A hidden rule?
Hearing what Money Brother had said, Fan Gege sat up straight in front of his computer, where he'd been watching anime.
He'd nearly been bored to death by Horikita Suzune and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's conversation about introducing themselves.
Money Brother's appearance had just reignited his curiosity.
"A hidden rule?"
In the anime, Horikita Suzune narrowed her eyes slightly, then pretended she knew about the hidden rule and tried to get Money Brother to talk.
The two of them then engaged in a verbal sparring match over whether Horikita Suzune knew about the hidden rule.
In the end, Money Brother saw through her. Horikita Suzune actually had no idea what the hidden rule was.
"Now this feels a little more like a battle of wits."
Fan Gege's eyes lit up. He'd really enjoyed the dialogue just now.
Surely this was the right time to reveal a few clues instead of shifting the topic to introductions and the like.
It wasn't that this kind of scene wasn't funny. It was just in the wrong place.
"How can you prove you know about the hidden rule?"
The black-haired girl in the anime narrowed her beautiful eyes. "Maybe you don't know anything about it either, and you're just bluffing."
Based on what Money Brother had said, it was possible he'd only sensed that something was off but didn't actually know what this so-called hidden rule was.
He might just be fishing for information.
"Trying to use my evidence to get information out of me? Too bad I'm not in the habit of making a sucker of myself."
Hearing Horikita Suzune's words, Money Brother shook his head.
"'Not in the habit of making a sucker of myself'—like when he spent two thousand yen to get someone to give their seat to an old lady."
"Maybe Money Brother thought it was a good deed, so it didn't count as being a sucker?"
Watching Money Brother's actions in the anime, Fan Gege stared wide-eyed.
He had a feeling Money Brother was about to deliver the big moment of the episode.
"Then I'll show you a little something."
After saying this, Money Brother smiled faintly and took out his Student Terminal.
Name: Dokuho Kouya
Class: Class 1-B
Points: 1,600,000
"How much?"
"1.6 million?!"
"Money Brother's incredible! While Horikita's still trying to save points, he's multiplied his by sixteen!"
"By the way, is no one interested in Money Brother's name? His surname's Kono, just like that Kono-sensei who draws doujinshi!"
"Klee doesn't know what you're talking about."
"LOL, quit pretending to be innocent."
Seeing that the comments were heading in the wrong direction, Fan Gege hurriedly muted the viewer who'd brought up Kono-sensei.
As if!
His stream was a wholesome one.
There was no way he'd let you discuss Kono-sensei's works here.
"I was looking forward to seeing what you could do, but after finding out you're from Class D, I figured I'd probably be disappointed."
"Good luck, Suzune."
After exchanging names, Dokuho Kouya went elsewhere and disappeared from view.
Fan Gege hit pause and frowned as he gave his take. "Money Brother might've been hinting just now that the students in Class D are worse than the others."
"Then, judging by the red-haired guy during the introductions and how the male and female leads acted on the bus, that should be what he meant."
"Maybe the hidden rule at this school is that the closer a class is to Class A in rank, the better its students are, and the farther away it is, the worse they are."
"Doesn't that mean everyone in Class B is as capable as Money Brother?"
"Probably not. Money Brother's been portrayed like some kind of expert. If everyone in his class were that good, wouldn't all that buildup be pointless?"
"But even so, there must be someone in Class A who's better than Money Brother."
After hearing Fan Gege's analysis, the viewers watching the stream began discussing it excitedly.
But there were too many of them. It mostly became a series of people voicing their own opinions, with no real discussion at all.
"Let's keep watching. There'll definitely be more clues later."
Fan Gege's interest was piqued, and he continued watching the anime.
At the club orientation, Money Brother made a show-stopping entrance and shattered the atmosphere the student council president had carefully created.
During swimming class, the teacher said the winning boy and girl would each receive five thousand personal points, but Horikita Suzune and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka didn't pay it any mind.
Then, during class, Class D's students performed terribly. Seeing this, Horikita Suzune and Ayanokouji continued complaining that the school was strange.
Fan Gege watched with a frown.
After pausing the video, he began explaining his analysis. "I think Horikita's character is supposed to be the type who's great at analyzing things and quick on the uptake, but really bad at gathering information."
"Look, Horikita noticed something was off about the school on the very first day, and she even learned from Money Brother that the school had a hidden rule."
"Logically, her next step should've been to investigate what that hidden rule was. That's the kind of plot viewers like, too."
"But then nothing!" Fan Gege slapped his palm excitedly. "Horikita noticed something was wrong on the first day, but now we're nearly at the end of the month, and she's still only noticed there's a problem."
"Horikita's made no effort at all to solve it. At least, we can't see what she's done to try."
"But from her conversation with Money Brother, we can tell she's not stupid."
"So I think Horikita's the type who's quick on the uptake but terrible at gathering information."
"If nobody gives her information first, she might not figure out what this so-called hidden rule is even by graduation."
Fan Gege had shared his opinion of Horikita.
"That does seem to be the case."
"She noticed something was wrong at the start of the school year, at the convenience store, during swimming class, and in lessons, but she never thought about doing anything to solve the problem."
"She has to have the food put right in front of her before she'll eat it."
"High EQ: great at analysis. Low EQ: all talk."
The viewers thought Fan Gege's analysis made a lot of sense, and their comments were all in support of his take.
The anime continued.
The second month of school began.
The students of Class D sat in the classroom with solemn expressions. Their faces were gloomy, as if shrouded in clouds.
The once-bustling classroom was now unusually quiet. Gone were the laughter and lively atmosphere of days past. A heavy, oppressive mood hung in the air, making it hard to breathe.
"Something finally happened."
Fan Gege's eyebrows rose slightly, and he smiled with schadenfreude.
In the anime, no one in Class D broke the silence until their homeroom teacher, Sae Chabashira, showed up.
"Teacher, why weren't any points deposited this month?" A male student in the background raised his hand and asked, looking distressed.
"Hondo, I believe I explained this on the first day of school. The school deposits points on the first of every month."
Homeroom teacher Sae Chabashira braced both hands against the desk. The corners of her mouth curled slightly, and a cold smile appeared on her face. "The school has, without a doubt, already sent you this month's points."
"But... we haven't received any points," the background student named Hondo asked in confusion.
"Heh. And you still haven't figured out the truth by now?" A cold smile flickered across Sae Chabashira's lips, as though she were mocking their incompetence and stupidity.
At that moment, time seemed to stand still. The air around them grew heavy, sending a chill through everyone.
Fan Gege, watching the anime, understood at once and revealed the truth before the beautiful teacher could.
"The school did give you points. It just gave you zero!"
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