Midterm Nightmare
Outside the window, it was dark, with only moonlight illuminating the classroom.
A familiar scene.
What the hell is this…
The moment I opened my eyes, I realized this was the school at night.
But there was one small difference from last time.
“Do you think you’ll be okay today?”
“I didn’t study at all~.”
“Don’t lie. If you’re lying, I’ll cut your tongue off.”
“It’s true, I swear~.”
The difference was that I wasn’t alone.
Of course, Lana had been beside me the last time I woke up too, but…
Now the classroom was packed with students.
Not a single empty seat.
Yet the atmosphere felt different from usual.
What is this…
Then.
I spotted a familiar back sitting at the front row by the window.
White hair.
It was Levin.
Scrape.
I stood up and carefully approached her.
“Hey, Levin.”
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“What the hell is going on right now…?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean…”
Then.
Levin turned her head to look at me.
In that instant, my body froze.
“It’s the midterm exam today, Ares.”
“……”
“The test’s about to start. You should sit down.”
[1. The following mana formula is given.
The internal mana of a spirit stone is expressed by the formula:
E(x) = 2x² − 8x + k
Where
x: Grade of the spirit dwelling in the stone (1st to 5th grade)
E(x): Total mana quantity of the spirit stone
k: Initial spirit mana injected during sealing…]
She had no face.
No eyes, no nose, no mouth.
Only the spot where a mouth should have been twitched as the voice came out.
…This clearly wasn’t the Levin I knew.
And then.
Scrape.
“Everyone, please take your seats.”
A faceless teacher entered the classroom in the same manner.
“Ares? Didn’t you hear me? Take your seat.”
“……”
“We need to check whether you cheated. Sit down quickly.”
“……”
This fucking…
I stayed on guard and carefully made my way back to my seat.
At the same time, I checked every student sitting down.
They all looked like the classmates I remembered.
But they weren’t.
They had no faces.
Someone else was sitting in Lana’s seat.
Someone else was sitting in Ellie’s seat.
Gallery…
The moment I sat down, I instinctively opened the Gallery.
I minimized the transparency to check it secretly━━.
“Are you cheating, Ares?”
“Aaaagh!!”
“Are you cheating, Ares?”
In that moment.
The teacher had somehow approached right in front of me, bending at an unnatural angle and looking up at me from below while standing.
A faceless head suddenly entered my vision and I thought my heart would stop.
Startled, I quickly looked up.
“……”
“……”
“……”
Not only the proctor.
Every single student in class had twisted their heads to stare at me.
Faceless monsters all looking at me in complete silence.
It wasn’t a pleasant situation.
“Now then, Ares? Let’s take the test. With this, we can find out whether you cheated to become the top student in the entire school.”
“……”
The teacher placed a sheet of paper and a pen in front of me.
This was apparently the exam paper.
But.
It’s blank…
The moment I thought that, letters began to appear on the paper as if mocking me.
In the upper left corner.
A single question materialized.
I recognized the question.
Magic Studies.
It was one of the exact questions from the midterm exam we had just taken.
“Now, Ares, solve it.”
“……”
“Solve it right in front of me without cheating.”
I picked up the pen.
I don’t know what this is, but…
If this was some kind of entity that detected cheating, then I just had to avoid getting caught.
Fortunately, I remembered every single question from the midterm exam.
I had memorized them like crazy over the weekend.
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
“I’m done.”
“……”
I pushed the paper forward proudly after finishing.
It contained a perfect solution along with the correct answer.
Ellie’s diary had included the full step-by-step solution, so I had memorized it just in case.
And when I got the answer right.
“……Next.”
“……”
The proctor spoke briefly.
The students were still staring at me.
Then a new question slowly appeared.
Question 2.
It’s the exact same question as the midterm…
I solved the next one without difficulty either.
The answer was already in my head.
“Next.”
“Next.”
“Next.”
While I kept solving the questions.
If I prove I didn’t cheat like this… does that mean the ghost story ends?
After finishing question 17.
It was when I faced question 18.
“Now, solve this one too.”
“……”
[18. Choose the liar.]
1) Ares
2) Ares
3) Ares
4) Ares
5) Ares
“……”
“Now, Ares, solve it quickly without cheating.”
“……”
“What are you doing? Why aren’t you answering?”
I realized it immediately.
━This wasn’t a ghost story meant to expose cheating.
What the fuck is this…!
