Upon hearing the voice, I knew who it was; it was Kobayashi-sensei.
I silently considered running away but the main issue was the school would actively look for me, making it easier for them to find me if they pieced together that I wasn't in class.
The reason I was able to get the information was because of the student autonomy but if a teacher reported it, it would become something important.
And with my shaky reputation, it was best to avoid that for now.
"I said you should come out. Don't even think of running."
I slowly came out from behind a tree. I was deep in thought about what I should say.
"Nakamura? What are you doing here?"
"I woke up a bit late," I rubbed the back of my head bashfully. "Then got lost. Still haven't figured out the layout of the school."
"Oh, that's understandable. Return to class for the test."
"Yes, ma'am," I nodded before leaving with the bag.
She bought that?! It seems I'm also lucky today.
While it seemed weird for her to be there, I already knew why. When she submitted her classes' questions on Friday, she forgot her ring and couldn't get it on the weekend.
Though for a homeroom teacher she came here quite late, that being said, it was still kinda weird to think of her as a homeroom teacher, but she was.
Each teacher was; there were 5 teachers we had in total and each of them was the homeroom teacher of each class.
They all had taught several subjects to us; some even taught more than others because of electives, though moral education and integrated studies were handled by the homeroom teacher.
I ran back to class at a quick pace, eventually arriving at the door to the classroom.
I entered to see everybody engrossed in the test—some looked utterly and completely confused, some just stared at their test, and others gave up and just waited for the test to be over.
I was given a test paper and also went hard at it; of course, I didn't expect to get a high score since this was the test in which I didn't read the answers beforehand.
Since that was the case, I took less time for the test and used the remainder of the time to make a physical copy of the other test questions and answers.
After the test was done, we were given the remaining day to do whatever.
During said time I got messages from Ito asking why I had come late.
I gave him the same response I had given to Kobayashi-sensei and he surprisingly believed me as well.
[Ito Yuuto: I suppose it couldn't be helped.]
Kagura came to meet me physically and while Honda gave me a quick glance, she ultimately believed in her blackmail and focused on other important things to her, like Ito, because she forced him to have a 'study session' with her.
Kagura also asked where I was but when I gave her the same excuse, she didn't believe me but chose not to pry further.
With that done I gave her the physical copy I made, explaining to her what it is and telling her to share it with everyone in class but made sure not to say that I used my memory to reconstruct it.
"Wow, where did you get them from?" she asked.
"Can't say. I'll explain later, when we're done with the special test."
"Fine, I understand, though where will I say I got them from?"
"Just leave them in suspense till next Monday."
"Alright then."
After that our conversation went on for a little while, briefly touching on Fuji, though none of us could talk to her for now because of the test and Fuji was aware of that too.
After our short chat, Kagura went on to hang out with her friends and spread the test questions.
I eventually got some texts from Yoshida asking why I didn't come to class.
I told her my fake reason and she didn't believe me, calling me a liar—this went on for a while and let's just say that some heavy amounts of persuasion were needed.
The rest of the day and even the week went on uneventfully; of course, I was sure even with the cheat sheet most wouldn't get that high.
But I made sure not to get that high. You might ask why but it stemmed from what happened in the first test, which I flunked.
If I flunked that test, then why did I pass other ones? You might add that they are different subjects but no, they all incorporated different subjects.
And I couldn't just suddenly improve my academic intelligence overnight so I opted to get exactly 20 marks above what I got in the first test so as to not get caught if they ever investigated the class.
Anyway, the next week rolled on over quite quickly and we were done with the special test.
Now, it was time to see the results, which we didn't receive during homeroom.
We all were told to go to the hallway and read off the electronic billboard.
Yes, this billboard had been here since my first day yet I never mentioned it. It was simply because it lacked meaning; rather, it had no purpose.
At any rate, the ranking on the board is as follows:
Class Gamma—Fifth/Last Position
Class Delta—Fourth Position
Class Beta—Third Position.
Class Epsilon—Second Position.
Class Alpha—First Position.
We managed to come in second, I did a massive fist pump before carefully thinking about it.
I couldn't really see a reason why we came second; well, then again, we were Class Epsilon so it wasn't too shocking.
Though we could see what particular class's subjects we passed or failed.
It was a culmination of scores but it didn't really matter. Anyway, I could see my class's scores.
