Cote: Retelling

Chapter 11: Midterms

As usual, I've woken up early to go for a jog. I've been going to sleep earlier now that my cooking skills are somewhat decent, meaning I can wake up earlier. My physical condition has also been improving and I've gotten closer to my peak condition. Although I should start integrating some more work-outs into my routine. Push-ups, sit-ups, burpees, handstands and so on. My cardio and legs are mostly taken care of by the soccer club workouts, so I should work on my upper body and core.

I take a few quick laps around the park before returning to the dorm entrance. After a bit, Matsushita comes out and greets me.

"Good morning Ayanokouji-kun. As usual, you're up earlier than me."

"Good morning Matsushita. Well, I've been sleeping earlier these days."

"I'm surprised you aren't nervous about the midterms at all. I was panicking the whole time I was in bed."

"I am nervous, but it just doesn't show on my face. If it wasn't for Kushida, Hirata and Karuizawa getting the old questions, I would've been shacking in my boots...er, shoes."

"How do you think you'll do?"

I think. Considering my previous score of seventy, the three days or so I would've spent studying the material and a bit of anxiety, a reasonable score would be...

"Between eighty and ninety."

"Ayanokouji-kun, that's such a non-answer."

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Chabashira-sensei comes in with a stack of paper, slamming it onto the desk and creating a gavel-like sound that ripples throughout the silent classroom. She looks around and sees stiff expressions, nervous expressions and serious expressions, some a combination of all three.

"Look at you all. What happened? You aren't going to flail around like monkeys? If you keep such stiff expressions at this age, you'll get wrinkles." She smirks as if to mock us, but no one is in the headspace to care.

"Well, I can't say I dislike this attitude. I'll hand out the tests face-down. Don't flip them over until I say so."

I run my hands through the test. Three pages... there were six questions in the key we acquired, so that's two per page. If the questions are wrong, our future prospects look grim. Well, I've taken some measures against that, but hopefully it won't come to it.

I did consider a zero-point strategy but convincing everyone to that would be extremely difficult. Alongside the chance that a score of zero might get you expelled immediately (Chabashira-sensei wouldn't answer when I asked) and the fact we don't know if the line for expulsion rounds up or down (our previous average was exactly 60), I scrapped that strategy. But, well, even if things go wrong, a big number of expulsions might kill class D's motivation to climb up the classes, bringing relative peace. Of course, I didn't go with that plan since 1) I'm friendly with some of the boys at risk, 2) expulsions would make everyone tense for a while and 3) I want decent future prospects for this class, especially when it comes to our monthly income. There are some valuable members among the idiots like Sudo, the star-basketball delinquent. It would be great if things go well here...

"Begin."

I flip open the test and read over the questions. I can almost hear sigh of relief around the classroom as the questions everyone burned into their memories over the last few days appear. Looks like my contingency plan won't be used after all.