On Friday, the fifth day of the special exam, the number of pairs finalized had increased to 81, meaning that a little over half of all students had made their decisions. The number of students in Class 2-D who had found a partner had begun to increase as well.
The same was true of those whom I was close with. I had already known about Kei's decision due to our talk yesterday, but both Airi and Haruka from the Ayanokōji Group made theirs as well. The driving force behind this had been none other than Kushida. She was largely responsible for introducing our classmates to students from Class 1-B thanks to her collaboration with Yagami, an underclassman from the same middle school as her. However, this was by no means a perfect solution for everything. Although Yagami was gradually gaining a positive reputation within his own class, it didn't seem like he had any intention of being a leader. As such, he was simply cooperating with us as an individual. It wasn't reasonable to expect him to be able to provide enough students to cover for everyone who needed a partner in Class 2-D.
Yagami had offered his help under only one condition: That he partner up with Kushida.
And, as indicated by the information provided in the OAA app, that was exactly what had happened yesterday.
We had to use Kushida, one of our more academically capable students, but Horikita didn't seem to be dissatisfied with that in the slightest because the benefits had far outweighed the cost incurred. Besides, we still had several talented students left on the table, such as Yōsuke, Keisei, Mii-chan, Matsushita, and even Horikita herself.
In any case, just because one's partner had been finalized didn't mean that one could just take it easy.
A proper amount of studying was a reality that simply couldn't be avoided.
In fact, you could say that the exam had only truly started once one's partner had been chosen.
Even though I didn't speak with them very much, I could feel a sense of unity in our class as everyone began to help each other out.
It was probably only possible because we were comrades who had stuck together through thick and thin over the course of the past year.
But despite the unified atmosphere─
One student rose up from his seat, seemingly about to return home for the day.
Horikita proceeded to speak up to him, as if she had been waiting for him to attempt to leave.
"It seems you still haven't found a partner yet, Kōenji-kun."
"And what's wrong with that?"
This was an intervention with the only person in the class who wasn't a part of this sense of unity.
"As your fellow classmate, I just thought I'd ask you about your current situation."
Even for students that usually did things on their own, they'd normally still talk about it with others so you'd still know what they were up to.
But Kōenji wasn't one to say anything to anyone, so it was hard to know what he was up to.
"You're smart. You've never even considered the idea that you might get expelled, have you?"
"Of course."
"Fair enough. Knowing you, even if you were to pair with a student with ratings similar to Ike-kun, you'd get close to 400 points easily. I think you're pretty safe."
Generally speaking, one would want to make use of Kōenji as one of the most academically capable students in the class.
That was probably why Horikita had reached out to him, but sure enough…
"Fufufu. I have no intention of doing anything for this special exam. All that matters is that the one who becomes my partner scores at least 150 points. As long as they accomplish the bare minimum, it should be effortless for me to attain a score that exceeds the passing criteria."
According to Chabashira, everyone should be able to score a total of 150 points on the exam at the very least. Unless you were in my shoes and you ended up partnering with the White Room enforcer, it was unthinkable that one's partner would intentionally score a zero.
However, the need to rely on your partner was inevitable.
Indeed. You would probably never find somebody that was 100% guaranteed to score at least one point on the exam, no matter how hard you looked. Both first and second-year students had to move forward on the assumption that their partner would score at least 150 points, but this was no more than a 99.9% guarantee. In order to make that guarantee as close to 100% as possible, the school had come up with a rule, stating that students whose scores deviate from what was expected of them, given their Academic Ability ratings, would be expelled. And it was because of this that Kōenji could afford to be confident.
He didn't need to go to the trouble of attending discussions or building up relationships with the new students.
"In other words, you're saying that it doesn't matter who you end up partnering with, right? If so, would you allow me to find someone for you? I know you think you'll be fine no matter who you end up with, but it'd be safest to avoid incurring the 5% penalty that would come with not finding a partner."
She was offering to just leave everything to her, a proposition that had essentially no visible downsides.
"You're definitely not wrong, but allow me to refuse."
"…Why? Can I ask that you give me a reason?"
"Because I am who I am, naturally."
Simply put, he didn't want to be used at Horikita's convenience.
Kōenji was Kōenji regardless of the situation.
If I were to find myself in a position where I had to make use of Kōenji in order to come out on top, then I probably should've done something different before getting into that position in the first place.
"Satisfied?"
Having been asked this, there was nothing more Horikita could say.
After all, Kōenji wasn't an opponent she could force into action even if she tried. It would be a waste of effort.
"Yes. For now. But, you can't keep going on like this forever. When the time comes and the class really has to work together, you'll have to do your part as well."
She wasn't talking about this particular special exam. Rather, she had her sights set on what would come after that.
Horikita wanted him to keep that in mind.
"I understand why you'd want to rely on somebody as perfect and flawless as me, but I probably won't take part in a~ny of that."
Unwilling to lend his ear to Horikita any further, Kōenji turned and left the classroom, headed off to who-knows-where.
"Kōenji is impossible, isn't he?"
I poked my nose into what had happened and spoke up, albeit somewhat unintentionally.
"I'm just irritated because our class would be so much stronger if he took things seriously."
There was nothing more frustrating than having a secret weapon you couldn't control.
It was the feeling of expectation that made her despair when he didn't perform as she thought he would.
"If it were me, I wouldn't have counted on him from the very start."
For the sake of the future, it would probably be easier for her to think of Kōenji as an exception and leave it at that.
"I won't give up."
"…Is that so?"
Well, while running around in circles accomplishing nothing wasn't the best use of time, at least she was motivated.