Sakayanagi Arisu Strikes Back

"From now on, I will be here every Monday morning to supervise your morning study sessions."

As the bell rang for the first day of classes at this school, Mashima-sensei walked into the classroom right on time and made this announcement from the podium.

Since they hadn't even had a single lesson yet, some students in Class 1-A opened their textbooks to preview the upcoming curriculum, while others simply slumped over their desks, intending to take a short nap.

Just then, a large man with a shiny, bald head raised his hand. Seeing this, Mashima-sensei nodded, stepped away from the podium, and gestured for him to speak, signaling that he shouldn't mind his presence.

"May I ask a question?"

Katsuragi Kohei asked. After taking a brief tour of the school yesterday, he had discovered many unusual things and was therefore desperate to seek an answer.

"You may, but I don't guarantee that I will answer."

Mashima-sensei responded curtly, though for some reason, Toru Hasegawa felt that the teacher seemed slightly amused.

Perhaps the so-called supervision of the morning study session was just an excuse, and this was the true purpose.

At the same time, the attention of almost every student in the class was drawn to the exchange.

"Yesterday, I discovered that there is a free mountain vegetable set meal in the student cafeteria. Not only that, but a great number of students were choosing it. I would like to ask what exactly is going on with that."

Katsuragi Kohei said in a low voice. However, Toru Hasegawa noticed that Mashima-sensei's eyes dimmed for a fleeting moment; although he recovered immediately, it was still quite strange.

"I cannot answer that question."

"Then, why are there so many surveillance cameras on campus?"

"Cannot answer."

"I see. I understand."

Katsuragi Kohei nodded thoughtfully. In a way, being unable to answer was an answer in itself, implying that there were hidden circumstances involved.

And now, he had realized something.

"May I address my classmates?"

"Go ahead. This time is meant for you to use as you please."

After seeking permission from Mashima-sensei, Katsuragi Kohei walked up to the podium, while Mashima-sensei simply watched him.

"Everyone, although I am not yet entirely clear on the reasons behind this, I suspect that private points will play a huge role in our future lives. If possible, I would like everyone to control their spending."

Having heard the questions Katsuragi Kohei just asked the teacher, many students shook off the immense excitement they had felt at the start of the school year. How could there be such a good deal in the world? The school not only provided everything for them but also allowed them to enjoy campus life. Consequently, they expressed their agreement one after another.

"Yeah, yeah! The free set meal in the cafeteria is super~ gross. I tried it yesterday and it was awful. There wasn't a single bit of meat or seasoning; it was practically inedible! How could so many people be eating it?"

"Not only that, but there's also a free button for mineral water on the vending machines!"

"There are free daily necessities at the convenience store, too!"

Several students chimed in with their own observations.

Almost immediately, the idea of saving points became the consensus of the class.

Seeing this, Katsuragi Kohei nodded with satisfaction, feeling that his words had been quite effective. In this way, Sakayanagi Arisu should also feel a bit more convinced, right?

"Hehe—"

Just then, a sudden, light chuckle shattered the pleasant atmosphere. Everyone turned their gazes toward the source of the sound.

Toru Hasegawa had known who made the sound from the very beginning, because he was far too familiar with that voice; after all, he had listened to it for an entire day yesterday.

Seeing that everyone's eyes were fixed on her, Sakayanagi Arisu asked Mashima-sensei, who was standing by the door, without the slightest bit of hurry:

"Excuse me, would you mind repeating what you told us yesterday?"

Hearing such a question, Katsuragi Kohei frowned, trying to recall what Mashima-sensei had said the day before.

But humans are animals that process memories; unless it is something like mathematics, most people's memory pattern involves extracting key information from a conversation and storing it in their minds.

Therefore, he still couldn't understand why Sakayanagi Arisu would ask such a question.

"I will not."

Mashima-sensei's reply was short and clear.

But Sakayanagi Arisu, as if she had known this would be the answer, had already taken out her phone and started operating it while asking the question.

A moment later, Mashima-sensei's voice emanated from the phone's speaker.

"Greetings, freshmen. I am the homeroom teacher for Class A, Mashima Tomoya..."

"..."

Holy crap, what kind of normal person records what a teacher says on the very first day? Where were you trained, some kind of secret agent?

Toru Hasegawa watched as Sakayanagi Arisu played back the recording of the teacher's words from yesterday, silently complaining in his heart.

As the recording played, a sentence soon came through—

"Within this school, there is nothing that cannot be purchased with points."

The moment that sentence finished, Sakayanagi Arisu paused the playback. At the same time, Toru Hasegawa saw her cast a glance toward him, then turn her head toward the blackboard and lift her chin slightly.

"..."

Toru Hasegawa felt puzzled and rubbed his nose. Had he been targeted by her?

However, thinking that he was the only one she could rely on at the moment, he had no choice but to stand up under the dumbfounded gaze of Kamuro Masumi and walk to the blackboard to write down the sentence.

Two minutes passed, and the blackboard was already filled by Toru Hasegawa with regulations that looked like something out of a weird rule-based horror story.

[1. There is nothing within the school that cannot be purchased with points.]

[2. Every person has now been fairly distributed 100,000 points.]

[3. This school measures students based on ability.]

[4. Points represent the school's evaluation of you.]

"First, let's look at the first point."

Sakayanagi Arisu did not stand up, but instead signaled for Toru Hasegawa to come over with her eyes, then handed him her phone and asked him to show the screen to the entire class.

Toru Hasegawa took a glance and realized it was the interface displaying personal points, and the number on it was... nearly 700,000.

After showing her strength to everyone in the class in such a small way, Sakayanagi Arisu continued:

"These are the points I won from the upperclassmen yesterday. Mashima-sensei, since you said there is nothing within the school that cannot be purchased with points, then I would like to purchase the hidden rules of this school right now. How many points would that cost?"

"...You cannot afford it."

Mashima-sensei said after a moment of silence, and anyone could hear that his tone was quite lighthearted.

"Then what if I only buy the rules for the school trial we are currently facing?"

"One million."

Without the slightest hesitation, Mashima-sensei gave a point total that generally no one would be able to pay.

At the same time, he implicitly admitted that they were currently in the midst of a school trial.

In other words, this Q&A session itself held significant value.

And Sakayanagi Arisu had firmly grasped this point; unlike Katsuragi Kohei, who only asked about superficial phenomena, her questions were very specific, which was why she was able to get an answer.

This should have been a highly impactful statement, but the scene remained eerily quiet.

From the moment Mashima-sensei's recording was played, there had been no sound from anyone in the Class A classroom other than Sakayanagi Arisu and Mashima Tomoya.

"It's an expense that would require pooling funds to cover... unfortunately, I don't need to."

As for pooling funds to buy information, Sakayanagi Arisu did not choose the route most people expected, but instead skipped the topic entirely.

"Next is the second point. The emphasis is on the word 'now' at the beginning. It was only now that 100,000 points were fairly distributed; it does not mean that there will be 100,000 points every month from here on out. Please do not misunderstand this point."

"The third and fourth points should be viewed in conjunction. This is also the reason why I don't need to purchase the rules. At this moment, when the specific rules have not yet been announced, the school's ability to test students is actually quite limited."

Sakayanagi Arisu slowly looked around, and only after seeing that everyone had been stunned by her series of statements did she feel satisfied and continue:

"It is an assessment of our daily conduct and norms, which is to say, our duties as students. That is all from me, thank you."