Chaoskouji

Chapter 12 - Midterms

It was Wednesday. Two days before the midterms. Class had ended for the day, Chiyabashira had left, and most of the class had gotten up to leave.

"Can I have everyone's attention please!" Kushida had gone up to the podium at the front of the room. Everyone quietened down at her voice, and even Kouenji stopped packing up to leave.

The class had improved drastically the last few weeks regarding their behaviour and effort. Everyone was doing thir best to pay attention and not get distracted. Sudou hadn't fallen asleep in class once, none of the girls had been texting and even Kouenji had been taking notes, although he still refused to answer questions most of the time. Everyone seemed to be taking the class points seriously.

"Before you go, I'd like to hand out this exam. It's the one they used last year. I got it from a senpai I know and apparently the questions are usually almost the same. I've got a copy here for everyone, so study it hard, alright!" She held the class in her thrall as she spoke, the attention of everyone completely on her.

"Kushida-chan is the best!" "Go go Kushida-chan" "Isn't it great that Kikyou is here to help!"

Only one person was outwardly sceptical.

"Are you sure about this Kushida-san? You're asking everyone to stop their normal study and gamble on these test papers. It's a big risk, especially if you're wrong." Horikita decided to voice her concerns. It was a reasonable complaint, one I would have made myself if I had not been involved in the situation, and I could see the perceptive people in the class: Matsushita, Yukimura and Hirata all looking serious.

Unfortunately, the loyal defects decided to become the loud majority and defend their precious angel.

"Don't doubt Kushida-chan!" "I believe her, Kushida-chan would never lie to us!" "You should trust Kushida-chan, she's doing more to help than you."

That last complaint was especially harsh. Kushida had a faily easy group to tutor and getting the exams had been all my work. Meanwhile, Horikita had been single-handedly managing Sudou, Ike and Yamauchi all at once, a feat I didn't believe anyone else in the class could do. Her determination was respectable, so to hurl these insults at her was unnecessarily cruel after the hard work Horikita had put in.

Fortunately for her, Kushida decided to step in.

"That's fair enough, Horikita-san. It's hard to trust that the exam got leaked. I trust my senpai who shared these, but even if they're wrong, all the questions are on the right material so there's no harm in going over it anyway." I hadn't coached this at all from Kushida, so it was something she had recognised herself from looking them over. Once again, she proved just how smart she actually was, when not pretending to be a normal student and friend to all.

"Fine. I suppose it couldn't hurt." With Horikitas concession, Kushida started passing around the exam papers to everyone in the room. However, before she could pass one to Kouenji, he had already packed up and moved to leave the room.

"Wait, Kouenji-kun. You haven't got one yet." A futile but kind gesture from Kushida

"Ahaha do not bother me with such trivialities. I stuck around hoping to see something interesting, but in the end it was just the hand of god at work, nothing new." He smirked at this, as if it was the funniest joke in the world. For the two others who understood it, it could be considered humorous, but most of the class sat in befuddlement. "I, nor demon-boy require such a cheat sheet. Ayano-boy, this test should be harder. Let's have a proper competition this time. I think the results will be much more interesting."

"Don't worry Kouenji, I'll be sure to entertain you this exam. It's going to be quite the spectacle." And hearing that response, Kouenji left the room laughing loudly to himself.