500,000 Points for Information

Hoshida No turned his head to look at his desk mate, with whom he had barely exchanged a word in the three days since school started.

Ayanokoji's gaze was calm and devoid of emotion, yet it carried an inexplicable sense of penetration.

A flicker of curiosity crossed Hoshida No's mind; what would this boy, who possessed such a low presence, suddenly have to say?

He raised an eyebrow slightly, his tone peaceful: "Why do you say that?"

Ayanokoji's gaze swept over the classmates fooling around in the classroom before he raised a finger to point at the security camera in the corner of the ceiling.

He analyzed with clear logic: "The school gives every student 100,000 points each month. With 25 students in a class, that's 2.5 million. There are four classes per grade, totaling 10 million. Including the upperclassmen, that's 30 million points a month."

He paused, "With such a massive investment, yet the school allows students to sleep in class, play games, and even skip school without the teachers intervening at all—don't you think that's highly abnormal?"

Hoshida No listened quietly and nodded slowly, his gaze falling upon that inconspicuous camera as a flash of realization crossed his eyes.

He followed up: "You mean to say that this freedom and these points aren't given for free. The school's true objective is hidden within this abnormality. And those cameras might be the tools used to record our performance."

Ayanokoji's line of sight landed on Hoshida No's slightly raised eyelashes. As expected of him, he had grasped the key point without needing any extra explanation.

Without further elaboration, he simply gave a slight nod and suddenly shifted the topic: "Yesterday afternoon, Sudo Ken was cornered by some upperclassmen, who cursed him for being a defective product that couldn't even meet the value of a class."

"A defective product, huh." Hoshida No repeated in a low voice, looking at Sudo Ken, who was still slumped over his desk. "It doesn't seem like they were wrong."

After a moment of silence, he spoke: "Ayanokoji-kun, would you like to accompany me to the office during lunch break?"

Ayanokoji lowered his eyes to look at his interlaced fingertips, running through several possibilities in his mind, and agreed.

Lunch break. Hoshida No knocked on the office door.

"Come in." Chazhu Zuo Zhi's cold, distinct voice came from within, carrying no extra emotion.

Pushing the door open, only Chazhu Zuo Zhi was inside, hunched over her desk.

Several class files were spread out on the table, with a fountain pen resting diagonally on the edge of the paper.

She looked up, her gaze sweeping over the two of them, and went straight to the point: "Hoshida-kun, Ayanokoji-kun. What do you want to ask?"

Hoshida No met her gaze without flinching, his tone flat: "Please tell me the true rules of this school."

Chazhu Zuo Zhi's expression faltered for a moment before she quickly regained her composure. "Everything written in the student handbook is the entirety of the rules." Her voice remained cold.

"Chazhu-sensei." Hoshida No leaned forward slightly, his voice dropping a notch, yet sounding more certain: "You know very well that I am not asking about these superficial things."

He deliberately emphasized the word "superficial," locking his gaze onto hers, leaving no room for ambiguity.

Ayanokoji stood quietly to the side, his eyelids half-lowered as if he were indifferent to this conversation. Only the most minute movements of his eyes captured every subtle change on Chazhu Zuo Zhi's face.

A faint arc appeared at the corner of Chazhu Zuo Zhi's mouth, her tone still cold: "I'm sorry, I cannot answer that."

She stopped after saying this, her gaze fixed directly on Hoshida No's face, wanting to catch his reaction—

Was it disappointment? Irritation? Shock?

But Hoshida No's expression didn't fluctuate in the slightest, as if he had already anticipated this.

He gave a slight nod, his tone as flat as if he were discussing lunch: "I understand. Then, how many points would it take to purchase this information?"

As the words fell, the hand Chazhu Zuo Zhi used to hold her pen cap faltered imperceptibly.

The air in the office seemed to freeze for an instant. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the blinds, casting a line between light and shadow between the two.

Even Ayanokoji, standing to the side, felt a flicker of surprise in his eyes.

Chazhu Zuo Zhi stood up and led the two into a concealed room.

