Soon.
May 1, Class 1-C.
At that moment,
everyone in the class was clutching their phones, looking flustered.
"Hey, did your points come in?"
"No. What about yours?"
"What's Sakagami up to? Didn't he say our points would be deposited on the first of every month?"
"Could what Prince Brother and the others said be true? Are points tied to our abilities?"
"How could that be? Even then, there should be something, shouldn't there?"
Plenty of people still refused to believe it.
Even Class C had a few students with decent grades.
Even if points were tied to ability, there was no way Kaneda and the others would get nothing—unless points depended on the class's overall performance.
They had thought of that possibility.
Prince Ganlongdao and Ryuen had even mentioned it.
But most people still clung to wishful thinking, unwilling to believe it.
They were even less willing to accept that their classmates were dragging them down.
"What do we do, Prince Brother?"
"Something must have gone wrong. How are we supposed to get by this month without any points?"
Shiho Manabe and the other students who lived paycheck to paycheck were on the verge of tears.
Now they were genuinely panicking.
The school provided some free daily necessities and vegetable meal plans, but they had grown accustomed to spending freely and could no longer adapt to that kind of life.
"It's fine. I'm sure Sakagami will explain soon."
Prince Ganlongdao shrugged indifferently. "Besides, we still have the class fund. What's there to worry about?"
"Right... Yeah, that's true."
Shiho Manabe's eyes lit up.
She was so relieved she'd nearly forgotten about the class fund. She didn't really understand the points system.
Soon,
Kazuma Sakagami walked into the classroom.
The students immediately grew restless.
"Um... Mr. Sakagami!"
"Didn't you say our points would be deposited on the first of every month? We still haven't received them today!"
"Yeah! Even if they're tied to ability, how could someone as capable as me get nothing?"
Smack!
Kazuma Sakagami slammed his lesson notes down on the lectern.
"You were late or absent 102 times this month, and you spent class talking and playing on your phones 283 times. You still have the nerve to ask why you got no points?"
"Now I can tell you: points are indeed tied to ability. There are both Private Points and Class Points."
"Every Class Point is worth 100 Private Points."
"When school started, every class was given an equal share of 1,000 Class Points!"
"After reviewing your conduct, you've lost all your Class Points. The Private Points you receive this month are zero!"
Sakagami said all this while glaring at Prince Ganlongdao.
He was furious.
Whether on the surface or in practice,
anyone who could unite the class and coordinate its Private Points within the first two days of school was unquestionably an elite.
Throughout Advanced Nurturing's history,
only Student Council President Horikita Manabu and Vice President Miyabi Nagumo had managed to do that.
And yet,
Prince Ganlongdao,
after a single month, had brought his class's Class Points down to zero.
Sakagami wanted to kill him!
And yet,
Prince Ganlongdao still had his legs propped up on his desk, looking utterly unconcerned. He hadn't even bothered to change his attitude.
As if, to him,
it was all a trivial matter.
Then,
Kazuma Sakagami turned around and pinned the poster he'd prepared to the blackboard.
It listed each class's Class Points.
Class A: 940 points
Class B: 650 points
Class C: 0 points
Class D: 0 points.
There had been some tardiness, absences, and inattention in class, but Ryuen had skipped class for an entire month. It was only natural for the class's points to have dropped to zero.
"To be frank with you,"
Kazuma Sakagami said, still angry,
"only graduates of Class A have the freedom to choose their careers. If Class D hadn't also been docked down to zero, you'd already have fallen to Class D."
"Or, more accurately, Class D could overtake you as soon as next month."
"You're the worst class I've ever taught!"
Kazuma Sakagami glared at Prince Ganlongdao.
He'd clearly already learned all this information, yet Prince Ganlongdao hadn't shared it with the class. Sakagami blamed him for everything.
But
he didn't say it outright.
Clearly, Sakagami still had a little reason and hope left.
In truth,
Prince Ganlongdao hadn't planned to tell Kaneda and the others any of this.
Even if he shared all the information equally with everyone,
the outcome wouldn't change much.
Kaneda and the others would still feel they'd been treated unfairly, or remain suspicious of the school, clinging to wishful thinking.
You can't teach someone who won't learn.
But experience teaches in an instant.
The moment they saw their accounts and points at zero,
they would understand the importance of points and the cruelty of the school.
Of course,
if they didn't prepare or do anything,
then understanding the importance of points and the school's cruelty would be meaningless.
But if there was something they could do,
the experience would make managing the class much easier.
Prince Ganlongdao wouldn't need to explain much. They would start pursuing points and striving for Class A on their own.
"How could this happen..."
Kaneda stood up in a hurry.
"Only Class A can freely choose their careers? Is that true, sir?"
"Do you think I'd lie to you?"
"No..."
Kaneda panicked. He pounded his chest, growing even angrier.
He'd let his true feelings slip without thinking.
"Then why was I put in this class, Mr. Sakagami?"
"By any measure, I should've been placed in Class A! Why was I put in the same class as these punks? It's unfair!"
At that,
the others looked at him with some hostility.
Maybe that was why Kaneda had been put in Class C: he thought far too highly of himself.
"Kaneda, what do you mean by that?"
The problem was,
Kaneda was an ingrate.
Ingrates tended to share one trait: they never learned their lesson and were brazen about it.
He spoke bluntly:
"All you ever think about is fighting and karaoke. What else would you call yourselves but punks?"
"Kaneda, you're asking for a beating."
"That's enough."
Kazuma Sakagami said coldly,
"The school carefully considered where to place each student. Is that really what you should be worrying about right now?"
"Then what should we be worrying about?"
Ishizaki and the others looked at one another. Kaneda, now composed, asked coldly,
"Sir, if class rankings are determined by Class Points, there must be a way to earn more, right?"
"Hah..."
Kazuma Sakagami let out a small breath of relief.
The class did have some capable students.
Not just Prince Ganlongdao and Ryuen Kakeru—even Kaneda had what it took.
The problem was that these guys were all too full of themselves. They only thought about their own interests and never about the class. In the end, they dragged the whole class into failure.
"Yes. The next opportunity is the Midterm Exam."
Kazuma Sakagami said gravely,
"If you get good results on the Midterm Exam, you'll earn the corresponding Class Points. But if you fail, you'll be expelled immediately."
"Based on your last test results, Nanami Yabu and Masaharu Sonoda, the two of you are in danger."
"If you don't want to be expelled, you know what to do!"
That was practically spelling it out for them.
Expulsions would surely hurt the class.
With their Class Points already at zero, Kazuma Sakagami was even more anxious than they were.
"I'll leave the rest of the time to you. Discuss it among yourselves."
With that,
Kazuma Sakagami shot Prince Ganlongdao a cold look.
Then he turned and left the classroom.
He'd thought he'd struck gold, but it turned out he'd gotten several problem students.
If Prince Ganlongdao couldn't produce results,
Sakagami wouldn't be so lenient anymore. If he made Sakagami's life difficult, Sakagami would make sure everyone suffered.
Once Kazuma Sakagami had left the classroom,
everyone instinctively turned their gaze toward the back of the room, fixing it on Prince Ganlongdao!
Before you continue