We passed 90% of our questions but failed 10%, from which 8% came from Class Alpha.
In contrast, Class Alpha passed 98% of their questions but failed 2%, of which 0.5% came from our class, though 0.5% also came from the other classes.
It felt like they cheated but I knew they couldn't because they couldn't cheat on the first one and they couldn't have stolen the class questions for Tuesday either because I was there.
If they didn't get the questions two days in a row, then they wouldn't have gotten this high.
That meant they got this simply from their own merit, so this was how Class Alpha is.
Hmm...
"Woah!"
"It's her!"
"Yeah, you're right!"
Since the electronic billboard wasn't in our classes, people from other classes also came here.
And more than half of them were swooning over a certain girl who was walking past the billboard with some of her 'friends'.
Though I use that word loosely because they looked more like bodyguards or personal assistants.
"Hoshikawa-san, are you not going to look at the scores?" her attendant asked.
Hoshikawa, huh. No, I doubt that she's related to that greedy man.
"No, I only came here to scout," the girl—or rather, I mean, Hoshikawa—replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
"But we could have—"
"No, I like to do this."
Hoshikawa briefly glanced at where I was before turning to look at another thing.
"That's the new student from Class Epsilon," her attendant said—she noticed her gaze.
"I see," Hoshikawa seemed disinterested and they all left just as quickly as they came.
"She really is so pretty," a boy said beside me. "Especially her trademark Hoshikawa hair and eyes."
"Trademark?" I asked.
"Don't tell me you don't know that she's the heiress of the Hoshikawa Group."
Heiress? Hoshikawa Takemitsu has a descendant? I thought the names were just a coincidence.
Now that I think about it, she really does resemble her dad with the hair and eyes—yes, even her uncle.
"Nah, I just didn't know the Hoshikawa family had children."
"You didn't know? Have you been living under a rock? She was announced on her 12th birthday."
I laughed nervously because the last time I interacted with the Hoshikawa Group was when I was 9 so there was no way for me to know.
That being said, does that mean Takemitsu-sama hid this from him?
I removed my mind from such a thought and I saw the person beside me still swooning over Hoshikawa.
"Her hair and eyes are just so pretty. You agree, right?" He looked over to me for reassurance.
"You do know that I have black hair too, right?" I asked sarcastically. "Also wouldn't you say my crimson red eyes are better than her emerald green eyes?"
"Uh, no. Your hair is just regular black, not jet black; moreover, your eyes look kinda weird. Are you wearing contacts?"
What the hell did this boy just say?
I was about to hit him when he suddenly got called by a friend and left.
I will find you and I will kill you.
I briefly glared at him before going to class for homeroom.
"I will now project the scores on the board," Jackson-sensei said, her tone being slightly higher pitched than usual.
So she's also interested.
I eagerly looked for my grade and saw I was 12th; well, it couldn't be helped.
The first was Ito and was still followed by Suzuki—in the end, everyone's score was the same as that math quiz we took a while ago, well, except mine but it was because in the first test I got 50% so I got 70% in the other tests.
I suppose this is the conclusion of step 3 of my plan.
"Now, that concludes the end of homeroom. That being said, I'm proud of you guys," Jackson-sensei flashed a smile. "Anyway, there will be a special announcement on Friday on TV."
With that done, Jackson-sensei left the classroom with a grin on.
"Kagura-chan, so how did you get the questions?"
"Yeah, you said you'd tell us after the test."
"Mhm."
People berated Kagura with questions and she tried to look to me for an answer but I turned away from her.
I planned this outcome because I knew what would happen next.
"I, uh…"
"What is it?"
Everyone became engrossed at this point. Kagura had to do something because the pressure was becoming a bit too much.
"I got it from—"
They didn't want a slow answer but a quick one. Even Ito and Suzuki came to her seat just to hear the answer.
"From whom?"
She couldn't give a false answer; she had to be truthful and factual.
"I got it from Nakamura!" she succumbed to the pressure.
Everyone was stunned by her and that was precisely what I wanted.
Now everything was in place for step 4 of my strategy.
Nice.
***
Author's Note:
Uh, Eiya, how'd you know exactly what you would get in a multiple-choice test? The only way to get it is if you—Anyway, remember to comment, share, and leave a review. Thanks for reading the chapter and see you in the next one.