That's Their Explanation

Just as his gaze settled on Horikita Suzune, who was lying face-down on her desk, and he was about to shout,

Chabashira Sae suddenly slapped the podium.

"You can continue your argument later. There's one more very unfortunate thing I have to tell you."

With a smack, Chabashira pinned a sheet of paper to the blackboard.

Names and numbers.

The exam results.

"That's wonderful. If this had been a formal test, seven of you would already be expelled, even though the school year has only just begun."

They had just welcomed the "good news" of receiving zero points, and now even better news had followed right on its heels.

"Expulsion."

In a tone dripping with sarcasm, Chabashira casually explained the reason.

At this school, anyone who failed even one subject on the midterms or finals would be expelled.

As for what counted as a passing grade, the cutoff wasn't sixty. It depended on the class average, and the passing mark was half of that.

The mess of emotions sent Class D into complete chaos. One piece of "good news" after another had shattered their dreams.

The students wanted to question her. They wanted to fight back.

But when Chabashira's icy gaze swept across the room, the students who had been about to speak shrank back into their seats.

"The midterm exams are three weeks away. If you still want to stay at this school, think carefully about how to avoid failing and how you're going to make it through the exams."

After leaving them with those words, Chabashira disappeared through the door.

"..."

"..."

A long, deathly silence spread through Class D.

Then, almost as one, nearly everyone turned to look at Yamauchi Haruki.

Like a scene from a horror movie where everyone suddenly turns their heads to stare, their icy gazes focused on him.

"Hey, come to think of it, Yamauchi has skipped the most classes, hasn't he?"

"And Yamauchi was the one who started talking and messing around on his phone in class."

"I remember him skipping class to hang out with Ryuen from Class C."

"And didn't he say earlier that Ryuen gave him fifty thousand?"

One person said something, then another. For some reason, the students in the class seemed to have reached an agreement and started arriving at the same conclusion.

"Why do we have to live without a single point, while Yamauchi gets to keep living it up with the fifty thousand he got from another class?"

The students' gazes pricked Yamauchi Haruki like needles. The classroom fell silent for a moment.

As if he realized something was about to happen, Yamauchi's face quickly flushed red.

He sprang to his feet, and the chair behind him scraped across the floor with a shrill screech.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" His voice rose as he frantically pointed around the room, but he never settled on a single target.

Because everyone was his target now.

"We all made the same mistakes, so why are you picking on me?!"

"Kanji skipped class too, didn't he?!" he blurted, turning to point at his "good buddy." But when he saw the disbelief in Kanji Ike's eyes, he realized he'd made a mistake and quickly turned to shout at someone else. "Kikyo! Little Kikyo skipped class too, didn't she?!"

"Hondo! Miyamoto! Sotomura! You're late all the time too, aren't you?!"

"Sato and Shinohara, don't think you're off the hook either! Aren't you the ones who talk the most in class?!"

"Karuizawa too!!! You're with Hirata all day long. You're definitely in some kind of improper relationship, right?! That has to cost a lot of points!!!"

"And shouldn't Koenji be the biggest problem of all?!"

As if desperate to shift all the blame away from himself, Yamauchi Haruki pointed frantically around the room, trying to draw the class's anger elsewhere.

"You're the worst one!" Shinohara Satsuki, who he'd just named, stood up and shouted. "You're the one who kept saying, 'It doesn't matter if we lose points' all the time!"

If it hadn't been for that, they wouldn't have let their guard down so easily.

They'd thought that since he was already acting like that, it wouldn't matter if they slacked off a little too. That was why they'd become so careless.

"I—I was going to pay attention in class too..." Perhaps because she thought someone was on her side, a girl defended herself through tears. "But Yamauchi was always making a huge racket. I couldn't concentrate at all..."

"Huh?" Yamauchi's features twisted. "What do you mean, you were going to pay attention? How could that possibly be my fault?!"

"You're all to blame!"

"If you don't have a single point, that's your own fault!"

"—" Those words were like a fuse being lit. Several boys exploded with anger and jumped to their feet, reaching out as they crowded around Yamauchi. "Hand over the money Ryuen gave you! That should've been our money!"

Chapter 57: That's Their Explanation

Shoving, crowding, punching, fighting back, screaming.

Chaos erupted.

Sato Maya could only stare blankly as it unfolded in the classroom, unable to say a word.

She should say something.

Tell them to stop, tell them to quit it, tell them that doing this wouldn't change anything.

Say it had nothing to do with her, that she hadn't done anything, that she was innocent, that she shouldn't have received a score like that.

Or... should she blame the students from the other classes for not warning them, or accuse Asakusa Toru of knowing what was going on and keeping it from her?

