Those four subjects were the material for tomorrow's classes, which meant Classmate Shiina might have brought her books back to do some advance studying.
Love me, love my books.
Someone who enjoyed studying and took it seriously had to be a good person.
Classmate Shirogane's opinion of Classmate Shiina improved. He'd initially thought she was an obstacle on his path to studying, but now she seemed more like a signpost pointing the way.
And Classmate Shiina was still being perfectly rational.
"I've had a similar thought," Shirogane said, deciding to share some information. "I don't think they'll give us this many points next month. Simply cutting them would cause dissatisfaction, so they'll definitely come up with a reduction plan everyone can accept."
"Mm-hmm." Classmate Shiina nodded.
"But before that..." Classmate Shiina took out her phone. "Let's add each other as friends. While I was waiting here, I noticed that once some students added each other, they could use the school's map app to locate one another with GPS."
So even though she'd been waiting for someone in the lobby on the first floor, Classmate Shiina had also been eavesdropping on the other students' conversations.
"Did you happen to see an incredibly cute girl with straight silver hair pass by? She's in poor health and uses a cane," Shirogane said.
"Hm?" Classmate Shiina blinked.
The students assigned to her class, Class C, seemed to be in pretty bad shape for the most part. It was almost as if the whole class was full of delinquents.
Take Ryuen, for instance. She'd heard of him back in middle school, where he'd been a notorious delinquent leader. One of her classmates from middle school had apparently been injured by him.
Everyone's name had been placed on their desk that day, so the students had sat according to the name tags.
She'd been worried Ryuen would openly object to the arrangement and cause trouble in class.
Fortunately, nothing had happened.
Still, in a group like that, Shiina—who disliked violence and hadn't had many friends in the past—immediately felt out of place.
And in that situation, she'd noticed that Class C had someone as unusual as Classmate Shirogane.
His eyes gave him a rather intimidating look, but Shiina thought he was probably just sleep-deprived.
He had dark circles under his eyes.
But if they were from staying up late, what had kept him awake? Some boys stayed up all night writing or gaming.
Shirogane seemed different, though. There was a deep callus on the middle finger of his right hand.
That was the sort of callus you got from using a pen for a long time.
If he played games, he wouldn't have one there.
So...
Classmate Shirogane must have stayed up late studying. He was someone who loved learning.
That was why Shiina had chosen to greet him first when she'd seen him in the gymnasium.
She'd thought he was probably the kind of person she could get along with in class.
"She was a student I saw at school. She didn't seem to be in very good health," Shirogane continued. "I was thinking that having to bring her books to the dorm and go shopping might be a real challenge for her."
So Shirogane was actually worried about someone else?
He looked intimidating, but he really was a kind person.
"If you mean a girl who walks with a cane, I haven't seen her yet," Classmate Shiina replied.
"I see."
Shirogane nodded, then walked out of the dormitory with Shiina and headed toward the Shopping District.
It took seven or eight minutes to get from the dormitory to the classroom building, but walking from the dormitory to the Shopping District took twelve to fifteen minutes.
After experiencing it firsthand, it was clear just how big the school really was.
The Shopping District was impressive, too.
It had karaoke, convenience stores, supermarkets, restaurants, bookstores, movie theaters, shopping malls, and more.
It had everything you needed for daily life. It was like a small city, all packed into one place.
Still, if the school was going to house students from all three grades in a fully enclosed campus, people would surely be dissatisfied without facilities to match.
And if the facilities were there, students wouldn't be as eager to rebel.
Shirogane and Classmate Shiina headed for the nearest supermarket.
As new students, they had plenty of supplies to buy, and the supermarket had a good selection, making it a convenient choice.
Once they were inside, they found proof on the shelves that points could be used as money.
The price tags listed points rather than yen, which meant points really could be used to pay for things.
"Beep!"
"Your items come to a total of 2,300 points. That'll be 2,300 Private Points."
Students were already using their Student IDs to pay at the checkout.
"So you really can spend points like money. This damn school's kind of interesting!" one student said, holding his phone up to the scanner.
Shirogane had been pushing a shopping cart and picking out household supplies when he suddenly looked over.
Because...
He'd heard that voice before—in the gymnasium.
ps: Please support my new book with all the stats you can!
ps: I've changed the cover, but it hasn't passed review yet. Maybe it'll be approved tomorrow or the day after.
Violent Dragon En! Don't bring your thug act into school!
