Not a Single Point Left

Gu Heng had barely returned to his seat when the noise in the classroom rose another level.

"One hundred thousand points. If I spend it carefully, I can live it up for a whole month."

"Why save? We'll get more next month anyway."

"This school doesn't even feel like a school. It feels like it's handing out money."

Gu Heng opened his book but did not read a word.

He was listening.

Some students in the front had already begun making plans to go off-campus after school. Others in the back casually tossed aside the school rules handbook as if it were scrap paper. Even a few who had seemed fairly well-behaved moments ago were seriously discussing whether to buy new computers, headphones, or clothes.

The entire classroom was like a school of fish that had just been released into a pond.

The moment they saw bait, they rushed for it.

No one cared where the hook was.

Something lightly tapped the corner of his desk.

Gu Heng looked up.

Suzune Horikita stood beside his desk. Her expression was still cold, though now it carried a trace of irritation that was hard to describe.

"Come out for a moment."

She walked away as soon as she said it, not waiting for Gu Heng's answer.

Gu Heng watched her leave, then closed his book and stood.

Good.

The fact that she had come looking for him meant she had not dismissed his claim that "Class D won't have a single point left" as the ravings of a madman.

The two left the classroom one after the other, and the noise in the hallway abruptly thinned out.

The sunlight outside was bright, bleaching the corridor tiles white. Horikita stopped by the window, turned to him, and opened without any small talk.

"What exactly was your basis for what you said earlier?"

Gu Heng did not answer right away.

He looked at her first.

The translucent layer in his vision flickered softly.

Desire for Verification: 79

Pride: 91

Trust Threshold: 12

Very real.

She had come to verify, not to cooperate.

"Which answer do you want to hear?" Gu Heng asked.

"Is there a difference?"

"Yes." Gu Heng leaned against the wall, his tone calm. "One answer will make you think I'm a liar. The other will make you think I'm insane."

Horikita's brow furrowed deeper.

"Do you enjoy being cryptic?"

"No." Gu Heng said, "But I dislike wasting breath even more."

Horikita stared at him, as though judging why she had actually followed him out here.

She should not have paid someone like this any attention.

Anyone who dared declare on their first day of school that the entire class would be wiped out by the end of the month was either trying to show off or had something wrong with his head.

But the problem was that when Gu Heng had said it, he had sounded as though he were merely stating the result.

Not gambling.

Nor trying to scare anyone.

It was as if he had already seen how the report card at the end of the month would slap Class D across the face.

"Get to the point," Horikita said coldly. "Don't waste my time."

"Then let's get to the point." Gu Heng looked toward the classroom door. "When Chabashira handed out the student IDs earlier, did you notice her remind us even once to spend reasonably?"

Horikita said nothing.

"No." Gu Heng answered for her. "Not only did she not say anything, she did not even spare it a second glance."

"And what does that prove?"

"It proves she doesn't care how we spend it."

"Or maybe she just can't be bothered to manage us."

"If this were an ordinary school, you could see it that way." Gu Heng raised his eyes. "But it isn't."

Something shifted in Horikita's gaze.

Of course she knew it was not.

Everything about this school had felt abnormal from the moment the entrance process began: closed-campus management, generous benefits, an almost absurd amount of resources, and a lifestyle that looked even freer than university life.

It was freedom with a purpose.

But that alone was not enough to prove they would be wiped out by the end of the month.

"Go on," she said.

Gu Heng tapped his student ID.

"Second question. Why Class D?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, if this school divides students into classes, then there must be some standard for ranking those classes. Do you think the lowest-ranked class receiving the same treatment as the others on its first day is about fairness, or comparison?"

Horikita fell silent for two seconds.

She did not like the question.

Because the answer was too unpleasant.

"Comparison."

"Exactly." Gu Heng said. "Give everyone the same thing first, then see who wastes it first. There's no simpler way to filter people."

The hallway went quiet for a moment.

A distant whistle sounded from the athletic field outside.

Horikita looked at him, and for the first time, she did not immediately refute him.

Because the logic made sense.

At the very least, it made far more sense than simply saying, "I have a bad feeling about this."

But she was still unwilling to accept it.

"That only proves there's something wrong with the hundred thousand points. It doesn't prove we'll really be wiped out by the end of the month."

