Classroom of the Elite, Oh No, I've Become a Stand-in

"You have only been enrolled for a month, and the other classes still have three years to slowly surpass you. While one success is certainly worth celebrating, if you look down on the other classes because of it, you will be the ones stepping into the abyss."

"The school will not show mercy to students who hold a 'good enough' attitude. Once you relax too much, a heavy blow will strike you before you know it. What you need to do is exhaust every effort to improve yourselves."

Mashima Tomoya's words were like a bucket of cold water poured over their heads. The students in the class silently put away their playful expressions, sat up straight, and became serious and earnest.

"Although I knew about this, it's still hard to believe now that I've heard it from Mashima-sensei," Shimizu Naoki said with a wry smile. "I kept holding onto a glimmer of hope, thinking the school wouldn't lie to us like that."

"As if such a good thing would happen. I felt that 100,000 points a month was too good to be true from the moment school started," Sugio chimed in from the side, propping his head up with a playful tone.

"Sensei, based on what you just said, does that mean another exam is coming up immediately?" Matoba Shinji, keenly sensing the subtext in Mashima Tomoya's words, raised his hand to ask.

"That's right!"

Mashima Tomoya glanced at the clock on the wall, his speech quickening slightly as he pinned another poster onto the blackboard.

The students looked at the content on the poster, and as if realizing something, they all burst into laughter in unison.

Are you going to torture me again?

Mikage Touji felt like he would explode if he looked at it for even a second longer, and he retorted loudly: "What are you laughing at? Look closely, my total score is 83, not 9! There are plenty of people lower than me!"

Written clearly above were the names of all the students in the class, with their scores listed beside them.

"This is the result of the last quiz. Although there are no students who failed, there are a few who are hovering near the passing line."

Mashima Tomoya used his pen to circle the bottom row, casting a calm, unreadable glance at Mikage Touji in the bottom left corner.

"These students need to be careful. If you receive a failing grade in the upcoming midterm exam, those students will be expelled!"

There's actually a rule like that?!

The laughter, which had been quite lively, was cut short as if someone had pinched their throats.

"Sensei, what is the passing standard for the exam?" Mikage Touji asked, trembling with a glimmer of hope.

Mashima Tomoya mercilessly shattered Mikage Touji's last shred of hope: "For all subjects, failing a single one counts as a failure. The passing line is half of the class average."

"Heaven is trying to destroy me!"

Mikage Touji let out a long sigh toward the ceiling and slumped over his desk. He was, for all intents and purposes, already dead.

"Mikage-kun, you have to do your best from here on out," Shiraishi Asuka said with a light chuckle, poking Mikage Touji's arm with her finger. "Let's discuss the tutoring arrangements later."

"Hai..."

Mikage Touji replied dully, still slumped over his desk.

Morishita Ran took a makeshift incense burner made of three pens stuck into a pencil case and placed it on Mikage Touji's desk.

She bowed piously with her hands pressed together.

"Although our time together was short, I will remember you, Mikage Touji. Rest in peace. This time next year, I will bring Yamamura Miki to pay our respects."

"Hey! I haven't been expelled yet!" Mikage Touji felt he could still be saved.

The students in the class couldn't help but burst into laughter again at the sight of Mikage Touji.

It had to be said that having a student in the class who didn't care about the "atmosphere" was a great way to liven things up.

"Mikage-kun, go in peace, we will remember you," Nishikawa Ryoko said, putting on an act as she waved goodbye to him with a look of feigned reluctance.

"Mikage-san, even though you're abstract and a chuunibyou, and I can never find you when I want to eat, well... anyway, congratulations!" A boy in the class seized the opportunity to join in on the joke.

"Congratulations!" The class broke into applause.

"That's enough, you guys! Why are you suddenly doing a victory tally?"

Katsuragi Kōhei, standing to the side, breathed a sigh of relief. The passing line was half the class average, which meant that as long as they scored over 50, there was nothing to worry about. With the students in this class, they could keep up with just a little bit of tutoring.

There weren't many students in danger of expulsion, and the class had students who excelled in various subjects; he could ask them to provide targeted tutoring for the weaker subjects.

