Entering Class D

At exactly 2:00 p.m., Mu Tianchen arrived at the designated location at the appointed time.

He had imagined how luxurious the school might be, but seeing it with his own eyes was still quite a shock.

The school stood on a man-made island. From a distance, its gates and buildings looked distinctly European and very impressive,

The roads were blanketed with fallen cherry blossoms, making it feel as though he were surrounded by a sea of flowers. Everywhere, upperclassmen could be seen laughing and horsing around, filling the campus with the brightness of youth.

Mu Tianchen went to the new student registration desk nearby and gave them his name. After checking his information, a staff member handed him a phone. It seemed the student ID was linked to the phone's system, and the information displayed on it could apparently be changed.

He took a look at the student ID:

Name: Mu Tianchen

Gender: Male

Class: Class 1-D

Points balance: 100,000

There was also a photo of Mu Tianchen in the upper-right corner.

The information was basic, but there was also a points balance. Thinking about it, the school had said that all tuition and other fees would be waived, so perhaps the points were some kind of currency.

But if one point was equivalent to one yen, wasn't that a little too much to spend in a month? Or was it a semester's living allowance? That seemed more reasonable.

Puzzled, Mu Tianchen left the registration desk and followed the directions on his phone to the classroom marked Class 1-D.

His seat was at the back of the classroom, in a corner, so it was easy enough to find. Ignoring the classmates who were making a racket and staring at him as he entered, he went straight over and sat down.

Once seated, Mu Tianchen took a quick look around the classroom. There were five rows and six columns, for a total of 30 seats. According to the enrollment figures he'd heard, there were 120 students, which meant they had been divided into four classes. He was in Class D.

He'd passed Class 1-B on his way over, so the four classes must be A, B, C, and D.

Were those just class names? Back in school, his teachers had used A, B, C, and D to distinguish the quality of students' homework. Maybe this was the same...

That meant his class was the worst one!

A big reason Mu Tianchen had reached that judgment was that his classmates looked like a bunch of troublemakers.

If he hadn't wanted to take a look around the classroom first, he wouldn't have bothered looking at them. Class B had been noisy too, but it was the first day, so that was normal enough. From outside their room, he'd heard friendly remarks about making friends and introducing themselves.

But Class D was clearly different. They were noisy too, but what spilled out of the classroom was unmistakably dirty jokes, accompanied every so often by sleazy laughter. There was no way this class could be any good.

There was no comparison without contrast!

Fortunately, Mu Tianchen had noticed that the three sleazy guys loudly discussing dirty jokes were seated far away from him. He wouldn't have to deal with them much.

However, the blond guy seated next to him also looked like no good—

At that moment, he had his legs up on the desk and was using a mirror to comb his "beautiful hair."

Every so often, he'd say things like, "How can there be such a beautiful man? Such a perfect being?" He didn't care at all that the girls around him were looking at him with disgust.

He had a pretty good build, with well-defined muscles that showed he worked out regularly. His face was decent enough, but he was way too full of himself—and didn't even bother to watch how he presented himself.

What kind of weirdo had he ended up sitting next to? Mu Tianchen couldn't help complaining to himself.

I'll just call him Beauty Bro. Mu Tianchen silently gave him a rather fitting nickname.

"Had enough, Boy?"

"...Huh? What's wrong, Beauty—no, I mean..."

The blond guy suddenly turned toward him and spoke. Mu Tianchen didn't react in time and almost gave himself away. But when Mu Tianchen had been looking at him, he'd seemed completely absorbed in combing his hair. Could he use psychic powers or something?

Though Mu Tianchen could tell that there was something unusual about him.

"Nothing. Looks like you're another one conquered by my beauty. Hahaha!" After laughing, the blond guy turned away again, took out his mirror, and started filing his nails.

Mu Tianchen: "..."

A little later, a woman who looked like a teacher walked into the classroom.

She went straight to the front and stood at the podium.

Following his classmates' gazes, Mu Tianchen spotted the woman standing there.

She wore a fairly formal black suit and had her black hair tied in a long braid. She looked young and reasonably pretty, but also gave off a steady, stern air that made her seem unapproachable.

