In fact, after the information is refreshed, they always want to attack me!

All of this points to an obvious conclusion: the "mysterious man" must know the core members of Class D.

As the other party expected, he did not make the same request to Ichinose Honami precisely because he had already become friends with Kushida Kikyo.

Akira Shimizu realized he had been somewhat careless and hadn't done things thoroughly and flawlessly.

He never expected that there was a detective among his classmates.

But thinking about it carefully, even if my identity is revealed, it doesn't seem so bad.

Ichinose from Class B had already told him, but the other party didn't take it to heart at all.

As for Class D, Kikyo Kushida made it clear in the class meeting yesterday that getting 530 class points is already very good—after all, Class D has only ever gotten around 200 to 300 points in previous years.

As for Class A... Sakayanagi Arisu is definitely up to no good and is just waiting to see him make a fool of himself.

And then there's Long Yuanxiang from Class C; these two will definitely not let him off easily.

Especially Ryuen Sho, Shimizu Akira really couldn't understand what this person was thinking.

(Who would have nothing better to do than send a classmate to investigate something like this? That Ryu Yuanxiang must have a lot of free time on his hands!)

So what if they took three million personal points from him? Didn't their class's points increase as well?

Why is he so persistent in pursuing me? Does he value personal points that much?

He shouldn't prioritize increasing his class points; he should be aiming for promotion to Class A.

Or is he planning to save up 20 million points and switch to another class on his own? But judging from his usual demeanor, it doesn't seem like it.

Akira Shimizu had seen his performance on the surveillance footage before—although his actions were indeed violent and extreme, he was a real "booster" for Class C as a whole, and it was clear that he was the one who dragged Class C forward.

Surely they don't really plan to save up 800 million and "buy" all forty students into Class A at once, do they?

......

As I pushed open the dormitory door, my phone screen lit up at just the right moment.

Akira Shimizu unlocked the screen and found that senior Sato had sent them their first-year monthly and midterm exam papers—albeit in screenshot form.

(As expected, they couldn't just give us the original volume directly...)

He fully understood the other party's concerns.

After all, these materials are provided free of charge. If the school discovers that physical exam papers are circulating, it will inevitably cause trouble.

Getting a clear screenshot is already difficult; if you want a paper copy, you'll have to print it out yourself.

Akira Shimizu sat cross-legged on the edge of the bed, his fingertips gently swiping across the screen as he examined these precious documents one by one.

Sato's report card is very pleasing to the eye—his scores in every subject are consistently above 95.

However, upon further reflection, as an elite student in Class A, and having the opportunity to refer to previous exam questions, it is reasonable for them to achieve such results.

Setting his phone aside, Akira Shimizu pulled out several exam papers that had just been handed out last week from his shoulder bag.

The teachers of all subjects were incredibly efficient; they had already finished grading and distributed the papers yesterday.

He laid the old and new exam papers side by side on his desk, his gaze shifting back and forth between them.

(The similarity...)

While they are not exactly identical, at least 90% of the questions are very similar.

The basic questions have been slightly modified, but the challenging questions that most students find difficult—from the question stem to the solution steps, and even the punctuation marks—have been copied exactly as they were.

Akira Shimizu gently placed the exam paper on the table and fell into deep thought.

(This way, at least I don't have to worry about passing the midterm exam...)

He made a rough estimate—even if the questions changed slightly, any student who could memorize all the previous exam questions could easily score 90 points.

but......

(English is a different story.)

For students with weak foundations, English may become the biggest stumbling block.

If you can't even understand the most basic words and can only mechanically memorize every letter, it's a nightmare—it might be more difficult than all other subjects combined.

Akira Shimizu couldn't help but shake his head.

Even if struggling students manage to get access to old questions, they'll likely have to rack their brains and expend twice the effort to tackle English.

This is probably what's called a "knowledge barrier"...

Akira Shimizu stared at the exam paper in his hand, his brows furrowing involuntarily.

(This level of testing... isn't it a bit too easy?)

He simply couldn't believe the school would design such a blatant assessment. Then he thought about it again; the leaders of other classes must have noticed as well—those last few challenging questions on the test couldn't be answered perfectly with regular study.

Although it's not difficult to pass the basic questions, it's not difficult to do so.

(But is just passing enough?)

Students in all four classes can avoid expulsion as long as they pass, but... what if they get better grades? Will there be any extra rewards?

The thought flashed through his mind, and Shimizu Akira immediately grabbed his phone and quickly sent a message to his homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae:

[Will there be extra points awarded based on the class average score for the midterm exam?]

It's worth mentioning that since Shimizu Akira bluntly told her last month, "Don't talk to me about class matters anymore," the two have hardly been in contact.

I just don't know if the other party is still angry about this and is deliberately refusing to answer my question.

But Akira Shimizu didn't care too much—as a student, it was perfectly reasonable for him to ask his homeroom teacher about the rules.

On the contrary, the homeroom teacher, who could have consulted the class monitor, repeatedly came to ask for his opinion, which clearly doesn't make sense.

Surprisingly, Chabashira Sae's reply came unusually slowly. When the phone finally vibrated, the screen displayed:

[5 points are needed to answer this question.]

Akira Shimizu's fingers froze in mid-air.

