As the first month for the first-year students at Advanced Nurturing High School came to an end, the school's true nature revealed itself to everyone for the first time, and the atmosphere across campus seemed to change along with it.
The relaxed, cheerful atmosphere that had once been everywhere vanished completely, replaced by a subtle but unmistakable sense of tension.
Even the bustle at Beech Shopping Center had dwindled by an unknown amount compared with the previous month.
Now that they realized Personal Points could not be acquired unconditionally, the first-years had finally begun to rein themselves in and no longer dared spend their Personal Points recklessly, didn't they?
With the midterms approaching as well, and expulsion awaiting anyone who failed, naturally nobody dared relax so much anymore. Making the most of their time to study was the only right choice.
As a result, Beech Shopping Center was naturally no longer as lively as it had been before.
Of course, the first-years' changes had no effect on the second- and third-years.
So while Beech Shopping Center was not as bustling as it had been last month, it was not deserted either. Plenty of people could still be seen coming and going.
But there was no question that tension had already spread through the school.
If someone could not even sense that tension, then they were a complete idiot, weren't they?
Unfortunately, idiots like that existed everywhere.
Ike Koji, Yamauchi Haruki, and Sudo Ken were examples. Even though they had been part of the group that failed the last quiz, when Class D organized a study group for the exams, the three of them displayed absolutely no sense of crisis and no intention of taking part.
Regarding this, Horikita Suzune seemed to have sent Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who normally had dealings with