"They don't even dare face me head-on, and you expect some other loser to compete with Classes A and B?"
After spending all this time together, Ryuen Kakeru already knew Nishino Takeko was blunt to a fault. She was the stubborn sort who didn't care that the rest of the class ostracized her. There was no point in picking a fight with her, so he simply turned to mock everyone in Class C.
Sure enough, some of the more meek students in Class C were immediately enraged. But their anger didn't last long, and none of them dared step forward to challenge Ryuen for leadership of the class.
After all, this wasn't the beginning of the school year anymore.
After a month of consolidating his position, Ryuen had more or less brought powerful students like Ishizaki Daichi and Yamada Albert to heel. The class's top academic performers, such as Kaneda Satoru and Shiina Hiyori, had also accepted him as Class C's leader.
As a result, the other students, most of whom barely stood out, might have resented him, but they had no standing to challenge Ryuen's position in Class C.
"Ugh! A bunch of losers!"
"That's enough, Ryuen! If you have something to say, just say it already. What's the point of throwing your weight around against your own classmates?"
The blue-haired girl, whose purple eyes gave her a fierce look, rose from her seat and slammed a hand on the desk, stopping Ryuen from continuing to mock everyone.
Ibuki Mio was deeply opposed to Ryuen's violent, dictatorial rule over Class C.
But just as he'd taunted them, in this school that prized competition, there was no one stronger or more suitable to lead Class C against the other classes.
"Ibuki, huh? Heh, so not everyone in this class is spineless."
Ryuen glanced at Ibuki, who stood there without fear, and nodded as if he admired her. In response, the girl gave him a look of disgust.
"You don't need to know the details of my plan yet. You just need to follow instructions and carry out my orders!"
"It's only 400,000 Private Points. Watch me bring back twice that much for you!"
As he made the boastful declaration, Ryuen's gaze shifted to Kanji Ike, who was huddled in a corner of Class C, keeping such a low profile he might as well not have been there.
The students in Class C weren't frugal like those in the former Class A. Given the sort of people they were, there was no way they'd generously chip in 25,000 Private Points each just to send a piece of trash from Class D back where he belonged.
So last month, Ryuen had taken Ishizaki and Yamada to block the door to Ike's dorm room. They'd used threats and intimidation to make him return to the Class C classroom and behave himself.
But the whole operation had taken far too much time, and included plenty of rule-breaking. That was why their Class Evaluation Points had ended up at a pitiful 330.
They'd known all the school's rules since the second week of the school year, thanks to that bastard.
But now, it seemed the trash Aragaki Shun had sent them might at least have some value as something they could put to use.
"Brr..."
Huddled in the corner of the classroom, Kanji Ike had been doing his best to go unnoticed. He shuddered instinctively, not wanting to draw the attention of any Class C students.
What's going on? I have a bad feeling about this.
Ike instinctively looked around, thinking some Class C student was planning another way to bully him.
Ever since they'd learned that his arrival had forced Class C to lose a huge number of Class Points, the class had been anything but friendly to him.
He'd long regretted agreeing to cause trouble in Class C for Aragaki Shun, all because he'd been greedy for the 100,000 Private Points.
At first, things had gone well. He'd followed Aragaki's advice and showed up in Class C just once, then skipped class and played games in the dorm with Yamauchi.
But a couple of days later, Class A sent Yamauchi back, leaving Ike alone in the dorm.
Then, when he'd gone out for a walk because he was bored, those terrifying Class C students had dragged him somewhere secluded and beaten him. They'd threatened to make him live in fear every day for the next three years if he didn't behave.
In the end, he'd had no choice but to return to the Class C classroom and do his best to act like a well-behaved student who followed the rules.
But even after he'd done all that, the people in Class C still watched him with cold eyes every day, putting him under constant pressure.
If he hadn't been counting down the days until he could leave after a month, he didn't know if he might have dropped out just to escape the cold treatment.
I don't know! I don't know anything!
Just one more week! In another week, I can go back to Class D!
Once I'm back in Class D, I'll be a hero. I'll definitely get a pretty girlfriend...
Ike kept his head down and encouraged himself, never noticing how coldly Ryuen was watching him from across the room.
You dared team up with Aragaki Shun to pull this stunt? Then you'll be the first ones I deal with.
Class D, just you wait!
Meanwhile, the Class D Ryuen kept thinking about was just as chaotic, with everyone wailing in dismay.
"How is this possible? Why do we only have 310 Class Points?"
"We only got a little over 30,000 Private Points this month, and we still have to send 10,000 to Class B. How are we supposed to live on just 20,000 for a whole month?"
