Classroom of the Elite, Kusuo Saiki

The instant Kusuo Saiki read Sae Chahashi's thoughts, he used telekinesis to send the student card to the library so that the staff could see it and pretend that he had really lost something.

[He even forgot his student ID card; Saiki Kusuo seems a bit careless. Did he leave it in the library on purpose? That's unlikely.]

Chabashira Sae's gaze locked onto Saiki Kusuo's face, and her opinion of him lowered slightly.

This was exactly what Kusuo Saiki wanted; he didn't want to be targeted by this troublesome teacher.

"Qi Mu, your entrance exam scores for every subject were exactly in the middle of the class. Every student has some degree of uneven performance in their subjects, resulting in different rankings. But your scores for every subject were all in the middle. Could it be that you deliberately manipulated your scores?"

Chashu Sae narrowed her eyes slightly.

Just as she had guessed, the score was deliberately manipulated by Kusuo Saiki. He used his telepathic and clairvoyant abilities to see how others were doing in each exam and then controlled his own score accordingly.

Even without superpowers, Kusuo Saiki could easily get a perfect score, but he didn't want to attract too much attention.

"Oh dear, even though I deliberately controlled the scores, wouldn't it be easy to arouse suspicion if all the scores were in the middle? Next time, I might have to deliberately let the scores for each course fluctuate a bit. However, since the exams are taken one by one, controlling the total score will be much more difficult."

Saiki Kusuo thought this, but still answered very calmly:

"Tea Pillar Teacher, you flatter me. Controlling scores is something most people can't do. And if I can get exactly the middle ranking in every subject, wouldn't I need to know everyone else's scores?"

Chashu Sae did not answer.

Controlling scores is not impossible; for example, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji scored exactly 50 points in every subject.

However, if Kusuo Saiki could precisely control his ranking, he would probably be even more terrifying than Kiyotaka Ayanokoji.

Chapter Fourteen: The Coming Surprise Exam!

The entrance exam room was monitored without any blind spots, eliminating the possibility of cheating. As Kusuo Saiki said, if one wanted to achieve a mid-range ranking in every subject, one would need to know the scores that everyone else could achieve. Controlling rankings is far more difficult than controlling scores, making it impossible to cheat.

Is it possible that Kusuo Saiki can predict everyone's grades?

"How is that possible? Does that mean you have superpowers?"

Hearing Chabashira Sae's inner thoughts, Saiki Kusuo's heart skipped a beat.

This is utterly absurd; perhaps Kusuo Saiki's talent really is just average.

Kusuo Saiki finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although the possibility of being exposed was almost zero, he still subconsciously tensed up when he heard the words "superpower".

[His true ability will be revealed after the surprise exam next week. Those flawed students in Class D probably didn't expect a surprise exam so soon. This exam carries a very high weight in the next class point evaluation. Judging from their current state, their results will likely be very poor. It would be interesting to see them lose all their points. I can't wait to see the despair on those flawed students' faces.]

'How could a homeroom teacher talk about her students like that?'

Kusuo Saiki's eyebrows twitched slightly.

'But is there a sudden exam next week? It seems to have a big impact on the class points. Although I don't want to interfere too much, it wouldn't be good if we ran out of points.'

Kusuo Saiki had an idea in his mind.

"But what's going on with your physical fitness results? Your performance in the long-distance running was average, but your results in other areas fluctuated greatly."

"Perhaps my physical condition was unstable at the time."

Kusuo Saiki could only come up with a random reason.

Chabashira Sae looked at Saiki Kusuo, carefully observing him, trying to see if there was any flaw in his facial expression.

However, Kusuo Saiki's face remained expressionless throughout.

"Well, just enjoy your time on campus. I hope you'll do even better in the future."

Chabashira Sae shook her head, then turned and left.

[There doesn't seem to be anything special about him. Could it be that he really just got into the school through connections? That's strange... We'll see in time. This class is my best opportunity; I must use them to climb into Class A!]

'As a teacher, is her desire to promote her students to Class A greater than her desire for them? And it seems as if the students are merely tools to her.'

With that thought in mind, Kusuo Saiki quickly returned to his dormitory.

He had just put down the few novels he had brought back when he saw a large number of unread messages on his student terminal.

The owner of this information is none other than Hiyori Shiina.

Hiyori Shiina: Saiki-kun, have you returned to the dorm yet?

Hiyori Shiina: The novels I just recommended were all excellent! If you finish reading them, I can recommend a few more!

Hiyori Shiina: I think the basic puzzle design is particularly outstanding!

Although she doesn't usually seem to be good at communicating with people, Shiina Hiyori becomes a completely different person once the topic of novels comes up.

'If I reply to her, it'll just start a long conversation, and that'll be troublesome. It's better not to reply.'

That was what Kusuo Saiki originally thought, but after hesitating for a moment, he still picked up his phone and gave a few perfunctory replies.

'At least when chatting on the phone, I don't have to worry about spoilers, and I can definitely get some novel recommendations from her.'

