Chapter 240: End of the Exam, and a Conversation with Hiyori and Ichinose (Patreon)

As the Sukuna subjugation battle drew to a close, Chris slowly withdrew his gaze. It drifted, almost idly, to a glass window a short distance away. He studied the scene reflected in the pane, and one eyebrow rose as if he were surprised.

Beside him, Hiyori Shiina sharply noticed the pause in his stare.

She turned her head and followed his line of sight to the glass.

Then her eyes widened.

In the blood-red glow of the sunset, alongside the reflections of the two of them, she saw something that had no business being here—a phoenix bathed in golden flames!

It was beating its wings inside the mirrored space, head thrown back as if it were letting out a silent cry across the dimensions.

Neither of them could actually hear it. Hiyori still couldn't help turning to Chris and pressing close as she asked:

"That's... the Goldphoenix. Why would it suddenly appear in the mirror here? Could it be trying to give us some kind of hint?"

Chris stroked his chin and didn't answer right away.

He stepped forward and laid a hand on the window where the phoenix had appeared, feeling the cold glass beneath his palm.

"Honestly, I'm curious why it came, too."

"Too bad Contract Monsters can't talk. And from the look of it... it can see us across the Mirror World, but it can't actually cross into our reality."

The Goldphoenix circled inside the glass, looking agitated and frustrated that it couldn't break through the barrier. Hiyori thought it over.

"Is it because, when the midterm ended, the Black Sphere teleported every monster in our world away...? So the Goldphoenix can't get in either?"

Chris neither confirmed nor denied it. "Maybe."

"If we want to understand what it's after, we probably have to go into the Mirror World and find it ourselves."

"Go into the Mirror World ourselves..."

Hiyori paused, puzzled. "But we can't materialize our card decks and transform while we're at school. So... why don't we go into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber now and cut through it into the Mirror World? Then we could see what the Goldphoenix is trying to say."

Chris didn't turn her suggestion down.

"We can try."

"But it didn't appear back when we were taking the exam, and it picked right now of all times... I doubt that even if we meet it in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, we'll solve anything on the spot."

"What matters most right now is Horikita, Karuizawa, and the others."

With that, Chris pulled his hand off the glass, turned, and headed toward the place they'd agreed on as their temporary assembly point. Hiyori quickly hurried after him in little steps.

"Are we going to find Ichinose and the others?"

Chris glanced back at her, as if it were obvious.

"Yeah. Even if we can't reach the presiding god of the Black Sphere to ask what's going on, we should at least go see everyone."

"Whatever else you say, they're teammates who fought for their lives with us in that exam..."

Hiyori murmured something, her pink lips pursing slightly, but said nothing more. She just followed quietly at his side.

By the time the two of them reached the gymnasium the first-years had used as their temporary gathering point, the huge hall looked empty.

The last light of the sunset stretched long slanting shadows across the floor. In the center of the hall, only Honami Ichinose remained, alone.

She was pacing back and forth with her head down, plainly anxious.

"Knock, knock."

Chris rapped lightly on the door beside him.

Ichinose's head snapped up, startled. Chris frowned in puzzlement.

"...You're the only one here, Ichinose?"

After all, with Ichinose's popularity in Class B and across the whole year, it was strange.

Even if ordinary students felt distant from her because of her special status as a "Qualified One" and didn't know how to comfort her, Shiranami Chihiro, who had just been through the exam with her, should never have left her here alone.

When Honami Ichinose saw it was Chris and Hiyori Shiina, her tense shoulders loosened a little.

She shook her head and explained gently.

"You don't need many people to wait here for Amikura, Horikita, and the others to come back."

"Everyone looked exhausted, so I made them all go back to the dorms and rest first."

"What about you?" Chris looked at the weariness she couldn't quite hide and asked back, "Aren't you tired?"

Ichinose pressed her lips together, avoiding his eyes, and summoned up a gentle smile.

"I'm fine!"

"If I really can't hold out, I'll call Shiranami to come switch with me. We arranged that beforehand."

Chris nodded and didn't call out her bluff.

He didn't even need to think to know how that had gone: Shiranami Chihiro had begged to stay and keep her company, and Ichinose had refused. Still, in a way, that was a good thing for Shiranami Chihiro.

Being counted among Ichinose's "reserves" beat spending the whole thing as a bystander by a wide margin, didn't it?

