Midterm Exams Arc

Adapted from chapters 24 to 28 of volume 5 plus Short Mission 4, and animated across episodes 16 through 19 of the first season, the Midterm Exams Arc follows the Doggy Crisis Arc and leads into the Campbelldon Tennis Arc. Henry Henderson's announcement sets the stakes: the two best students per subject earn a Stella Star, while every failed exam brings a Tonitrus Bolt.

The arc opens away from school. Worried that her cooking could sink both her marriage and her cover, Yor takes secret lessons from Camilla, whose questioning uncovers that the orphaned Briar siblings grew up on Yor's own food. By rebuilding the southern stew their late mother once made, Yor finally serves the Forgers a meal they genuinely enjoy. In art class, Anya's paper model of Bond finds its way onto Damian's griffin project, and the combined piece unexpectedly wins first prize, pushing Damian to chase Imperial Scholar status for his father's attention. A family photo passed around class also leaves Becky hopelessly smitten with Loid.

Exam trouble arrives with the lunar calendar: the tests fall on a new moon, when a weakness Anya calls Eclipsing strips her telepathy and rules out cheating. Loid's tutoring goes nowhere, so Yuri is invited over, meeting Anya for the first time. His harsh coaching softens once Anya plays up her love for Yor, and his lesson that knowledge is power fires her up, though she ends up cramming a subject that is not even being tested. Once the exams finish, Loid sneaks into Eden to check her answers and collides with Daybreak, a self-styled rival of Twilight hired to sabotage the Desmond brothers' scores. Loid quietly undoes the tampering to protect his mission, and the results post: Damian's 94 in History earns a Stella Star, while Anya scrapes by in 213th place out of 228 with no help at all.

The saboteur's client turns out to be classmate George Glooman, who blames the Desmond Group for bankrupting his family's pharmaceutical firm. His scheme to frame Damian collapses when Anya steps in, and his classmates shower the supposedly departing boy with parting gifts, food, a borrowed Stella Star, and a chorus performance. The kindness curdles when a Desmond buyout keeps the company alive and George enrolled, now doubly humiliated. An anime-original epilogue sends Yor parkouring across Berlint to deliver a P.E. uniform Anya never needed that day.

The arc leaves the Forger household stronger and Eden's rivalries sharper. Yor gains real confidence in the kitchen, Anya and Yuri are now acquainted, and Damian holds his first Stella Star alongside a fresh resolve to match his brother Demetrius, whose name surfaces here for the first time. The Handler's full alias, Sylvia Sherwood, is also revealed. For Loid, Anya's barely passing grade is a mixed blessing: the mission survives, but stricter study sessions await.