Chereads / The Ace Amongst The Imperials / Chapter 13 - Chapter 3: The First Exams

Chapter 13 - Chapter 3: The First Exams

The weekend passed and the school days began again. These school days were different from the normal ones we usually had. This was because of the exams which determined if we were allowed to stay in Class A. There was a chance that students will get kicked out and some students may join our class but that all depended on how students are in the tests.

The only one I was worried about was Harumi. Akito wasn't particularly failing in his academics and Kaori was intelligent—She was just lying so she could have the chance to manipulate me. Harumi on the other hand excelled in sports but her academics weren't in a good position.

What should I do? I still have around half an hour until school so what should I do? Oh wait…there's that…

There was something that I wanted to play but I had to wait for the "extremely fast" delivery.

Chess.

A game that is purely based on a strategy which is why I liked the game. It made you think of moves and predict your opponent's moves.

Playing chess seemed boring by myself so I thought about playing online. There were many websites to play chess but one website was more popular than the others. I logged onto the website and created an account which then asked me multiple personal questions which I filled in as it didn't leak information that would get me killed. I then played my first game.

This website determines your rating based on your performance in your first five games. A rating is given to a person which determines their level of skill. The highest recorded rating of a human was 3048. Although supercomputers have an average rating of 5000-6000, humans have gone beyond that, well only a few have.

I analysed my game. According to the website my opponent had a rating of 1298. A person with this rating can beat normal people. There was also a function on this website that allowed me to move before my opponent did his turn. This was called 'premoving'. It was useful because in my first game I predicted all of my opponent's moves and checkmated him before he did his second move. My second and third game was no different although they were to be much better. Now my opponents had a rating of 2000 and higher.

Finally.

To my disappointment, I also beat these people as easily as I did with the previous ones. Now was the time to find out my rating.

2463. Decent for someone who has only played a few times.

Although it didn't say I was a grandmaster or a super grandmaster it did say I was on the level of an International Master. An International Master is a person with a rating of 2400 and over and I had fit into that rating range, however, there were other requirements that I have yet to fulfil such as playing in tournaments.

What!

My account was then banned. Apparently, I had been cheating.

So this is why he said that I could never go full out without people doubting me. Ah, five minutes. I might as well go then. They're probably waiting for me.

I then left my dormitory. I called the elevator and it came but some students were waiting with me. This was the floor where the top three students of each class got to stay.

Shimoda and Yamada stood next to me. Shimoda looked at me as she was watching and probably had many questions to ask. Then again I did fight against seven second-year students who were supposed to be abnormally strong as well.

If I thought about it, most students in this school are abnormally strong. How the hell did so many students become so strong?

It baffled me how so many students became as strong as they were such as Shimoda and Yamada. They were incredibly strong for their age and were also stronger than some second-years. They were also adept in some martial arts and we're incredibly fast and intelligent. They were almost the perfect humans but they had flaws like everyone else.

"Are you nervous?" Yamada asked. I thought he was speaking to Shimoda but Shimoda thought he was speaking to me. Yamada then realised the confusion he made and then addressed it to both of us. "Are you two nervous?"

"For the exams?" Shimoda asked.

"Yeah."

"Yoshio-kun, you've known me since childhood and yet you don't know me at all."

"How about you Tsukamoto-san?"

"I've been studying so I'm kind of nervous but it's normal isn't it?"

I caught Shimoda looking at me with an expression that said "You liar". It seems there is one more person who knows now and it's all going according to plan.

The elevator arrived later than usual but it was probably because of the many students who used it. We all entered the elevator. There were around five of us including myself. There were only two other students who weren't from our class. Arita Hachiro and Yamashimo Ayama.

"Oh Yamada-san, I told the others and only a few are coming." Arita said to Yamada.

"That's fine; as long as some are coming."

After that, there was silence until the elevator reached the lobby. We all exited the elevator as soon as the doors opened. I found Akito waiting for me. He was sitting on a chair. The chairs were made for this purpose. It was made so that students could sit down in the lobby while waiting. I walked towards him and sat down next to him.

"Akito."

Akito then jumped, startled for some reason.

"Oh it's you."

"What were you thinking about?"

Akito felt embarrassed but he was also saying silent for some reason. Maybe that reason was that he was preparing himself to tell me something.

"Tadashi…" Akito said as he prepared himself, "I like Harumi!" Akito then looked at me for a reaction but I didn't react as he thought I would.

