"Dinner was coming up soon, but I felt like I couldn't eat another bite."
Kushida Kikyo: "..."
I seriously didn't get it either. Hadn't they been arguing just moments ago? So why did they suddenly seem like such a couple?
"Ichinose, what do you think... Ichinose?"
She looked toward Karuizawa Kei, who was sitting diagonally across from her, only to find her staring dreamily in Hoshino En's direction.
Karuizawa Kei: "... Ah!"
"K-Kushida, what was the question? What's wrong?"
"Karuizawa, are you okay? You were spacing out just now."
Wang Meiyu asked with concern.
"I-I'm fine... I'm okay..."
She said that, but her gaze never left Hoshino En.
Even when someone's question forced her to look away for a moment, she quickly turned back toward him.
The other three: "..."
There was no way anyone could think she was fine.
If you really liked him, then go steal him away! Don't be afraid of Sakayanagi Arisu...
Wait, wasn't she the Chairman's daughter? She had a powerful background, so that made it tough...
So that was it. Karuizawa had thought of that, and that was why she was "bearing humiliation for the greater good"? How inspiring!
No, wait. Weren't we overlooking something important?
"Um, that 'Behavioral Norms Exam' you mentioned just now—what exactly is that? Our class hasn't received any notice about it."
Although Ichinose Honami was just as interested in Hoshino En, and had now also found herself interested in Karuizawa Kei, who was watching him, she quickly caught on to the key point.
"It's a Behavioral Norms Exam. How could they possibly announce it? The people being tested can only show their most genuine reactions when they're completely unaware of it. Otherwise, they'd just be putting on the same act."
Since Sakayanagi Arisu across from him wasn't stopping him, Hoshino En didn't bother hiding anything.
"But... that's still just your guess, isn't it? You have no proof that such an exam really exists."
"Then consider it my speculation. Do you have any other questions?"
"Of course. My second question: how did you arrive at the figure that 'first-years can only build a lead of up to 1,000 points during their first month'?"
Hoshino En didn't answer directly.
He took out his phone, opened the pictures he'd taken earlier of the notice boards in all three years, and showed them to Ichinose Honami.
"Look. These are pictures of the notice boards for all three years at our school. There's something displayed for the second- and third-years, but not for us first-years."
"Is this... Class Points?"
"That's right. I checked the convenience store earlier. It has monthly purchase limits on daily necessities and food, which means the school has already accounted for students having no Private Points to spend. So the monthly changes to our Private Points must follow a fixed, established rule."
"I suspect that the Private Points each student receives every month are linked to these Class Points. Most of the second- and third-year classes have between three and four digits' worth of Class Points, while all of us new students received the same amount during our first month: 100,000 Private Points. So I suspect the conversion rate between Private Points and Class Points is one hundred to one. In other words, each Class Point gives every student in that class 100 Private Points per month."
"If that assumption is correct, then we can work backward from the Private Points we received and figure that every first-year class started with the same number of Class Points: 1,000."
"But right now, the first-year Class Points aren't posted. Do you understand why?"
Ichinose Honami fell silent. The answer was actually simple, and Hoshino En hadn't tried to conceal it. She immediately made the connection.
"Because... we're in the middle of an exam, and the scores are changing every moment, so they can't be accurately posted. Right?"
"Correct!"
"Then my third question: why did you say the students in Class A were better than the students in Class B? If every class started with 1,000 points, shouldn't the classes have been assigned randomly? At most, the school might have made sure their overall abilities were about equal."
"That's just my personal judgment. I have no proof to back it up. Are you sure you want to hear it?"
"Of course."
After hearing Hoshino En's earlier analysis, Ichinose Honami was convinced of his abilities. If he'd come to that conclusion, he must have had a good reason.
As far as her class was concerned, she didn't want to believe such an unsubstantiated conclusion, just as she hadn't wanted to believe in the Behavioral Norms Exam.
