"Sic semper tyrannis!"
- John Wilkes Booth declared during his assassination of US President Abraham Lincoln.
❄️❄️❄️❄️~ COTE: TSQ1Y ~❄️❄️❄️❄️
3rd POV
On the 2nd weekend of April, as the Spring temperature starts to get colder and dawn skies over ANHS, a group of Class D girls went their separate ways.
Those within the clique bade farewell to each other, but the seemingly mediocre girl walking on the empty avenue which is a longer way back to the dorms.
The girl sighed, as if the act of masquerading a performance called "having a normal life" had tired her mentally.
'No matter how many times I've done this, it's still a little tiresome dealing with them…' She thought as she then spotted a bench ahead of her.
And there's also someone who's occupying it. A girl with long, ashen hair, and wearing a long-sleeved dress, just sitting there as if she has been waiting for someone under the lamp light.
'She's beautiful… is she waiting for someone?' She thought as she then minded her own business as curiosity begets either luck or misfortune.
"Chiaki Matsushita-san from Class 1-D, am I right?" Once the hazelnut-haired girl was about to pass over the ashen girl, she called her out.
Matsushita, the one she called out, immediately turned her head around in surprise.
"Y-Yes, that's me… How can I help you?" Matsushita had no choice but to respond to her name, while also asking this girl's purpose. After all, ignoring someone would be of disrespectful nature.
"At this rate, if your class keeps up with committing these violations, I'm sure that you would end up not receiving any private points by the first day of May. This school is not what you really seemed." The ashen girl said with a serious demeanor.
'Violations? Private points? Not what I seemed? What does she mean by all of that?' She thought to herself.
"What do you mean by that, Miss? Are you a senior?" Matsushita asked.
"The seniors aren't allowed to disclose such rules before the 1st day of May, Matsushita-san. I'm sure you've noticed your class' transgressions against the common rules within the class, right?"
The ashen girl crossed her legs as she looked at Matsushita with the same serious gray eyes.
She then added "I'm within the same year as yours, but I want to cooperate with every class as early as possible, and your class is the key to all of that."
Matsushita furrowed her eyebrows as she asked "What do you mean by that?"
"Class D is the lowest of all four classes while Class A is the highest. To get to Class A does not require academic excellence alone, but it also includes teamwork, quick-thinking, and everyone's obedience towards the law of this school. By then, your class will progress to Class A and get the benefits that the school promises you all to have."
'Class D being the lowest and Class A being the highest… so they're not the names of the actual class but our class standing itself, which means that we're the lowest…? Progress that does not include academics, but also teamwork, which makes things competitive in nature… individually or per class? If it's by class, then are we the lowest academically? Or any other characteristics that make us… defective , huh?' Matsushita Chiaki thought as her exceptional analytical prowess started occupying her mind subconsciously.
In a way, Matsushita Chiaki is an exceptional student with how she had already become a part of an influential friend group within her class.
'Class A and getting the benefits that the school has promised to us… Is she saying that this school would pin every class to fight against each other in order to get the benefits by reaching Class A?' Matsushita paused for quite a while before widening her eyes in surprise, as if she had figured it all out.
She then looked at the ashen girl with scrutiny as she asked "If you're from a different class, then what's the merit of leaking this knowledge to us?"
The ashen girl then smiled at her and responded "If you still want to get your points after this month, then I much prefer that you warn your classmates before they would bring you all down."
"Our classmates bringing us down?" Matsushita asked before adding, "So that's what you meant by what you said…"
"Have Sudou Ken's attitude problem fixed, get Yamauchi Haruki to shut up and stop pleasing himself with bringing gravure magazines within the class. At the same time, you girls should stop talking to each other while the class is on-going." The ashen girl remarked and adding, "In addition to that, remind everyone not to be tardy or be absent all the time, and instead, pay attention to class.
"If all of you would stop doing these things and act like a student for the remainder of the month, I believe that your class would still gonna get around 25,000 points per student next month, at least." The ashen girl explained to Matsushita as she stood up from the seat.
"That's all I can say to you before the school would notice my interference." The ashen girl said as she started walking away from Matsushita.
But before she could get away, Matsushita stopped her "Wait!"
"What is it?" She turned her head around and looked at Matsushita with a neutral expression on her face.
"May I ask your name and what class you're from?" Matsushita asked, which made her smile as she then approached her again.
She opened her smartphone, then revealed her phone number towards Matsushita.
"Here's my phone number instead. I'll reveal it to you after May 1st through text. How about that?" The ashen girl asked, as Matsushita had no choice but to accept this since she got more information and even a connection to someone who might know this school's rules more than everyone else.
In the end, Matsushita got more than what she had received as the ashen girl left the vicinity and she would never see that person again until much later.
…
After Matsushita got home, she immediately messaged everyone from her friend group, which included Karuizawa, to spread the information that she found from that ashen girl.
When the start of the 3rd week of April have arrived, before homeroom has started, Hirata raised his hand.
"Chabashira-sensei, I have an announcement to make for everyone. May I take a little bit of your time?" He asked.
