May 1st: Class Morning Meeting (Please Subscribe) (Continued)

The bell rang to announce the first day of classes in May. As it sounded, Class 1-D's homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae, strode into the classroom in her high heels, carrying a small poster.

Her expression was even more serious than usual, as if a lot of people owed her money and weren't paying her back.

Normally, when students saw a teacher wearing that expression, they should have realized they were in trouble.

But the atmosphere cultivated in Class 1-D over the past month had been terrible. Many of the students were downright disrespectful, too.

"Hey, teacher, you're not on your period, are you?"

Kanji Ike shouted, thinking he was being funny.

Yamauchi and the others sitting beside Ike burst out laughing.

Faced with their harassment, Chabashira-sensei remained composed and looked around the class as if she hadn't seen or heard a thing.

"We'll begin homeroom shortly. Before that, you may ask any questions you have.

"If you have any questions, speak up now."

She was clearly certain they had something to ask.

Chabashira-sensei seemed to have set aside time specifically for this.

As soon as she finished speaking, several students raised their hands.

"Um, Chabashira-sensei, I checked this morning, but my points still haven't been deposited."

"Weren't we supposed to get points from the school on the first of every month? I couldn't even buy juice this morning. I'm freaking out."

In the end, it was Hondo, an unremarkable-looking student, who spoke up.

"Hondo, I've already explained this, haven't I? The points are deposited on the first of every month. There's no question that they were deposited this month as well."

Looking at Hondo, Chabashira-sensei spoke in a tone that left no room for argument.

"Even so, none of us in the class got any points at all."

"Let alone a hundred thousand."

The students exchanged glances. Those who had already spent all their points were clearly growing anxious.

"You really are a bunch of foolish students."

Chabashira-sensei looked over them, no longer displaying her usual easygoing manner.

She slapped the desk, her eyes turning somewhat chilling.

"M-Miss Sae?"

The students had never seen Chabashira-sensei like this before.

"I don't want to repeat what I've already told you."

"The points have been deposited. There's no question about it, and it's impossible that the school simply forgot about your class."

"Understood?"

Her stern words rang through the classroom as Chabashira-sensei spoke without expression.

"But we really didn't get any points..."

One student tried to push back.

But another voice quickly cut in.

Koenji, the flashy rich kid in the class, propped his feet up on his desk and spoke arrogantly.

"Ha ha ha! So that's what's going on, Teacher. I've solved the mystery."

"Isn't it simple? It means that, in the school's eyes, we don't deserve a single point."

His words sent a chill through the class.

If it was just a mistake for one month, maybe it wouldn't matter.

But if the school thought there was something wrong with them, their next few years were doomed.

"Huh? Why? Weren't we supposed to get a hundred thousand points every month?"

"Chabashira-sensei."

After Chabashira-sensei confirmed it, the students who had spent all their points began to wail.

Especially Ike and Yamauchi's corner of the room.

Watching their expressions change so rapidly, Kageya Shinjitsu gave them a mental thumbs-up.

That's right, exactly like that.

With this talent, they'd probably manage just fine at school.

Seeing them like this gave Kageya a level of satisfaction no less than when Kushida Kikyo had exposed herself.

Thinking about how they'd turn against him later, he was already looking forward to it.

What pose should he use when he sent them packing?

"I don't recall the teacher ever saying that, do you?"

The class grew chaotic after Koenji's words, but he didn't care in the slightest and spoke without restraint.

He didn't think much of the personal points the class had received.

"Koenji's attitude is certainly a problem, but what he said is correct."

"Honestly, I've given you so many hints, yet only a handful of you managed to figure it out for yourselves. It's pathetic."

Picking up on Koenji's words, Chabashira-sensei continued.

As she spoke, her gaze fell on Kageya Shinjitsu, filled with resentment.

Apparently, she already knew something.

Feeling Chabashira-sensei's gaze, Kageya had a bad feeling.

He suspected the female teacher was interested in him.

Women really are devils.

Kushida-chan, save me.

He couldn't help looking toward Kushida-chan beside him.

She was still putting on an act, looking all delicate and pitiful as she gazed toward the podium.

Anyone would think she really had no idea what was going on.

Mom had been right: the prettier a girl was, the better she was at lying.

The atmosphere in the classroom grew heavier.

They couldn't accept that the points they'd expected to receive had gone from 100,000 to zero.

It was like going from heaven straight to hell.

"Teacher, may I ask something? There's something I don't understand..."

"Please tell us why we weren't given any points. Otherwise, we can't accept this."

Hirata, one of the class's leading figures, raised his hand.

He wanted to negotiate for them, even if they could only get a few thousand points.

"You were late or absent a total of 118 times. You talked among yourselves or used your phones during class 456 times. You managed to do all that in just one month."

"At this school, a class's performance is reflected in its points. As a result, you lost the 100,000 points you should have received. That's all there is to it."

"I explained on the day of the entrance ceremony that this school judged students by their ability. This time, you received a score of zero. That's all."

Chabashira-sensei finished speaking without any emotion.

The class was stunned by those figures. Some students were even writing down the evaluation criteria.

But that wouldn't help them now.

"Chabashira-sensei, I don't remember you explaining anything like that," Hirata protested.

"What? You can't understand unless someone explains it to you?" Chabashira asked in surprise.

"Of course we can't. We weren't told that our points could be reduced. If we'd been given an explanation, everyone would have avoided being late or whispering in class."

Hirata tried hard to reason with her.

He hoped they could overturn their score of zero.

But Chabashira-sensei rejected his argument coldly.

"Hirata, that's incredible. I never thought you'd say something like that. It's true that I didn't explain it, but during your nine years of compulsory education, you must have heard more than enough times that being late or chatting in class was wrong."

"That kind of twisted logic doesn't hold up. If you'd simply done what you were supposed to do, you wouldn't have gotten zero. This is entirely your own responsibility."

"And it's not as if no one in the class noticed how the school was evaluating you. Someone figured it out early on, but didn't say anything."

At the end, Chabashira-sensei smiled for the first time, though it was a rather cold smile.

Here we go, here we go.

That damn woman. She should've just stuck to being a teacher.

She's going to get in trouble if she acts like this for selfish reasons.

Kageya Shinjitsu scratched his neck.

Then he turned to look out the window, as if he hadn't heard a thing.

"W-Who?"

"Someone knew about the evaluation?"

The students seemed to have received some kind of signal.

"If they knew, why didn't they tell us?"

"If I'd known that from the start, there's no way I would've..."

"Yeah! They're hurting all of us. Who is it?"

"I can't believe someone knew and didn't say a word."

"Maybe they were secretly laughing at us. That's awful."

Some shameless students started shifting the blame.

Many of them couldn't help pinning it on the person who knew.

It was human nature. Even when they were in the wrong, they still wanted to pass the blame.

The world is what's wrong.

Hearing their words, Hirata's expression turned gloomy as well.

Looking at Chabashira-sensei on the podium, he couldn't understand why she had said that.

If this was handled poorly, the class would fall apart. Infighting and ostracism would follow.

Was that what Chabashira-sensei—or the school—wanted?

Was this how they tested their students?

"Looks like you're all very curious."

Chabashira-sensei smiled and looked toward the corner.

"Teacher, please don't."

"This has nothing to do with who knew."

"The information was just..."

Hirata hurried to stop her.

"You don't speak for your classmates, Hirata."

"Isn't that right, Kageya Shinjitsu, the clever student who's already earned over ten million points?"

As Chabashira-sensei spoke, everyone in the class turned to look at Kageya in unison.

Even Hirata did.