Swimming class ended amid the din.
In the end, half the girls had chosen to sit out, so there wasn't enough decisive data to settle the bet on the girls' bust sizes that Ike and the others had been running. The whole thing was abandoned, and Hoshino got back the 3,000 points he'd wagered.
Hoshino actually felt a little disappointed. Judging by what he'd seen from the first and second floors, his guess had been right.
If the bet hadn't been called off, he could have taken the entire pot. That would have been a considerable sum.
But it would also have brought Sakura to the attention of all the boys. Giving up the right to keep this hidden treasure of a girl all to himself just for a few points might not have been a worthwhile trade.
"Things happened so suddenly. I didn't think it through. I should've gone with the crowd and picked Kushida."
Hoshino reflected silently.
As promised, the PE teacher gave 5,000 points each to the first-place finishers: Sudo in the boys' group and Onodera in the girls' group.
When Sudo received his reward, he clenched both fists and pumped them fiercely overhead, roaring, "All right!" Even the girls on the second floor jumped, and Sakura looked so terrified she seemed on the verge of tears.
Hasebe gave him a scornful look and muttered, "What a sports idiot."
Hoshino couldn't help wondering whether Sudo was excited purely because he'd won, or whether the 5,000-point reward had more to do with it. As far as Hoshino knew, Sudo had already spent all his points for the month and was in debt. The new month was just around the corner, and the next points would soon be issued, but these last two days must still have been rough.
That 5,000-point windfall would surely be a great help to Sudo's dire finances.
Even Hoshino didn't realize that just two days later, when he looked back, this casual thought of his would seem so ironic.
The first day of May dawned under cloudy skies.
As usual, the morning meeting began when the bell rang and Teacher Chabashira opened the door and entered the classroom.
She looked around the room, then seemed satisfied.
"Everyone's here today. Even Sudo managed not to be late. That's rare."
A wave of laughter passed through the classroom.
"Let's begin the morning meeting. Today's topic is questions and answers."
Teacher Chabashira paused for a moment and swept her gaze over the class again.
"I expected you to be chattering away, but you've exceeded my expectations again. Or are you just too slow to realize there's a problem?"
At her cool remark, quite a few students shifted uneasily. But Hirata raised his hand before anyone else could.
"Teacher, may I ask what sort of questions we're supposed to ask?"
"Anything you like. I'll answer as long as it's within reason."
"Then... may I ask about campus points?"
"Of course."
"Today is the first. You said our points would be deposited on the first of every month, but our balances haven't changed today. Could you tell us why?"
Hoshino saw Teacher Chabashira's expression and immediately understood that this was exactly the question she'd been waiting for.
"When you started here, I told you that, barring special circumstances, points would be deposited into your accounts on the first of every month. That's the school's rule."
"But our points haven't changed... Did some special circumstance occur?"
"No. The points have undoubtedly been deposited."
Teacher Chabashira wore a smile, but her eyes were sharp—a far cry from her usual languid manner.
"But..."
"Even after I've given you such a big hint, you still don't understand? You really are a bunch of foolish students."
Teacher Chabashira spoke more harshly than ever before.
"They've been deposited, but your balances haven't changed. In other words, the number of points deposited was zero. Am I wrong, Teacher?"
Hoshino finally couldn't hold back and spelled out the truth. Some students responded with exclamations of sudden realization.
They were only figuring it out now? Hoshino was speechless at how slow and foolish they were.
"Why? Didn't you say we'd get 100,000 points every month?"
"I never said that. All you were told was that '100,000 points have been deposited' and that 'points will be deposited on the first of every month.'"
There had been a trap in the wording. Teacher Chabashira had led the students to misunderstand and assume they would receive 100,000 points each month.
"Teacher! Please tell us why the points weren't issued. Otherwise, we can't accept this."
"Ninety-eight tardies and absences in total. Three hundred and ninety-one instances of private conversations or phone use during class. And that's only part of your misconduct. As a result, Class D's points fell to zero in just one month. Congratulations."
"B-but we had no idea that would cost us points..."
"Don't be ridiculous, Hirata. Classroom discipline has been emphasized since elementary school. Are you telling me that you, as high school students, can't even manage such a simple thing?"
After hearing that, even Hirata could only shut his mouth in frustration. He had no words to argue back.
"At least... at least tell us the standards you use to judge us—"
"I can't do that, Kushida. Even real companies don't lay out every single performance metric for their employees. The things you take for granted aren't guaranteed in society. You're all still far too naïve."
"Ugh..."
"Look on the bright side. The dormitories are free, and the cafeteria and shops provide free food and goods. You can keep living here even if you don't have a single point." Teacher Chabashira spoke mockingly.
"Are we supposed to live without points forever? That's too miserable. I don't want to!"
"Miserable, is it? Perhaps. But this is nowhere near enough."
As if she meant to crush the students all at once, Teacher Chabashira smiled cruelly and took two sheets of white paper rolled into tubes from her bag. She unrolled them and pinned them to the blackboard with magnets. The sheet on the left listed every student in the class, with a number next to each name. The one on the right listed Classes A through D, each with a number beside it.
The students stared blankly at the two sheets. Teacher Chabashira gave a cold smile and pointed to them as she began her explanation.
"The sheet on the left shows your scores on the quiz from a few days ago."
It had been during one of their classes that Teacher Chabashira suddenly announced a quiz, specifically emphasizing that "the quiz scores would have no negative consequences." The quiz had been easy, with most questions considerably simpler than those on the entrance exam. Only the last few had been somewhat difficult.
"Even I was surprised by these scores. I'd already prepared myself to some extent, but you've managed to exceed my expectations time and time again."
Teacher Chabashira spoke mockingly. She couldn't be blamed for that. Even Hoshino had been stunned when he saw the score sheet.
Only seven students had scored above eighty. Most had scored between fifty and seventy. Eight students had scored below forty, too. Sudo had the lowest score of all, with a mere fourteen points.
What caught their attention was the conspicuous red line drawn beneath roughly the forty-point mark.
"That's the failing line. Seven students scored below thirty-two and failed this quiz. You're very lucky. If this had been a formal exam, you'd have been expelled."
Perhaps the word "expelled" struck a nerve; this time, the class reacted especially strongly.
"What do you mean, expelled? We've never heard of that!"
"Don't make such a fuss, Ike. Didn't I tell you? At this school, students who fail their midterm or final exams are forcibly expelled."
"Then we're in serious trouble..."
Ike had scored twenty-four points on the quiz, the second-lowest score in the class. Sudo, who had come in last, had gone pale. He must have realized he was at risk of expulsion, too.
Before you continue