Results Are In

On May 1, the students of Class B arrived in the classroom early. Unlike usual, though, everyone was solemnly holding their phones and discussing the results of the first monthly assessment.

Shiraishi Makoto came into the classroom a little later. The moment he stepped through the door, a student in the front row called out to him.

"Shiraishi, look at these points..." the boy said, holding up his phone. The meaning behind his words was clear.

Today was the day the results of the first monthly assessment would be announced. Although the results were not out yet, the Private Points that were issued on the first of every month had already been deposited into everyone's accounts.

The amount was 98,000 points. That meant Class B had retained 980 Class Points this month. It was unclear whether the 20 points had been deducted because of something that happened during the first two days of school or because a student had made a small mistake later on. Either way, 980 was an astonishing figure.

"Don't worry about it. Even if Class A did perfectly, the difference between us would only be 20 points," Shiraishi Makoto said, gently reassuring them.

In the original story, Class A was already formidable, and losing only 60 points in the first month had been an absurdly impressive result. Shiraishi Makoto wasn't sure whether Class B's unusual performance during this period had already put Class A on guard and made them prepare in advance.

But as he'd just said, compared to the hundreds of points that often separated the upperclassmen's classes, even if Class A hadn't lost a single point, they would only be ahead by 20. Winning just one Special Exam would be enough to overtake them easily.

Shiraishi Makoto returned to his seat, and before long it was time for class. As the bell rang, their homeroom teacher, Hoshinomiya Chie, walked into the room carrying a poster tube, her steps a little unsteady. Shiraishi Makoto immediately noticed the unusual flush on her cheeks.

"Hoshinomiya-sensei's been drinking again, hasn't she?" Hamaguchi Tetsuya muttered from behind him.

After a month at the school, the class had gotten to know Hoshinomiya Chie's ways. As a health teacher, she didn't have to teach classes in every homeroom, so she often got blackout drunk the night before and came to school reeking of alcohol the next day. A few times, she'd even nearly thrown up in front of her students.

"Mm-hmm, is everyone here?"

Hoshinomiya Chie stood at the podium, her eyes still unfocused, as if she hadn't completely sobered up. But after looking around the room, her gaze settled steadily on Shiraishi Makoto.

"Little Makoto already explained the school's 'hidden rules' to everyone, so I won't go on about them," she said breezily. "The school's first-month assessment was a conduct assessment. In other words, it was to see whether everyone followed the rules."

As she spoke, Hoshinomiya Chie casually picked up a piece of chalk and wrote four prominent numbers on the blackboard:

980, 950, 490, 0

"These are the Class Points for Classes A, B, C, and D during the first month."

"Huh, sensei, wasn't our class at 980 points? We all received our Private Points." A student raised a hand, looking confused.

"That's right, that's right. Our class really did get 980 points." Hoshinomiya Chie swayed her head, then suddenly raised her voice. "So—congratulations, everyone! You've successfully overtaken Class A in your very first month and risen to Class A!"

"Let's hear a big round of applause!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she herself started clapping enthusiastically.

The room fell silent for a moment. Then the students all let out a sigh of relief and exchanged glances with those around them, barely able to hide their joy.

"Come on~ Why is everyone so quiet? This is an unprecedented achievement!" Hoshinomiya Chie said, putting on a displeased expression when no one joined in her cheering.

"Sensei, of course we're happy. It's just... we still can't quite believe it," Ichinose Honami explained softly.

Knowing that the original Class A students were generally more capable, the students of the original Class B had been under considerable pressure all month. As it turned out, the gap between them and the original Class A was only 30 points. Their joy was genuine, but the pressure she felt hadn't eased in the slightest.

"Then be happy with your sensei~ Oh yeah!"

With Hoshinomiya Chie leading the way, the mood in the classroom finally began to grow more lively.

Sitting at the back, Shiraishi Makoto stared at the figures for the original Class A and froze for a moment.

He remembered clearly that the original Class A should have had 940 points in the first month, but the figure now showed 950. There was no doubt that Class B's abnormal performance had affected Class A.

"Okay, besides the conduct assessment, the quiz results are here too." Hoshinomiya Chie opened the poster tube on the desk and pinned a ranking chart to the blackboard.

Ichinose Honami led the list by a wide margin with a score of 93. Close behind her was a group of top students who had scored around 80, followed by a large number of students in the 70s and a handful in the 60s. No one had scored below 60.

Shiraishi Makoto had scored 78, which wasn't particularly impressive for the class.

"Now, anyone below this line has failed." Hoshinomiya Chie picked up a pen and drew a red line beneath the lowest-ranked student. Then she announced with a smile, "That means nobody failed. Congratulations, everyone!"

"Sensei, how is the passing mark determined?" Kanzaki Ryuji raised his hand and asked.

"The passing mark is the class average divided by two." Hoshinomiya Chie suddenly let out a burp, her words growing slightly slurred, but she continued, "The class average this time was 79, so anything above 38.5 counts as a pass. Looks like everyone's in the clear."

Then her tone turned more serious. "But be careful. If you fail the Midterm Exam or the Final Exam, you'll be expelled immediately."

After hearing how the passing mark was set, quite a few quick-thinking students immediately came up with a way to respond, and some glanced back at Shiraishi Makoto. They weren't sure how good he was at studying, but his performance in class was so outstanding, and his score of 78 was so close to 79, that they couldn't help wondering if he'd deliberately held back his score.

The students who weren't as good at studying all breathed a sigh of relief. Even the lowest scores among them were more than ten points above the passing mark of 36. As long as they kept things up, they wouldn't be at risk of expulsion.

"That's about it, everyone... uh..." As she was speaking, Hoshinomiya Chie's expression changed, and she turned and ran out of the classroom.

Everyone in the class knew what she'd gone to do, but they were already used to their unreliable homeroom teacher. Once she was gone, they started chatting quietly.

"Looks like Hoshinomiya-sensei's happy too. That's why she drank so much," a student murmured.

Hearing that, Shiraishi Makoto shook his head gently.

Rather than believing Class B had done so well, he was more inclined to think that Class D had really messed up, and that was what had made Hoshinomiya Chie so happy.