My Measurement: The Villain Desires a Satisfying Payback

For a while, time passed without much happening.

It's only been a few weeks so I didn't expect much to happen, but that's how it is.

School life continued as usual for the most part, with something somewhat eventful being that Minami decided to enrol Selina in Weinstell Junior High School since the close proximity with me would allow me to more easily watch out for her security―or so Minami's thought process went.

I didn't think much was going to happen to her in the meantime anyway, so I wasn't too bothered about it.

She doesn't usually trust me, but that part is easily solved thanks to the conditions of the Absolute Contract relieving her worries.

That also meant I am forced to have her accompany me in the morning and afternoon journeys to and from school respectively, but since Selina was smart enough to stay quiet most of the time, it was tolerable.

Weinstell Junior High School, by the way, is just the lower Junior High School of the Senior High School I attend; less than five minutes away from my school.

Currently, the world is in late October. This means two things are about to take place:

Practice exams and Halloween.

Next week, the first set of practice examinations of the year will start, but that isn't something I'm concerned about in the slightest; it's more about what will happen at the end of said exams―that is October 31st, or Halloween, which will occur on Friday.

Right after the end of the final exam, mathematics, the Wardens will launch their attack.

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Entering the hall which had a very hushed and serious atmosphere, I placed my bag at one end of the room where a sea of other students' bags rested and made my way to my designated seat, where the test question paper waited for me on my desk, alongside a standard graphical calculator.

The bags were separated far away from the students to ensure there was no possibility of cheating in that regard, but it was a pretty slight measure.

I took out a pen from within my pocket and waited patiently for the test to begin.

In the meantime, I subtly looked around the hall. The air was full of tension and felt rather heavy despite the fact that these were only practice exams and held no real bearing on our end-of-year results.

Of course, I would score 100% either way, but that was a given.

Students were sorted alphabetically rather than class and entered the exam hall in that order, so by looking at the end of the room where all the 'A' surnames were seated, I could easily spot Sophie Asanami just two rows down.

She didn't look particularly concerned about the exam, whether it be the test itself or the subsequent results. I don't think she was the type of person to study, and her intelligence was about average, so I briefly wondered where that confidence of hers originated from.

Or perhaps, it wasn't confidence―just that she didn't care one way or the other.

Turning my gaze more, I watched as the other students continued to enter the hall in dead silence, apprehension dominating the majority of their expressions.

For example, that's... Hm? Yuu Shimura just entered the exam hall, but despite not having a great precedent for good exam results, doesn't appear to be that worried in comparison to the other students.

No, it would be more accurate to say that he was more concerned with something else; his eyes were frantically scanning the entire room, as if in search of something or someone in particular.

...Oh.

His gaze stopped on me, upon which an awkward smile formed on his face. That was all I needed to see to understand what he was trying to do.

Moving my head in another direction, I ignored his persistent silent cries for help as he continued to his designated seat in tears.

Before long, all the present third-year students had arrived and sat down in their seats. At the front of the hall, the lead exam invigilator spoke up and began with the same tedious introduction as always.

'You may only use a black ink or black ballpoint pen.'

'Answer all questions.'

'Show all workings out in the spaces provided.'

'Neatly cross through any work you do not wish to be marked.'

'You are allowed 2 hours to complete the exam.'

'The maximum mark for this paper is 100.'

―Et cetera, et cetera... In any case, when that was done, the clock struck 09:30, upon which the invigilator announced the official start of the exam.

"The time is now 9:30, the exam has begun. You may now turn to the first page of the exam paper."

Before the invigilator even finished her sentence, a synchronous sound of over 200 pages being flipped echoed throughout the hall as everyone laid their eyes on the first question of the exam.

I did the same.

[1. Given that a > 0 , determine which of these expressions is not equivalent to the others. Circle your answer. (1 mark)]

There were four possible answers just below, one of which I had to determine was the correct answer. It was a fairly simple first question that didn't take much thought even without the use of my Measurement of Truth.

I circled option D.

