~~The real Katawa Shoujo~~ , just like the real DDLC
This meme from u/gambs gave a good chuckle, and I was trying to figure out how to follow-on from the original joke when I came across this old meme template and realized it was perfect.
Alternate solution 1: Everyone's 18 years and older, but it's not specified whether those are in Earth years or some other planet's years where time is faster...
Alternate solution 2: They're held back if they're in highschool, but they're prodigies if they're elementary/middle school and were promoted to high school because of their intelligence beyond their years.
Alternate solution 3: They're not dumb, just extra studious in wanting to make sure they learn everything before they graduate when the VN ends.
Nevertheless, what a tragic and strange afflict- HANK! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Sources:
- Top meme on this very unfortunate situation by u/gambs
- Bottom art: "A girl who was confident in her end-of-year test results" by Nirareba