The whispers in the classroom had barely died down when Shimizu Akira was already on his feet and hurrying after her.
His footsteps quickly caught up with the tall figure in the corridor.
When he was only three steps away, Chabashira Sae suddenly stopped and spoke without turning around. "The time for questions is over."
Shimizu Akira came to an abrupt halt.
The time for questions? He thought back carefully to what had happened in the classroom. After explaining everything, the homeroom teacher had simply looked around at the students before briskly dismissing them.
There had been no time for questions.
Had that been deliberate, or had she simply not thought of it?
It seemed she had no intention of volunteering any information.
"Sensei," he said, narrowing his eyes slightly, "I'm not here to ask a question. I'm here to report something."
Chabashira Sae finally turned around, a hint of surprise crossing her face. "What is it?"
"Well..." Shimizu Akira said gravely. "After the interview last time, I happened to overhear two interviewers talking in the restroom. Because of Koenji Rokusuke's arrogant attitude, they deliberately gave him low scores in intelligence and judgment, putting him in Class C." He paused. "One of them even said, 'A conceited student like that belongs in Class D.'"
"...Why bring this up now?" Chabashira Sae paused, studying him with a sharp gaze.
"I only found out today that he's a classmate." Shimizu Akira's answer was airtight.
When he'd first heard it, Koenji had been a stranger, and there had been no reason to get involved. But now that it concerned a classmate, that was another matter entirely. It was a perfectly plausible explanation for an ordinary student's behavior.
"...I understand. I'll report it to the School Administration." Chabashira Sae nodded slightly.
Without changing his expression, Shimizu Akira smoothly changed the subject. "By the way, does this school have a Student Council?"
"It does." Chabashira Sae had regained her composure. "But it isn't easy for first-years to join. You need the student council president's approval."
"What's the president's name? And what class is he in?" Shimizu Akira asked, as if on a whim.
Chabashira Sae paused for half a second before answering:
"Horikita Manabu... Class 3-A."
Shimizu-kun lied on purpose to test me? / An encounter with a silver-haired girl
Chabashira Sae slowly set down the phone in her hand, her fingertips tapping lightly on the desk.
The matter had been resolved even faster than she'd expected. From the moment Koenji Rokusuke's score was deliberately lowered to the School Administration's solution, less than half an hour had passed.
The staff involved had been fired immediately, the person who reported them had received fifty thousand points as hush money, and Koenji's class placement had remained unchanged.
"Just as I thought." She gave a soft snort and tossed her phone onto the desk.
After eight years teaching at Koudo Ikusei, she knew this school's rules all too well.
Every student was labeled during the entrance interview: Class A was for carefully selected geniuses, while Class D was for the "defective products" the school had given up on.
One hundred sixty spots, one hundred sixty chess pieces. From the moment the classes were assigned, their fates had already been decided.
At this school, the only students who could achieve a hundred-percent rate of advancement to higher education or employment were the chosen elite of Class A.
Chabashira suddenly looked toward Class D's roster, focusing in particular on Shimizu Akira's enrollment records.
[Academic Ability: E-]
[Judgment: B]
[Intelligence: E-]
[Physical Ability: A]
[Cooperation: E-]
Chabashira Sae's fingertips paused.
Shimizu Akira's ability assessment was thoroughly unremarkable. Aside from his slightly above-average physical ability and judgment, every other category bore the glaring label "E-." A score like that made his placement in Class D seem entirely reasonable.
But the boy's orderly, articulate speech just now had sharply contradicted the assessment.
She quickly opened her phone and found "Shimizu Akira" among the pending friend requests. Without hesitation, she sent him a request.
"Interesting." A cold smile tugged at her lips.
During their phone call just now, the School Administration had stressed that the class assignment rules were a closely guarded secret known only to a handful of senior staff.
So there was no way an interviewer could have said, "A conceited student like that belongs in Class D."
"So did Shimizu-kun lie on purpose to test me?"
Chabashira Sae's gaze returned to the suspiciously perfect low-score assessment.
Perhaps his report hadn't been motivated by a sense of justice at all. Perhaps it had been a carefully planned test. That boy might already have seen through the truth: Class D was a dumping ground for "defective products."
Chabashira Sae tapped her fingertips lightly on the desk.
"I see..." she murmured, a hint of amusement curving her lips.
Shimizu Akira had gone out of his way to ask about the Student Council afterward. He probably wasn't simply curious. He was looking for evidence to confirm his suspicions about the school's twisted rules.
After all, at an academy that upheld "merit above all," the position of student council president had always been reserved for the most capable.
Horikita Manabu, the most outstanding student council president in the school's history, was unsurprisingly from Class 3-A.
Those two things he'd probed about were enough to establish that Class A represented the elite, while Class D was where the School Administration had decided to gather its "defective products."
Had he figured all that out in less than a minute after hearing her explanation, then come to test her?
"Could it be... that this year's Class D... really has a chance..." Her voice carried a rare note of uncertainty.
In eight years of teaching, she'd seen many classes come and go, but never a student who could see through the class assignment system on the very first day of school. Even in Class A, students like that were few and far between.
"Ha! This year's Class A sure is interesting!" a deep male voice suddenly cut in.
