Class D's Price Tag

After Sae Chabashira finished speaking, the classroom fell completely silent for three whole seconds.

It wasn't that no one wanted to speak.

They just didn't know what to say first.

"That can't be possible..."

At last, someone forced out a shaky sentence.

"Even if we've been a little lax, there's no way we should get zero points, right?"

"A little lax?"

Sae Chabashira stood at the podium, her tone so flat that no emotion could be heard in it.

"Lateness, sleeping in class, whispering during lessons, talking back to teachers, using phones without permission, making loud noise in public areas on campus, ignoring the most basic group discipline." Her gaze swept over the students below. "You call that being a little lax?"

No one answered.

Because nearly everyone in Class D had done those things.

And not just once or twice.

"The personal points the school distributes to each class every month are not fixed benefits," Sae Chabashira continued. "They are the result of your class evaluation. A high evaluation means more points. A low evaluation means fewer points. And for people like you..."

She paused.

"Getting deducted all the way to zero is perfectly normal."

That hurt more than her earlier statement that they were worth that evaluation.

Because the first had still sounded like an assessment.

The second was already a rule.

The most frightening thing about rules was never that they were cold.

It was that they did not negotiate with you.

"Teacher, why didn't you make this clear from the beginning?" Ike Kanji couldn't help standing up, his voice full of anger. "If you'd told us earlier, we wouldn't have—"

"Wouldn't have what?" Sae Chabashira looked at him.

Ike Kanji choked on his words.

Sae Chabashira finished the sentence for him.

"Wouldn't have committed every mistake you possibly could in a single month?"

Even the sound of breathing in the classroom seemed to fade.

"This school is not responsible for chasing after you and reminding you," Sae Chabashira said. "Giving you admission, a student handbook, and an environment with ample freedom is itself part of the screening process."

"If you cannot understand the rules, cannot control yourselves, or cannot manage a group, then you will not receive the corresponding resources."

"That is how this school operates."

Horikita sat at her desk, her fingers slowly tightening.

She had already more or less guessed it.

But hearing the teacher lay out that logic so plainly still made her feel as though something had come crashing down on her head-on.

This was not an ordinary school.

Nor was it a place that let you correct your mistakes.

This was a place that used resources as a whip.

Hirata did not look much better either.

He had already been eighty percent convinced last night.

But now that Chabashira had completely tied personal points to class evaluation, he truly realized for the first time just how serious this was.

It meant that everyone's freedom, daily life, spending, and even emotions would be tied to the class's overall performance from now on.

One person's mistake would not be a price paid by that person alone.

Everyone would lose out together.

Sudo's fists clenched with a creak.

"This is bullshit, isn't it?" he gritted out. "I have to pay for other people's mistakes too?"

"What right do you have to exclude yourself?" Horikita spoke coldly.

Sudo spun toward her.

"What did you say?"

"I said that the trouble you caused this month ranks among the worst." Horikita looked at him without yielding an inch. "If people like you hadn't treated discipline as a joke, Class D would not have been deducted to zero."

She wasn't wrong.

But she had put it too harshly.

Sudo's face flushed at once, and the chair legs scraped against the floor with a piercing screech.

"Say that again, asshole?"

Sae Chabashira remained at the podium, showing no intention of stopping them.

She seemed to be watching.

Watching whether Class D's first reaction after learning the rules would be to save themselves—or continue tearing each other apart.

Gu Heng glanced at her and understood perfectly.

This woman did not care whether they argued right now.

She only cared whether Class D was worth wasting more explanations on.

"Enough."

Gu Heng spoke. His voice was not loud, but it landed squarely between the two of them.

Sudo whipped his head toward him, none of the anger gone from his face.

"What are you going to say now?"

"That if you keep arguing, you'll just be making things easier for the teacher."

Sudo froze.

Not just him. The entire class paused for a moment.

One of Sae Chabashira's brows seemed to twitch almost imperceptibly.

Gu Heng continued.

"She just laid out the rules, and you've already started rushing to condemn each other. Whoever shouts louder is right. Whoever dumps the blame first gets off easier." His eyes swept across the room. "Very efficient. No need to think. Just get angry."

Several faces changed.

Because he wasn't aiming those words at any one person.

He had dragged out the instinctive reaction the entire classroom had just shown.

Ike Kanji opened his mouth, but in the end, said nothing.

