After breakfast, Dokuho Kouya and the others came to the classroom.
"Kouya, aren't you going to tell us?" Sayo Ando asked uneasily from the seat beside him.
"Please don't rush, Sayo." Dokuho Kouya glanced around the classroom. "We should at least wait until everyone's here."
Several groups had slowly formed in the classroom.
The largest group was undoubtedly the one centered around Ichinose.
It had only been two days since the start of school, yet Ichinose had already won many people's affection. Plenty of students liked gathering around her to chat.
There was no doubt that Ichinose was among the most popular of the popular kids.
Sometimes, Dokuho Kouya wondered if the students in Class B weren't all little angels after all. Perhaps they had simply been influenced by Ichinose, and that was why they always showed their kind side.
"About time."
Once everyone in class had arrived, Dokuho Kouya went to the podium and clapped his hands against the desk a few times.
At the dull thuds, the students who had been chatting fell silent and turned curious eyes toward the podium.
"Kouya, is there something you wanted to tell us?" Honami Ichinose asked the boy at the podium with a smile.
Her question reflected what everyone in class was wondering.
"I'm about to tell you all a secret about this school. If you don't listen carefully, you'll spend the next three years of high school regretting it."
After his brief introduction, a cold voice rang in Dokuho Kouya's mind.
[Host action detected]
[Creating special storyline now]
Hearing the system's voice, Dokuho Kouya felt satisfied.
Just as he'd expected, the system had indeed recognized his decision to reveal the school rules to Class B as a special storyline.
Later, when the plot had progressed far enough, what happened here would likely be shown to the audience as a flashback or side story.
Although he couldn't gain popularity points right away, as long as he made a good impression, Dokuho Kouya would eventually earn popularity points from the audience. He'd just have to wait a little longer for them.
"I'm sure you're all happy to have received 100,000 points, and thought the school would give you 100,000 every month on the first. Unfortunately, that was just a trick by the school."
Dokuho Kouya began explaining the rules of the school.
The first month's qualities assessment, personal points and Class Points, competition between classes, benefits available only to Class A, Special Exams, and the fact that you could move up to Class A by paying 20 million personal points...
He laid out all of this information without holding anything back, even though others would have to put in a lot of effort—and might even have to pay two million points—to obtain it.
After he finished speaking, Dokuho Kouya remained at the podium, waiting for questions from his classmates.
"Kouya."
A purple-haired boy in the audience raised his hand and asked seriously, "Can you be sure that everything you said is true?"
If it had been someone else, they would probably have been offended by that kind of doubt.
I worked so hard to gather information for you, and now I'm telling you everything.
You don't even have to thank me, but you're actually questioning me?
Dokuho Kouya, however, didn't care in the slightest.
He'd never intended to convince his classmates.
He only wanted to use this incident to cultivate an image in the audience's eyes of someone with sharp observational skills, who had figured out all the school's rules right after the start of term.
Whether his classmates cared or how well they did on the first month's qualities assessment had absolutely nothing to do with him.
"Ryuji, I don't need to provide proof," Dokuho Kouya said with a faint smile.
"What do you mean?" Ryuji Kanzaki frowned in confusion. He didn't even seem to notice that Kouya had called him by his first name.
The pink-haired girl in their class, Honami Ichinose, was the one who understood. "I think Kouya means that we'll find out if what he said is true once next month comes."
"But next month is too far away." Ryuji Kanzaki furrowed his brow. "If there really is a qualities assessment, we might fall behind Class A because we didn't perform well enough."
They had thought that getting into Advanced Nurturing High School would set them on the path to a successful life.
Now they'd been told that they would have to compete against other classes, and that only the best class would enjoy the benefits.
Ryuji Kanzaki and the rest of the class couldn't help feeling worried.
At the same time, they still held on to a little hope that Dokuho Kouya was lying.
If he was, they wouldn't need to be so nervous or work so hard. They could just coast along and still enjoy the school's benefits.
So it wasn't just Kanzaki—even the others in class hoped Dokuho Kouya could provide proof.
"Kanzaki, you still don't understand what Kouya means."
Ichinose explained gently, "If the first month's assessment is about evaluating our qualities as students, then all we can do is pay attention in class, complete our homework on time, and not be late or leave early."
"No matter what kind of school this is, it won't punish students who follow the rules and mind their own business."
At that, Ryuji Kanzaki's brow relaxed. "I understand. You mean that whether Kouya is telling the truth or not, there's no downside for us to do our part as students."
"If Kouya is right, we might pass the first month's qualities assessment and reach Class A by losing fewer points!"
Ryuji Kanzaki looked at the boy at the podium. "Am I right, Kouya?"
Dokuho Kouya lightly tapped the desk with his fingers, a playful smile on his face. "You want to move up to Class A in the first month? Ryuji, you're quite ambitious."
"But... that's all the advice I have for you. I don't care what you do after this."
With that, Dokuho Kouya stepped down from the podium and returned to his seat.
"Kouya, what did you mean by that?"
Ryuji Kanzaki narrowed his eyes and stared sharply at him as he spoke. "After giving the class such important information, do you think you've contributed enough, and don't intend to help the class with future Special Exams?"
"Kanzaki, please don't put it so harshly."
Seeing the situation turning sour, Ichinose quickly stepped in to mediate. "Kouya was willing to share the information with us selflessly. He's surely not that kind of person."
Ryuji Kanzaki paused, then lowered his head. "Sorry. I couldn't think of a better way to put it."
"It was still rude of me, but I really did want to know what Kouya was thinking."
At Ryuji's words, everyone in class turned their eyes toward the boy.
They wanted to know what Dokuho Kouya had meant, too.
"Ryuji, your guess was mostly right."
Dokuho Kouya knew this was the part of the story that would establish him as Class B's lone wolf, so he had to make the most of it.
"Which exams create the biggest gaps between classes each year?" Dokuho Kouya asked.
Ryuji Kanzaki furrowed his brow and thought for a moment before answering, "This month's qualities assessment?"
"That's right." Dokuho Kouya clapped as if to encourage him. "Every year, Class B falls about 200 Class Points behind Class A in the qualities assessment."
"In other words, before the real Special Exams even begin, Class B is already 200 points behind Class A."
"And according to the school's selection criteria, Class A is better than Class B in overall ability."
"We're already weaker than the others, and then we fall 200 points behind before the Special Exams even begin. That makes it much harder for us to reach Class A."
By telling you about the qualities assessment on the second day of school, I've helped you make up for the 200 points you would have lost at the start, and erased Class A's early lead.
Isn't that contribution enough?
Before you continue