The Odd One Out

Chapter 7.2 - Contradicting Truths

Before we knew it, it was finally the day of the final exam. The class had diligently studied and were confident of securing a win against Class C. It was understandable. Academically speaking, Class C could be seen as weaker than Class D.

For Class D students, there were two ways they could potentially lose. Either Class C studied like crazy or they prepared insanely hard exams for Class D.

I looked around the room and everyone was chatting without worry, except for my neighbor who looked completely defeated. Horikita completely lost the class' support. Apart from that, the class was more united than ever.

"This exam will be a piece of cake!" Shinohara said.

"Yeah! There's no way they'll beat us! Ayanokouji the traitor didn't even listen to our discussions!" Yamauchi agreed.

"Who knew the Masterpiece of the White Room would be this easy to ice out? What a disappointment haha!" Ike mockingly said.

I sensed someone waking up to my seat.

"Ken?"

"Yo, Kiyotaka. I replied to your message but you didn't respond so I thought I would say this to your face."

It was true. I didn't reply to Ken's message.

"Are you really going to score full marks?"

"Yes Ken. You shouldn't worry at all. There's no way you'll be expelled."

"I see. Well, I'm not sure what you're up to. But you'll have to explain all this to me when the time comes!"

"I will. I promise you will understand when the time comes."

"Thanks. I'll get going now, sensei will arrive soon."

I nodded as he rushed back to his seat.

Chabashira-sensei then walked through the door with the exam papers.

"The first half of the final exam will begin now. The required overall score for each pair is 692 points. The first four subjects will be Japanese, English, Social Studies and Economics. I will now hand out the Japanese exam papers."

When she finished handing them out, the bell rang, signaling for the Japanese exam to officially begin.

I took a quick look at the questions. I of course didn't know the Class C questions beforehand. Looking at the questions, I would say they were at the limit of the difficulty allowed by the school.

The first four exams went by smoothly, for me anyway. I was confident of getting full marks. The same couldn't be said about the others.

Soon, the second part of the final exam began.

"The second part will now begin. The four next subjects will be Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. I will now hand the Mathematics exam papers."

The second part was more scientific than the first. I also easily answered Class C's questions. The difficulty was pretty much the same as for the first four.

With that, the Paper Shuffle exam ended. All that was left was to wait for the results.

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