Chabashira Sae said no more, picking up the chalk to write a few lines on the blackboard, marking the current points for the four classes.
Year 1 Class A: 1260 points Year 1 Class B: 785 points Year 1 Class C: 745 points Year 1 Class D: 590 points
These totals were roughly what Shimizu Akira had calculated at the end of the sports festival. Only Class C had lost 15 points recently due to various deductions; the other classes remained unchanged.
Just then, Chabashira checked her phone and sent two images to the class group chat. "Everyone, take out your phones and look at these two pictures carefully."
Shimizu clicked on them with confusion.
The first image showed a pile of discarded equipnt—desks and chairs that were dirty, ssy, and even missing legs.
The second image was of a single dormitory room. There was no air conditioner, no washing machine, and almost no electrical appliances to be seen; only a study desk and a stool.
It was a world apart from the luxurious single dorms they currently lived in, as if all the built-in appliances had been stripped bare.
"Chabashira-sensei, what does this an?" Ike Kanji asked, raising his hand first in confusion.
"It doesn't an anything special," Chabashira Sae said, scanning the class with a calm voice. "What you are seeing now is the future classroom and dormitory for Year 1 Class D. You have surely heard of the new Student Council President Nagumo Miyabi's policy.
His first change after taking office is to weaken the treatnt of Class D. This is the specific result of that policy's implentation."
The classroom fell silent instantly. The joy from the zero-expulsion news vanished, replaced by an oppressive silence. No one expected Nagumo's policy to be implented so quickly and ruthlessly.
Shimizu stared at the photos. How miserable would a dorm without air conditioning be in sumr or winter? A desk with a missing corner would be an eyesore.
Were the students of Class D really expected to live and study in such an environnt? Nagumo was intentionally putting the disparity on display, using the most direct thod to strike a warning into every class.
"Sensei, this policy... is there really no room for reversal?" Hirata Yousuke stood up. "If the students of Class D stay in this environnt, won't it affect their studies and ntal state?"
Chabashira shook her head firmly.
"The policy was personally finalized by President Nagumo and approved by the school. There is no possibility of reversal. However, you can rest assured that for now, the difference only exists in hardware. Class D's activity permissions and cafeteria al options remain unrestricted and the sa as before."
As soon as she said this, whispers filled the room.
"'For now'? Does that an it might change later? How is this different from a disguised punishnt? Life would be unbearable without AC!"
"Thank god we're Class C. If we fell back to D... I don't even want to think about it."
"We can't let class points be deducted casually anymore! I couldn't handle that life!"
Even the students who usually joked around turned serious. Sumr had just ended, so it wasn't too hot yet, but in the sweltering heat of June or July, sleeping without AC would be impossible.
Then, Chabashira added coldly, "By the way, it is actually possible to keep your personal dorm and furniture as they are—as long as you pay a monthly rent of 50,000 personal points to the school. This is an additional rule President Nagumo requested, considered a privilege for the select few among the strong."
"You can rent them? I thought we'd be stuck with the old gear!"
"50,000 points a month? The school is too greedy!"
"Excellent, excellent," Koenji Rokusuke laughed suddenly. "It seems those with strength can always enjoy privileges. This new president is sowhat interesting."
For ordinary students, 50,000 points a month was unbearable, but for Shimizu, it was fine. He had plenty of points in his account. Moreover, the rule wasn't mandatory; if you didn't want to rent, you could accept the old facilities.
Nagumo's policy was interesting—it perfectly fit his "ritocratic Classroom" philosophy. Students with points could continue to enjoy privileges, which made personal points more important while simultaneously pressuring the class collective. Everyone would work harder in the next special exam.
From a functional standpoint, Nagumo's move was definitely working.
"Ryuen Kakeru is going to explode when he sees this, right?"
"Yeah! He might pay the 50,000 for himself, but there's no way the whole class can cough up that much every month."
"50,000 per person... for 40 people, that's 2 million points!"
Shimizu didn't think for a second that Ryuen would spend 2 million class points just so everyone in Class D could live comfortably.
That was a huge sum for any class.
As for the other Class D students, they likely wouldn't want to spend 50,000 points a month either. They would probably just use the old gear. While the teaching staff remained the sa, the environnt would inevitably affect the atmosphere.
Chabashira then detailed the rules: class treatnt would be evaluated and rotated on the first day of the first week of every month—the sa day points are distributed. This ant if a class fell into D mid-month, they had until the end of the month to claw back points and avoid the "D-tier treatnt." The policy was effective imdiately.
