Zongman I fight weirdness in everyday world

Hearing these straightforward words, Maki Shijo was speechless, unable to find any reason to refute them.

Indeed, Yexing's personality and behavior were somewhat outrageous.

But no one could deny that his achievements at Soubu High were unattainable for any student at Shuchiin Academy, given the fundamental differences in the schools' atmospheres.

Even at Toyonosaki Academy, Eriko Spencer Sawamura was known as a skilled member of the art club, the fairest maiden in the whole school, a golden legend of Toyonosaki—titles unrelated to her family background.

But what about Kaguya Shinomiya and Maki Shijo?

The eldest daughter of the Shinomiya family, the young lady of the Shijo family.

The former, through her election as student council president, had gradually overshadowed the influence of that title; a significant portion of the students' impression of Kaguya Shinomiya was no longer that of the aloof Shinomiya family's young lady, but of the capable and perfect student council president who delivered that brilliant speech and single-handedly handled the various tricky questions posed by Soubu High's Great Demon King on stage.

The key point was that Maki Shijo couldn't use the argument of putting herself in his shoes to refute Yexing's words.

After all, Yexing, abstract as he may be, always managed to leave a deep impression, no matter how outrageous his actions were.

For example, the profound declaration he made after the victory of the joint examination, thanking the many girls.

If she possessed the Shijo surname and then entered Shuchiin Academy, she probably wouldn't need half a month to use an astonishing feat to directly overshadow the impression others had of her.

"In other words…"

Seeing Maki Shijo unable to refute, Yexing smiled and delivered a fatal blow.

"I possess the ability to change people's impressions and the so-called atmosphere through my own actions, you don't, so… I'm much stronger than you."

The simplest humiliation, the ultimate enjoyment.

Watching Maki Shijo's inability to argue, Kaguya Shinomiya glanced at Yexing with a hint of reproach, but didn't say much, as she believed that the immature Maki Shijo would eventually have to experience such growth.

Besides…

It was Maki Shijo who started the provocation in the first place; ultimately, she simply hadn't recognized how formidable her opponent was…

Such a powerful figure to deal with.

Chapter 475: An Ultra-Difficult Exam Paper, Maki Shijo's Misunderstanding

"Alright, alright."

Seeing Maki Shijo somewhat unable to save face, Kaguya Shinomiya softened after all.

"Let's continue the tour."

"Okay."

Yexing didn't seem to have any intention of pressing his advantage, as further attacks would probably cause Maki Shijo to lose her sparkle.

At this moment, Maki Shijo had only one thought in her mind.

Regret, she really regretted it.

The exam was about to start in half an hour, and she just had to provoke him.

Now, that statement from Yexing had completely broken Maki Shijo's defenses.

Yes, her greatest shining point was her identity as the young lady of the Shijo family, and she hadn't yet done anything besides her background to leave a deep impression on people.

On the other hand, Yexing…

The genius who ranked first in the Sakura Province Joint Examination, the paragon who openly expressed his love for many women after achieving first place in the joint examination, the behind-the-scenes figure who played a decisive role in Kaguya Shinomiya's election as student council president, despite being a student from another school.

All these titles, including those omitted, had nothing to do with his background.

Thinking of this, Maki Shijo suddenly felt a little curious, pursed her lips, and couldn't help but ask.

"Um… Yexing-san, what do your parents do? Are they in a place outside of Sakura Province?"

"Indeed."

Yexing didn't even turn his head, but walked slowly through the floor belonging to Soubu High's second-year students, replying with a smile in his voice.

"They are indeed not in Sakura Province, nor are they in Kyushu."

"Then where are they? Overseas?"

Seeing Maki Shijo still asking, Yexing stopped, turned to face her, and said with a light smile.

"Since you like asking so much, if I tell you where they are, will you go?"

"Go?"

Maki Shijo frowned slightly, wondering.

"Go where?"

Shizuka Hiratsuka and Kaguya Shinomiya, who knew about Yexing's family situation, now had very interesting expressions.

