May 1.
The day had finally arrived.
Before she even entered the classroom, Yagami Shizuka heard many of her classmates cheering.
When the points were credited, they could barely contain their excitement.
Even though they would soon have to hand over those points, it still meant they had won.
Mashima Tomoya walked into the classroom, unable to hide his smile, holding a poster. "Congratulations on completing the first stage of the assessment."
Once unfolded, the poster was promptly put up on the blackboard.
Class A's score was listed in the first column: 990 points.
Class B had 650 points.
It was understandable. Ichinose was a member of the Student Council, and her class wasn't full of incompetent students who were difficult to manage. A score like that was only natural.
Class C had 490 points.
That was a fairly middling score, right around half. Given Ryuen's methods, it was already pretty good.
It wasn't hard to understand why. Making a student give in might cost them a few points that day, but there were no further deductions afterward. That was better than losing points every day.
Class D's result was another matter entirely.
Just as Yagami Shizuka had known all along, it was zero. Nothing had changed.
Class D, completely in the dark, had gone from paradise yesterday to hell in the blink of an eye.
That zero made many students shudder. They were relieved it wasn't their class.
To be honest, whether it was 990 or zero, neither extreme had ever been seen before.
In the original story, Class A lost 60 points in its first month—not because Sakayanagi Arisu had misunderstood the information, but because the person responsible for the class's deductions was an oddball.
That's right. It was Morishita Ai.
If Yagami Shizuka hadn't interacted with her from the start and established a clear rewards-and-penalties policy, she could still have cost the class 60 points all on her own.
That wasn't to say Morishita Ai had stopped being eccentric. She behaved herself in class, but whenever she got bored outside of it, she still caused plenty of trouble.
The students sitting near her were the ones who suffered.
"You've done great! You've made history!" Mashima Tomoya said, at a loss for how else to praise them.
"You can ask me anything you want now. I'll answer what I can, but if I can't, I'll still have to avoid the question."
His own class had achieved results far beyond his expectations, and Mashima Tomoya was delighted.
"Teacher, how do we increase our Class Points? Could you explain in detail how points are added and deducted?" Totsuka Yahiko was the first to raise his hand. He was something of a second-in-command among Katsuragi Kohei's more cautious supporters.
Totsuka Yahiko had excellent grades and a strong sense of loyalty to the class.
"As you can see, it's not that I don't want to tell you. You have to figure out these rules for yourselves. However..." Mashima Tomoya glanced toward Yagami Shizuka. "The answer Shizuka gave you is correct."
Everyone turned to look at Yagami Shizuka.
"To be honest, no class has ever managed to achieve this much before. You should ask him about the details of the rules. He knows more about them than I do."
Since Yagami Shizuka had also received those 500,000 points, there was no need for him to feel awkward about it.
Mashima Tomoya paused, then continued. "I can't discuss the rules in detail, but I can tell you that the first exam is coming up: the midterm. If you're strong enough, you can earn 100 points.
"The points still fluctuate, and how many you earn will continue to depend on your ability.
"Finally, there's one more thing I need to remind you about."
Mashima Tomoya took out another poster and put it up on the blackboard. "Your student handbooks clearly state that anyone who fails the midterm or final exams will be expelled. At this school, the passing mark is half the grade's average in that subject. This time, that means 35 points."
He circled the names of several students whose scores were below 50.
Even though Yagami Shizuka had already told them this requirement existed, a few students were still in a dangerous position academically.
Fortunately, none of them had fallen below the passing mark.
One of them was Kamuro Masumi, who was teetering on the brink of elimination.
Perhaps because Yagami Shizuka had intervened, the average score this term was a little higher than the 32 points in the original story.
To be truly safe from falling below the passing mark, though, it was best to score at least 50.
That was already far better than Class D's situation. Mashima Tomoya was only giving those few students a reminder.
After Mashima Tomoya left, the classroom erupted into cheers again.
It was a resounding victory. By holding on to so many points right from the start, they had gained a huge advantage over the other classes.
They could already picture the grim looks on the other classes' faces.
"Everyone, if you ask me, we should thank Arisu and Shizuka. We wouldn't have gotten results like these without them," Katsuragi Kohei said, rising to his feet.
"Exactly! They're our heroes! Our greatest heroes!"
"Shouldn't you give a speech or something?"
"Yeah! Yeah!"
After glancing at the silent Sakayanagi Arisu, Yagami Shizuka was pushed to the lectern by his classmates and couldn't refuse.
He straightened his clothes and said, "Thank you all for your support and trust. To be honest, at first I was worried that you wouldn't believe me, and that it would be hard to get everyone united.
"You were all willing to trust me. I didn't win this for you; this victory is the result of everyone's own efforts."
"Modest! So modest! Way too modest!" one of the students shouted.
Clap! Clap!
Yagami Shizuka clapped twice to quiet them down. "Since you all trusted me and we've earned our points, let's pool this month's points, just as we agreed before. We still have tough battles ahead.
"Everyone can send them to Arisu. I'll post her account number in the group chat."
The students, who had been brimming with excitement just moments earlier, fell silent.
Yagami Shizuka sent Sakayanagi Arisu's receiving account directly to the class group and waited for the transfers.
No matter how reluctant they were, they could only agree in the end.
After Sakayanagi Arisu had received all the points, she gave Yagami Shizuka an OK sign.
If it hadn't worked, he would have had to use their momentum to talk some sense into the few holdouts. Fortunately, there were none.
Once the transfers were complete, Yagami Shizuka spoke again. "As Teacher Mashima just said, if we work hard for the midterm, we can earn 100 points. I also mentioned before that I planned to introduce the R System.
"How about we set aside half of the income from those 100 points for one month and use it to reward students with good exam results?
"This reward will only be given if we first earn those 100 points. Of course, we're sure to win this time, so there's no need to say more.
"We'll divide the rewards based on 200,000 personal points. Anyone who places in the top ten gets 10,000 points. First place gets an extra 50,000, second place gets 30,000, and third place gets 20,000.
"We'll also set a small penalty for the lowest scorers. The student who comes in last will lose 1,000 points."
The rewards and penalties were fair, not unreasonable. Only the last-place student would be penalized, and the amount wasn't large enough to make anyone despair.
It was both reasonable and fair.
The students with good grades would aim for the top ten, while those with poor grades would worry about coming in last.
Both the high and low achievers could accept this arrangement.
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