Shirogane had heard that voice before. It had come from a student who'd blocked his way after they'd been dismissed in the gymnasium.
"Get lost! Don't make me beat the crap out of you!"
Something along those lines.
It was a harsh, domineering voice.
The student was in Class 1-C, too.
They hadn't introduced themselves in class, but everyone's name had been on their desks. Shirogane quickly recalled the student's name...
"That's Ryuen. His name is Ryuen Kakeru."
Classmate Shiina had come over at some point without him noticing.
"I don't know him personally, but I've heard of him. He's a notorious delinquent, and one of my classmates in middle school was injured by him."
"He seems to like beating people into submission."
"And now he's in our class, which makes things difficult," Classmate Shiina said.
In other words, she was worried Ryuen would bring his violent ways from middle school to this school.
Having someone in class who admired violence and used it was certainly a problem.
"Do you know anything about Ryuen Kakeru?" Shirogane asked suddenly.
"Huh?"
Classmate Shiina blinked, her hands clasped together. She seemed confused.
Hadn't she just told Shirogane everything she knew?
That was true, but Shirogane hadn't been asking her.
[Ryuen's a violent person. He's basically impossible to bring under control.]
[He's arrogant and conceited. He uses violence to unite Class C, and many students are too afraid to speak up.]
[He rules the class through violence and uses underhanded tactics against the other classes, bringing Class C unprecedented success.]
Just as Shirogane had expected, the Narration System knew some things.
And this information didn't seem to be about the present or the past. Ryuen had only just enrolled, so he hadn't united the class yet.
Did that mean the Narration System also knew about things that would happen in the future?
After testing and finding out that the narrator was alive, Shirogane had been lost in thought.
Was the other person from the future? Otherwise, how could they know what would happen?
But that was practically impossible. And yet he was bound to a Narration System like this.
That was already beyond anything scientific.
"..." He felt conflicted.
"Classmate Shirogane?" Classmate Shiina's voice beside him sounded worried.
Worried?
Fair enough.
He'd suddenly started talking, and he was speaking to something Classmate Shiina couldn't see. It was only natural for her to worry.
If this continued, it wouldn't just be Classmate Sakayanagi who thought there was something wrong with him. Classmate Shiina would think so, too.
Shirogane didn't want to get expelled.
"I was just thinking," Shirogane said. "How far could Ryuen take the class if he used violence?"
"How far could he take it?" Shiina Hiyori asked, curious.
From what she knew, the school gave everyone 100,000 points each month. But Hiyori, like Shirogane, thought they wouldn't keep giving every student 100,000 in living expenses next month—or even the month after.
The amount would definitely be cut. The school could simply announce that everyone's allowance was being reduced.
But...
Hiyori thought that was unlikely.
For one thing...
Why would the school accept their class and give them the extraordinary benefits of being able to enter any university without an exam, or even get a job with the school's endorsement?
It was a sobering thought.
There were serious, hardworking students like her and Shirogane in class, but there was also Ryuen, who hurt people, along with other delinquent boys and girls.
Hiyori didn't think the school would want to accept all of them and give them such favorable treatment. Graduating from Ikusei High School brought plenty of job offers. Its graduates would become valuable contributors in all kinds of industries.
And clearly... not everyone would be able to do that.
So the school would surely use some kind of rules or assessment to decide who would pass and who would be left behind.
But if some of them were going to be screened out, why had the school accepted them in the first place?
As Hiyori was thinking this, Shirogane continued,
"I don't know much about the other students, but Ryuen should be able to unite the class through violence."
"He might even make it so that he's the only one who gets to speak in class. Uniting the class is important."
"Both the teacher and the Student Council President said this was a school where ability came first. The Student Council President also confirmed that the school would give graduates those benefits—getting into university without an entrance exam and finding work easily—so that part should be true."
"But they can't give those benefits to everyone."
"They might make the students compete for them near graduation, so they can earn them through their own abilities."
"Teacher Sakagami said he'd stay with our class from our first year through our third, and that we wouldn't change classes either."
"That's clearly unusual."
"So I think the students who ultimately qualify for the school's benefits might be chosen by class."
"I don't think the school would accept so many students for no reason."
"When they say ability comes first, I think they mean more than the students' abilities as they are now. Over these three years, some students will change through their lessons, what they learn, and their experiences at school," Classmate Shirogane said.
"Mm." Hiyori nodded.
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