BEGINNING
Walking into the classroom, Chiyabashira-sensei looked around the classroom in surprise. Everyone was waiting in suspense for the midterm results.
"Sensei, I heard the results will come out today, but when exactly?"
"There's no need for you to get excited about it, Hirata, you've probably already passed."
"...When will they be issued?"
"Well, now is a good time. There's not much time for certain procedures if we do them after school."
With the words "certain procedures", some students had a visible reaction.
"What? What do you mean?"
"Don't be confused, I'll explain now."
After all, this school likes to explain in detail all at once.
He pasted the paper with everyone's name and grade on the board.
"Honestly, good job, I didn't think this class would do this well. In math, Japanese, and social studies, there are more than 10 perfect ones."
Looking at the row of 100s, the students cheered. However, one group of students was not smiling.
The only value was Sudou's English score.
Then-
Four of Sudou's scores were the same 60 points. His English score was 39.
"Woo hoo!!!"
Sudou stood up and shouted in relief. Ike and Yamauchi stood up at the same time and cheered.
There were no red lines to be found on the paper. Kushida and I glanced at each other and breathed a sigh of relief. Horikita... didn't smile or cheer, but it seemed like he was relieved inside.
"You saw it, right Sensei? When we think about it, we can do it!"
Ike smiled triumphantly.
"Yes, I know that, you did well, but-"
Chiyabashira-sensei had a red pen in her hand.
"Huh...?"
Sudou let out a strong voice.
She drew a red line right above Sudou's name.
"What the hell is this? What does this mean?"
"You failed, Sudou."
"Is that a lie? Don't bullshit, why did I fail!?"
Of course, Sudou was the first to protest.
The classroom turned 180 as the cheering disappeared into something gloomy in a split second.
"Sudou, you failed the English exam."
"Don't lie to me, the passing score was 32! I passed!"
"When did anyone say the passing grade was 32?"
"No, no, Sensei said so! Right, everyone!?"
Ike shouted in support of Sudou.
"No one said it would help This is the obvious truth. In this middle semester, the passing grade is 40. In other words, you're only one point short. Almost, but not quite."
"E-forty!" I've never heard this! I can't agree with this!"
"Then, shall I tell you how we decide the passing grade?"
Chiyabashira-sensei wrote a formula on the blackboard.
She wrote, "79.6 / 2 = 39.8".
"The last test, and this test as well, each class has a passing grade. And that grade averages half."
In other words, anything lower than 39.8 was a failing grade.
"Then, it shows how you failed. You got a lower grade."
"There's no way... what... does that mean I got expelled?"
"Although it's time, you did well. After school, you will be asked to fill out a dropout form, but you need a legal guardian, I will contact them for you afterwards."
Seeing everything going so casually, all the students knew that it was really happening.
"Get some rest, Good work for graduation. In the end, please work hard to do the same and pass the exam. well then, onto the next topic-"
"S-sensei, was Sudou-kun really expelled? Is there no way to save him?"
Hirata was the first to come to Sudou's defense.
Even though Sudou hated him and verbally insulted him.
"This is right, he got a failing grade, so he should drop out."
"...Can we see Sudou-kun's answer sheet?"
"Even if you look at it, you won't find any mistakes in the grading. Well, I expect you guys to make a fuss about it."
Taking Sudou's English exam answer sheet, he handed it to Hirata.
Hirata looked at each question with a gloomy expression.
"...there are no mistakes."
"Well, if that's the case, class is now over."
Without sympathy or a second chance, Chiyabashira-sensei ruthlessly announced her expulsion. Knowing that every soothing word would have the opposite effect, Ike and Yamauchi remained silent. Hirata was the same. And unfortunately, it seemed like one section of the class was relieved. Were they happy that the class burden had finally been kicked out?
"Sudou, come to the staff room after school."
"...Chiyabashira-sensei, do you have time?"
Although he had been silent until then, Horikita quickly raised his hand.
In his school life, Horikita had never made remarks in class voluntarily.
