"S" System

The April breeze swept past the classroom window, carrying with it the final lingering warmth of the cherry blossoms.

Ever since Chazhu Zuo Zhi announced the "point deduction" rules, the atmosphere for study in Class D had grown increasingly intense.

In class, hands that once secretly passed around manga were now placed properly on desks, and the sound of whispering had been replaced by the rustling of pen tips gliding across notebooks.

Even Sudo Ken, who usually disliked listening to lectures the most, kept his gaze fixed on his textbook, occasionally jotting down notes.

Hoshida No sat at his desk. Unlike the others, he didn't keep his nerves tightly wound; instead, he calmly recorded the key points of the lesson, occasionally lifting his eyes to observe everyone in the classroom.

He noticed that beneath Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's seemingly casual posture, his fingers remained in a state of subtle relaxation; he noticed a flash of imperceptible worry in the corners of Kushida Kikyo's eyes as she reminded her classmates; and he noticed the owner of the gaze from nearby, Horikita Suzune.

Ever since the incident, Horikita Suzune's eyes would inadvertently land on him. Whenever he turned his head to look at her, she would retract her gaze and return to her attentive state.

Before the bell for class even rang, Chazhu Zuo Zhi broke her usual habit of entering the classroom exactly as the bell struck, arriving ten minutes early instead.

She held a thick stack of test papers in her arms, their white covers gleaming coldly under the sunlight.

After walking into the classroom, she didn't speak immediately. She simply scanned the room slowly, a flash of imperceptible satisfaction crossing her eyes, before nodding gently.

"Distribute the papers," she said, handing the stack to the student in the front row, her voice as flat and waveless as ever. "We are holding the end-of-month exams today. The order is: Mathematics, Sociology, and Chemistry in the morning, one hour per subject with ten-minute breaks in between; in the afternoon, Japanese and English, with 1.5 hours each."

After speaking, she walked to the podium and sat down. She took a magazine from her bag but didn't open it; instead, she lifted her eyes to scan the entire class and added, "Cheating and plagiarism are strictly prohibited during the exam."

Hoshida No took the math paper passed back by the student in front. He quickly scanned the test; most of the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions covered knowledge points taught this month. The question types were standard, and the answers were almost self-evident.

His pen tip glided smoothly across the paper, the rustling sound light and steady. In just twenty minutes, he had already completed most of the questions.

But when he reached the final three long-form problems, Hoshida No's fingertips paused slightly.

The stems of these three questions appeared standard, but they actually hid mysteries. Many of the knowledge points exceeded the scope of the high school curriculum, even involving parts of introductory university mathematics.

Topics like integral transforms and probability models—even though he had self-studied such knowledge, he still needed to carefully derive them on his scratch paper.

After finishing, thirty-five minutes had passed. He glanced around and noticed that many students were already furrowing their brows.

Some were staring blankly at the questions, while others were scribbling and erasing on their scratch paper, their faces filled with confusion and anxiety. Sudo Ken was even pulling at his hair, looking like he was on the verge of a breakdown.

Meanwhile, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka remained as indifferent as ever, his pen tip moving at a steady, unhurried pace, as if these advanced questions were nothing more than a piece of cake for him.

Horikita Suzune was slightly frowning, her eyes focused intently on the paper. Her fingers moved rapidly on her scratch paper as she calculated, her lips pressed tightly together, revealing a resilient, unyielding spirit.

The day of exams ended quietly in a tense atmosphere. When the bell for the final English exam rang, a collective sigh of relief echoed through the classroom.

Students handed in their papers one after another, gathering in small groups to compare answers in hushed tones. Some beamed with joy for solving difficult problems, while others were filled with frustration over their mistakes.

Hoshida No packed up his stationery and took the initiative to walk toward Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who was preparing to leave the classroom.

"Today's exams were a bit difficult," he said, his face calm, his tone carrying a hint of inquiry. "Many were beyond the curriculum, mostly involving university-level knowledge. For example, the Markov chain model in the last math problem, and the organic synthesis route design in chemistry. What did you think of the difficulty?"