"Then what do you think we should do?" someone in the front row finally asked.

"First, accept one fact," Gu Heng said. "Starting today, Class D isn't a place where everyone just minds their own business. If one person does something stupid, everyone pays for it."

The sentence was like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing the last traces of many people's belief that they only needed to manage themselves.

"Why should we?" someone still objected. "It's not like I can watch everyone else twenty-four hours a day!"

"That's exactly why we need rules." Gu Heng looked at him. "Otherwise, do you think today's zero will be the last time?"

Even the last few protesting voices quieted.

Because no one dared gamble on it.

Sae Chabashira suddenly spoke from the podium.

"It seems someone in your class has finally understood the key point."

Her gaze settled on Gu Heng.

"Since that is the case, I will add one more thing. Class points are not permanently fixed. Every month from now on, the school will recalculate them based on your overall performance. Perform well, and they can rise. Perform poorly, and they can continue to fall."

"In other words," Hirata said quietly, "we haven't completely lost our chance."

"Of course you have a chance," Sae Chabashira said. "The premise is that you first start acting like a class."

Like a class.

Those four words brought a deeper silence than anything she had said before.

Because everyone knew that was exactly what Class D least resembled right now.

They were undisciplined, emotional, and unwilling to accept anyone else.

When something happened, they blamed the school first, then other people, and only remembered themselves at the end.

At that moment, Sae Chabashira picked up her lesson plan.

"That concludes today's explanation. Digest the rest yourselves."

She was actually preparing to start class.

The classroom immediately erupted into commotion.

"Wait, teacher, that's it?"

"What exactly are we supposed to do next?"

"At least tell us how to earn the points back!"

Sae Chabashira paused and raised her eyes.

"What should you do?"

She looked at the students calmly.

"The student handbook states the most basic campus rules. Beyond that, you can figure out your own methods."

"If you still need me to teach you something like this step by step, then Class D truly deserves to keep getting zero."

After saying that, she ignored the voices below and directly opened her textbook.

She turned the page very lightly.

But no one in the class had the mind to listen to the lesson anymore.

For the entire morning, the classroom felt as though it had been tightened by invisible cords.

No one laughed and talked loudly anymore.

No one played on their phones as brazenly as they had over the past few days.

Even the few who had the hardest time sitting still were noticeably more subdued.

Not because they had become sensible.

Because it hurt.

Gu Heng lowered his head and flipped through his textbook, but his peripheral vision continued sweeping over the class.

Some people were spacing out.

Some were doing the math.

Some had begun secretly watching those around them, as if considering who they would need to guard against in the future.

Only at this point had the rules truly sunk in.

Not the instant the teacher spoke them.

But the moment everyone finally factored "other people can make me lose money" into their thinking.

When the dismissal bell rang, the classroom seemed to come alive again.

But this time, it was not lively.

It was chaotic, with anger tightly suppressed beneath the surface.

"It's all the fault of those people who love causing trouble in class."

"You say that like you've never slept during class."

"But it wasn't serious enough to get us deducted to zero, was it?"

"What's the point of arguing about that now?"

Horikita stood up as if she wanted to say something.

But Gu Heng raised his hand first and lightly tapped the desk.

Not hard.

But enough to make the people in several nearby rows instinctively look over.

"You can keep being a mess if you want," he said. "Get zero again this month, and everyone will learn just how real the pain is."

No one responded.

Because Chabashira's words were still weighing on every heart.

"But if you don't want that," Gu Heng said, sweeping his gaze over them, "then let's first establish the most basic things."

"What things?" someone asked.

"The bottom line for how this class survives from now on."

This time, even people farther away slowly turned to look.

Hirata was the first to pick up the thread.

"You mean we set our own rules first?"

"Not a whole set," Gu Heng said. "We start with the few that matter most."

Horikita looked at him, her brows slightly furrowed.

"You're going to say it now?"

"If we don't say it now, they'll go back to their dorms, complain all night, and tomorrow it'll turn into a pile of new emotions." Gu Heng looked at her. "Rules are best established right after the pain hits."

It was still harsh.

But Horikita did not refute him.

Because she knew Gu Heng was right.

Hirata nodded as well.

"Then at least tell us what you have in mind."

"The first rule is simple." Gu Heng stood up, his voice still quiet but steadier than before. "Starting today, no being late to class, no sleeping during class, and no playing with phones under the teacher's nose."