With that thought, Chris led Hiyori to a bench not far from Ichinose and sat down.

Then he beckoned to Ichinose, who was still standing in the middle of the floor.

Ichinose sighed, a little helplessly. "Senpai... and Shiina. You two should hurry back and rest too."

"You were in the Backrooms for a whole day. The mental strain must be huge! You don't have to wait around here with me."

Even as she said it, she honestly walked over to the bench.

Under Chris's gaze, she obediently sat down in the empty spot beside him.

Chris shook his head with a small laugh.

"We all went to take the exam together. Aren't you under the same pressure, Ichinose?"

"Keeping you company is no big deal."

"Besides... we won't be at ease until we see the result with our own eyes. If Horikita and Karuizawa and the others made it back alive and found only you waiting here, that wouldn't exactly warm anyone's heart."

Ichinose held on to her stubbornness. "Really, it's fine if I stay here alone..."

She never finished.

Chris, perfectly naturally, reached out and put an arm around her slender shoulders from behind, patting them gently.

Ichinose's voice froze, and her body went rigid.

Chris didn't overstep. He just kept up that supporting gesture and spoke softly.

"I know your personality."

"Until everything is properly taken care of, you won't let yourself relax for even a second."

"But waiting around like this doesn't help anyone. Rest a little. Resting doesn't mean you're dodging responsibility or doing nothing. People rest to make up for the damage to body and mind that you can't see."

He pulled with a bit more strength, drawing her shoulder toward him. "Take a short nap. When we hear from them, I'll wake you."

Honami Ichinose fell silent.

After a moment's wait, she didn't say anything to refuse.

She just followed the pull of his hand, let her head rest against his broad shoulder, and slowly closed her weary eyes.

But before Ichinose could truly relax, breathing in the soothing scent of Chris and drifting into a half doze, she heard him say gently to Hiyori on his other side:

"Hiyori, you rest a while too."

Hiyori thought about it. She cast an uncertain glance at Ichinose's other shoulder, which had clearly gone taut, and whispered considerately.

"Um... maybe I should wait until Ichinose has rested, and then..."

Chris just smiled, unconcerned. "It's fine. Ichinose won't mind."

Ichinose, leaning on his shoulder, thought: ...

She gave a somewhat exasperated little cough, her long lashes trembling.

That was her protest!

If he wanted to rack up affection with other girls and show off his tenderness, he could at least wait until she was actually asleep! This was treating her far too much like family!

Chris found it hard not to laugh.

He raised a hand and patted Ichinose's back, soothing her the way you would a child.

"After all, we're teammates who've now truly fought through life and death together in the exam."

"And between companions, there should be respect and trust. As long as each has a place in the other's heart, and we're willing to open up about everything, then good or bad, it can all be said to each other's faces. No need for so much hypocritical polish."

Chris tilted his head, his breath brushing Ichinose's ear. "I think a relationship like that is fine."

"Or, Honami, would you rather I do these things behind your back like some hypocrite?"

Honami Ichinose's lips puffed out in a wronged little pout.

She tilted her head and pressed her smooth forehead against Chris's shoulder. Whether she was sulking or giving in, she nodded twice.

After a long while, she sighed softly and spoke with her eyes closed.

"Even though you've never once tried to hide your true nature, Senpai..."

"I still think you're really, really greedy."

"If the Black Sphere exams hadn't come, if we'd met in some peaceful everyday life... there's no way, absolutely no way I'd put up with something like this..."

In other words.

After going through the Black Sphere exams.

Especially now, with Suzune Horikita, Kei Karuizawa, and the others still in unknown danger, their fates uncertain.

She was willing to give ground for the sake of this hard-won bond and the sense of safety it gave her.

Having received a promise that amounted to near-tacit consent, Chris naturally reached out his other hand and patted Hiyori Shiina's shoulder.

This time, Hiyori didn't refuse.

The girl leaned in a little and docilely settled against Chris's other shoulder.

She closed her eyes, her long, upturned lashes casting faint shadows beneath them.

Only when Ichinose's breathing beside them grew even and slow, as though she had truly lowered her guard and fallen asleep...

Hiyori Shiina lifted her head a little, brought her lips close to Chris's ear, and asked in a murmur that was almost a sleepwalker's.

"Chris-kun... the book I gave you before... have you read it?"

Feeling the warm breath at his ear, Chris answered with a soft "mm."

Having been given confirmation, Hiyori went on.

