ch281-ch300 · 290-ch290
Chapter 290: Pipo-papon
'Class 3-A, Aikawa Natsuki-san, please come to the staff room at once. Class 3-A, Aikawa Natsuki-san, please come to the staff room at once.'
Pipo-papon—goes the in-school broadcast.
It's Thursday, one more period to go in the day, and Aikawa gets called out.
"Ugh, what a drag. I wonder what for? I'll go check it out."
"See yaa—"
I see Aikawa off, but there are far too many possible reasons.
The running away from home. Living in the dungeon. ......Being an adventurer, too, maybe?
Adventuring counts as a career path, so it gets overlooked—but if it's for part-time-work-like purposes, it's a violation of school rules.
Come to think of it, she was at the banquet yesterday, too.
But only Aikawa got called out, so it's not that......
(Well, Aikawa gets summoned plenty in normal times, so it'll be fine.)
That's what I thought at the time......
"Harukiii, look, look—another good long look. A hundred points! I got a hundred for the first time in my liiife—"
Damn it. I got a 98.
Losing to Soushi......
"Hnn, so touching. This too is thanks to Kasugano-kun working so hard to teach you, isn't it. Looks like you two might get to graduate together after all. Hnn, I'm so glad, so glad."
Souma-san is crying, too.
"Three years of you teaching us with everything you had"—it's not thanks to anything like that, though.
Well, it is the memorize-the-whole-textbook strategy's results.
'Kiiin-koun-kaaan-koun'
Break time is over.
Aikawa didn't make it back in time for the next class.
"Huh? Another hundred? Kasugano-kun, you're ranking pretty high this time, aren't you?"
Yes—this time it's me with the hundred.
This is bad.
That's right. Another hundred......
Almost all the tests are back, and this round's results are very good.
Forget getting my license back—I might even make it into one of those eastern universities.
No—from here, everything's west......
The applications are still open, but considering the chance of someone noticing later, overdoing it isn't good.
Besides, I have to go to the same university as my father-in-law.
"Scored! With this, even a zero on the finals means no makeup exams—"
"Ehh? Soushi-kun, aren't your grades better than mine this time?"
The class erupts over Soushi's unexpectedly high scores......
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'Kiiin-koun-kaaan-koun'
Aikawa didn't come back even after class ended......
"Haruki, what do we do? I'm going to wait for Aikawa......"
"No, I'll wait too."
She should come back for homeroom, right?
"Then I'll just sit here and observe you two. Ah, if you have time, why not drop by the library? Everyone would be delighted. You've barely come at all this year, and we're fresh out of material—"
Going to the library without Gotou-senpai, though.
Last year the delinquent upperclassmen, who knew nothing about anything, used to drift through, so there was no shortage of material—but this year the boys apparently won't come anywhere near......
"Everyone, after-school homeroom is cancelled! Haruki-kun, come with me a moment. Natsukawa-kun, you too......"
The homeroom teacher comes in, announces the cancellation, calls us out into the hallway, and walks us all the way to the stairs.
"What is it?"
Our homeroom teacher, Sakamoto-sensei, is a woman in her third year of teaching.
Slender, always in pantsuit-style suits—an English teacher.
Last year she had our class as vice-homeroom teacher; this year she was promoted to full homeroom teacher.
Aikawa apparently dislikes this teacher—she always stone-ignores the worried check-ins she gives her fake-sleeping act.
"Something's happened to Aikawa-san. I don't know what to do......"
Being consulted on something even teachers can't handle is awkward—but I can't leave Aikawa be.
"Ah—what happened to Aikawa?"
Soushi panics.
But what on earth did she do......
Did Bear Ossan come storming in or something?
The teacher looks around, confirms nobody's there, and speaks.
"......She's suspected of cheating. She denies it. There's no evidence...... But the other teachers started saying it's strange how her grades shot up. I don't think that's the case for you at all, Haruki-kun, but Natsukawa-kun's grades are up too, so I thought the two of you might know something......"
Uh-oh. Busted, huh......
"But why only Aikawa?"
Order of operations, maybe?
I look safe, but Soushi might get called in next.
"Aikawa-san, you see—except for English she has perfect scores, and she looks like she'll be first in this test. In English, the only mistakes were in the listening section. They're saying there's no way Aikawa-san, who never listens in class, could score this well......"
Seriously?
That girl scoring better than me—what IS that?
Unacceptable!
(Well, if that got found out, it'd be over, wouldn't it)
"Haruki, what do we do? What should we do? But we didn't cheat, so it'll be fine, right? Right? Do something, come on—"
Fine, then. Time to unveil the Hiramatsu-ryu secret art.
Still, it's a good thing Aikawa was the one called first.
If it had been Soushi, the underhanded move I can use this time would be on the table.
"Shall we go, then? To the staff room?"
"Haruki-kun!! It's the student guidance room. Please—if she's innocent, save her."
Innocent or not aside—if she really didn't cheat, this is winnable......
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"Comiiiing throuuugh"
I knock, announce myself, and walk into the student guidance room without waiting for an answer.
"What is it? I'm in the middle of something. Come back later."
"Haru-kun!? Soushi too!"
Aikawa sits at the center of the room, with the teachers seated in a ring around her.
A pressure interview, in other words.
"Please wait. First, hear Haruki-kun out. Regarding Aikawa-san's case, he intends to testify."
The homeroom teacher stops the PE teacher, who was trying to send me away.
"Oh? You hear that, Aikawa? A student's come forward to testify that you cheated. Give it up already."
"I told you, I didn't do it! Moron! If you're wrong about this, you're groveling on the floor for me!"
Calling a teacher a moron is not good, I think.
"What did you say, you brat, that mouth of yours......"
"Teacher, calm yourself! ......You're Kasugano-kun, aren't you. If you've come here, you intend to testify to Aikawa-san's innocence. Well then, teachers—what do you say? I would like to hear what he has to say."
The teacher seated in the middle—the grade head—stops the PE teacher.
He doesn't teach our class, but he's an English teacher, and presumably the one who made the test.
His name is Mister...... what was it again?
He knows me, and I don't remember his name. How rude of me.
I'm sorry......
"Oh, him. I'd like to hear this too."
"Ah, that one...... Very well, let's hear him."
"I would like to hear it as well."
"Tch. Well, if the teachers insist."
Don't really get it, but the other teachers agreed to hear me out as well.
No "Long live the Spear King!" shout—thank goodness.
As expected of the grade head. The man has people's respect.
No—Kasumi-san and Anego-san have plenty of respect too, you know?
Well, this works out nicely. Let's start with English......
The target is, of course, the PE teacher.
"First—Aikawa is suspected of cheating, but that's a mistake."
"How can you say that for certain! Did you watch her?! During the test, no less!"
The PE teacher bites hard.
Easy to handle. Helpful.
"Because I taught her."
"No one teaching her makes grades jump like that! If a student teaching her beats what we teachers do, then teachers aren't needed at all!"
It DID jump, though.
Not that I was the one teaching her.
"Question one......"
The quiz tournament begins.