"Isn't that obvious?" someone in the back muttered.

"It is obvious." Gu Heng looked over there. "But that pile of obvious things is why you didn't get a single cent this month."

That person immediately fell silent.

"Second rule: if anyone in the class loses their temper again and disrupts the lesson, put it on their own tab first." Gu Heng's gaze swept past Sudo. "Keep track until the end of the month, and we'll see who's dragging the whole class down with them."

Sudo's face darkened, but he didn't explode on the spot.

Because he knew that whoever blew up first now would look the most guilty.

"Third rule." Gu Heng paused. "If anyone sees someone else clearly breaking the rules, don't pretend you didn't notice. Warn them once. If they don't listen, write down their name."

This immediately drew resistance from the classroom.

"Isn't that just spying on each other?"

"Yes," Gu Heng said. "What else did you think we could rely on when a group of people has to pay for each other's mistakes? Self-discipline?"

The room fell silent.

Because it was too blunt.

And too much like the truth.

Hirata frowned slightly.

"Isn't this a little too aggressive?"

"That's why I said warn them first, then write them down." Gu Heng looked at him. "This isn't about reporting each other from the start. It's about making everyone understand that, starting this month, every person has to feel the cost of someone else's actions."

Hirata was silent for a few seconds before slowly nodding.

He didn't like this way of putting it.

But he could tell this was already Gu Heng holding back.

"What about enforcement?" Horikita asked.

Gu Heng looked at her.

"You'll be in charge of discipline."

"Are you assigning me work?"

"What else?" Gu Heng shot back. "Aren't you the one who can't stand people being idiots?"

Horikita choked on that.

Hirata gave a wry smile beside her.

That was what made Gu Heng formidable.

Even when assigning someone a task, he could make it sound like he was merely reminding them of their nature.

"What about you?" Horikita asked coldly.

"I'll keep the ledger, and mark out the people most likely to keep causing problems," Gu Heng said. "Hirata will handle mediation and passing things along. As for Kushida..."

At that, he glanced at Kushida.

Kushida blinked, still wearing that naturally sweet smile.

"Me?"

"You'll make sure these rules don't get spread around in too ugly a way," Gu Heng said.

Kushida froze for a moment, then her smile deepened.

"That does sound like something I can do."

She agreed very quickly.

Quickly enough to make Gu Heng more wary.

But for now, that was exactly what he wanted.

It was better to borrow her popularity than to clash with her head-on right now.

No one in the classroom immediately objected as they had before.

Not because they were fully convinced.

It was because everyone was still reeling from the shock of having zero points, and for the moment, they couldn't think of a better solution.

And among a group of people who didn't know what to do, whoever put forward a workable draft first would naturally take the lead.

Gu Heng understood that perfectly.

So he had no intention of giving them too many choices.

"That's it for today," he said. "If anyone has objections, you can raise them. But until you come up with a more effective method, follow this first."

No one spoke.

Looking at Gu Heng, Horikita realized something for the first time.

The most troublesome thing about him wasn't that he saw things early.

It was that once he decided to act, he would naturally take over the question of what to do next as well.

He didn't just shout slogans.

He actually provided solutions.

And after most people had just taken a hard fall, this was exactly the kind of person they were most likely to submit to.

Hirata looked around the room and spoke softly.

"Then at least... shall we try it for one month first?"

That gave everyone an out.

Some nodded reluctantly.

Some said nothing, silently agreeing.

Sudo turned his head away, muttered an indistinct curse, and stopped pushing back.

And so, the matter was reluctantly settled.

It wasn't pretty.

Nor was it gentle in the slightest.

But at least, after being slapped across the face, Class D did not completely fall apart for the first time.

Gu Heng lowered his head and wrote a line in his notebook.

First survival draft: workable.

Just as he finished writing, something flickered lightly at the edge of his vision.

It wasn't anyone in the class.

It was outside the classroom door.

Gu Heng looked up and happened to see Sae Chabashira standing at the corner of the corridor, as if she had merely paused there for a moment.

She didn't come in.

And she didn't say anything.

She merely cast a calm glance inside through the half-open door.

The look was brief.

So brief that it was as if nothing had happened.

But Gu Heng understood.

From that moment on, in the teacher's eyes, he was no longer merely a student who had noticed the points being wiped out in advance.

He was someone beginning to set a price for Class D.