There was still a month until the midterm exams, and the remaining students weren't the type to just give up and stop studying. As long as he kept a close eye on things and ensured everyone could reach 50 points, they would get through this hurdle.

The bells of Big Ben rang out leisurely as Mashima Tomoya stood at the podium to deliver his final summary.

"I have told you everything regarding the S System exams. If you have any further questions, you can come to the teachers' office to see me individually. That is all, class dismissed!"

Chapter 30: The Many Faces of Life

Class B classroom.

"That is the specific situation. Each class is ranked based on points; the highest is Class A, and the lowest is Class D."

Ichinose Honami looked at the points for each class on the blackboard with annoyance, slumping over her desk in frustration, her ample curves becoming even more prominent.

"So it really is like that. I was still holding onto a glimmer of hope before we received the points."

"Ahaha, so Ichinose-san already knew?"

Class B's homeroom teacher, Hoshinomiya Chie, stood at the podium with a glowing red face; one look at her flushed complexion told everyone she had been drinking quite a bit the night before.

"Ugh!" Shiranami Chihiro, sitting in the front row, covered her nose. "It stinks..."

"No wonder Honami-chan told us to pay attention to class discipline before," Amikura Mako realized, a look of understanding dawning on her face. "As expected of Honami-chan."

"That's right, as expected of little Honami."

Amikura Mako's words drew agreement from the students of Class B, all of whom expressed their concurrence.

"No, no, it was just a coincidence," Ichinose Honami said, scratching her cheek with her finger and waving her hands at her classmates.

Kanzaki Ryuji sat calmly in his seat, staring at the Class A scores above and muttering to himself, "To get a score like this, it's definitely not something that can be achieved through self-discipline alone. In other words, Class A discovered the truth about the school long before we did and took action." Closing his eyes to recall the prominent figures in Class A, Kanzaki Ryuji opened them again, "Is it Katsuragi?"

"Oh, right," Hoshinomiya Chie patted her head, "Since the school's promise of 100% advancement and employment only applies to Class A, you all need to work hard."

The joyful atmosphere in Class B stopped instantly.

"Eh eh eh?!" The entire Class B was shocked in unison.

"Hmm?" Hoshinomiya blinked, puzzled, "I thought you already knew."

"This is fraud, isn't it, Teacher?" Shibata Sou stood up in disbelief.

"Yeah, how could you do this!" the students of Class B echoed.

They had to realize that this was the biggest reason they came to this school, and now they were suddenly being told that the school would only keep its promise if they graduated from Class A...

Kanzaki Ryuji rubbed his temples with a headache, "I knew the school wouldn't be that kind."

"These are the school's rules, and there's nothing I can do about it," facing the students' questioning, Hoshinomiya Chie didn't care, smiling, "Think about this privilege and work hard to get promoted to Class A."

"Everyone..."

Ichinose Honami patted her cheeks and stood up to face the whole class.

"Let's work hard together from now on, and three years from now, let's all graduate from Class A together!"

"Honami-chan..."

"It's so great to be in the same class as you." One of the girls threw herself at Ichinose, saying with emotion.

"Yeah, it's so great that I can be in the same class as everyone."

A smile bloomed on Ichinose Honami's face, and the glory of the archangel shone upon Class B once again.

Unlike the harmonious Class B classroom, as for Class C...

"Hmph! So this is the kind of trick they're playing? This school is actually a little interesting now." An arrogant but slurred voice echoed throughout Class C.

Ryuen Kakeru propped his legs up, slamming them onto the desk with a clatter, and glanced at the students of Class C.

"You heard it, trash. If you want to graduate from Class A, then obediently follow my orders. I will be responsible for leading you to completely crush the other classes!"

His words sounded quite impactful, if not for the fact that he was sporting a pig-headed face, the bruises on his face hadn't faded, and he was covered in injuries...

The voices in Class C fell silent for two seconds, and the next moment, a tidal wave of insults poured toward him.

"Are you kidding? Isn't it you who is always fighting and looking for trouble that caused the class to end up like this?"

