The Truth About the S System

After morning self-study ended, there were still about twenty minutes before class began.

Amid the somewhat relaxed atmosphere of most of the students, Kitagawa Kai stood up and walked steadily to the podium.

"Good morning, everyone." His voice was not loud, but it carried clearly to every corner of the room. "I'd like to take up a little of your time."

The classroom quickly fell silent, and every gaze focused on him.

"I'd like to share a few things I've observed over the past few days." Kitagawa Kai got straight to the point. "First, I believe the 100,000 points the school promised to distribute each month cannot possibly be fixed."

He paused slightly, sweeping his gaze across the room. Some people began to look serious.

"I wonder if any of you have noticed that the supermarket beneath the dormitory building has a designated area where daily necessities can be collected for free."

"Also, besides the paid counters in the cafeteria, there is a free meal counter."

"I specifically went to check it out. The food there was quite unappetizing. Yet even so, quite a few upperclassmen still lined up there during mealtimes."

At that point, he deliberately paused for a moment, giving everyone time to think and make the connection.

"Isn't that strange?"

"If the school distributed 100,000 points every month—enough for everyone to live quite comfortably on campus—then why go out of its way to provide so many things for free?"

"And upperclassmen who already have large amounts of points wouldn't be eating unappetizing food either."

Among the Class B students below, some frowned, their fingers unconsciously tapping against their desks.

Others exchanged quiet looks with the students beside them, surprise and contemplation showing on their faces.

Still others sat up straighter, their eyes fixed tightly on Kitagawa Kai, clearly drawn in by his analysis.

"That's not all." Kitagawa Kai's voice rang out again, drawing everyone's attention back. "Based on that question, I specifically went to the upperclassmen's academic buildings and did some additional research."

He took out the Universal Video Recorder and connected it to the projector on the podium.

The screen lit up, clearly displaying several photographs of blackboards in upperclassmen's classrooms.

Written on the blackboards was a figure called Class Points.

"I photographed this." Kitagawa Kai pointed at the screen. "As you can see, these are Class Points. Class A and Class B are far ahead, both with more than 1,000 points."

"Meanwhile, Class C and Class D only have three or four hundred points. The gap is extremely obvious."

The contrast between the numbers in the photos was stark and glaring.

"So, here's the question." Kitagawa Kai looked around at the crowd and posed the key question.

"Why is there such a huge difference in points now between upperclassmen classes that have spent the same amount of time studying and living here, when their starting points should logically have been identical?"

He did not need them to answer immediately and gave his own conclusion directly. "I think the most reasonable explanation is that there is intense competition between classes, and the results of that competition directly determine the rise and fall of Class Points."

He raised his voice slightly, making his conclusion clearer. "Then can we infer that the Personal Points each of us actually receives every month are very likely directly tied to these Class Points?"

People below had already begun nodding, their brows tightly furrowed.

"Combined with the 100,000 initial points each of us received upon enrollment—"

"We can make a preliminary calculation. Suppose every class started with the same baseline number of Class Points, say 1,000. The 100,000 Personal Points we received were likely obtained by multiplying those 1,000 Class Points by 100."

"If this speculation holds true, then everything makes sense." Kitagawa Kai's voice grew increasingly certain.

"Classes with higher Class Points give their members more Personal Points each month, naturally allowing them to live comfortably. But members of classes that fall far behind in Class Points will see their Personal Points shrink drastically, perhaps even to the point where they cannot maintain a basic standard of living."

"That perfectly explains why the school set up the free daily necessities collection area and that unappetizing free cafeteria counter."

"Those are not benefits. They are the most basic survival guarantee provided for classes whose Class Points are too low, whose members' Personal Points may have dropped to zero."

The reasoning was rigorous, building layer upon layer.

Hoshinomiya Chie, who had appeared at the classroom door at some point, was even more satisfied than she could possibly have been.

She studied Kitagawa Kai carefully.

This Kitagawa Kai was practically a different person from the student described in the bland enrollment file on her desk, filled with nothing but Cs and sparse comments.

However, Kitagawa Kai did not stop speaking.

"And, everyone, based on my observations, the school most likely has an even crueler reality."

His gaze swept across every face below, his tone steady but every word clear. "There will most likely be students expelled from the class."

Expelled?

Many students abruptly looked up, disbelief written across their faces.

"Kitagawa-kun!"

Ichinose Honami stood up almost instinctively, her eyes locked tightly on Kitagawa Kai at the podium.

"Please wait!" Her voice rose slightly in her urgency. "You're saying there will be students expelled from the class... That's no small matter. Do you have any concrete evidence? We can't draw such a conclusion based on speculation alone."

Ichinose Honami wanted wholeheartedly to protect this newly formed class. She would never allow anyone to fall behind, much less accept the possibility of expulsion.

In her ideal vision, Class B was supposed to be a group that moved forward together. Everyone should be safe and well, reaching graduation side by side.

"Ichinose-san, please remain calm. This isn't groundless speculation. When I observed the upperclassmen of Class C and Class D, I noticed a detail many people had overlooked: the number of empty desks and chairs in their classrooms."

"Ordinarily, every class is configured for forty students. Even if the occasional student is temporarily absent due to personal or medical leave, there should not be any significant difference in the number of empty seats between classes, much less seats that remain vacant for long periods."

"But the reality was that the higher the grade, the more empty desks and chairs there were in Class C and Class D—and the number missing far exceeded anything normal."

The classroom fell deathly silent.

Ichinose froze as well, looking somewhat dejected.

"At this school, housing is free, the environment is excellent, and graduation is guaranteed." Kitagawa Kai threw out a pointed question. "Under such conditions, how likely is it that someone would voluntarily drop out? Infinitesimally small. So where did the original owners of those extra empty seats go?"

He no longer needed to say the answer. Everyone understood.

Other than dropping out, there was no other explanation.

The satisfied smile on Hoshinomiya Chie's face deepened, even carrying a hint of amazement.

"Hoshinomiya-sensei, you said there's nothing in this school that can't be bought with points, right? Then how many points does it take to cancel an expulsion?"

Every student—including Ichinose Honami, who had still been immersed in her disappointment—jerked their heads up.