At the very least, Sudo Ken and the others could now understand some of the questions.

Saiki did not rush to write, instead carefully listening to the inner voices of the people around him.

[I can understand this question. I know what the answer is!]

'This is indeed something worth being proud of for you.'

At this moment, Sudo Ken's face was covered in an incomparably excited smile, he was even happier than when he scored thirty points in a basketball match.

This was because it was one of the rare times he could understand the exam questions. He lifted his head and swept an incomparably confident gaze across the others present. Seeing everyone else also writing busily, he then proceeded to fill in the answers as though he had everything under control.

[I absolutely have to achieve at least a passable score... Only in this way can Kushida-san in my dreams accept my confession.]

'You could be a little more ambitious.'

Ike Kanji was also busily writing, working hard to prove his own worth.

Saiki then observed the situation of the others present, gaining a basic understanding of the difficulty level of this test paper. He also had an idea of what kind of score he himself ought to achieve.

Originally, he planned to do as before, continuing to get a rather mediocre score. However, Saiki soon recalled Suzune's previous words. If he did not get a relatively high score in mathematics, she might bring him quite a lot of trouble again.

'I must get a fairly good score in math... My ranking will fluctuate a bit, but that's perfect, it can allow my scores in other subjects to drop slightly, so that while my total score remains mid-level, I avoid others' suspicion. If I always get neither high nor low scores, I will definitely be continually pestered by Ayanakoji and Chabashira-sensei.'

Thinking so in his heart, Saiki then changed several answers.

———

On the second day after the exam ended, in the morning during the first period, Chabashira Sae, holding the report cards, walked into the classroom with a light step.

'Coming into the classroom one minute earlier than usual, it seems she's in a rather good mood. This probably means our class's results this time are not too bad.' Saiki thought so in his heart.

[The exam results are going to be announced!]

Sudo Ken's face carried an eager smile, this was the first time in so many years that he so looked forward to the exam results.

[In my dreams before, it was all knowledge related to studying. If from now on I could keep having those kinds of dreams, I would never have to worry about exam scores again!]

'I will definitely not help you again.'

[Maybe this time I can even do better than Horikita.]

'It seems this period of studying has already made your mind somewhat confused, hasn't it?'

"The midterm exam results are out!"

Chabashira Sae posted the individual subject score sheets on the blackboard. The last sheet recorded each student's total score.

At the moment the report cards were posted, Saiki instantly confirmed his own results. Math was around the top quarter of the class, while English was near the bottom of the class.

'Allowing the rankings in a few subjects to have gaps, while keeping the total score still mid-level.'

Saiki nodded in satisfaction in his heart. This time's midterm exam was considered perfectly handled, he could avoid trouble and also avoid attracting too much attention.

On the other side, Sudo Ken's gaze toward the report cards was filled with shock.

[What?! I thought I did pretty well, why am I still in last place?! The papers must have been graded wrong, graded wrong!!]

[Why is my ranking still in last place?! Why?]

'Because you only managed to narrow the gap between you and normal people, that's all.' Saiki responded in his heart to Sudo Ken's confusion.

Although Sudo Ken had improved rapidly during this time, after all, his original foundation was just too weak.

But even if he was in last place, Sudo Ken still achieved a very high score by his standards. In fact, this time the entire class's scores were quite excellent.

[I felt that my exam results this time should have been close to the top ten! I clearly remembered all those formulas!]

'Discovering which formulas to use for these questions made you as excited as when humanity first discovered fire, right?'

[I worked so hard... and it's still last place!?]

'What exactly did you work hard at? It feels more like I was the one working hard.'

Saiki felt somewhat helpless in his heart. But judging by the recent thoughts, Sudo Ken at least seemed to have developed a bit of ambition, barely counting as progress.

[But this time my average score was 65 points, not bad!]

'Pretend I didn't say anything.'

Saiki shook his head slightly, then moved his gaze to Ayanakouji, who was also quickly observing the scores of the whole class.

