Decryption of the Rules

Star Color fell into a mental storm.

First of all, Tamiya had invited him to the library, and then she brought along a complete stranger girl... wasn't that a bit much? But the kid in front of him was so cute... if he refused, it would make him seem too cold-hearted. Damn it.

Star Color's wisdom told him: take both. You are both my wings, dammit!

"Uh... okay."

Blushing, he scratched his cheek and somehow agreed.

They found a quiet spot and sat down.

Tamiya held two books in her hands: Pepper Child and Fox's Windowsill. Her eyes carried a hint of confusion as she looked at Shiina Hiyori, who was sitting across from Star Color.

Star Color whispered helplessly.

"Um... this is Shiina from Class C. She just helped me reach a book from the high shelf... one I couldn't get. We just met..."

Star Color was extremely awkward right now. This was practically a three-person date. He had to say something to lighten the mood... He racked his brain desperately, but nothing came to mind. His CPU was on the verge of burning out.

"Um, hello. I'm Shiina Hiyori from Class 1-C. I just got acquainted with Otonashi. Do you mind if I sit with you?"

"Yeah, no problem. I'm Tamiya Emi, same class as Star Color, Class 1-A. Greetings, Shiina."

Star Color just watched them exchange pleasantries. Such an aristocratic atmosphere. A gloomy rat like him actually getting to know two young ladies—it was truly unsettling.

Tamiya sat down next to Star Color.

He caught a flicker in Tamiya Emi's eyes. Was it unease? Or had his clumsy actions caused the young ladies' awkwardness?

Star Color decided he absolutely had to read some books about social distance and how to maintain friendships with women in the future.

The three of them sat in silence. Shiina was reading the mystery novel Star Color had recommended, A Bellflower.

After a while, Star Color broke the silence.

"Um... Shiina, I have a question."

"Huh? What question? Go ahead."

"Did your class receive 100,000 points in personal points?"

"Yeah, that's right. Why?"

Star Color thought for a moment, then pulled out his phone and showed the rules Teacher Majima had explained that morning about the school's personal point system.

"Did your homeroom teacher say something like this too?"

Star Color handed his phone over for Hiyori to look at.

Hiyori read it carefully, then nodded.

"More or less the same."

"I see. So that's how it is..."

"What's wrong?"

Tamiya looked at Star Color, puzzled.

"This school is using the pleasure of money to blind the students' eyes."

Tamiya Emi and Shiina Hiyori both looked at Star Color.

"The store provides students with free goods for minimum living needs. The cafeteria offers free vegetable set meals. And at lunch, some upperclassmen eat those vegetable set meals while staring enviously at the new students. You've both noticed something unreasonable about this, haven't you?"

"What do you mean?"

Tamiya Emi asked first.

"It's early April now. If 100,000 points are distributed every month, there's no reason to eat vegetable set meals. So what could cause this situation?"

Tamiya Emi and Shiina Hiyori caught on.

"The points distributed each month aren't fixed."

They both answered in unison.

"Exactly. Those teachers use vague or even omitted key information to trap us in a thinking bias. Humans are animals that self-censor or fill in irrational information. Students are divided into grades. Every class got 100,000 points. If Class C also got 100,000, then Class B and Class D definitely got 100,000 too. Individual differences don't reflect the value of points. Think carefully about that key phrase the teacher said."

Points represent [our] evaluation.

Shiina Hiyori was the first to react.

"Maybe our points are tied to the class."

"Right. The teachers probably hid the class information. Most class competition education systems evaluate based on class grades and class discipline. We started as a blank test paper. The school defaulted each class's starting score as 100, but students write different answers on the paper, which causes deductions. That should make it easier to understand."

"Unlike elite individual competition in private education. The class competition system binds everyone in a class together—one rises, all rise; one falls, all fall. Are you trying to say the school uses this system, Star Color?"

Tamiya Emi asked.

"Yeah, exactly."

Shiina Hiyori was also puzzled.

"I followed the logic about points and the education system. But what did Otonashi mean earlier when he said the school uses money to blind the students?"

"An ordinary student gets 100,000 points, lives in this simulated small society with a free environment, and loses supervision. This surface-level display of luxury and indulgence easily makes some people forget a student's true duty."

At this moment, Shiina Hiyori looked at Star Color with a hint of admiration in her eyes.

Tamiya Emi, meanwhile, was surprised by the deductive ability Star Color had displayed. She hadn't thought about it from that angle, but the inconsistencies he pointed out did seem to be explained clearly.

Star Color didn't notice the intense gazes of the two girls and kept rambling.

"Class competition is a bloody marathon. If you don't take it seriously, it's fine. But if you do, it's all scheming and backstabbing. Kinda scary, isn't it? Raising monsters in a jar, this school."

When he finally noticed both girls staring at him, he realized he'd said too much and started laughing it off.

"Of course~ all of that was just speculation, personal reasoning. Don't take it seriously."

Star Color's serious expression suddenly relaxed, and he showed a calm smile.

Tamiya absorbed Star Color's reasoning.

"So that means every class is actually competing against each other. Different classes are enemies in a sense, right? Star Color."

"Huh? Enemies is going a bit far, it's just reasoning after all~. For entertainment only, don't take it to heart."

Star Color looked at Tamiya Emi, and her gaze softened slightly as it fell on him.

"No, rather... Otonashi's logic isn't really flawed."

"Maybe that's the correct answer after all."

Shiina Hiyori stared at Star Color, as if trying to pry something out of him.

Both girls' gazes were fixed on Star Color, making him feel uneasy.

"Um... read your books, stop looking at me, I'm getting shy!"

After saying goodbye to Shiina, Star Color and Tamiya Emi left the library.

Star Color was carrying the manga he'd borrowed from the library, Alice in Borderland.

The two strolled through the school's shopping street.

The sun was setting, dyeing the sky blood-red. The overwhelming presence of the sunset, the twilight illuminating everything in the school as if it were all burning.

He inadvertently thought of an acquaintance he'd observed while studying the occult, someone who had murmured a poem about crows in his dreams.

[A crow perched at the highest point of the city, cursing it.]

[It stays there no matter what, motionless, watching the city's destruction.]

[--What a joyful, ecstatic delight.]

"What's wrong?"

Tamiya noticed that the rainbow in Star Color's purple pupils had dimmed, crowded with hard-to-touch, hard-to-detect, indescribable emotions.

"Nothing..."

He replied weakly, and then the rainbow returned to that beautiful bright purple, like a color from the stars.

"Hey, what's that shop?"

Tamiya Emi pointed over there. Star Color turned his head and smiled.

"A Pachinko parlor."

"Pachinko? Those pinball machines?"

"Yeah."

"From a children's toy to a tool for gambling and making money, it brought unexpected tax revenue to Japanese society, so they just let it be. It's completely a tool that poisons people."

Tamiya Emi showed disgust and aversion toward such places.

"Do you hate gambling, Tamiya?"

"Yeah, I hate it the most."

The school's handbook listed many prohibited items. Students weren't allowed to buy contraband like 'cigarettes' or 'alcohol'. Those were only for the faculty and staff. The Pachinko parlor in front of them was naturally banned by the school too. No matter how old you were, if you used a 'student ID card', the staff would refuse you entry.

(In Japan, smoking and drinking are prohibited under 20, while the age for participating in horse racing, boat racing, and Pachinko is 18.)

Inside the shop were all kinds of workers: security guards, repair and logistics staff, cleaners. Faculty probably weren't there, since they had to maintain their teacher image~.

"Let's go, walk somewhere else."

"Sure~."

Star Color had already thought of a good way to earn points.