"That's why I said you've only seen half of it."

Horikita's gaze instantly turned cold.

"Gu Heng."

"Yeah?"

"Do you enjoy talking in that condescending tone?"

"It isn't condescension." Gu Heng looked at her. "You simply haven't considered the most crucial point yet."

"What point?"

"Why Class D is Class D."

Horikita did not respond.

Gu Heng continued.

"If class placement were based solely on entrance exam scores, then there would be no reason for the school to give the lowest-ranked class so many points. Because anyone who genuinely wanted to create a gap would not put everyone on the same starting line first."

"Unless..."

Horikita stopped halfway through.

Gu Heng finished it for her.

"Unless the hundred thousand points themselves are part of the test."

She finally went quiet.

Not because she had been convinced.

Her mind was simply following that line of thought.

Gu Heng could tell.

Her weights were changing.

Desire for Verification: 79 -> 86

Denial: 41 -> 23

Pride: 91

Her pride was still as high as ever.

Very Horikita.

"Even if that's true," she said slowly, "what makes you so certain that Class D will lose the worst?"

"Because this classroom is full of unstable factors."

Gu Heng tilted his head and looked through the hallway window at the figures inside the classroom.

"Some are impulsive. Some are lazy. Some love attention. Some only want to fit in. Some have no sense of risk at all. You're one of the few who can see that something is wrong, but you're also terrible at leading people. As for everyone else..."

He paused, then smiled.

"They've already started spending next month's money in advance."

Horikita followed his gaze back into the classroom.

Someone was laughing loudly.

Someone tossed their student ID into the air and caught it.

Someone had already started writing down what they wanted to buy that evening.

Suddenly, the scene looked somewhat glaring to her.

Not because it was lively.

But because they looked exactly like a group of people who had no idea where they were standing.

"So what exactly do you want by coming to me?"

Gu Heng looked back at her.

"I didn't come to you. You came to me."

Horikita's expression stiffened.

Gu Heng continued before she could flare up.

"You want to know why I said what I said, and I want to know whether you're useful. Since you voluntarily followed me out here, it means you're different from those people who only want to spend money."

"Useful?"

"Don't get upset yet." Gu Heng's tone remained level. "You're judging whether I'm worth trusting. I'm judging whether you're worth cooperating with. That's fair."

Horikita looked at him coldly.

She did not like the word "cooperate," much less the idea of being evaluated.

But she had to admit that, unpleasant as Gu Heng's words were, they were more honest than most people's.

At least he was not pretending to be warm-hearted to get close to her.

"How do you want to cooperate?"

They had finally gotten to this point.

The smile faded slightly from Gu Heng's face.

"It's too early to call it cooperation. At most, it's an exchange of information."

"Be specific."

"You keep observing the class, especially the people most likely to cause problems. I'll give you my assessments and openings." Gu Heng paused. "When we really are wiped out at the end of the month, you'll know whether I've been wasting your time."

"And if we aren't?"

"Then you can act as if I don't exist from then on."

Horikita looked at him as though she were looking at someone who had placed his bet decisively.

After a few seconds of silence, she suddenly asked, "Why did you choose me instead of someone else?"

"Because you're the only one in the class who would stop and think about the rules at a time like this." Gu Heng said. "And because everyone else looks more like a variable than a teammate right now."

It was not a pleasant thing to say.

But Horikita did not deny it.

She merely stared at him, as if defining Gu Heng seriously for the first time.

Calm.

Difficult to get along with.

Merciless in speech.

And dangerous.

Yet that danger was neither the obvious oppression Ryuuen wore on his face nor the saccharine, fake sweetness Kushida used as a disguise.

Gu Heng was dangerous because he had begun categorizing everyone too quickly.

Including her.

"You said the people most likely to cause problems," Horikita said. "Who are they?"

Gu Heng did not answer immediately.

He turned first and looked toward the tall boy in the back of the classroom, who had his legs propped against the side of his chair and was bragging louder than anyone else.

Ken Sudou.

The weight display flickered softly above his head.

Impulsiveness: 94

Self-esteem 83

Rule awareness 9

He might as well have had the word "trouble" written across his face.

Gu Heng watched him for two seconds, then looked away.

"Sudo."

Horikita frowned.

