In Classroom of the Elite, but in the Underworld Chapter 14

Not long after sitting down, Matsushita spotted the two people sitting in the corner and tapped Karuizawa and the others:

"Look, aren't those two from our class?"

"Is it Horikita and Takeda?" Mori Nene asked. "It's so late and they're alone together... could they be--on a date?"

"Oh." Karuizawa replied perfunctorily, looking uninterested.

Matsushita Chiaki had no choice but to ask Kikyo:

"Speaking of which, Kushida, aren't you on good terms with that guy Takeda? Are they in that kind of relationship?"

"Uh... this." Kikyo looked a bit flustered.

Mori Nene joked:

"Could it be--you're jealous?"

"Eh, how could that be." Kikyo shook her head and quickly explained, "Takeda-kun and I are just ordinary friends, and I'm not interested in dating, so how could I possibly be jealous of Horikita-san?"

"Is that so." Matsushita Chiaki accepted her explanation for the moment, but still said, "Should we go say hello? We'll know if we just ask."

"Let's not." Kikyo said. "If they really are on a date, it wouldn't be very nice for us to interrupt."

"Alright." Matsushita Chiaki said. "Then how about we ask tomorrow? I'm actually quite curious; that cold woman is actually dating someone. Kushida, I'm counting on you~"

"Mm." Kikyo lowered her head and replied softly.

"Alright, everyone, order whatever you want to drink."

"Eh, you're not treating us?" Mori Nene teased.

"I won't be drinking anything, you guys order." Karuizawa said.

She had already spent all her money and really couldn't afford anything, but fortunately, tomorrow was the first of the month, and she would have another 100,000 points coming in.

However, what she didn't expect was that the points for the next month would be zero.

Chapter 18: Welcome to, huh?

The first day of class in May.

The homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae, had an even more serious expression than usual.

Ike-kun asked the question just as he had expected:

"Teacher, you wouldn't happen to be on your period, would you?"

To a girl, the level of harassment in that sentence is the same as saying to a guy:

Are you impotent?

You're so small.

Chabashira ignored him and said:

"We will now begin the morning assembly. But before we start, are there any questions you want to ask? If there is anything you are concerned about, it's best to ask now."

A student raised their hand immediately:

"Um... I checked this morning, but I found that the points hadn't been deposited. Weren't they supposed to be paid to us on the first of every month? I'm in a rush because I couldn't buy juice this morning."

"Hondo, I have explained this before, and that is correct. Points are deposited on the first of every month. There is no doubt that they have been confirmed as deposited this month as well."

"Eh, but... aren't the points not deposited?"

Chabashira was silent for a moment, then said:

"...You really are a group of foolish students."

Yes, foolish.

Eito nodded silently from below.

Chabashira's voice became unusually stern, completely different from her usual image as a teacher who didn't care about anything and practiced a laissez-faire policy.

"Takeda-kun, you tell them the reason why there are no points."

Eito, who was just planning to watch the show, was suddenly called out and stood up very reluctantly.

A rebellious mindset began to grow within him.

"The reason is that Chabashira-sensei gobbled them all up."

This statement caused a huge uproar.

"Teacher, is that true?"

"Please give our points back."

"I'll never say you're on your period again, I'm sorry!"

"Quiet!" Chabashira's cold words echoed through the classroom. The people below shut their mouths one after another, but their eyes looked very unwilling.

"Tardiness and absences total ninety-eight times. Private conversations during class or the use of mobile phones occurred three hundred and ninety-one times. You did all of this in just one month. In this school, the class's performance is reflected in the points. The result is that you have spat out all the one hundred thousand points you should have received; that is all there is to it. I should have explained clearly on the day of the entrance ceremony that this school measures students by their ability. And this time, you received an evaluation of 'zero'. That is all."

"You have only just entered your first year of high school; did you really think you could use one hundred thousand every month without restriction? And in this school established by the Japanese government to educate talented people? Even using common sense, that's impossible, right? Why have you been ignoring your doubts all this time?"

The following events consisted of various questions from the students, such as:

Teacher, why didn't you tell us sooner?

And questions regarding the specific details of how points are deducted or added.

This situation dealt a heavy blow to the students of Class D.

The most severe part was undoubtedly the realization that their seemingly wonderful school life had vanished; what were they supposed to do without money?

However, there was still some good news.

For instance, the free items with monthly purchase limits seen at the supermarket earlier, and the free vegetable set meals in the cafeteria.

The school had anticipated that such a situation might occur, so they had prepared a plan to ensure no one would starve to death even without money.

For Eito, having no points didn't matter at all. He was different from these pampered young masters and misses; as long as something could fill his stomach, it was fine. No matter how bad the food tasted, as long as it wasn't poisonous, he could eat it.

Although he actually had ways to obtain private points, this long-lost life of poverty felt quite fresh, and he decided to experience it for a while.

The other piece of good news was this.

Since the points had hit zero this month, if there was no way to increase the class points, they would remain at zero next month. Each class started with 1000 class points, which converted to private points at a 1:100 ratio, meaning the original 100,000 points, where 1 point equaled 1 yen.

