Chapter 97: Monthly Exam Results Are Out, and the Result Is?!
Time flows like water, quietly slipping through one's fingers.
Two full weeks have passed since that lively weekend at the Game Center. A lot has happened in these two weeks.
For example, Horikita Suzune really did go to the Game Center to shoot hoops for an hour every day after school. At first, Karuizawa Kei secretly mocked Horikita's persistence, thinking that this was the one area where the gap between them was smallest. However, a week later, when she saw Horikita's basketball score break 300 points, she stopped laughing.
For example, while Sakura Airi secretly practiced games, she was also researching new cookie recipes. She would give them to Katsuragi Keima twice a week. Although Keima always said "Mm" with an expressionless face, the cookies were always finished. As for Keima's previous statement that "I don't really like sweets," he never brought it up again.
For example, Kushida Kikyo would occasionally appear at the Game Center, always claiming she was just "passing by." Her interactions with Horikita Suzune remained subtle, but at least she stopped cursing her behind her back—at least not while they were at the Game Center. Of course, at night, she would still go to Keima's room and unleash a verbal torrent against Horikita.
For example, Kiryuin Fuuka would occasionally come to the first-year area to observe. Every time she saw this group, she would reveal a meaningful smile.
For example, Elsie... well, Elsie was still Elsie, trying to help Keima in various strange ways every day, only to end up making things worse every time.
Then, the monthly exams arrived.
"The results are posted!"
As soon as the bell for morning self-study rang, students rushed into the classroom. The rankings for everyone were posted on the whiteboard. Not only that, but the report cards for this exam were also sent to everyone's terminals.
"Check the group chat! The rankings are out!"
The classroom erupted instantly. Karuizawa Kei sat there appearing calm on the surface, but her fingers were rapidly swiping across her phone screen. Her heart was pounding—she had indeed studied more seriously than usual these past two weeks, but she had no idea how effective it had been.
Sakura Airi wrung her fingers nervously, not even daring to look at her phone. In the past, she never cared about grades; she was always at the bottom anyway. But this time was different—this time, she had truly worked hard.
Kushida Kikyo maintained her sweet smile while checking the rankings. Her grades were always decent, stable in the upper-middle tier; they shouldn't be bad this time either.
Horikita Suzune opened her textbook expressionlessly, acting as if she didn't care about the grades at all. But her peripheral vision was constantly darting toward her phone screen.
Only Katsuragi Keima remained with his head down, playing his handheld, deaf to everything in the outside world.
"They're out!" someone shouted.
Exclamations of surprise rose one after another throughout the classroom.
"First place... is still Katsuragi?!"
"Him again?! He plays games all day and still gets first?!"
"This is unscientific!"
Karuizawa Kei's finger finally swiped to the ranking page.
[Class Rankings]
1st Katsuragi Keima (Class D)
2nd Horikita Suzune (Class D) ...
10th Kushida Kikyo (Class D) ...
14th Karuizawa Kei (Class D) ...
20th Sakura Airi (Class D) ...
38th Elsie (Class D)
Kei froze. 14th? Her grades in the class had reached above the middle tier?!
"I actually managed to get close to the top twenty?"
She rubbed her eyes in disbelief. She looked again—it was still 14th. Karuizawa Kei was actually quite smart; she had only lost interest in studying due to her character flaws, leading to poor grades. She had previously estimated she would be around 30th, but she never expected to enter the top 20. She had to admit, Keima's tutoring was incredible. It had even made her develop an interest in studying.
"YES—!"
She suddenly stood up and let out a scream, startling everyone around her. "I improved! 14th place! 14th!"
Sakura Airi also finally plucked up the courage to look at her ranking. 20th.
"I... I also..." Her eyes suddenly turned red. "I improved so much... it's all thanks to Keima-kun..."
Kushida Kikyo looked at her ranking: 10th. It wasn't bad, but in her heart, it wasn't particularly good either. She hadn't expected Sakura Airi and Karuizawa Kei, who previously seemed to have poor academic performance, to score so well. Was this the result of Katsuragi Keima's tutoring?
