Hell? What does it have to do with me.

The entrance ceremony concluded, and the students transitioned into their free time.

Uesugi Hara spotted Ayanokoji Kiyotaka in the crowd, closed the distance in a few strides, and tapped him on the shoulder: "Hey, let me ask you something—do you have a thing for that girl?"

Ayanokoji lifted his gaze, his eyes carrying a hint of bewilderment: "Who?"

"The one who poked you with a compass earlier," Uesugi Hara gestured with his chin toward the direction of Class D, "the same one from the bus this morning."

"No." Ayanokoji's reply was concise and crisp.

"No?" Uesugi Hara raised an eyebrow, looking unconvinced, "Then why did you just let her poke your shoulder with a compass? Anyone else would have blown a fuse by now."

Ayanokoji remained silent for a few seconds before saying slowly: "Well... I didn't know how I was supposed to react. Although, it did hurt."

Uesugi Hara clicked his tongue, patting his own chest as he offered advice: "Can you trust your buddy here? Next time she does that, just slap her right back. I guarantee she'll straighten up immediately and won't dare do it again."

Ayanokoji looked at him without speaking, though a flicker of confusion—as if asking, Are you serious?—seemed to pass through his emotionless eyes.

"..." Uesugi Hara felt a bit awkward under his gaze and rubbed his nose: "What? This trick is very effective, alright? You have to be ruthless when dealing with people who don't know their boundaries."

Ayanokoji still didn't respond; he simply shook his head slightly and turned to walk toward the dorms.

"Hey, wait for me! Wait up!" Seeing this, Uesugi Hara quickly chased after him, walking side-by-side, "Why are you just walking off? I wasn't finished talking."

Ayanokoji turned his head to glance at him, his eyes devoid of ripples, as if asking, "Is there something else?"

Uesugi Hara, however, seized the opening and asked with a grin: "Do you have any friends?"

Ayanokoji was silent for a moment before spitting out two words: "None."

"That settles it then." Uesugi Hara clapped his hands, his tone becoming overly familiar, "Since neither of us has company, we might as well walk together. It's a good chance to chat on the way."

Ayanokoji didn't speak, but he didn't quicken his pace either, which counted as tacit agreement.

Inside the convenience store under the dormitory building.

Uesugi Hara held a bottle of gaudily packaged "13-in-1" and excitedly shoved it toward Ayanokoji: "Ayanokoji, what do you think of this? Take my word for it, it's amazing! I've been relying on this stuff for years."

Ayanokoji looked down at the dense list of ingredients on the bottle, then met Uesugi Hara's eyes. A rare flicker of near-shock passed through his usually calm gaze—the look seemed to say: You're actually still alive after using this?

"Don't give me that look." Uesugi Hara shook the bottle, defending it earnestly, "I've never seen a bad review for this thing so far. It's incredibly cost-effective; one bottle does the job of thirteen. It saves so much trouble!"

Ayanokoji didn't respond. He simply picked up a standard bottle of body wash and shampoo from the shelf nearby and said calmly: "I'll stick with these."

"Fine, suit yourself." Uesugi Hara curled his lip and tossed the "13-in-1" into his shopping basket, "You'll realize how powerful this stuff is later."

Ayanokoji didn't argue further and carried his items to the other side.

"Hey, look over there." Uesugi Hara suddenly nudged him with his elbow, gesturing toward the corner of the store.

Ayanokoji followed his gaze and saw his desk mate, Horikita Suzune, standing in the corner, looking down as she picked out toiletries.

"What was her name again?" Uesugi Hara scratched his head.

"Horikita Suzune. She's my desk mate," Ayanokoji replied succinctly.

"Horikita?" Uesugi Hara raised an eyebrow, suddenly remembering something, "I remember the Student Council president who gave the speech at the entrance ceremony was also named Horikita. Could they be siblings?"

"I don't know." Ayanokoji's answer remained brief.

