Time slipped quietly into May. It should have been the season when the cherry blossoms had fallen and fresh greenery flourished, but the atmosphere in Class 1-D at Advanced Nurturing High School was shrouded in an invisible gloom, suffocatingly oppressive. On the morning of May 1, the classroom had lost its usual bustle, and an anxious, restless heaviness hung in the air.
"Hey, the points... they haven't been issued yet, have they?" Kanji Ike's voice, laced with irritation, broke the silence.
"Yeah, not a peep." Yamauchi Haruki chimed in, his fingers tapping unconsciously on his desk.
"Could it really be like the rumors say, and Class D won't get a single point this month?" Ken Sudō's voice carried disbelief and a hint of panic.
"No way! The school has to give us enough for basic living expenses, right?" Karuizawa Kei frowned. Her tone was firm, but her eyes betrayed her worry.
"But the rules did say that if Class Points hit zero, individual points would stop being issued too..." Yukimura Teruhiko pushed up his glasses and calmly stated the brutal truth.
The discussion spread through the classroom like water hitting hot oil. Anxiety, complaints, speculation, even panic quickly took hold among the students of Class D. Hirata Yosuke tried to calm everyone down. "Everyone, please stay calm. There's no point speculating before our homeroom teacher explains things." But his voice was soon swallowed by the rising din.
At the heart of the swirling chaos, Kazama In sat quietly in his seat. Beneath his neatly parted black hair, his calm features were as still as a deep well. The streaks of silver-white and dark red at his temple stood out in the morning light streaming through the window, adding an eerie, mysterious quality to his refined, icy profile. His fingertips idly glided over his phone screen, which clearly displayed his personal point balance: 1,022,360 points. In Class D, where their points might soon be reduced to zero, that figure was nothing short of a dazzling mountain of gold.
He wasn't deliberately showing off, but neither was he making any effort to hide it. He adjusted his phone slightly, ensuring that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, seated behind him, and Horikita Suzune, beside Ayanokoji, could clearly see the astonishing number if they paid even a little attention. He needed to test them—to see how these two "abnormalities," so out of place in Class D, would react and handle the information.
Sure enough.
When Horikita Suzune glanced past Kazama In's back once more, her eyes accidentally caught the long string of dizzying digits on his phone screen. Her cool, phoenix-shaped eyes widened instantly, her pupils shrinking with shock. Though her will was far stronger than that of her peers, even she was shaken by the enormous sum, so far beyond anything reasonable.
"Kazama...!?" A brief, disbelieving gasp escaped her lips before she could stop it.
It wasn't loud, but in the anxious atmosphere of the classroom, it was like a pebble thrown into a still lake. A small circle of students nearby immediately took notice. Ike, Yamauchi, Sudō, and the others followed Horikita Suzune's stunned gaze to Kazama In... and the still-lit phone in his hand!
By chance, Wang Xiaomei, the girl seated in front of Kazama In, had a clear view of the number. She sucked in a sharp breath and whispered, her voice trembling with shock:
"Th-that's over a million points?! Kazama-kun?! Your points?!"
Though her voice was quiet, the whole class heard her.
"What?!"
"A million?!"
"You've got to be kidding!"
"How is that possible?!"
Like a fuse setting off a powder keg, all of Class D erupted! Everyone forgot their earlier worries about the class points. Every gaze—shocked, greedy, jealous, disbelieving—focused on Kazama In like a spotlight. The uproar was nearly enough to lift the roof.
"No way! How could anyone in Class D have that many points?!"
"Cheating! He must've cheated!"
"Kazama! What did you do?"
"Explain yourself!"
Ken Sudō slammed his hands on the desk and sprang to his feet, glaring at Kazama In. Kanji Ike and Yamauchi Haruki crowded around his desk, staring fixedly at his phone as if they needed to make sure the number wasn't an illusion. Even Hirata Yosuke was completely stunned, unable to make sense of what he was seeing. Karuizawa Kei's expression was complicated; along with her shock, there was an inquiring look she couldn't quite hide.
Just as the chaos threatened to spiral out of control—
"Bang!"
The classroom door was shoved open.