After Kusuo Saiki replied with a few messages, Hiyori Shiina quickly responded with more words.

Hiyori Shiina: Saiki-kun, you've even read that book!

Hiyori Shiina: I don't know many people who read this type of novel!

Hiyori Shiina: Let's go read together sometime! The library is fine! The school cafe is fine too!

'A coffee shop, huh? They seem to have some pretty good desserts there.'

This is what Kusuo Saiki thought to himself.

......

A day passed, and nothing changed for Kusuo Saiki in his daily life the next day.

Several more people were late for class than the day before, including the trio of idiots.

In the classroom, some students were playing on their phones, some were sleeping, and others were chatting loudly.

And Kusuo Saiki can clearly hear their inner thoughts.

This school is amazing!

[100,000 yuan per month, no tuition fees, and all kinds of entertainment facilities available!]

What should we eat after class?

Kusuo Saiki estimated that about half of the students in the class were not paying attention at all; they were clearly still immersed in the excitement of the new environment.

'At this rate, I'm afraid the results of the crash test won't be very promising.'

However, there were still some students in the class who were studying diligently, such as Horikita Suzune. She listened very attentively to Chabashira Sae's almost chanting lessons, and it could be said that she was completely focused.

From the podium, Chabashira Sae could clearly see the students' little antics, but she chose to ignore them.

Soon you won't be laughing anymore.

......

After a morning of classes, everyone went to the cafeteria for lunch during the break. After choosing a dish that interested him, Kusuo Saiki picked a corner seat and sat down. This time, he waited until his classmates arrived and sat down before choosing a seat, so that he wouldn't be disturbed by others while eating.

Surrounded by unfamiliar students, mostly upperclassmen, Kusuo Saiki could clearly hear their conversation.

"These freshmen are about to have a surprise exam... If we had known about this exam earlier, we wouldn't have ended up in Class D..."

"The exam is quite difficult. A lot of the knowledge points are outside the curriculum. But after their cramming exam, we'll probably have our monthly exam soon. We absolutely can't fail this time."

"It's okay, we can just go to the older students and buy last year's test papers... then everyone in the class can split the cost."

In the noisy environment, their conversation was difficult to hear.

But Kusuo Saiki heard it all clearly.

Chapter Fifteen: Getting a high score? Why not just buy the test papers in advance?

'Buy the test papers from the older students?'

Kusuo Saiki glanced at the older students next to him out of the corner of his eye; most of them were discussing the upcoming exams.

In this school, exams are the most important factor affecting class points, and exam scores are the indicator of a student's ability.

The school only cares about the final exam results, and they don't care what methods the students use.

Even cheating on an exam is considered compliant with regulations as long as it goes undetected.

Finding ways to achieve high scores is, in a sense, one of the ways this school assesses students' abilities.

By listening to their words and thoughts, Kusuo Saiki gleaned some important information.

The content and format of exams at this school are not fixed, but generally speaking, freshmen take relatively basic written exams in their first semester.

Each class's point score is determined by the class's average score; the higher the average score, the more points the class receives.

Furthermore, if a student fails their midterm or final exam, they will be expelled.

The elimination of all unqualified students is, in a sense, the reason why higher education institutions have a 100% college entrance rate.

Moreover, perhaps due to school regulations, both upperclassmen and freshmen seemed to deliberately conceal the school's rules from freshmen.

'So they really do look at the average score.'

As Kusuo Saiki thought to himself, the exam was naturally no problem for him. Although he couldn't compare to Kusuke Saiki, the high school level questions were far too easy for him.

However, the issue of the average score put Saiki Kusuo in a bit of a dilemma.

Given Class D's current attitude towards learning, their exam results will likely be far from satisfactory.

"I'm not sure about the relationship between exam scores and class points, but judging from Ms. Chabashira's reaction, this exam must have carried a lot of weight. If all the class points are deducted, that'll be troublesome. There are still so many desserts and puddings we haven't had yet. If all the points are gone, it'll be a bit of a problem. I don't want to be dragged down by those guys."

Kusuo Saiki thought to himself.

Although Kusuo Saiki has the ability to get high scores, doing so would attract too much attention, and if only one person gets a high score, the impact on the average score would be limited. The most important thing is those who might get low scores.

For example, that trio of idiots.

Getting them to study hard is probably harder than climbing to heaven.

'Advise them to study hard? I could never do such a thing, and besides, I doubt they would listen anyway.'

'Use mind control directly? That won't do. That kind of ability could potentially affect the entire world. If those three were turned into studious students, I can't even imagine what the world would become. Hmm, although I don't want to interfere too much, I at least need to raise the average score a little.'

We need to come up with a suitable method of comparison—one that has an impact, but isn't excessive.

Kusuo Saiki fell into thought, and just then, he caught a familiar voice again. He turned his head and saw that on the other side of the cafeteria, Kikyo Kushida was chatting and laughing with the other members of the class, and the trio of idiots were also there.