Practical Classroom: Kaoru Hanayama's Classroom of Merit

Ryuen Sho and Ishizaki Daichi walked down the corridor with their backs to Class C.

After confirming that there were no other students around, Ishizaki asked the question that had been on his mind for a long time.

"Longyuan, why are you giving them the past exam papers for free? What if those guys actually memorize them and get high scores?"

Ishizaki still looked unsettled, scratching his head.

He spent a lot of points to get the past exam papers, only to give them away to other classes for free. In his crude way of thinking, it seemed like a really bad deal.

"Hehehe...you weren't actually worried about that kind of thing just now, were you?"

Long Yuan didn't stop, shaking his shoulders and letting out a low sneer.

"Listen up, Ishizaki. I'm going to teach you what the saying 'free things are the most expensive' means."

"Huh? Does that mean... Huashan will owe us a favor?"

"What's the use of human relationships? I don't count on that kind of boring stuff."

A cunning glint appeared in Long Yuan's eyes.

"Listen up. If those guys in Huashan's class start throwing themselves at that past exam paper and just memorizing it... they're doomed."

"Damn it? Why? Because the questions will be exactly the same as the actual exam, so everyone can get full marks and be saved, right?"

With Ishizaki's slow-witted brain, he couldn't see the chessboard further away at all. Ryuen stretched his neck and revealed the answer.

"The reuse of past exam questions is simply an unspoken rule. If I went to the school on the eve of the exam and reported that 'the midterm exam questions seem to have been leaked,' what do you think the school would do?"

"ah……!"

Having grasped the true meaning of that sentence, Ishizaki's eyes widened in surprise.

"The school will probably rush to replace the exam papers with another set in order to maintain so-called fairness."

Long Yuan smiled happily.

"Those idiots who have no idea the questions have changed and are only focused on memorizing the old answers, what a desperate look they'll have when they see the completely new exam paper in the actual test. Just imagining it makes me laugh, doesn't it?"

"Then, what about our class?"

"That's why I said, let Kaneda and Shiina use proper methods to tutor the idiots in the class."

Long Yuan deepened his twisted smile, as if licking his lips.

"As long as we're prepared to earn points through our own abilities, and while those guys are completely absorbed in the practice questions and let their guard down, we can simply remove the ladder and kick them down. That would be the perfect hunt."

"Wow, that's amazing...!!"

Faced with unfathomable malice, Ishizaki's fear and subservience towards Ryuen were etched even more intensely into his mind.

Not only violence, but even the rules can be ruthlessly exploited; he even developed the illusion that victory was already in his grasp.

......

A few seconds after Longyuan and the others left the classroom, the previously calm class erupted into a frenzy.

"Hanayama! Was that real!?"

Ike Kanji practically leaned half his body out as he ran over.

Behind him, Haruki Yamauchi and Kenya Sudo followed closely with eyes that shone as if they had discovered an oasis in the desert.

"They'll use the same questions as the actual exam, right?! If that's the case, then we won't have to go through this hellish tutoring anymore!"

Sudo let out an excited sound.

"With that, failing a mere grade is a piece of cake! Show it to us, Hanayama!"

The three idiots stared intently at the transparent folder on Huashan's desk.

but.

Crash!

The piercing shattering sound echoed through the classroom.

Kaoru Hanayama handled the stack of photocopies as if they were garbage, grabbing the stack with her thick hand and compressing it into a hard sphere in an instant with her terrifying grip strength.

The paper fibers broke, turning into a crumpled mess that could never be restored.

Faced with this completely unexpected move, Sudo and the others gaped in surprise.

"Hanayama, what are you doing?!"

Yamauchi clutched his head and screamed in agony.

"We finally got our hands on those practice exam questions! Our lifeline! Why did you have to crumple them up like this?!"

Amidst the accusations mixed with incomprehension and despair, Huashan threw the crumpled garbage into the trash can.

Then he slowly stared at them and said something that was taken for granted as common sense in the yakuza world.

"Those are the enemy, suddenly offering free charity to our doorstep."

The heavy, deep voice made the air in the classroom feel slightly numb.

"Would you dare accept something of dubious origin without any apparent reason?"

"Why……?"

"They're deliberately offering you a way to make money for free... With such a great opportunity, who would be foolish enough to take the bait?"

Hanayama's sharp eyes pierced through Sudo and the others.

"It's better to use your own brain to decide the outcome than to entrust your life to something uncertain."

That was the correct answer derived from Huashan's pure Yakuza instincts and his keen sense of traps.

The first to react was Karuizawa Megumi, who was under Hanayama's protection.

She had initially wavered because the fact that she could easily pass the test with the actual exam questions made her doubts, but the moment Hanayama, her protector, clearly determined that "this is a trap," she immediately chose to take advantage of the situation and put her arm around his broad back.

"Huh? Are you all idiots?"

Karuizawa crossed his arms and sneered as if he were treating Sudo and the others like fools.

"How could that long-haired guy possibly be kind enough to give us the practice questions? He should at least be a little more cautious, okay? If we get scammed and get expelled, that would be really pathetic."

"He's just Karuizawa, yet he's so arrogant..."

"But now that you mention it, it's true..."

Just as Ike and the others hesitated, Kushida Kikyo appeared with a sweet and pleasant voice.

"I also tend to agree with Hanayama-san and Karuizawa-san's opinions."

On the surface, she was speaking to maintain harmony in the class, but having been seen behaving so wildly and disgracefully the night before, she couldn't even muster the slightest thought of disobeying Hanayama's judgment.

"If it was truly out of pure goodwill, they should have made it public more openly. I think it was definitely a trap set to harm us."

Karuizawa, the pinnacle of the female student class, and Kushida, the class idol.

After being thoroughly berated by these two people with sound reasoning, Sudo, Ike, and Yamauchi finally hung their heads in dejection.

"I-I understand. Damn it, so in the end I still have to do things step by step...!"

"Waaah... I have to go to tutoring..."