However, as his words fell, he saw a flash of confusion on Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's face, as if he hadn't understood what he was talking about.

"Markov chain? Organic synthesis route?" Ayanokoji blinked, asking back in a flat tone, "Weren't those questions... solvable just by using the knowledge points from the textbook?"

Hoshida No was slightly stunned, then realized the situation.

This guy Ayanokoji was either truly gifted, having already internalized this knowledge as instinct to the point where he didn't consider it "beyond the curriculum," or he was deliberately hiding his strength, maintaining his "average student" persona even when discussing the test.

He raised an eyebrow, wanting to say something more, but caught sight of Horikita Suzune walking toward them, holding a piece of scratch paper, seemingly hesitating whether to join their conversation.

Not far away, Kushida Kikyo was gently comforting a classmate who was depressed about not finishing the test, yet her gaze drifted toward Hoshida No and Ayanokoji from time to time, a complex light flashing in her eyes.

Hoshida No signaled for Ayanokoji not to worry about it, then turned to talk to Horikita Suzune about the exam content, learning that she had only managed to solve the first part of the math problem, and even then, her answer was wrong.

Time reached May 1st, the day points were distributed. Everyone in Class D received 75,000 private points.

The students of Class D quickly accepted the fact that the points were not 100,000. Hoshida No had just entered the classroom when he was surrounded by several students. "Hoshida-kun, the points for this month really did decrease..."

At this moment, Hirata Yousuke stepped out to relieve Hoshida No, then patted him on the shoulder: "Everyone is just too excited. We lost over 20,000 points in a single month. It's a good thing you discovered the hidden rules, otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable. Thank you for this."

He looked at Hirata and the others who were thanking him sincerely and waved his hand: "It's nothing, it was the right thing to do."

"Everyone, return to your seats," Chazhu Zuo Zhi's cold voice came from the doorway. Seeing that everyone had returned to their seats, she took out a piece of chalk and wrote on the blackboard:

Class A: 990 Class B: 900 Class C: 840 Class D: 750

She then stood still and began to explain: "These are the class points for the four classes." She paused and added, "You should know about 'class points,' but you don't know what they are used for. It is time for you to know the other hidden rules."

The curious gazes of everyone below were fixed on Chazhu Zuo Zhi, waiting for what was next. Chazhu Zuo Zhi did not keep them in suspense and continued:

"The 'deduction rules' you know all originate from the school's 'S' system.

1. The binding mechanism between class points and private points. Each class starts with 1,000 class points, which increase or decrease monthly based on overall performance. For example, you had 11 absences and 36 instances of playing with phones or whispering in class this month, so your class points were deducted from 1,000 to 750. 1 class point equals 100 private points, which is why you received 75,000 private points this month."

Hoshida No took out his phone to check his private points; excluding his original balance and club subsidies, it was exactly 75,000 private points.

"2. Dynamic class hierarchy. Classes are divided into A through D based on their points from highest to lowest. Graduates from Class A will receive top-tier resources, Class B students are mostly elites in society, Class C students pursue ordinary careers, while Class D will receive nothing and can only serve as runners-up."

Chazhu Zuo Zhi's voice echoed like cold metal in the silent classroom.

3. The Core Function of Special Exams

"The only channel for class mobility." She picked up chalk and drew a heavy horizontal line on the blackboard. "The school holds special exams irregularly each month, with formats including team battles, individual competitions, rule-based puzzles, and more. Exam results directly determine significant increases or decreases in class points. For example, if you win the next special exam and your class points exceed Class C's, you will successfully be promoted to Class C, while the original Class C will be demoted to Class D."

4. Conditions for Triggering the Dropout Mechanism

Besides failing exams, failing individual subjects, serious violations of school rules (such as cheating, violent conflict), voluntarily applying for withdrawal, and severe sexual harassment, all lead to mandatory expulsion.

"Dropout?" Suto Ken slammed the table and stood up, furious. "Are you kidding me? Failing an exam means dropping out?"

Chazhu Zuo Zhi ignored Suto Ken and said calmly, "Remember, this is a campus where strength reigns supreme. There is no 'sympathy' or 'exception'."