"Now, what I'm about to tell you is important. Each class has something called Class Points, and right now every class has 1,000 points. Here's a little tip for you to remember: if another class surpasses you in Class Points, your class will be replaced."
Teacher Hoshinomiya paused, then continued:
"It's a bit like a promotion and relegation system. Suppose your class has fewer Class Points than Class D. Then the original Class B would drop to Class C, and Class D would move up to Class B. Right now, classes are ranked by their overall evaluations. At least before you enrolled, your evaluations were higher than those of the students in Classes C and D. But that doesn't mean things will stay that way. So pay attention. You absolutely mustn't let that happen."
For some reason, I felt like there was a hidden meaning behind her final words.
"So how do Class Points go up or down?"
I asked.
At once, I felt a lot of eyes fall on me. Had I asked what everyone wanted to know but was afraid to ask?
"That's handled by people from the school administration, so even I don't know. Maybe you'll have to figure it out yourselves."
I skimmed through the handouts. Aside from some basic information, they went into detail about various school rules: no changing classes for three years, mandatory boarding for three years, no contact with the outside world, and so on.
"All purchases on campus are made using something called Personal Points. Personal Points are automatically deposited into everyone's accounts on the first of each month. This month, you've each received a full 100,000 points! That's like every one of you starting school with 100,000 yen in spending money. And at this school, there's nothing you can't buy with points, so I hope you'll plan your spending wisely."
"Oh, and if you don't think you need your Personal Points, you can transfer them to someone else. But don't break the school's rules just to get more points, okay? You're all going to be living together, so try to get along."
Of course, the teacher had also mentioned the most important kind: S Points.
S Points were assigned to classes. As Teacher Hoshinomiya had just stressed, every class started with 1,000 Class Points.
This month, we'd also been given 100,000 Personal Points. Any way you looked at it, that seemed a bit excessive.
Heaven didn't just drop free gifts into your lap. If we were enjoying the school's superb facilities, then surely we'd have to offer something the administration considered equal in value.
What could it be...?
At the most basic level, a school's purpose was to educate students and nurture talent.
And since this school had government backing, I could set aside any negative assumptions for the moment and try to look at things more optimistically.
Whether it was the "nearly 100% advancement and employment rate" they'd mentioned at enrollment, or the 100,000 yen in spending money they'd given every student in the form of Personal Points as soon as we arrived, that was an awfully large allowance for someone our age.
I couldn't help wondering:
Could high school students really spend that much however they wanted?
But if the school's only goal was to nurture talent, there was no need to let students blow 100,000 yen every month.
Could this really be nothing more than a student paradise?
If each person could freely spend 100,000 points, then the school would need 48 million a month just for the three grades—100,000 times 40 students times four classes times three grades. And that didn't even include the construction and operation of the shopping district or staff salaries.
After all, the school was the one issuing the Personal Points to students. That meant that even if the shopping district made a profit, its income would only be the points the school itself had handed out.
And yet the food, drinks, clothes, and cosmetics in the shops were all equivalent to the goods sold outside the school.
It only made this feel more like a cool sea breeze, lulling us into carefree comfort before a tsunami hit.
There was also what Hoshinomiya had just said: if we didn't think we needed our Personal Points, we could transfer them to someone else.
The more I turned those words over in my mind, the more they seemed to imply something.
"Does anyone have any more questions? If you do, don't be shy. I'll do my best to answer them."
Teacher Hoshinomiya gazed around encouragingly and asked with a sweet smile.
The students around me began whispering to one another, but most of what I heard was excited talk about getting an allowance and what they wanted to buy.
At our age, getting an unexpected sum of money would naturally be hard to take in stride.
Ichinose thought for a moment, then raised her hand.
"Teacher, will the Personal Points the school provides arrive on the first of every month, and will they always stay at 100,000 points?"
Teacher Hoshinomiya touched her cheek and smiled.
"Everyone is treated equally. The points arrive on the first day of the month, and nobody gets special treatment. Put it this way: getting into this school is no easy feat. It's only natural that you'd receive better treatment than students at other schools. You could say this is the administration's way of recognizing your achievements."
She hadn't addressed the main point of the question at all, yet she still sounded so considerate.
Ichinose didn't seem very satisfied with that answer and was about to press her.
I gently tugged at the hand hanging by her side.
Interrupted, she looked down at me, puzzled.
I shook my head slightly and drew her back into her seat.
She spoke softly.
"Why can high school students spend this much on an allowance? Is it really the way the teacher said?"
"Any way you look at it, it's hard to believe."
I let go of her hand.
"Teacher Hoshinomiya has already given us a lot of help. She even told us everything about things that weren't in the handbook, like Class Points. She's probably under some pressure herself for telling us more than she was supposed to."
"You can understand how she feels, can't you, Ichinose?"
Ichinose rested her chin on her hand and nodded.
"That's true. I really need to change the way I feel about getting something without working for it."
"If you can, try to keep your spending down a little. None of us knows what might happen later."
Ichinose sat quietly for a while, apparently thinking about something.
"Hajima, you're surprisingly calm and levelheaded. We're the same age, after all."
"Didn't you notice it too, Ichinose? If everyone calms down and thinks about it, they can figure this kind of thing out."
Ichinose chuckled softly and didn't say anything more.
The questions that followed were mostly about everyday matters. I looked around the class and couldn't help wondering if I was overthinking things.
I could only say that the atmosphere on the first day felt a little strange. But school had only just started, so there was no need to jump to conclusions.
Before you continue