Horikita Suzune liked studying. She spent ten hours a day reading and wasn't very attached to her phone.
But she had it set to vibrate, so she quickly noticed that people were looking for her.
Horikita: …
She had just gotten back to her dorm and gone straight to take a shower. When she finished, she saw that Kushida had mentioned her, and then the whole class started spamming her with tags.
First of all, she never told Kushida to bring this up in the class chat.
Second…
Why would Kushida tag her after saying something like that?
Over the past month, Horikita had been getting a strange feeling. Even though Kushida seemed eager to get along with her, it didn't feel genuine. In fact, Kushida probably felt uncomfortable even being around her. So, she had no idea what Kushida was trying to do.
That said, Kushida's social skills were impressive. Still, there was no way she had access to the kind of class data that was used in the deal with Shirogane.
Horikita thought for a moment.
Then, she finally sent a message.
Horikita: This school is definitely not normal. As for the actual results, you'll find out tomorrow. Just ask the homeroom teacher when you get to class.
And with that…
The class switched targets.
"Do you want to invite Chabashira Sae to the First-Year Class D group chat?"
Yes.
And then…
Chabashira entered the chat, only to find herself being bombarded with tags and demands to leak information.
"..." Chabashira.
"..."
And so, for the students of Class D, tonight was bound to be absolute chaos.
As for Class C…
"We'll see tomorrow," Ryuen muttered, barely holding back his frustration. For the past half-month, he had been forcing the students to act like obedient, well-behaved kids.
For someone like him, who had always been a delinquent, pretending to be a model student was pure torture.
Tomorrow, though, he could finally take his crew and go beat up Sudou from Class D.
And so.
The next day.
When all the students arrived in their classrooms for homeroom, their teachers revealed the truth about the school under the tense gazes of their students.
They also announced the remaining class evaluation scores for each class.
The gaps between them were huge.
…
First-year Class A.
Before homeroom even started, every student had already arrived. Those who had heard the news in advance knew that today was the day the teachers would reveal the reality of the school and the system of class competition.
It was also the moment to see if Class A's efforts over the past month had paid off.
According to the information they had, at 7:00 AM on the first of every month, the school would deposit living expenses into each student's account based on their class evaluation score multiplied by 100.
In other words, the students of Class A already knew how many evaluation points their class had left.
The moment they saw the number, it seemed like all of them let out a sigh of relief.
"Sakayanagi."
Just as the "princess" of Class A, Sakayanagi, arrived in the classroom, Katsuragi approached her, accompanied by Yahiko.
"Today, the teachers will reveal the truth about the school and officially start the class competition," Katsuragi said.
"But I believe that the strategy I've been sticking to is the right one," he continued. "I'm not asking you to join my camp, but I hope you'll put the class first."
"Heh—"
Sakayanagi calmly pulled a math textbook from Kamuro's bag.
She didn't even pause when she heard Katsuragi's words. She simply opened the book to page 55. There were no notes on the page—not that she needed any. For her, this was material she could grasp in a single read.
"Are you so sure you'll win?"
Sakayanagi replied, "A conservative approach is fine, but only if you have the foundation to support it."
"You have no idea how fast the lower-ranked classes are catching up."
"The lower-ranked classes?" Katsuragi frowned.
Class C had been constantly fighting since the start of the month. They had likely lost around 300 points just in the first couple of weeks after enrollment. By the end of the month, their remaining points were probably quite low.
As for Class D, they seemed completely unaware of how the school worked. They hadn't even attempted to investigate it.
So was a class like that even worth worrying about?
"A student from Class D asked if we had received our living expenses yet. It seems their class hasn't gotten anything," Yahiko, who was standing behind Katsuragi, said while holding his phone.
His full name was Totsuka Yahiko. With his light green hair and impressive track record, he had even served as vice president of the student council in middle school. After enrolling, he quickly became a follower of Katsuragi. A month had passed, and he was now Katsuragi's most loyal aide—though some might call him a tagalong.
Now, he had just used his phone to confirm the information.
Class D hadn't received their living expenses.
That could mean a problem on the school's end, or…
It could mean that Class D's evaluation score had already dropped to zero this month.
Zero points. And since living expenses were calculated as 0 × 100, the result was still zero. Naturally, no money would be deposited.
And yet, Sakayanagi was saying they should be wary of a class like that?
"Sakayanagi, you're giving them way too much credit," Yahiko scoffed.
"Yahiko," Katsuragi raised a hand, signaling him to stop.
He still had respect for Sakayanagi.
On one hand, Sakayanagi really did bring a miracle when she entered the school, and now everyone has managed to hold on to that miracle. That's something she deserves credit for.
On the other hand, for Katsuragi personally, Sakayanagi reminds him of his younger sister, who he once relied on.
So he sees her through a "little sister" filter.
But Sakayanagi is different from his sister—she gives off a dangerous and powerful vibe.
"Heh—" But Sakayanagi just smiled without saying anything.
She had already contacted someone at 7 a.m. when the school sent out the living expenses, and found out what that person's scores were.
And now, with less than ten minutes before homeroom starts, it looks like Katsuragi's pride might only last another ten minutes.
Finally, it was Class 1-C's turn.
"We got our living expenses!" The students from Class C were in a pretty good mood as they entered the classroom. "But it's not 100,000 points anymore."
"Feels like we got shortchanged," one of them said.
"Everyone shut up and sit down." Ryuen showed up at the classroom door, with Albert behind him like a bodyguard.
The two of them brought an overwhelming pressure into the room. The whole class had no choice but to obey.
Last month, they had no choice but to play the part of good, well-behaved students under Ryuen's watch.
"Ryuen, with that attitude, aren't you afraid of losing points?"
Even though Ryuen used forceful methods, some students still resisted. Their bodies might have gone along with it, but their mouths were still stubborn.
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