"This is all your fault, Yamauchi! You and Ike lost the most points in the first week. You must've spent all our Class Points!"
"How can you say that? Ike and I were heroes who went on the offensive against the other classes! Look, Class C only has 20 more points than us. That's all thanks to Ike and me!"
"I don't give a damn how many points Class C has! All I know is that you two left me without enough points to eat this month!"
The students in Class D kept bickering and shifting the blame onto each other. Chabashira Sae, their homeroom teacher, simply stood at the lectern and watched them with an impassive expression.
She'd thought this year's Class D might have some potential.
But they were still a hopeless bunch of losers!
Chabashira Sae Just Wanted to Ride Someone's Coattails
When she first learned the first-year classes' overall results, Chabashira Sae admitted she'd entertained a few fantasies.
The good news: Class D was only 20 points behind Class C. Maybe they'd only need one more ordinary exam to move up a class.
The bad news: Class D hadn't managed that through its own abilities. They'd been outmaneuvered by the enemy class's ace and turned into a wallet for the other side to collect Private Points.
The even worse news: Even after their powerful enemy had spoon-fed them all the information, their class had still managed to retain only 330 points—not much more than previous years' Class D.
In other words, if Aragaki Shun hadn't provided them with the information in time, or if the deal had been delayed by just a few days, these students really could have squandered all 1,000 Class Points!
Faced with a group of oddballs who stood out even among the students of previous Class Ds, Chabashira Sae felt utterly hopeless.
If not for a few students in her class who had unusual circumstances and gave her a little hope, she would have completely given up again and spent her days waiting for another chance three years later.
But that time hadn't come yet. This year's Class D might be the worst in Advanced Nurturing Senior High School's history, but it also hid more talent than any other class!
They'd only been assigned to Class D because of flaws in their personalities or major, hidden scandals from middle school.
If those flaws could be addressed, these students, each with their own talents, could become Class D's top aces in its rise to Class A. Once they put their full abilities on display, Class D wouldn't be weaker than any other first-year class.
So the key now was to find a way to get Class D's capable students to step up and contribute to the class.
With that in mind, Chabashira Sae first glanced at Koenji Rokusuke. As the heir to the Koenji Conglomerate, his true ability might not be inferior to that of Aragaki Shun, the current leader of Class A.
But given his family background and personality, she couldn't think of any way to get him to contribute to Class D.
Chabashira Sae then shifted her gaze to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. There was very little she knew about the student. All she knew was that he'd scored exactly 50 points on every subject's written entrance exam, and had gotten the same results in the small test at the end of last month.
Clearly, he was deliberately controlling his scores. She didn't know why, but she could be certain that he was far from ordinary when it came to academics.
But he was an isolationist, and she couldn't see any desire in him to reach Class A.
After hesitating for a moment, Chabashira Sae passed over Kushida Kikyo and Yosuke Hirata, the two most visible leaders in Class D. Instead, she set her hopes on the cool, long-haired girl sitting below the lectern—the one who might be able to change the situation.
Horikita Suzune was among the top first-year students in both academic performance and athletic ability.
More importantly, her older brother was in Class A of the Third Year and served as the Student Council President.
And over the past month, it had also been clear that Horikita was dissatisfied with the school's arrangements. She'd repeatedly involved herself in Class D's affairs, showing that she wanted to reach Class A through her own efforts.
Taken together, there was no doubt she was currently the best candidate in Class D.
If she could be guided to let go of her arrogance and learn to value her classmates' strengths, she could rely on Yosuke Hirata and Kushida Kikyo to unite most of Class D, then find a way to get top talents like Koenji to show what they could do...
Then Class D would have a real chance of making a run for Class A before graduation!
Chabashira Sae was immersed in her rosy daydreams. But the next moment, Horikita's speech rose like a bucket of cold water and mercilessly extinguished her hopes.
"Chabashira-sensei," Horikita Suzune said, her icy voice laced with anger. "Now that it's been proven the school made a clear mistake when it first assigned students to classes, doesn't the school have anything more to say about it?"
"Compensating Class A's Class Evaluation Points while letting all the other classes remain as they are—is that really the school's answer?"
She paused, her sharp gaze sweeping across the classroom, then continued, "Shouldn't the school reassess every student's true ability and restore the rightful treatment of those who were unfairly placed at a disadvantage because of mistakes in class assignment?"
"Is this really how Advanced Nurturing Senior High School cultivates talent—by letting the mistake stand and forcing exceptional students to remain in lower classes?"
Horikita's words were sharp. Her brows furrowed as she clenched her fists, her face flushed with anger.
Without a doubt, she believed she was one of the students who had been treated unfairly because of a class assignment mistake.