"Then go ask her! Aren't you desk mates? You have the advantage of proximity; shouldn't it be easy to dig up some information?" Uesugi Hara egged him on.

Ayanokoji remained silent, though his eyes conveyed a sense of "there's no need."

"Forget it, forget it," Uesugi Hara understood the moment he saw that reaction and waved his hand, "I can see you aren't the type to socialize. But then again, this Horikita looks just as stuck-up as that Student Council president."

As they spoke, Horikita Suzune seemed to sense their gaze. She looked up and swept a glance over them, her eyes cold and filled with scrutiny. The moment she met their eyes, she looked away, picked up a notebook, and turned toward the checkout counter, never giving them a single extra expression from start to finish.

Uesugi Hara clicked his tongue twice: "See? What did I tell you."

"I'm heading out." Ayanokoji said calmly, carrying his shopping bag.

Only then did Uesugi Hara realize the other had already finished shopping while he had been too busy talking. He waved his hand quickly: "Alright, you go ahead. I'm going to browse a bit more."

After Ayanokoji left, Uesugi Hara didn't linger, quickly selecting a towel, toothbrush, and other daily necessities. While checking out, he caught sight of a stack of simply packaged items by the counter labeled "Free for use," so he asked the clerk casually: "Can I take these?"

The clerk explained politely: "I'm sorry, these are emergency supplies prepared for students whose Points balance is insufficient."

Uesugi Hara said "Oh," though he didn't pay much mind—he still had over eighty thousand Points in his account, enough to splurge for a while.

Just as he stepped out of the convenience store with his bag, he heard an argument coming from not far away.

"You're one of those guys from Class D, right?" Three boys in upperclassman uniforms blocked a red-haired boy with a buzz cut, their tone malicious.

Uesugi Hara raised an eyebrow—he recognized the red-haired buzz cut; he had seen him in the Class D line during the entrance ceremony, and he didn't look like someone to be trifled with.

Is this a deliberate provocation?

He stopped in his tracks, crossing his arms to watch the show.

He heard the leader of the upperclassmen sneer: "Class D... tsk tsk, once you enter that class, your life is basically over."

The red-haired boy clenched his fists, his face turning livid: "What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing special." The other guy patted his face in a slacker-like manner, "Anyway, it won't be long before you find out what true hell is. Hahaha..."

With that, the trio walked away laughing, leaving the red-haired boy trembling with rage on the spot, though he didn't give chase.

Instead of chasing them, the red-haired boy suddenly whipped his head around and kicked a trash can nearby. The metal bin let out a loud clang as it flipped over, spilling trash all over the ground.

He then left while cursing under his breath.

Uesugi Hara rubbed his chin, standing in place while lost in thought.

What exactly counted as hell?

Combining his previous observations: Class D was mostly made up of problem students, Class C was a cluster of delinquents, Class B was like a group of goody-two-shoes, and Class A exuded the air of social elites.

This school was clearly categorizing students into different tiers by dividing them into Class A, B, C, and D.

"Gu cultivation."

Two words suddenly popped into his mind.

Rounding up a group of students, dividing and conquering them, and finally determining the winner.

Therefore, the school's high-quality resources were likely tilted only toward the victors.

In other words, the treatment the school mentioned could only be enjoyed by the winners?

The winner takes all, while the losers eat dust?

This model was actually somewhat similar to the White Room, only here, the fighting was done on a class-by-class basis.

Connecting this to the "hell" mentioned by the upperclassman just now, as well as the known rules regarding Points... Uesugi Hara narrowed his eyes; it seemed next month for Class D would be quite interesting.

However, what did that have to do with him?

Uesugi Hara scoffed and turned to walk toward the dormitory area, completely oblivious to the mess of the overturned trash can behind him and the glare of the red-haired student with the crew cut.

Regardless, he was in Class A, so he only needed to mind his own business. As for the survival of other classes, what did that have to do with him?

If you can't find the book title, try searching for the author; perhaps it just changed its name!