Chapter 8

is the eighth chapter of the Silver Spoon manga.

Following midterm exams, all of the first-years receive their test scores back. Hachiken scores top marks on all of his tests, easily ranking him at the top of the class, but he still feels unsatisfied at the fact that he was unable to ace even a single subject. Later, he rides on a tractor with Nishikawa for the first time before they help stack piles of hay for the Equestrian Club. They, along with the other students in the high school, are later assigned to clean up the campus, which leads to an unusual discovery for Hachiken.

Summary
In Class 1-D, the first-year students receive their test results from their midterm exams.

As they are being passed back, Hachiken reassures himself that he only missed no more than two questions on each test and notes how he will get top marks in his entire class. However, after getting his tests back, he realizes that he was not able to get full marks on any of them while several of his other classmates were able to on various other subjects; despite accomplishing his goal of being at the top of the class, Hachiken tells himself how unsatisfying it actually is for him to have not aced a single subject.

Later, after riding on horses again, many of the Equestrian Club's first-year students begin to feel the aching pain of saddle sore. They complains about their respective pains while the senior members of the club remark from afar; Hachikan particularly berates himself for not thinking that he had to use his muscles to ride an actual horse.

Suddenly, Nishikawa appears with a tractor that he is driving. He tells the other first-year students to move out of the way so that they won't get hurt, even telling Hachiken not to move around so sluggishly. When he stops the tractor, he explains that he is returning it, assuring Hachiken that he also does not need a license to drive one on private property. Nakajima asks Nishikawa to move a bale of hay and he agrees to do so, even getting Hachiken to join him. Hachiken is amazed by the massive structure of the tractor and is excited to simply be riding one; seeing his enjoyment, Nishikawa starts rambling about various facts on their particular tractor, all while he picks up a bale of hay.

The two later assist with rolling the hay and stacking it in piles. Hachiken suddenly asks about the crops harvested at the campus and learns from Nakajima that Yezo produces all kinds of crops, making it able to provide for itself without the needs of exported goods. Nakajima also tells the boys that they can ask any of the teachers at the high school for samples of whatever product they are in charge of.

After they are done, Hachiken and Nishikawa head back to the dormitories while reflecting on Nakajima's words. Nishikawa suggests that he could make robots or a new tilling device using parts of the tractors on the high school, similar to how they were originally used to manufacture tanks. Hachiken suddenly states that he is jealous of Nishikawa's carefree mind, causing the other student to reply that he is jealous of those who are able to get top marks in their classes; hearing that, Hachiken wonders why he is not feeling any enjoyment from getting high scores on their midterm exams. He then begins to worry about what he wants to do in his future which Nishikawa then reassures will come to him eventually over time.

Back at the high school, all of the students and staff gather around for an assembly. The teachers tell the students that they will need to clean up the entire campus as the weather is now warming up; realizing how much cleaning they will need to do, all of the students become disheartened, until the principal suddenly tells them that a Genghis Khan party will be thrown afterwards. After hearing about the party, all of the first-year students become motivated to get working.

However, Hachiken becomes physically exhausted after picking up several objects around the campus, ranging from regular trash to a statue of Colonel Sanders, which he all drags back to a cart for the collected trash. He and several of his male classmates then start organizing the flammable and non-flammable trash into piles, especially after hearing Komaba's suggestions. However, one of the trash piles suddenly collapse due to the weight and tumble everywhere. When the students inspect it, they discover a masonry oven lying beneath all the trash, virtually new. Hachiken and the others wonder what it could actually be.