Chabashira Sae Was Stunned

After the first week of school, the students of Class D discovered that their teachers were incredibly tolerant of students breaking classroom rules, and that the school was also very lax in how it managed its students.

This week, they started letting loose.

All kinds of rule-breaking behavior appeared without restraint in the classroom.

Arriving late, using their phones during class, eating snacks, sleeping, and so on—at least half the students in Class D treated these things as basic routine.

This class period, it was Chabashira Sae's turn to teach history to Class D.

At that moment, Chabashira Sae looked at the students' behavior below the podium and realized something was wrong.

Very wrong!

She wondered, Didn't Chihaya Rei know about the conduct exam in the first month?

So here was the question: why did none of the students below look like they were paying attention?

From her elevated position at the podium, Chabashira Sae could see every student's movements clearly.

Right now, only a handful of students in all of Class D, including Horikita Suzune, Hirata Yousuke, and Yukimura Teruhiko, were watching the blackboard, listening attentively, and taking notes.

Everyone else was doing their own thing.

A few of them were especially outrageous.

Kanji Ike had his head lowered as if he wanted to stuff it into his desk, while his visibly trembling hands played a game.

If Chihaya Rei hadn't been sitting in the back row and able to see him, he might have thought Ike was taking off.

Yamauchi Haruki had propped up his textbook and was watching his phone on the desk, occasionally bursting into laughter.

Those two were a pair of absolute idiots.

Sudo was sprawled over his desk, fast asleep, while Koenji combed his hair with a narcissistic expression...

The girls weren't doing any better. Some were clipping their nails, while others were putting on makeup...

All of these scenes were laid out clearly before Chabashira Sae's eyes.

Chabashira Sae was stunned and numb.

It hadn't been this outrageous last week. Could they really act like this in every class?!

How many Class Points had they lost?

Chabashira Sae didn't dare think about it.

At that moment, she really wanted to shout at the extraordinary people below her:

"What are you people playing at?"

"Are you even students?"

"Are any of you human?"

However, the school's rules for this month stated:

Regardless of what students did in class, teachers were to act as if they had not seen it and focus on teaching.

Teachers were strictly forbidden from doing anything that might alert the students. Violations would be punished.

So Chabashira Sae could only suppress her frustration and continue teaching.

At the same time, Chabashira Sae recited her lesson plan without emotion, then turned her gaze to Chihaya Rei, wanting to find out what he was doing.

But when Chabashira Sae looked at Chihaya Rei's face, she thought he seemed to be smiling?

Chihaya Rei and Chabashira Sae met eyes.

Although Chabashira's face revealed nothing, Chihaya Rei knew she had to be in a terrible mood.

He, too, had been enjoying the spectacle in class.

Class D's decline had been so sudden that even knowing the story, he was still dumbfounded to witness it firsthand.

Even the vocational schools back in his previous life weren't this chaotic, were they?

Those 1,000 Class Points might not even be enough to get Class D through the second week.

But for him, this meant:

The advantage was mine. This was in the bag!

At last, the bell rang. But before Chabashira Sae could even announce that class was over,

Yamauchi Haruki stretched luxuriously and grinned excitedly at the students around him.

"Awesome! We finally made it through class!"

"We have swimming next!"

Kanji Ike wore a mischievous grin.

Chabashira Sae's expression darkened for a moment.

"Made it through"? She couldn't see how they'd been struggling at all.

Chabashira Sae felt she couldn't wait any longer, so she walked to the back of the classroom and said to Chihaya Rei,

"Chihaya, come with me for a moment."

After turning the matter over in her mind, Chabashira Sae decided there was only one possibility.

Chihaya Rei hadn't told the students of Class D about the school rules or the exam at all.

She needed to get Chihaya Rei to explain what was going on.

"Sure."

Chihaya Rei replied calmly.

It was exactly what he'd expected.

He would have found it strange if Chabashira Sae hadn't come to see him after all this.

Horikita Suzune noticed what was happening and glanced at Chihaya Rei in confusion, unsure why the teacher wanted to see him.

She also thought the atmosphere in Class D was absolutely awful!

But she only needed to focus on herself. She couldn't control what the others did, and she didn't want to.

The rooftop.

The wind was still howling today.

It ruffled Chihaya Rei's tousled black hair.

"Chihaya, can you explain what's going on? Why aren't Kanji Ike and the others paying attention in class at all?"

This time, Chabashira Sae wasn't even in the mood to light a cigarette. She urgently put the question to Chihaya Rei.

"They're probably enjoying the freedom of campus life."

Chihaya Rei gave his honest opinion.

The students of Class D were indeed the freest and most carefree students at the moment.

Chabashira Sae's expression darkened, and she asked bluntly,

"You didn't tell them about the exam?"

"No."

Chihaya Rei admitted it with a smile, lazily leaning against the wall.

"Why?"

Chabashira Sae frowned and couldn't help raising her voice.

"Why does there have to be a reason?"

Chihaya Rei shook his head with an amused smile, then let it fade as he spoke to Chabashira Sae with conviction.

"Chabashira-sensei, you seem to have misunderstood something. I never said I would tell Class D about the rules and the exam."

Chabashira Sae's pupils contracted slightly when she heard this.

She recalled the conversation the two of them had here last week.

Chihaya Rei really hadn't said he would tell Class D about the information. From beginning to end, he'd only said he would sell it to the other classes.

But Chihaya Rei was a student in Class D.

She had simply assumed he would tell Class D something so important.

Chabashira Sae couldn't help asking,

"You're a student in Class D. Isn't it only natural to tell them?"

"Only natural?"

Chihaya Rei looked at Chabashira Sae as if she were an idiot. "Nothing is only natural."

"Besides, when no one was holding them back, choosing to let loose was their own decision."

"That's just who they are."

A hint of emotion colored Chihaya Rei's voice.

He had no intention of becoming Class D's babysitter.

"..."

Chabashira Sae fell silent for a moment.

She couldn't deny Chihaya Rei's assessment of the students in Class D.

But if Chihaya Rei had told them about the rules, surely they could at least have done a little better, right?

Yet he hadn't. She couldn't understand what he had to gain from it.

Chabashira Sae took a deep breath and asked in a low voice,

"If this keeps up, Class D will end up in last place. Do you really not care?"

"You're right about that."

Chihaya Rei's lips curled up. He left her with a final remark: "I'm going to swimming class."

Then he turned and walked away, ending the conversation.

Only after Chihaya Rei disappeared from sight did Chabashira Sae realize she had overlooked something very important.

Chihaya Rei had also been assigned to Class D.

So it was only natural that he might do things she couldn't understand...