"Then do you think... we'll end up like the story that book alludes to?"

"A sad old love, misaligned on both sides, that could only end in death?"

"Knowing that in a world this cruel, it's impossible to hope for everyday happiness, yet still deceiving ourselves, dreaming of a happy ending..."

"People like us will inevitably end in tragedy too, won't we?"

She kept murmuring.

Her voice carried a faint sorrow that could break a heart.

Chris thought it over seriously, then answered quietly.

"Actually, I'd already read that book long before."

"But because I knew its ending was a tragedy, even though you gave it to me with your own hands, I never opened it once after I got back."

"I'm sorry, Hiyori. I lied to you."

"I've never liked tragedies. It's just how I was born."

"I hate endings where you're helpless and your heart is torn apart. The ending I hope for is always a perfect one."

"An ending where, as long as I want it, there has to be a clear answer. Even if the methods I use to get there might not look elegant, or might even be a little cruel."

"I know that sometimes I really am excessive and greedy."

"But once I set a goal, I become like a black hole."

"I pull everything I desire into my event horizon. Even if you wanted to run... you couldn't get away."

Hearing this domineering, almost unreasonable "mad boast,"

Hiyori Shiina slowly opened her eyes and gazed at Chris's profile from up close.

It was strange. He was saying such irresponsible things, and yet from somewhere in the girl's heart, an unprecedented sense of safety welled up for no reason at all.

"Maybe... people are always deeply drawn to someone with qualities completely unlike their own."

Hiyori murmured.

"I thought that Chris-kun, who likes reading just as much as I do, would be a kindred spirit, a reader with a soul like mine."

"But it turns out you're not."

"There are colors in your eyes that other people can't understand, and they draw in lost, naive people like moths to a flame."

Feeling the feelings swirling in the girl's eyes, Chris nodded lightly.

"I get what you mean."

"So, Hiyori, just treat me as a light novel protagonist with an IQ-lowering aura."

"Otherwise, a girl as smart and rational as you would never be drawn to someone like me."

Hearing that,

Hiyori Shiina finally failed to hold it in, and the corners of her lips curved into a faint smile.

She closed her eyes again and settled calmly against his shoulder.

At the same time,

she reached out a hand and quietly moved Chris's hand down from her shoulder, guiding it to wrap around her slender, soft waist.

On his other side,

Honami Ichinose, leaning on his right shoulder, kept breathing in long, steady breaths.

As if she really had just fallen asleep, noticing nothing of the world around her.

...

Meanwhile,

with the end of the exam,

the two teams from different years, Suzune Horikita's and Miyabi Nagumo's, had been teleported back to the Black Sphere Space and the Presiding God's Space respectively.

Only Akane Tachibana's group of testers were left, still required to stay in the Jujutsu world for a full twenty-four hours.

They would also carry on with the follow-up arrangements.

The two teams that had cleanly left the battlefield and landed in the Presiding God's Space and the Black Sphere Space quickly confirmed the settlement scores they'd earned.

Each privately worked out how many S Points they'd spend on gear upgrades.

Now that the exam was over, the Black Sphere and the presiding god's system had finally stopped blocking phone signals by force, and outside communication was restored.

Almost at the same moment,

Miyabi Nagumo and Suzune Horikita both called Honami Ichinose and Chris.

They meant to use the chance, before returning to reality, to see whether any pressing questions remained, or whether there was intel worth spending points on with the presiding god.

And so,

"Bzzzt—"

Two urgent ringtones went off at the same time.

Chris gently patted the two girls leaning on his shoulders and said quietly:

"Looks like something's come up."

Hiyori nodded slightly. But she didn't sit up right away. Like a small animal that hasn't woken fully and clings to the warmth, she instinctively nestled toward the side of Chris's neck and breathed in a little, clinging, before she reluctantly straightened.

As for Honami Ichinose...

She'd only been pretending to sleep, so she was awake faster than anyone.

She whipped the buzzing phone out of her pocket and glanced at the screen.

Seeing it was Miyabi Nagumo calling, Ichinose knitted her brows.

She quickly pulled herself together, picked up, and asked urgently:

"President, you're finally done?"

"In the exam grounds... did you run into Karuizawa, Amikura, and the others who got pulled in? How are they doing now?!"

On the other end, Miyabi Nagumo was silent a moment.

Then came a slightly teasing chuckle.

