The deathly silence in the classroom did not last long. Driven by anger, someone finally failed to contain their panic and resentment and began complaining loudly.
"Are you kidding me? I don't even have money for lunch! How am I supposed to survive the next month?" Someone frantically tugged at their hair, voicing their predicament.
"Exactly! What kind of school is this? If I'd known, I wouldn't have spent all my points!" someone else wailed, regretting what they had done.
Amid the chorus of misery, Hikohiko Yukimura shot to his feet. His face was livid, his fists clenched, and his eyes behind his glasses brimmed with anger and indignation.
"Shut up! All you idiots care about is points! Didn't you hear what Chabashira-sensei said?
"They're treating us as worthless defective products! I came here to get a good job! How can I let people call me good for nothing?"
Seeing this, Yosuke Hirata hurriedly rose from his seat, trying to calm Yukimura down.
"Yukimura, please calm down first. Blaming each other won't help us now. We should find a way to solve the problem..."
"How do you expect me to calm down?" Yukimura cut Hirata off without mercy, glaring at him as he demanded an answer.
"Hirata, stop pretending to be the nice guy! If those pieces of trash who keep showing up late and sleeping in class hadn't dragged us down, how would our points have ended up at zero? As the central figure in our class, don't you bear any responsibility?"
Yukimura's cutting words stunned Hirata. A troubled look crossed his face, and for a moment, he did not know how to respond.
Honestly, Yukimura was not wrong. But for the sake of his classmates and the bigger picture, Hirata could not say those things aloud.
Just as the atmosphere grew tense enough to snap, Kikyo Kushida stepped forward at the right moment.
With a gentle, worried smile, she walked between the two and softly tried to reason with them. "Yukimura, Hirata only wants what's best for everyone.
"Everyone's feeling awful right now, but if we start fighting among ourselves, won't we just give the other classes more reason to laugh at us? Let's get along and find a way through this together."
Kushida's words soothed him like a gentle spring rain. Combined with her exceptionally approachable smile, they instantly quelled much of Yukimura's anger.
He snorted. Although he still looked displeased, he did not lash out again and dropped heavily back into his chair.
Elsewhere, several boys crowded around the blackboard, taking pictures of the poster displaying the Class Points data with their phones and writing things on paper, trying to work out the specific point deduction rules from the number of violations listed.
"Don't waste your time." Horikita Suzune, who had remained silent all this time, spoke coldly, a rare trace of irritation in her eyes.
"There were hundreds of violations. It's impossible to calculate the exact deduction for each category. It's entirely because you people broke the rules so many times that all one thousand points were deducted, leaving nothing."
A boy nearby noticed that Horikita, who normally remained utterly calm and aloof, was clearly losing control of her emotions.
Being assigned to Class D, which was regarded as a class of "defective products," was undoubtedly a tremendous blow to someone who thought so highly of herself.
"The school's actions are simply unacceptable." Horikita bit her lip. "Imposing such a devastating punishment without explaining the rules beforehand is completely unreasonable. I absolutely refuse to accept such an unreasonable evaluation method."
Just then, Yosuke Hirata took a deep breath and walked up to the teacher's platform.
He clapped his hands to draw the whole class's attention and called out, "Everyone, listen to me! Although we lost our points this month, as long as we start changing today, things are bound to improve next month!
"I propose that, starting now, nobody in our class be late again, or talk or play with their phones during lessons. As long as we maintain zero violations, we'll definitely be able to earn points next month!"
A derisive snort rang out from the back of the classroom.
Ken Sudō kicked his desk aside and stood up, his face full of irritation. "Stop making it sound so nice, Hirata! Chabashira-sensei just said that even if we stop breaking the rules, our points won't necessarily increase next month.
"If we don't know exactly how to increase our points, everything you're talking about is a waste of effort!"
Sudo grabbed his schoolbag and slung it over his shoulder, pointing at Hirata on the platform as he warned him, "If you want to play house, do it yourself! Don't drag me into it! Nothing pisses me off more than self-righteous lectures from people like you!"
With that, Sudo strode out of the classroom without looking back.
Seeing Sudo leave, some students who usually hung around with him and were equally dismissive of Hirata's approach also got up and followed him out.
Their actions immediately drew complaints from the fangirls in Hirata's circle.
"What's with that attitude? Hirata was only trying to help everyone come up with a solution! Not only were they ungrateful, they said those horrible things!"
"Exactly! You can tell those people are no good just by looking at them. They deserve to have no points!"
These students spoke without thinking at all, failing to realize that they might have no points themselves.
Kikyo Kushida also sided with Hirata, softly agreeing, "I think Hirata's right too. The most important thing is for everyone to work together."
With Kushida's support, the other students finally found an outlet for their resentment and began complaining one after another.
"When it comes down to it, isn't this because Sudo was late the most? He dragged our whole class down all by himself, and now he actually has the nerve to throw a tantrum here!"
Sitting at the very back of the classroom, Ken Kaneki watched the entire farce unfold.
A smile appeared on his lips as he found it rather interesting. Then he stood up and patted Kiyotaka Ayanokoji and Rokusuke Koenji on the shoulders.
"Had enough of the show? Let's go. Time to get down to business." Ken Kaneki chuckled. "Today's our first official day of business. Business will probably be booming, so we'll be pretty busy."
Ayanokoji and Koenji understood immediately. With these "easy marks" unable to afford even a meal, now was the perfect time for their Micro Bank and Second-Hand Trading Platform to reap the rewards.
The three rose in unison, ready to leave the chaotic classroom.
The moment Ayanokoji stood up, Horikita Suzune instinctively reached out, wanting to stop him.
She had so many questions and so much frustration that she wanted to share with someone, and Ayanokoji was currently the only person she could talk to.
However, as the words reached her lips, her lofty pride forced her to swallow them back down. Her outstretched hand hung in midair before finally dropping helplessly.
The girl could only watch as Ken Kaneki and the other two walked out of the classroom, talking and laughing.
After the three left, Yosuke Hirata walked over to Horikita's seat and offered an invitation with a sincere smile.
"Horikita, we're planning to hold a class meeting to discuss what to do next. Would you like to join us?"
Horikita gave him a cold glance and refused bluntly. "I'm not interested in this kind of meaningless group activity.
"Rather than gathering together to comfort each other, you'd be better off spending more time improving yourselves. Excuse me, but I won't be joining you. Goodbye."
With that, she briskly packed her schoolbag and left the classroom with a cold expression, leaving Hirata standing there with a wry smile.
Although Sudo and Horikita had rejected him in succession, quite a few people ultimately stayed for Hirata's meeting.
However, most of those who stayed were inconsequential figures on the sidelines.
This so-called "class meeting" lacked any substantive discussion from the very beginning.
Gathered together, they could offer no constructive suggestions whatsoever beyond complaining about the school's cruelty and lamenting their miserable lack of points.
Before long, the atmosphere of the meeting changed. Everyone began sharing snacks and gossiping, turning what should have been a serious crisis-response meeting into a noisy party.
Just as Horikita Suzune had said, it was a meaningless meeting.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, the harvesting plan of Ken Kaneki and his two companions had already quietly bared its fangs in the shadows of the school.
Before you continue