Classroom of the Elite: Alter - Self-Test

May 3rd, Monday. 

Everyone was quietly sitting in their seats five minutes before the bell rang. All of us patiently waited for Chabashira-sensei. However, instead of being nervous, all of us were actually celebrating in the class group chat. After all, our points just got transferred this morning. Kushida's group was quite active, along with Onodera, Nishimura, Inogashira, Azuma, and Wang or Mii-chan as most of us call her.

"Good Morning." Chabishira-sensei waltzes in as the bell's sound is heard all over the campus. "Listen up, students of Class D."

All of us smiled in anticipation before Sensei continued.

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"Or should I say... Class B?" 

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Chabashira-sensei slowly uttered those words, as the expressionless look on her face changed into a small smile.

Each student had different reactions, but they were all positive in their own ways.

"Alright!" Ike and Yamauchi couldn't help but yell out.

A lot of the girls gleefully celebrated as they smiled at their friends. Sudou and I looked at each other and exchanged our usual thumbs-up.

"Congratulations. I'm sure the other classes are desperately wondering how you managed this feat, but it doesn't matter." Chabashira-sensei smiled as she plastered a poster on the blackboard using some magnets.

"Sensei... Are these the results... for each class?" asked Hirata.

"Yes, Hirata. As you can see, you guys jumped up by two classes. You're only a couple of hundred points behind Class A." Chabashira-sensei answered with a smile.

The points listed were as follows:

Class A(A): 940 cl

Class B(D): 720 cl

Class C(B): 650 cl

Class D(C): 490 cl

"Dang... They really aren't Class A for nothing, huh?" Okitani murmured.

"That's crazy! They, like, didn't even know about the S-System but still managed to maintain such a high score?!" Karuizawa exclaimed.

While we were happy about our results, we can't help but be amazed by Class A's staggeringly high number of class points.

"You were all judged with the same set of rules. I guess this is a good wake-up call to see how all of you differ from Class A. But of course, none of you can be called defects now." Chabashira-sensei was smiling, but her expression turned grim right after.

"However, let me remind you... Right here is what you may call a fluke," she said in a deep voice, pointing at our score.

With that, a lot of the students in Class B stiffened.

"Ayanokouji single-handedly brought you here. You might as well be in the low hundreds if it weren't for him. Remember, you were all sorted in this class because the school judged your defective traits as something not worthy of the higher classes," explained Chabashira-sensei.

This was exactly why I opted not to reveal my entrance exam results to the class. Horikita and Yukimura's results were a stark contrast to the argument that they support. Finally, Sensei was sternly revealing that our assortment wasn't strictly based on our entrance exam results.

After she spoke, Chabashira-sensei plastered another poster on the blackboard. We immediately knew that it was the results of the test last week.

"Unlike Class A, there are quite a few students in this class who clearly struggle in their academics," she said. "The exam had 20 questions in total. Each one was 5 points worth. Your class average is 71.5, which means that the passing grade was 35.75 or 36 points."

Chabashira-sensei drew a red line across the bottom part and addressed one student.

"Sudou, you scored 35 points, which means that if this were a real test, you would've been expelled," Chabashira-sensei said coldly.

Everyone was looking at Sudou with concerned looks.

"I... I understand." Sudou was visibly frustrated. Being singled out must've been humiliating.

Since the passing grade was dependent on the class average, we can conclude that the point distribution was evaluated based on that. After all, passing grades would normally be fixed, or based on the batch average. The class average was usually just for show... That's not the case in this school where classes compete with each other.

I made eye contact with Kushida before we subtly nodded to each other.

"It's alright, Sudou-kun! I'm sure you'll improve later on!" said Kushida.

"Yeah, Ike and Yamauchi scored 40 points, which meant that they were only one question ahead of you!" added Onodera.

"Hey! What's that about, Onodera?!" Ike protested with a surprised look on his face.

"Yeah, don't just diss us out of nowhere!" Yamauchi did the same.

"Well, it's true though. But that aside, this wasn't a real test. At the end of the day, we got good results for our class points. Don't sweat it!" Karuizawa joined in and rallied the other girls.

"Yeah, we even got promoted to Class B!" followed Ichihashi.

"Let's just do better in the midterms, Sudou-kun!" Mori said in turn.

