Class D's Cardiac Arrest-Inducing Moment

Time quietly rewound to the morning after Kikyo Kushida and Bai Mu had struck their deal.

After last night's disastrous loss of control by the lake and the exchange of leverage, Kikyo Kushida had completely reined in all her dark emotions, switching back to her sunny, cheerful, harmless persona as an energetic girl.

At that moment, she sat at her desk in the Class D classroom, her eyes curved in a sweet smile as she proactively chatted and joked with her classmates. Her approachability was turned up to the max, perfectly recreating her usual image as the class's universally adored little sun.

No one could have imagined that this seemingly guileless girl who wanted everyone to get along had nearly fabricated a false campus molestation case with her own hands the previous night. Even fewer knew that she now held the truth about the school's core rules—information capable of overturning Class D's entire fate.

Yet Kushida was anything but relaxed right now.

Far from it, she was filled with frustration and irritation.

The task Bai Mu had given her was simple and brutal: spend 500,000 personal points to buy information about the school rules, then resell it to everyone in Class D. That would both neutralize the threat posed by her secret and complete the transaction.

But once she actually began carrying it out, she fully understood what it meant to be saddled with a class full of utterly hopeless teammates.

The people of Class D had grown accustomed to being lazy and undisciplined. Most of them were narrow-minded, focused only on immediate comfort, with no understanding of the need to prepare for danger in times of peace. Trying to get them to willingly pay for intelligence and avoid unknown risks was harder than climbing to the heavens.

Kushida knew perfectly well that the information in her hands was life-saving, top-tier intelligence. But when facing a pack of blindly optimistic slackers with no sense of crisis, even the most valuable trump card became practically useless.

With no other choice, Kushida could only turn to the class's sole dependable good guy—Yosuke Hirata.

As Class D's recognized mediator, Yosuke Hirata had a gentle personality and a strong sense of responsibility. He habitually tolerated everyone's flaws and was one of the few people in class willing to think about the collective and take responsibility on his own initiative.

Kushida deliberately lowered her voice and put on a troubled yet sincere expression. "Hirata, yesterday I spent 30,000 points buying some important information about the school's scoring system from an upperclassman. The contents are extremely crucial—they concern our entire class's survival in terms of points. The pressure is too much for me to bear alone. Could we split the cost? I want to share the information with everyone in class."

To reduce his resistance, she deliberately concealed the exorbitant cost of 500,000 points and mentioned only the much smaller figure of 30,000. Her skill at manipulating people's hearts had long since become second nature.

As expected, Yosuke Hirata did not hesitate in the slightest and nodded warmly. "No problem, Kushida. The class's affairs are everyone's affairs. We can't let you be the only one making sacrifices. We'll split the cost and share the information with everyone as soon as possible, so we can avoid the risks early."

He was open-hearted and kind, never one to assume the worst of others. Naturally, he could not see the calculations and selfish motives beneath Kushida's smile.

Once their cooperation was settled, Kushida finally relaxed. She immediately called a temporary class meeting, planning to publicly reveal the entire truth about the S System, the rules for deductions to class points, and the looming crisis that their first-month evaluation would most likely collapse.

But reality slapped her hard across the face.

When Kushida clearly laid out the school's cruel rules and concluded, "Minor daily violations will continuously deduct class points, and our class points will most likely be reduced to zero in the first month," Class D did not descend into panic. Instead, the classroom erupted in laughter.

"Seriously? Kushida, did that upperclassman scam you or something?"

Kanji Ike was the first to voice his doubts. He lounged carelessly against the back of his chair, his face full of mockery. "The school gives us 100,000 points for free every month, covers food and housing, and gives us amazing benefits. How could it be as harsh as you say? If they really deducted points like crazy, who would even want to stay at this school?"

Haruki Yamauchi immediately followed up, agreeing with his usual slacker attitude. "Exactly, exactly! Kushida, you're worrying over nothing! We go to school happily every day, and it's normal to mess around and relax sometimes. Are they really going to deduct points over something so minor? That'd be way too heartless."