Looking out the window, Shimizu could see staff already modifying Class D's room. The dormitory changes would be more tedious—swapping equipnt for 40 people. For personal applications, students could apply to their horoom teacher today; usually, it had to be done on point-distribution day.
A student asked if the staff would get tired of swapping gear so often. Chabashira replied, "The staff were much more exhausted preparing for the island exam; this is just moving furniture."
She looked at the class with the sentint of soone who had seen it all.
"Rember, the price of being at the bottom is this cruel. In society, the principle is the sa—at least the school puts the rules plainly in front of you. In society, many rules are opaque. If you face unfair treatnt, you won't even have a place to complain. So, work hard to raise your class points. Try not to lose to other classes in the final special exam so Class C doesn't fall back to D. That's what you should be doing."
"It feels bad to gloat, but I'm terrified!"
"Wait! Sensei, you ntioned a 'final special exam.' What does that an?"
Chabashira tapped the blackboard. "There will be a quiz at the end of this month. Even if you fail, you won't be expelled, but it will directly affect the groupings for the final exam. The school stipulates that based on the results of this quiz, you will be paired up within the class as partners. This is for a special exam called Paper Shuffle."
She paused. "For this final, you will challenge it as a 'shared destiny.' There are eight subjects, 100 points each, 50 questions per subject at 2 points each, totaling 800 points. There are two ways to fail.
First, similar to before, there is a minimum threshold of 60 points per subject, but this is the combined score of the partners. For example, if Ike Kanji and Shimizu Akira are a team, even if Ike gets a 0, as long as Shimizu gets a 60, they pass that subject.
Second is the total score requirent. The school will calculate an average based on all students. Experience suggests you need at least 700 points total per pair to be safe. That ans each person needs to ensure they average at least 350 points."
'Shared destiny again?' Shimizu felt like laughing. But the description was apt. In this exam, a poor performance from one would likely drag the other down.
The students began firing questions: Was the pairing random? Could they make up exams if they were sick? When was the date?
Chabashira answered: she couldn't reveal the pairing logic yet, but noted that historically only Class D ever had failing pairs.
For illness, if it's a proven force majeure, there is no makeup exam; instead, a score is estimated based on previous averages. Otherwise, it's a zero. The exam would be on December 4th and 5th.
Shimizu mused. "Historically only Class D fails"—the school was clearly going to pair the top students with the bottom students to force a strong-weak bond. The sick-day policy was humane at least. December gave them over a month to prepare.
Chabashira added sternly, "Cheating is strictly prohibited. Cheaters will be disqualified imdiately, and their partners will be expelled along with them."
That put pressure on Shimizu. If his partner brought a cheat sheet, he'd go down with them.
Kushida Kikyo asked about the review scope. Before the teacher could answer, Horikita Suzune spoke up, "Wait, if this is a special exam, why haven't you ntioned the class point changes?"
Chabashira explained: "I can't accurately answer the review scope. Because for your final exam, the questions will be created by another class. Each class must design their own final exam questions and assign them to one of the other three classes. You are 'attacking' another class, and the receiving class must 'defend.' Finally, your class total is compared to the opponent's. The winner takes 50 class points from the loser."
"Another class confrontation!"
"We have to go all out! If we fall to the bottom, the comfortable life is over."
Having seen the state of Class D, the students were fired up. No one wanted a dorm without AC.
Further details erged: a class could attack one class while being attacked by a third. It was unlikely but possible. If it happened, a class could gain or lose up to 100 points. A tie resulted in no change.
Question design had strict rules: teachers would review them. If they exceeded the curriculum or had no logical answer, they'd be sent back. If the deadline passed without
questions, the school would provide easy ones—a disadvantage for the "attacking" class. If multiple classes wanted to attack the sa target, a random draw would decide.
"Any other questions?" Chabashira asked, her gaze lingering on Shimizu.
"I have a few," Shimizu stood up.
"First, what is the final deadline for submitting the exam? Second, is everyone in the class eligible to submit it? Third, how do you handle multiple submissions?"
"Good, as expected of you, Shimizu-kun," Chabashira smiled. "The deadline is December 1st at 6:00 PM. Technically everyone can submit, but if there are multiple, I will prioritize the earliest submission."
"Holy crap! Glad Shimizu thought of that loophole!"
"Yeah! Otherwise, Yamauchi Haruki might have screwed us over again!"
