The classroom instantly sank into gloom. After telling them to fend for themselves, Sae Chabashira slammed the classroom door shut and walked out.
"Bang!"
Sudo kicked a desk hard. No one knew whether it was because he had failed the exam or because he'd been assigned to the class at the bottom.
The others weren't doing much better:
"I don't have any points to spend. How am I supposed to get through this month?!"
"I... I'm in the same boat. I already spent all my points yesterday..."
Although Sae Chabashira had told them that the cafeteria offered free food and the convenience store handed out free necessities, who actually wanted to live like a refugee?
"Forget the points, our class is the real problem! What a joke! How could I possibly be assigned to Class D?!"
Yukimura, still wearing his glasses, continued venting his frustration. Even Suzune Horikita's face was covered in frost.
She couldn't understand it. Her academic ability and physical fitness were both excellent. She might not have ranked first in the entrance exams, but she'd certainly been among the top students!
Why had the school not only kept her out of Class A, but dumped her in the lowest class of all?
As the classroom descended into chaos, the kindhearted Hirata still struggled to shoulder the burden of calming everyone down:
"Everyone, calm down..."
"Calm down? How am I supposed to calm down?! Hirata, your grades are so good too. Aren't you even a little upset?!"
"I understand how you feel, but right now..."
"I'm talking about right now! I've been treated unfairly from the moment I enrolled. I just can't accept it!"
Furious, Yukimura moved toward Hirata. If Shinjo hadn't hurriedly stepped between them, there was no telling what the hotheaded student might have done.
"Calm down, Yukimura. No matter how upset you are, the school made this decision. It has nothing to do with Hirata, does it?"
"That's right, Yukimura. Calm down."
With everyone trying to soothe him, Yukimura gradually settled down. He apologized to Hirata, then returned to his seat and fell silent.
"Thanks, Shinjo."
"No problem."
To steady the class, Hirata went up to the podium and tried to calm everyone:
"Everyone, I know this is hard to accept. But if we start studying hard now, stop fooling around, and don't skip class or arrive late, we still have a chance to earn back the points we lost!"
But Class D really lived up to its name. At a time like this, they preferred to put the blame on others rather than encourage one another.
"I think... Sudo often sleeps in class and is always late, isn't he?"
"Now that you mention it, I remember! Sudo's never paid attention in class!"
How could the hot-tempered Sudo put up with being accused? He slammed his desk with a bang and stood up:
"What are you people talking about?! You lost points too, and now you're blaming me? I don't want to play your stupid good-student game! Leave me alone!"
With that, he angrily kicked over his chair and stormed out through the back door.
His reaction only gave the others more reason to vent, and they piled all their grievances onto Sudo.
Before long, the room was filled with soothing words, curses, complaints, and sobs.
Shinjo stretched, picked up his backpack, and got ready to leave the classroom too. But Karuizawa tugged at his sleeve:
"Hey, where are you going?"
"Back to the dorm to rest. Our Class Points have already been deducted down to zero. Even if we study hard, we won't earn any more, so I might as well get a good night's sleep."
"Oh... all right."
Shinjo had barely left the classroom when someone blocked his way.
"Come to my office. We need to talk."
"Tsk... I don't think we have anything to talk about."
He followed Sae Chabashira to her office. As expected of Advanced Nurturing Middle School, every teacher had a separate room to work in. Perhaps it was for discussing things that couldn't be brought into the open.
As soon as Chabashira returned with Shinjo, she found Suzune Horikita and Ayanokoji already waiting there.
"Huh? Shinjo?"
"Ah... I got caught skipping class."
"That's unlucky."
Chabashira ignored the two boys whispering to each other, sat back down in her chair, and lit a cigarette:
"Horikita, did you need something?"
"Of course!"
Suzune Horikita, who had been waiting impatiently, stepped forward.
"Teacher Chabashira, I'd like to ask how the school assigns students to classes. Or... could the system have made some kind of mistake when it assigned us?"
"I've seen your entrance exam results, Horikita. They were very good. You ranked near the top in both academics and physical education."
"Then why was I assigned to Class D?!"
"Because this is the most suitable place for you."
"What did you..."
Chabashira took an unhurried drag on her cigarette, then picked up a file folder that looked as though she'd prepared it long ago and tossed it over:
"Take a look for yourself. I hope you find your answer in there."
Horikita hurriedly pulled out the entrance exam results. She scanned them from top to bottom without noticing anything unusual, until she reached a line where every subject had a score of exactly 50.
Is this guy really not showing off on purpose?
Shinjo shot the owner of those scores a look of utter disdain.
She stared with her mouth hanging open in disbelief. These scores had clearly been deliberate. So who did they belong to?
None other than Kiyotaka Ayanokoji.
"Ayanokoji... you!"
"Looks like you've figured out what Ayanokoji's scores mean."
But Ayanokoji remained calm and asked in return, "What do they mean? It might just be a coincidence."
His explanation clearly wasn't enough to convince anyone in the room.
"If you want to prove yourself, there's only one path: lead them to defeat Class A. Horikita, this is where you belong."
Horikita was having none of it:
"Are you kidding me? How could I possibly lead a group like that to defeat Class A, when they're so much stronger than us?!"
"I told you, those exam scores really were an accident."
But Ayanokoji's words were automatically ignored by all three of them.
"If Ayanokoji refuses to admit it, there's nothing I can do. But there's something else you should know: your friend Shinjo here figured out all the information and secrets I mentioned today on the very first day of school."
If Plan A didn't work, there was always Plan B. That was why Chabashira had deliberately brought Shinjo to her office.
"What? How is that possible?!"
"Hey, I clearly said it was the first, second, or third day. How did that turn into me discovering all the secrets on the very first day...?"
From this, Horikita could be sure that Shinjo Katsuya had discovered the school's hidden rules very early on.
And Ayanokoji had used the Score Control Technique to prove that his academic ability far surpassed hers.
If even those two had been assigned to Class D, then what about her...
"Then why didn't you tell us the rules sooner?!"
"Horikita, even you think Class D is a bunch of hopeless cases. So why should I play the hero and lead the charge?"
Although a sage named Yoshikage Kira had once told Shinjo not to answer a question with another question,
he had to admit that talking this way really made him sound impressive!
Before you continue