Faced with Ike's almost harassing line of questioning, Chabashira-sensei simply ignored him.
"We'll be holding the morning assembly soon. If you have anything you want to ask or anything you're concerned about, now's the time."
She said it as though certain someone would speak up.
Chabashira-sensei crossed her arms and swept her gaze over the faces of Class D.
The moment she finished speaking, seven or eight students immediately raised their hands.
A faint smile touched Chabashira-sensei's lips, as if she'd expected this all along. Then she signaled for Amane, sitting near the back, to ask her question.
"Chabashira-sensei, may I go to the restroom?"
"…"
Chabashira-sensei was momentarily speechless.
Originally, she'd noticed Amane raising her hand the instant she'd finished speaking.
Recalling Amane's extremely careless attitude during the last exam, a mischievous part of Chabashira-sensei had wanted to see the look of shock on Amane's face.
She'd seen it countless times—honor students, unable to accept the reality of being placed in Class D, breaking down in undignified ways.
Yet she never tired of anticipating these performances from the naive high-achievers.
Not until they understood the true harshness of this school. But what Chabashira-sensei never expected was that Amane would make such a request.
It caught her completely off guard.
The rest of the class was also staring oddly at Amane.
"Miyako, personal matters should be taken care of before class. This is class time. If you need the restroom, wait until after the morning assembly. You may sit down."
Amane sat back down with a pained look.
She knew the atmosphere in the class wasn't quite right just now, but she really had to go. There was nothing else she could've done.
"Does anyone else have any other questions they'd like to ask?"
At that moment, Horikita, unusually, raised her hand.
"Horikita, what is your question?"
"I'd like to ask, Chabashira-sensei, whether this month's points have been deposited yet?"
Perhaps because Amane had just been reprimanded, Horikita's tone was particularly harsh, almost like she was interrogating the teacher.
"That's correct. Your points have been deposited. There's no system error or malfunction—they have indeed been transferred into each of your accounts." Chabashira smiled.
Wasn't this exactly what she wanted to see?
As long as someone asked her this question, she could gradually unravel the class's mystery.
And then, incidentally, inform them:
You're all hopeless defectives!
"Chabashira-sensei? What are you talking about? Our accounts clearly still show zero points! Even this morning when I went to buy—" Just as Yamauchi tried to explain, Horikita cut him off.
"What if what Chabashira-sensei says is true?" Horikita's words left Yamauchi bewildered. Even Amane felt anxious for him.
"Horikita, could you please explain in more detail?"
Hirata stopped Yamauchi from interrupting further with a look, then turned clear, earnest eyes to Horikita, hoping for an answer.
He'd also realized that morning that his points hadn't increased at all.
If it were just him, it might be manageable. Hirata did have social expenses, but he didn't spend excessively. With careful budgeting, he could scrape by next month.
But what worried him was the possibility that the entire class had received no points.
That would mean Class D faced an unprecedented crisis.
He already knew more than twenty people who had completely run out of points.
If no points were issued today, their very survival would become difficult.
"It's simple. First, if what Chabashira-sensei says is true—that the points have been issued and it's not a system error—then there's only one possibility I can think of: we received zero points."
The moment Horikita finished speaking, a snap was heard.
"Horikita girl, I believe I grasp your meaning. So, you're saying this was a trap from the very beginning, eh?" Koenji, with his legs propped up on his desk, spoke to Horikita while fiddling with his small mirror.
"A trap? What are you all talking about? I don't get it at all. I just want my points." Karuizawa's remark made Horikita stare in disbelief.
It was hard to imagine a leader among the Class D girls saying something like that.
"Karuizawa, don't panic just yet. If we follow Koenji's reasoning, the whole situation means the school deliberately gave us a large sum of points at the start, without restricting our spending, trying to lure us into indulgence."
"Then, once we've spent every last point, they withhold the next month's points to teach us a lesson. Is that it?"
Hirata's analysis was logical and well-reasoned.
Even Horikita nodded seriously, thinking this was the most likely explanation.
"So that's how it is! Chabashira-sensei, I've realized my mistake in spending points recklessly. Please give us our hundred thousand points for this month!" Ike, sitting in the back, led the chorus of voices loudly appealing to Chabashira-sensei.
One after another, many joined in, trying to reclaim what they believed were their rightful points.
"That's right, Chabashira-sensei, we know we were wrong. If you don't give us our points, we'll starve in a few days!"
"Yes, we admit our mistake. Please issue the points!"
"Chabashira-sensei…"
Pleas and admissions of fault rose and fell across the classroom.
Unfortunately…
Sae Chabashira didn't even take their appeals to heart.
Instead, she watched with keen interest as both the honor students and the hopeless stragglers of Class D begged pitifully.
"I'm sorry, but that's impossible. Besides, this isn't some trap set by the school." Chabashira-sensei pressed a poster tube against the blackboard and fixed it in place with magnets.
On it were the names of each class, followed by a series of numbers.
It looked like some kind of class score chart.
Amane also glanced at the numbers on the board.
Even though she already knew there would be a gap between Class D and the others, seeing the difference quantified still left her somewhat incredulous.
--+--
Class A: 940
Class B: 650
Class C: 490
Class D: 0
--+--
"Open your eyes wide and look carefully! This is the gap. You truly are the most remarkable Class D I've ever taught. It took you only one month to squander all one thousand class points. Impressive." Chabashira-sensei clapped slowly.
A good portion of the class still stared blankly at the numbers, unsure what they meant.
Koenji glanced around at the bewildered faces and couldn't hold back a hearty, mocking laugh.
"I believe I understand why we have a big fat zero. If this represents points, then the class points Teacher mentioned just now must have a one-to-hundred exchange rate with our personal points."
"This month our class points are zero, so naturally no personal points were deposited. Am I correct, Teacher?"
Koenji's words made those who had already run out of points feel as if they'd been plunged into an ice cellar.
If this were just a test by the school, or if Chabashira-sensei was deliberately trying to teach them to value their points, there might still be a chance of getting this month's points back.
But if the monthly points were determined by this chart, it meant that if they couldn't earn class points, there was no way they would receive any personal points.
So they stared fixedly at Chabashira-sensei, desperately hoping for a denial.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.