Not long after, I heard the sound of pen against paper as students circled their answers. In the meantime, I quickly moved on to the next question, which was again multiple choice.

Roughly halfway into the two-hour exam, I arrived at a particularly troubling question.

[13. A curve, C, has equation y = e^3x-5 / x^2

Show that C has exactly one stationary point. Fully justify your answer. (7 marks)]

It was short but tough―a question worth 7 marks, the one and only such question of the paper.

Until now, I had only been using the Measurement of Truth to correct where I might have gone wrong. It was a learning experience, as otherwise, I would not be able to grow my understanding of the subject matter.

Put simply, I had only really been cheating by verifying my answer in advance and correcting myself where necessary until now.

However, for questions like these, which were a bit more of a pain, I would just cheat from the very beginning.

Whilst learning the correct method and solidifying my understanding of the subject would be valuable for any ordinary person, there was no real need for me to go this far when I would never need to know that sort of thing in the first place.

I could just use the Measurement of Truth, after all, so it didn't make a difference whether my brain understood how to do it or not.

Thus, I simply wrote the answer down and acquired the full 7 marks without even bothering to attempt the question before continuing with the rest of the paper.

An hour passed, and the exam came to an end at exactly 11:30.

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Finishing my answer for the exam's final question, I quietly closed the test paper, put my pen back in my pocket, and lightly stretched as I relaxed in my chair.

Needless to say, I was the first person who fully completed the exam, upon which I waited in my seat for the time to run out.

Looking around, almost everyone had their heads buried in their papers, their concentration at full blast. Except for a few students who rushed through it without caring or who didn't even show up to the exam in the first place, that is.

I took Sophie Asanami as a prime example of the classic delinquent student, who simply sat with her head in her arms on the desk; she appeared to be sleeping, or at the very least resting her brain and eyes.

I glanced at the test paper in front of her and immediately realised with the lack of a pen in her hands or on the table, as well as the unopened test paper, that she didn't even intend to take the exam from the beginning.

Huh.

So, that's why she was acting so easygoing earlier. Since it's only a practice paper, it's not like she'll get penalised for it, but can she manage to pass the finals with that attitude?

Well, whatever. It's none of my business whether she passes or fails anyway.

Further up the spectrum, I turned my head from the left to the right and observed Yuu Shimura, who had his forehead planted on the desk with his hands on his head and his eyes closed.

I could tell with but a glimpse that he was experiencing despair.

Judging from the shut test paper in front of him, I suppose he went through the exam whilst skipping all the questions he couldn't answer.

Looking at such a scene, I recalled the times he pestered me to tell him the answers. I gave them to him so that he'd stop bothering me, but was that perhaps a mistake?

If I help him succeed, then he will badger me with his unnecessary gratitude like previously. On the other hand, if I let him fail, then I won't have to deal with that. However, he may resent me for refusing to help him instead, which may only have resulted in an even worse outcome.

Either way, there was no use thinking about it, as I had already helped him a while ago. Whether he passes or fails despite receiving my assistance is up to him, but I can only sincerely hope that I will not regret my decision.

"The time is now 11:30, the exam has officially ended. Please stop writing, put your pens down and turn to the front page of the exam paper."

Finally, the exam concluded.

Listening to the collective sighing of dozens of students around me as the sound of flipping paper and clacking pens resounded, I waited for the invigilators to go down the rows and collect everyone's test paper.

Once the papers were collected, each row of students was let go in reverse alphabetical order, the opposite way we came in.

"Surname I through A, you may leave."

As soon as my turn came around, I got up from my desk, tucked the chair in, and made my way to collect my bag from the end of the hall.

Just beside me, Sophie Asanami approached and gave me a strange look and a nod. Since students weren't allowed to communicate whilst still inside the exam hall, this was all she could do to send me a message.

"..."

Staring at her for a second as she hung her bag over her shoulder, I acknowledged what she was trying to say and together we exited the hall alongside a few dozen enervated students.

First things first, I'll get some lunch.