Class Points

A month passed in a flash, and in the blink of an eye, the day for the next distribution of points arrived.

Hoshino figured there would be quite a bit of information coming their way. He had begun to understand how this school operated: you only learned the specific details of the rules once you triggered them. Therefore, today should be the day they announced the fluctuations in the class evaluation scores.

Looking at the unchanged number on his phone, Hoshino had a certain suspicion in his heart.

He arrived at the classroom leisurely, and most of the class had already gathered. Hoshino returned to his seat, tidied up his bag, and took out the books needed for class.

The first period was a homeroom session. Chabashira walked onto the podium with a brisk, efficient air, her "tap-tap" footsteps sounding particularly sharp as she held a rolled-up paper tube in her hand.

"Chabashira-sensei, this month's points haven't been deposited! Weren't they supposed to be deposited on the first of every month?..." This frivolous voice sounded familiar to Hoshino; it was one of Sudo's friends, Yamauchi, if he recalled correctly, who was currently raising his hand with a look of dissatisfaction.

"No, this month's points were already deposited for you!" Chabashira crossed her arms, her expression grim.

"Huh? But..." Yamauchi suppressed his frustration and began looking around at the people nearby. Many others were also looking at their phones with confused expressions, scrolling repeatedly.

Sitting quietly in his seat, Hoshino refreshed his phone over and over, and he more or less knew the result. But how to put it? It was within Hoshino's expectations, yet also outside of them.

On one hand, the number of violations in Class D was, to be honest, truly high. Basically, only a few students were listening to the lectures, and tardiness was a common occurrence; it would be strange if they hadn't been deducted.

On the other hand, people generally have a certain psychology: even if they perform poorly on an exam, they rarely believe they will get a zero. Before the results came out, Hoshino had mentally prepared himself for the possibility of having some points remaining, but this time, things had indeed gone exactly as he had anticipated.

"The points were already deposited! There is no doubt about that, and there is no such thing as the school accidentally overlooking this class!" Chabashira's voice dropped, her suppressed tone exposing her anger and disdain.

"But in reality, they haven't been deposited at all!"

The last of the three friends of Sudo raised a challenge with a sense of self-righteousness. As his voice rang out, the members of the class began to stir. Hoshino just looked silently at the phone in his hand, feeling somewhat helpless; this class truly had little hope.

"Heh, you really are a bunch of fools!" Chabashira's face was full of mockery and disdain, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

The room below the podium erupted in an uproar.

But Chabashira ignored them and continued her taunting: "A total of 101 instances of tardiness and absence, 441 instances of private chatter and playing on phones during class, plus other things like sleeping—in just one month, you've all been incredibly lax! At this school, the performance and evaluation of the entire class are reflected in the points deposited each month. The result of the review is that you have lost all the 100,000 points you were supposed to receive! The points deposited for you this month... are zero!"

As her voice fell, many people began to look uneasy: "Does that mean we'll be penniless from now on?"

"This... what is this? I never heard anything about this!"...

"Did you really think that as high school students, you could just spend 100,000 points every month without restriction? Anyone with a shred of common sense would know that's impossible! Why didn't you investigate this question? Didn't I say on the first day of school that this school measures students by their ability? In other words, you are trash evaluated as zero!"

As soon as Chabashira's words left her lips, the entire classroom fell into a dead silence. Many people had looks of shock written on their faces! However, very few showed any signs of self-reflection.

Hoshino didn't have any particular emotional reaction, but he was somewhat puzzled by Chabashira's approach. It was one thing not to give students any hints, but such demoralizing words wouldn't typically come from an ordinary teacher.

A homeroom teacher is supposed to stay with the class for three years. Normally, a teacher would be biased toward their own class, feeling disappointed or offering criticism.

But Chabashira acted as if it had nothing to do with her, and there was even a hint of an intent to actively demoralize the students, which didn't fit Hoshino's view of a teacher who would be with them for three years.

It seemed that Chabashira was not an "ally," Hoshino concluded in his heart.

Looking back at the podium, Chabashira unrolled the paper she had brought and stuck it to the blackboard. It contained only a few brief lines of information:

First-Year Class Point Rankings

Class A: 940 points

Class B: 650 points

Class C: 490 points

Class D: 0 points

That zero was quite an eyesore! Hoshino couldn't help but complain internally. Thinking about it was one thing, but seeing it written on paper compared to the other classes, the impact was a bit too much!

"That's right, this is the S System! It reviews students in real-time and calculates the values. Look, you have perfectly proven that you are the worst kind of trash!"

Chabashira pressed her hand against the list on the blackboard, stating information that no one had known, and didn't forget to add a few final taunts.

"But I am actually impressed by you; to have all your points deducted within a month, this is a first among all previous Class Ds!" Chabashira clapped her hands, her face full of disdain as she turned up the "heat."

"Sensei, please at least tell us the detailed basis for the point deductions!" The most popular boy in the class stood up. Although he hesitated, he spoke with a firm tone.

"When you enter society, personnel reviews won't tell you the detailed content either!..."

This was a logical argument, and the boy was left speechless.

"These are the points held by each class at the current stage! One class point is equivalent to 100 personal points for each student! At the start of the school year, all classes were given 1,000 class points, yet you have deducted all of your points..." Chabashira's expression turned grim.

"Um, do we still have a chance to increase our points?" Kushida raised her hand to ask.

"Yes! If your final class points exceed those of Class C, then you will be promoted to Class C, and Class C will be demoted to Class D. The nearest opportunity is the upcoming midterm exam! Depending on your grades, you can increase your class points by up to 100!" Hearing someone ask such a question, the expression on Chabashira's face softened slightly, but the mockery at the corners of her mouth remained!

"Only 100 points!" "That's too little!"...

Hoshino wanted to laugh. Since they were assigned to Class D, there were bound to be many students with insufficient academic ability, yet these people were taking it for granted that they had already won!

Sure enough, Chabashira unrolled another scroll; this time, it was the results of the previous diagnostic test.

Except for a few at the top with exceptionally good grades, looking slightly further down, the scores were simply disastrous.

Hoshino's grades were generally considered above average, but in this class, he could still rank thirteenth. This was mainly because there were truly a few individuals with super-high academic ability!

Taking a quick glance, Hoshino discovered something strange: Ayanokoji had scored exactly 50 points in every subject!

Confirmed: he was a master of controlling his scores!

However, Hoshino didn't quite understand this: scoring exactly 50 in every subject—was he mocking others? Or was he challenging the lower limits of everyone else's intelligence?

Regardless of which it was, Hoshino could no longer ignore the existence of Ayanokoji.

"Look at the results of your small test! They are all trash grades. From next time on, anyone who fails the midterm or final exams will be expelled immediately!"

Chabashira's blunt words stunned everyone for a moment, though there were a few exceptions.

Hoshino finally understood; so this was how the 100% employment rate was achieved! This school was a bit sickening!