"I thought Chris would be right there beside you."

"With how popular he is, you'd think he'd have gotten a stack of 'we're safe' calls from that whole crowd of women the moment the exam ended."

Hearing that, the heart that had been hanging in Honami Ichinose's chest dropped back into place.

If Miyabi Nagumo still had the spare energy to joke, then Karuizawa and the others had to be safe.

She let out a breath and turned to look at Chris's phone beside her, whose screen had lit up too.

Caller ID: Suzune Horikita.

And in the missed-message bar at the top of the screen, an unread notification from Fūka Kiryūin was still hanging.

'Just as Senpai guessed before.'

Ichinose thought privately: they'd been dragged into the upperclassmen's exam as Intruders!

On the other side, Chris didn't respond to Nagumo's teasing.

He simply picked up Suzune Horikita's call and got straight to the point.

"Is everyone all right?"

Horikita's voice came through, a little tired. "Mm."

"Everyone's fine."

"Thanks to the [Crazy Diamond] you lent us, and the [Mountains and Rivers Map]."

"As long as no one gets conceptually killed on the spot, those fatal wounds can be saved."

But as she spoke, the girl's voice sank again, tinged with frustration she couldn't hide.

"It's just... in this exam against Sukuna, I feel like I still didn't play any key role..."

Chris sighed, a bit helplessly.

Judging by what Suzune Horikita had on hand right now,

she had Tohka's spirit crystal. Even without spending points to strengthen it, the divine technique she'd developed, perfectly merging with the shadow soldiers and slipping into the Kingdom of Shadows, was enough.

If she'd wanted to join the fight, or even find a chance to ambush Sukuna, it really wouldn't have been a problem!

After all, the Sukuna of the original Jujutsu Kaisen could take on many at once,

but only because he held a gap-level crushing advantage in raw strength over everyone except Gojo Satoru!

If he ran into a few opponents of comparable strength, who knew teamwork, and who were carrying item combos with special effectiveness against him,

then how Sukuna would fare was anyone's guess.

At bottom, it was because Suzune Horikita had a sharp tongue and a soft heart.

When something sudden hit and she was caught off guard, her first thought wasn't to counterattack but to save people.

Honestly, though, Chris thought that was nothing to blame her for.

She didn't have the god's-eye view. How could she know whether those teammates had extra lives as a safety net?

If someone only had one life and really died because she hadn't rescued them in time, wouldn't she feel guilty forever?

Still, Suzune Horikita was exactly the kind of person who shouldered every bit of responsibility herself and pressured herself out of habit.

As a bystander, and especially as the superior she admired,

if Chris went and lectured her about big principles right now, he might only add to her mental burden without meaning to.

So,

Chris skipped the empty talk and simply set the tone.

"Don't overthink it."

"Just work twice as hard next exam and take back your ground."

"As long as you still have a sword in hand and can keep fighting... you'll always find a chance to prove yourself."

Suzune Horikita gave a soft "mm."

Then she set her feelings aside and moved on to business.

"We're still in the Black Sphere Space. Everyone's settlement is done, and we have extra S Points we haven't planned for yet."

"Is there anything you and Ichinose's side didn't get to ask the presiding god before? Or any intel you needed but couldn't afford to pay for?"

Chris listened and didn't answer right away.

Instead he turned to look at Honami Ichinose, who had stood up on instinct when she took her call and drifted a little way from him.

Noticing his gaze,

Ichinose lowered her phone and hurried back to his side to explain.

"President Nagumo and the others called about the same thing."

"He asked if there's any intel we want him to ask the presiding god on our behalf."

Chris narrowed his eyes.

After a moment, he looked up and suggested to Ichinose:

"Good timing."

"Just give him a rough rundown of the exam questions Kushida raised before."

"I'll tell Horikita a few doubts that just occurred to me."

Honami Ichinose nodded in understanding and picked her phone back up.

Chris rattled off his instructions at speed to Suzune Horikita on the other end.

"Suzune, ask GANTZ two questions for me."

"First, ask what it means that the Goldphoenix appeared in the mirrored surface of our school's windows at dusk."

"Is it a hint or a warning?"

"If you have points to spare, also ask for specific intel on the Backrooms."

Chris paused, and his tone grew heavier.

"Your brother is stuck in the Backrooms right now."

"If we go into the Backrooms during ordinary time, when we're not in an exam, can we still use the gear and abilities the Black Sphere gave us normally?... That intel matters a lot for us."

