The sound of the chime echoed through the speakers, and all across the classroom, heavy sighs filled with a mixture of accomplishment and relief broke out. I was no exception, letting out a word as I stretched my arms high above my head.
"It’s finally over..."
After spanning four days, including the Sunday break, the midterm exams had finally come to an end. I wouldn't know the actual results until our papers were returned, but a sense of fulfillment—the feeling that I had done everything I could—washed over me. For now, I felt like I’d had a decent handle on things overall, so I didn't expect the results to be too bad.
In the classroom, which was buzzing with the liberation of having finished the tests, the sound of the proctor—a male teacher—tapping on the lectern rang out alongside a sharp scolding.
"Hey! You lot! I haven't collected the answer sheets yet! Save the noise for later! I'll give everyone a zero!"
Admonished by the teacher, the restless atmosphere immediately settled down. The students solemnly passed their answer sheets to the seats in front of them, gathering them at the lectern where the teacher waited. In stark contrast to the flighty mood from moments ago, a heavy silence spread through the room. Only the sound of the teacher counting the papers echoed in the air.
"Right, that's everyone. With this, the exam period is concluded. Dismissed."
Even though he said we were dismissed, not a single student tried to stand up until the teacher had completely left the room. Once he was gone, everyone finally let out sighs of relief and began to move about.
"Man, Daiki. He really put a damper on things right at the end, didn't he?"
Yuji, looking somewhat exhausted, walked over to my desk and spoke to me.
"Yeah, tell me about it. But we were the ones in the wrong there. I mean, we started making a fuss before the signal to end the exam was even given."
"Even so, slamming the lectern like that... the room turned into a funeral in a split second."
That was certainly rough. It caught me completely off guard, and I was so surprised that my body momentarily stiffened. It was bad for the heart, honestly.
"Well, there's no point in grumbling about what's done. More importantly, how was it? Now that you've finished the midterms."
"I think I did well enough that I'll get decent marks. How about you, Daiki?"
"I did all right too."
"All right, huh..."
Yuji and I both exchanged wry smiles. For now, I’d managed to fill in all the answer boxes for every subject, but I couldn't exactly brag that I'd been perfect. "All right" was the only way to put it.
After talking with Yuji for a bit, I paused our conversation and spoke to Shigemori, who was slumped over in the seat diagonally behind me.
"Hey. You okay, Shigemori? The tests are finally over, so why are you moping at your desk?"
"..."
"Hey, can you hear me?"
Shigemori didn't react at all to my voice, and no reply came.
Actually, given this reaction...
"Don't tell me... did you do badly on the tests this time?"
"!"
His back twitched in response. I guess I was on the mark.
Still, for him to be this depressed, could it be that things are actually pretty dire?
"Come on, Shigemori. The results aren't out yet, so keep your chin up."
"...Hope? I barely filled in any of the answer boxes, you know?"
"Oh... uhh..."
Shigemori lifted his upper body from the desk and looked at me.
Wow... his eyes are completely dead.
"No matter how optimistically I look at it, I'll be lucky if I can just avoid failing grades."
After saying that in a flat tone, Shigemori slumped back onto the desk. Hmm, this is a serious case. I should probably try to encourage him, but he likely won't listen to any half-hearted consolation right now.
As I was racking my brain for a way to cheer him up, the front door of the classroom opened and Hirasaka-sensei walked in.
"Get to your seats, everyone. We're starting homeroom."
The students who had been standing up noticed his arrival and hurriedly returned to their seats. Even the slumped-over Shigemori sat up and turned a hollow gaze toward the teacher. I also turned toward Hirasaka-sensei at the lectern and waited for him to speak.
"Well, the midterm exams are all over as of today. There will be those of you who feel confident and those who don't. But this is the reality of your current ability."
At Hirasaka-sensei's words, the students' reactions split in two. Some wore bright expressions, while others let out regretful sighs. If anything, I felt like the sighing group was larger.
"The results of these tests aren't out yet, but I'm sure some of you have thoughts about your own shortcomings. I'd like those people to use this test as a starting point to devote themselves to their studies more than ever before. If you just spend your time idly doing nothing, you'll be crying again during the next set of exams. Understood?"
At his words, those who felt confident aimed for further improvement, while those who didn't felt spurred to do better next time. Though, a few people just sat there with a cynical look, acting like it didn't matter.
For the record, I was in the group determined to improve.
"Now then, I don't have any particular announcements today, so we'll end homeroom here. But you have school tomorrow too, so don't get too relaxed just because the tests are over and end up being late. Clear?"
"Yes!"
"Then, homeroom is dismissed. Day monitor."
"Stand! Attention! Bow!"
At the monitor's command, the students bowed to Hirasaka-sensei.
He left the classroom quickly while we were still bowing. Perhaps he was busy grading the tests already.
Regardless, the midterm exams were finally over. The return of the papers would probably start tomorrow, but for now, I felt a wonderful sense of liberation.
I had been feeling very refreshed... until a single phone call to Yuji changed everything. The caller was Genya-san. He was calling to confirm the end of the midterms and to say that he had already sent Muroi-san to pick us up.
It seemed we wouldn't have time to enjoy even a moment of post-exam freedom. We turned down the invitation for celebratory karaoke from the boys in our class and hurriedly left school with Yuji and Hiiragi-san. Since Muroi-san was coming to pick us up, it would be rude to keep him waiting.
But as expected, on the way to Yuji's house, we couldn't help but vent our frustrations about missing the karaoke party.
"Sigh. I really wanted to go to the celebration."
