Chapter 5

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It was unbelievable

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It was unbelievable. Kit had always thought of herself as a good student, and no one had studied more than she had over the past few weeks. But now, as she left the exam room in the main building, she felt defeated and crushed. There were so many questions she hadn't been able to answer - questions she simply hadn't prepared for. She couldn't shake the feeling that they'd been unfairly blindsided, and now she was sitting in a café with Isogai, Kanzaki, and Sugino, and they were all saying the same thing. They'd fought like gladiators but had lost all the same.
"We never covered those topics, right?" Kanzaki asked, over and over.
They all shook their heads.
"We can forget about getting into the top fifty," Sugino sighed.
"And then Korosensei will be gone," Isogai murmured, his head resting in his hands. "With him goes our only chance of survival, not to mention the reward. It's so unfair. Korosensei can't expect us to reach the top fifty to keep him as our teacher and then teach us the wrong material. It just doesn't make sense."
"Do you think the exam questions were changed on purpose?" Kit asked in the silence that followed.
"The chairman?"
Kit nodded.
"Wouldn't be surprising," Sugino said.
"Do you really believe that, Sugino-kun?" Kanzaki asked.
"We can't afford to be naive. I wouldn't put it past him if it meant keeping us down, and let's be honest, he has the connections to make it happen."
Their heads nodded in agreement.
"So what do we do now?" Kanzaki looked up at the ceiling, resigned. "There's nothing we can do. We'll just have to wait for the results, right?"
And that's exactly what they did.

The exam results arrived sooner than they expected. They were all nervous; Kit hadn't even been able to eat breakfast.
"You need to eat something," her father insisted, frowning at her untouched bowl of rice.
"I can't, Dad. I'm so anxious. What if I bombed it? No, wait, I know I didn't. I really knew a lot, but it's not just about that. I need to be the best somewhere, better than Asanokun. I'll eat afterward, I promise. You know what? I'd love to win that trip. Imagine a nice beach holiday; it's been forever since we had one. And..."
"Kit," her father interrupted, placing a hand on her arm. "You'll be fine. No matter what, you're a good student, and I'm very proud of you."
"Thanks, Dad." She patted his hand, trying to calm herself down. "Can we go now, please? I can't take the suspense anymore."

"It's all my fault," Korosensei began, holding their exam sheets in his tentacles. "I underestimated the tricks this school would pull. I can't even look you in the eyes."
With Mach 20 speed, he distributed their test papers, and Kit barely dared to open her eyes. She blinked once, then a bit longer, and when her vision cleared, she was surprised. Place 50. That was more than she'd hoped for. She looked around, seeing disappointment on her classmates' faces, but inside, she couldn't help feeling a little triumphant. Compared to how much she'd studied, her result was lacking, but considering the fact that the exams had been changed at the last minute without notice to anyone outside the main building, she was satisfied.
Her father had spent hours on the phone with the school board, only to be told it was a "communication error." It was, of course, an absurd excuse, but there was nothing they could do.
The only student who excelled in every subject was Karma. Kit had no idea how he'd done it, but she had to admit he'd not only boosted the spirits of Class E but also cheered up a downcast Korosensei, who had insisted that Karma study so hard with his clones that even the last-minute changes hadn't fazed him.
"You're backing down because you're scared we might kill you, aren't you?" Karma taunted, and when the rest of the class joined in, Korosensei passionately declared that they would have their revenge against Class A in the final exams.

Kit stayed in the classroom out of habit after school, only realizing after a few minutes that she no longer needed to stay. She could go home now.
"Miss me already?" Karma stood smirking in the doorway. "I'm flattered."
"It's just habit," Kit replied, putting her feet up on the chair next to her. "But I have to admit, I was really impressed with your performance today. You managed to make Korosensei stay. I know he never really wanted to leave, but for a moment, he almost gave up. I think you have a talent for saying the right thing at the right time."
"Maybe I should go into politics."
"You really should. Although, I don't like most politicians," she said, offering him an apologetic smile.
"I'm not like most people."
"No, you're definitely not."
Karma looked at her for a moment, and she wondered what might be going through his mind. Sometimes, she thought she knew him, but then there were moments when she wasn't sure she knew him at all. A good player knew his way around deception, Kit thought as he suddenly turned and asked, "Shall we go? I need to head in the same direction as you."
"How do you know where I'm going?"
"It's Tuesday. You're going to dance," he said casually, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to remember.
She stood up, shouldered her bag, and was about to follow him when he added, "It's a pointless activity, though. Why bother dancing? I can think of twenty better things you could do that are either more fun or more useful."
"Why do you have to be such a jerk, Karmakun? Sometimes I think you're nice, just to ruin it in the next moment." Disillusioned, Kit shook her head and walked ahead of him. She really should know better by now. "Oh, and apparently, our ideas of fun are very different."
"We'll see."
"Really?"
He nodded. "For example, at the school trip to Kyoto. I'm sure Kayano has already invited you to join our group."

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