Outsider : Classroom Of The Elite

Chapter 2.4 - Factorial Zero

Time flew by in the blink of an eye. It was already Friday. Our midterm exam was finally upon us. The study group were held everyday for the entire week. Horikita took the active role of teaching the curriculum to all. Now, it was only a matter of time until the results would be clear as day.

"There are no absences today. It appears everyone is present."

Chabashira strode through the classroom with a bold smile on her face.

"That's the first hurdle for you leftovers. Are there any questions?"

"We've studied diligently these past few weeks. I don't think that anyone will fail."

"Oh my. You sound quite confident, Hirata."

Everyone wore a confident look, even Sudou. Even a actually attended the study groups for the remaining days. There was no mistaking that he at least tried to study. But will that be enough?

The teacher promptly took up the test papers and passed them out.

"If anyone stumbles here, the other tests will be an uphill battle, quite frankly. You'll take this midterm and the final exam in July. If no one fails either test, you'll be rewarded with a vacation during your summer break."

"A vacation?"

"That's right. A dream vacation on an island surrounded by the brilliant blue sea."

That was a good joke, until they turned it into full fledged special exam.

"Everyone. Let's do our best!"

"Yeah!" Ike howled along with our classmates.

"Yeah!" I mustered some strength to my voice too cause why not?

"Pervert." Horikita glanced at me.

"What can I say? I'm a normal healthy boy in adolescence."

"If I were to voice my opinion, you are anything but normal."

"How rude."

"I am just stating the facts. That's all." and so I ignored her thereafter.

Before long, everyone had their test papers. On the teacher's signal, everyone began. I held off on starting for a moment and looked at Sudou. With everything h'd learned, could he avoid failing?

We held study sessions whenever we could with the intention of reaching maximum efficiency. Sudou joined the group from time to time. Though he would show his club activities as his jail free card, he was not completely ignoring us which was a good sign. But, will he be okay though?

Oh, I wonder what would happen.

The next second I finally turned my paper. Sure enough, the questions were exactly the same as expected. To tell you the truth, the exam paper was a bit odd.

I've read the curriculum for the first years. Granted, the majority of the questions were within the syllabus. However the paper also contained numerous questions from not only the second and third years level, but also from the college level.

During my fifteen years of studying, I've never seen such an unique selection of questions, ever. But there was nothing to worry about as I was pretty sure that most the students would copy and paste from what they've memorized from the paper distributed by someone who was 'not me'.

I slowly started answering the questions myself, one by one. It was only a matter of time until the results would come out.

But really, at this point whether Sudou sank or swim was entirely up to fate.