Chapter 10: The beginning

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Walking into the classroom, Chiyabashira-sensei looked around the classroom in surprise. Everyone was waiting in suspense for the results of the midterms.

"Sensei. I heard that the results will be released today, but when exactly?"

"There's no need for you to be that excited about it, Hirata. You probably passed."

"...When will they be released?"

"Well, now is a good time. There isn't much time for certain procedures if we did it after school."

At the words "certain procedures", some of the students had a visible reaction.

"What... what do you mean?"

"Don't be confused. I'll explain it now."

After all, this school likes to explain the details all at once.

She stuck the paper with everyone's names and scores on the board.

"Honestly, good job. I didn't think this class would do this well. In math, Japanese, and social studies, there were over 10 perfects."

Looking at the row of 100s, the students were cheering. However, one group of students weren't smiling.

The only grade is Sudou's English score.

And then—

Four of Sudou's grades were a solid 60 points. His english score was a 39.

"Woohoo!!"

Sudou stood up and shouted in relief. Ike and Yamauchi stood up at the same time and cheered.

There was no red line to be found on the paper. Kushida and I glanced at each other and breathed a small sigh of relief. Horikita... wasn't smiling or cheering, but she appeared to be relieved inside.

"You saw it, right Sensei? When we put our minds to it, we can do it!"

Ike had a triumphant smile.

"Yea, I recognize that. You did well. However—"

Chiyabashira-sensei had a red pen in her hand.

"Huh...?"

Sudou let out a concerned voice.

She drew a red line right above Sudou's name.

"W-what the hell? What does this mean?"

"You failed, Sudou."

"What? That's a lie, right? Don't bullshit me, why did I fail!?"

Of course, Sudou was the first to protest.

The classroom did a complete 180 from cheering to an angry uproar in a split second.

"Sudou. You failed on the English exam."

"Don't lie to me, the passing grade is a 32! I passed!"

"When did anyone say that the passing grade is a 32?"

"No no, Sensei said so! Right, everyone!?"

Ike shouted in support of Sudou.

"Nothing you say will help. This is the unmistakable truth. On this midterm, the passing grade was a 40. In other words, you were one point short. Almost, but not quite."

"F-forty!? I never heard of this! I can't agree to this!"

"Then, should I tell you how we decide what is a passing grade?"

Chiyabashira-sensei wrote a formula on the board.

She wrote, "79.6/2 = 39.8".

"Last test, and this test as well, each class has a set passing grade. And that grade was half the average."

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