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Chapter 42: Saiki, You're Actually Good at Studying, Aren't You?
🕑 Added 2025-04-08 09:11:00 +0000 UTCSaiki Kusuo nodded slightly. Now that Sudo Ken was more or less taken care of, he just needed to repeat the same trick with Ike Kanji and Yamauchi Haruki for the next two days.
Thinking about this, Saiki couldn't help but smile. He was finally close to escaping this boring study group.
Horikita Suzune continued to look through the other papers, and the next one was Saiki's.
'Horikita seems satisfied with Sudo's score, and I only got one or two more questions right than him, so it should be fine.'
Saiki thought to himself, then shifted his gaze to Horikita's face.
But the moment he saw Horikita's brows furrow, he knew something was wrong.
"Saiki, it seems you've been hiding your true abilities."
Horikita turned to him, her gaze serious.
"This fifth question is quite difficult, and yet you managed to solve it?"
[I intentionally included a difficult question in the test to see if Ayanokoji and Saiki were hiding something from me, and it seems I was right.]
Horikita's eyes reflected Saiki's image.
Meanwhile, Saiki's mind was racing.
'Yare yare, I've been tricked.'
'Horikita actually included some very difficult questions in the test? Earlier, because she was so focused on studying, I couldn't pick up anything related to this with my telepathy... And because of these guys, I couldn't gauge the difficulty of the test.'
During every exam, Saiki used his telepathy to judge the difficulty of the questions. If even the top students couldn't solve a problem, it must be very difficult, and Saiki would intentionally get it wrong.
But...
None of the students taking the test were top performers.
Sudo Ken had improved compared to before, but his scores were still not great. The other two were even worse—just understanding the questions was a miracle.
As for Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, he was in a similar situation to Saiki.
This meant that Saiki hadn't noticed the trap Horikita had set in the test.
'I need to think of a way out.'
'Maybe I could create a gust of wind to blow my paper away? No, Horikita has already seen my answers.'
'What if there's a sudden blackout, and I switch my paper with Ayanokoji's? No, our handwriting is completely different... I'll just have to deal with it.'
Saiki thought to himself, maintaining a calm expression as he asked,
"Is something wrong?"
"This question is quite difficult. I didn't expect you to solve it."
Horikita's gaze was like a hunter's, fixed on Saiki.
Not just her, but Ayanokoji Kiyotaka also turned to look at Saiki.
[Horikita set a trap in the test? If Saiki could solve it, it means he has strong academic abilities.]
'This might make Ayanokoji even more suspicious of me... This is getting troublesome.'
[But if Saiki really is hiding his abilities, would he fall for such a trap?]
'Things are getting complicated. Wait, didn't I also get it right?'
[Wait, maybe Saiki intentionally got it right. If he had intentionally gotten it wrong, we might still suspect he's hiding his abilities, but by getting it right, he's throwing us off. His behavior is hard to pin down.]
'Hey, hey, what are you even talking about?'
Ayanokoji's train of thought was already beyond Saiki's expectations, and his mind was racing to come up with a countermeasure.
"I happened to review that topic recently, so I knew how to solve it."
"Really? What a coincidence."
Horikita's gaze remained intense, never leaving Saiki.
"Yeah."
Saiki nodded without hesitation.
"Your math scores have been average before."
"So I've started studying harder."
"In that case, I hope you can rank in the top 15 in the next math exam. That shouldn't be too hard, right?"
"I can't guarantee that. I don't know what the midterm will be like. If it's similar to last year's, maybe I can do it."
Saiki could only continue to tough it out.
[What he's saying makes sense, but given the current situation, it's more likely that Saiki is hiding something. Maybe we can use him to help us reach Class A.]
"Then I'll ask you to do one more thing. When you guys get back to the dorm, you'll be responsible for tutoring Kanji and Haruki."
Horikita immediately said, her tone leaving no room for refusal.
Saiki had no choice but to nod. The thought of tutoring those two was headache-inducing, but it was still an acceptable outcome for him.
"Next is Ayanokoji's paper... You got this one right too?"
"Just a lucky guess."
......
About an hour later, the study group finally ended. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was given the same task as Saiki: to tutor the other students when they returned to the dorm.
"Saiki, you're actually good at studying, aren't you?"
On the way back, Ayanokoji walked beside Saiki and asked directly.
"No, I just happened to review that topic."
Saiki answered without hesitation.
[His expression didn't change, and his gaze didn't waver. It doesn't seem like he's lying.]
'So he's testing me?'
Saiki usually didn't show any expression, so even Ayanokoji couldn't tell anything.
His gaze shifted forward, where Sudo Ken was boasting about his test score to Ike Kanji and the others.
At that moment, Saiki noticed a familiar figure approaching from around the corner—one of the students from Class D who had been keeping an eye on them.
[That's Sudo Ken from Class C. I need to follow Ryuen's orders and bump into him...]
With that thought, the student accelerated and headed straight for Sudo Ken.
