ch281-ch300 · 291-ch291

Chapter 291: The Hiramatsu-ryu Study Method

'I'm going to university!'

After summer break ended—around the time of the vampire girl uproar, was it?

Aikawa said she had something to consult me about, so I heard her out.

I could more or less guess her usual grades, so I asked whether she could still make it in time.

I was thinking there'd still be some university she could get into when Aikawa came back with a completely unexpected answer.

'There's a secret trick! I'll teach it to you too, Haru-kun, so let's go to the same university—Soushi, you too!'

Stats don't only affect how strong or sturdy you are.

The eyesight to keep up with your own Agility-boosted speed, and even your thinking speed, rise along with them.

But none of that works once you step outside the dungeon.

Except there is one thing that's never lost.

Memory.

I can think of examples.

In the dungeon, I'd watched a 'Red Shadow' video just once, and remembered the forest terrain and the 'Gate' positions exactly.

What's more, I can recall using super mode and hyper mode vividly even outside the dungeon.

Including the part where everything around me slowed down.

'Dreams you have in the dungeon never fade, right? It's the same thing.'

Maybe that's partly the strange quality of the dreams the dungeon shows you, and maybe stats factor into it too—whether Aikawa reasoned that far or not, I can't say—but my memory really had improved......

Of course, stat corrections raise your thinking speed, so the studying itself goes faster too.

Inside the dungeon, it's not just memory—you can study more efficiently than on the surface.

It doesn't make you smarter, though, which is why the strategy Soushi went with was the memorize-the-whole-textbook strategy.

Well, melee jobs and magic jobs have different stat profiles, so it couldn't be helped that Soushi's scores came out lower.

As for the two part-time girls, also low level, they apparently only felt the effect when they were buffed by both Soushi and Aikawa at once.

'Now THIS is the Hiramatsu-ryu Study Method!'

Aikawa's really getting the hang of it, huh.

This is the Hiramatsu-ryu.

Amazing—so glad we went Hiramatsu-ryu!

This is where the Hiramatsu-ryu paid off!

As a result, my test scores were the best I've ever had.

Did you think I was doing nothing but mountain climbing all through exam week?

I was studying properly, you know.

'This can't be made public, can it.'

Looking at the test results alone, forget east—I could get into any university in the country: west, south, north, and central alike.

But this study method is cheating, right?

The higher your stats, the bigger the effect, and the more time you can spend in the dungeon, the bigger the effect.

The student council president who spent three years studying desperately to hold the top spot would lose to Aikawa, who had merely holed up in the dungeon for two or three months.

Cheating beyond cheating—that's the Hiramatsu-ryu for you.

And yet, oddly enough, nobody knows about this method.

Even Dr. Amamiya hasn't caught on.

With low stats you can barely feel the effect, and while you're a student whose tests actually matter, you can't exactly level up at will.

Nobody bothers coming all the way to the dungeon to study, and even the people who notice never tell anyone else.

'Then once everyone's exams are over, we shall tell Dr. Amamiya and have her verify it. Until then—not a word to anyone.'

Even Kasumi-san treats it this way.

The ones who know are the three of us, Kasumi-san, and the two part-time girls.

I'd like to raise those two girls' levels at some point too, but the 【Blood Suck】 problem still isn't solved.

And so, the Hiramatsu-ryu Study Method came to be operated in secret.

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"Write an English sentence that starts with 'I is.' Teacher, can you manage it?"

The hard questions go to the PE teacher first.

"After I it's am, right...... What is this problem? I don't get it."

"I is the ninth letter of the alphabet—'I' being the ninth letter of the alphabet."

The moment the PE teacher failed to answer, Aikawa jumped in with the reply.

"Then this one's for Soushi."

"C! Even I know this much!"

Easy multiple-choice questions go to Soushi, to clear him of suspicion too.

Because if it's "next, Soushi," that would be bad.

"Hm? Was my pronunciation off? Then—grade head, if you please."

For the listening questions we rope in the grade head and the homeroom teacher to read them with proper pronunciation.

"Ah, this is the one I got wrong. I memorized it properly."

The questions she got wrong were reviewed properly too. Good girl.

"That's the end of English. Teachers—was there any cheating on Aikawa's part?"

"Grrrnnn......"

"All questions correct. No misconduct. Splendidly done."

The PE teacher chokes on his words; the grade head admits defeat without protest.

"Oh, right—checking answers! She memorized the answers when the tests came back and we went over them. This doesn't count—it doesn't count!"