At the new sight, Chiyabashira-sensei and the whole class were surprised.
"That's unusual, Horikita, you raised your hand. What is your question?"
"Earlier, Sensei said that the previous test had a passing score of 32 points, which was calculated by the formula you wrote down earlier. There's no harm in calculating the passing score of the last test?"
"Yes, there is no harm."
"Then, I have one more question, I calculated the average of the mock test to be 64.4. Dividing by two, you will get 32.2. In other words, it's higher than 32. Nonetheless, the passing grade is 32 by cutting off the decimal point It's contradictory from this point on. "
"Yes-yes, the passing grade should be 39, then!"
In other words, Sudou's grade of 39 should have just passed.
"I see, you're anticipating Sudou's grade to almost pass, only your English grade is low."
"Horikita, you..."
Sudou saw something. The other students, who were surprised, looked at the paper once more. Although four of his five classes were perfect, he scored 51 in his English.
"You're so-"
Sudou realized what he was doing.
And not wrong either. In order to lower the grade point average, he deliberately lowered his own grade.
"If you think my opinion is wrong, please tell me why the calculation is different between the last test and this test."
The last ray of light. The last bit of hope.
"I know, then, let me tell you one more thing. Unfortunately, there was one mistake in your formula, rather than cutting, we completed the test. The last test rounded to 32, this test rounds to 40."
"Tsk..."
"In your mind, you probably realized that the score was rounded, but holding on to that possibility... well, that's too bad. The first lesson will start soon, so I'll be leaving now."
Horikita had no way to reply and remained silent. He could not fight her words, and his last hope was shot down. After leaving the classroom, the door slammed shut and the entire class fell silent.
While trying to face the reality of having to drop out of school, Sudou looked at Horikita, who was trying to stop him from failing by dropping his own grades.
"...I'm sorry, I should have lowered my point even further."
Horikita slowly lowered his hand.
Even 51 points was relatively low.
If he managed to reach his grade all the way into the 40s, he himself would risk dropping out of school.
"Why... you said you hated me, didn't you?"
"I'm just doing this for myself, don't get me wrong. It's a waste after all."
I slowly got up from my chair.
"Wh-where are you going, Ayanokouji!?"
"To the restroom."
I left the classroom and quickly walked towards the staff room. While wondering if Chiyabashira-sensei had arrived at the staff room, I saw her looking out the window, standing in the hallway. As if she was waiting for someone.
"Ayanokouji, class is about to start."
"Sensei, is it okay if I ask you a question?"
"...A question? Why are you chasing me?"
"I have something to ask you."
"Starting with Horikita, and even you. What is it?"
"Do you think Japanese society is fair today?"
"What a sudden change in topic. Do you get anything out of it even if I answer?"
"This is very important."
"If I speak my opinion, then no, it's not fair. Not in the slightest."
"Yes, I also think the same way. Fairness and equality are a lie."
"Are you chasing me to ask that question? If that's the case, I'll leave."
"A week ago, when you told us that the test materials had changed, you said something like this: 'I forgot to notify the class.' Because of this, the notice reached us about a week after the other classes were notified about it. "
"I said in the staff room, so what?"
"Although all the questions, our points, and the threat of expulsion were the same among all the classes, only class D was treated unfairly."
"Are you saying that you can't agree to that? But this is a good example, I guess you could call it a micro example of our unfair society today."
"Of course, no matter how positive you look at it, the world is an unfair place. However, we are humans who can think and act."
"What are you trying to say?"
"I'm trying to say that it's at least equal."
"...I understand."
"It doesn't matter whether 'forgetting' or not 'telling us' is good, but it is a fact that someone is now forced to leave school because of those unequal conditions."
"What do you want me to do?"
"That's why I came to you, I want to meet with the school, which is perpetuating this inequality."
"To say that you disagree?"
"I just wanted to confirm the school's decision with the right people."
"Unfortunately, even if you are not wrong, I cannot let you, Sudou will drop out, it will be very difficult to overturn the decision at this time, give up."