But personally, she wanted to believe in him—the benefactor who had once reached out to her selflessly.
"My personal judgment is based on... temperament."
"Huh?"
The three students from Class D, who had been left out of the conversation: "... Huh?"
"I said earlier that after the class meeting, I toured all the first-year classrooms. That's when I saw what every class was like—"
"Class A may have split apart, but everyone is looking for a leader they can believe in. They have strong initiative, which is a hallmark of elites: they have clear goals and work steadily toward them instead of just following the crowd."
"Then there's Class B—your class. You've brought everyone together through your charisma, but because of that, they treat everything you say as gospel. They trust you completely and won't question your judgment. Even if you make a mistake, no one will correct you, and afterward, no one will even hold you responsible. That's where your class falls short of Class A."
"Next is Class C. I looked at them, and aside from a small handful, most of them are delinquents with little interest in studying. There's no way to bring them together through unity, because most of them are too stupid to understand reason. The only option is to use force and make anyone who resists submit. But that has its drawbacks. Their academic abilities aren't strong enough, so the school only needs to give them a few difficult written exams, and they'll naturally be weeded out. Classes A and B don't have that weakness."
"As for Class D... I can't really make sense of it. It's too chaotic. It has all kinds of people, and so far, there's no sign they'll ever come together."
The three students from Class D: You're in Class D yourself. Is it really okay for you to say that?
"I can confirm that Hoshino-kun's conclusions are accurate."
While Ichinose Honami was thinking it over, Sakayanagi Arisu added a few words.
"Hoshino-kun's conclusions are basically correct. The class placements are as he described: Class A is the best, and Class D is the worst. But aside from the Defective Products, Class D also has Flawed Products—people with a great deal of ability who were sent straight to Class D because of problems or blemishes in their past records."
"Like Hoshino-kun. With his ability, he should absolutely be in Class A. There aren't many people in our class who can measure up to him."
"But you..."
"I can confirm that my information is correct. Our Class A bought it from a teacher with points. It cost us a whole two million."
The Atmosphere Group: "..."
Well, if that was the case, there wasn't much they could say.
"And as for class competition, when we graduate, only students from Class A will graduate as Advanced Nurturing students and receive the right to pursue any higher education or employment they want. Students in other classes will graduate under the name of some other, ordinary high school."
The three students from Class D: "..."
Damn it, this school was such a rip-off! It was a scam!
"By the way, Hoshino-kun, I have another piece of information for you. It's about moving up a class."
After enjoying the shocked expressions on the faces of the little kittens beside her, Sakayanagi Arisu looked at Hoshino En and spoke as if trying to tempt him.
"Besides winning the class competition, there's another way to get into Class A: spend 20 million points of your own, and you can jump straight to any class you want."
"Hoshino-kun, would you like to? I can gather the points and pay for you."
She smiled adorably, making it hard to resist saying yes.
But Hoshino En wasn't the type to throw caution to the wind for a pretty face.
"Class A is a huge trap, so I'll pass. Besides, the school wouldn't have set things up this way unless it wanted to see the classes compete and everyone gradually improve under pressure. If you just buy capable students from other classes, they'll have no chance of competing with Class A."
"If the lower-ranked classes lose all hope of moving up, they'll give up. And if they stop wanting to move up, the students in Class A will slack off too. That wouldn't fit the school's requirements. They'll definitely find a way to prevent that from happening."
"I don't want to go against the school. It'd be a pain."
Sakayanagi Arisu froze for a moment at his words. It seemed she hadn't considered that possibility either.
"I'd like to say you might be overthinking it, but your reasoning does make sense."
"Looks like our only option is to fight each other. Heh heh~"
She was clearly getting excited.
Hoshino En: "..."
"If your class is still Class A by the time we reach our third year, then even if you don't give me any points, I'll save up enough to transfer to Class A."
"But I really didn't know about the thing you mentioned. As for why I think the way I do, though, that's another piece of information."