(Is this... a tacit admission?)

Doesn't the teacher's reaction indirectly confirm his guess?

However, after careful consideration, he realized that he would still need to spend points to purchase it.

After all, while recognition is one thing, the specific number of points the school awards to each class and the specific assessment criteria are also very important pieces of information.

Chapter 106: 104 Karuizawa Megumi Didn't Go to the Boxing Club

Akira Shimizu stared at his phone screen for a moment in thought, and finally transferred 50,000 points from his backup account.

As the notification sound of a successful transfer rang out, he breathed a sigh of relief—this information was indeed worth the price.

Chabashira Sae's reply popped up quickly:

[You guessed it, the school awards points to classes based on their average midterm exam scores, with a maximum of 100 points.]

This brief message made Akira Shimizu instantly understand the school's deeper meaning.

(But a perfect score of 100 points is probably unlikely.)

Every class inevitably has struggling students; getting a perfect score in a single subject is difficult enough, let alone all of them.

However, if we can make good use of past exam questions, refer to old questions and study diligently, it should not be a problem to raise the class average score to around 90 points.

It seems that simply being qualified is not enough; each class needs to work hard to earn more class points.

Akira Shimizu stroked his chin thoughtfully.

(It seems that the method of lowering scores won't work...)

The "score-lowering tactic," as the name suggests, involves having high-achieving students deliberately keep their scores near the passing mark. This lowers the average score, meaning that lower-achieving students might only need to score 20 points to ensure the class as a whole passes.

However, it now appears that this clever trick has backfired, as the class points will also decrease.

(What a dilemma...)

While deliberately lowering scores may help struggling students pass, it can lead to a drop in the class average, which in turn affects the class's points earned.

While it's true that top students' efforts to achieve high scores will significantly improve average grades, it's difficult for struggling students to pass.

In other words, it seems that the optimal solution is to buy old questions from older students and have them memorize them properly.

Then again, he's not the class monitor of Class D...

The overall interests of the class? That shouldn't be something he needs to worry about.

Suddenly, Horikita Manabu's profound words from back then finally became clear in his mind—

"A class can never get zero points."

This is true.

It's impossible for everyone in the class to hand in blank papers and get zero points! Even in Class D, there will be one or two top students.

A new question suddenly surfaced in Shimizu Akira's mind. He quickly picked up his phone:

Are there similar mechanisms in grades 11 and 12?

Chabashira Sae's reply came very quickly:

[This mechanism is retained for both Grade 11 and Grade 12, serving as an extra reward.]

Akira Shimizu twirled his pen thoughtfully, suddenly realizing the subtle differences between the grades in this school.

(This position in the second year of high school... is surprisingly comfortable.)

As students in the middle grade, Grade 11 students do have a significant advantage – they can buy old questions from Grade 12 students to ensure high scores, and they can also resell their old test papers to earn points.

This month, just by reselling exam questions, I can easily earn two considerable sums of money.

In contrast, the situation is quite different for senior high school students.

The graduating seniors can no longer buy higher-level old questions, as if their vital resource supply has been suddenly cut off.

(But... that makes sense too.)

After all, midterm exam scores are no longer important for graduating students who are about to leave school.

The school's arrangement is like an invisible "graduation ceremony"—allowing senior high school students to gradually break free from this cycle of test-taking and prepare for entering university or society.

...

Just as Shimizu Akira was about to continue questioning Chabashira Sae, his phone suddenly vibrated twice in a row.

Sato-senpai's message suddenly popped up:

[By the way, Karuizawa Megumi, whom you introduced, didn't come to the boxing club today.]

[You didn't ask for leave, could you please check on your situation? Are you feeling unwell?]

He stared at the screen for a moment, stunned.

Speaking of which, when I went to the boxing club this afternoon, I didn't see that lively figure who always wears a ponytail.

At this time of day, Karuizawa Kei would usually be busy with various tasks—counting students, distributing bottled water and towels, recording the new students' health conditions, and so on.

He quickly switched back to the chat interface, his fingers paused on the keyboard for a moment, and finally replied to Sato-senpai: [Okay, I'll contact her right away.]

After all, he was the one he brought along, and he felt a little embarrassed to be questioned like this by his senior.

Senior Sato was quite nice to him.

He opened the chat history and dialed Karuizawa Megumi's number.

"Beep—" The call was connected surprisingly quickly.

"Hello! Shimizu-san?" Karuizawa Megumi's voice came through the receiver, clear and cheerful, "What can I do for you?"

This energetic tone left Akira Shimizu speechless for a moment—clearly, the excuse of feeling unwell was completely untenable.

The faint sounds of loud music and laughter coming from the other end of the phone made him unconsciously frown.

"Where are you now?" His voice sounded somewhat puzzled.

"Karaoke, huh?" Karuizawa Megumi replied casually, while Mori Nene's off-key singing could be heard in the background. "I'm singing with Mori Nene and the others!"

Akira Shimizu explained to her, "You didn't go to the boxing club this afternoon, and Captain Sato specifically came to ask me about it. It doesn't seem like you're feeling unwell."

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a few seconds.

"Helping out at the boxing club every day is so tiring~" she said with a playful, slightly coquettish tone, "So today I want to relax."