On the first day of the new term, Sakagami arrived early, carrying the Class 1-B sign. With an overwhelmingly smug smile, he took down the sign for his own class.
When Sawahara arrived and saw Sakagami's smile, his first words made it freeze on his face.
"Teacher Sakagami, you have a really ugly smile."
He meant it. Sakagami's face already gave people the impression that he was rather devious, and that smug smile made him look not only unpleasant, but downright disgusting.
"...Sawahara, could you at least spare your teacher a little dignity?"
"Sorry. I was too blunt."
I think he just insulted me again. Or was that my imagination? Sakagami couldn't help feeling that Sawahara's words sounded a little strange.
"Teacher Sakagami, your salary must have gone up quite a bit, right?" Sawahara changed the subject. "By the way, could you tell me how Class Points affect teachers?"
"Had you already figured that out from the start, Sawahara?" Sakagami had lost count of how many times this student had surprised him. He was almost getting used to it. "The school doesn't prohibit us from talking about this. Class Points—or rather, a class's ranking—affect teachers in two ways. First, there are bonuses. The bonuses for teachers of Classes A through D decrease with each lower-ranked class. They also affect how quickly a teacher's seniority increases. One year teaching Class D adds one year of seniority, while the same amount of time as the homeroom teacher of Class A adds four. And each time a class moves up, the rate at which its teacher's seniority increases doubles."
So it affected not only the thickness of Sakagami's wallet, but also his credentials. No wonder he was so eager. Seniority still carried a lot of weight in society, especially for teachers, since it