Seeing no abnormality from their class' male class representative taking the initiative, Chabashira responded coldly "You may announce it in front."
Hirata nodded as Chabashira stepped away from the lectern in order for Hirata to announce something in front.
"Everyone, we might not gonna get 100,000 points after the 1st day of May, and it's all because of our actions during the past few weeks." He announced in front of everyone, with Chabashira's eyes showing interest.
"Huh?!?! You're lying aren't you, Hirata?!"
"S-Seriously??"
"No way… Is that true?!"
Yamauchi, Ike, and Hondo reacted quite harshly. This prompted Kushida to ask a question.
"Hirata-kun, do you have any proof of that?" She asked to garner attention from everyone.
"Indeed, we do. Matsushita-san, if you may?" Hirata said as everyone looked at her. Even Koenji opened his eyes to get a glimpse of her seatmate before closing it again in disinterest.
Matsushita then stood up as she started explaining what she had heard from that ashen girl without referencing her as the source.
Everything all made sense from her theory, but someone raised their hand.
"Yes, Horikita-san? Do you have a question to Matsushita-san?" Hirata asked.
Horikita stood up from her seat and asked "If what you've said about our class standing not being made with academic excellence alone, then why am I here with everyone in Class D?"
Hearing this, Karuizawa interjected and said "Huh? Why are you quite arrogant about it?"
"A-Arrogant?" Horikita stammered in surprise, as Matsushita interjected "Plesse stop fighting first and let me answer that question…"
As the two calmed down, Matsushita then answered "What I've said before are all certainties, but here's my actual theory. Everything here is based on our merit. Our class standing, our attitude, our actions, everything is related to our actions within this school."
"So in short… Chabashira-sensei and others weren't budging as they're teaching us while Yamauchi-kun openly reading gravure magazines, and some of us were being late or even absent during the class…" Horikita muttered to herself, although it can be heard by everyone as well.
"Oi! What's wrong with that?!" Yamauchi cried, which garnered disgust to every girl within the class.
"Correct. As there's still 2 weeks before the first day of May, let's behave like actual students, or we would lose what remains of our 100,000 points next month." Matsushita continued.
"That's right, everyone needs to cooperate for that to happen. Will everyone cooperate?" Hirata asked everyone as everyone else looked at each other first as they digest the information that Matsushita had said to everyone.
"I'll cooperate!" Kushida said it first.
"Yeeees! We're the same as well." Karuizawa obliges as well, which cascaded into everyone agreeing to this proposition made by Hirata.
"That would be all, Sensei." He said as he took a step back from the lectern and made his way back to his seat. At the same time, Chabashira looked at them with a slightly surprised look on their faces before she recomposes herself and started to teach everyone again.
In the end, the worst disaster that Class D would've experienced will disappear for now.
❄️❄️❄️❄️~ COTE: TSQ1Y ~❄️❄️❄️❄️
May 1 has arrived. When I got inside the classroom, everyone was in a much livelier mood than usual.
"Did you see what I see, Shiho-chan? We got 72,000 pp after a month!" Nanami said excitedly.
"Really? I haven't noticed it 'til now." Manabe said as she checked her phone.
Meanwhile, I checked my own phone and looked over my private point count.
578,837 pp
I still can't believe that I got around half a million private points after just a month.
Over the past few weeks, not only have I encouraged everyone to pay attention to the class, but to also observe their attitude inside and outside the class.
More than that, I encouraged those who wanted to join a club to join one since, depending on their talents, they would have the chance to gain private points through gambling matches, but I did not mention that if they succeeded with having their talents flourish, our class points would rise as well.
This is the reason why Komiya and Kondou joined the Basketball Club, Shiina joined the Tea Ceremony Club, and I and Ishizaki participated in the Judo Club's matches, of all places. Although I fancied joining the Chess Club, a rumor regarding a 1st Year student beating everyone in gambling matches has reached my ears.
Of course, there's only two people I know who could achieve this kind of feat and it's not Ayanokoji who's trying to hide his abilities.
It's definitely Sakayanagi Arisu, and I'm not ready to face her just yet.
As I was pondering more into what had unfolded, it was when Sakagami-sensei arrived at the classroom with a smile on his face.
"Good morning, Class 1-C"
He then taped a printed bulletin board that reported our current class points for May to the whiteboard.
Before Class Observation
Class 1-A - 1000 CP
Class 1-B - 1000 CP
Class 1-C - 1000 CP
Class 1-D - 1000 CP
After Class Observation
Class 1-A - 940 CP
Class 1-B - 720 CP
Class 1-C - 650 CP
Class 1-D - 200 CP
"Or should I say… Class 1-B. You have exceeded my expectations, everyone." Sakagami-sensei said with a smirk on his face.
"Ohhhh!"
"Shirayuki-sama's conjecture is so on-point!"
"I'm over 100,000 now! This is a miracle!"
"All hail Shirayuki-sama!!!"
Everyone else cheered up with some of the outliers even chanting my name as if it's worthy of worship. I rolled my eyes thinking of the fanboys and fangirls in my class who're saying these things.
