A New Month... and the Restless Class D

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, a month had gone by.

After surviving yet another quiz, An Xiao and his classmates safely entered the next month.

May 1st.

The day for another round of point distribution.

"An Xiao, An Xiao, do you think our class can successfully promote this time?"

"Or, you know, maybe we're just that tiny bit away?"

As soon as he arrived at his seat, Honami Ichinose, who sat in front of An Xiao, turned around nervously, her fists clenching involuntarily.

"It's quite difficult," An Xiao answered honestly.

If it were that easy for Class B to promote to Class A, then the school's initial sorting would have been a bit of a joke.

What's more...

An Xiao explained helplessly, "Just looking at the first month, even if they didn't know the rules from the start, given their capabilities, they wouldn't have had many points deducted over the month."

"It shouldn't be much different from our class."

"I see... then we'll just have to keep working hard."

Watching Honami Ichinose, who had looked slightly disappointed upon hearing his news but immediately began pumping her fist to cheer herself on, An Xiao felt a strange itch in his heart.

Subconsciously, he spoke up: "Ichinose, has anyone ever told you that you're very cute like this?"

But he regretted it the moment the words left his mouth.

"Umm!?"

After letting out a cute sound, a crimson flush crept up Honami Ichinose's originally fair cheeks. She became embarrassed, muttered something unintelligible like a mosquito, and lowered her head.

Just as the atmosphere between the two became somewhat subtle, Chie Hoshinomiya walked into the classroom with a smile on her face and a cheerful gait.

One could even say she had a spring in her step.

As soon as she entered, she saw the awkward atmosphere between An Xiao and Honami Ichinose, and her eyes curved into an amusing arc.

"Ara ara, it seems our student An Xiao and student Ichinose are getting along well. That puts my mind at ease."

As soon as these words were out, the entire class's gaze focused on the corner where Honami Ichinose and An Xiao were sitting.

Feeling the eyes of the crowd, Honami Ichinose lowered her head even further. Her hand, which had been resting at her side, subconsciously landed on An Xiao's outstretched thigh and gave it a sharp twist.

Hiss~

An Xiao's face tightened. He gritted his teeth and glared with some hostility toward Chie Hoshinomiya, who was standing by the podium watching the scene with great interest.

Noticing An Xiao's gaze, Chie Hoshinomiya knew it was time to stop. She smiled, said nothing, and turned to write on the blackboard behind her.

Bang, bang, bang!

Chie Hoshinomiya tossed the used chalk onto the desk, rolled up the lesson plan she had brought, and struck the blackboard heavily a few times.

"Everyone is looking forward to the results, right? I won't dawdle. I've written the points for each class on the board, so take a look for yourselves!"

[Class Points:

Class A: 960 points

Class B: 920 points

Class C: 490 points

Class D: 120 points]

"So it really was just a little bit off..."

Since the points had already been distributed that morning, An Xiao wasn't surprised by his own class's total.

As for the rest of Class B, after seeing the points for each class, they were silent for a moment before the room erupted into chaos.

"Still just a little short..."

"Damn it, and I worked so hard this month."

"What a pity!"

Although everyone was a bit disappointed, most were already planning to work twice as hard this month, encouraging one another.

"It really was just like you said, An Xiao." Honami Ichinose raised her head, still too shy to look at An Xiao, and spoke to him while staring at the blackboard.

"Let's keep working hard this month," An Xiao said with a smile, feeling a sense of relief.

"Of course, though it would be even better if you could let go of the hand pinching my thigh, Ichinose."

"Even though you aren't using much force now, it still feels a bit strange."

"So-sorry!"

Hearing An Xiao's words, the faint blush that had already begun to fade from Honami Ichinose's face flared up again. She hurriedly pulled her hand back from An Xiao's thigh and stammered.

"Alright, alright, everyone quiet down for a moment. I have a few more things to discuss."

Seeing that the class's emotions were gradually calming down, Chie Hoshinomiya, standing at the podium, clapped her hands to draw everyone's attention before speaking.

"Next, you are all about to..."

Meanwhile, inside Class D of the first year.

Unlike the vibrant and lively atmosphere of Class B, the situation here could be described as the exact opposite.

The entire class was deathly silent.

Watching the students below, who were all acting like quails afraid to say a word, Chabashira Sae stood on the podium and sneered.

"Congratulations, you bunch of losers who still ended up at the bottom even after getting the rules in advance."

When she reached the end of her sentence, Chabashira Sae's tone rose significantly.

Heaven knows what her mood was like after finding out the class points for her own class.

Perhaps it could be said she was so angry she had to laugh.

One must know that among the four first-year classes, only Class C had not obtained the school's rules during the first month.

Yet even so, Class D still failed to surpass Class C, and was even trailing by a considerable distance.

Especially since that woman Chie Hoshinomiya had been whispering in her ear all morning about her own class's results...

In short, Chabashira Sae's temper was currently far from mild.

Can a class like this really climb to Class A?

Chabashira Sae let her gaze linger on one student as she thought this.

Down below, the students, unaware of what Chabashira Sae was thinking, couldn't sit still after seeing their class points and hearing her words.

"What! Impossible! Why are the points in our class so low?"

"Could it be that the rules that Horikita girl told us weren't complete?"

"I knew that girl wouldn't be that kind!"

"Stop it, Yamauchi. Even regarding the part that Horikita told us, haven't you been breaking the rules constantly?"

"Exactly! You boys even made some disgusting breast-size ranking for us girls; it must be because of that that our class had so many points deducted."

"Huh? Don't talk about me! You girls are the same, you made all sorts of messy rankings for us boys too!"

The boys and girls in the class began shifting the blame onto each other, and no matter how much Hirata and Kushida tried to mediate, they couldn't stop the chaos.

Sitting in the back row, Horikita Suzune watched this scene with cold eyes.

These people... are truly a bunch of hopeless dregs.