The First Class Rule

At noon, not a single person in Class D rushed out like they had the past few days.

The classroom was quiet.

It was not that no one was hungry.

It was that many had already learned to calculate how many more meals the points on their cards could cover.

Some lowered their heads to look at their student IDs.

Some flipped through the classroom rules they had copied down that morning.

Others remained in their seats, occasionally looking up at Gu Heng, waiting for him to continue what he had left unfinished that morning.

Hirata approached first.

"Everyone's more or less waiting for you," he said.

"Waiting for me?"

"Waiting for you to finish those points." Hirata glanced around and lowered his voice. "You got things started this morning. A lot of people are still putting on a tough front, but when they scanned their student IDs just now, their hands slowed down."

"Being afraid is enough."

"You really don't offer any comfort at all."

"Comfort doesn't earn points."

Hirata gave a wry smile and did not pursue it.

"I asked a few people while I was at it," Hirata continued. "Some of them don't actually mind listening. They just don't want to be managed by their classmates."

"Normal," Gu Heng said. "No one likes having a peer suddenly standing over them."

"And you still plan to do this directly?"

"If I'm not direct, they'll just keep pretending not to understand."

After saying that, Gu Heng stood up.

At once, the people in several nearby rows instinctively looked up.

Not far away, Horikita put down her pen as well.

Her expression remained cold.

But this time, she did not immediately adopt the attitude of, "I'm not interested."

Unlike the previous times, she did not speak up first to interrupt him. She merely laid her pen flat on the desk.

"I'll only take five minutes."

Gu Heng's voice was not loud when he spoke.

But the classroom was already quiet.

So nearly everyone heard him.

"After five minutes, anyone who thinks I'm talking nonsense can leave on the spot."

The moment he finished, someone in the back row snorted.

"You say that like anyone's afraid of you."

Gu Heng looked over.

"Good if you're not afraid," he said. "It's the scared ones who are more likely to pretend they understand."

The boy's face darkened at being choked off, but he could not come up with a reply.

The classroom became even quieter because of it.

"The teacher made the rules clear this morning," Gu Heng said, sweeping his gaze over everyone. "Personal points are not benefits. They are resources earned through class evaluations. You have two choices now."

"First, keep living however you want and get another zero next month."

"Second, accept one very unpleasant fact starting today."

As he spoke, he lightly tapped the edge of the desk with a fingertip.

"From now on, Class D is not a place where everyone gets to live however they want."

Someone in the front row immediately frowned.

"Why not?"

"Because you've already been poor once." Gu Heng looked at her. "Still haven't learned?"

The girl flushed and forcibly shut her mouth.

"To put it bluntly, this school has made the accounting very clear." Gu Heng's tone was even. "If one person breaks the rules, the whole class pays. Then there's nothing unfair about the whole class managing that person in return."

"But isn't that too ridiculous?" Ike Kanji could not help cutting in. "Does that mean we'll get written up for yawning in class?"

"If your yawning can make the class points disappear, then yes, it gets recorded," Gu Heng said. "If you can't remember the boundaries, write them down."

"So, the first class rule is simple."

He slapped the paper in his hand onto the desk.

The smack was not loud, but it was crisp.

"Classroom discipline."

"Specifically: being late, sleeping, using phones, causing disruptions, and talking back to teachers."

"Whoever violates it gets recorded."

"If one reminder does not work, their name gets written down. At the end of a week, we review the list together."

Low murmurs immediately rose throughout the classroom.

"Isn't that public humiliation?"

"Who's going to record it?"

"Why should we listen to him?"

One voice followed another.

Gu Heng did not suppress them.

He waited a few seconds, letting those voices rise on their own.

Then he spoke.

"What you care about most right now isn't whether these rules can save you."

"It's who gets to hold those rules."

The classroom instantly fell even quieter.

A boy in the front row had been standing with his arms crossed. Upon hearing that, he slowly lowered them.

"That's understandable," Gu Heng said. "After all, no one wants someone suddenly placed above them."

"Then why are you saying it so self-righteously?" someone in the back frowned.

"Because what matters first isn't whether you feel comfortable." Gu Heng looked at him. "It's whether Class D wants to get its points back."

"To put it even more harshly."

"If you're still hung up on your pride now, then this loss hasn't hurt you deep enough."

Several faces changed at once.

Horikita looked at Gu Heng, her fingertips lightly pausing against the desktop.

The people in the front row who had been frowning did not interrupt again. They merely fixed their eyes on Gu Heng's face.

"So whoever you say records things gets to record things?" Sudo suddenly spoke, his voice heavy.

He had been holding back his anger since morning.

And he was already getting impatient.

"Gu Heng, do you think you're so impressive now?"

The atmosphere in the classroom instantly tightened.

