One Bad News After Another

"It seems you all understand now, so we should move on to the main topic."

What Sae Chabashira had to say wasn't simply about personal points; the rolled-up poster in her hand was the most important part.

She took out a thick sheet of white paper, unfolded it, and pinned it to the blackboard with magnets.

On it, the names of Class A through Class D were clearly listed, with a number marked next to each.

Class A: 940 points.

Class B: 650 points.

Class C: 490 points.

Class D: 0 points.

"This is the gap between you and the other classes. These numbers represent your class points. Class points are converted into personal points at a set ratio and deposited into your student IDs."

Seeing it like this made it quite intuitive; it appeared that 1 class point translated into 100 personal points.

However, even Katsuya Shinjo was somewhat surprised. Although he had considered that the gap between his class and Class A might be significant, losing 60 points in just one month was a massive deficit.

Moreover, looking at the points of the four classes, the gap between Class A, B, C, and D had been completely blown wide open.

"Let me state this first: the school's evaluation is absolutely fair and impartial. As for why the gap is so large, you can only ask yourselves."

"So... can you understand now why you were assigned to Class D?"

?????

Sae Chabashira's question clearly touched upon a blind spot in the students' knowledge.

Suzune Horikita's reaction was particularly sensitive. She hadn't thought there was any difference between the classes, but now she seemed to realize that it wasn't like that at all.

"What? Isn't this because of random class assignment?"

"Since we've reached this point, I'll tell you. This school assigns classes strictly according to the students' level of excellence. The most excellent people are in Class A, and the most useless are assigned to Class D. Simply put, you are the most defective products in this school."

"And class points aren't just linked to monthly personal points; this number directly reflects your class ranking. In other words, if you had 500 points right now, you would be Class C."

Putting excellent products or fresh fruit together with other excellent ones, and separating rotten fruit from useless things—there was certainly a logic to that.

After all, bad things would corrupt good things.

At this point, Sae Chabashira unfolded another sheet of paper, which recorded the results of yesterday's pop quiz.

She really is diligent, grading all those papers in just one day...

"These are the results of yesterday's quiz. Seeing that you are all such 'talents,' I am truly overjoyed. Hey, hey, hey, what on earth did you learn in middle school?"

Ignoring the few students with high scores, most people's scores were hovering around 60, and that included Katsuya Shinjo.

Looking further down, Sudo had scored an incredible 14, and Ike had scored 24, yet the class average was 64.

"Do you see? If this had been an official exam, seven people would have been expelled just as the school year started!"

In some schools, scoring below half the average would result in being held back, but Advanced Nurturing Middle School was different. It cultivated elites and did not harbor trash.

"Expelled?!"

"What, did I not mention it? In this school, if you score below half the average on your midterm or final exams, you are considered failing, and failing students must be expelled!"

"Aaaaaahhh??"

For a moment, the classroom was filled with complaints.

After all, just yesterday they were acting like big spenders, and today they were facing the prospect of being expelled.

It was hard for anyone to accept.

"Chabashira-sensei, stop joking! Tell me, tell me you're just trying to scare us, right?!"

Ike even suspected he hadn't woken up yet and pinched his face hard, but the intense pain told him this wasn't a dream.

"Heh, I told you there were many ugly people in this class~"

At this moment, Koenji took the initiative to jump out and fire a broadside at everyone.

This drew serious dissatisfaction from the failing students:

"Koenji, what did you say?! Anyway, you must be in the failing group too, right?!"

"Heh, BOY, you had better take a good look."

Ike searched from the back to the front, never finding Koenji's name, until he finally spotted him near the top of the rankings, having even scored a high 90.

Sae Chabashira took a moment to catch her breath, took a sip of water from her thermos, and cleared her throat:

"Lastly, I will add one more thing. Of course, expecting you to figure it out yourselves is likely impossible. You should have heard about this school's extremely high rate of advancement to higher education and employment, right?"

That was a given; after all, the vast majority of students came here for those two reasons.

"The school does indeed possess that capability, but it cannot simply let low-level people like you ruin the reputation of those universities or companies. Do you understand what I mean?"

"Are you saying... that if we want to receive such treatment, we need to rise to Class C or higher?"

Hearing this, Sae Chabashira shook her head:

"No. If you want to achieve your wishes, there is no other way but to graduate from Class A. This school will not write any letters of recommendation or provide any guarantees for students outside of Class A."

Like a bolt from the blue, this piece of devastating news was the one that impacted the students of Class D the most.

The beautiful future they had been longing for had unexpectedly vanished into thin air in the span of a single class.

"Ho... how is this possible?!! I've never heard of such a thing! Never!!"

A thin boy wearing glasses stood up. Unlike the others, he was a genuine top student. Not only had he secured the top spot on the rankings, but he could also draw inferences from the teacher's classroom questions; he was considered a smart person.

Before Sae Chabashira could respond, she heard the mocking voice of Koenji drift over:

"How unsightly."

"Koenji! Don't you have any dissatisfaction at all about being assigned to Class D?!"

"Hahahahaha, this is merely the school's inability to measure my Potential. I respect and acknowledge myself more than anyone else, so even if the school has any evaluation of me, it holds no meaning whatsoever."

"Besides, I have never once thought about having the school solve any problems for me or fulfill my wishes. I am going to inherit the Koenji Conglomerate in the future, so whether it is Class A or Class D makes no difference to me."

It was unknown for what purpose a person like Koenji had come to this school. The high-quality education he had received since childhood was actually not a bit inferior to that of Advanced Nurturing, yet even so, he had still come.