Starting in class B: Ayanokouji Kiyone

Arc 1 chapter 14: midterms

It was Thursday. Tomorrow, the midterm would be upon us. Class had ended for the day. After Hoshinomiya-sensei ended the homeroom period and left the classroom, I signalled to Kanzaki. He immediately leapt into action. He took out printed copies of the old test I'd made at the convenience store and brought them to the podium.

"Everyone, before you return to the dorm, would you mind listening to me for a moment?"

Everyone stopped and listed to Kanzaki. This was a role I couldn't play. Only Kanzaki or Ichinose could do this, and I had chosen the former.

"I know that you've all been studying a lot in preparation for the test tomorrow. I have something to help you. I'm going to hand out some papers."

Kanzaki distributed the question and answer sheets to the students in the first row.

"Test...questions? Did you make these, Kanzaki-kun?" Ichinose was visibly surprised by this sudden turn of events.

"Actually, these are the old test problems. I got them from a third-year student last night."

"Old test problems? Huh? Wait, will these questions be on the test tomorrow?"

"Yes. To tell you the truth, I heard that the midterm test from the year before last had almost exactly the same problems as this one. So, I'd we study what's on this test, we'll get spectacular results."

"Woah! Seriously! Thank you, Kanzaki-kun!" Amikura said. None of the other students could suppress their elation, either.

"Everyone, do your best when you study today."

"Yeah. Thanks, you really helped us out today, Kanzaki-kun."

Everyone returned to the dorms with high spirits.

"Kanzaki-kun. Excellent work." Ichinose gave Kanzaki some praise.

"Ah, it was nothing," Kanzaki said.

"I'd never even considered trying to use the old tests. I'm also greatful that you verified that the questions were still useful."

"I just did it for the class. It was nothing special," Kanzaki said.

"Also, I think that you were correct to announce that you had it today after class. If you'd carelessly let word get out about this test, it's possible that everyone would have lost their motivation to study."

"That was only because I received the test papers so late. If many of the same test problems are featured on the test tomorrow, then everyone will probably manage to get pretty high test scores."

"Yes. It also means that the last month we spent studying wasn't for nothing."

The past two weeks had probably been tremendously tough for Ichinose, as she'd organised everything for the class study group. Hopefully, everyone had gotten more into the habit of studying now. Well, we'd done as much as we could. The next step for everyone simply came down to everyone.

"I just pray that no one draws a complete blank during the actual exam."

Well, I couldn't really do anything about that part. No matter how much they were taught and what they demonstrated during the study group, everything can down to their performance on the actual test. At least the previous questions were one crucial bit of help. I had no doubt we'd be the highest scoring class in the grade.

"Well, should we head back?"

Ichinose quietly looked over to Kanzaki as she put her textbook into her bag. "Kanzaki-kun?"

"Hmm?"

"Really, thank you for everything you've done. If you weren't here, a few people might have been in danger of failing."