Deceiving the Entire School's Points

It has been almost a month since enrollment.

Today is April 29th, and in two days, we will enter May.

Despite this, most of the students in the class are still noisily playing on their phones during class.

This class is practically a scene from the apocalypse.

Just then, the bell for the third period rang, and the homeroom teacher for Class D, Chabashira, walked into the classroom.

However, the students' high level of excitement did not subside in the slightest.

Yet, the teacher said nothing about this miserable state of affairs, remaining expressionless throughout.

This kind of silence is inexplicably unsettling.

"Quiet down. We are going to have a slightly serious class today."

"What do you mean by that, Sae-chan teacher~?"

Someone addressed the teacher with such a frivolous nickname.

"Since it is the end of the month, we will now have a pop quiz. Pass these to the back."

Chabashira said as she handed the test papers to the students in the front row.

Upon taking the test paper and looking at it, it was indeed a proper test covering the five main subjects.

"Eh~ I didn't hear about this~, that's so sneaky~"

"Don't complain. This test is only for future reference and will not count toward your grades at all, so do it with peace of mind. But absolutely do not cheat, okay?"

...There is more to these words than meets the eye.

Especially the part about it "not counting toward grades."

Under normal circumstances, a pop quiz should affect one's grades.

However, since the teacher said it was for reference, perhaps there is no need to worry?

Forget it, I'll just give it my all.

I scanned the test questions.

There were twenty questions in total, four for each subject, with five points per question for a total of one hundred points.

The content was so simple it was disheartening.

It was clearly several levels lower than the entrance exam.

For me, having specifically tutored in science to get into this school, it was a piece of cake.

Just as I was thinking this and began to answer the questions—

(Wait! This is way too hard?!)

My eyes widened when I saw the last question.

The last three math problems were absurdly difficult, requiring the combination of multiple complex formulas to solve; they were simply not within the scope of a first-year high school student.

But I couldn't leave them blank, so I had to do my best, hoping I might get some partial credit for the steps.

Thirty minutes later, I finally managed to finish all the questions. I had no hope for the last three, so getting an 85 would be decent enough.

"By the way, did you two solve the last three questions?"

During lunch break, I chatted with Sakanayanagi and Shiina while we ate, as usual.

Sakanayanagi nodded, while Shiina shook her head.

"I think the first one is correct, but for the next two, I can only hope for partial credit."

"Although I finished them, it took quite a bit of time. How about you, Hikigaya?"

"I'm relying entirely on partial credit. Here is the solution process I wrote; if you were the teacher, how would you grade it?"

I handed the test paper filled with calculations to Sakanayanagi.

She nodded while looking at it and said:

"If I were the teacher, I would give 3 points for the first question, 1 point for the second, and 0 points for the third as it is completely wrong."

In other words, the highest I could barely reach is 90 points.

"Ah, I used the same method as Hikigaya for the third question too. Could you teach me after you finish your bento?"

Shiina said while nibbling on her bread like a small animal.

Although this girl is a bookworm, her diligence and willingness to ask questions are commendable...

"Of course. By the way, there is one more thing I need to tell you two. It will be May in two days, right?"

"Is there a problem with that?"

"The point fluctuations I mentioned before are likely not conducted on an individual basis, but on a class-wide basis."

"What?!"

I couldn't help but cry out.

Although I had a premonition, being explicitly told still came as a shock.

If it really is a class-based system, our class is absolutely doomed.

"Do you have any evidence for that?"

"No evidence, but I've noticed that every time someone talks, the teachers move their fingers and make notes after class. Besides, managing points for every single person individually would be too much of a hassle."

Since Sakanayanagi said so, the credibility must be quite high.

This girl's observational skills are incredibly sharp; she is trustworthy.

"That's a bit dangerous, then. There are just too many people in our class who love to chat."

"Better than our class, right? We have nearly thirty people chattering away and playing on their phones..."

"...Isn't that a bit too many?"

"Our class has at most about ten."

Are you serious... a collective responsibility system is just too miserable.

Come to think of it, although I'm only realizing it now, talking and playing on phones during class are strictly prohibited to begin with.

