Ding—dong—ding—dong...

"Begin."

After the teacher finished handing out the test papers to everyone, the sound of the bell echoed throughout the classroom...

And the midterm exam had finally begun.

Judging from the expressions of everyone besides me, the tension of the exam was clearly visible.

'Phew... carefully... carefully... I need to proceed steadily without getting overconfident...'

Of course...

There’s no way Ichika-chan would stumble right at the start on such a low-level exam.

Still...

Things like misaligned answer boxes or forgetting to write your name can happen, so there are always pitfalls.

Just in case, I’ll tackle this with my full effort!

Thinking that, I carefully began writing the correct answers onto the test paper.

* * *

"Time’s up. Everyone, put down your writing utensils and pass the test papers forward from the back."

'It’s finally over!'

From the moment the midterm exam was announced until now...

The days felt both long and short, filled with tension.

"Ah! Ichika-chan! Thanks to the past questions you prepared for us, it was easy!"

"It really is all thanks to Ichika-chan... um, thank you!"

"Ichika-chan... thank you very much!"

Ayumi-chan, Konishi-chan and Kurihara-chan—three people I’m close with—thanked me.

Huh?

The reason I handed out the past questions was because we were told that anyone who scored less than half the average score on the midterm would get a failing grade...

And those students would be expelled.

If someone got expelled, the class would lose 100 cp.

I only made that decision rationally to prevent that from happening.

There shouldn’t have been anything like friendship involved.

"Ayumi-chan... Konishi-chan... Kurihara-chan..."

"Hey now~! That’s unfair! You’re the only one calling Ayumi-chan by her first name! From now on, I want you to call me by my first name too!"

"Me too! Um... from now on, instead of calling me Konishi, could you call me Tetsuko?"

The reason I became close with everyone in the class...

Especially these three...

Was because I felt jealous of the close-knit group Kiyotaka-senpai had in the original world called the Ayanokōji Group.

Hmm...

I thought I only saw these three as textbooks for learning about friendship...

But still...

"O-okay! Got it! Let’s keep getting along! Ayumi-chan! Tetsuko-chan! Kasuga-chan!"

"Us too!!!"

If I’m feeling happy about this situation somewhere in my heart...

Does that mean Ichika-chan has started to develop real friendship with these three?

'This... feels the same as when I became friends with Tsubasa-chan...'

For example...

If I were forced to choose between taking Kiyotaka-senpai’s life or one of these three...

Right now, Ichika-chan would choose Kiyotaka-senpai without hesitation.

But...

If I grow even closer to the three of them in the future...

Would I really be able to sacrifice their lives just to save the life of the senpai I love?

I might end up struggling with that question.

How pathetic...

Those were the cruel words Takuya threw at me when we parted ways during the cultural festival in the original world.

Back then, it was one thing...

But now, maybe those words suit me perfectly.

* * *

The next day during homeroom—

"Now then, I will announce the results of the midterm exams."

As the teacher said that, a large sheet of paper—presumably containing the results—was posted on the whiteboard.

"Yes! Over 90 in every subject!"

"Damn it! English is only 87..."

"This one was easy! I got over 90 in most of my subjects too!"

"If it weren’t for those past questions... I might’ve scored under 70..."

"You were that close!?"

The class reacted in various ways after seeing the posted results.

Curious myself, I decided to look at the results.

Mitsui Ayumi: 5th / 40 students

Japanese: 97
Math: 95
Science: 97
Social Studies: 99
English: 94

Total: 482

'Oh~! Ayumi-chan did better than I expected...'

Even with the past questions, making it into the top five is impressive.

Kurihara Kasuga: 4th / 40 students

Japanese: 98
Math: 97
Science: 99
Social Studies: 100
English: 96

Total: 490

Konishi Tetsuko: 3rd / 40 students

Japanese: 100
Math: 99
Science: 98
Social Studies: 99
English: 98

Total: 494

Tetsuko-chan and Kasuga-chan were already smart to begin with, so these results were pretty much expected.

And then...

Ishigami Kyō: Tied for 1st / 40 students

Japanese: 100
Math: 100
Science: 100
Social Studies: 100
English: 100

Total: 500

Amasawa Ichika: Tied for 1st / 40 students

Japanese: 100
Math: 100
Science: 100
Social Studies: 100
English: 100

Total: 500

"Ichika-chan! That’s amazing!"

"No no... Kasuga-chan and Tetsuko-chan got 100 in some subjects too..."

"Hey! Kyō is amazing too!"

"Well... yeah."

And just like that...

Ichika-chan safely overcame the midterm exams.