The PE teacher still won't concede.

"Teacher, a test is supposed to measure whether a student has actually learned the material, isn't it? Even if it's after the test is over, if you're given the question and can answer it, that means it's been learned. Aikawa could answer even the questions she got wrong. What more is there?"

"W-well, that's......"

Oh my? Still won't admit defeat?

"Then shall we move on to the next subject? A good one would be a test that hasn't been handed back yet, no? Politics and economics, perhaps?"

"W-wait a moment. After that English performance—you remember the questions for every single subject?"

The teacher who made the politics and economics test shoots to his feet in a panic.

"More or less. Shall I have Aikawa quiz you teachers instead, if you like? Calling in an audience would be fine too."

A bluff, of course.

I only remembered English because it happened to be handed back yesterday.

Yesterday we went over the returned tests in the dungeon before heading to the party.

I got 100 and Aikawa got 90, so I figured there was no way she'd beat me on total points—and then she went and got 100 on everything else......

"That's quite enough. Any more and we'll only humiliate ourselves."

"Indeed. 'As expected of'—that about sums it up. As I thought, we too......"

"So you think so too, sensei? When I first heard the story, I......"

"There are ladies present. Save that talk for later......"

Looks like the suspicions are cleared, except for the PE teacher's.

And now they're talking about something else entirely.

"Tch. Fine, enough. You can go. Now hurry up and get out!"

The PE teacher has folded too.

Well then—shall we head back to the dungeon?

Kasumi-san is waiting.

"If you knew I didn't cheat, then apologize! Prostrate yourselves! Prostration!"

Oh dear.

She got grilled for over an hour over a sin she never committed.

She is NOT happy.

"A-Aikawa-san! What are you saying!"

"Aikawa—! You brat, don't get carried away—!!"

The homeroom teacher, Sakamoto-sensei, flails in a panic, and the PE teacher boils over.

The other teachers are......

Not looking too happy either.

Thankfully, Aikawa's words were aimed at the PE teacher alone.

But the other teachers had suspected her of cheating too.

They'd already admitted defeat—so if she tells them to prostrate themselves along with him, they have no choice......

Faces like that, huh.

"Haruki-kun, do something!"

"Hmph. Haru-kun is obviously on MY side."

The homeroom teacher begs me for help, and Aikawa scoffs at her.

"Aikawa, this is your fault."

"Huh?"

Pushing it further wouldn't be good.

She didn't cheat, but there WAS misconduct.

Well, no—since the knowledge was actually learned, it isn't misconduct; the conditions just weren't fair, and that's why it got suspected.

This is where I should back off.

Wholeheartedly siding with Aikawa is Soushi's job anyway.

"You get suspected because your attitude in class is so bad. Even I can't accept you scoring better than me."

"Hah? You're one to talk, Haru-kun—running off about 'mountain climbing' right before tests and playing your nonsense games?"

Grrrnnn.

What a mouth on her.

The results of that mountain climbing are waiting for you—just you remember that, got it?

"Never mind that. Apologize to the teachers."

"Sooooorry—!"

Soushi booms out an apology and puts his hand on Aikawa's head to bow it for her.

Good call.

"Hey—even Soushi?!"

I stand beside her and bow my head too, and the homeroom teacher, Sakamoto-sensei, bows deeply as well.

Good—one more push.

"Aikawa hasn't been able to make time to study until now because of her situation at home. Because of that, things with her classmates didn't go well either, and she was isolated at school. But that's different now. She's left home and is living for herself. Lately she's been studying hard because she wants to go to university, and she's getting along well with her classmates. Teachers, could you give her your support too?"

The Hiramatsu-ryu secret art: the Sweet Talk.

"Is that what it was......? Aikawa-san's situation came up at our meetings any number of times, and we were concerned for her...... We lose again, it seems. Aikawa-san, we are sorry for suspecting you."

"Sorry, Aikawa. I apologize for the suspicion."

"No—I apologize for not believing the words 'I didn't do it.'"

"No, no, as expected of the President. We're terribly sorry."

With the grade head's apology as the trigger, the other teachers offer theirs as well.

Hm? Wasn't there someone strange in here?

The PE teacher is sulking in silence, but that's fine by now.

Let's hurry up and......

"Excuse me!...... Ah, Natsuki! Is it true you cheated?"

Bear Ossan appears.

Just when I thought it was over, things get complicated......