On the one hand, they felt that the orphan whose parents had both passed away should be a very sad topic, one that would make listeners sad and viewers shed tears, and that they should maintain a silent seriousness to express their empathy and grief.

On the other hand…

What Yexing said was too abstract, what did he mean by 'will you go?'

Was he asking Maki Shijo to go find his parents?

It was really hard to hold back.

For a moment, Shizuka Hiratsuka and Kaguya Shinomiya were both in a state where they knew in their hearts that this topic was not suitable for laughter, but they were about to be amused by Yexing, but they still had to force themselves not to laugh; Shizuka Hiratsuka even started pinching her thigh to hold back her laughter.

"There's no need to ask, this is a trivial topic."

Yexing waved his hand, and then added a sentence that made Maki Shijo feel both ashamed and angry.

"What, do you want to come over and be a child bride? If you beg me nicely, and your attitude is sincere, I might consider it."

"You… you…"

Maki Shijo's face was flushed, her originally cute face was as red as a freshly cooked crab, and her shoulders even began to tremble slightly.

Seeing this, Kaguya Shinomiya thought that this was the end.

If there was originally a slight, faint, almost impossible chance that Maki Shijo could defeat Yexing in this exam, then after the psychological warfare just now…

Her state had completely collapsed.

Now, let alone first place, it was hard to say whether she could even beat Miyuki Shirogane.

However, Kaguya Shinomiya believed that this was also one of Maki Shijo's immature behaviors.

The real contest doesn't start until the moment the exam begins.

From the moment she got off the bus, Maki Shijo should have been prepared to accept the test.

… …

Half an hour later, in the classroom of Class A of the second year.

"Oh my god, it's so hard, so hard!!!"

Yui Yuigahama had only received the exam paper for five minutes and had already let out a desperate cry.

Looking at the obscure and difficult questions on the paper, she felt like her head was about to split open.

"Why… why are the questions so difficult this time…"

Shizuka Hiratsuka, as the proctor, heard Yui Yuigahama making such harsh complaints during the exam process, which was supposed to be quiet, but didn't say anything, after all, there were only members of the Extra Activity Club in this exam room, no other examinees.

As for cheating…

Stop kidding, with Yukinoshita Yukino, who can't stand a speck of dust in her eyes, does Yuigahama Yui think she can cheat? Absolutely impossible.

"Indeed, it's difficult."

Yukinoshita Yukino put down her ballpoint pen, looked up at Hiratsuka Shizuka, and said in a calm tone.

"Sensei Shizuka, the difficulty of each question on this paper is very high. If it were based on the usual test-setting rules, they would all be placed as the final bonus questions, right? And... there are no multiple-choice questions."

"These are special questions set for this joint exam."

Hiratsuka Shizuka waved her hand casually and said with a smile.

"Isn't this to avoid the situation where two perfect scores appear at the same time? After all, our school is the organizer this time, so it's best to avoid this kind of situation that would cause controversy, so we slightly increased the difficulty of the exam."

"Is that slightly?"

Yukinoshita Yukino rubbed her temples, thinking that even she, as the second-ranked student in the grade, found it very difficult to do this paper, let alone Yuigahama Yui, whose grades were not very good and were in the middle and lower ranks.

Looking around, Riko Futaba, Miko Yotsuya, Hana Yurikawa, Mitsuha Miyamizu, and others were showing similar expressions. The time they spent thinking was longer than the time they spent writing.

Only two people could maintain a relaxed expression in the face of such a difficult exam paper.

One is naturally Yozora. The ballpoint pen in his hand was almost dancing with afterimages. His answering speed was even faster than the normal person's grading speed.

The other one...

Seeing Touma Kazusa, who was sitting in the back row of the classroom and had fallen into a baby-like sleep, everyone, including Hiratsuka Shizuka on the podium, couldn't help but sigh helplessly.

When one is completely giving up to this extent, not to mention a difficult exam paper, even if some unsolved scientific problems were placed in front of her, Touma Kazusa's mentality would not waver in the slightest.

Anyway, she won't answer. She won't answer even if it's as simple as one plus one, and she won't answer no matter how difficult it is. It doesn't matter.