Since the points were now zero, there was no need to worry about further class point deductions from here on out; they could play on their phones however much they wanted.

Next, Chabashira took out a poster showing the current point standings for each class:

Class A: 940

Class B: 650

Class C: 490

Class D: 0

"Do you finally understand why you were selected for Class D? This school sorts students based on their level of excellence. The most excellent students go to Class A, while the useless ones go to Class D. This system is quite common in large-scale cram schools. Simply put, Class D is the final fortress where the stragglers are gathered. In short, you are all the worst kind of defective products. This is a fitting end for such defective goods, isn't it?"

"But to have all your points wiped out in just one month—even among all the previous Class Ds, you are the first. I'm actually impressed that you managed to reach this level. Bravo, bravo."

On the surface, the class points were deducted because of the students' own actions, but Eito knew that this was actually a deliberate move by Chabashira.

Most of the point deductions were for minor classroom infractions; if Chabashira had told them earlier, they wouldn't have been docked so many points.

As for her claim that she didn't need to teach them not to slack off in class or not to be late or leave early because they should have already learned that, such a theory was complete nonsense.

Not needing to be taught is the result of being domesticated. Humans inherently possess autonomy, and they change according to the shifts in their environment.

Many brilliant artists and thinkers were not the type to obediently follow orders; many of them were unexpectedly crazy. Creativity stems from the unexpected, not from following rules.

What is needed is knowledge and the methods to acquire it, not just performing superficial gestures.

And he also understood Chabashira's intention.

It was what one might call a phoenix rising from the ashes. If Chabashira had told these people beforehand that violations would cost them points, their current score would be around 400, which would be no different from previous Class Ds. In the future, these people would continue to rot away just like the old Class Ds and eventually graduate as Class D.

Only those who have experienced despair can grow. Chabashira had expectations for these people; of course, the more important reason she was willing to do this was that she had her eye on a few outstanding talents in this class.

For example, Horikita, Ayanokoji, Hirata, and Kikyo.

Humans are animals that need leadership, much like Napoleon or Hitler.

Without a leader who represents a belief, a group will be like loose sand, collapsing at the slightest touch.

And the person who currently looked most like a leader, Hirata Yosuke, was at best just a "nice guy."

From what Eito knew, the fact that he was willing to pretend to be Karuizawa's boyfriend without asking for anything in return showed that he was indeed a good person.

Yet, he lacked the ability to lead Class D; he lacked decisiveness, resilience, and a bit of intelligence. If he had discovered these problems in Class D earlier, the class wouldn't have had its points wiped out.

"...Does this mean we're going to be looked down upon by the others from now on?"

Sudo kicked the leg of his desk with a bang. If the class ranking was determined by merit, it was equivalent to publicly declaring that the lowest-ranked Class D was a gathering place for idiots. It was only natural to feel inferior.

This redhead had lost his temper during the self-introductions on the first day; he didn't want to do such a stupid thing, so he cursed at Hirata and left. He was just as irritable this time.

"Class points are not just linked to the monthly deposit. This point value directly reflects the class ranking," Chabashira said.

In other words, if they managed to gain 500 points, they could directly promote to Class C, and the current Class C would become Class D.

Immediately after, Chabashira took out a piece of paper:

"These are the results of the last quiz. The class is full of elites; the teacher is very happy. What exactly did you learn in middle school?"

Excluding a few top students, most of the class only scored around sixty points. Ignoring Sudo's unbelievable fourteen points, the next lowest was Ike with twenty-four. The average score was around sixty-five.

"That's great, isn't it? If this were an official exam, seven people would have already been expelled just after the start of the school year."

"Ex-expelled? What is this about?"

"What? Did I not mention it? This school has a rule that if you fail even one subject in the midterm or final exams, you will be expelled. For this test, everyone who scored below thirty-two points would have been subject to expulsion. You really are quite stupid."

She certainly hadn't mentioned it.

The failing grade was 32 points. Eito took a look; it was half of the average score. In other words, to avoid expulsion, one only needed to avoid getting an exceptionally low score, and the whole class could pass.

"It seems that just as the Teacher said, there really are a lot of idiots in this class."

Koenji, as usual, had his feet up on the desk, filing his nails.

And he truly had the capital to be arrogant, as he had scored over 90 points in several subjects, tying for first place.

Next, Chabashira used all sorts of merciless words to scold them severely, also informing them of the true nature of this school: that it was a meritocracy.

And finally:

"Takeda, Ayanokoji, the two of you come to my office."

Her words caused quite a stir.

"Could it be that they're about to get chewed out?"

"Good thing it's not me."

Automatically ignoring Ayanokoji, they wanted to see how many points Eito had scored.

It wasn't until they found his score in the middle of the list.

"Eh, all 66 points? What is the meaning of this 66?"

They didn't understand the significance of this score; only Wang Meiyu, sitting at her desk, couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Chapter 19: Suzune's Maiden Bedroom

The moment the teacher left, the classroom descended into chaos; fortunately, Hirata was there to help stabilize the mood, though the situation remained grim.

However, none of this had anything to do with Eito, as he and Ayanokoji had already arrived at the office.

Sitting before them was Chabashira Sae:

"Are you two friends?"