Special Features

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka never imagined that the first gift he'd received from a friend would be a puppy—and a live one, at that.

He was completely stunned. He even subconsciously stroked the puppy's head, wondering if this was what a friend's gift was supposed to be. Should he give something in return? Was that how friends were supposed to act?

"Thank you."

Those two short words were enough to satisfy Beihai. They proved the other boy had accepted the gift, and as long as he accepted it, he'd have no reason to come looking for Beihai again.

"No need, no need. As long as you like it."

Beihai was very generous. He waved a hand and settled the matter.

The timing worked out perfectly, and the two of them headed to class together with their backpacks. But just as they reached the classroom door, a voice came from behind them.

"Beihai, today's May 1."

"Huh?"

Beihai instinctively turned and answered. Then he understood: May 1 meant the school's bizarre rules were about to take effect. The students were about to learn just how cruel those so-called rules were!

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka was waiting for Beihai's answer. He knew that Beihai was much like him.

They were both willing to use whatever means necessary when the situation called for it, and to sever every connection. It was precisely because they were alike that they were drawn to each other.

"If you want to advance, this is the time to show what you can do. If you don't, then just keep your head down."

Beihai felt no qualms whatsoever. The school's absurdity and its rules were impossible to justify. There was no point trying to convince himself otherwise.

Who knew what they were thinking, coming up with so many cruel rules and gradually stripping ordinary students of every admirable quality, all in the name of building strength? Then they let people get away with anything and cross every line.

After three years, they still might not graduate from Class A. They'd have fallen behind in their studies and gone home like a demon king newly descended upon the world.

You'd think they were choosing a savior or training spies. But then anyone in the know would take a look and realize it was all for the sake of getting into a good school. Wasn't that just pure torment?

No parent with a shred of common sense would recommend this school to their child.

More importantly, his Mind Sharing was linked to Honami Ichinose in Class B. That meant he would keep helping her.

So even if the emotionless person behind him wanted to lead Class D to the top, Beihai would stop him by any means necessary and protect Honami Ichinose in Class B.

Now Class D had finally fallen silent. Even the three idiots who were usually the loudest sat quietly at their desks, tapping away on their Terminals as if refreshing something.

When Beihai entered the classroom, no one even looked his way.

Seeing the situation, Beihai immediately lowered his head and put on a dejected expression.

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka followed him into the classroom. The whole room was weighed down by gloom. At that moment, someone raised their head and looked his way, apparently drawing a little attention.

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka acted at once, lowering his head like Beihai and letting out a deliberately melancholy sigh. His performance was even more exaggerated than Beihai's.

Those who noticed them stopped paying attention.

The two sat at their respective desks and waited for the final result—and for Class D's homeroom teacher.

Sae Chabashira arrived about a minute after the two of them entered the classroom. She walked in, saw the sorry state of the class, and couldn't help giving a scornful laugh.

But with the homeroom teacher there, the class had its backbone again. One student raised his hand with a show of reluctance, stood up, and began asking questions.

"Chabashira-sensei, this month's points haven't been added to our accounts. Didn't you say they'd be deposited on the first of every month?"

Sae Chabashira folded her arms, clearly unconvinced by what he'd said.

She didn't answer his question. Instead, she picked up a piece of chalk and wrote A, B, C, and D on the blackboard, adding a number next to each one.

A, 960

B, 890

C, 560

D, 0

There was no doubt about it: those were the Class Points. Class A had enjoyed a very peaceful month. Nothing had affected them, and they'd responded as soon as they got the information. It was only natural for them to have that many points.

Class B had it rough. If Honami Ichinose had gone to Beihai as soon as Class C started harassing her, their score wouldn't have been like this.

After all, Class B had been the first to learn about these rules.

Class C inevitably lost some points through violence, but they hid it whenever they could, and they'd also clashed with Class B.

Their objective was clear, too. They knew Class B might have information, but they hadn't managed to get it out of them. Still, as long as Long Yuanxiang wasn't an idiot, he'd know that if he couldn't get anything out of them, he could just copy what Classes A and B were doing. Surely he could manage that.

If he dared to target the other classes, he'd naturally keep an eye on them as well.

Seeing the two classes above them behaving so well, if he kept causing trouble, wouldn't he look like a clown, competing with Class D to see who could do worse?

Sae Chabashira's expression was grim. This year, all three other classes were full of people who were hard to handle. By comparison, her own class was a bunch of good-for-nothings.

So her words naturally came out sharp.

"Points? Haven't they already been added to your account? Everyone's points for this month have been deposited."

Only then did Sae Chabashira finally reveal everything she'd been holding in for the past month.

It was a small play on words—though it could hardly even be called that. A real word game was something like the difference between a deposit and a down payment, or a signature written in ink that vanished afterward.

This was just a matter of something left unsaid, and a whole group of people had been fooled.

The truth about this school was that only Class A could get everything it wanted from the Special Exam held every month.

From the moment they entered the school, they'd already been subject to its rules of conduct. Their test results had been a complete mess, and all their points had been deducted.

To move up, they needed to earn Class Points, and Class Points were tied to their personal point system. In other words, if they wanted the means to get by, they'd be forced to fight!

The month of unrestrained revelry for the whole class had finally come to an end. Faced with such a cruel truth, they erupted like a bomb had gone off.

Watching the whole class go wild, Beihai mourned the poor students for three seconds. He couldn't spare any more time, because he needed to study.

While everyone else groaned in misery, Beihai was working on a reading comprehension assignment.

But the teacher at the front of the room wasn't finished yet.

"You think that's the end of it? To be honest, there's something else happening around this time this month. You'll be taking a real exam. If you fail, you'll be expelled.

"And judging by your grades and your placement test results—hmph—they were a complete disaster last month. If you keep getting results like that, I expect quite a few of you will be expelled."

Just as Beihai had guessed, even if this class really managed to reach Class A, the businesses and the school would want to see what they were made of. They couldn't very well let some idiot rise to the top.

That was why they held these exams: to weed out the dead weight. Truly a feature of the Slack. It was widely remembered how much this particular feature had been criticized.