All Class Points Reduced to Zero? Sorry, My Game Is Just Beginning!

May 1st.

Tatsuya Sakuya had just stepped into the classroom when he was hit by an atmosphere of unrest.

At this time of day, the classroom was usually filled with laughter and cheerful chatter.

"Hey... have your points come in yet?"

"Not at all. I've been refreshing since the moment I opened my eyes this morning. I've refreshed at least fifty times, but my account balance still only has the little bit left over from last month."

"What's going on? Today is May 1st. Didn't Chabashira-sensei clearly say on the first day of school that points would be transferred on the first of every month?"

The Class 1-D students gathered together to discuss the points, as anxious as ants on a hot pan.

For people like them, who had spent their points freely, those points were not merely pocket money. They even determined whether they could afford a hot meal today.

"What the hell? Could the school's system server have crashed?"

"It has to be some kind of malfunction, right? This school's equipment is so advanced, maybe there's just a delay in the data transfer..."

The clamor in the classroom grew louder and louder, with doubts and self-comforting explanations rising one after another.

Tatsuya Sakuya pulled out the chair by the window and sat down, carefully listening to the panicked discussions around him.

This day had finally come...

From now on, every month, the Class 1-D students would remember this day.

That day, the Class 1-D students recalled the terror of once being ruled by having their points reduced to zero.

Tatsuya Sakuya muttered silently to himself.

Everything was exactly as he had expected.

This elite academy, funded and established by Sakura Nation, was essentially an extremely cruel social experiment.

Without explicitly stating any rules, it examined the students' self-discipline in the face of points and freedom.

And Class 1-D's performance over the past month could almost be called a failing answer sheet.

"Shiba."

A cool, restrained voice came from beside him.

Tatsuya Sakuya turned his head. Horikita Suzune was watching him.

"What is it, Horikita?"

Tatsuya Sakuya spoke calmly.

Horikita Suzune deliberately lowered her voice.

"About the points... did you receive a system notification about points being transferred this morning?"

"No."

Tatsuya Sakuya answered composedly.

Horikita Suzune frowned.

"Then it seems this isn't an issue affecting only a few students."

"If it isn't merely a system malfunction, then that means..."

She keenly noticed Tatsuya Sakuya's expression.

"Shiba, had you already noticed something?"

"I simply have a habit of considering the corresponding cost before accepting any benefit."

Tatsuya Sakuya remained calm and did not directly reveal his hand.

Horikita Suzune was about to press him further.

Thud.

The classroom's front door suddenly opened.

In an instant, it was as if someone had pressed pause on the noisy classroom.

Everyone turned toward the door in unison, because the person who could give them an answer had arrived.

Chabashira Sae walked up to the podium carrying the previous mock test papers.

"As usual, we will now begin the class meeting."

Chabashira Sae looked down at the restless students below from her position on the podium.

Before she could speak, Yamauchi Haruki finally snapped. He stood up and loudly demanded, "Chabashira-sensei, the hundred thousand points we were supposed to receive this month haven't arrived. When exactly will the school's system be fixed?"

"Yeah, sensei. A lot of us have already spent all our points. Some of us can't even afford to eat."

Ike Kanji loudly chimed in, his tone full of complaint.

"A system malfunction? Fixed?"

Faced with the entire class's questioning, Chabashira Sae did not get angry.

"It seems that over the past month, you lot have completely treated your brains as decorations."

She braced both hands against the podium and coldly announced, "As for this month's points, the school has completed the settlement and distribution accurately and without error."

"As for why you did not receive any points, the reason is simple. Class 1-D earned 0 Class Points this month."

"Huh?"

"Zero points? What kind of joke is that?"

"How could it be zero? What happened to the hundred thousand we were promised? Sensei, you can't be joking."

The entire classroom erupted.

Several boys in the back row were so agitated that they jumped straight out of their seats.

"Quiet."

Chabashira Sae picked up a piece of chalk from the podium and swiftly wrote a set of horrifying figures on the blackboard.

Tardiness and absences: 91 incidents total.

Private conversations, phone use, sleeping in class, and other violations: 391 incidents total.

"This is the perfect answer sheet you submitted over the past month."

Chabashira Sae turned around, her eyes filled with undisguised contempt.

"Your behavior in class has all been meticulously recorded."

She extended one finger and tapped the blackboard.

"At the beginning of the school year, the school gave each class 1,000 Class Points. One Class Point corresponded to one hundred Private Points. Originally, each of you really could have received one hundred thousand points."

Chabashira Sae's gaze sharpened.

"Over the past month, your behavior has deducted all of your Class Points. That is why your point distribution this month is zero."

"With zero points, naturally there will be no transfer."

Lies did not hurt people. The truth was the sharp blade.

The students who had just been clamoring for the school to explain itself now looked pale, slumping blankly into their chairs.

Memories of brazenly playing on their phones, sleeping, and chatting during class over the past month flooded their minds, becoming the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Unlike the people around him, Tatsuya Sakuya was not filled with panic. He did not even waver in the slightest.

However, Chabashira Sae on the podium clearly had no intention of stopping there.

"Did you think it would end just because you have no points, you naïve brats?"

Chabashira Sae sneered and pinned the mock test results onto the blackboard.

The board was densely covered with every student's name and test score.

"These are yesterday's mock test results."

Chabashira Sae pointed at several names.

"You are the worst class I have ever taught. And while we're at it, let me remind you of something."

"In the upcoming official midterm exam, the school will adopt extremely strict evaluation standards. The class passing line will be set at half of the class average score."

"If your results remain at the level of this mock exam, I'm afraid the expulsion list will have no fewer than five names."

Chabashira Sae did not waste another word. She coldly turned and walked out of the classroom.

The classroom was instantly drowned in tearful voices, desperate roars, and arguments as everyone tried to shift the blame onto one another.

At the center of this vortex of chaos, Tatsuya Sakuya merely thought calmly.

Points reduced to zero, the threat of expulsion, the gap between classes.

As the school's veil was completely torn away, the stage that belonged to him was finally formally set.

For everyone else, this was a desperate situation, a disaster that could bury them completely.

But for him, who had seen through all the rules in advance, this was merely the best opportunity to establish authority and seize control of the class.

Tatsuya Sakuya murmured softly.

"Then... the game officially begins."