The two echoed each other, utterly unconcerned. They were the typical sort who would not give up until they hit the wall, completely immersed in the illusion of comfort they had enjoyed since school began.

More than half of the other students chimed in as well, their faces full of ease and disdain.

After all, in their minds, the school was very lenient. Even if they occasionally broke rules or acted carelessly, it was no big deal. No one had ever told them that being in the lowest-ranked class was not an excuse to slack off—it was a proving ground for continuous elimination.

The only person in the class who remained clearheaded, Suzune Horikita, had her brows tightly furrowed, her face cold and resistant.

She had always been extremely self-disciplined and demanded perfection in everything. She had worked her hardest to enter Advanced Nurturing High School, driven by her obsession with catching up to her older brother and rising to the top. She simply could not accept being categorized as a "problem student," much less believe that her own carelessness and laziness would drag the entire class's points down to zero.

"I don't believe it."

Suzune Horikita's voice was cool, filled with stubbornness and unwillingness. "The school cannot possibly deduct class points on a large scale based solely on minor daily behavior. That defies common sense. Kushida, your source may not be reliable."

With that, she stood up and walked straight toward the homeroom teachers' office, intending to seek confirmation from Chabashira Sae herself.

Watching Suzune Horikita's decisive departing figure, then looking at the group of lazy, complacent, blindly arrogant students in the class, anger surged through Kikyo Kushida's heart, and she could not help furiously ranting in her mind.

What a bunch of narrow-minded idiots with no foresight!

Disaster is already at their doorstep, yet they're still deluding themselves and clinging to wishful thinking, completely unable to see how cruel the situation really is. No wonder Class D will always be at the bottom. These people are hopeless beyond saving—they deserve to be crushed and eliminated!

Yet she still maintained a gentle smile on her face. Without arguing or making a fuss, she quietly watched the class slack off and turn against one another, already calculating how she could get away afterward and exploit their crisis for maximum profit.

Meanwhile, Suzune Horikita hurried to the homeroom teachers' office and found Chabashira Sae working at her desk.

As Class D's homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae had always coldly observed the class's slovenly behavior. She had long since stopped holding any expectations for these students' futures, spending her days taking things as they came.

Faced with Suzune Horikita's request for confirmation, Chabashira merely raised her eyes and gave her a faint glance, her tone lazy and blunt. "I will not provide any answers about whether the rules are true at this stage. The school does not proactively disclose its rules. If you want to obtain core information and confirm the scoring mechanism, fine. Pay 500,000 personal points, and I'll tell you the whole truth."

500,000 points!

The number instantly made Suzune Horikita stiffen, helplessness filling her heart.

Ordinary students received only 100,000 basic points each month. Even living frugally, it was difficult to save anything. For first-year students at this stage, 500,000 was an enormous sum far beyond reach.

Suzune Horikita came from a wealthy family, but she had never been in the habit of carelessly spending points. She had barely any savings in hand and simply could not afford the cost.

Left with no choice, she turned and returned to the classroom with a grim expression, the unease and panic in her heart growing increasingly intense.

When she returned, the argument in the classroom had not stopped. If anything, it had only escalated further.

Seeing the deadlock, Yosuke Hirata grew anxious and stepped forward to smooth things over, trying to persuade the class. "Everyone, calm down! Kushida took the risk of buying this information because she wanted to help the entire class. 500,000 points may be a lot, but if it lets us avoid deductions in advance and preserve our class ranking, it's absolutely worth it! We can pool class funds and pay the amount together!"

To get the whole class to cooperate, he even took it upon himself to cover for Kushida, falsely claiming that she had already incurred a debt of 500,000 points and that everyone needed to work together to fill the gap.

Unfortunately, everyone in Class D had long become accustomed to laziness and would not listen to reason at all.

The group of girls led by Kei Karuizawa was the first to object.

