Chaoskouji

Chapter 8 - Test Time

It was the last day of the month, and many of my classmates were talking about what to spend their remaining points on. Apparently, they considered it a smart idea to use them all up now as if they would expire tomorrow, and 'it doesn't matter, since we get another 100,000 points tomorrow anyway'. How they came to that conclusion, I cannot fathom. There is no evidence to suggest it's a good idea, conversely there is overwhelming evidence saying that they won't get 100,000 points next semester, yet these morons refuse to listen to reason.

I didn't realise it was possible for people to become so corrupted with greed that they ignored any caution, so caught up with their idea of themselves that they couldn't rationalise that advice from other people was accurate. And they call Kouenji the narcissist. At least his actions could be justified demonstrably, which if my suspicions were right, he would have another chance to do so today.

Hirata was moving throughout the room, going from girl to girl, friend to friend, desperately pleading with them to not spend all their points, and save some, just a few, any at all, but it seemed his efforts would be fruitless.

Even Kushida, who so far had acquiesced with everything that happened, had taken a stance, recommending people save points. Based on her behaviour, if people asked her for points, she would give them some, so she was obviously trying to prevent that. For people to continue to hold her in such high esteem as the 'best friend in the grade', she had no choice but to help however she could, even if it meant hurting herself in the process. Why she kept this act up, and I was certain it was an act at this point, I had no idea, but after tomorrows reveal, she would snap. It was inevitable.

When the bell rang, Chiyabashira walked into the noisy classroom. Her entrance didn't alter the students' behaviour, still jabbering on about what they would buy. "Quiet down a little, please. Today's lesson will be a bit serious. It's the end of the month, so we're going to have a short test. Please pass these to the back." She handed out the papers to the students in the front row. Eventually, the single-sheet test reached my desk. It contained questions in the five main subjects.

Students began to exclaim in outrage at this announcement. Most of them hadn't been listening in class, either sleeping or playing with their phone so they had learned nothing in the past month. The audacity of these defectives, to ignore class for a month then claim a test was unfair. It astounds me.

"This test is just for future reference. It won't be reflected in your report cards. There is no risk involved, so don't worry. Of course, cheating is prohibited." Because that wasn't completely suspicious. Everything the school did had a purpose, including giving us this test, so there had to be a hidden hint somewhere. Whether there were hidden punishments, or the test itself was a second layer of a test wasn't clear, but there was certainly more to this than just a simple exam.

This was the perfect chance to compete with Kouenji. I had assumed there would be some form of exam at the end of the month, in order for the school to diagnose how the students were progressing and I was right. However, there was just one problem.

"Sensei, I have a problem with this exam. It's far too easy." At this complaint the classroom exploded into noise, people yelling at me, complaining that it was already too hard, that I should just shut up and die.

"I must concur with demon-boy. How can we possibly compete when we will both score perfectly? This is an insult to the skills of a perfect existence." Now the class was also insulting Kouenji. The entire class, bar a few of the academic students, was entirely out of control.

"QUIET! Look, I can't change the test to suit the needs of two egotistical show-offs. If you want to compete so badly, why not see who finishes first, hm? Now start the test, you have two hours." With that Chabashira sat back down, and the class quieted down to begin their tests.