With those two questions delivered, Chris didn't add any more.

After all, compared with spending expensive S Points on the Black Sphere for vague, intangible intel,

turning points into solid gear upgrades was obviously more important.

The former at most showed you the path ahead. The latter directly decided whether you survived the next exam.

These two questions were the most he could come up with that would directly advance their progress, without seeming too much like he somehow knew the future.

And Suzune Horikita, after listening carefully to Chris's requests,

didn't hesitate. She turned and threw the questions at the Black Sphere exactly as given, ready to see how many S Points it would cost them.

Soon,

Suzune Horikita exchanged for the answer to the first question, about the Goldphoenix.

But when it came to the second, the intel on the Backrooms,

the S Points she'd budgeted weren't enough, and facing the steep price she could only look on helplessly and let it pass.

Fortunately, this intel was strategic guidance for everyone's survival from here on.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, the person with the most S Points in the Black Sphere Space at that moment, didn't show any stinginess over such a sum.

He stepped in and paid the expensive intel fee for Horikita.

And once all the intel was in, perhaps out of some deeper curiosity,

Ayanokōji paid out of his own pocket to put one more question to the presiding god.

"GANTZ, I want to know... what would it take to completely save our world?"

"Or put another way, how can this world be freed forever from the interference of supernatural powers like yours?"

However.

Facing Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's question,

Chris, on the other end of the line, never got to hear the Black Sphere's official reply after it deducted the S Points...

"Beep... beep..."

With a low tone from a dying battery,

the phone screen went black and shut off by itself!

"..."

Looking at the dark screen reflecting his own speechless face,

Chris pretended to tug the corner of his mouth in helplessness.

If you're going to leave people hanging, this is how you do it. Then again, his phone hadn't been charged since he got back anyway.

A few minutes later,

several blinding blue teleportation beams flashed one after another inside the gymnasium.

Suzune Horikita's group finally left the Black Sphere Space and returned to reality.

Seeing Chris holding his dead phone and turning to borrow Hiyori Shiina's to make a call,

Suzune Horikita, who had just landed, immediately strode toward him with Kei Karuizawa, whose face was etched with exhaustion.

"Chris!"

"The answer the Black Sphere gave to Ayanokōji's question just now is..."

She hadn't finished when Chris raised a hand in a stopping gesture.

"Wait. Don't say it yet."

He turned his head and glanced at Honami Ichinose, who was still finishing her last call with Miyabi Nagumo not far away.

"Let's wait until Ichinose is done and everyone's gathered."

"After all, she's been here worried sick since the moment the exam ended, waiting for you all. I haven't waited anywhere near as long as she has."

Chris insisted.

"For important intel that touches everyone's fate like this, let her be the first among us to hear the truth."

Hearing that,

Suzune Horikita tilted her head slightly.

A flicker of incomprehension crossed her cool eyes.

She didn't quite understand. Would saying the intel one minute earlier or later change its accuracy somehow? Why did they have to wait for Ichinose before listening?

But there was nothing to be done.

Since Chris had said so himself,

she had no reason to refuse. It was only a few more minutes of waiting.

And during this short gap,

Hiyori Shiina, who had been standing quietly at Chris's side, stepped forward on her own.

She struck up a conversation with Kei Karuizawa, looking quite at ease.

"Karuizawa, how did you actually end up in the upperclassmen's exam grounds this time?"

"Were you just randomly pulled in as Intruders by the Black Sphere, or did you head there yourselves..."

Hearing the question, Kei Karuizawa looked over by reflex.

When she saw where Hiyori Shiina was standing, she found her surprisingly close to Chris.

And the aura between the two of them didn't look like something forced. It looked more like the familiarity of people who had closed the distance subconsciously...

Kei Karuizawa's heart gave a sharp lurch.

'What's going on here?'

'They were keeping their distance before!'

'And Ichinose isn't stopping this at all? Or is she only targeting me?!'

Kei Karuizawa fumed silently.

But on the surface she showed nothing out of the ordinary.

Instead she explained earnestly:

"Horikita Manabu stayed behind in the Backrooms on his own, right? You must know about that too, Hiyori."

"So after we cleared out the monsters in our original exam grounds, we planned to go with the President to see the Backrooms firsthand, and also brief the President on the intel we'd gathered."

