"Very good. You're all such well-behaved children. I'm your homeroom teacher, Chie Hoshinomiya. First, let me congratulate you all on coming to Kodo Ikusei Senior High School."
"By the way, our school doesn't have a class-streaming system. That means you'll all be classmates for the next three years, and I'll be your homeroom teacher all the way until graduation. So be sure to get along, okay?"
"Oooh!"
A wave of enthusiastic cheers immediately rang through the classroom. Having such a cute homeroom teacher with them for the next three years was certainly something worth celebrating!
"Next, let me go over some of the school rules. Kodo Ikusei is a closed-campus school, and the administration has prepared a dormitory room for each of you. You're not allowed to leave campus without permission for the next three years, and you can't use your own phones or the internet to contact the outside world. You should all know that already, right?"
Chie Hoshinomiya looked around the room. No one raised any objections.
That was only natural. As soon as the admission notices arrived, all this basic information had already been given to every student's parents.
Otherwise, did Advanced Nurturing really expect to lure students here and only then tell them they couldn't go home for three years?
"But you don't need to worry. The school has prepared phones for you to contact one another on campus, and you can use them to browse the internet as usual. You just can't post whatever you like. If you want to speak freely online, you can do so on the campus forums."
"As for entertainment outside of your studies, you have plenty to look forward to. The school has all kinds of facilities, including restaurants, a shopping street, karaoke, and cafés. If you feel anything is missing, you can make suggestions to the school. As long as they're reasonable, the administration is happy to accommodate you..."
As she spoke, Chie Hoshinomiya set a box of phone-like devices on the desk and had the students at the front pass them back.
Shun Aragaki took several from the girl in front of him, who had short white hair and looked timid. He kept one for himself, then turned and passed the rest to the girl behind him, who wore her hair in twin tails and had earrings.
Unlike Ichinose, whose name had stuck in his mind already, Shun Aragaki had only learned the names of the girls in front of and behind him—Shiranami Chihiro and Himeno Yuki—during the introductions.
He could only blame the fact that he'd transmigrated before getting around to watching the rest of the series in his previous life. On top of that, more than a decade had passed. The only names that had stayed in his mind were Sakayanagi Arisu from Class A, Ichinose Honami from Class B, Shiina Hiyori from Class C, and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and a few girls from Class D.
He couldn't help it. Back then, he'd looked up the wiki out of curiosity about the "Four Great School Tyrants" and because he'd heard the female characters had pretty illustrations. He hadn't gone out of his way to study the plot or setting.
"Now that everyone has their phone, I should clarify that you can't use outside currency on campus. Instead, you'll use points specifically meant for purchases. You can think of them as money."
"On the first of each month, the school will deposit points into your accounts. Open the account on your phone. This month's one hundred thousand points should already have arrived. Each point has the same purchasing power as one yen outside."
"What? One hundred thousand?"
"It's real! My parents have never given me a hundred thousand yen all at once!"
"Are things at school really that expensive? Why else would they give us so much money?"
The classroom instantly grew noisy. Everyone opened their accounts and stared at the huge sum—at least, huge for an ordinary high school student—some surprised, some delighted, and some skeptical.
Shun Aragaki glanced at the one hundred thousand points shown beneath his student ID and couldn't help raising an eyebrow.
They were giving each new student one hundred thousand yen right off the bat. To put it simply, that was like getting five thousand a month per person in his previous life.
Was that even possible?
As far as he remembered, even the most selfless parents would give their kids money only after a long list of reminders and warnings.
And when it came to the bosses he'd worked for, they'd pinch every penny and seize any chance they got to dock his wages and performance bonuses.
Based on his experience, the only people who gave out money that freely were lenders.
But banks lent money to make interest. What was this school's reason for being so generous?
Was it to cultivate talent, place graduates in all kinds of industries, and build a network of connections?
That sounded somewhat plausible. There were certainly plenty of powerful organizations around the world made up of graduates from the same school.
If Kodo Ikusei offered students such generous benefits, it must have a rigorous program for cultivating elites—one recognized by prestigious universities and top companies.
Otherwise, even with government support, those universities and companies—which had plenty of influence of their own—would never keep accepting a bunch of useless graduates.
Still...
Shun Aragaki looked around the room, then out the window at the sports field and other facilities. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn't see any difference between this school and any other high school.
And as for whether the students had been admitted in some special way, Shun Aragaki hadn't noticed anything unusual about his classmates. Did having more pretty girls around than usual count?
"Don't be suspicious. These points represent the school's assessment of you. The school believes you're worth this level of preferential treatment. And just so you know, you can buy anything on campus with points."
"Also, when you graduate, the school will reclaim any points you have left. How you use them is entirely up to you, and you can even transfer them to other people. Just don't threaten or intimidate anyone. The school is very strict when it comes to bullying."
Seeing the students chattering away, Hoshinomiya spoke up to confirm that they really had received one hundred thousand points. Though it might have been his imagination, Shun Aragaki felt that she'd put extra emphasis on the words "assessment" and "worth."