"Why him?"

"Because the first storm in this class will most likely start with him." Gu Heng pushed himself off the wall and straightened up. "And if I'm not mistaken, he's not the kind to quietly rot away on his own."

"When he goes bad, he'll drag others down with him."

Horikita instinctively glanced at Sudo again.

Sudo was animatedly chatting with the person beside him, gesturing so wildly it looked like he might start a fight the next second.

He really did look like trouble.

"So what are you planning to do next?" she asked.

"Watch first," Gu Heng said.

"Just watch?"

"What else?" Gu Heng glanced at her. "It's not like I can go up to him on the first day and tell him, 'You're going to cause trouble for the whole class soon, so please rein yourself in first.'"

Horikita imagined the scene, and her expression turned even colder.

Because she knew Sudo would most likely lose his temper on the spot.

"You make it sound easy."

"It's not easy." Gu Heng slipped his hands into his pockets. "It's just that compared to trying to manage a bunch of people who won't believe me anyway, I'd rather wait until they hit a wall first."

Horikita said nothing.

She didn't like that answer.

But she couldn't find a better one.

Footsteps suddenly sounded from the other end of the hallway.

Someone strolled over at an unhurried pace, as if he just happened to be passing by.

Gu Heng and Horikita turned their heads at the same time.

It was Ayanokoji.

He held an unopened bottle of water. When he reached them, he paused, his gaze naturally sweeping over their faces.

"Am I interrupting?"

His tone was casual.

As if he were really just asking offhandedly.

Horikita immediately frowned.

"You were eavesdropping?"

"No." Ayanokoji said, "I just came out for some air."

After saying that, he looked at Gu Heng as if by chance.

His gaze was faint.

So faint that it was almost completely devoid of aggression.

But Gu Heng knew that truly troublesome people often didn't like displaying their aggression openly.

"You said that thing about having zero points, didn't you?"

Ayanokoji asked.

Gu Heng looked at him and didn't deny it.

"I did."

"That was pretty bold." Ayanokoji twisted open the cap and took a sip, his tone still flat. "Wouldn't it be embarrassing if you were wrong?"

"It would," Gu Heng said. "But if I'm right, at least I won't have to be embarrassed along with everyone else."

Ayanokoji watched him for two seconds, as if trying to determine how much truth the words contained.

Then he gave a soft laugh.

It was shallow.

So shallow it seemed like an illusion.

"That makes sense."

Horikita looked at him, then at Gu Heng, clearly growing more impatient.

She didn't like conversations that sounded like riddles.

Especially when the other two were clearly speaking normally, yet both seemed to be hiding half of what they meant.

"If you're done," she said coldly, "I'm going back to the classroom."

Then she left without even pausing.

Ayanokoji didn't stop her.

Neither did Gu Heng.

The hallway was suddenly left with only the two of them.

The wind outside passed through the open windows, making the patches of light and shadow by the railing sway gently.

Ayanokoji leaned against the window, as if he had really come out just to get some air.

"Why did you tell her?"

He suddenly asked.

Gu Heng looked at him.

"Are you asking why I told Horikita, or why I told Class D?"

"Either one."

"Because seeing a pit and jumping into it with everyone else doesn't suit me."

"Is that all?"

"What else would it be?"

Ayanokoji didn't respond. He merely watched him.

Gu Heng knew perfectly well that this silence was itself a question.

He was waiting.

Waiting for him to say more.

Waiting for him to patch up the holes.

Waiting for him to reveal something he shouldn't.

Gu Heng didn't take the bait.

After a few seconds of silence, Ayanokoji finally looked away, as if the probing had been enough.

"Then you'd better keep a close eye on things."

"Watch what?"

"Someone in this class will run into trouble before the end of the month."

With that, he turned and left.

Gu Heng stood where he was, watching his back disappear through the classroom door. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly.

Good news.

Ayanokoji had started observing him.

Bad news.

Ayanokoji had started observing him.

When Gu Heng returned to the classroom, Sudo was slapping the desk and laughing loudly with the person beside him, looking like the last person in the class who could ever get bitten by the rules.

Gu Heng sat down, his gaze settling on him.

This time, he wasn't just looking at that string of numbers.

He began naming Class D's first storm in his mind.

Ken Sudou.