Chapter 4:
The End-of-Year Special Exam Begins
YOU COULD FEEL SPRING in the warm, gentle sunshine today. The time had finally come for the culmination of the second year of our careers here at this school.
Those who were leading the pack for two years as the unshakeable Class A and were now trying to pull ahead of the rest once again.
Those who had started off doing well, then were slowly overtaken and fell to Class D, only to become united in solidarity in rising up.
Those who, even though they weren’t strong enough on their own, would continue to fight using any means at their disposal, taking every chance they saw to turn the tables and make a comeback.
Those who started in Class D, lost all of their Class Points, and who were now trying to reach for Class A, their dearest wish.
The End-of-Year Special Exam was going to be held soon, with the promise of huge changes in Class Points. It was 7:40 a.m. when I left my dormitory room, alone. I didn’t see a single other student until I reached the lobby, and even then, everything was quiet, as it should be.
While the representatives for the End-of-Year Special Exam were supposed to meet in the special building at eight o’clock this morning, most of our classmates were to meet in their classrooms at nine o’clock, like normal, so some of them were probably still sleeping. It would’ve been fine even if I had bumped into another representative, but because the special building was about a ten-minute walk from here, leaving at forty minutes past the hour was cutting it quite close.
I was sure that almost everyone had either already arrived at the school or was about to. As I was walking along the path to the school building, I spotted a solitary student sitting on a bench, dressed in casual attire.
“It’s rather early in the morning, isn’t it? What are you doing in a place like this, Kiryuuin-senpai?” I asked.
“I’ve been waiting for you. I wanted to catch a glimpse of you before you took your final special exam for the year,” she replied.
As she said that, I noticed that her bag was sitting next to her.
“It looks like you’re heading out now,” I said.
“Normally, third-year students have already long since gone out into the world by now, after their graduation ceremony. I’m no exception. I’ve been busy looking for a new place to live. Nagumo was concerned about you, though. He was wondering how you’ll fare in your End-of-Year Special Exam. Moreover, he apparently doesn’t intend to meet with you directly anymore, leaving the reconnaissance entirely to me, 100 percent,” said Kiryuuin.
She was talking like she had been forced into taking on a bothersome role, but it should’ve been easy for her to have refused it.
“So you’re worrying about me, eh? You’re both such kind senpai,” I teased.
“Excuse me, but ‘worrying’ is an exaggeration. Rude. Still, you do calmly pull off unpredictable feats. I look forward to seeing the results of your exam,” said Kiryuuin.
Perhaps because she knew that I was in a hurry, Kiryuuin-senpai gently waved goodbye to me after saying that. After giving Kiryuuin a slight bow, I got moving again and headed to the school itself. Soon afterward, I arrived at the special building and found two representatives from my class were waiting for me by the door to the classroom, and an adult that I wasn’t familiar with was standing beside them. I had the impression that most special exams were attended by the school’s teachers, but perhaps this one was different.
“Good morning, Kiyotaka-kun,” Yousuke greeted me, with a bright smile that was just as cheery as a girl’s.
Horikita, on the other hand, seemed to be in a poor mood, perhaps unhappy about being kept waiting. “You got here very late. We’re the last to arrive,” she snapped with a shrill voice and stiff expression.
“I’m on time though, so there shouldn’t be a problem,” I replied.
“Yes, but… Well, whatever. …It’s a trivial matter now. Let’s go,” said Horikita.
The End-of-Year Special Exam that we had been waiting for was officially underway. I was sure that she must have been anxiously watching the minutes go by since this morning, or even since last night. When Horikita reported to the adult that we were all present, the door was opened and we entered the room. Inside, I saw that the three representatives from each of the other classes had arrived before us, making for a total of nine people already seated on pipe chairs in the classroom.
Sakayanagi, Ryuuen, and Ichinose all seemed to have made it here today without any problems. Some of the people inside turned around as we entered the room. No doubt it was to confirm who the representatives of our class would be, which was especially important for Ichinose’s class. My eyes met with Kanzaki’s, who until the last minute had been fearing that I was going to be representative.
I guess that he must have been able to brace himself thanks to information received prior, because while he didn’t seem surprised, I could tell that he clearly didn’t welcome the idea of me being here. It wasn’t very difficult to imagine what he was thinking. Most likely something like, “So, he came after all.” I felt bad, but I had my reasons, and others’ feelings in the matter couldn’t take priority.
Horikita and Yousuke were also learning who the other representatives were for the first time, in this public space. Just as we started walking over to take our seats, Sakagami-sensei and Hoshinomiya-sensei approached. Sakagami-sensei was holding an empty white case with both hands, about thirty centimeters in both length and width, with the words “2-B” written on it.
“Please hand over your phones, as well as any metal or other electronic devices that you have on you,” he announced, lowering his gaze down to the case.
I took my phone out of my pocket and placed it in the white case. Horikita and Yousuke also took out their cell phones and followed suit.
“All right, folks! Hold still for just a second. We’re going to search you,” announced Hoshinomiya-sensei.
Then, Hoshinomiya-sensei began to examine me from head to toe with some kind of device in her hand, probably a handheld metal detector.
“Wow, this is really thorough, isn’t it?” asked Yousuke once they were finished searching him and it became Horikita’s turn.
“Sorry about this. School orders, after all. Okay, these three have been checked and are A-OK,” said Hoshinomiya-sensei.
Sakagami-sensei nodded.
“The phones that you’ve handed over will be returned to you after the exam. Take an empty seat and wait,” said Sakagami-sensei.
The three of us went over to the three available pipe chairs and sat down, then I stared intently at the backs of the representatives. Hamaguchi and Kanzaki from Ichinose’s Class D, our opponents. I had figured that Ichinose and Kanzaki were a sure thing. So, they had brought Hamaguchi as their third, eh? His overall ability was in the same category as Hirata’s, and he was the “honor student” type, unlikely to be involved in any big trouble.
You could say that was probably what Horikita and the others from her class had figured as a likely choice, based on their assumptions. However…