D-Class Rumors

He looked toward the other students...

[Target: Shiranami Chihiro (status refreshed)]

Information Synthesis B-Rank (Active) - Thinking about how to abstract the complex flow of information around campus.

Focus: B-Rank (Highly Concentrated)

[Affection: 38 (Neutral) → 39 (Neutral)] - Nearing the threshold!

Toudou Shizuka's heart stirred. Shiranami's affection was only a little short! He casually shifted to the side, showing off the dynamic sketch on his drawing board, which depicted "rules hemming in inner restlessness," within Shiranami's line of sight.

Shiranami Chihiro frowned at her own drawing board, apparently struggling to express the abstract feel of "rhythm." She glanced at Toudou Shizuka's sketch, and her eyes lit up.

The simple yet striking composition perfectly captured the campus atmosphere she could sense but had struggled to express—the competitive pressure and desire to break through beneath its calm surface! It gave her tremendous inspiration.

She immediately lowered her head and revised her composition. Her lines became more directional and full of conflict, making her message clearer.

[Shiranami Chihiro Affection +1 (Gained recognition for the value of inspiration). Current: 40 (Close)!]

[Unlocked target (Shiranami Chihiro) skill: Information Synthesis B-Rank Simulation Privilege!]

Success! Toudou Shizuka felt sure of it. Without letting it show, he looked away and continued refining his work.

Thirty minutes passed quickly. Miyazawa-sensei looked over everyone's work with interest.

Kobashi Yume's painting was bright with color, lively dots and lines, and pure vitality. It was highly engaging.

Shiranami Chihiro's work had cool, restrained lines, but its structure was clear and its sense of information strong.

Toudou Shizuka's painting was full of inner tension, and the conflict between rules and breaking free struck straight at the heart.

The final results:

First place: Toudou Shizuka (500 points) - Deep conceptual expression and powerful visual impact.

Second place: Shiranami Chihiro (300 points) - Clear structure and a distinctive sense of information.

Third place: Kobashi Yume (200 points) - Bursting with energy and highly engaging.

"Congratulations to the three of you!" Miyazawa-sensei announced with a smile. "Your works each captured a different wonderful aspect of 'rhythm'!"

Kobashi Yume jumped up happily, and Shiranami Chihiro also showed a rare, faint smile. Toudou Shizuka thanked the teacher modestly and pocketed the 500 points. Every little bit counted.

After class, Toudou Shizuka didn't leave right away. He went over to Miyazawa-sensei, who was putting away the teaching materials. With the respectful air of a student seeking advice and just the right touch of curiosity, he said, "Miyazawa-sensei, today's activity was a lot of fun.

"I was wondering, does the school hold many individual reward activities like this? Or are there more direct ways to raise an entire class's evaluation and points?"

Miyazawa-sensei stopped what she was doing and looked at Toudou Shizuka with a gentle smile. "Toudou, you really care about your class.

"Teachers in different subjects sometimes offer small prizes for individual activities, but they're pretty random. As for raising a class's evaluation..." She lowered her voice a little, as if offering a hint. "The key is the overall performance of the class's behavior.

"Everyday discipline, academic culture, and cooperation are the foundation, but what really creates a gap and raises an evaluation significantly are 'major events' that showcase a class's overall strength and decision-making ability.

"For example, the large-scale activities and competitions organized by the school, especially... well, you've probably heard of the 'Special Exams.' Performance in these 'major events' is the core factor in determining whether a class moves up or down. Everyday effort matters, of course, but seizing the key moments often gets you twice the results for half the effort."

"Class behavior," "Major events," "key moments," "Special Exams"! Miyazawa-sensei still hadn't revealed any specific rules, but the direction of her hints was unmistakable!

It confirmed Toudou Shizuka's earlier suspicions and underscored the central role of the Special Exams in the evaluation system.

"Thank you for the advice, Miyazawa-sensei!" Toudou Shizuka thanked her sincerely, then left the classroom with a wealth of useful information.

While Toudou Shizuka was taking action to gather key information, the storm stirred up by Class D's Zero Points was still brewing. At lunchtime, Toudou Shizuka sat in a corner of the cafeteria with Kanzaki, Kobashi Yume, Shiranami Chihiro, and the others.

"Hey, have you heard?" Kobashi Yume lowered her voice and said mysteriously. "Over in Class D... it seems someone's been borrowing points in secret!"

"Borrowing points?" Kanzaki Ryuji immediately frowned. "School points? On-campus Point Lending?"

"Yeah!" Kobashi Yume nodded. "It seems someone urgently needed to buy study materials or daily necessities, but they'd run out of points, so they borrowed from classmates who had some savings... I heard... I heard if they borrowed a thousand points, they had to pay back eleven hundred after a few days!" There was a note of disbelief in her voice.

"Interest Lending?" Kanzaki Ryuji's expression darkened, his gaze sharp behind his glasses. "The school strictly forbids any form of usury! That's a serious violation of the school rules! If they're caught, both parties will be severely punished!"

"Huh? It's that serious?" Kobashi Yume was startled. "Then... why would they borrow?"

"It's because the hardship of having no points makes their current lives feel unbearable compared to the life they had when they first received one hundred thousand points. And because they're short-sighted."

"After all, they spent all one hundred thousand Private Points they received when they first enrolled within a month. That shows they had no reasonable plan or self-restraint. They assumed they'd keep getting one hundred thousand points, so they didn't save any. It's a perfect example of the old saying: 'It's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury to frugality.'"

Toudou Shizuka spoke calmly as he stirred the soup in his bowl. "Zero Points means even the most basic necessities for studying and daily life become a problem. Textbooks, stationery, even meals in the cafeteria can become a struggle.

"Though they can get by until next month with free supplies from the academy, not everyone can accept living that way.

"Under the pressure and panic of trying to survive, it's easy to lose your ability to make rational decisions and resort to a desperate measure." He paused, glancing at the others, who were deep in thought, then added meaningfully, "Besides, in a closed environment, it's hard to regulate this kind of small-scale 'mutual aid' lending if both parties agree and the interest is 'reasonable'—say, paying back a few dozen extra points as a gesture of gratitude. It leaves room for people to exploit loopholes.

"But it's extremely risky, like walking a tightrope. If someone reports it, or the borrower can't repay and a dispute breaks out, the consequences could be disastrous. This isn't a solution at all. It'll only drag Class D deeper into the mire."