The room was furnished with extreme minimalism, and the sound-absorbing foam covering the walls swallowed all noise.

She turned around: "No one will disturb us here." She paused, then added, "I didn't expect you to have even figured out the rule that points can be traded for information."

Hoshida No surveyed the room; if not for the obvious camera on the wall, he might have believed her.

"I just wanted to verify it; I didn't hold much hope. It seems I bet correctly."

Chazhu Zuo Zhi listened quietly, her thoughts solidified: "You went to see the upperclassmen, didn't you." She shifted the topic: "500,000 personal points for one core hidden rule."

Hoshida No's brow didn't twitch, his gaze sinking slightly as he calculated rapidly in his mind, his tone remaining steady: "500,000, just for one rule?"

There was no surprise, no desperate haggling, only a weighing of pros and cons. He still had 795,000 points in his possession; buying it was more than enough.

Ayanokoji leaned against the wall with his hands in his pockets, a faint sense of realization crossing his eyes. For an individual, 500,000 was an astronomical price; for the class, it would only cost 20,000 per person. He leaned toward the latter.

He didn't interject, observing quietly and waiting for Hoshida No's decision.

Chazhu Zuo Zhi's gaze lingered on Hoshida No's face for a long time, the playfulness in her eyes settling into a bottomless calculation.

The desire to rise to Class A had been like a thorn in her heart for many years. It was an obsession, and also a lingering resentment.

When she first saw the chaos of Class D, she had almost given up on this year's batch. But the three people in the corner had forcefully shattered her predictions.

After finishing the files of the three of them over the past few days, her fingertips tightened: Horikita Suzune was like herself back then—self-centered, poor at cooperation, possessing sharp edges but struggling to amount to anything.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was even more bizarre, with every grade precisely hitting the passing line, like a hunter deliberately hiding his edge.

And Hoshida No, with straight A grades across the board, was all-around to an almost absurd degree.

Hope was reignited. But she knew that no matter how strong Hoshida No was, he couldn't support an entire class single-handedly.

What she wanted was not an isolated genius, but a core capable of driving Class D forward.

500,000 points. She calculated that no one could produce it alone. This number was a test, and more importantly, a binding.

Only by making the entire class share the burden would Hoshida No be forced to truly integrate, taking responsibility for this information and the goal of rising to A.

She withdrew her gaze, tapped her fingertips on the table, and spoke with her usual calm tone, though her mind had already laid out the plan: "Have you considered it?"

Hoshida No withdrew his thoughts, a slight smile playing on his lips: "Deal."

As soon as the words fell, he added: "I'll ask the questions."

Chazhu Zuo Zhi's eyes flashed with a hint of approval, and she nodded readily: "Alright."

Just as she was about to begin her preamble, she saw Hoshida No raise his hand, pull out his terminal, and quickly swipe his fingers across the screen.

A faint notification sound chimed. Her personal terminal popped up with a notice of points received.

500,000 points. No more, no less, exactly the agreed-upon amount.

Chazhu Zuo Zhi's pupils contracted, and she froze in place.

She had anticipated that Hoshida No might haggle, might suggest the class share the cost, or even give up due to his inability to produce the points.

But she had never imagined that this boy, who had only been at the school for three days, could produce such a massive sum of points on his own, and so decisively, without a hint of hesitation.

"Teacher Chazhu," Hoshida No's voice pulled her back to reality, "the points have arrived. Please explain the rules."

Chazhu Zuo Zhi snapped back to attention, her fingers tightening around her terminal. The shock in her eyes had not yet completely faded, and it was quickly replaced by a deeper scrutiny.

This Hoshida No was far more complex than she had imagined.

She suppressed the turmoil in her heart, regaining her usual cool demeanor, and looked up at him: "Naturally. What do you wish to ask?"

Ayanokoji's previously lowered eyelids lifted completely. His gaze towards Hoshida No now held a measure of appraisal and investigation.

First, buying information with points, and now paying 500,000 alone. This deskmate was hiding more than he had anticipated.