Chabashira Sae strode in, her face expressionless. Her heels clicked sharply and coldly against the floor, instantly drowning out the commotion. Her keen gaze swept across the room like a scalpel before settling precisely on the eye of the storm: Kazama In, who remained almost indifferently calm despite the entire class's doubts and uproar.
The classroom fell silent at once, leaving only the sound of heavy breathing. Everyone's tense gazes darted between their homeroom teacher and Kazama In.
Chabashira Sae walked to the podium and braced both hands against it, leaning forward slightly. She didn't begin the homeroom meeting right away. Instead, she fixed her eyes on Kazama In and spoke in a penetrating voice tinged with complicated scrutiny:
"What's all the noise about?" Her voice was not loud, but it carried unquestionable authority. "The matter of points will be explained during the homeroom meeting. As for Kazama In's personal points..." She paused, her gaze lingering longer on his unruffled face, as though assessing a troublesome weapon. "That's his personal business. Since the school hasn't judged him to have violated any rules, he obtained them legitimately."
Her words doused some of the accusations of "cheating," but even greater confusion and dissatisfaction continued to churn in everyone's minds. Why him? How?
Chabashira Sae's gaze swept across the class, pausing briefly on Horikita Suzune, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, Hirata Yosuke, and a few others before returning to Kazama In. Then she added, pointedly, her voice carrying a hint of hidden meaning: "Complaining and questioning won't get Class D anywhere. If you want to climb higher, you need someone who can see through the rules and has the ability to use them. Kazama... is clearly one of those people."
Her words exploded like a bomb dropped into deep water! Their homeroom teacher had openly acknowledged Kazama In's value—and hinted that he had "seen through the rules"? The rules of the S System?!
"See through the rules?" Horikita Suzune latched onto the phrase, her gaze growing even sharper and more complex as she looked at Kazama In.
Kazama In finally moved. He slowly put away his phone and calmly stood, meeting the entire class's suspicious, jealous, and curious stares. His movements were unhurried, as if all the commotion around him had nothing to do with him.
"Chabashira-sensei is right." Kazama In's voice was low and clear, carrying to every student. "Points are the foundation of everything here. The rules are exactly as they are: strength comes first, and everything is an exchange."
He openly acknowledged the importance of points and laid out the core logic of the school. His calm attitude, in turn, helped some of the more agitated students settle down.
"As for where my points came from..." Kazama In's gaze swept over Sudō, Ike, Yamauchi, and the others who had been most vocal in their doubts, then settled on Koenji Rokusuke in the corner of the classroom. He seemed entirely removed from the situation, leisurely admiring his own fingernails. "Koenji."
At the sound of his name, Koenji Rokusuke raised an eyebrow and finally deigned to look away from his perfect nails. His golden eyes, glittering with an almost inhuman light, turned to Kazama In with interest.
"Beautiful Koenji," Kazama In said, using a teasing nickname that Koenji didn't seem to mind. "As I recall, the day before yesterday, you happened to pass by the entrance to the Kendo Club dojo while pursuing 'beauty,' didn't you? Could you explain to our classmates what you saw?"
At this, Koenji Rokusuke's lips curled into a splendidly self-satisfied smile. He stood up gracefully and stretched like a model, his voice rising in his signature theatrical lilt. "Oh, my, my~ Kazama-kun speaks the truth. The pursuit of beauty is our eternal mission. At the time, I was immersed in the geometric aesthetics created by the interplay of light and shadow in the hallway. Then I was drawn, quite against my will, by a sound filled with strength and rhythm, and found myself outside the Kendo Club."
He surveyed the room, his gaze carrying the lofty scrutiny of someone assessing whether these "mere mortals" deserved to hear his account. "Within that sacred hall, steeped in the spirit of martial arts, I witnessed a contest worthy of being called art. Kazama-kun, like a lone wolf beneath the moon, engaged in several 'friendly' matches with the club's senior members, displaying incomparable precision and speed. The beauty of his stance, the finesse of his movements—truly, a perfect union of strength and skill! And the result..." Koenji spread his hands in a grand gesture that said it was obvious. "Naturally, Kazama-kun proved superior. As for that mere million points, it was only a modest token of appreciation from the senior members for such a splendid 'aesthetic display.'"
For all its usual exaggeration, Koenji's testimony made the facts clear: Kazama In had earned the points openly, through sheer ability, in the Kendo Club! And the entire club had willingly paid them!
