The smile on Hoshinomiya Chie's face briefly froze, then blossomed even more brightly, carrying a hint of appreciation that seemed to say, "I knew you would ask that."
She took a few light steps forward, the sound of her high heels especially clear in the classroom, where one could have heard a pin drop.
"My, my, Kitagawa, you always manage to ask about the most crucial points-and the ones that put your teacher in the toughest spot."
"But," Hoshinomiya Chie's tone suddenly grew light, "teachers aren't allowed to lie to students. Since you've asked, and this does count as part of the rules..."
She leaned forward slightly and announced with perfect clarity, addressing both Kitagawa Kai and the whole class:
"Twenty million Personal Points."
"As long as you pay twenty million Personal Points, you can cancel out an expulsion penalty."
"Twenty... million?"
Dead silence.
It was nothing short of an astronomical sum, a despair-inducing astronomical sum!
Then came the gasps.
The faint light that had just appeared on Ichinose Honami's face upon receiving a clear answer instantly gave way to even deeper bewilderment and helplessness.
Even assuming optimistically that each person could steadily receive one hundred thousand points a month, if all forty students in a class went without food or drink and pooled every point, it would still take a full five months to gather those twenty million!
And they might not even receive one hundred thousand every month.
"Kitagawa-kun." Kanzaki Ryūji raised his hand. He was one of the few whose expressions had shown no drastic change, and his gaze was rational and focused as he looked directly at Kitagawa Kai beside the lectern.
"Do you have any further thoughts on our current situation?"
Everyone's eyes once again focused on Kitagawa Kai.
"Kanzaki's question is crucial. Simply put, while doing everything we can to preserve and increase our Class Points, we need to find ways to obtain Personal Points from students in other classes."
"How exactly would we do that?" Ichinose Honami had recovered from the initial shock, her eyes focused again as she asked the question everyone cared about most.
"I'll get to that shortly, but right now, I have reason to suspect that we may already be in the middle of a special exam."
"An exam?" Quite a few students were stunned. Hadn't school only just started? Weren't they in a class meeting?
Kitagawa Kai went on to describe the scene during Class D's lesson.
The teacher at the lectern had been explaining the textbook material step by step, while the Class D students sat below.
Some had their heads down playing on their phones, some chatted with their seatmates as though no one else were there, and some ate snacks. One particularly outrageous student was even holding a mirror and fixing their hair.
Several empty seats were scattered around the classroom. Some students were late, or had simply not come at all.
The scene he described stood in stark contrast to Class B at that moment.
"And that teacher," Kitagawa Kai lowered his voice a little, an inquisitive note entering it, "didn't say a word to stop any of those violations. All his attention seemed to be on the material he was supposed to teach, as though the state of the students before him had absolutely nothing to do with him."
"Is that normal? A school that emphasized merit above all else at the Opening Ceremony allowed a class to fall into disorder in its very first week."
"Unless," he shifted tack, his tone becoming utterly certain, "that disorder itself is something they tacitly permit, or even part of what they're observing."
"Classroom performance, everyday discipline, and so on may all be recorded by the cameras overhead and affect our Class Points."
"So our first priority is to follow classroom rules. We can't lose points over this."
As his words fell, the students sank into thought.
Kitagawa Kai spoke again:
"Second, I propose that, starting this month, Class B build up a shared reserve of points to deal with future risks."
"Specifically, after receiving their Personal Points, each student would voluntarily transfer a certain proportion-for example, half, or fifty thousand points-into a shared account."
"Personally, I think Ichinose is the most suitable person for the job."
The nomination left Ichinose briefly taken aback, and the whole class turned their eyes toward her.
The classroom was quiet for a moment, then-
"I trust Ichinose!" Shiranami Chihiro was the first to voice her support.
"If it's Ichinose, I have no problem with it!" another boy chimed in.
"Yeah, Ichinose has always been reliable!"
"I agree with the proposal..."
"Me too!"
Surrounded by her classmates' enthusiasm, Ichinose hurriedly waved her hands, trying to settle everyone down. "Thank you for trusting me, everyone. I'll do my best!"
Then she turned her gaze toward the boy at the lectern.
Kitagawa Kai gave a slight nod.
"Finally, we need to turn the information we've discovered into actual points."
"How do we turn information into points?" a student repeated quietly, a flicker of confusion in their eyes.
Kitagawa Kai laid out his reasoning clearly. "Take Class A. I've observed them, and they're very likely the strongest in terms of discipline and self-management as well."
"So they won't lose many points over classroom discipline."
He put forward an idea that made many people's eyelids twitch. "What if we took the initiative and sold this information to Class A?"
A faint stir ran through the classroom. Sell it to their competitors?
"But... wouldn't it be a bad idea to sell such important information to Class A?" Ichinose Honami voiced her doubts tentatively.
"Class A wouldn't lose many points over this in the first place. We, on the other hand, can earn points from them."
So that was it.
At that moment, another quick-thinking boy raised his hand to ask a question, pointing out another key risk. "Kitagawa-kun, I understand the idea. But if we sell the information to Class A and they turn around and sell it to Classes C and D, wouldn't we lose our information advantage for nothing?"
The question struck at the heart of the matter, and the classroom fell quiet again as everyone waited for Kitagawa Kai's answer.
"Our school has an item specifically for transactions: a Contract. We can sign an agreement forbidding resale, and any violation will be treated as a breach of contract."
"Isn't that right, Hoshinomiya-sensei?"
"Little Kitagawa is absolutely right~" She drew out her words, confirming Kitagawa Kai's statement.
Her confirmation brought a sigh of relief from the students in the classroom-at least this approach was viable.
Just then, Ichinose Honami stood up again.
Her earlier confusion and pressure seemed to have been replaced by a clearer resolve. She turned to Kitagawa Kai, her tone serious and earnest:
"Kitagawa-kun, about trading information with Class A..." She paused. "Please let me take part after school, too. I... I also want to do my part in this, for our class's future."
"All right." Kitagawa Kai's reply was brief and firm. "It really would be better to have you with us, Ichinose. Kanzaki, come along with us too."
"Yes!" Ichinose nodded emphatically, her face lighting up again. "I'll be ready!"
"Right." Kanzaki nodded in agreement.
[Ding!] [Ichinose Honami's Affection Level +10. Current Affection Level: 48 (friend)]
"Then it's settled."
He looked toward Hoshinomiya Chie beside the lectern. She was resting her chin in her hand, watching him with a smile.
"It looks like Class B's first class meeting has been quite productive." Hoshinomiya-sensei straightened up and lightly clapped her hands.