In late October, the students of ANHS faced their second-semester midterm exams.
Although it was just a standard written test, failing meant expulsion. Even the academically weak Class D didn't dare slack off, treating the exam with utmost seriousness.
"Alright, everyone, back to your seats... Hmm? You're all unusually quiet today."
On the day results were announced, Chabashira-sensei immediately sensed the tense atmosphere upon entering the classroom.
It was only natural—exam results determined whether a student would be expelled.
"Seeing such serious expressions on all of you... It's hard to believe this is Class D."
Recalling how carefree these students had been just a few months ago, Chabashira-sensei couldn't help but comment. However, she soon smiled slightly.
"Of course, I understand what you're worried about. But at least for this time, it's unnecessary. So, you can all relax a little."
"Oh! That means...!"
Everyone quickly caught on to the implication, and the tension in the room instantly eased. The relief was especially evident among the students who usually struggled academically.
But before they could fully enjoy their relief, Chabashira-sensei doused them with cold water.
"Don't think passing this exam means you can rest easy. This is merely the basic requirement for being a student. You should already be aware—starting next week, there will be quizzes covering all eight subjects from the second semester's final exams. I suggest you stay on edge."
"What!? Already!?"
The prospect of another test right after the midterms made the struggling students groan in agony.
Due to the sports festival taking up much of their time, the second-semester schedule was incredibly tight. No one could escape this academic trial.
Some of the sharper students also noticed something peculiar—this midterm exam felt easier than usual, with some questions at a middle-school level.
While the weaker students might be thrilled by this, those experienced in the school's special exams couldn't help but suspect that the administration was laying a trap somewhere.
Regardless of their reactions, Chabashira-sensei paid no mind and continued speaking.
"Now, I'll announce your midterm results. Check them carefully and make sure you don't mix up your names."
"Do our scores have to be made public?"
"Of course. That's how this school operates."
Ignoring the complaints, Chabashira-sensei remained professional and indifferent.
Unlike most schools that protected students' privacy by giving them individual score sheets, ANHS posted all the results on the blackboard—neatly arranged in ranking order.
This format naturally made both the top scorers and the lowest performers stand out. For those at the bottom, it was a humiliating experience. Even if no one explicitly ridiculed them, they couldn't help but feel judged.
And most of the time, that feeling wasn't entirely wrong.
"After averaging all subjects, the passing score is set at 43 points, which is slightly higher than last time. That's something worth acknowledging."
Chabashira-sensei's rare praise felt almost unsettling to the students.
"Additionally, these scores also reflect the results of the sports festival. Some students performed exceptionally well and exceeded 100 points, but the maximum recorded score is still capped at 100."
Class D had done relatively well in the sports festival. While three students had finished in the bottom ten and were required to score ten extra points in all subjects, they each had their own reasons, and their academic performance wasn't a major concern.
Even so, several students—like Sudo and Yamauchi—remained visibly anxious as they stared at the blackboard.
Failing meant immediate expulsion. That kind of pressure was overwhelming.
In any other school, such a rule would have drawn the attention of the education board long ago.
However, the results this time were surprising.
"Huh? This must be a mistake, right?"
At the top of the list was none other than Hikigaya Hachiman.
Many students were shocked because the results were always announced from lowest to highest. This meant Hikigaya had ranked dead last.
Most had expected that position to belong to either Sudo or Yamauchi.
Incidentally, the gap between those two had grown.
Yamauchi remained the same, ranking second to last in the class. His English score barely met the passing line—he was just one point away from expulsion. On the other hand, Sudo had surprisingly risen to 15th from the bottom, with an average score of 60.
Although part of his improvement was due to the sports festival bonus, given his past performance, this was still an impressive result.
"See that? I passed this time!"
Finding his name and score, Sudo cheered loudly and took the opportunity to mock others.
At ANHS, the passing line was set at half of the class average, but traditionally, 60 points was considered the true passing mark.
"Ugh! I can't believe I'm being taunted by Sudo!" Yamauchi groaned in frustration.
Things hadn't been going well for him lately. First, his friend Ike got expelled. Then, the so-called musclehead Sudo started improving academically. Even Ayanokoji, whom he had assumed to be another failure, had displayed remarkable athletic ability during the sports festival.
Everyone had been struggling together—so why were they all suddenly getting better?
