From the mailboxes on the first floor, he could see that the students' names had already been posted on them, one for each person.
Here, he could see the mailbox names of every student in the class, as well as the lists for the other classes.
In other words, each building probably housed one grade.
The school had deliberately separated the different grades.
But that was not important right now.
Thud!
After swiping his room card, Oreki entered his room.
The room had a pretty nice layout.
There was a small 1.2-meter bed, along with a desk and a chair.
There was also a private bathroom and a small balcony.
It even had a kitchenette.
Small as it was, it had everything it needed.
As far as living conditions went, it was actually decent.
However—
Thud!
He shut the door.
Oreki closed his eyes.
[Use Teleportation?] [Go home.]
"Yes!"
Oreki did not hesitate at all.
Thud!
It felt as though a ripple had passed through his body, but it was not uncomfortable. Still, the sound in his ears changed into... the spacious courtyard.
Rustle—
Oreki opened his eyes.
Before him was an ordinary courtyard, bathed in the dazzling midday sunlight.
The sunlight fell over the watermelons planted in the yard, making them gleam.
And this was his home.
He had really... come back!
Oreki pinched his cheek.
Ah.
Wasn't this great?
Thus, Oreki spent the entire afternoon sprawled out in his room.
Meanwhile—
Meanwhile.
After Teacher Majima accepted the students' transaction of two million Points in exchange for the school rules, he went to the Chairman's Office.
The school was government-funded, intended to cultivate talent before sending it out into society.
It was a pilot program.
It was also an effective one. The school had already sent five batches of graduates into society.
Teacher Majima himself had been a student two cohorts ago and had graduated from Class A, but he had chosen to remain at the school as staff.
By coincidence, the homeroom teachers of the other first-year classes in this cohort had all been students from his year as well.
The homeroom teacher of Class 1-B was a cute young woman with slightly curly hair.
She looked somewhat airheaded.
But appearances could be deceiving.
She was Hoshinomiya Chie, his former classmate.
Though she clearly had better career prospects elsewhere, no one knew why she had chosen to remain at the school as a homeroom teacher.
The homeroom teacher of Class 1-C was Suma Bando, another former classmate.
After they graduated, Suma Bando seemed to have chosen to continue his education. However, he was later manipulated by a woman and scammed out of a large sum of money. He apparently still had some debt, so he chose to return to High School of Advanced Education.
That was right.
Not only were the students judged by merit; the teachers were too.
The benefits for the teachers of the four ABCD classes differed. Teacher Majima, for instance, received a full one million Points per month as salary.
Class B received eight hundred thousand, Class C three hundred thousand, and Class D two hundred thousand.
Yet the Chairman had only assigned Suma Bando to begin as the homeroom teacher of Class 1-C.
As for the homeroom teacher of Class 1-D, it was Sae Chabashira.
She was a tall, aloof, and remarkably beautiful woman.
She had also been a student from the same cohort, though not from Teacher Majima's Class A. She had been a Class D student, led her class upward, and ultimately narrowly missed Class A before graduating from Class B.
But she was quite capable. She had directly tested back in and become a member of High School of Advanced Education's faculty, serving as the homeroom teacher of Class 1-D.
However, she had already served as a Class D homeroom teacher for one cohort without achieving anything.
Class D had basically had no chance of turning things around either.
The pay and benefits were low as well.
She could clearly have lived much better outside the school.
So no one could understand what she was thinking.
"That is the situation." Teacher Majima was not one to gossip, but he reported his class's situation to the Chairman.
"That is quite something." Hoshinomiya Chie, Class B's homeroom teacher, said, "This year's Class A is a little too outstanding."
"Gathering the class's Points right from the start to buy the rules... that has never happened before, has it?"
"Hmph!" Teacher Suma Bando snorted.
His income as Class C's homeroom teacher was already fairly high compared to the outside world, but he had ambitions too.
He wanted to climb higher.
As long as he rose to Class B or Class A, he could completely clear his remaining debts.
At the same time—
He had been a Class A student himself, so why did he have to start out as Class C's homeroom teacher?
Still—
Unhappy as he was, he had also discovered several promising students in this year's Class C.
The best among them was Kakeru Ryuuen.
During the class meeting, he had already begun gathering the class under his control.
He would probably be able to unite Class C in less than a week.
That was extremely impressive.
It gave Suma Bando high hopes.
So this should have been good news for Teacher Suma Bando, except Class A had basically cheated.
They had learned the school rules on the very first day, so what the hell was there left to compete over?
Class C might as well wash up and go to sleep.
With Class A this strong, wouldn't Class C just... be suppressed again?
"That is why I called you here."
As Chairman, he and the other staff members had already noticed Class A's movements through the classroom cameras.
"They learned to use Points to purchase rules right from the start."
"That has never happened before."
"Not even Manabu Horikita accomplished it."
"And when they made the purchase, every member of the class participated and was willing to accept losing half their Points."
"Of course, they have only just enrolled and have not yet come to regard Points as money, so they do not feel the loss as keenly."
"However."
"After consideration by the Student Council Board, we have decided to award Class 1-A a perfect score in this Behavioral Standards Exam."
"So Class 1-A will be exempt this time, and no Points will be deducted for behavioral standards," the Chairman said.
"If that is the case, I do not think it is appropriate."
Teacher Majima hurriedly interjected. "Since they already know the rules, my students will definitely do their best. Even if the Student Council Board gives no special reward, we would not lose many points. Over a month, at most, fewer than fifty points would be deducted."
As his class's homeroom teacher, Teacher Majima was also working hard to secure benefits for his students.
As Class A's homeroom teacher, he was under pressure too.
He could not show favoritism; he had to maintain fairness.
But he also wanted to do something for his students.
The Chairman was not angry.
"Yes."
"We considered that as well."
"So we revised the reward. Class 1-A will instead receive an additional two hundred class evaluation points."
"We are all looking forward to seeing how this year's Class A develops," the Chairman said, his hands folded on the desk.
In other words, the school had only just begun, yet the Student Council Board already considered this year's Class A the most worthy of cultivation.
"Looks like my Class B has been underestimated." The teachers quickly adjourned.
Hoshinomiya Chie, Class B's homeroom teacher, latched onto Sae Chabashira, Class D's homeroom teacher.
Although they had both once been students at this school, they had been assigned to different classes.
But even earlier than that, they had been close friends.
Now that they worked together, there was naturally no problem with sticking close again.
Hoshinomiya seemed carefree and uninhibited.
Then she began to complain.
Although the quality of students in the four ABCD classes was divided by level—
Class B was still very close to Class A.
So when the Chairman said those things, was he not directly ignoring the students of Class B?
After all—
Hoshinomiya thought the students in this year's Class B were quite good.
Before you continue