Kei Karuizawa crossed her arms, her eyes carrying a hint of defiance and pragmatism as she spoke bluntly and sharply. "Why should all of us split the points? Kushida chose to buy the information herself, and she incurred the debt herself, so why should we all pay for it? Everyone's points are their own private property. There's no need to pay for someone else's choices."

Her words instantly struck at the thoughts of most of the class, winning the support of half the students in an instant.

"Exactly! Why should I hand over the points I worked so hard to save for nothing?"

"If the information turns out to be fake, wouldn't we be complete suckers? We'd waste hundreds of thousands of points for nothing!"

For a moment, the entire class fell apart. Everyone clung to their own opinions, with not the slightest sense of unity—only selfishness and passing the buck.

Yosuke Hirata looked at the completely out-of-control situation, sweat pouring down his forehead. He repeatedly tried to reason with them, painstakingly explaining the importance of learning the rules in advance and avoiding point deductions, but no one listened at all.

Kushida stood to the side, her gentle smile nearly impossible to maintain. Inside, she had already cursed these teammates hundreds, if not thousands, of times.

Ignorant, selfish, shortsighted, lazy—this ultimate squad of pig teammates had gathered every possible flaw. They were practically the biggest obstacle on the path to her Kushida Empire!

Seeing that the deadlock showed no signs of breaking, Yosuke Hirata anxiously stepped forward to mediate. He patiently and thoroughly persuaded the entire class, laying out the costs and benefits with perfect clarity. "Everyone, calm down and do the math! The core rules information Kushida risked herself to buy may cost five hundred thousand points, which seems expensive, but it's absolutely a guaranteed profit!"

He spoke rapidly, desperately trying to wake up the classmates still clinging to wishful thinking. "Right now, all of us are breaking rules blindly and slacking off however we please—chatting during class, fooling around between lessons, half-heartedly cleaning, being late, letting ourselves go. Every one of those little actions is quietly deducting class points! We just didn't know about it, so we've been suffering losses in the dark."

"As long as we understand the rules in advance and avoid all hidden deductions, we can safely preserve most of our class points next month instead of crashing straight to zero! Class points are tied to every person's monthly personal point allowance. Protecting class points means protecting everyone's spending money and treatment at school!"

"Five hundred thousand may seem expensive, but compared to the massive amount of class points we'll likely lose next month—and the desperate situation of having our points wiped out and our allowances cut off afterward—it's completely worth it! We aren't paying for Kushida. We're spending money to buy a way out and some peace of mind for all of Class D!"

Half a month after Hirata had finally persuaded the Class D students.

Yosuke Hirata's phone suddenly received a friend request from an unknown account. The note was concise and direct: [Inquiry Regarding Surveillance Rental Services].

His heart skipped a beat, and a terrible feeling immediately rose within him. He hurriedly accepted the request.

The next second, the other party directly sent him a live feed: a full surveillance view of Class D's classroom, where chaos reigned and everyone was arguing in a noisy mess!

The footage was clear and smooth. Every person's quarrelsome expression, slovenly posture, and every tiny rule-breaking action in the classroom could be seen at a glance.

This was followed by an exorbitant quote identical to the one Class C had received.

[Monthly rental fee for surveillance of this class: 3,000,000 personal points. Rules: You may only view surveillance footage of your own class and cannot spy on other classes. After renting, you may check for violations, erase traces, and avoid deductions. You may choose not to rent. We can submit all violation records at any time.]

Three million points!

The number made Yosuke Hirata's pupils constrict. His hands and feet turned cold as despair swallowed him whole.

Forget three million—Class D could not even scrape together the five hundred thousand points for the information fee now!

The entire class had always spent extravagantly and squandered their points without restraint. Snacks, daily necessities, entertainment—they had never held back. Even though they had deliberately tightened their spending recently, the remaining points in their hands were pitifully few. Everyone's savings were laughably thin.

Hirata told everyone about the news.