Masaki Tomoya—her longtime colleague and Class A's homeroom teacher—was leaning in the office doorway, his broad frame blocking most of the light.
Chabashira Sae glanced up. Masaki's face wore an unusually astonished expression. "That girl in our class, Sakayanagi Arisu," he said, stroking the stubble on his chin. "I'd just finished explaining the school rules when she caught up with me and deduced the truth about ability-based class assignments and the point system with uncanny accuracy." He shook his head. "Students have figured these things out in the past, but only because older students explained them. She's the first to piece together the whole truth from just a few words of mine."
"She also said she was going to the convenience store to 'confirm something'!" Masaki scratched his head, sounding puzzled. "I bet she's going to look for those free supplies, right?"
Chabashira Sae knew the "special benefits" hidden in a corner of the convenience store all too well. They were relief supplies the School Administration had set aside for students struggling financially.
When she'd first started at the school, she'd seen plenty of Class D students scraping by with those supplies.
But... she'd worked out that arrangement before even stepping inside the convenience store?
Chabashira Sae quickly looked through Sakayanagi Arisu's file. It showed near-perfect scores, with an impressive "A" in every category except physical ability and cooperation.
A student of that caliber was practically guaranteed to become the undisputed leader of Class A.
"Can he win?" She suddenly thought of Shimizu Akira again.
To graduate with flying colors, he had to reach the top of Class A.
In other words, Shimizu Akira would have to defeat Sakayanagi Arisu in this brutal competition.
By the time Shimizu Akira entered the convenience store, it was already packed with excited first-years shopping for supplies.
Students weaved between the shelves, carrying baskets filled with snacks and daily necessities. It seemed the first one hundred thousand points they'd received had encouraged plenty of them to spend freely.
But after searching the shelves for a while, his gaze finally landed on a corner marked "Free Supplies."
The shelves were neatly stocked with everyday items: bandages, notebooks, shampoo, and even basic toiletry kits. A sign beside them displayed the rules in bold lettering: each person could take up to three items per month.
He watched quietly for a while as several upperclassmen came and went.
They looked tired, and after efficiently taking a few necessities from the shelves, they hurried off.
(So it really is possible to run out of points... Otherwise, those upperclassmen wouldn't be in such a bind on the very first day of school.)
Shimizu Akira narrowed his eyes slightly, having already reached his conclusion.
"Since you walked into the convenience store, you've been observing everything, but your gaze keeps returning to the free supplies. You must have noticed those upperclassmen from Class D, too. It seems you and I both saw through the truth about how points are distributed."
A voice brimming with curiosity suddenly came from beside him.
Shimizu Akira followed the sound—
A silver-haired girl leaned against her cane beside the shelves.
Her pure white bow tie contrasted with her almost translucent skin, making her look like a meticulously sculpted ice sculpture.
At that moment, her amused eyes were watching him with interest.
Sakayanagi Arisu had never doubted that true geniuses existed in the world.
Of course they did—she was one herself.
The interviewers' unconcealed looks of amazement a few weeks ago had already confirmed it.
Aside from her frail body, which was a slight disappointment, her record was flawless to the point of being suffocating.
No blemishes, no imperfections. She was like a perfect crystal formed through precise calculations.
From Class A to Class D, from genius to failure.
According to the school's rules, class points would be reshuffled the following month based on the students' performance.
Class D in particular would most likely be reduced to zero.
This information hadn't come from her father, who was the chairman of the board. In fact, all she had to do was probe him a little, and her doting father would tell her everything.
But a true genius had no interest in taking shortcuts.
Half an hour ago, she'd understood everything from just a few words from her homeroom teacher.
Now, the free supplies section in the convenience store was the perfect confirmation of her deductions.
(I wonder if anyone else noticed this hidden clue.)
(If I'm the only one, then this school is far too boring.)
Sakayanagi Arisu stood still, slowly scanning every person in the convenience store.
Most of the students paid no attention to the free supplies section, focusing only on the things they needed.
Until—
A beautiful girl with purple hair and purple eyes entered her field of vision.
It wasn't just the fact that Kamuro Masumi was also in Class A that caught her interest.
More intriguing was that the girl was carefully studying the security cameras like a professional, while her feet unconsciously carried her toward the liquor shelves in the adult section.
(Interesting... Is she planning to steal something? Judging by how practiced she looks, she must be a repeat offender.)
(I'll play with her later. I could use a clever underling.)
But Sakayanagi soon looked away.
From the girl's cautious movements, she was probably still casing the place—checking the cameras' blind spots and learning the staff's routines.
She wouldn't make a move anytime soon.
Sakayanagi's gaze returned to the free supplies shelf.
9:06:46.
The time appeared automatically in her mind.
Ever since elementary school, she'd been able to calculate the time precisely from her heartbeat and changes in the light. She didn't need a clock.
There were about twenty minutes left before the entrance ceremony.
(Will anyone come?)
(Is there anyone besides me who can see through the truth about this school?)
On the surface, she was merely a gentle, frail-looking girl.
But only those who truly knew her understood—
Sakayanagi Arisu had never been a kind girl.
She was petty, and anyone who offended her would meet a terrible end.
What she wanted even more was a challenge—an opponent who could make her give everything she had.
Before you continue