The only consolation was that he wasn't at the very bottom.
"Alright, now that you've seen your results, let's talk about the upcoming quizzes."
Chabashira-sensei clapped her hands to regain the students' attention.
"Each quiz consists of 100 questions, with a maximum score of 100. The difficulty level is equivalent to a third-year middle school test. In other words, this is just a check to confirm that you've mastered the basics. Additionally, like the first semester's quizzes, your scores won't have any direct consequences."
"Oh! So, no matter how bad we do, it won't affect anything? That's a relief!"
Students who had been dreading the quizzes immediately brightened up.
However, Chabashira-sensei quickly added, "But let me make this clear—the quiz results aren't meaningless. They will significantly influence your final exam."
The sharp students immediately realized what this meant.
Another special exam was on the horizon.
"This time, your quiz scores will determine 'who partners with whom' within the class. Each pair will be bound together in a life-or-death relationship for the final exam."
"Life-or-death?"
Hirata couldn't help but ask.
"Yes. Let me use you as an example," Chabashira-sensei said, glancing at him. "Unlike previous exams, this time the passing score is fixed at 60 points per subject. If even one subject falls below that, both students in the pair will be expelled. However, the score is calculated by adding both partners' scores together. So if you, Hirata, were paired with Yamauchi, and Yamauchi scored zero, as long as you got 60, you'd both pass."
"Oh! That sounds easy!"
In other words, each student only needed to score an average of 30 points per subject. For Class D, this seemed manageable.
"Don't get too excited," Chabashira-sensei warned. "That's only the first passing condition. There's also a second."
"Huh? Another one?"
She ignored the groans and continued, "This time, a total score requirement has also been introduced. The combined total for both partners across all eight subjects must meet the passing threshold—otherwise, both students will be expelled."
"What's the total passing score?" Hirata asked, sensing trouble.
"It varies by year. But in previous years, it was around 700. However, since no one has been expelled due to failing exams yet, the school might raise it to 800 this time."
"E-Eight hundred!?"
Suddenly, pairing up wasn't so simple anymore. The "life-or-death" aspect of the test had become all too real.
If the total score required is 800 points, that means a pair would need to cover 16 subjects in total, with each subject requiring at least 50 points. That was a score not everyone in the class could confidently achieve.
Even top students like Horikita or Yukimura could end up being dragged down by their partners and face expulsion.
At this realization, everyone started feeling uneasy, already contemplating how to get on the good side of the honor students.
As long as they could find a good partner, this exam would become significantly easier.
Unfortunately, that small hope was immediately shattered by Chabashira-sensei.
"Just so you know, you won't be choosing your own partners. The specific method will be announced after the results of the quiz."
"Wait, what does that mean?" Sudo muttered in frustration. "If I get paired with someone at the bottom, I'm screwed."
"Ken! Why are you looking at me when you say that?!"
Yamauchi's face turned red as he shouted, then immediately pointed at Hikigaya.
"I'm not at the bottom, at least I'm doing better than Hikigai, right?"
He had intended to save some face, but it backfired completely. The others merely looked at him as if watching a joke unfold.
Several girls even pointed at him openly, their disdain written all over their faces.
Ayanokoji silently observed the class's reactions before deciding to tease his neighbor a little.
"Ever since the sports festival, Hikigaya seems to be getting more and more popular... What do you think, Horikita?"
"Why are you asking me?" Horikita shot him a glare. "Instead of worrying about that nonsense, you should go talk some sense into your friend before he makes his position in the class even worse."
"Like he'd ever listen to me."
"Fair point. Besides, it seems like your 'important' friends—like Yamauchi—have barely invited you to hang out lately. Whether it's lunchtime or after school, you're always by yourself."
"...Uh."
For someone who was also alone, Horikita had no trouble using that fact to mock others.
Ayanokoji felt both admiration and a renewed understanding of just how terrible her personality was.
"Speaking of which, you got a 64 this time," Horikita suddenly changed the topic. "As expected, you're maintaining that perfect mediocrity. Isn't it about time you showed your real skills?"
"I already did my best."
From her tone, Ayanokoji could tell she wasn't entirely convinced. At the very least, she wouldn't fully believe it until she saw proof for herself.
"Rather than worrying about me, why don't you check on Hikigaya's score? He came in dead last this time."