Once the classroom had quieted down, she introduced herself:

"My name is Chabashira Sae. Starting today, I'll be your homeroom teacher, and I'll also be teaching your history class. You'll stay in the same class for all three years here. Unless something unexpected happens, I'll be with you for the next three years. I look forward to working with you.

"Also, the opening ceremony will be held at the school's athletic field in two hours. I'll now hand out some materials about the basic rules of this school."

After speaking, Teacher Chazhu called on a few students in the front row to distribute the materials that had been placed beneath the podium.

Mu Tianchen looked through the materials. He had to admit that the school offered far more than he'd expected.

The school covered around 600,000 square meters, nearly the size of a small county in China.

On top of that, besides providing the basics for studying and daily life, the school also had karaoke rooms, a movie theater, cafés, clothing stores, arcades, and other facilities. Students could relax and enjoy themselves whenever they had a break from studying.

Each student also had a private dorm room.

Though they couldn't leave for the three years they were here, how was this any different from living outside, given how good the facilities were?

No wonder the school had money to burn! Mu Tianchen couldn't help marveling to himself.

"Oh, right. The phones and student IDs I gave you earlier are linked to the school's S System. The points shown on them are equivalent to yen: one point equals one yen.

"It's easy to use, and the handbook explains how. Also, the school will give you points every month. There's nothing in this school that you can't buy with points!"

Teacher Chazhu seemed to have suddenly remembered something and explained how to use the student IDs and phones.

As soon as she said that, most of the students erupted into excited chatter. They'd been puzzled by the points balance on their student IDs, and now that they knew what it meant, they couldn't help marveling at the school's generosity.

After all, a hundred thousand points was a huge sum for a high school student. Most high schoolers only got a few thousand yen for monthly expenses. This was more than enough to buy the expensive things they'd always wanted but could never afford.

Mu Tianchen wasn't particularly surprised. He'd already considered the possibility, and on closer thought, something about it still seemed off.

Who in the world would give out something this good? Even if someone did, it wouldn't happen to him. Mu Tianchen knew better than to get his hopes up. Perhaps this was just the calm before the storm.

Still, Teacher Chazhu's last sentence had caught his attention. There's nothing in this school you can't buy with points? Interesting!

"Teacher, can we really use this many points? Won't there be some kind of catch?"

A boy sitting in the middle of the classroom raised his hand and asked. It made sense, after all. Suddenly giving them so much was like winning the lottery jackpot; anyone would be suspicious.

Teacher Chazhu immediately put his worries to rest.

"This school evaluates people based on their abilities. The school gave you so many points because it recognizes your abilities, so feel free to spend them."

Teacher Chazhu's words made Mu Tianchen uneasy. What kind of teacher would encourage students to spend freely?

This was obviously a trap. She'd also said that there was nothing in the school that points couldn't buy.

If they spent all their points right away, then couldn't pay when they needed to use points, wouldn't that be disastrous?

Besides, Teacher Chazhu had said they'd receive points every month, but hadn't specified how many they'd get the following month. That made Mu Tianchen uneasy too.

"Does anyone else have any questions?" Teacher Chazhu looked around the classroom, checking to see if anyone else wanted to raise their hand.

Mu Tianchen still had questions, but he didn't want to ask them now. Speaking up at this point would draw attention to him, and he didn't want to make a strong impression on his classmates right from the start.

After waiting a while and seeing that nobody raised a hand, Teacher Chazhu said, "If there are no questions, then we'll leave it at that. I hope you have a wonderful school life, and don't forget to attend the opening ceremony later."

With that, Teacher Chazhu left without changing her expression. As soon as she was gone, the students started chattering again.

Most of them gathered in groups, planning where to go after school to buy luxury goods or which big entertainment venues to visit. After all, they'd get points every month, so why not treat themselves?

Mu Tianchen found their talk boring and rested his head on his desk. He didn't want to join them in discussing that sort of thing. He'd be better off saving his points—and it would be even better if he could earn some.

The handbook also mentioned that students could transfer personal points to one another. That meant there had to be ways to earn points!

He'd already thought of a few, but for now, it was better to gather more information...