Classroom of the Elite: Alter - Solace

Vol. 6: Chapter 11.1 - Before the Glass Shatters

On the Sunday night, before the Paper Shuffle Exam, I felt the cool breeze brush past my skin as I walked my way back to the school dormitory. The icy sensation of the cold pierced the tip of my nose. It makes you wonder if it'll snow this year. 

For now, I should get inside the building. It'll become a pain if I suddenly catch the flu.

"Good evening, Ayanokouji-kun..."

"Oh, Horikita. Good evening."

I entered the dorm lobby and saw her sitting on one of the couches. She loosely wore her brown cardigan so I could clearly see the white camisole underneath. As a guy, I can't say I don't appreciate the view. At the end of the day, Horikita was a very attractive girl.

"Where did you go?" she asked, starting the conversation.

I took my seat on the other end of the couch.

"I just got back from the convenience store. How about you? What are you doing here?"

"I... just needed a change in environment. I didn't feel comfortable in my room."

"I see..." That reason was unusual for someone like Horikita. "Is everything alright?"

"To be honest, I can't be too sure. The issue with Yamauchi-kun and Ryuuen-kun had a very troublesome development... And there's the exam tomorrow, too."

"How's the class's performance?" I asked.

"Based on the mock exam, our class's performance was amazing. The questions were harder than our regular exams, but we managed to pull through and increase the class average."

That should've been good news but... seeing Horikita's aloof expression, I could tell that it wasn't much of a good news.

"It's not enough, is it?"

"Unfortunately..." she shook her head. "If we don't count the midterm exam during the first semester, we've actually hit our all-time high in terms of class average, which is 77.43 points. Every pair was well above 1,000 points, too. It's a stellar result but..."

"77.43 points... That's actually very high. But it can't compare to Sakayanagi or Ichinose's class. I can still remember that their classes' average scores were at least 82 points during the first semester's final exam."

I don't know how they did during the last midterms, though. (1)

"Yes... It'll be a huge gap in the total score. Even if their results are worse this time, the chances of them beating us are still extremely high..."

With an average score of 77.43 points, the class would either have 24,776 or 24,778 points in total for their overall score. Even if an opposing class's average score is only ahead of us by two or three points, the gap in overall score would still be a significant number. (2)

To put things into perspective, a class getting an average score of 80 points would have at least 25,600 points in total. That's a difference of more than 800 points.

If we're going to trust the data, then this exam is already over before it even started. We'd lose 100 class points if Class B and Class C beat us...

"I assume you didn't tell the class?"

"That's right. It would only dampen their morale. They must take the exam at peak condition no matter what."

I also think that's for the best. Even if we lose this time, the thing that matters the most is the steady improvement of the class.

"Have you given up on trying to get a higher score than Sakayanagi and Ichinose's classes?" I asked.