A lot of people were watching.

The students in the two rows beside them turned their gazes over as well.

Gu Heng looked at Sudo without backing down.

"It's not that I'm impressive," he said. "It's that you don't have a better solution right now."

Sudo's face darkened further.

"Don't give me that crap."

"Then give us something else?" Gu Heng retorted. "If you can guarantee that you won't cause trouble in class, be late, or affect the whole class from now on, I'll change the second rule right now and write it around you."

"You fucking—"

"See?" Gu Heng cut him off. "You can't even make one complete promise."

The classroom was so quiet that a pin dropping could have been heard.

Sudo stood there, his fists clenched so tightly they had gone white.

The veins on the back of Sudo's hands stood out even more sharply, but he could not immediately open his mouth.

Hirata spoke up then.

"Gu Heng doesn't mean to target anyone," he said. "He wants to contain the risks everyone can see first. At the very least, if classes keep going like they did last month, no one will have an easy time."

That pulled the atmosphere back a little.

"Then who records the names?" someone asked again.

"I will." Horikita suddenly spoke.

Many people in the classroom froze.

Even Gu Heng turned his head and looked at her for an extra moment.

Horikita's expression did not change.

"Since some people are always saying they can't stand watching others act stupid," she said, looking at the class with a voice that was cold and clear, "I'll be responsible for keeping clear records of those stupid acts."

In an instant, the objections diminished considerably.

Her cold expression gave the matter of "recording names" an air of official business instead.

"If you object, you can nominate someone else to replace me," she added. "On the condition that they're not more useless than I am."

No one responded.

Someone in the back opened their mouth, but ultimately did not offer a name.

"I'll handle the coordination," Hirata added smoothly.

"If it's just reminders and recordkeeping, everyone can follow this for a month first. If anyone thinks it's unreasonable, we can review it again at the end of the month."

Gu Heng said nothing, merely watching everyone's reactions.

The people in the front rows had already begun to waver.

Those in the back did not look pleased, but no one actually stepped forward with a more reliable solution.

"Then it's settled for now," Gu Heng said. "The first class rule takes effect today."

"Secure classroom discipline first."

"We'll add the rest one rule at a time."

No one applauded.

Nor did anyone look convinced.

But no one laughed anymore.

Horikita picked up her notebook and truly began writing.

Hirata turned to quietly explain things to a few people nearby, helping put the rule into practice.

Kushida also moved over to a group of girls with a smile. After a few words from her, their tense shoulders gradually relaxed.

The tension in the classroom, which could have erupted at any moment, was temporarily suppressed.

But just then, someone in the back muttered in a low voice.

"Sounds nice enough, but if we're really keeping records, shouldn't Sudo be the first one written down?"

The voice was not loud.

But it was enough for several people nearby to hear.

Sudo's face immediately sank.

The people beside him also shrank back at once, afraid Sudo would lose his temper on the spot.

Gu Heng's eyelids lowered slightly.

The way those people in the back hunched their shoulders and fell silent was exactly the same as the reaction he had noted that morning.

"Shut your mouths."

Gu Heng's words were colder than at any point before.

The people who had been whispering instantly fell silent.

"Do you think that now that the first class rule has been established, the easiest thing to do next is push Sudo out first so the whole class can vent?"

No one spoke.

Someone in the front shifted their gaze away, and no one in the back continued the topic.

"Then I'll say the second thing while I'm at it." Gu Heng swept his gaze over the class. "Sudo not only cannot be abandoned first, he must be protected first."

"Why?"

This time, more than one person asked.

Even Horikita frowned.

Gu Heng looked at her, then at the whole class.

"Because what Class D lacks most right now isn't one less problem."

"It's one less person who can be brought back."

Sudo abruptly looked up.

Several people in the back turned to look at him as well.

Gu Heng did not stop.

"Everyone knows he has a bad temper, acts impulsively, and has no sense of discipline," he said. "But because everyone can see that, if he truly manages to rein himself in, he'll also be the first person in the class whose change everyone notices."

"In other words."

"If you throw him away now, you'll have less trouble in the short term."

"But what you'll lose is Class D's first proof to everyone that rules really work."

The classroom fell silent at once.

The scattered murmurs gradually died away.

Some looked at Sudo, others at Gu Heng, but no one spoke up right away.

"Starting today," Gu Heng said evenly as he looked at everyone, "anyone who still treats Sudo as one of the first people to be cut loose is personally pushing away the first person in Class D who can still be pulled back."

After saying that, he offered no further explanation.

Sudo stood there with his fists still clenched, but his breathing slowed by a beat.

For the first time, those eyes that had always burned with anger did not immediately fire back.

Gu Heng lowered his head, folded the sheet containing the class rules again, and tucked it back into his book.

The first class rule had been established.