This should be common sense learned back in middle school, but the students in Class D don't even understand that; their quality is on a completely different dimension from Sobu Middle School.

"By the way, how many points do Hikigaya-kun and Shiina-san have left?"

Asked by Sakanayanagi, I took out my student terminal to check:

"I have 95,000 points."

"I have 98,000 points."

Considering that points fluctuate, I've been eating wild vegetable sets for three days this week, cutting expenses as much as possible.

Aside from daily necessities, I only bought a chessboard and some chess manuals.

However, this should be considered top-tier in Class D.

Most people in the class spend their money on games, clothes, and manga; you can often hear wails of "I'm out of money" in the classroom.

"What about you, Sakanayanagi?"

"92,000 points. After all, girls need to purchase more things than boys. Even if we are equally frugal, it's only natural that my points can't compare to Hikigaya-kun's."

Is that so? Well, it does make some sense.

But if what Sakanayanagi says is true, our Class D points might not increase, and we must find a way to solve this...

"Hikigaya-kun. If the points really don't increase, I can lend you some, so don't be shy."

Shiina suddenly said this.

This is the first time someone has been so gentle with me, which makes me feel a bit moved.

After all, I usually only hear harsh words.

"I can lend you some too."

"Please, just don't charge me ten percent interest every ten days, okay?"

"Ten percent every ten days... what kind of expression is that?"

It seems Sakanayanagi doesn't understand this loan shark terminology.

Coming from a wealthy family, it's normal that she wouldn't know.

After I explained it clearly, she stated she wouldn't make such an excessive demand, but she seemed to have other plans.

I secretly made up my mind that unless it's an absolute last resort, I will never borrow money from her.

"Hmm... talking about ways to make money is really difficult..."

Late at night, I fiddled with my phone in the dormitory, browsing the school forum.

Although I specifically searched for posts related to making money, to be honest, I didn't find any good ideas.

According to the information on the forum, the monthly points distributed depend on class performance; classroom discipline and exam results all affect the increases and decreases.

In other words, Class D's points are almost certainly going to be zeroed out.

Although I hesitated about whether to tell my classmates, I ultimately decided to remain silent.

There are many reasons: "It's too late to say anything now," "I don't want to attract attention," "It would be troublesome if it sparked a class riot," and so on.

But the main reason is the fear of being questioned, "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Even though most students are doing things that lead to point deductions, based on my past experience, if I were the one to bring it up, some people would definitely vent their anger by saying, "If you had told us sooner, this wouldn't have happened," and others would follow suit with unreasonable complaints.

I suffered enough of that during my middle school years.

Taking the blame for other people's mistakes is something I never want to experience again, even if it kills me.

Having made up my mind, I began to focus on finding ways to make money.

The first thing that came to mind was a part-time job.

But the clerks at the shopping mall were all adults, and I doubted they would hire a student, so I searched online.

The result was that there were no shops hiring at all.

That made sense; if such opportunities existed, no one would be worrying about points.

The forums mentioned "finding opportunities yourself" or "the homeroom teacher will introduce them once conditions are met," but that sounded too suspicious to be credible.

However, given the system of this school, "finding them on your own" might actually be possible.

I decided to start slowly roaming the entire campus from tomorrow.

Next, I investigated other ways to make money and found that scams were difficult to pull off.

It was said that three years ago, a graduate swindled freshmen out of 12 million points, only to be expelled as a result.

Since then, the teachers have been highly vigilant against fraudulent behavior.

Besides, for a newcomer like me to deceive upperclassmen who were familiar with the system was simply impossible.

That plan was rejected.

Then, the remaining methods... hm?

While browsing the forum, I discovered a noteworthy detail, and after digging deeper...

This might actually work...

If I succeeded, I could earn a large sum of points.

The problem was that if I failed, there would be all sorts of trouble, potentially affecting my points or even myself.

Opportunities like this are rare, so I'll give it a try tomorrow. But for today, I need to make preparations.

I backed out to the main menu and opened my contact list...

"Ah, Shiina? Actually, there's something I'd like to ask you to keep for me..."