Sure enough, nothing came free. There was probably some huge catch hidden in all this.
But most high school students wouldn't think too much about it when faced with a teacher's authority. Once Chie Hoshinomiya confirmed that they could spend the points freely, the Class B students were naturally thrilled.
"One hundred thousand points in spending money every month, and we don't even have to pay rent or utilities. How are we supposed to spend all that?"
"This is amazing! Let's get bubble tea from the restaurant later. I wonder if the school has any especially good desserts."
"Let's all go to karaoke!"
"We should go shopping first! With this many points, I can finally buy the makeup and clothes I've been holding back on."
Boys and girls alike had suddenly come into possession of a "fortune," and they eagerly started planning all the things they wanted to buy.
Chie Hoshinomiya watched with a beaming smile, as though she were happy with them—or perhaps as though she were assessing everyone in the classroom.
Still, not everyone had been dazzled by the hundred thousand points. Shun Aragaki looked around and spotted a sharp-eyed boy frowning in thought. He raised his hand and asked Hoshinomiya:
"Sensei, I have a question. If points represent the school's assessment of us, will there be specific evaluations related to them in the future?"
According to the introductions, the boy who'd raised his hand was named Kanzaki Ryuji.
He seemed to come from a decent background, perhaps a family involved in business. That might have been why he wasn't particularly impressed by the value of one hundred thousand points and had instead noticed the assessments and evaluations that were bound to come with it.
Also, based on Shun Aragaki's extensive experience studying different martial arts and fitness, Kanzaki Ryuji didn't look especially muscular, but he had probably trained seriously. His family had likely arranged a daily nutrition plan for him, and his three basic attributes—strength, constitution, and agility—were probably at least 6.
Don't assume a basic attribute of "6" was low. On his status screen, an average adult man had a standard value of only 5 in each attribute.
Kanzaki had already reached that level in high school. Once he finished growing, raising each attribute to "7" or "8" probably wouldn't be difficult.
If he remembered correctly, people in the online groups he'd been in during his previous life had joked that Classroom of the Elite was all about "might makes right" and called it a "white gym" or something like that.
There really were plenty of unusually gifted people in this world. Had he been too cautious up to now?
That was what Shun Aragaki wondered to himself.
Until now, he'd prioritized strengthening life-saving talents with a supernatural bent, such as [Danger Sense], [Immunity to Poison], and [Immunity to Disease].
Next came knowledge-oriented abilities like [Combat], [Writing], and [Miscellaneous], which included a mix of many different skills.
By contrast, he'd never deliberately strengthened his four basic attributes—strength, constitution, agility, and spirit—letting them develop naturally through daily exercise.
On one hand, he really didn't have enough Source Power. In the modern world, unless his physical abilities changed drastically, they still couldn't beat a handgun. So he'd focused on survival skills and on useful talents that could make him money and increase his influence.
On the other hand, people occasionally had to undergo medical examinations in everyday life. He didn't want his body to become too abnormal just yet, and he was also worried that if he strengthened it too much, he'd have to spend hours every day in the cafeteria eating.
He'd thought that simply developing beyond most adult men by the time he was in high school was already outrageous enough.
But given Kanzaki Ryuji's situation, maybe that was normal in this world?
After all, it was a world like something out of anime. Even in a slice-of-life series, characters who cut bullets with swords, kicked down utility poles, or leaped between rooftops while carrying the heroine were perfectly normal.
Maybe he could invest some Source Power in his basic attributes from now on.
But if he really did strengthen his attributes directly, he'd also considered hidden attributes like charm and luck.
He just didn't understand how those hidden attributes worked. The only way seemed to be pouring in Source Power and hoping for a miracle. Strengthening a hidden attribute by 1 point used ten times as much Source Power as strengthening one of the four basic attributes—and sometimes even more.
Then there was the fact that improving his basic attributes could indirectly raise his hidden attributes. Charm in particular improved noticeably. And if his charm and luck became too high, that might affect his daily life. Considering all that, Shun Aragaki hadn't pushed himself to raise them.
Looking at Chie Hoshinomiya, who was fielding Kanzaki Ryuji's question, he saw an inscrutable smile on the homeroom teacher's face.
"Kanzaki-kun, you already know the answer. Students have to take exams, of course. Or are you the kind of bad student who doesn't pay attention in class and panics whenever an exam comes up?"
"Kanzaki-kun is asking whether exams affect how many points we receive each month. Sensei, it seems like you're avoiding the question."
Not letting her brush it off so easily, Shun Aragaki also voiced his question.
"I'm curious whether you don't want to answer, or whether you can't."
3. The Class Core; An Allocation of Dormitory Key Cards for Every Girl in the School
Don't want to answer, or can't?
The blunt challenge made Chie Hoshinomiya's expression tighten slightly, though there was a barely perceptible smile in her eyes. This year's Class B seemed to have some pretty capable students.