He turned his phone around and showed Sakayanagi Arisu the pictures he'd shown Ichinose Honami.
"Look closely. There's something strange about the Class Points for the second- and third-years."
[Second-Year Class A: 1,800 points]
[Second-Year Class B: 900 points]
[Second-Year Class C: 800 points]
[Second-Year Class D: 600 points]
[Third-Year Class A: 1,950 points]
[Third-Year Class B: 1,650 points]
[Third-Year Class C: 1,000 points]
[Third-Year Class D: 900 points]
Sakayanagi Arisu: "..."
"Compared with the third-years, the second-year scores are too neat, and the differences between them are strange too. It's almost as if someone were controlling them."
"Exactly. So I suspect the representative of Second-Year Class A may have taken control of the entire second year. Every exam is basically just a matter of distributing Class Points for him. But in that situation, the lower-ranked classes wouldn't have any motivation to compete for Class A, and Class A wouldn't have to think about how to deal with the other classes. The entire second year would make no progress over the next two years. In fact, they might even regress. That definitely wouldn't meet the school's requirements."
"So that senior from Second-Year Class A may have caught the school's attention for the feat of controlling an entire year. He may hold a high position in the Student Council and even have a shot at becoming its president someday. But he definitely won't be able to hold on to that position for long. The school will step in to deal with him."
"Besides, I saw three upperclassmen outside the convenience store at noon, picking on a hotheaded guy in our class. Third-years who were about to graduate in a year and were preparing for further education or employment wouldn't have the time or inclination to do something like that. They could only have been second-years."
"Now that the Behavioral Norms Exam is in effect, not only have the teachers been ordered to keep quiet, but the second- and third-years have been given a gag order too. Yet they still came to provoke us, and even let a little information slip."
"If they were willing to defy the order to do that, then it couldn't have been some sudden impulse to pick a fight. Someone else must have been behind it. In other words—"
"That second-year senior is no longer satisfied with controlling just his own year. He wants to reach out to the first-years too, right?"
Sakayanagi Arisu had figured out Hoshino En's reasoning and picked up where he left off.
But she showed no hint of alarm. Instead, she looked eager, as if she'd spotted her prey.
Hoshino En had seen a similar expression on her face before—when they'd run into each other in the Special Building and she'd realized he had once gathered information outside Class A's door. She'd looked at him with that same appraising gaze.
Hoshino En: "..."
He silently mourned that senior in advance.
First Semester of First Year:
Ichinose Honami had more or less figured out everything else, but one thing still baffled her. "Why tell us about the information your Class A bought with points?"
If Sakayanagi had kept quiet, Class A could have used its informational advantage to take the lead. No matter how badly she got along with the other leader in Class A, she wouldn't throw away her class's interests.
"You've got it wrong, Ichinose."
Sakayanagi Arisu's eyes never once settled on Ichinose Honami. She gazed at the coffee cup in front of her, watching the ripples caused by the vibrating caffeine, her face wearing an inscrutable smile.
"I didn't say anything. Hoshino-kun saw through the school's true nature and shared that information with your Class B. I just happened to be invited here by him, and happened to overhear his analysis of your class. Whether you know the truth or not has nothing to do with me."
"Besides..."
Sakayanagi Arisu looked at Hoshino En, her eyes curving into a smile as they met his clear gaze.
"More than the exam, what I want to know now is this: Hoshino-kun, why were you placed in Class D?"
"You already know. I have a dark past from middle school."
"If you can talk about your dark past yourself, then it's not really a dark past."
Hoshino En: "..."
He understood what she was getting at.
"You want to hear a story?"
You'd be better off doing something else with that time. That wasn't how you should waste it!
"Mm-hm."
She nodded quickly. Her playful gesture and adorable expression made her very alluring.
"Acting cute won't work. Now that I know you're a total sadist, who's going to keep thinking of you as a cute little girl?"
Before you continue