"Then, while we were exploring the Backrooms, just as the time was almost up..."

"We ran into Akane Tachibana Senpai by chance. We figured it was a good moment to return the powerful items we'd borrowed from the President and the others, so we wouldn't hold up their next exam."

Kei Karuizawa spread her hands, a bit helplessly.

"But who would've thought... the moment we stepped into the Backrooms floor where they were..."

"A barrier that had already been laid over the area immediately flagged us as 'players,' and we were forced to take part."

Beside her, Suzune Horikita added at the right moment:

"In a sense... it's very similar to the Control Devil's domination ability that we ran into before."

Hiyori Shiina nodded thoughtfully as she listened.

"So the upperclassmen's exam grounds were also taken over by the Backrooms, and are even being turned into a world awaiting destruction..."

"I wonder if the worlds we visited in our exams before were in the same situation."

Kei Karuizawa picked up the thread.

"About that, Katsuragi from Sakayanagi's class asked the Black Sphere during settlement too."

"It's rather complicated. Once everyone's here, we'll explain it to all of you together."

Just then,

Honami Ichinose finally finished her call with Miyabi Nagumo.

She raised a hand and waved to the people scattered around the gym.

"Everyone, please come over here!"

"I know you've all just been through an exam and you're drained in body and mind, far more than me, Shiina, and Chris."

"But before we break up and go rest, we still need to briefly share and sum up the intel everyone bought with points in the Black Sphere Space."

She took a deep breath.

"Only when everyone has a clear picture can we avoid scrambling when something unexpected hits us again tomorrow."

Naturally, nobody was going to object to Ichinose's proposal.

After all, Ichinose wasn't like certain people who were all talk.

She was the practical kind of leader who, after sharing intel, would go back to the dorms half dead with exhaustion and still insist on organizing every detail into a clear document, then post it in the group chat first thing for everyone to read.

Not like Kushida Kikyo.

Aside from an impressive chest measurement, she ran off faster than anyone whenever trouble came up.

Now she wouldn't even spare the time to wait around the gym a little.

Total flop, honestly. The sweet, understanding "little angel" persona she'd worked so hard to build at the start just couldn't compare to Ichinose's natural knack for winning hearts...

Watching everyone gather around, Chris took on the job of opening things up himself.

"Let me start with the question I asked Horikita to pass along."

"According to the Black Sphere, the reason the Goldphoenix appeared in our school's glass to meet me..."

"is that it sensed some kind of crisis approaching."

"As for what exactly that signal means, the intel was too expensive, so we had to let it go."

"But even without asking, it's certainly tied to the Backrooms."

Chris paused and dropped the second key piece of intel.

"There's also some good news."

"When we go into the Backrooms of our own accord, we can summon and use items normally through the Black Sphere Watch!"

Chris signaled that he was finished.

Beside him, Suzune Horikita picked up smoothly.

"Next is the question Ayanokōji asked, about saving the world from the Black Sphere's and the Backrooms' point of view."

"The Black Sphere said: unless we wipe out the Backrooms entirely at the root, these supernatural disasters can't be cured for good."

"However, while wiping them out is very difficult, simply hiding so the monsters of the Backrooms don't find us does turn out to be possible."

Honami Ichinose nodded and took over, laying out the intel from Miyabi Nagumo's side as well.

"On the upperclassmen's side, President Nagumo asked for us the questions Kushida raised before that the presiding god never answered."

"First, the presiding god confirmed that the scattered pieces of intel it gave us earlier really are related to each other in some way. But the connections aren't many, and they're mostly indirect cause and effect that we have to dig out ourselves."

"Second, about the method for saving the world from the Backrooms..."

Ichinose took a deep breath.

"The presiding god's answer is... forcibly sever the spatial connection point between the current world and the Backrooms, and finish repairing and sealing the world's barrier before it collapses!"

"As for the identity of the mastermind controlling Zetton... the intel is too valuable, and none of the upperclassmen can afford it for now."

Having said that, she looked as if she'd suddenly remembered the most important thing of all.

Honami Ichinose's expression turned grave, and she raised her voice to announce to everyone:

"Oh, right! And the most important thing!"

"When the upperclassmen were leaving the Presiding God's Space, the presiding god gave one last extra notice."

"It said that for the next two weeks, there won't be any regular advance tests or forced-draft exams scheduled!"

"Our next Black Sphere exam will go straight to... the final exam!"