Night Falls

May 1st.

This was a day that filled Class 1-D with both anticipation and intense dread.

Before Shintō even stepped into the classroom, he could hear the chaotic buzz of discussion, consisting of nothing more than "Have your points arrived yet?"

Or perhaps, "Just wait a bit longer, maybe it's not time yet."

Watching these naive classmates, a flash of sympathy and pity crossed Shintō's eyes. Poor kids, their beautiful daily life was about to be buried in a grave...

"Shintō-kun, have your points arrived?"

The person who spoke was Karuizawa. Naturally spendthrift, she was looking forward to the hundred thousand points at the start of the month more than anyone else.

Shintō opened his mouth instinctively, but he had no intention of playing the villain; besides, Chabashira Sae would explain it soon enough anyway.

"No, not yet."

"I see... then it must not be time yet. Maybe the teacher in charge of the transfers hasn't started work."

"Maybe."

A while later, Chabashira Sae walked in from the door, carrying a poster tube.

Her expression was even colder and more severe than usual, as if, just like the joke Ike made, this woman's cycle was out of whack.

She placed the item in her hand onto the podium without haste, swept a cold, indifferent gaze over the students in her class, lingered on Shintō for a moment longer than necessary, and then spoke slowly:

"We will now hold a class meeting. However, I think before we begin, there might be some questions you wish to ask me?"

Sure enough, following her prompt, several students immediately raised their hands.

"Teacher, um, I checked this morning and found that the points haven't been transferred. Weren't we promised they would arrive on the first of every month? I almost couldn't buy a drink this morning!"

"That's right. Points are indeed transferred on the first of every month, and this month is no exception."

"Huh? B-but I really didn't receive any points? None of the other students did either?"

Yamauchi and Ike exchanged glances, clearly failing to grasp what Chabashira Sae meant.

"Hehehe... you really are a bunch of idiots."

A cold, chilling voice drifted from the podium, filled with anger, disappointment, and a hint of schadenfreude.

Although Chabashira was not as friendly as other teachers, she had never criticized these mischievous students before, so the students, suddenly scolded, were clearly stunned.

"Idiots... what do you mean..."

"Your points, as I have already said, have indeed been transferred. I am not joking, you did not mishear, and it is impossible for the school to have forgotten to deposit them. Do you understand?"

Chabashira seemed to enjoy the pleasure of being a riddle-maker, watching her students gradually fall into an icy abyss of despair.

Though, perhaps they brought it on themselves.

Setting aside Chabashira's own personality, even if a truly kind teacher were assigned here, they would likely be driven to fury by these guys in Class 1-D.

"But even if you say that... I still can't understand..."

That student clearly wanted to say more, but Chabashira Sae ignored him and turned her gaze toward Shintō Katsuya:

"Shintō, you should know what's going on by now, right?"

Fortunately, she didn't point out that Shintō had figured this out long ago, otherwise, he would surely be targeted by the hostility of the entire Class 1-D.

Following Chabashira's question, everyone turned their gazes toward Shintō Katsuya in unison.

Why do you love doing such unnecessary things? You could have just said it yourself instead of dragging me into it...

After complaining to himself about Chabashira Sae, Shintō sighed and stated the reality in as calm a tone as possible:

"You mean that the points we received this month total zero, right?"

As if to heighten the atmosphere, Kōenji immediately burst into wild laughter and arrogantly propped both legs up on his desk:

"Hahahahaha! So that's how it is!"

Shintō Katsuya rolled his eyes at him; this guy was really good at playing the fool.

"Wait! Didn't you say a hundred thousand points would be deposited every month? Why is it zero?!"

"Hondō-kun, although I know this fact is hard to accept—even I don't want to accept it—if you think back carefully, Chabashira-sensei only said on the first day that points would be transferred on the first of every month, and that this month, everyone would get a fair hundred thousand."

"She never said it would be a hundred thousand every single month."

Seeming to have found her mouthpiece, Chabashira Sae's expression finally changed, though it only shifted from an ice block to a face full of mockery:

"I gave you so many hints before, yet only a handful of you noticed. That is why I say, you are truly a bunch of idiots!"

But clearly, the students of Class 1-D could not accept this fact calmly, so Hirata, as the core figure of the class, stood up proactively:

"Teacher, please tell us why the points are zero, otherwise we cannot accept this!"

Chabashira was already prepared for such a question:

"Tardiness, absences, totaling 98 times; slacking off and using phones in class over four hundred times—do I need to say more? As students, you have reached this level; can you really blame the school for giving you a zero for your evaluation score?"

"Wait, but you never told us before that the points would change, and you never explained these deduction criteria either!"

Hirata tried to make a final, desperate struggle, but the response he received was another cold sneer from Chabashira Sae:

"Are you telling me that as students, you never learned how to respect classroom discipline or how to study properly back in elementary or middle school?!"

"You've just entered your first year of high school; did you really think you could receive one hundred thousand points every month without any restrictions? Let me tell you, this is a school established by the government specifically to cultivate elite talent! It is not a paradise for raising losers and freeloaders!"

"This..."

The classroom fell into a deathly silence. They truly hadn't considered all of this, but upon reflection, the idea that there is no such thing as a free lunch was a piece of wisdom they had all heard at least once before.

Consequently, resentment and regret were etched onto everyone's faces. Even Hirata was frozen in place, unable to utter another word.

Although she saw the reaction she wanted, Chabashira was clearly not yet satisfied:

"Oh, right, I have one more piece of good news to share with you... even if you decide not to be late or decide to study hard for the rest of this month, the points deducted from you will not be restored. Simply put, next month, the personal points you receive will still be zero."

This was indeed good news. At least in Shinjo's view, since the points couldn't drop lower than zero, he could now be late or skip class for the rest of the month without a care in the world.