"..."

She had no right to demand anything of anyone, and Asakusa Toru had no reason to warn her.

They were friends, but their relationship was only that of "friends on the surface," the kind who could casually exchange a few words.

With the classes competing for the chance to graduate from Class A, expecting someone from another class to lend a hand would be unusual, wouldn't it?

So she did nothing. She only watched.

Just like most of the people around her.

"—That's enough!" Hirata Yosuke's expression was dark as he shouted in a low voice, placing a hand on the shoulder of one of the boys wrestling with Yamauchi Haruki. "Stop it."

His icy voice and the forceful grip that made the boy's shoulder ache were enough to bring him to his senses. Like a bucket of cold water poured over his head, they quickly doused his anger toward Yamauchi Haruki.

After pulling the boy away, Hirata Yosuke took a deep breath, put aside his dark expression, and forced a smile.

He looked down at Yamauchi Haruki, whose body was covered in bruises but who was still clutching his terminal protectively.

Then he held out a hand.

"Yamauchi, come on." His voice was so gentle it seemed completely out of place in Class D's current atmosphere. It was even more heart-stoppingly tender than the smile on his face as he pulled Yamauchi Haruki to his feet.

After brushing the dust off him, Hirata Yosuke turned around.

"From now on, stop blaming Yamauchi."

His tone left no room for argument.

"Now, let's think about what to do next."

For the first time since he'd started at this high school, Hirata Yosuke felt the urge to take control of everything.

"..."

"...H-Hirata is right. We should calm down..." Wang Meiyu murmured in agreement, her voice barely audible.

Karuizawa Kei also snapped out of her daze and quickly said, "All right, all right. Stop making a fuss. Just listen to Hirata."

"I'm sure he'll help us find a way, right?"

"Besides, arguing now won't help..." a boy—either Miyake or Shinmura—muttered.

And just like that, the commotion abruptly stopped.

Everyone seemed ready to calm down and talk things through.

...Everyone except Yamauchi Haruki, who was unhappy about being protected.

"Horikita! What's Horikita doing?!" he shouted from behind Hirata Yosuke. "This is all her fault, isn't it?!"

"She knows everything, doesn't she?! She was the one who told us about the Special Exam, too, wasn't she?! However you look at it, she seems more like a traitor than me!!!"

Horikita Suzune had been lying there ever since class began that morning.

Doing nothing. Saying nothing.

She usually acted like such a model student, sitting there obediently and paying attention all day. Why was she lying there asleep today as if she didn't care about anything?

There had to be something going on. There had to be!

Even if there wasn't, there had to be something!

"..." Hirata glanced back at the shouting Yamauchi, sighed, and walked over to Horikita's desk.

He gently tapped on her desk. "Horikita, could you explain yourself again?"

"Everyone needs an explanation."

Horikita Suzune: "..."

An explanation? What explanation?

Horikita Suzune lifted her head, utterly drained.

She hadn't fallen asleep at all.

How could she possibly have fallen asleep?

Her mind was a complete jumble again. She'd been hearing things in the morning, and just now there'd been a chaotic racket all around her.

There was no way she could sleep.

She'd only been lying there so she could wrap her arms around her face, like an ostrich sticking its head in the sand, and get a little comfort that way.

But as it turned out, even if she buried her head in the ground, someone would still forcibly drag her back up to the surface.

Just like now.

God, this was exhausting.

Why did she have to drown here with them?

For no reason at all, Horikita Suzune found herself thinking that.

At the same time, she remembered how the Diary had described Class D.

The class with the most God-men. The sheer weight of being able to say you were in Class D and get away with anything.

The worst, the trashiest... hell.

The harder she tried to struggle and climb out, the more the people around her grabbed her legs, one hand apiece, and kept her from climbing even a single step higher.

And so, a thought that had once flashed through her mind rose up again.

Twenty million.

If she had twenty million Personal Points, she could transfer to Class A.

If she had twenty million, she wouldn't have to endure this swamp-like environment anymore.

If she had twenty million, she could go where she belonged.

...If only she had twenty million.

Heh. Twenty million.

Forget twenty million. Right now, she didn't even have twenty thousand.

To verify the accuracy of the Diary's information, she'd spent thirty-five thousand on Chabashira Sae. Although she'd tried to cut back on her daily expenses as much as possible, she'd had to set aside money to buy cooking utensils, since making her own meals in the dorm would be the best way to save as much as possible.

She had to save money, but eating too poorly and ending up with an unbalanced diet would be even worse. By the time she'd taken care of everything, she had almost nothing left.

Saving up twenty million was a pipe dream.