CH 41.4

「Well, it’s meaningless even if we get a good score on the written test, anyway. There shouldn’t be any problem as long as you write down your name.」

「What’s with that complacent smile? So irritating.」

「Stop it, don’t poke me. The one that actually has proper supplementary lessons is the dungeon practice test, but it has nothing to do with us, after all.」

The dungeon practice midterm test for the first semester first year students was to reach the second stratum of the dungeon.

For them, it was a stratum they had passed from the beginning.

「Thank you for your hard work to you too, Touma-san.」

「Yeah.」

「Touma-kun also has a complacent face! What’s with these guys? Their specs are uselessly high, so irritating.」

「No, no, it’s not that ours are high, it’s simply that you are dumb, Mai.」

「Urara!」

Parrying consecutive Mai punches with one hand, Seiichi yawned.

「Well, it’s a test break starting from tomorrow, anyway. Looks like we can relax for a bit.」

At Toyohashihara Academy, there established holidays called『Post-exam vacation』 after the regular exams.

For this midterm test, they were guaranteed three days of exam break, including the Sunday off.

During this period, supplementary lessons would be held for students with poor grades.

These supplementary lessons were targeted not for those with insufficient academic ability in the written test, in other words the general subject, but for those who didn’t complete the assignment for the dungeon practice.

However, the borderline for failing marks judgment was by no means harsh, with those who had been skipping dungeon dives being the target of it.

There was no problem for them.

There should have been no problem.

「—Touma-kun. Can I have a word for a bit?」

The rigid faced homeroom teacher, Midori, was standing behind him.

◇ ◇ ◇

「What the heck have you perpetrated?」

Seiichi, holding his forehead, denounces me while letting out a sigh as I’m confused by the unexpected trouble.

「For you to get a failing mark in dungeon practice, are you an idiot?」

「The student handbook is to be carried all times, we were told our ears off as such during the orientation at the entrance ceremony, no?」

Crossing her arms and throwing her head back, Mai shoots me a sidelong glance as if she’s looking at garbage.

But I’d like you to wait a minute.

I’ve got my own set of circumstances too.

「— One more time, if we talk to Midori-sensei properly one more time, she’ll understand, I’ll make her understand.」

Sporting a serious face, Shizuka-san mumbling and muttering with scary eyes is quite the horror.

Now then, let’s calmly analyze how I ended up getting a failing mark on my dungeon practice test for once.

The assignment for the dungeon practice midterm test for the first semester first year students was to『reach the second stratum of the dungeon』.

The depth increases by one stratum with each regular exam.

Toyohashihara Academy adopts a three semester system, so with the respective benchmark stratum of midterm and final test being cumulative, we are obliged to conquer at least six stratum in one year.

It’s like in order to advance to the second year, you have to reach the seventh stratum, and to the third year, it’s the thirteenth stratum.

It appears that the dungeon maps necessary for conquering the minimum stratum depth are sold in the purchasing department, so if all we need is to reach there, I have a feeling that we could make it through even if we just launch a zombie attack and leave everything else to luck.

However, the dungeon practice test is originally not just about the stratum you reach in the dungeon.

It appears that there are various task entries such as submitting materials from designated monsters, completing quests that are presented, competency tests, and so on.

For the first-year students, it was our first regular exam, so the difficulty level must have been set low.

It was an assignment that the members of our party naturally completed, and yet I alone received a failing mark evaluation.

「That’s why I told you before, didn’t I? That this thing is a mobile device that records personal data of respective student.」

Seiichi waves the student handbook he has pulled out his pocket at me.

If I remember it correctly, it is an electronic organizer that uses mysterious technology to perceive the number of monsters we subjugate as well as our movement through the stratum.

In other words, it’s the『electronic device』 that for some reason spewed smoke and broke when I held it.

It had remained in the depth of my desk drawer ever since I tossed it there the first day I received it.

In short, that means the evaluation for the dungeon practice test is based on the data in it.

「Dungeon attack counts: zero, monster subjugation counts: zero, EXP earned: zero. You’re slacking off too much, aren’t you, Touma-kun?」

Shrilly laughing, Mai pokes at my newly distributed student handbook, which remains left alone on the desk.

It’s a brand new one that after I explained to Midori-sensei about my situation, she had arranged for me even as she let out a sigh.

The renewal fee was free, which was a big help, but I feel like if I keep it, it’s going to spew out smoke and blow up again.

「In that case, well, it’s a backdoor trick, but can’t you just ask Shizuka to keep it for you?」

Seiichi, who should have once gotten involved and had his student handbook similarly destroyed, says in a hushed voice.

It is certainly a loophole that reeks of treachery.

But such a sly move must have come to him because he knows the mechanism of the student handbook, which Seiichi has researched from somewhere.

I can’t help but say that it’s a pretty lax system.

「What a shame for you~, Touma-kun. Your test break is going puff.」

「Gununu.」

It’s not that I have that much attachment to the test break, but I pray that divine punishment will befall Mai who seems to be terribly delighted about it.

My gununu power has already pierced through the heaven.

Somehow or other, I come to feel like I can bring down『Divine Punishment』.

Like, twisting an invisible switch, swish.

「Ahahaha, wahaa.」

「Oioi.」

With a snap, the leg of the chair she is sitting on snaps off, and Mai falls to the floor.

「… Ouch, it hurts. This chair is too defective!」

Getting helped up by the flustered Seiichi, Mai kicks the chair.

Well, it looks as if my GP Memory Bar is decreasing a bit, but I guess that’s probably just my imagination.

Like a skill to break a chair leg, that’s just too dubious.

「Well, nothing can be done this time, so I guess you have no choice but take supplementary lessons.」

「Inevitably.」

「I don’t know much about supplementary lessons myself, an overnight boot camp during the holidays sure tugs something in you, doesn’t it….」

On the printout of the supplementary lessons notice, a dungeon practice for three nights and four days is listed.

To take the trouble of confining and making the students who live in the dormitories within the academy grounds, me included, have a boot camp, I don’t get the point.

Is it for the purpose of locking up those who run away, I wonder?

Well, I guess I’ll find out tomorrow when I go to the supplementary lessons assembly hall.

More importantly, the problem is.

「Make her understand, I’m going to make her understand…. I’m going to make the female pig who’s trying to separate me from Touma-san realize her place. Why is it that, I can’t go together with him too, unforgivable, unforgivable, unforgivable.」

「There, there.」

I pat Shizuka, who remains downcasted, mumbling and throwing out curses while clasping her hands that are put together in her lap.

Even when she accompanied me to explain my circumstance to Midori-sensei, her usual less pushy nature ended up flipping over into a half-crazed one.

「… No, Shizuka is quite the yandere even on a regular basis, isn’t she?」

「Come to think of it, she is always together with Touma, isn’t she? I thought it was because she was a dependent type, though.」

I’m sorry for Shizuka, but I can’t involve her in this.

It happened due to my carelessness, so I should wipe my ass myself.

「She seems to be emotionally unstable, so be sure to stay with her today.」

「Yeah.」

「But, well, just a bit, I have a bad feeling about this…. When push comes to shove, I don’t mind if your abnormality gets exposed, but be sure to go at it real serious. I couldn’t care less about the other bunch, but be sure to absolutely not let yourself killed.」

I’d like him to stop dissing me so casually.