Rules

At the school gate, Ayanokoji and Horikita were engaged in a debate about giving up seats. Ryuuen didn't interfere with their interaction—excessive meddling might backfire.

Ryuuen took a stroll through the teaching building, observing the situation in each class.

Class A was orderly, worthy of being an elite class. Class B was harmonious, with everyone chatting and laughing around Ichinose. Class D was split into many small groups, with a few lone wolves standing out as misfits—among them, Ayanokoji.

As if sensing Ryuuen's gaze, Ayanokoji, sitting alone off to the side, turned and locked eyes with Ryuuen outside the classroom. There was no discernible emotion in Ayanokoji's eyes. Could he really be as emotionless as described in the original work? Ryuuen flashed what he thought was a charming smile at Ayanokoji. Ayanokoji furrowed his brow and looked away.

"So he's not truly devoid of emotion after all. That look of disgust just now didn't escape me. A bit disappointing, Ayanokoji. I hope you'll bring me more fun later." Ryuuen muttered to himself at the entrance to Class D.

Hirata Yousuke, the future class representative of Class D, noticed Ryuuen and came over to ask if he needed help. Ryuuen ignored him and returned to Class C on his own.

Class C's atmosphere was neither great nor terrible—mediocre. Name cards were taped to the desks, and Ryuuen quickly found his seat. Beside him sat a girl with sky-blue long hair, reading a book. The noisy environment around her was clearly hindering her reading efficiency—Ryuuen noticed she hadn't turned a page in a while. Yet not a trace of negative emotion showed on her face. Her serene, scholarly aura was a rare sight across the entire grade.

"Interesting." Ryuuen recognized the girl as Shiina Hiyori, one of Class C's few brains. The book she was reading was one Ryuuen had also read: The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind by French social psychologist Gustave Le Bon.

Ryuuen didn't rush to strike up a conversation with her. The priority now was unifying the class. Shiina Hiyori posed no threat to him. The black student sitting in the row ahead of Ryuuen was his first target to conquer—his physique was hard to ignore in the class, and he would become an indispensable asset to Class C.

Ryuuen had once considered winning people over with virtue, but his years of experience in business had taught him that the weak should be dominated and the strong should command obedience. To rule the class fastest, violence was the most convenient method. Though the drawbacks were obvious, as long as this tyrant could lead the class to victory, he would be revered.

Propping his legs up on the desk, Ryuuen closed his eyes, lost in thought.

The noise in the classroom continued unabated, even growing louder. A bunch of idiots, still excited about the new environment. The more they clamored, the more disappointed Ryuuen felt, and the more convinced he became that ruling the class through violence was the right path.

Suddenly, Class C fell silent.

"New students, I am your homeroom teacher, Sakagami Kazuma, and I'll also be teaching you mathematics. Over the next three years, I'll be growing alongside all of you. Please take care of me. The opening ceremony will be held in the gymnasium in one hour. For now, I'll hand out your student ID cards and school rule materials. Please read them carefully."

The voice of a middle-aged man interrupted Ryuuen's thoughts. Opening his eyes, he saw Sakagami Kazuma standing at the podium, wearing black glasses. He looked like an ordinary teacher—in other words, unremarkable. Not as easy on the eyes as Class B's Hoshinomiya or Class D's Chabashira.

The special rules of Advanced Nurturing High School were distributed along with the admission letters. Compared to other domestic schools, this one stood out for its mandatory boarding policy. Additionally, students were prohibited from contacting the outside world during school hours unless under special circumstances. To compensate for such absurd regulations, the school waived tuition fees.

On the other hand, to accommodate students' closed-off campus life, the school had built numerous entertainment and living facilities. Clothing stores, movie theaters, snack shops, KTVs, bookstores, coffee shops—everything was available. The campus was said to cover over 600,000 square meters.

Of course, none of that was the most important part.

"Using the student ID card just issued, you can access all facilities on campus. The campus card functions like a credit card, except credit cards consume money, while campus cards consume points. Ahem, one thing to note is that the points on your student card can buy anything available on campus."

Sakagami Kazuma deliberately coughed twice to hint at his adorable but foolish students. Too direct a hint wasn't allowed, but unfortunately, few of Class C's idiots caught the teacher's implication.

Ryuuen toyed with the student ID in his hand. It was less a student ID and more like a phone with Alipay installed—except this phone couldn't connect to the outside world, only to other users on campus. The principle was simple: it was essentially a local area network.

"The usage is simple—just present it at the payment terminal. On the first of every month, the school will automatically transfer points to students. Each student will receive 100,000 points. The exchange rate between points and yen is 1:1. That's roughly the gist of it." Perhaps disappointed in the class, Sakagami didn't cough again or offer any further hints.

Before the teacher had even finished speaking, the students below erupted into chaos.

"This is amazing! 100,000 a month? I can buy whatever I want!"

"This is awesome! The school not only waives tuition but gives us pocket money too!"

"Let's go shopping sometime! I want to check out the cosmetics—there's a lipstick I've been wanting to buy..."

Watching the students chatter excitedly, Sakagami Kazuma said nothing. He just stood at the podium, quietly waiting for them to move to the next step on their own.

Sure enough, a girl eager to show off stood out amid the noisy discussion: "Everyone!"

She suddenly rose from her seat, and those around her quieted down at her action.

"We're going to be living together for three years. How about we take this time to introduce ourselves, going in order of our seats? That way, we can get to know each other faster and find like-minded friends." The girl tried her best to perform, attempting to stir up the class's energy.

Both Ryuuen and Sakagami were deeply disappointed. They'd thought she might have some brilliant insight, but it seemed she just wanted to show off in front of the teacher, curry favor to land a class officer position, boost her standing in the class, and secure her high school life.

Self-introductions were indeed useful—an inevitable part of entering high school. But after hearing the teacher's explanation, there were clearly more important matters at hand. Couldn't they use their brains for a moment? Sakagami's words had obvious issues—didn't they want to ask?

A bleak future ahead—that was Sakagami Kazuma's inner thought.

"Enough. This farce ends here!" Ryuuen had reached his limit and directly cut off the girl's words. "A bunch of boring, stupid fools. As expected, you idiots just need to shut up and obey!"