Choose the liar?
The only answer was Ares.
What would happen if I chose it?
What if I didn’t answer?
My hand wouldn’t move.
“Look at that. You really were cheating, weren’t you? Right, Ares?”
This wasn’t a ghost story to expose cheating.
It was something simpler.
A ghost story where the second-ranked student cursed the first-ranked out of jealousy.
“Haa…”
Should I run?
Yeah, that was probably the right call.
Scrape.
I stood up from my seat.
“What are you doing? Sit back down immediately.”
“Fuck off.”
And I swung the chair I had been sitting on straight at the teacher.
“What are you—ugh━━.”
Crash!!
Fortunately, the chair shot was enough to knock the teacher over.
I immediately sprinted toward the front door of the classroom.
Scrape!
Scrape!
Scrape!
Then the students who had been silently watching me also stood up.
After that, they began charging at me.
“Where are you going, Ares?”
“The test isn’t over yet.”
“Sit back down and solve the problems.”
“This is insane━!!”
Tatatatatat!!
“Get the hell away!!”
“Kuhk!”
Crash!!
After kicking down one student blocking my path, I reached the door before the others could grab me.
I have to escape…!!
Where to?
I didn’t know.
For now, while running, I need to reach the Gallery somehow…!!
The moment I grabbed the door and pulled.
Thud, thud.
“Stop fucking around━!!”
The door wouldn’t open.
Master key━!!
At that moment, I remembered the master key hanging around my neck.
The master key I kept around my neck at all times just in case.
I frantically tried to use it on the door.
“Ares.”
“Aaaaaagh!!!”
“You can’t leave during the test.”
“I need the bathroom!! I’m about to shit myself!!”
“Finish solving first, then go.”
“Stop bullshitting━!! I’m gonna shit?! I’m seriously gonna shit right here, you bastards!!”
“Ares.”
“You can’t leave.”
“Come this way.”
The dolls mimicking my classmates grabbed my limbs.
I screamed and struggled, but I couldn’t overpower so many of them alone.
In the end.
Thud!
I was forced back into my seat.
The proctor shoved her faceless head right in front of my eyes.
“Why are you acting like this? Is it because you can’t solve it without cheating?”
“…The question is seriously fucked up.”
“Fucked up? Fucked up? Fucked up? Fucked up?”
Kekekekeke.
The teacher and students surrounding me began to laugh.
While I stared at them in disbelief.
━━Thud.
“……”
“……”
“……”
A sound came from the front of the blackboard, and the teacher and students instantly fell silent.
An eerie stillness settled over the classroom.
And then.
Thud, thud, thud….
Squelch, squelch, squelch….
“What the… hey…”
A strange reverberation.
A sticky, wet sound.
The noise was approaching from the blackboard.
Thud….
Squelch….
Eventually, the sound reached right behind the teacher.
Slide….
The teacher stepped aside.
And there.
━━Were panties and bare legs.
An upside-down butt with the skirt flipped down.
That was all there was.
“Huh…?”
Black panties.
The legs were smoother and more well-shaped than expected.
While I was thinking that.
“Ares.”
“What, uh, aaaaaagh!!!”
A voice came from under the desk. When I looked down, a female student with a broken neck and blood pouring out was staring up at me.
Grin.
The girl smiled grotesquely, corners of her mouth curling upward as she looked at me.
A smile so mangled that it couldn’t be called pretty even as a joke.
“You cheated, didn’t you?”
It was that girl.
The one who jumped off the rooftop earlier today.
The one who called out to me in the hallway.
Probably the former second-ranked student in the entire school.
“You got caught cheating, huh?”
━Kihihihihihi.
━Kyahahahahaha.
The girl began laughing as if she was having fun.
And at the same time.
Crunch!!
“Aaaagh!! What the hell?!”
The students surrounding me grabbed my shoulders and arms.
They forced my hand onto the desk, and the teacher spoke.
“Since you got it wrong, you have to receive punishment.”
“I haven’t even answered yet!!!”
“Time’s up. You have to solve each question within two minutes to get into a good university.”
She spouted nonsense in a strange tone.
I struggled, but I couldn’t break free.
Damn it…!! Damn it…!!
Then one of the students placed a pencil case on the desk.
They rummaged through it and pulled something out.
A box cutter.
Scrape.
With an unpleasant sound, the thin blade popped out.
“This is your punishment.”