"So when you tried to make her "open up" to you something else happened."

"Do you think I should tell her?"

"Are you stupid? We know how this would end. You've read multiple mangas with this exact situation so you should know that it will take time."

"But in manga, they still get into a relationship at the end. Are manga the same as real life?"

"Well obviously not but you could still make her fall for you." Now, this has become a rom-com but if I use Harumi to manipulate Akito it would have a more chance of success. "I will try and help you when you need it."

"Thanks." We then left the lobby for school.

In school, I observed both Akito and Harumi. Harumi had sat next to Kaori when they became friends and their seats were behind us. Kaori did seem to notice the behavioral changes in both Akito and Harumi but she had plans of her own. Akito and Harumi did act the same but when they did it always seemed awkward.

Akito looked at me with an expression that said 'Please help me!' so I did help him, in my own way. A way that would help both Harumi and Akito.

"Akito, why don't you tutor Harumi?" I suggested. Akito and Harumi didn't seem to dislike the idea.

"Tadashi, you're better than me at academics so you can tutor her."

"He can't because he has to tutor me."

Nice save Kaori-chan.

"D-Don't you wanna tutor me?" Harumi said.

The sooner these two want to die for each other the better but they shouldn't start dating now. I could tell Akito to postpone dating until we are halfway through the year or in the second year. That way it's better because then I can promote them from the pawns they currently are.

"The first exams start today so you can tutor Harumi during the holidays or after the holidays."

If there were no exams then my plans wouldn't be delayed as they are now.

I also saw that Nakamoto seemed to look at me during classes but when I see her looking at me she quickly looks somewhere else. It looks like one of my plans was at least working and won't be delayed. Something will happen during the holidays and it will have some effect on my plans.

The first exam is science. I won't get my results until after the holidays so I would have to wait for my results which I didn't have a problem with but it was the others I wanted to see. I can find out their results and if they didn't exceed the passing grade then I could change them all I needed to do was wait for the teachers to mark them which was done after the exams so I could wait either way.

I knew I had a perfect score this time because I had to create some sort of identity in my grades. I will score 100 in maths and science so those will be my strongest subjects. In the entrance exam, I scored high in both maths and science so there wouldn't be any suspicion.

The next exam was maths. Those two subjects were the only ones that had exams today so after those, I can relax.

As we walked towards the Mathematics building Akito and Harumi were silent. They didn't speak and Kaori was the only one talking she directed most of the conversation to me after Harumi had replied with only gestures.

"Why are you guys so silent?"

It's always you, Kaori-chan, who strikes when the iron's still hot.

It was almost visible that both Akito and Harumi were caught off guard. They should've known it was coming when they were being so silent.

"Fine then I won't ask you." Kaori said, frustrated. Harumi and Akito realised Kaori's tone.

A long excruciating silence wasn't broken until we arrived at the Mathematics building. As usual, there were many students inside the building going to their classes. We took the elevator and reached the class without talking to each other.

I liked the silence however Kaori's curiosity only increased. It could be seen easily how agitated she got. She would most likely ask Harumi about it when they are alone after the test. I could use this moment to see how patient Kaori is and use it to my advantage. The more you know about your opponent the easier it is to fight them.

After a long hour, the exams finally ended. Everyone seemed to be too carefree as if they didn't have other exams during this week. Everyone didn't seem to be nervous. This wasn't how I imagined normal people to react after a test. Usually, they stress over how they performed in the exam. Those that cheated in the exam worried if they will get caught yet these students acted as if it was a normal thing. It seems I underestimated the abilities of normal students.

"So how much do you think you got?" One student said to another student. The student then went into a state of shock and realisation. Everyone then realised and started stressing.

No, I was right; normal people are stupid.

"So how much do you think you got?" Akito asked me.

"Well, mathematics is one of my strong subjects so I should get a high result. What about you?"

"I'm sure I got over seventy."

Seventy? That seems normal. It was an easy test after all. If Akito got any lower than seventy then hope is lost.

The exam wasn't hard but other students have different levels of intelligence. There wasn't any subject I failed. I had mastered them all at a young age and I'm sure Shimoda and Yamada have as well; they were after all super geniuses.

Genius. Geniuses are incredibly intelligent people. Geniuses are also people who have an IQ of over 140. Anyone above 180 is considered super geniuses and Shimoda and Yamada have IQs of over 200. The highest IQ score that is known was 286.

I wonder if anyone got higher than that.