Teachers or students, come at me if you dare

The flames of hatred quickly rose.

"How stupid. If he doesn't plan to give it to you, are you going to rob him?"

"Then it won't just be a matter of having no points. You'll be expelled outright."

Koenji said lazily from the side.

Everything happening in class seemed to have nothing to do with him.

The arguments, the points—none of it had anything to do with him.

"What did you say? Aren't you angry?"

"That guy got 5.7 million in profit by selling out the class."

Yamauchi Haruki couldn't understand Koenji's way of thinking.

Why?

No matter how you looked at it, Koenji should've been on his side.

"If you can manage it, go ahead."

"Besides, it's not like he sold out the class. He just didn't share the information with you."

"If you found a way to make a fortune, would you share it with everyone in class?"

"He found that information himself, and he also realized that you people would drag Class D down."

"Rather than saying he didn't share the information with the entire class, you could say he thought sharing it would be pointless and chose to gain something else instead. That's all."

"The fact is that you're the reason the class ended up with zero points."

Koenji looked down on the group surrounding Yamauchi Haruki.

"You're so ugly. All this over a little money."

His attack hit the whole group, as if he'd drawn all of Kageya Shinjitsu's hatred onto himself.

Even Kageya Shinjitsu couldn't figure out what the guy was trying to do.

Yamauchi Haruki's eyes were wide, and he couldn't say a word.

It wasn't that he suspected he was wrong. He just wanted to find an excuse to argue back.

But nothing came to mind.

He just didn't have the brains for it.

"Are you saying we're just supposed to accept this?"

"Why should we?"

Yamauchi Haruki demanded.

He had lost all his energy.

He looked like he'd been broken, almost as if the world had turned black and white.

But the others merely watched coldly. Their expressions varied, but aside from the people around him, no one stepped forward to support him.

Things weren't going the way he'd imagined when they set out to take down Kageya Shinjitsu.

"Because you're trash."

"Because you're in Class D."

"If you're so capable, why don't you go to another class?"

Seeing how badly the other guy had been shaken, Kageya Shinjitsu twisted the knife.

[Now that it's on sale, here's the second update of the day, for a total of ten thousand words. "Please subscribe," "please send flowers," "please tip," "please bookmark," and "please vote."]

Chapter 67: Teachers or students, come at me if you dare

The arguing in class had become practically nonstop.

Kageya Shinjitsu's words had also put everyone on edge.

"You were already saying all kinds of weird things earlier."

"About this class and the other classes, those guys, those guys..."

"They're just lucky. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be in this situation."

Yamauchi Haruki put on a ridiculous performance.

His aim was to show that he wasn't the one at fault—it was someone else. It was the world.

But the next person to twist the knife in his classmates wasn't Kageya Shinjitsu.

It was Chabashira Sae.

Chabashira-sensei's deliberate clapping rang through the classroom.

"Oh, right. Since we're talking about other classes, there's something else I should tell you. This school assigns students to classes according to their ability. The best students go to Class A, while the useless ones go to Class D. This kind of system is common at large cram schools, too."

"To put it simply, Class D is the last refuge for the bottom of the barrel. In short, you're all defective rejects. Now you've earned a score of zero, which seems like the sort of ending a bunch of rejects would have."

"You blew through all your points in just one month. Even among past Class D students, you're the first to pull off something like this. I'm actually impressed you managed to sink so low. Amazing, amazing."

"I, Chabashira Sae, acknowledge you. Of all the Class D students, I declare you the strongest."

"Rejects? Why would that be?"

"How are we rejects?"

"So if our Class Points are zero, will we keep earning nothing?"

"Is this kind of distribution fair?"

"Why are we in this class?" someone asked.

"Yes. Your points will stay that way until graduation. But don't worry: you can use your dorm rooms for free, and food is free, too. You won't starve to death."

"As for why you're in this class, perhaps only you know. After all, even the teachers don't have all the information."

"The school administration decides all this, and over the years, they've almost never been wrong."

Chabashira Sae explained.

Many of them had stiffened expressions. This wasn't just for a month or two. It was for three years.

They felt like dropping out.

To many of them, this bare minimum guarantee was humiliating.

Especially for those with good grades who had always considered themselves model students.

Horikita Suzune's expression was especially rigid. The class assignments had dealt her a crushing blow.