At that moment, the Class D students were deeply conflicted.

In truth, everyone understood perfectly well that if they gritted their teeth and rented the class surveillance access, they could check for violations in real time, cut their losses, erase the records in time, and no longer have to live in fear of unexplained deductions. Once they got through this hurdle, they could return to the carefree, loose school life they had enjoyed at the start of the term, without having to stay tense and cautious at every turn.

Everyone wanted to return to that comfortable state of relaxing and slacking off. No one wanted to keep living under the high-pressure terror of deductions and collapse at any moment.

But ideals were full, while reality was painfully thin.

The astronomical rental fee of three million points weighed on everyone's hearts like a mountain, giving the formerly hopeful students splitting headaches.

They knew full well that with Class D's current finances, even if everyone emptied every last bit of savings, they would not be able to gather even a fraction of the amount. They had become accustomed to spending lavishly on snacks, clothes, and entertainment without restraint. Now that the crisis had arrived, they realized their pockets were empty and they had nothing to fall back on.

"We want to rent it, but we can't afford it. Isn't this just torture?" someone said with their head hanging low, their voice filled with despair.

"If I'd known, I wouldn't have spent my points so recklessly! Who could have expected the school to go this far and start renting out surveillance footage?"

The group was filled with regret. On one hand, they craved the comfortable, carefree life they could return to by renting the surveillance access. On the other, they could do nothing in the face of the outrageous price. They were trapped between a rock and a hard place.

Yamada wore an utterly devastated expression as he delivered what was arguably the dumbest idiotic remark in the room. "Three million is way too expensive! Can't we negotiate with them? If they make it cheaper, we'll rent it!"

The moment he said that, Hirata nearly had a heart attack on the spot.

The other party held an exclusive monopoly over an irreplaceable privilege. They were obviously exploiting the crisis, setting whatever price they wanted, and holding the entire class's fate in their hands. How could they possibly leave room for bargaining?

If they refused to rent, all their violation records would be submitted directly, and the already precarious Class D would suffer a massive drop in points and collapse completely. If they gritted their teeth and rented it, the exorbitant fee would empty the entire class's savings, leaving them to tighten their belts for months and completely lose any capital to compete.

They could neither advance nor retreat. Either path was a dead end.

With nowhere else to turn, Yosuke Hirata could only cling to his last shred of hope and rush to the staff office to seek help from his homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae.

"Teacher! Our class has run into a special situation and urgently needs a large number of points. Does the school have a student loan program?"

Upon hearing this, Chabashira Sae lightly pinched the bridge of her nose. She raised her eyes to look at the anxious Hirata, her gaze filled with helplessness and indifference.

Naturally, she knew about Bai Mu monopolizing the surveillance access and harvesting points from Classes C and D. She also understood Class D's current predicament.

The school did indeed offer student loans, but loans were ultimately debt and had to be repaid later with interest. They would only drag Class D into an even more passive position.

What left her even more helpless was that the chaos Class D was now facing was entirely of their own making.

Even if they spent money to rent the surveillance access now, checked themselves for violations, and stopped the losses, saving some class points in the process, this group of students had no cohesion whatsoever. When a crisis came, all they did was turn on one another and shirk responsibility. They simply did not have the potential to rise up and turn things around.

Chabashira sighed inwardly.

A class that had been controlled from beginning to end, led around by the nose, and could not even save itself because it was such a disorganized mess—what hope could it possibly have of rising to Class A, even if it temporarily preserved its points?

Looking at Hirata, who stood before her helpless and full of despair, Chabashira slowly spoke and gave him a cold but realistic answer. "The loan program can be opened, but the interest is extremely high. Are you sure you want to take on enormous debt to save yourselves?"

That single sentence completely crushed Class D's last hope.

Outside the window, the sunlight was bright, and the campus was peaceful and bustling.

But Class D's future had already plunged completely into darkness amid everyone's slacking off and internal strife.