Most of the class voiced their agreement. While I do think they're just being half-genuine, they helped maintain Sudou's, and by extension, the class's morale.

I turned to Chabashira-sensei and she looked back at me with a smirk, indicating that she knew what I was doing. Her expression told me that she wasn't willing to spoil my plan.

Sudou didn't expect the supporting voices of our classmates. Of course, that was exactly my plan, using Kushida as the matchstick to light the fire. Chabashira-sensei could've easily ruined this atmosphere by telling them to shut up, but she decided against it.

Sudou looked at me with a confused and flustered expression, to which I responded with a nod.

"My bad... I'll try to get better results next time." Sudou scratched his head with a slightly stressed expression.

I guess that ended well...

"Alright, listen up." Chabashira-sensei finally spoke. "Your midterms will be in three weeks. So try your best to prepare for that. Make sure to listen properly to your teachers. I'll leave the results in here so you can mull over them."

Chabashira-sensei turned to Hirata. 

"Hirata, remove this before your next teacher arrives. Give them back to me later in the faculty office."

"I understand, Sensei." Hirata nodded respectfully.

Chabashira-sensei briefly organized her belongings, as she was getting ready to leave. Before she walks out of the classroom, she turns to me with the same smirk.

"Good job, Ayanokouji. I'm looking forward to your performance in the future," she said, not giving me a chance to reply as she closed the door.

You don't have to tell me that.

When Sensei left, almost everyone got up from their seats to look closer at the results. Horikita and I stayed in our seats. It was visible from the back anyway, so she must've been satisfied with what she'd seen earlier.

"You really got a perfect score..." Horikita said with a grave voice.

"I—" Before I could reply, a wave of students approached my seat.

"Ayanokouji-kun, you're amazing!" Satou got to me first.

"You really are the class's genius! You got all of those super hard questions right!" said Mori.

Looking at the results, I was up there, sitting alone at the top with 100 points. Three people were tied for second place, scoring 90 points. They were Horikita, Yukimura... and Kouenji. I see. His academic abilities are amazing as well. The three of them managed to answer one of the difficult questions.

It's too bad since we probably can't assign him as a tutor.

Not long after, even Hirata and Kushida approached me.

"Incredible job on getting a perfect score, Ayanokouji-kun," Hirata said with a smile.

"Yeah, you guys as well. Getting 85 points was probably the limit for most students, even those of Class A," I replied.

"But you got a perfect score, didn't you? Which means you're waaay smarter than them!" Kushida joined in.

"Those questions were really hard, you know? I had to use up a hundred percent of my brain just to answer one of them." I responded in a joking manner.

"Don't lie to us, Ayanokouji-kun. 15 minutes didn't even pass before you finished the exam. You must've thought that the questions were too easy, right?" said Matsushita. 

Uh, I think you just dug your own grave on that one, Matsushita...

"Ehhh? How did you know, Matsushita-san? You must've been staring at Ayanokouji-kun the whole time!" Karuizawa immediately pounced at her.

"E-Eh?! N-No! What I meant was I was the same! I finished the test in 15 minutes, but of course, I skipped the last three questions since they were too difficult! And 15 minutes was just my personal time, anyway. Who's to say that Ayanokouji-kun didn't actually finish the test in 10 minutes?" Matsushita tried to salvage the situation.

However, it was futile. Karuizawa and Shinohara did nothing but give her smug looks.

"Now that I think about it, you're quite smart, aren't you, Matsushita-san? You were tied with Kushida, Hirata, Mii-chan, and a few others, scoring 85 points. If you finished the test in just 15 minutes, you must be an academic achiever."

I always looked at her as someone who didn't like trouble, similar to me. Since I now know her academic capabilities, I'll capitalize on them. This is a little payback for her attempt to shake me up psychologically.

"That's..." Matsushita smiled bitterly, which I found to be extremely amusing.

Horikita came in at the perfect time to rescue her.

"Ayanokouji-kun, I think it's a good time to discuss our plans for the study groups," Horikita said, approaching my crowded seat.

"Horikita-san is right. We probably can't go into details since our time is limited, but at least we can set up a meeting schedule with everyone." Hirata agreed, his words instantly taking over the atmosphere.

With their initiative and quick thinking, I'm sure everything will go smoothly.

Our one-time card is now destroyed. It's up to us to maintain this foothold...