Immediately afterward, Futaba Riko looked up at Hiratsuka Shizuka and asked a question that was most critical for Yuigahama Yui and Kitagawa Kaimu.

"Sensei Shizuka, is the passing score for this exam the same as usual, or is it based on the average score of the students? If it's the latter, do we only calculate the average score of our Soubu High, or do we include Shuchin Academy and Private Hounosaki?"

"Only calculate our Soubu High's."

"That's good."

Futaba Riko breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that Private Hounosaki Academy was fine, but if the scores of the second-year students of Shuchin Academy were also included in the measurement range of this exam, then not to mention Yuigahama Yui and Kitagawa Kaimu, even Kogiso Setsuna, whose grades were in the middle and upper reaches, would probably find it difficult to get a passing score.

As for Takanashi Rikka...

Leave it to fate. Her English score might be able to pass, but science and liberal arts... at least this exam is completely hopeless.

At the same time, in another room, a test center that Soubu High had specially cleared out for this joint exam, Shijou Maki was writing furiously.

Although the temperature in the classroom was not high, fine beads of sweat had already seeped out on her forehead.

From this point, as well as Shijou Maki's incomparably focused expression, it could be seen that even for a genius of her level, the difficulty of this exam was very high.

She could answer every question, but every question was just stuck at the limit of her ability. She could do it, but it would take a long time to think.

The exam time was only two hours in total. As before, the three parts of liberal arts, science, and English were concentrated on one paper, but it wasn't as perverted as last time, and the order of the questions was not disrupted.

Shijou Maki roughly calculated that she had spent twenty minutes, accounting for one-sixth of the entire exam time, but had only answered less than one-eighth of the questions, and as her brainpower was consumed, the answering speed would become slower and slower.

"I see..."

When Shijou Maki noticed the scores marked next to each question on the exam paper, she thought she had seen through the little thoughts of the question-setters at Soubu High, and thought she had figured out the rules of this exam.

"Is it an exam that tests students' ability to make judgments and make trade-offs between the cost-effectiveness of each question's score...? It seems that Soubu High's question-setters are not much worse than Shuchin Academy's..."

If Shijou Maki's thoughts were known to Kirisu Mafuyu, who was in charge of setting the exam questions this time, she would definitely be dumbfounded.

Did I... have such intentions?

The reason why Kirisu Mafuyu set the exam questions so difficult was very simple.

Soubu High's school authorities, as well as her friend Hiratsuka Shizuka, had specifically requested that the difficulty of the exam paper be raised higher and higher, but it couldn't be too high. After all, it was still necessary to reflect some differences between students' levels, such as outstanding students from Private Shuchin Academy being able to get a score equivalent to 70 or 80 out of 100.

Only in this way could Yozora's perfect score be more valuable, and let the people from Private Hounosaki Academy and Shuchin Academy know what a genius among geniuses is, a man among men, the god of exams, the answer to all questions, the ultimate skill of students!

Soubu High's hosting of this joint exam seemed to be under the banner of friendly exchanges between the three high schools, but in reality...

It was to severely humiliate and fiercely raise their eyebrows with pride.

Not only Shijou Maki, but also Shirogane Miyuki, who was in another exam room, had the same idea.

Both of them felt that it was impossible for normal human beings to complete this extremely difficult exam paper in such a short period of time.

After weighing the two factors of score and difficulty, making selective trade-offs on the questions.

That was what this exam was really testing.

...

Two hours later, as the bell rang to signal the end of the exam, Shijou Maki, who had been burying her head in writing, finally breathed a sigh of relief as if relieved of a heavy burden.

While handing in the paper, she glanced at the papers of the other Shuchin Academy students in the exam room and found that most people's papers showed a densely packed front and a blank back, and many people even showed a look of astonishment after hearing the bell ring to signal the end of the exam, as if questioning why time had passed so quickly.

"They really don't have any strategy..."

Shijou Maki packed up her belongings and walked out of the classroom in large strides after handing in the paper, with a confident look on her face.