Chapter 1413 The Reality Is a Grim Content from Which There Is No Escape

End of term exams! Otherwise known as Final Exams! Rakuro uses “Escape”! But it was not very effective! After all, finals exams are only a concept! And you cannot possibly run away from a concept!

God fucking damn it!.

And just like that, the time of final exams is finally upon us! Strictly speaking, the first day of final exams starts in two days’ time from now.

「Breaking news! Breaking news has arrived! It’s about the newest kind of drug!」

「I knew it…… The tunnel accident certainly must have hurt Makiko-sensei, but as for the day of the final exam, the ongoing problem is probably going to be about the new drug the new drug……」

「”Sasaki, you… … Huh, I guess that the prediction intuition of a compulsive gambler is not to be underestimated……」

「Hey, Liberal Arts, lend us a hand! I will give you five hundred yen, so think about the text topic for me, instead!」

「Did someone call me!?」

「You are our Liberal Arts inside man!?」

「Said the high school student who looks like a grown ass man with a seventh dan in Judo!? And yes, I’m talking to you, don’t give me that surprised face! You want to say something more!?」

「Says a Liberal Arts student who wrote an essay so poor that the teacher had to grill him about it in front of the entire class!?」

「Says the guy who thinks that seven times eight is fifty three……」

「Don’t kill yourself over that fact! And were you thinking this whole time about rebuttal like that?」

Sometimes I really do wonder if this class is so full of idiots, or of they are only pretending to be stupid? But anyways, I was currently receiving data from one of my classmates, a back-alley document (a jargon that only a certain percentage of people in the know would be aware of) for three hundred yen an info. I was getting ready to go back home now…… Oh yeah, that’s right. Before I forget.

「Hey there, Liberal Arts student with germ–infested pierced ears! Haven’t you heard anything from Shima-sensei about the range of questions from Modern History?」

「As expected from someone who can be considered to be a teacher’s pet…… But don’t you even think about trying to pull any malicious shit on us just now!」

「It wouldn’t kill you to try it at least once, you know?」

「The least you could do here would be to deny that, damn it!」

「The entirety of life is covered in a variety of lies, from trivial lies to malicious lies. Whether good or bad, I want to live as honestly as I can…… Isn’t that right?」

「Why do you know about that!? I haven’t even shared that with anyone!?」

I didn’t think that I would be using my Banana Papers (a list that references all the various poems that I have ever created and shared on social media, and which were then lost in the in the web or other social services) in a place like this, at least not at such an early stage. Is it really true that according to a certain rumor those things started to get really popular in English Internet? My poems are now becoming a global phenomenon, who would have thought!

「Well then, good luck with your cramming session, Mister Seventh Dan! You are going to need it!」

「Just how long do you intend to keep this poor joke on going!?」

「Oh yeah? What’s nine times seven minus one? Hmm?」

「Sixty three…… Ahh, no! It’s sixty four!」

Yeah, nope. This guy is already a lost cause, I’m afraid……」

…

……….

……………

「Hmm. oh. Well, if it isn’t Rei-san.」

「Ah, R-Rakuro-kun…… O-Oh! T-That’s right! Did you hear, Rakuro-kun?」

「Hmm? Hear? Hear about what?」

While I was on my way back home from school, I saw Rei-san who was apparently waiting for me right in front of the school gate. She then shared with me some information that proved to be more or less astonishing to the little old me.

「You only need to reach thirty points in biology to be able to reach the level of passing the University Entrance Exam……!?」

「…… Yes, that’s what I…… I happened to overhear it…… when I went to the Faculty Office……」

Oishi……! You asshole!! What the hell is wrong with you and those stupid high scores of yours!?」

Oishi-sensei, a biology teacher, is a wonderful teacher who is very kind and answers every question is a polite and easy to understand way. But when it comes to the exam questions, he becomes a brutal force that need to be reckoned with..

His questions would usually reach the levels of vague shit like “ ◯ × problem”, like the questions you would often see on the theoretical parts of the Driver’s License tests. He is still a kind teacher, but that aspect of his is utterly horrible. And in order to get those questions right you would often need to turn towards English dissertations … Is it an English test? Or a Biology one? Make up your god damned mind!