Meanwhile, Sakagami let everyone cheer for once in a while before slapping the top of the lectern once as the class settled down into silence once again.
"Indeed, it has been Shirayuki-kun's achievement that everyone has managed to excel to Class B. But I daresay that you all shouldn't get too lax from thereon out.
After all, your midterms will be in just 3 weeks." Sakagami said as some of the students reacted from this revelation.
I rolled my eyes from their reactions since some of them were still quite academically-challenged while having an advantage in their physical or insight attributes.
Sakagami-sensei remarked, "This time, the class's average score will be added to your current class points. So do your best to get some high scores.
"Now, I'll explain how class points work." Sakagami-sensei added as he started explaining the point system.
Class Points achieved at the first day of the month would give the individual student their private points equivalent to that of their Class Point multiplied by 100.
For example, Class 1-B now has 720 CP, which is totalled around 72,000 Private Points per Class 1-B student.
While how they deduct the scores from our behaviors remained strictly confidential, there's already a consensus of understanding that if you behave badly outside your dormitory and the school notices that, your class points will be deducted.
"As for how your scores would rise, that depends on multiple factors. The average score improvements of your midterm and final exams will dictate your class point. The same can be said with behavior as well. But most of all, the majority of class points can be gained through a series of special exams that the school will organize. After all, only the students of Class A will get the benefits that the school promised." Sakagami-sensei said as he dropped another bombshell to my classmates.
"Are you kidding me?! What about our reason to join this damn school?!" Ishizaki reacted in disbelief as I let out a loud sigh, which was heard by those who were near my seat, including Ryuuen.
"Ishizaki, when did I tell you to yap around uncontrollably?" I asked Ishizaki with a deeper tone than normal, which made him flinch in fear.
"This is the reality of life, especially in this meritocratic school, Ishizaki. Those who work hard to improve deserve good rewards. Those who do not should not be given a third chance to retry at all." I added as I also sent a message to everyone inside the room.
Sakagami-sensei nodded at the explanation I gave when he added.
"Shirayuki-kun is right. If you want to experience those benefits, overtake Class A in the future like how you became Class B today. This is what Advanced Nurturing High School, where the strong and gifted are benefited while weeding out small fries." Sakagami-sensei said with a cold tone.
This ravaged the cheerful atmosphere into a gloomy one as Sakagami-sensei then took down the taped bulletin board and said to everyone as he's preparing to leave.
"That is all for our homeroom period today. Nakaizumi, use the time remaining to plan for the midterms accordingly. That will be the best outcome for you all." Sakagami-sensei said as he then left the classroom while leaving a gloomy atmosphere from our classmates who were mostly academically-weaker.
I stood up from my seat as I approached the lectern at the front with a stern look for everyone to see.
"Everyone, since the midterms are coming, I want you all to study for it. Prioritize your studying above all else. This is why we're going to have a review session at the library starting this weekend onwards. Kaneda, Shiina, come here at the front." I announced to everyone as I called on the two smartest people in this class after me.
Kaneda, who expected this logical outcome came forward, while Shiina reluctantly moved forward as well.
"Aside from myself, these two will help us in the upcoming study sessions when I'm not around so go to these two for help." I declared to everyone as I then asked both Kaneda and Shiina.
"Kaneda, Shiina, what's the subjects you're good at?" I asked.
"Chemistry and Mathematics." Kaneda responded confidently.
"Japanese and English." Shiina responded with a whisper.
I nodded at their answers as I said to everyone.
"Since we had our baseline test last week, use that as your guide on what to study for your midterms. I'm sure that I'm not going to remind you any further that having a score lower than half of our class's general average in just one subject means expulsion by this school." I said to everyone in the classroom.
Everyone acknowledges this fact as everyone nodded to this fact, some even doing so curtly.
"I will let Kaneda and Shiina assign everyone to their study groups of 5 to 8 people that will be in charge for the weekdays after school. On Saturday, we will have a review session at the library and I will be giving mock exams to gauge your scores and plan accordingly." I said as all of us heard the bell ringing from the PA system, signifying class dismissal.
"We will send the names per group on our chat group. That's all for now, Class 1-B. Standby later for announcements. Kaneda, Shiina, Ishizaki, let's go to Pallet."
"Why me too, Shirayuki-sama?!" Ishizaki exclaimed.
I dismissed everyone, except for Kaneda, Shiina and Ishizaki as Ryuuen and Albert also did not leave the room while the other Class 1-B students started to get their things and went out.
"Following me to the Pallet, you two?" I asked with a smile as Albert stood silent while Ryuuen scoffed at my question as he answered it with a grin.
"As long as it's not my treat." He declared.
"Sure. I made Ishizaki stay here since it's his punishment for answering back to Sakagami-sensei anyway, so he'll have to treat all of us today." I smiled at Ryuuen, and then to Ishizaki who froze in terror from this punishment.
"But I was gonna buy that PS4 and play games today, nooooo!!!" Ishizaki cried in terror.