The teacher accepted the box cutter and brought the blade toward my hand.
The target was my fingernail.
The gap between nail and flesh.
“W-wait…!! Wait wait wait wait!!!”
“Solve the next question properly, okay?”
Slice.
“Kuaaaaaaaaagh!!!”
A sharp pain and a disgusting sensation shot from my fingertip straight to the back of my head.
Along with the agony, my scream filled the classroom.
They had sliced under my fingernail with the box cutter.
Probably the nail had flown off and the desk was covered in blood.
While thinking that, I gritted my teeth and looked at the desk.
Huh…?
But the desk was clean.
The finger the box cutter had just cut was completely fine.
Something was wrong.
It hurt like hell, but there was no wound.
……The puppet doll!
The puppet doll I had wrapped my hair around before falling asleep.
It was taking the damage in my place.
Thanks to that, my finger itself was unharmed even though the pain was excruciating.
“Now, solve the next question.”
The students released my arms.
But they still surrounded me.
As if to say I couldn’t escape.
The broken-necked girl beneath my feet was still smiling.
And on the exam paper.
A new question appeared.
[19. Choose which cheating method Ares used.]
1) Copying
2) Switching answer sheets
3) Bribing the teacher
4) Leaking the exam paper
5) Taking the test by proxy
What do I do…? How can I…
Another bullshit question.
I could feel it instinctively.
Answering meant death.
Because no matter which option I picked, it meant admitting I had cheated.
If I didn’t answer, I would be tortured.
A fucking multiple-choice hell.
The puppet doll… it definitely has limits…
It could only prevent death once.
If I received a penalty that led to death… would this ghost story end?
No way…!!
These ghost bastards weren’t that kind.
From my experience so far, if they killed me once and I didn’t die, they would just kill me again.
Think…! Think…! A way to escape…!!
I was going to die like this.
After suffering until the puppet doll’s effect ran out.
I had to do something.
Anything.
A way to escape.
Or some kind of wit to survive.
“Ares, one minute left.”
I had to do something.
“……”
While breaking into a cold sweat, I stared at the exam paper with trembling eyes.
And then.
━━Thud, thud.
“……”
“……”
“……”
The classroom door shook.
━━Thud thud thud!
It shook even harder the next time.
What…?
Even the ghost bastards turned to look at the door as if something was wrong.
The broken-necked girl also turned her eyes toward the door.
Even they hadn’t expected this.
Something was happening at the door right now.
And then.
Thudthudthudthudthudthudthudthud!!!
The door shook like crazy and made noise, then.
━━.
In an instant, it became quiet again as if nothing had happened.
“……”
“……”
“……”
Everyone stared at the classroom door.
“During the test, what━━.”
And the moment the proctor spoke.
━━Crash!!
The window next to the door shattered.
“Ares━!!!”
“Ellie?!”
It was Ellie who appeared.
Why was Ellie here?
Was she fake?
No, but she was different from these bastards.
She had proper eyes, nose, and mouth, and looked like a real person as she climbed through the window.
No, more importantly.
That thing in her hand….
Don’t tell me it was a longsword━━
“Get away from Ares, you bastards!!!”
Ah, now that I think about it, Ellie was in the swordsmanship class….
“Khehk!!”
“Kyaaaagh!!”
Ellie swung her longsword, as tall as herself, with murderous eyes.
Of course, physical force didn’t work on the ghosts.
Since physical attacks didn’t affect them.
But it was enough to knock down the ones surrounding me.
“Ares…!!”
“Ellie…! How did you get here…!!”
“F-first, let’s get out of here quickly!”
When Ellie saw me, her murderous eyes turned into teary, gentle ones like a lamb’s, and she grabbed my hand.
Like Jekyll and Hyde.
But in this moment.
She was no different from an angel to me.
Tatatatatat!!
“Aaaaaagh!! They’re chasing us!!”
“Kyaaaaagh!!”
We jumped out the window following Ellie and escaped the classroom.
But true to their nature as ghosts, the teacher and students also jumped through the window and chased after us.
“Where do you think you’re going!!!”
“You can’t leave during the test!!!”
The proctor charged forward grotesquely.
Among the students were dolls mimicking Levin, Lana, and Ellie.
And following behind them.
Thudthudthudthudthud━!!
“Come hereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!”
The broken-necked girl chased after us at an absurd speed while maintaining her handstand posture.