Ayanokoji had intended to shift the focus away from himself, but it seemed to have the opposite effect.
"Hikigaya's situation is completely different from yours. His hand injury hasn't fully healed, so he couldn't finish the exam in time. On top of that, he lost ten points from the sports festival penalty. The fact that he still managed to pass shows how hard he worked." Horikita scoffed. "But you? You're just playing the fool. Even your half-hearted effort is frustrating to listen to."
"...My bad," Ayanokoji muttered, exasperated.
Sure, everything she said was true, but why was there such a blatant difference in attitude?
Wasn't this a little too unfair?
Just then, Hirata suddenly raised his hand.
"Sensei, you mentioned that we need to form pairs, but our class has an odd number of students. What should we do about that?"
"The school has a regulation for that," Chabashira-sensei replied. "The student without a partner will have their total score doubled. If their adjusted score still doesn't reach the passing mark, they alone will be expelled."
"Doubled?"
Hirata wasn't confused by the logic, but something about the wording felt unnecessarily roundabout.
"Don't worry. I'm about to explain something important," Chabashira continued, scanning the classroom with an expression that made everyone tense.
"This special exam, commonly known as Paper Shuffle, has historically resulted in at least one or two pairs getting expelled each year. The majority of those students have come from Class D. If both students in a pair score below the passing line, they're expelled—no exceptions. If you don't believe me, ask your seniors. You're already in your second semester; by now, you should be forming connections. Some students have been planning since the very first day of school."
As always, Chabashira's way of providing hints was laced with sarcasm and scorn.
Unfortunately, most of Class D either failed to grasp her meaning or simply chose to ignore it.
"Additionally, this exam isn't just about academic ability. Your class will be responsible for creating the test questions, which will then be given to another class as their exam. That means your class will be attacking another class, while also defending against an exam created by a different class. The final scores will be compared, and the winning class will take 50 class points from the losing class. For example, if Class A attacks Class B and Class D attacks Class A, and Class A wins both offensively and defensively, they'll gain 100 class points in total."
"I see… So that's why the solo student's score is doubled," Hirata finally understood.
Losing just one student would mean losing hundreds of points, making the competition pointless. It would essentially be a guaranteed loss.
The school wanted to prevent that scenario, so they put countermeasures in place.
"Finally, regarding penalties—cheating is strictly forbidden, as always. However, this time, if a student is caught cheating, their partner will also be expelled."
Though Chabashira spoke as if it were a simple rule, it was far harsher than normal.
At most schools, cheating would result in a score of zero, a severe warning, or even a suspension in extreme cases.
But in this school, failing even a single exam could lead to expulsion.
And now, under the pairing system, a single act of cheating would cause two students to be expelled together.
It was an incredibly strict policy.
The legal team at Advanced Nurturing High School must be top-notch.
"There will be a total of 400 questions across eight subjects. You must complete them within a month. But don't think you can just throw in a bunch of obscure or impossibly difficult questions. The teachers will carefully review the exam to ensure every question is within a first-year student's capabilities."
Chabashira's explanation cleared up some confusion, but many students still looked worried.
"400 questions... That's a tight deadline," Hirata muttered.
There was about a month until the exam. While splitting the work among multiple students would make it easier, the quality of the questions would inevitably suffer.
Given Class D's situation, that approach simply wouldn't work.
"It's fine. As long as the school approves the questions, you can research them online, ask upperclassmen, or consult teachers. The content isn't restricted," Chabashira said, sounding almost considerate. "If you really can't finish in time, the school has a backup exam prepared. However, the difficulty will be very low, so think carefully before relying on that."
In other words, using the backup exam was equivalent to surrendering.
No matter what, they had to finish the exam before the deadline.
But on top of keeping up with their studies, they also had to strategize and create an exam to challenge another class.
This was going to be an immense challenge.
"One more thing: If you want to choose a specific class to target, have one person report it to me. If multiple classes pick the same target, it will be decided by lottery. You have until the day before the mini-test to finalize your choice, so think carefully."
With that, Chabashira ended the lesson and dismissed the class.
From here on, it was up to the students to figure things out.
However, some students in Class D were already taking action.
"Ayanokoji-kun, we're holding a strategy meeting. Can you call Hirata over?"
"Got it."