"Yeah. Even though they were nice enough to invite us."
"That's right. Even though they reached out to us, even though we don't usually participate in these kinds of events..."
"Sigh..."
Unintentionally, we all let out deep sighs. Fortunately, there was no one around, so we avoided being looked at strangely, but it was a heavy sound. For us, who always hurried home after school for the sake of training, the celebratory karaoke would have been a perfect opportunity to actually bond with our classmates. Currently, we weren't exactly isolated in class, but if asked if we had any close friends there, we'd all have no choice but to hesitate.
This would have been a good chance to fix that...
"...By the way, Daiki, were you able to get in touch with Mika and the others?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah. Mika and Saori-chan are going to a celebratory party they were invited to by their friends."
"I see... must be nice."
Seriously.
However, considering what Mika and her friend are trying to do, socializing is vital. If their circle of friends expands, they can broaden their influence among the first-years by that much. If you neglect these kinds of social outings, you just end up with a reputation for being unsociable.
"Putting that aside, Hirose-kun? What time did Muroi-san say he was coming to pick us up?"
"He said he'd be in front of the house around 1:00 PM... so it wouldn't be strange if he's already arrived."
Yuji answered Hiiragi-san's question while checking his watch. It was currently 12:36 PM.
"Then should we stop by a convenience store and grab some onigiri or something?"
"Good idea. It doesn't look like we'll have time for a proper lunch, so let's grab some light snacks we can eat on the way. Is that okay with you, Hiiragi-san?"
"Yes, let's do that."
With that decided, we picked up our pace toward the nearest convenience store. We arrived in less than five minutes.
We headed inside to look for food, but since it was peak lunch hour, the selection was already picked over.
"What should we get? There’s not much left..."
"...Ah, you're right. There’s almost nothing."
"Indeed. The sandwiches and bento boxes are completely gone. There are just a few onigiri and side dishes left."
"Not much at the hot food counter either."
There were almost no options. I don't usually visit convenience stores during weekday lunch hours, but is it always this bad? This is just like being late to the snack shop at school...
Resigned, we looked over what remained.
"Let's see... the only ones left are the ginger-simmered orc meat onigiri and the soy-simmered minotaur meat onigiri?"
"Whoa, those are expensive!"
"Both of them are over 500 yen..."
Many of the items left on the shelves were high-priced, luxury products using dungeon ingredients, offered as limited-time specials. One large onigiri was more expensive than a full bento... it was no wonder they hadn't sold. Even if the selection was thinning, there wouldn't be many people willing to pay over 500 yen for a single rice ball for lunch.
However...
"The only things left are these kinds of things..."
"There are some normal bento left, but given we'll be in the car..."
"Right. Considering the trash, bento boxes are a bit much. Soft plastic packaging is easier to dispose of."
"Which means... sigh."
We had no choice.
We each picked up one of the high-priced luxury items, grabbed a drink, and headed to the register. When we put our items down, the part-time clerk—who looked like a college student—opened his eyes wide in surprise.
Well, I guess you'd be shocked to see high schoolers dropping this much money on lunch.
"That will be 2,032 yen in total."
The price for three onigiri and a bottle of tea... it was ridiculous.
We solemnly finished the payment and left the store. We put the results of our training to useless effect, feeling the clerk's curious stares on our backs as we exited.
"...Shall we go?"
"Yeah, let's."
We headed to Yuji's house, where Muroi-san was likely waiting, carrying the convenience store bags that felt heavy despite their light weight.
We met up with Muroi-san in front of Yuji's house and had him take a quick detour to my house and Hiiragi-san's house so we could grab our gear. I dropped off my school bag, grabbed the bag with my training clothes, and hurried back to the car. I had considered changing beforehand, but I figured I'd just end up covered in mud once we started the next stage of training anyway.
After giving Muroi-san a quick heads-up, we decided to eat the onigiri we'd bought. First up was the soy-simmered minotaur meat onigiri.
"600 yen for one rice ball, huh..."
"No matter how you look at it, it's a rip-off. I mean, they're using high-end ingredients, but still..."
"True. But..."
To the general public, minotaur meat was a luxury ingredient, but I had hundreds of kilograms of it stored in my Spatial Storage. To us, who could harvest it without much struggle, these onigiri couldn't help but feel pointlessly expensive. I was aware that our perception was skewed, though.
We stopped complaining and took a bite.
"...It's actually pretty good."
"Well, it is minotaur meat."
"Yes. The seasoning isn't too overpowering; it's quite balanced, don't you think?"
The taste was good enough that it almost felt worth the price, but why did it still feel so expensive for a rice ball? We tilted our heads at the strange sensation as we finished the rest of the food.
While we were eating, they seemed worth the price, but the moment we finished, the feeling of it being a rip-off came rushing back....How mysterious.
"Everyone, we're almost there."
Shortly after we finished our lunch, Muroi-san pulled up to the destination.
Looking out the window, I noticed a single minibus parked in front of the prefab hut. I wondered if the sudden spike of dread I felt was just my imagination...
"Alright, we've arrived."
Muroi-san parked the car next to the minibus. We thanked him, got out, and headed toward the hut. Along the way, I noticed that the mountain of luggage that had been stacked in front of the building a few days ago was significantly smaller today.
While I was distracted by the changes outside, Yuji knocked on the door. Permission to enter was granted immediately.
"It's Yuji. Excuse us."
With Yuji in the lead, we entered the prefab hut—and our eyes widened. The room was packed with far more people than we had ever seen before.
What on earth is going on here?