Even though Kushida herself had attended the study group, she only came occasionally because of Keima, and she was on the side responsible for tutoring, not the one being tutored! Her smile stiffened for an instant but was quickly adjusted.
"Airi-chan, you're amazing! Such a big improvement!" Her voice was still sweet, but her mind was calculating frantically: Why? Why did they improve so much? Just because of that study group?
Horikita Suzune glanced at her ranking. 2nd place. It was expected. She was second last time, too—first place was always Katsuragi Keima; she was used to that. But what surprised her was the improvement of the others in the class.
Karuizawa Kei, 14th. Sakura Airi, 20th. And of course, that Elsie person even ranked 38th—moving from dead last to third-to-last. It was a close call, but she had passed the failing line. Only Ike Kanji and Sudou Ken failed to pass.
However, in Horikita's eyes, Elsie was still "controlling" her scores. She turned her head to look at Keima, who was still playing games.
'Is it him? Is it because of his study group?'
"..." Keima lifted his eyelids from his handheld. "Mm?"
"Your strategy was effective."
"What strategy?"
"The study group." Horikita paused. "Everyone's grades improved."
Keima pushed up his glasses. "I only provided a platform. The effort was theirs."
He spoke flatly, but Horikita noticed the corners of his mouth seemed to turn up slightly. Just then, a figure rushed into the classroom like a whirlwind.
"Kami-nii-sama—!" Elsie held her phone high, her face written with excitement. "I got third-to-last! Third-to-last! Last time I was dead last! I improved!"
She rushed to Keima and grabbed his hand. "This is all thanks to Kami-nii-sama! Kami-nii-sama is so incredible!"
"Shut up! I tutored you for so long and you're still third-to-last! Have you no shame?!" Keima put down his console and looked at the Elsie in front of him, his teeth nearly grinding together. Despite his best efforts at tutoring, everyone's grades skyrocketed—except this one.
No, wait. In a sense, Elsie was the one who improved the most. After all, her score had multiplied. In the very beginning, she was a legendary figure who "slashed" her scores down to single digits. Now, she had at least passed. Even if she was third-to-last.
The two at the bottom were exactly the ones Horikita Suzune had hoped to improve through a study group. However, they didn't accept her kindness and didn't take the monthly exam seriously. Horikita shook her head and looked around the rest of the room.
The classroom was as noisy as a boiling pot. Kei was still jumping around, completely losing her usual composed "center of the girl's circle" persona. She grabbed Sakura Airi next to her and shook her vigorously: "Airi! Did you hear?! I'm 14th! 14th!"
"O-O-O-O..." Airi was being shaken until she was dizzy, but her face was blooming with a smile. "Kei-chan, that's amazing..."
Perhaps because of Kei's powerful social attributes, Airi's personality had improved quite a bit, to the point where other girls in the class gathered around to chat with her.
"Hey! Kei, you went to the study group behind our backs! Unforgivable! We want to join too!" Sato Maya and the others were both happy for Kei's improvement and wanted to join the study group.
"Sakura-san's progress is lightning fast."
"I-it's all thanks to Keima-kun..." Airi stole a glance at Keima, her face turning red again.
Keima went back to playing games with his head down, as if the surrounding noise had nothing to do with him. Kushida Kikyo sat in her seat, her smile flawless, and composedly joined their conversation.
"Airi-chan and Kei-chan are both so great~" she said in a sweet voice. "I have to work harder next time too~"
The surrounding girls immediately gathered around her: "Kikyo, you're amazing too! 10th place!" "Exactly! Kikyo is always so stable!" "Kikyo, teach me how to study English~"
Kushida's smile became even more radiant. "Of course~ it's better if everyone improves together~"
But her peripheral vision was constantly on Keima. This grade was one she would normally be satisfied with. But his attitude toward Karuizawa Kei and Sakura Airi was clearly more... close... than toward others? No, that's not right.
