An Interesting Class, Takahashi Watching the Show

The plum rain outside the window tapped against the glass, and the grade report and point statement taped to the blackboard looked like a festering wound. The boys in the failing group slumped in their seats; the hothead who had been arguing with Takagahara was now staring blankly into space, and most of the other students were likewise glued to their phone screens.

At the start of the term, everyone had been given one hundred thousand points. Now, over half of the accounts had balances under five digits.

"If we don't have any points, how are we supposed to get through this month?"

Someone said it, breaking the brief calm in the classroom.

"I've only got two thousand points right now. How am I supposed to survive this month on two thousand points?"

"I had twenty thousand until yesterday. I blew it all because I thought today we'd get our new points."

The classroom was a mess of noise—almost chaotic.

Thump. Yukimura slammed his fists on the desk, as if talking to himself. "What a joke. Forget the points—I want to know why I was assigned to Class D."

Hirata Yosuke stood in front of the podium, his fingers unconsciously fidgeting with his uniform buttons—clearly, even he was at a loss facing this scene. "Everyone, don't panic yet," he said, his voice as gentle as ever. "I understand how you all feel, but first, let's calm down."

"Calm down? Who's going to accept being called useless and worthless? And if we're really being graded by class points, why was I put in Class D? I can't accept this!" Yukimura, who had stepped forward, vented all his frustration at Hirata.

"Yukimura-kun, I understand how you feel. But there's no need to take it out on me."

"Stop playing the good guy!" Yukimura suddenly lunged at Hirata, grabbing him by the collar. "You're not satisfied being stuck here either, are you? Isn't it exhausting playing 'gentle class rep' every day? In the end, we'll all be ground to dust by the point system anyway."

"Both of you, calm down. I think... I think the teacher was so strict because she wants us to improve," Kushida said, stepping between them to separate them. "And besides, we've only been in school for a month. This month might be tough, and we might have to rely on the free vegetable set meals in the cafeteria, but if we do well this month and earn class points, then next month we'll have personal points. So right now, we should all work together to raise our class points. I... am I right?"

Kushida's words doused most of the fire in the two boys' hearts and calmed the rest of the class.

"Sorry, I just now..." Yukimura spoke first.

"It's fine. I had some issues too." Hirata patted Yukimura's shoulder, signaling he didn't mind.

Ding! Takahashi pulled out his phone. The custom-made lottery he'd ordered from a handicraft shop was ready—he just needed to pick it up after school.

"Everyone, before class starts, I hope you'll let me say a few words." After a brief discussion with Kushida, the two pillars of the class, Hirata spoke from the podium.

"As you all know now, we have zero class points, which means we have zero personal points. None of you want to live without any personal points until graduation, right?"

He looked around at the class and continued:

"So, to earn points next month, we need to work together this month. Eliminate all rule-breaking behavior. I hope everyone can keep an eye on each other and make sure no one is late, no one skips class, no one sleeps in class..."

Hirata's words won approval from most of the class—but not all.

"Heh, why should we listen to you? We don't even know how points increase. What if we go a whole month without breaking any rules and the points still don't go up? Then there's no point in forcing ourselves to follow the rules."

Takahashi looked at the speaker, Sudo, and thought to himself: In the current state of the class, the smart move is to go with the flow. If you attack the fragile unity they've barely managed to build, you'll become a target. If they fail this month, even if you did nothing, they'll still blame you—they'll always find a scapegoat for their own failure. And besides... tsk, even at this point, he still hasn't figured out that points are tied to behavior. That's why the teachers don't care how we act in class. What a complete moron. I'll have to watch him from now on—he's too easy for other classes to exploit.