[The entrance exam room had no blind spots, making cheating impossible. As Saiki Kusuo said, to rank in the middle for every subject, you'd need to know everyone else's scores. Controlling rankings is much harder than controlling scores. Even cheating couldn't achieve that.]
[Could Saiki Kusuo predict everyone's scores?]
[How is that possible? That would be like having superpowers!]
Hearing Chabashira Sae's thoughts, Saiki Kusuo's heart skipped a beat.
[This is completely absurd. Maybe Saiki Kusuo's abilities are just average after all.]
Saiki Kusuo finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although the chance of exposure was almost zero, hearing the word "superpowers" still made him tense up.
[His true abilities will be revealed after next week's surprise exam. Those defective Class D students probably won't expect a surprise exam so soon. This exam will heavily influence the next class point evaluation. Given their current state, their performance will likely be terrible. It'll be interesting to see their points get deducted. I can't wait to see those defects despair.]
'As a homeroom teacher, she really talks about her students like that.'
Saiki Kusuo's eyebrow twitched slightly.
'But there's a surprise exam next week? And it seems to have a big impact on class points. I don't want to interfere too much, but it wouldn't be good if our points get deducted.'
Saiki Kusuo had an idea.
"But what's with your physical fitness scores? You were average in the long-distance run, but your scores in other areas fluctuated a lot."
"Maybe my physical condition was unstable at the time."
Saiki Kusuo could only come up with a random excuse.
Chabashira Sae stared at Saiki Kusuo, carefully observing his expression for any signs of deception.
However, Saiki Kusuo's expression remained unchanged throughout.
"Whatever. Enjoy your time at school for now. I hope you perform better in the future."
Chabashira Sae shook her head and then turned to leave.
[He doesn't seem particularly special. Did he really just get into the school through connections? How strange... We'll see in time. This year's students are my best chance. I'll definitely use them to climb to Class A!]
'As a teacher, her desire to reach Class A is stronger than the students'. And it seems like she sees the students as mere tools.'
Saiki Kusuo thought this, then quickly returned to his dorm.
As soon as he put down the novels he had brought back, he noticed numerous unread messages on his student terminal.
The sender was none other than Shiina Hiyori.
Shiina Hiyori: Saiki-kun, are you back in your dorm?
Shiina Hiyori: The novels I recommended earlier are really good! If you finish them, I can recommend more!
Shiina Hiyori: I think the mystery setups in some of them are especially brilliant!
Although she usually seemed bad at socializing, when it came to discussing novels, Shiina Hiyori seemed like a completely different person.
'If I reply, she might start a long conversation. Maybe I shouldn't reply.'
Saiki Kusuo initially thought this, but after some hesitation, he picked up his phone and sent a few symbolic replies.
'At least in text chats, I don't have to worry about spoilers. And I can actually get some novel recommendations from her.'
After Saiki Kusuo replied, Shiina Hiyori quickly sent more messages.
Shiina Hiyori: Saiki-kun, you've even read that book?!
Shiina Hiyori: Not many people around me read that kind of novel!
Shiina Hiyori: Let's read together sometime! We can go to the library or the school café!
'The school café... They seem to have some decent desserts there.'
Saiki Kusuo thought to himself.
...
A day passed, and the second day's routine was no different for Saiki Kusuo.
The number of students late to class had increased compared to the previous day, and the trio of idiots was among them.
In class, some students were playing on their phones, some were sleeping, and others were chatting loudly.
Saiki Kusuo could clearly hear their thoughts.
[This school is amazing!]
[100,000 yen every month, no tuition fees, and all kinds of entertainment facilities!]
[What should I eat after class?]
Saiki Kusuo estimated that about half the class wasn't paying attention. They were clearly still immersed in the excitement of the new environment.
'With this attitude, the surprise exam results probably won't be good.'
However, there were still students in the class who were studying seriously, such as Horikita Suzune. She listened intently to Chabashira Sae's monotonous lecture, completely focused.
On the podium, Chabashira Sae could clearly see the students' antics, but she chose to ignore them.
[You won't be laughing for much longer.]
...
After a morning of classes, everyone headed to the cafeteria for lunch. Saiki Kusuo picked a dish that interested him and chose a corner seat—this time, he waited for his classmates to sit down first before choosing a spot, making it less likely for others to disturb him during his meal.
The students around him were mostly unfamiliar upperclassmen, and Saiki Kusuo could clearly hear their conversations.
"These freshmen are about to take a surprise exam, right? If we had known about this exam earlier, we wouldn't have ended up in Class D..."
"The exam is pretty tough. A lot of the material isn't covered in class. But after their surprise exam, we'll have our monthly exams soon. We can't mess up this time."
"It's fine. We can just buy last year's exam papers from the upperclassmen... We'll split the points among the whole class."
In the noisy environment, their conversation was hard to hear.
But Saiki Kusuo heard every word clearly.