I woke up a bit tired. Well, I did happen to spend the whole night worrying about the exam—I mean strategizing. Yes, that was what I meant.
"Who am I kidding?" I asked no one in particular. "At any rate, I better hurry before I'm late again."
I hurriedly rushed into my bathroom so I could take a hot shower as fast as possible.
I brushed my teeth while drying my hair and then put on my uniform and headed to school.
I fiddled with my phone and sent a message to someone as I walked to school and found out I wasn't even late.
It was 7:50 AM, so I was actually on time for once. Well, it wasn't like I came late every time.
Anyway, the walk to the school was peaceful as the soft breeze tickled my nose.
[There's supposed to be an illustration here with Nakamura grinning and his hair moving with the wind.]
As I was quietly enjoying myself with a smile on my face, Kagura walked over to me.
"Hey Nakamura, what's with the smile?" she asked.
"I just really like the weather."
"Huh? It's just normal weather; did you grow up in a place outside Tokyo?"
"Nah."
"Uh…Okay," Kagura said, looking at me weirdly.
Tokyo really was an amazing place; I really liked the weather and found it quite peaceful.
I really was enjoying myself in this school, and so leaving this school was out of the question.
I and Kagura walked side-by-side and made casual conversation.
"So, about the special test, what do you think, Nakamura-kun?"
"I don't really know what to do."
Despite today being Tuesday—6 days to the test—I still didn't know what to do.
"Yeah, I'm sure everyone is like that. I've been thinking about it, but shouldn't we do some espionage to gather info on the other classes?"
"I suppose we could do that."
While that could be done—I didn't really think that was what we could realistically do, but that was just my opinion.
"The question is how. We couldn't just ask around."
The fact someone like Kagura, who was good with people, couldn't think of a way of getting the information meant there might not have been a way to get that information.
Moreover, it's not like I could record them like I did Ito because I had no idea where they had their strategy meetings and if they even did it in person.
"…And that's not all our problems," Kagura's voice grew dim.
Yes, it wasn't.
"We also have the stolen records. I don't believe we have any traitors in our class, do you?" Kagura looked at me in the eye.
"I hope there isn't, but where are the records even kept?"
"…I'm not really sure," she stopped in her tracks and gave it a little thought. "Well, Jackson-sensei might know."
"I see, I guess that's that."
We continued walking, and I eventually saw Ito across the road to school with the girls beside him. We didn't walk together today, but I still got hostile stares.
Hey! I'm not even doing anything!
With that we arrived at school. On arriving in class, I got strange looks from my classmates.
I went to my seat, but the atmosphere was really something, though I tried my best to ignore it.
My neighbor moved his seat away from me and shot me a glare.
The girls were gossiping about me. I heard words like 'scum', 'trash', 'rapist', 'incel', and so much more—they were treating me like the plague.
Ito was about to address the matter, but Jackson-sensei walked into class.
"Good morning, class. How's your progress with the special test?" she glanced at me and was shocked before regaining her composure.
Seems like she didn't know I wasn't expelled.
"…"
No one said a word; we were all thinking the same thing, and I was more than sure Jackson-sensei also knew what we were thinking.
"No luck, huh?" she said, as robotic as ever. "I'm sure it goes without saying, but just as a remainder, you need to send the test questions by the latest, the close of school by Friday.
If you send them earlier, you can get them reviewed, and if we decide they're not suitable, then you can remake them.
However, if they aren't suitable and there's no more time, then the school will prepare questions themselves—keep in mind that the questions are quite easy, too easy in fact. This will also happen if no questions are prepared."
Regardless of the number of times I heard it, I still came to the same decision and conclusion.
In the end it's a matter of trial and error.
Everyone knew what Jackson-sensei had said, and so no one said anything about it or asked a question.
Well, except for me.
"Jackson-sensei, where are the school records kept?"
After I asked the question, Jackson-sensei looked at me with utter disdain before quickly changing her expression and answering—it seemed she still thought I raped Suzuki.
I guess my assessment is done.
"That's confidential," she said.
"Can I ask another question?"
Jackson-sensei looked at me for a while before answering; it seemed she really didn't like me.
".. Sure. "
"Let's say someone couldn't prepare properly for this special test and cheated. What would happen?" I asked.
"…Cheating while in an exam hall will result in immediate expulsion."
"I see."
If that's the case…
I came to a conclusion in my mind after hearing what Jackson-sensei said.
"If that is all the questions, I'll be taking my leave," Jackson-sensei took quick strides as she left the class.
It seemed none of us had come up with a plan yet, but hopefully the other classes were stopped too.
At any rate, the next teacher came to class, and everything went on normally.
***
Author's Note:
Anyway, remember to comment, share, and leave a review. Thanks for reading the chapter and see you in the next one.