That was worse than Kageya Shinjitsu's situation before, and worse than the fact that their class had no points.

She could accept being in a lousy class. She believed she could stay disciplined and study hard.

But if this was the school's decision—if they'd judged her a reject and tossed her into Class D—then she couldn't accept it.

"You got one thing right. If you could be in another class, then sure, you'd be lucky. In that case, I wouldn't have to talk to the likes of you."

After Chabashira Sae finished speaking, Kageya Shinjitsu twisted the knife again.

"Aren't you in Class D, too? What are you so proud of? You're a reject as well."

Yamauchi Haruki shouted, mocking Kageya Shinjitsu.

"Ha, you really are an idiot. I have ways to transfer to Class A. Even if I didn't have that option, I'm confident I could get into the University of Tokyo or any other school with my academic ability. So what if I'm in Class D?"

"I don't need to rely on the school's so-called rewards, whether it's points or anything else. I have plenty of options. That's the difference between you and me, moron."

"Oh, right. I also get a hundred thousand points a month for joining the Student Council. I don't need this little bit of pocket change."

Kageya Shinjitsu put him down.

"You..."

Yamauchi Haruki felt even worse.

He wanted to argue back, but the other guy seemed to be telling the truth.

It was a miserable feeling. The person in front of him was someone he hated, but he couldn't even win an argument against him, let alone a fight.

Yamauchi Haruki felt as if everything before him had turned dark.

"Why? Why do we have to be looked down on like this?"

Hearing Kageya Shinjitsu's words, Ken Sudō was about to explode.

Class D had been looked down on ever since they entered the school.

That was what this meant, right?

They weren't just looked down on by the school, but by the other students as well.

No wonder those older students had reacted that way when they heard he was in Class D.

Someone had even picked a fight with him over it before.

"I'm surprised you care so much about your dignity, Sudō. But..."

"When you entered the school, every class had the same number of Class Points. If your class had more points than the class above you, you'd take its place, and that class would drop to Class D."

"That's fair, isn't it? If you think it's unreasonable, then do something to show the school it was wrong about you. Get promoted to Class A. If you have the ability, isn't that simple?"

"But as things stand, the school made the right choice. Even if you make excuses and say you didn't know the rules, just look at the other three classes. They all learned the school's rules from someone. And what happened? Class A is still Class A, Class B is still Class B, and Class C is still Class C. Doesn't that prove the school made the right call?"

Chabashira Sae explained the school's rules. At the same time as she put down the students, she also laid out the standards the school used.

Competition between classes came down to Class Points.

This news was also a crushing blow to all the Class D students.

It meant they were already nearly a thousand points behind Class A.

Looking at the sequence of A, B, C, and D, they couldn't deny it.

They really were the worst class.

But some people still weren't convinced.

"That's because of the class. If they hadn't messed around, I definitely wouldn't have gotten this score. I don't think the school should assign people this way."

"I can say for sure that I didn't do that much nonsense in class. I couldn't have lost many points."

"I'm confident I could be among the top students in the school academically. And on the entrance exam..."

As he listened to Chabashira Sae, a bespectacled student named Yukimura stood up.

"Yukimura, I've told you before, haven't I? If you question the school, prove yourself."

"Besides getting your whole class promoted, there's another way for an individual to reach Class A. Just look at someone who's done quite well."

"Getting together twenty million points in just your first term—that's unprecedented."

"He can transfer to Class A whenever he wants."

"This is something you were supposed to investigate yourself, but I'm telling you for free."

"Choose for yourself: use your own ability, or help your class become strong enough to reach Class A. If you stay in Class D, doesn't that prove your so-called ability is nothing special?"

"Incidentally, the most successful Class D students so far reached Class B in their third year. They only missed by one step."

"Of course, if you can't accept this, you can also drop out. I'll prepare the withdrawal forms for you. It's still early, so you can get them done and leave sooner."

Faced with their objections, Chabashira Sae calmly shared some information.

She also redirected the hostility toward Kageya Shinjitsu and invited them to drop out.

Many people were already stunned by what they'd heard, but dropping out was too much.

For many of them, this school was the only option they had right now.

Not everyone could easily get another school to accept them.

If they left this place, they had no idea where they could go.

Especially if they left like a beaten dog.