He treated everyone the same. Always flat, always playing games. But it was exactly this flatness that gave those close to him an illusion—that they were "special."
Kushida bit her lip. She remembered those nights sitting in Keima's room, complaining to him about Horikita Suzune and class matters.
He would just listen quietly, occasionally handing her a snack or a warm cup of milk, and then start his game. From beginning to end, he never told her "don't be like this" or said she was "doing it wrong." He just listened. Then, after she finished, he would say in that calm, non-judgmental tone: "If you're tired, take a rest."
Kushida took a deep breath, suppressing those chaotic thoughts. Now was not the time for that.
"Kikyo?" Karuizawa Kei's voice pulled her back to reality.
"What is it?"
"What are you dazing out for?" Kei leaned in with a giggle. "You couldn't be shocked by our progress, could you?"
"...I was indeed surprised." Kushida smiled without a flaw. "Kei and Airi are both so amazing~ it seems I need to work harder too~"
"Of course! Next time I'm going to break into the top ten!" Kei pumped her fist.
"I-I'll aim for... top fifteen..." Airi said softly.
As the few of them chatted, they unknowingly walked over to Keima's side.
"Keima-kun... thank you for tutoring us..."
Keima finally looked up from his handheld. "Objectively speaking, it's not enough." He pushed up his glasses. "Kei's English listening still needs strengthening, and Airi lost a lot of points in the geometry section of math. If those two areas can be fixed, your rankings can indeed improve further."
Kei was stunned. "How do you know my English listening isn't good?"
"Distribution of incorrect answers."
"How do you know the distribution of my incorrect answers?"
Keima didn't answer and went back to his game. But Kei suddenly remembered—during every study session, even though Keima was playing games the whole time, he would occasionally look up at their workbooks. Just a glance. Then he would continue playing.
'This guy... could he really remember our mistakes with just one look?'
"Pervert..." she muttered softly.
Airi asked quietly from the side: "Keima-kun... then my... my geometry..."
"There's an issue with how you draw auxiliary lines. I suggest practicing more classic example problems."
"M-mhm! I'll remember that!" Airi took out a small notebook and took a serious note.
Kushida Kikyo watched this scene with a mix of emotions. Keima knew their academic situations perfectly. But he had never asked about her grades. Was it because she didn't need it? Or was it because...
"Kushida-san," Keima suddenly spoke.
Kushida's heart skipped a beat. "Yes?"
"Your weak point is history. On the last quiz, you lost 11 points in the history section, which was 5 points lower than the average. I suggest spending 15 minutes a day memorizing classic passages. In one month, you can increase your accuracy by 30%."
Kushida's smile froze.
'How did he know? She had never done history problems during the study group...'
"O-okay." Kushida didn't know how she managed to say those words. It felt like something in her heart had moved, gently and quietly.
In reality, Keima had been observing them secretly. And of course, he had a trump card—having Elsie use her devil powers to sneak into the office and check their exam answer sheets. Only after confirming that everyone could achieve good results did Keima feel satisfied.
As for Elsie—it would be weirder if she got a high score.
Elsie suddenly raised her hand: "Kami-nii-sama! What about me? What's my weak point?"
Keima finally looked up at her. He was silent for two seconds. "...Everything is your weak point."
"Ehh—?!"
"Being able to scrape past the passing line in every subject is also a talent."
"I'm amazing, right!"
"I wasn't praising you!"
Elsie pouted and looked toward Horikita Suzune pitifully. "Suzune-chan—Kami-nii-sama is bullying me—"
Horikita Suzune turned a page of her book expressionlessly. "You deserve it."
Horikita shook her head and looked at the report card again. Actually, since a moment ago, there was one thing she was consistently concerned about. Everyone in the study group had improved. But there was one person, who wasn't a member of the study group, whose grades had seen a massive leap. This kind of improvement could almost be called cheating.
[Yamauchi Haruki: 11th Place]
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