For third period, we had history class with Chiyabashira-sensei.
When the bell rang, Chiyabashira-sensei walked into the noisy classroom.
Her entrance didn't alter the students' behavior.
"Quiet down a little, please. Today's lesson will be a bit serious."
"What do you mean, Sae-chan-sensei?"
They already had a pet name for the teacher.
"It's the end of the month, so we're going to have a short test. Please
pass these to the back."
She handed out the papers to the students in the front row. Eventually,
the single-sheet test reached my desk. It contained questions in the five main
subjects. With only a few questions per subject, it really was short.
"Huh? I wasn't listening, though. This is so unfair!" a student cried.
"Don't say that. This test is just for future reference. It won't be
reflected in your report cards. There is no risk involved, so don't worry. Of
course, cheating is prohibited."
Her phrasing struck me as odd. Normally, only general grades were
reflected in your report card. But the way Chiyabashira-sensei said they
wouldn't be reflected in our report cards made me think that the grade could
be reflected in some other way. Well…perhaps I was worrying too much. If
this had no effect on our report card, then there was no need to be so
cautious.
As soon as the pop quiz began, I scanned the questions. There were
four questions per subject, for a total of twenty. Each question was worth five
points, for a total of one hundred points. Most of the questions were
extraordinarily easy, to the point where it was almost a letdown. In fact, the
questions seemed to be about two levels less difficult than the ones on the
entrance examination. It appeared far too easy.
However, just as I thought that, I reached the end of the test. The final
three questions were an order of magnitude higher in terms of difficulty. The
final math problem couldn't be solved without complex formulae. "No way. These questions are seriously way too hard…"
These questions couldn't be geared toward a first-year high school
student. The final three questions were clearly of a different quality than the
others, so it was possible they'd been put on the test by mistake. Even though
the results wouldn't be reflected in our grades, what in the hell were they
evaluating with this?
Well, I guess I'll just solve these problems the same way I did on the
entrance exam.
Chiyabashira-sensei monitored us. As she slowly patrolled the
classroom, she kept a watchful eye to dissuade us from cheating. I quickly
glanced at Horikita, who would never even think of cheating. Her pen danced
across the paper as she filled in all of the answers. It looked like she was
easily going to get a perfect score.
I continued staring intently at my test until the bell rang.