[Horikita's total score is indeed first place... But Saiki's results are a bit surprising, this time his math score was at a top-ten level in the class, but his English was at the bottom... Yet his total score is almost the same as mine, still mid-level. Was he controlling his score? Or...]

'No matter what score I get, you are always going to suspect me, aren't you?'

"I have to say, your exam results this time really surprised me." Chabashira Sae smiled as she spoke.

[I didn't expect this bunch of defective products to achieve such results, it's pretty good. Even though they are Class C now, back when the school year started, they were assessed as Class D, a class like that has never achieved scores like these before, almost no different from Class A.]

[Everyone passed, truly surprising. Even Sudo and those guys managed to get passable scores.]

[Did someone do something? Have they completely understood the school's rules?]

"It seems that you people, who were originally judged by the school to be defective products, have at least proved a tiny bit of your value."

"Chabashira-sensei!" At this moment, Hirata Yousuke raised his hand.

"What is it?"

Chabashira Sae narrowed her eyes slightly, locking her gaze onto Hirata Yousuke, as if she had guessed his thoughts.

"Since you said that our exam results this time are quite good... then has our class ranking risen?" Hirata Yousuke asked with great curiosity.

Upon hearing his words, Chabashira Sae showed a cold smile, "Although your exam results this time were quite good, you have gotten a little carried away too quickly, haven't you? You already want to rise to Class B? You're still not qualified!"

Chabashira Sae then wrote the point totals of each class for this exam on the blackboard.

After this exam, setting aside Class A, Class C had indeed gained quite a few points, but the proportion of points given by the midterm exam wasn't much. Moreover, there had already been a gap between them and Class B before, so they still weren't able to surpass Class B.

However, it had to be admitted, the gap between Class C and Class B had been further narrowed.

Looking at the numbers on the blackboard, Ayanakouji's brows slightly twitched, because he had noticed that the points D Class had obtained were not much different from theirs.

[The points D Class obtained were about the same as ours... This means their exam results weren't much different from ours?]

[Judging by previous class rankings, the average academic ability of D Class shouldn't have been high. Yet this time they achieved nearly the same scores as us, even though we had last year's exam questions...]

[Does this mean D Class also obtained last year's exam questions, just like us? Did they discover it on their own, or was there a traitor in our class?]

Ayanakoji's reasoning was very fast, but for now, he merely considered it a possibility, he had no concrete evidence.

Saiki knew all the truth. His gaze moved to Kushida. At this moment, Kushida was chatting with the classmates next to her about the midterm exam, as if she knew nothing.

But in Saiki's eyes, if Kushida had only informed D Class of the existence of last year's questions, in a certain sense it was actually a good thing. This way, their own class's rate of advancement would slow down a little.

They already had D Class as an enemy, if they kept advancing in ranking, they would definitely make more enemies.

However, if in the future Kushida and Ryuen's actions affected Saiki, he would not sit idly by.

"Put away your smiles. This was merely a midterm exam."

Chabashira Sae then took down the report cards, sweeping her gaze across all the students as she observed their reactions.

"After this, there are still many, many exams waiting for you."

[This bunch doesn't have high average academic ability. There is only one possibility for achieving these scores, they obtained the test papers in advance, just like with the previous quizzes.]

[But this method will soon stop working.]

[Because in the next exams waiting for you, there will be no reference exam questions. And it will no longer be a simple test of academic ability.]

'Yare yare, looks like there will be a lot more trouble again in the future.'

Saiki shook his head slightly, only hoping that in future exams, no particularly troublesome issues would appear again.

However, only Saiki knew Chabashira Sae's inner thoughts. The other students present were each thinking about other matters.

[These results... We still haven't surpassed Class A? If it continues like this, the gap will only grow wider! It seems that in the future, we'll need to include more people in the study groups.]

'Please, spare me, I'm begging you.'

[Everyone did pretty well this time. Let's have a celebration tonight.]

'Such a thing is truly meaningless, and if you must do it, absolutely don't hold it in my dorm room...'

[Let's continue to hold it in Saiki's room!]

'You bastard, do you have telepathy?'

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