"The Kendo Club? He beat everyone?"
"Fifty thousand points each?!"
"No wonder..."
Koenji was an eccentric, but everyone in Class D knew he had no patience for lying. Combined with his account of what he'd personally witnessed, his testimony was highly credible. The accusations quieted, replaced by shock and disbelief. Could you really earn this many points by fighting—by sparring? It completely upended their understanding of the school.
Hirata Yosuke seized the opportunity to step forward and steady the situation again. "You all heard him! Kazama earned his points fairly and openly, through his own ability and within the rules! We should be thinking about how to improve ourselves, not questioning other people! The most important thing now is to listen to Chabashira-sensei explain the class points!"
Yukimura Teruhiko pushed up his glasses as well. "Hirata-kun is right. Differences in individual ability are a fact. Instead of being jealous, we should think about how to find ways to improve ourselves within the rules, just as Kazama-kun did."
Karuizawa Kei said nothing, but her gaze at Kazama In now held more wariness and reassessment than curiosity. This transfer student was even more inscrutable than she'd imagined.
Sudō, Ike, Yamauchi, and the others still felt frustrated and resentful, but with Koenji's testimony and the urging of Hirata and Yukimura, they couldn't very well kick up a fuss again. They returned to their seats, sullenly, their gazes at Kazama In still complicated.
The storm sparked by a million points had been temporarily quelled by Koenji's testimony and Hirata's efforts. But the classroom's atmosphere had become even more delicate. The mystery surrounding Kazama In and the invisible pressure of his formidable strength had left a deep impression on every student in Class D.
Chabashira Sae had watched the entire scene with cold detachment. Only after the commotion died down did she begin the homeroom meeting, expressionless, and announce the brutal truth: Class D's Class Points had fallen to zero, and individual points would not be issued this month. The news landed like one final hammer blow, plunging Class D into utter despair. Yet throughout the announcement, Chabashira's gaze kept drifting toward Kazama In, as though assessing a weapon that had just revealed some of its power.
Seated behind Kazama In, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had taken it all in. His expressionless face gave nothing away, but his mind calmly analyzed the situation:
He deliberately let Horikita and me see his points... Was he testing our reactions? Or did he simply think we wouldn't say anything?
Horikita's reaction was as expected. Her shock was so obvious that she set everything off.
Koenji's testimony came at just the right time. It cleared Kazama of any suspicion of cheating, but it also revealed his ability and... wealth. Keeping a low profile certainly wouldn't have benefited him.
Chabashira's reaction... She seems to have known from the start that Kazama was no ordinary person. Her hint about "seeing through the rules" is significant. The S System... what exactly has Kazama seen through?
And finally... He used Koenji's personality and the coincidence of his being there to turn a crisis that could have spiraled out of control into a display of his own ability. He was somewhat on the defensive, but the result... seems to be what he wanted. Did he want everyone to know his "value" and "abilities"? Would that help him bring Class D together? Or does he have some other motive?
Ayanokoji's gaze settled on Kazama In's straight-backed figure, as if observing a newly illuminated, unpredictable piece on a complicated chessboard. Kazama In... is your goal really just to reach Class A? Was this point storm a carefully planned performance, or did you simply turn things to your advantage after they got out of hand?
The bell rang to signal the end of homeroom, like a call to freedom, but it also marked the official start of Class D's hellish life without points.
"Kazama In." Chabashira Sae's voice rang clearly above the noise of students packing up, carrying an unmistakably commanding tone. "Come to the staff room with me."
The atmosphere, which had only just begun to ease, instantly froze again. The entire class turned its gaze back to Kazama In, their eyes filled with complicated emotions: envy of his million points, awe of his strength, curiosity about why their homeroom teacher had singled him out—and even a hint of schadenfreude. Had he caught the teacher's attention?
Kazama In's expression remained calm, as if he'd expected this. He stood unhurriedly, ignoring the prickle of their stares, and followed Chabashira Sae out of the classroom.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka watched Kazama In disappear through the doorway, then looked at Horikita Suzune beside him, her brow still furrowed in thought. Silently, he added:
The performance... or the test, has only now entered its next act. Chabashira Sae... what information do you have about the S System and Kazama In?
Before you continue