She ignored my argument. But that didn't mean there was no meaning in his words.
As expected, this person was someone who always had hidden implications in his words.
"It's hard to reverse at this point. In other words, there is a way to change the outcome."
"Ayanokouji, I personally have a high opinion of you, of course, getting the old test questions was a great solution, furthermore, coming up with the idea was even beyond common sense, yet you distributed the questions to the class and raised the test average. I guess there's merit in coming up with that idea. "
"Kushida also helped get the questions, so I didn't do anything special."
"I know that you didn't admit it openly, but there are also upper-class people. I also know that you got the test questions from the third year."
Somehow, my actions were discovered.
"However, even if you start by asking test questions, you'll be screwed, that's why your plan isn't working. If she had remembered it more carefully, perhaps you wouldn't have failed the class in English. Why don't you give up and let Sudou drop out? Won't his future be more comfortable? "
"To be honest... maybe, but I decided to help this time, or rather, I should say that I haven't given up, I have one last attempt."
From my pocket, I took out my study card.
"What do you mean?"
"Please give me one point for Sudou's English test."
"..."
Looking at me in amazement, he burst out laughing.
"Hahahahaha, that's an interesting proposal, as I thought, you're different, I never imagined you would try to buy things."
"Sensei, you should have said this on the first day 'There's nothing that can't be bought by points in this school'. Midterm is one of the things in this school."
"I understand, I understand, of course, you can think about it, do you have enough money to pay me?"
"In that case, how much is it?"
"A very difficult question indeed No one has ever been asked to buy things before. Let's see... I'll give you one point for 100,000 points."
"Sensei, you're cruel."
There wasn't a single person in the school who didn't use one point at all.
In other words, there was no one who had 100,000 points.
"-I will also pay."
A voice sounded from behind me. Turning around, I saw Horikita standing there.
"Horikita..."
"Kuku, as I thought, you two are interesting."
Chiyabashira-sensei took both of our student cards.
"Alright, I agree to sell one point, I will collect a total of 100,000 points from you two. Tell the rest of the class that Sudou's expulsion has been canceled."
"Is that okay?"
"You promised to pay 100,000 points, so there's nothing to help."
Chiyabashira-sensei spoke in an amused tone as she continued to stare at us in surprise.
"Horikita, you understand too, right? Ayanokouji's skill."
"...Well... I just saw an unpleasant student."
"What do you mean by unpleasant..."
"You deliberately scored low on the test, expected to get old test questions and gave Kushida-san credit, and came up with the idea of buying test scores. I don't think you're special, you're just unpleasant. "
Somehow, it seemed that she also heard the test question.
"If it's with you guys, you might actually be able to move your class up."
"I don't know about her, but I will definitely move up."
"In the past, there was never a case where a D class was promoted, because the school immediately labeled you as inferior and pushed yourself to the side. How are you going to accomplish that?"
"Sensei."
Without hesitation, Horikita returned Chiyabashira-sensei's gaze.
"To be honest, many of the students in class D are inferior, but that doesn't mean trash."
"What's the difference between inferior goods and trash?"
"There is a paper-thin difference, I think that with a little help, it is possible to raise inferior quality to superior quality."
"I see, when I say it, it sounds strange."
I also have to agree with her words. Her words are definitely important..
Horikita, who previously saw students and other people as obstacles, slowly changed.
Of course, it's not that simple. Although this is a glimpse of his change, it is a big change. As if he noticed too, Chiyabashira-sensei faintly smiled.
"In that case, I'm looking forward to it. As your homeroom teacher, I will make sure to watch closely for future events."
Chiyabashira-sensei walked away, heading for the staff room.
We were left behind in the hallway.
"Can we go back too? Class is about to start."
"Ayanokouji-kun."
"Hmm? Ow!"
She hit my side with her hand.
"Hey, what was that for!?"
"I just felt like it."
With that, she left me and walked away.
Good grief, so troublesome... I stared at her as she walked away.
While thinking that, I decided to chase after her.