However, when it comes to exams and tests, Ooishi-sensei shows very little in terms of mercy, acting like a butcher in a slaughterhouse. Seriously now, this is a high school final exam! Don’t put questions in there that could be very well from something completely different! Keep the material strictly to the things that were taught during classes!

The exam is also pretty much a battle between students and teachers, and the Anti-Exam Intelligence Network has already confirmed that the teachers might as well put some University Entrance Exam level questions in there……! However, what is worrisome is the rise in the average score, and the fact that thirty point on average grade information is not flowing inside of the network means only that some people are intentionally narrowing down the information that they happen to possess. I see, people can be outrageous for the sake of exam points as well, out of all things…… I can also see that Rei-san was really looking forward to sharing that information with me, which only goes to show just how much she also wanted me to succeed..

「Should I seriously be aiming for those seventy points …?」

「Yes, I think that this would be for the best here… … And since It’s the end of the year, so even the teachers seem to be strangely enthusiastic about this……」

Does that mean that there is a high chance that the tests are going to be made a whole lot easier and forgiving? Even though I hope for something like that to happen, if everyone is enthusiastic about them, physics and alphanumerics are still incredibly dangerous, because the person in charge over there will feel free to ask difficult questions no matter the mood of others. Poor science, why do you always have to be that way ……?

「Hmm…… So I think it might actually be best to review the material to some extent.」

Cramming is pretty much like s Wakizashi. It is used mainly as a sub-weapon instead of the main one, so it is a sub of the knowledge that you should have accumulated from listening to lectures and regular studying on your own accord. And those who tend to make this sub-weapon into their main one are usually in for a very rude awakening sooner rather than later in life. Also, staying all night and cramming just the night before the test sounds like hell incarnate, but it all depends on your own constitution. For some it will be a miraculous remedy. And for others it will be nothing more but a deadly debuff to seal their fate…….

「What about you, Rei-san? How are you feeling about the coming Final Exams?」

「Umm…… This is…… Let me think…… Yes, I should be fine. I think……」

「I’m starting to feel really jealous that you can say that with so much confidence……」

「Rakuro…… Umm, this is…… No, I wouldn’t…… say that I’m this much confident, but……」

This here right now is the season when you often would see people who just realized just how powerless they are in the face of the incoming disaster called the Final Exams. Some people managed to achieve a state of before-death liberation, so gave in to despair, and some were making peace with their inevitable fate. And then we have people like Rei-san right here, people who even though they know that they are going to do just fine, they are still dropping the lines alongside of “Well, I think I will do just fine, but I just can’t help it but to feel worried for some reason, you know?”.

As for me? Well, I am that kind of person who would rather leave everything in the hands of fate, challenging this difficult fight but only if I was sure that there is a decently high chance for me to actually win this thing.

「Oh well, I knew it from the start that I would be performing some last minute cramming session, so that’s okay. But I must say, it makes me feel a little bit guilty to be playing games when the final exams are right around the corner like that.」

「I-Is that so……」

Oh well, I am still but a student! And as a student, there is nothing else in this for me but to get my ass to work and do my best!!!

…

………

……………

No, please! Seriously, listen to me, Detective-san!

I assure that there exists a perfectly good reason for me to justify playing video games the night right before the Final Exams! And it’s a really solid and really deep reason, deeper than even the ocean itself! It’s also higher than any mountain of this world! I assure you that it is not a shit-tier excuse! Detective-san, please believe me when I say this!

For you see? Playing a Full Dive game is basically like being half asleep, so it’s like actually taking a short break to take a nap. Well, in any case, on the day of the Exams I am going to be boosting my overall performance with Energy Drinks, so there should be no problems there! In any case, there should be at least one research paper out there in existence that points towards Full Dive gaming boosting the performance of the brain! So for me gaming before the test is like…… Yes! Stretching! Doing some light stretches before more rigorous exercise!

By the morning, my brain is going to be nicely rested and ready to tackle all of the challenges waiting for me during the time of the tests…… Perfect! Yes, that’s some perfectly forged strategy on my part, if I do say so myself.

「Alright then.」

As long as there exists a good enough excuse to justify your actions, then everything is fine in my book.

So with that being said, let’s just take a break from ShangriLa Frontier, shall we!?