Ayanokoji nodded, then casually added, "Should we invite Hikigaya too?"
"...Why would we invite him?" Horikita seemed genuinely confused by the suggestion.
"Why not? The more reliable people we have, the better."
Truthfully, Ayanokoji just wanted to test their relationship, but he couldn't exactly say that.
Luckily, Horikita seemed to buy his reasoning and went to find Hikigaya.
By the time Ayanokoji returned with Hirata, Horikita had come back as well—without Hikigaya.
Instead, Kushida was with her.
"Ayanokoji-kun, can I join the meeting too?"
"Ah, of course."
Kushida was a valuable asset to Class D, but she wasn't exactly trustworthy, especially considering her rocky history with Horikita.
Ayanokoji still suspected that she had leaked information about the Dragon Group during the Preferential Special Exam.
Although she had been keeping a low profile lately, there was no guarantee she wouldn't cause trouble again.
It would be best to have a counterbalance in place.
"Horikita, what did Hikigaya say?" Ayanokoji asked.
Horikita simply shook her head.
As expected.
So far, Hikigaya had indeed helped Horikita on multiple occasions, but that was likely out of consideration for the former student council president. He only stepped in when necessary.
If only things could stay that way.
Ayanokoji didn't want to be manipulated by Chabashira-sensei, which was why he pushed Horikita to take the lead in Class D. That way, he could fade into the background, and Chabashira would have no reason to fixate on him.
But as things stood, this strategy didn't seem all that effective.
Between Ryuuen and Sakayanagi, who had inexplicably inserted herself into the mix last time, the school had far more troublesome individuals than expected.
That was why Horikita needed stronger allies—Hirata and Karuizawa alone simply weren't enough.
Fortunately, after everything that had happened, Horikita had grown significantly. At the very least, the old her would never have taken the initiative to call a strategy meeting.
The discussion proceeded smoothly, centering around three key points.
First, based on Chabashira-sensei's roundabout hints, it was inferred that partner assignments were determined by the results of a preliminary test—pairing the highest scorer with the lowest. If that weren't the case, past Class D students wouldn't have had only one or two partnerships result in expulsion under this format.
Logically speaking, no one should have been expelled, as the scores of top and bottom students should average out to a passing grade.
However, there was a hidden trap—the preliminary test itself was easy, only at a middle school third-year level.
In other words, even academically weak students had a chance of scoring high, which led to unexpected outcomes.
Thus, Horikita and the others decided to explain this to the class before the test and intervene in the results to ensure that weaker students wouldn't end up paired together.
Second, Horikita and Hirata would take charge of designing the test questions, while other high-scoring students would hold study sessions and focus on reviewing.
Kushida, apparently quite experienced in this area, was entrusted with organizing the sessions.
Third, their target for the attack would be Class C, as they had the lowest overall academic performance.
Class D urgently needed a victory. There was no reason to recklessly challenge a stronger opponent.
With that, the strategy meeting wrapped up in under thirty minutes, having tackled most of the exam's challenges. The next step was execution.
For once, the typically disorganized leadership of Class D was starting to take shape.
Hirata and the others, satisfied with the discussion, left the classroom—some heading to club activities, others going straight home, exchanging farewells as they went.
However, Horikita made an excuse about needing to visit the restroom and, instead of leaving with Ayanokoji, who was also in the go-home club, took a detour to the rooftop.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
"It's fine... Have you finished discussing everything?"
Standing before Horikita was Hikigaya, who had been waiting there since school ended.
"Yes, but I don't understand something," Horikita got straight to the point. "Hikigaya-kun, you said there was something important about the exam you needed to discuss with me. So why didn't you attend the strategy meeting? It's not like anyone would've rejected you. Or... are you trying to hide yourself, like Ayanokoji-kun?"
Hikigaya frowned immediately. "Could you not lump me together with that guy? It's seriously annoying."
"...But I can't think of any other reason," Horikita sighed, feeling like she had heard a similar complaint somewhere before. She exhaled softly and voiced her lingering doubts.
"If too many people know, it won't work. It has to be you acting alone."
"What exactly do you want me to do?"
"It's simple."
Hikigaya lifted his head slightly, meeting Horikita's gaze.
"I want you to change the target of the attack to Class B. And don't tell the class about it beforehand. That's all."