The day after Sudo was summoned by Teacher Chabashira, she announced the reason for the delayed points.
It was because of the fight between Sudo and students from Class C. They couldn't yet determine which side was at fault.
Since the incident had happened at the end of last month, the class points needed to be deducted.
But they didn't know which side was at fault, so the points couldn't be issued until the Sudo Incident was resolved.
The class gave Sudo cold looks. Some even thought they should have just let him get expelled last time.
He hadn't learned his lesson. Instead, he'd caused trouble for the class again, and now they were going to lose points.
Sudo insisted that he was innocent, but everyone in class doubted his word.
Then Sudo revealed that there might have been a witness at the scene. Even those who doubted him helped search for the witness, all for the sake of their class points.
After searching for a day, no one had gathered even the slightest bit of information about a witness. The next day, they started complaining to one another in class.
"Was there really a witness? Maybe Sudo just made the whole thing up."
"I don't think there was a witness at all."
"Exactly! I asked everyone I know, and nobody's heard of one."
Everyone complained about Sudo, who still hadn't arrived in the classroom, though a few people spoke up for him.
They were Hirata and Kushida. Even Sudo's two buddies, Ike and Yamauchi, weren't defending him, given what he was like.
"Everyone, if even we doubt Sudo, who will believe him? And what will happen to the real witness? How are we supposed to find them?"
"But... if he was the one at fault and the victims were the students from Class C, then what are we supposed to do...?"
Under the gazes of the others, Hirata nodded and firmly told the class that they had to help Sudo, no matter what.
Qiuyue: (...Hirata's attachment to the class is too strong. As far as I'm concerned, this is Sudo's problem.)
(I don't care what happens to Sudo, either. At most, he's someone I know. There's no reason for me to give up my own interests to help him. He'll probably just be suspended. Even if he gets expelled, I don't plan on helping him.)
(And Hirata hasn't even known him that long. They've had disagreements, too, and Sudo doesn't have a good reputation in class. Hirata just hasn't moved on from what happened to him in middle school.)
(People are complicated. Even if someone is always talking about reason and right and wrong, once someone they care about is involved, who's right and who's wrong stops mattering.)
(When you care about someone, you can turn black into white. When you care about someone, right or wrong doesn't matter; the scales in your heart can never be balanced.)
(That's why most people can't look at a problem objectively when it concerns themselves or someone they care about.)
(And Sudo, without Hirata, I doubt anyone in this class would really want to help you. They'd probably all just mind their own business and stay out of it.)
(When trouble strikes, everyone around you offers nothing but indifference, apart from your family. That's only natural, which is why I never place my hopes in other people.)
(We're all high school students. We should all know Xunzi's theory that human nature is evil by now.)
(If Mencius's "theory of innate goodness" is idealistic, then Xunzi's "theory of innate evil" is realistic.)
(The essence of humanity is desire. Humans are ruled by their desires. That's Xunzi's thought in its starkest form.)
(So the good deeds humans do aren't born of their nature. They're just hypocrisy.)
(Human nature is evil. The goodness people show on the surface is only something they've learned through education to use to suppress that evil.)
(When the goodness taught by education encounters evil, the evil hidden in people's hearts will reveal itself.)
(Even in this world, I don't think that theory is wrong.)
(But... this is a fictional world. In other words, the people here are, in a sense, idealized. Still... I don't want to change myself by telling myself that this world is different from the one I came from.)
(Because the idealized people in this world only exist at this school.)
"Man... I wish I'd started in Class A. They get over 100,000 points every month."
Ike knew Hirata had made up his mind to help Sudo find a witness, so he dropped the subject and started daydreaming.
"You want to get into Class A? Cheer up, Ike. There is a way."
Everyone turned toward the voice at the classroom's front door. It was Teacher Chabashira.
"...Teacher? I didn't quite hear you. Is that really true...?"
"It is. There's a way to move straight up to Class A. What do you think? Want to know?"
Everyone hurried back to their seats, eager to hear what Teacher Chabashira would say next.
"Please tell us, Teacher."
Qiuyue: (You might as well give up. There's no way you'll manage to scrape together 20 million Private Points.)
Teacher Chabashira gave a soft laugh, walked up to the lectern, and said:
"Have you forgotten? Horikita came to me before to buy points. Don't you understand?"
"Huh...? What do you mean?"
"...Teacher, could you explain that more clearly?"
Hirata, sitting at his desk, suddenly seemed to realize something. He raised his hand and asked Teacher Chabashira:
"Teacher, do you mean... we can buy our way in with points?"
"That's right. All you need is 20 million Private Points per person. You'd better start saving."
"You've got to be kidding! How could that be possible?"
Qiuyue: (Heh. Just wait until I manage to save them up. Won't you be even more surprised then?)
"Excuse me... has anyone in the school's history ever managed it?"
Quiet and reserved, Horikita asked the question on her mind.
"I'm sorry to tell you, but no."
"Then it's impossible. Teacher, don't make things so hard for us. There's no way we can do that."
Qiuyue: (Heh. Did you study math? Being equal to zero and being infinitely close to zero are completely different things.)
After complaining among themselves, everyone gave up on the idea. Horikita looked as if she had given up, too.
Looking at Horikita, Qiuyue shook his head and muttered under his breath.
"That's stupid. Just because nobody's done it, does that mean it can't be done? If you give up before you even start, you'll never succeed."
"Hey, Qiuyue, did you just say something?"
Yamauchi looked at Qiuyue.
"No, nothing. You must've imagined it."
From then until school let out, everyone split up and continued searching for the witness, whose existence was still uncertain.
In the cafeteria.
"Ahhh! I can't take this anymore! Sudo, did you really see someone there?"
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