The class looked at the empty seat of Yamauchi Haruki. He had been "sick" since the sports festival.
A student suggested only allowing Hirata, Horikita, Kushida, and Shimizu to submit the exam, with the others needing their supervision.
Chabashira agreed, noting it was their collective choice, though she remarked that a lack of trust would eventually hurt them in harder challenges.
.
.
.
After Chabashira left, the discussion continued. Hirata, Horikita, and Kushida took the podium.
"I didn't expect Yamauchi to pass," Suzune said, arms crossed. "He had 10 points docked."
Kushida checked her phone and looked at Shimizu.
"The school lets you buy points at 100,000 per point. I just asked Chabashira-sensei; Yamauchi spent a lot to pass. Ryuen probably gave him the points."
Hirata added helplessly, "And he's still skipping class. That's costing us points. The 15 points we lost were all due to him."
Sudo barked, "Damn that trash! I tried to knock on his dorm door to confront him, but he wouldn't co out and reported to the school. Now I'm afraid of getting a disciplinary mark if I go back."
Suzune addressed the class.
"I believe Yamauchi Haruki is no longer fit for our class. Keeping him only drags us down. I assu you all feel the sa?"
"I agree with Horikita-san."
"He's betrayed us twice! Who can stand soone who keeps holding us back?"
Yamauchi's expulsion seed certain. Suzune glanced at the "good guy" Hirata.
"Hirata-kun, what do you think?"
Surprisingly, Hirata didn't hesitate.
"I understand. I also believe Yamauchi-kun is no longer fit for this collective. If he stays, the atmosphere will only get worse, and we will be restricted in future exams. Expelling him is the correct choice."
Suzune smiled. It seed the sports festival failure had finally woken Hirata up. Everything was going as Shimizu predicted. She looked at Shimizu, who was staring at his phone. Then she saw Kushida Kikyo holding her phone, saying:
"Everyone, I think I've found a pattern! Sensei said historically only one or two people fail. That ans for the groupings, the school will likely pair the best students with the worst..."
'Wait!' Suzune thought.
'Why is she stealing my line? There's no way Kushida figured that out on her own!'
-
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The eting adjourned. Shimizu had sent that intel to Kushida; it was an easy deduction from Chabashira's hints about "previous years" and "700 points total."
Shimizu had suggested Kushida use her social network to ask seniors about the "Paper Shuffle" strategies from previous years. Since the quiz was two weeks away, they had ti.
Suzune walked over to Shimizu, annoyed.
"So, just like the last exam, you sent her a ssage so she could look 'smart' by grabbing the key points?"
Shimizu shrugged.
"Kikyo likes the spotlight. I have no interest in it, so I let her have it to keep her happy."
"You two are... quite the match," Suzune said with a complicated look. One was low-profile and quiet; the other was bubbly and loved the crowd.
'Did Kushida save the world in a past life to get such a complentary boyfriend?'
Shimizu continued, "Don't worry. With your personality, you'll take on the exam editing yourself. I'll suggest the top students share the load. If you don't trust them, I can help you."
Suzune softened. "...No need. I realize now that in this school, I can't reach Class A alone."
She suddenly understood why Kushida accepted Shimizu's "situation."
A boy who thinks of you and understands your difficulties—even if he only provides emotional value—is very comfortable to be with. Not to ntion he was handso, smart, and strong.
Thinking of the other girls who liked him... it seed only natural?
'He's like a Trainer; it's normal to have several Pokémon, right?' Then she shook her head.
'No! I am not a Pokémon!'
Her brother's words had ssed with her head.
Suddenly, a girl walked toward Shimizu. It wasn't the nickna-giving Hasabe Haruka, nor the clingy Kushida. It was a girl with brown hair and her top button undone, showing her collarbone—a "gyaru" style. Sato Maya.
"Shimizu-kun, do you have a mont? I have a favor to ask," Sato said with a smile.
Suzune blinked. At the sports festival, Sato was the loudest one cheering for Shimizu. Is there no end to this? Sato clasped her hands together.
"Actually, it's about Kei. She's been in a bad mood lately and won't say why. Could you please look out for her a bit?"
"Sure, I understand," Shimizu agreed without hesitation. "But can I ask why you're coming to ?"
"Because Kei has been paying attention to you since the start of school," Sato explained.
"I think you might be able to cheer her up. You were the one who got her into the boxing club, after all. Chiaki also thinks you're the one to help."
Sato turned and left.
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