"Want us to submit? In your next life. Or are you going to fight us again?"

"A King of Red History wants to lead our class? Is your head stuffed because you ate too much of that stuff?"

"Other classes are already laughing at Class C for producing such an unprecedented piece of trash, and you want to be the leader? Our class will be infamous for centuries!"

At this moment, Class C's attitude was unprecedentedly unified—they absolutely could not let this Toilet War God lead the class.

The veins on Ryuen Kakeru's forehead bulged, and he forcibly suppressed his anger: "I already said I don't like that Red stuff. I asked Albert, and it wasn't him. Someone is clearly framing me!"

To think that he, the dignified Ryuen Kakeru, never needed to explain his actions to others before; he bullied the weak, did all kinds of evil, and if people didn't submit, he would just conquer them with violence.

He never expected that the method that had always worked in the past would suffer a Waterloo at this Advanced Nurturing school. One careless move, and instead of succeeding in a sneak attack, he fell into the enemy's trap.

And he was even posted online and cyberbullied!

This was definitely a premeditated trap, but his defense was useless. When others saw what he had done, they would only clap and laugh, cursing him out.

Serves you right!

"Who cares about you? Why didn't you hold back when you sneak-attacked Albert, but now you're crying foul because you were posted online?"

"Get lost! Trash Ryuen Kakeru, if you're smart, drop out yourself. This class doesn't need you. Even if we fall to Class D, we don't need trash like you to lead us."

"Yeah! Get lost! Trash!"

"Then just watch," Ryuen Kakeru sneered, "I'll be waiting for the day you come begging me."

As long as you still want to graduate from Class A!

As for the most heavy-hitting Class D...

"You are all worthless defects!"

Class D homeroom teacher Chabashira Sae rested her hands on the podium, looking down on the whole class, and declared this with a light smile.

"Lateness and absences total one hundred and eight times. The number of times you talked privately in class or used your mobile phones is four hundred and fifty-one."

"The final result is that you have spat out all the one hundred thousand points you should have received, nothing more."

The entire Class D classroom was stunned into silence by Chabashira Sae's words.

"Wait, Teacher, I don't remember—"

"Do I need to re-teach you things even elementary school students know? If that's the case, you might as well drop out and go back to elementary school." Chabashira Sae coldly interrupted the words of Class D's central figure, Hirata Yousuke.

"To have unlimited use of 100,000 points every month—any person with common sense would know that's impossible, right? Do you really think this school is run by your family?"

"..." Sitting in the corner and watching this scene with interest, Sakayanagi Arisu maintained her usual elegant smile.

"Take a look."

Chabashira Sae pasted the poster onto the blackboard.

"Even the worst class, Class C, still has over 20,000 points remaining. And you lot, you were the first to squander the entirety of your value."

"How could this happen? Why do the other classes have points? If this continues, I won't even be able to live!" Ike Kanji, who had been listening silently, shouted out loud.

The other students in Class D also let out a chorus of wails.

Many students observed the information revealed on the poster with grim expressions—the gap in points was far too uniform.

Noticing the students' expressions, Chabashira Sae revealed a look of amusement.

"Do you understand now why you were chosen for Class D?"

"Isn't it just random?" Yamauchi Haruki questioned loudly. "I'm so excellent, is there any other possibility?"

"No! You are the worst class, there is no doubt about that, and the current results show that the school's sorting process is completely flawless."

Having said that, Chabashira Sae's slow, deliberate applause echoed throughout the classroom.

"However, you really are something else. This is the first time I've ever seen a class that managed to deduct all 1,000 points in the very first month of school."

In the bottom left corner of the classroom, the aloof, long-haired girl Horikita Suzune gripped her pencil until it creaked. She had been recording Chabashira Sae's words the entire time, trying to find the pattern behind the point deductions.

"Why is it like this? This school is a scam! I don't accept these results."

"Then how are we supposed to live next month? My points were spent long ago."

"Why was I assigned to this class? The school must have made a mistake!"

At this very moment, the students of Class D had descended into chaos.

"However, you don't need to worry about the lack of points." Chabashira Sae's smile turned gentle.