Her grades at the entrance exam and her performance at the interview should both have earned her an excellent evaluation.
Since arriving at the school, she'd studied for more than ten hours every day. She'd never been late or left early, and had always maintained the basic standards expected of a student, both in and out of class. She'd never carelessly broken any of the school's rules.
Why should someone like her, who was outstanding in every way, be assigned to the worst class alongside the idiots in Class D?
After learning the truth about the school, Horikita had been stewing with anger, determined to prove her ability in the Behavioral Standards Exam.
But the students in Class D were hopeless. They couldn't even do things that should have been obvious, wouldn't follow instructions, and all thought they knew better than everyone else. Not one of them had the slightest self-awareness.
When the Class Evaluation Points for all four first-year classes came out, she'd nearly been furious enough to die. How could there be so many slackers who did so badly on an open-book test?
She couldn't take it anymore!
If she kept letting these people drag her down, she couldn't see any way to reach Class A. If she had to languish in the worst class for the next three years, how could she face her brother, who was in Class A of the Third Year?
She had to transfer out!
The school had already admitted that its initial assessments of the students' abilities had been inaccurate. So why should she have to stay in a class full of people with glaring flaws?
"Exactly!"
"I agree! The school should reshuffle the classes!"
After hearing Horikita's words, a crowd of students in Class D started chiming in. Yamauchi Haruki was already waving his fist and shouting, "Even the current leader of Class A recognizes my talent. Those guys in the former Class A treated me with the utmost respect. How could someone as outstanding as me have been assigned to the worst class?"
For crying out loud, you're a loser who can't even cause trouble properly, and you have the nerve to say that?
Horikita stared coldly at Yamauchi Haruki. His little group was the biggest cancer in the entire class. Aragaki Shun sending him and Ike to Class A had been a stroke of genius on the part of Class C.
But flawed products were flawed products, in the end!
If those two losers had put in even a fraction of the effort they'd shown when they first enrolled to drag the class down, the Class D sign on the door would already have been replaced with Class B.
Karuizawa Kei Made Up Her Mind
"You think you were assigned to Class D because the school made a mistake, not because of anything you did?"
Chabashira Sae folded her arms and met Horikita's cold gaze with one of her own.
For some reason, the class couldn't help noticing a subtle similarity between the two of them as they faced off.
"Isn't that the case?"
Horikita Suzune replied as if it were obvious. "Even putting aside my entrance exam results, I can say with confidence that I followed the rules throughout the past month and didn't cost the class a single point."
"The teacher should have a record of everyone's violations. Please announce how many points each student lost during the Behavioral Standards Exam."
At that, a few students in Class D who took their studies seriously voiced their support. Most of the others, however, looked uneasy, as though they really didn't want those records made public.
But there was no need for them to worry. Chabashira Sae clearly had no intention of following Horikita's suggestion.
"We've been living at this school for a month, and you still haven't learned to make use of its rules—even after someone swindled a third of the class's funds from you?"
Chabashira Sae gave a cold laugh, though there was a hint in her mocking expression.
She was the homeroom teacher, so why was Horikita acting so high and mighty and ordering her around?
Besides, was the school's basis for grading the students something she could simply demand to see?
"...Does it cost Private Points?"
At the mention of someone swindling a third of the class's funds, Horikita Suzune clenched the fist under her desk.
When Aragaki Shun had come to trade information about the school's hidden rules, and asked everyone in Class D to send him 5,000 Private Points each month, Horikita had been the first to agree to the contract.
Strictly speaking, they hadn't lost out at all if they looked only at what they'd gained from the contract.
After all, if they hadn't learned about the school's class competition system in advance, given how chaotic Class D was, the most likely outcome would have been their Class Evaluation Points dropping straight to zero.
But no one had expected Aragaki Shun to come back just a few days later with two contracts signed by the former Class A and Class C, forcing them to raise the monthly transfer to 10,000 Private Points per person. Otherwise, he'd use the remaining Transfer Tickets on Class D.
At the time, they'd thought that since they had 1,000 Class Evaluation Points in all, and past Class Ds had managed to retain around 200 to 300, they could probably keep at least 500 by the end of the exam. They'd only lost a little too much in the first week, and all they had to do afterward was fulfill their basic duties as students.
By then, the former Class A and Class C would surely have lost a huge number of Class Points thanks to Yamauchi Haruki and Kanji Ike dragging them down.
Maybe they'd even move up to Class B the following month.
With that in mind, the students in Class D, led by Hirata and Kushida as well as Horikita, had agreed to increase the Private Points they paid in exchange for Aragaki Shun promising not to send anyone to their class for a year.
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