"Answering students' questions is a teacher's duty. Kanzaki-kun, Aragaki-kun, you two are really giving me a headache."
Chie Hoshinomiya let out a seemingly helpless sigh. She'd said nothing—and yet somehow, she'd said everything.
So she really couldn't answer!
Shun Aragaki understood.
That meant the school's rules and benefits, as Hoshinomiya had explained them, might not be lies, but she definitely hadn't told them the whole story.
At this point, the students in Class B, who'd been lost in a dream of one hundred thousand points, had quieted down too.
Not everyone could tell that something was off, but most of the class seemed surprisingly good at reading the room. As soon as someone spoke up, the others quietly lowered their voices.
"Sensei, I have a question too. Isn't one hundred thousand points too much? We're just ordinary students. Why would the school give us so much money all at once—and do it every month?"
After staring at her phone screen ever since she'd heard about the hundred thousand points, Ichinose Honami seemed to snap out of it all at once. She stood up and voiced her doubts.
Her family was poor. Until now, she hadn't realized anything was wrong because of the unusual circumstances and because, as a well-behaved girl, she hadn't thought to doubt her teacher.
Now that someone had pointed out the strange situation, the girl immediately showed her exceptional perceptiveness.
"Also, Sensei, you said the school would deposit points into our accounts on the first of every month. Does that mean we'll get a hundred thousand every month?"
"Good question!"
Seeing the whole class calm down in response to these questions, Chie Hoshinomiya looked pleased with herself. "What exactly is going on? How you choose to interpret it is up to you. I'll certainly support whatever decision you make."
"All right, it's about time. You still need to get ready for the opening ceremony, so I'll leave you to it."
As if afraid they'd ask her anything else, Hoshinomiya dashed out of the classroom before anyone could react, leaving the students to stare at one another.
"It looks like the administration gave the teachers a gag order. Hoshinomiya-sensei can't give out too much information on her own, and she's not even allowed to pretend to let something slip by accident. That's why she left so quickly."
Shun Aragaki stood up and looked around the corners of the classroom. Sure enough, he spotted a camera with a blinking light on the ceiling at the back.
"It looks like we can't get more information from Hoshinomiya-sensei."
Or perhaps they could try as long as they weren't under surveillance.
Of course, he didn't say that part out loud.
"Then who should we ask? Should we go talk to the upperclassmen?"
Ichinose looked over at him, her eyes shining as if she'd take on the burden of speaking with the upperclassmen as long as he thought it was a good idea.
With the girl's appearance and personality, it naturally wouldn't be a difficult task.
But—
"If the school gave the teachers a gag order, it probably gave similar orders to the upperclassmen. We just don't know how strictly they're enforced."
This was a school, not a prison. They weren't going to openly resort to physical punishment. That left only a few ways to control students: the points they'd just been given, disciplinary notices, deductions, written apologies, or suspension.
It was hardly likely they'd expel someone just for leaking a few details, right?
Unless that was how the school managed to get its nearly one hundred percent graduation and employment rates.
Expel the students who couldn't get into university or find a job before they graduate, and the problem would be solved easily enough.
"So what should we do? Can we still spend these points freely?"
The other Class B students instinctively gathered around. Without realizing it, Shun Aragaki, Ichinose Honami, and Kanzaki Ryuji had become the people the rest of the class trusted. The others were even asking their opinions about how to spend their points.
On one hand, Shun Aragaki was surprised there wasn't a single contrarian in the class. On the other, he wondered if too few of his classmates had minds of their own or were willing to think for themselves.
"Just buy your usual necessities. You still need to get what you need. As for anything that isn't urgent, if you're worried, you can wait a few days and see if we can figure out what the school is up to."
Shun Aragaki exchanged a glance with Ichinose Honami and Kanzaki Ryuji. Neither of them seemed to have anything to say, so he gave his own suggestion.
"Maybe we should talk to the upperclassmen first. Does anyone know someone in their second or third year who we could talk to? If they have any conditions, we can bring them back and discuss them as a class. What do you think?"
"We don't have enough information, so for now, that's probably all we can do."
Kanzaki Ryuji nodded in agreement. Though he seemed a little aloof, he also looked easy to get along with.
"I'd like to try joining the Student Council. That way, I should be able to help everyone."
Ichinose Honami smiled warmly. No one would doubt the sincerity behind her kind intentions.
"Let's wait a little," Shun Aragaki advised. "When Kanzaki asked about evaluations earlier, Hoshinomiya-sensei dodged the question. This school seems to have a lot of hidden rules. The Student Council is an important department with some authority over the school, and we don't know what's special about it yet."
Ichinose thought it over and didn't object.
"You're right, Aragaki-kun. I guess I didn't think it through."
Everyone discussed the matter for a while longer. As the opening ceremony drew near, they agreed to look around for anything unusual about the school, then headed to the assembly hall together.
Before you continue