The Student Council

The opening ceremony wasn't exactly a popular event among the students. Then again, most school events weren't.

The administrators onstage spouted platitudes, making the whole thing dreadfully dull. But thanks to Sawahara's earlier warning, the students in Class C sat up straight and did their best to look attentive.

Students in Class D, seated nearby, whispered among themselves from time to time. Class B put on a much better show. Whether they actually enjoyed the ceremony was anyone's guess, but at least they looked alert.

As for Class C... After the conversation between Sawahara and Sakagami had let slip what it did, they didn't dare relax for even a moment. They spent the administrators' entire speech scrutinizing them and guessing at their hidden motives. One administrator unconsciously touched his forehead, wondering if he'd let some telltale sign of middle age show.

Sawahara watched the people around him and silently recorded what he learned. Just from observing Class B and Class D, he'd already confirmed most of his earlier suspicions.

But there still wasn't enough information. He couldn't decide what to do next based on what he knew so far.

When the tedious opening ceremony ended, the students of Class C didn't leave right away. Instead, they looked to Sawahara for advice on what they should and shouldn't do.

It seemed his efforts in class hadn't been wasted. At the very least, he'd established some initial authority. Sawahara's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Don't waste your points. If you notice anything strange at school, make a note of it. And if an upperclassman picks a fight with you, remember their name and class." Sawahara gave them these instructions, and quite a few students visibly relaxed.

After leaving the gym, Sawahara stopped by the convenience store to buy toiletries. The school only allowed students to bring themselves, not their luggage. Perhaps that was why they'd received so many points for their first month.

The store was packed. It was the first day of school, and the new students had just received a large number of points. Of course they'd come to spend them.

The prices weren't too high, just a tiny bit above market rates. Given the unusual nature of this school, that wasn't particularly surprising.

At first, Sawahara had suspected that the school would work with the merchants to jack up prices, quickly reclaiming points from the students and pocketing some of the government funding in the process. But it seemed the school wasn't quite that bad. It had even thoughtfully provided some free items...

"So the points could very well drop to zero during the upcoming evaluations." Sawahara realized that the competition ahead would likely be intense.

After picking out a few toiletries he was used to, Sawahara headed back to his dorm. As he was checking out, he heard a commotion from somewhere outside the convenience store.

"Hey, are you first-years? This is our class's turf."

"What do you want? I got here first, so get lost!"

"First-years sure are cocky."

Sawahara peered over with some curiosity. Unfortunately, the crowd and shelves blocked his view. But one of the troublemakers was quite tall, so Sawahara did catch sight of a red-haired head.

He couldn't make out the rest of their argument, but he caught a few words: Class D, defective.

"Interesting. Very interesting. So the classes are assigned according to ability?" Sawahara had a general idea now. The honor students, the good kids, the troublemakers, the defective ones—those were probably the four categories the classes had been sorted into.

"So the rewards are reserved for the 'honor students.'"

Pleased to have confirmed this new information, Sawahara hummed all the way back to his dorm. He put away his purchases and tidied up.

"How luxurious."

Looking around his dorm room, Sawahara couldn't help marveling at the school's generosity.

Every dorm room at Advanced Nurturing High School was a single. They were spacious and even came with their own kitchen and bathroom—far too nice for high school students.

"Why did the school make every dorm room a single? Are they not even trying to cut operating costs? Is this really what you're using taxpayers' money for? Or is there something else going on?"

Sawahara was suspicious. Maybe something had happened in the past when several students shared a room, and that was why they'd switched to singles.

Still, he didn't dwell on it. Without enough information, there was no way to confirm anything.

After tidying up his room a little, Sawahara headed out again. This time, he was going to the Student Council.

The Student Council's location had been listed in the handbook: the third floor of the school's activity building. Most of the school's clubs were managed there, apart from some of the sports clubs. After all, some sports couldn't be played indoors.

"Come in."

A calm male voice came from inside the Student Council room. Sawahara opened the door.

There were only a boy and a girl inside. The boy sat at a desk, wearing glasses as he handled paperwork with stern concentration. Beside him, a girl with purple hair tied into buns helped out, like a little secretary.

"Does this school's Student Council President even have a secretary? There's a limit to how luxurious things can get." Sawahara joked, casually testing the other boy's reaction.

"Tachibana is the Student Council secretary, not my secretary." The boy stopped working, pushed up his glasses, and studied Sawahara. "What brings you to the Student Council?"

"From the look of it, Tachibana-senpai would rather be your secretary," Sawahara said, noticing the older girl's blushing face. Her feelings for the Student Council President were plain to see. He quietly filed that information away; it might come in handy.

"I wanted to ask which way the Disciplinary Committee is," Sawahara said, putting forward the question he'd prepared in advance.

"Huh? Our school doesn't have a Disciplinary Committee," Tachibana answered instinctively. She didn't mind that he'd mistaken her for a little secretary.

"Is that so? This school doesn't have a Disciplinary Committee." Sawahara considered the information. Many schools had disciplinary committees, which in a sense served as a check on the Student Council.

That meant the Student Council here had quite a bit of authority.

"I see." The Student Council President had already understood Sawahara's intentions. He was fishing for information from the Student Council while also testing them.

To have gone this far on the first day of school... This year's new students really did include some unexpectedly talented people.

"Manabu Horikita, Class A of the Third Year. How much do you know about this school's rules?"