"Why not let these 'underclassmen' hear all about your glorious past?"
Chabashira Sae walked slowly up to the podium, braced both hands against it, and surveyed the students below.
"..."
Even after more than a week, these students still hadn't changed much.
Only their behavior on the surface had changed. When their emotions flared, they still fell into chaos.
Hirata Yosuke wasn't enough—or rather, Hirata Yosuke alone wasn't enough.
Unity. What this class lacked most right now was unity.
A team spirit that bound them together, brought them into one group, and made them all pull in the same direction.
They had to recognize that Class D was a team if they wanted any chance of moving forward.
Otherwise, if that nightmarish Unanimous Special Exam came around again, their fate... would be a fall to their deaths.
Taking a deep breath beneath the gaze of all of Class D, Chabashira Sae curled her lips into a smile.
"My glorious past? Yes, I suppose I was quite glorious," she said. "Even when the school gave me the lowest evaluation, I still struggled upward alongside my friends."
"At one point, I was just one step away from the lofty heights of Class A. It was almost within reach. I could practically touch it."
"Compared to you students, who made the glorious, historic achievement of earning zero points in your very first month, I really was quite glorious."
Her words were full of self-satisfaction. She suppressed the regret in her heart, concealed the lingering fixation she still carried, and put on an act, lifting her pale chin.
"But wasn't it the glorious Chabashira-sensei who turned 'within reach' into 'impossible to reach'?"
A cold voice, one that sent a chill through Chabashira Sae, rose from below the podium.
Her student casually poured a bucket