What Must Come Will Come

What was bound to happen eventually arrived; on the first day of class in early May, Teacher Mashima walked into the Class A classroom with a faint smile on his face.

"Has everyone received their points?"

"Yes, 98,000 points. Only 2,000 less than last month."

"That means you only had 2,000 points deducted over the past month. Congratulations." Teacher Mashima clapped his hands. "Even among previous iterations of Class A, you are the most outstanding group I have ever taught."

He didn't say, "You are the worst group I've ever taught," but rather the best.

Hearing such words from their homeroom teacher, many students couldn't help but puff out their chests, feeling a sense of pride.

"Alright, enough small talk. Let's get down to business."

Teacher Mashima immediately reverted to his usual serious demeanor, took a sheet of paper from his bag, and posted it on the blackboard.

[Class A: 980]

[Class B: 650]

[Class C: 490]

[Class D: 400]

The numbers behind the classes were arranged from largest to smallest, corresponding exactly to the order from Class A to Class D.

Seeing this, a smile appeared on the face of Masayoshi Hashimoto.

Because this perfectly matched what Toru Hasegawa had told him.

"Since there are such excellent people in this class, none of you have any questions, right?"

"Teacher, may I ask if only those who graduate from Class A can receive the treatment promised by the school?"

That is to say, the near one-hundred-percent advancement and employment rate. The person who asked this question was Masayoshi Hashimoto.

"That's correct." Teacher Mashima nodded. He hadn't even brought it up himself, yet a student had already seen through it, which left him feeling a bit moved.

After being a teacher for so many years, to actually have his lines stolen by a student—it was truly a rare sight.

"The numbers behind represent the class points, which are linked to the personal points you receive on the 1st of every month. The relevant information should now be unlocked on the mobile phones issued by the school. Interested students can check it themselves."

"At the same time, if the class points of a higher-ranked class are surpassed by a lower-ranked one—for example, if Class A's class points drop to 600 next month—then the former Class B will replace us and move up to Class A. Do you understand?"

"As long as you can maintain your status as Class A by graduation, the school will grant you the promised treatment."

Teacher Mashima said a lot all at once, otherwise, he felt he might not have had any lines left to say.

"Teacher, you previously said that in this school, anything can be bought with points, right?" Toru Hasegawa suddenly asked.

"Yes."

"Then, may I ask how many points it costs to transfer classes?"

Although he had already learned this number from Miyabi Nagumo, Toru Hasegawa decided to ask it again in front of the whole class.

"20 million."

Hearing the number spoken by Teacher Mashima, the entire class was in an uproar.

Everyone looked at each other, and soon someone raised a question.

"We are already in Class A, why would we ever need to transfer?"

"Exactly. There's no way anyone would actually transfer to a lower-ranked class, hahaha..."

It was hard to imagine that anyone in this school would voluntarily transfer to a lower class, so it was only natural for them to have such thoughts.

After ending this slightly off-topic discussion, Teacher Mashima took another sheet of paper from his bag and posted it on the blackboard; the content was the scores from the last quiz.

"Congratulations. If this had been an official exam, not a single person would have been expelled."

Toru Hasegawa nodded inwardly. Since they already knew this school wasn't simple, and after what he had said earlier, it was perfectly normal for those with poor grades to feel a sense of urgency.

Hearing the word "expelled" at this moment, many students—those with the lowest grades in the class—showed expressions of lingering fear.

Incidentally, Toru Hasegawa's score was 80, placing him in the upper tier of Class A, though certainly not at the very top.

To be honest, the feeling of controlling one's score for the first time was strange...

Toru Hasegawa leaned back and cast a glance at Arisu Sakayanagi, who was sitting in front of him. Seeing that she had no intention of speaking, he helplessly continued to ask the teacher:

"May I ask what the failing threshold was this time?"

"36 points," Teacher Mashima replied.

This score was very strange. Generally, the failing threshold would be 60 points. There were many students in the class who had scored worse than that, yet the passing line happened to be 36.

Toru Hasegawa had never felt his brain to be so clear. He watched as everyone's scores were publicized on the board, calculating in his head.

"Half of the average score?" he muttered.

Teacher Mashima looked at him with surprise. "That's right. The failing threshold for each exam is calculated based on the class average. Since the class average this time was 72.6, the passing line became 36.3."

"...Is it rounded or simply truncated after the decimal point?" Toru Hasegawa was a bit speechless. How did he end up in the spotlight without realizing it? My bad, my bad...

Seeing the smile on Arisu Sakayanagi's face in front of him, Toru Hasegawa knew that she had actually known as well, but she was just playing around by not saying anything, sitting there watching him perform.

"It's rounded," Teacher Mashima chose an answer from the two options, then continued, "There are three weeks left until the midterm exams. Although you successfully made it through this time, you must not relax. I believe everyone can find a way to avoid failing. Please continue to work hard."

Even though there were no failing students in the class, Teacher Mashima still left the classroom after leaving behind such a subtle remark.

"Does this mean that Class D only has 400 class points left, even though they were in the same position as us in terms of information at the start of the second week? If they didn't know, could it be..."

Someone had spotted something suspicious on the sheet of paper detailing the class points.

"Zero?"

During the break after Teacher Mashima left, the students of Class A began to discuss, naturally focusing on Class D.

"Hahahaha, I don't know why, but it's kind of funny."

"Hey, did you guess that this would happen all along?"

Amidst this atmosphere, Kamuro Masumi suddenly threw a question at Toru Hasegawa.

"I'm not a god, how would I know?" Toru Hasegawa sighed.

Kamuro Masumi said, pretending to be indifferent, "Most people would probably look down on Class D. They already knew the school was evaluating us, yet they still only have 400 class points left. It's hilarious."

That just went to show how reckless Class D had been during the first week.

"Perhaps, but there shouldn't be many people who would say that out loud," Toru Hasegawa remarked pointedly.

"Are you talking about me?" Kamuro Masumi took the bait, as expected. "I was just wondering if this was something you did for that girl."

"Do you really think I'm such a kind-hearted person?" Toru Hasegawa feigned confusion.

Kamuro Masumi nodded seriously.

At the same time, the phone in Toru Hasegawa's pocket vibrated.

Toru Hasegawa knew exactly who it was without even looking, as she was the only one who would message him at a time like this.

Sure enough, when he turned on the screen, the name Airi Sakura appeared.

"Did she come looking for you?" Kamuro Masumi chuckled.

Toru Hasegawa shook his head, "It's just a simple thank you."

"And then? Don't you have any other thoughts?"

"Why would I?" Toru Hasegawa gave her a strange look. "Are you really hoping that something will develop between her and me?"

"It's nothing, just asking." Kamuro Masumi slumped over her desk, looking listless.

Toru Hasegawa glanced at her grades, "Your scores aren't exactly high either. Do you want me to tutor you?"

"No need. I won't trouble you with such a trivial matter; I'll just ask Sakayanagi."

"Why the sudden use of honorifics?"

"Just teasing you."

Just then, Toru Hasegawa's phone vibrated again.