Well, Hirata asked us to introduce ourselves to the class.
Everyone started introducing themselves. Ayanokoji was pretty bad at it, and soon my turn came.
"Hello, everyone. My name is Kai Leywen.
I'd describe myself as fairly balanced—I'm average in most sports and slightly above average in my studies. During my downtime, I enjoy playing basketball to stay active and chess to keep my mind sharp.
Since we are a boarding school with strict management and are prohibited from leaving campus, I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you. As we'll be spending the next three years together in this fixed class system, I hope we can support each other.
Please take care of me."
I did pretty well, and everyone was also very impressed with my introduction.
"He is so good-looking," a girl said.
Well, my hair is black and I have an athletic body. I have very dark eyes and a handsome face. My height is perfect—6'0".
Everyone finished their introductions, and a red-haired guy left the class with his rude attitude.
Soon I left the classroom and went shopping.
I noticed some free food was being given out and saw some seniors eating those free food items.
I bought every necessary item I would need. Then I met both of them again.
I sighed and walked toward them.
"You again?" Horikita said.
"Well, I just came to shop and noticed you two here," I said.
Soon my eyes fell on the free store items.
"Free items?" I said.
"Well, we were talking about these free items," Ayanokoji said.
"It looks strange, since we already have too many points, right?" I said.
"Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking," Horikita said.
"Well, they were also selling free food over there," I said.
"Why do they do that?" Horikita said.
"Well, maybe if someone uses up all their points..." I said.
"But we already get this many points every month," Horikita said.
Ayanokoji looked at my items and said, "You bought very few items there, and they're also very cheap."
"Well, I don't have any fantasies about luxury living, and I also don't want to waste my points this month, you know—in case something goes wrong suddenly," I said.
"Fair enough," Horikita said, as we heard a commotion.
The red-haired guy was fighting with some seniors.
"Okay, I'm going," Horikita said, starting to leave but stopping after hearing a voice.
"Wait, this is a good chance to learn about the school," I said.
"What do you mean?" Horikita said, confused.
"Just follow me," I said, as the three of us walked toward Sudo.
Senior: "Look at this loser here. No wonder he's in Class D."
"What's wrong with that?" Sudo yelled, about to throw a punch, but I stopped him.
"There, there," I said, looking toward the seniors.
"Are you saying we're in Class D because there's something wrong with this class?" I asked them.
The senior flinched upon hearing me.
Senior: "What... there's nothing like that."
"I think I should thank you, senior, for telling us that," I said.
"Wait... we didn't tell you anything like that," one of them said.
"And also, thanks for confirming that we're not going to get 100,000 points next month," I said with a smile.
"Wait, we didn't tell you that—" the senior said, but stopped mid-sentence.
"So it's true, huh?" I said with a smile.
"Ugh... w-we're leaving," the senior said, as all three of them ran away.
Horikita, Sudo, and Ayanokoji were looking at me.
"It seems there's really something this school is hiding from us," I said.
"What?" Sudo said.
"They're totally trying to run away now, as if they're afraid they'll be punished for telling us something," I said.
"You mean we won't receive 100,000 points next month?" Sudo asked.
"Well, Chabashira-sensei never told us we'd receive 100,000 points every month, and the free food items make you wonder—why would anyone choose free food if they're going to receive that much money every month?" I said.
"What!" Sudo yelled.
"We should tell the class about this," Ayanokoji said.
"Wait, we should go to the upper classes first. Maybe we'll find something important there. You'll come too, right?" I said.
"O-okay," Sudo said.
"What's your name? You didn't mention it earlier," I said, extending my hand for a handshake.
"It's Ken Sudo," he said, shaking my hand.
"Will you come too, Horikita?" I asked her.
"Yeah, if it gives us some important information, then yes," Horikita said.
I looked toward Ayanokoji, who nodded at me.
"Okay, then let's go," I said, as the three of us walked toward the upper classroom.
Soon we reached the upper floor of the school.
We entered the classroom and saw a paper hanging there with some information written on it.
Class points:
Class A: 1100
Class B: 500
Class C: 220
Class D: 50
I looked at the information on the paper and narrowed my eyes.
"What are these class points?" Horikita said. "The teacher didn't tell us about this."
"Who knows?" I said.
Soon a group of three girls came toward us.
"Hey, who are you guys?" Asahina Nazuna asked.
"We're first-years. I'm Kai Leywen, and these are my friends," I said, introducing all of us.
"So... what are you doing here?" she asked.
"We came to greet our seniors, and we also came to ask some questions," I said.
"What questions?" she asked.
"Is it true that you'll receive 110,000 points this month?" I asked.
"Ah... I can't tell you that," Asahina said.
"I see, no problem then. Thank you for your time," I said with a smile.
"Yeah... you're welcome. Can I ask why you asked that?" Asahina asked.
"Well, I know we're not going to get 100,000 points next month. So there should be some other way to earn points, right? And there's this class point system, so I just thought we'd receive points based on our class ranking," I said.
"...Which class are you from?" Asahina asked.
"Class D," I said.
One of the girls behind her said, "Really, from Class D?"
"Yeah, I know Class D is seen as the class for troublemakers, right?" I said.
"Ahh..." Asahina didn't reply.
"What?!" Sudo said.
"Yeah, those guys we got into a fight with earlier said something similar," I said.
Horikita looked a little annoyed by this.
"Did someone tell you about this?" Asahina asked.
"No, well, we got into an argument with some seniors earlier, and they said something like that."
I told her everything the seniors had told us.
Asahina said, "You should file a complaint about them."
"Nah, there's no benefit in that," I said.
"Well, you can get some points as a reward if you complain about them leaking information, you know what I mean, right?" Asahina said with a wink.
"Really? Can you tell me how I should do that?" I asked.
"Just file a complaint with the student council about it," she said with a smile.
"Thanks, Asahina-senpai," I said.
Then we left.
"They found out this much on their first day, and they're from Class D too," one girl said.
"Yeah... that guy was a little strange..." Asahina said.
"Hey, where are we going?" Sudo asked.
"Obviously, to the student council room," I said.
Horikita stiffened a little upon hearing this.
Seeing her reaction, I said, "If you're not comfortable, you can go back, Horikita."
"What do you mean?" she said.
"You know what I mean, right?" I said.
"How..." she started to say, but I cut her off.
"You two share the same surname, and he resembles you a lot too. I had a hunch earlier, but looking at you now, it's obvious," I said.
"No, I'll come," Horikita said.
"You're really smart, Kai," Ayanokoji said.
"No, not really, to be fair. I was somewhat lucky to find everything out so easily, thanks to the seniors and everything," I said.
Soon we reached the student council office, and we filed a complaint with a staff member.
Soon a small, cute girl came out and asked us to come in.
We all entered the room and saw a big table, with a man sitting behind it in a chair.
The man looked toward us, saw Horikita, and then looked at me.
He said, "You can sit."
We all sat down as Tachibana went to stand next to him.
"You're complaining about seniors fighting and leaking information, right?" he said.
Everyone looked toward me.
Sudo said, "Leaking information? I thought we were complaining about our fight with them."
"Well, they did that too, so I thought we should complain about it as well," I said.
"Can I ask you a question?" Manabu asked.
"Yes, please," I said with a smile on my face.
"How much have you found out about the S-System?" Manabu asked.
"Hmm... did Suzune tell you about it?" I said, looking toward her.
"What...?" Horikita said, shocked, not even realizing I'd used her first name.
"Well, you also know about it, right? Tell him," I said with a smile, resting my head on one hand as I looked toward her.
"Y-you..." she said, but then looked toward her brother again. "We know Class D is the class for problem students, and there's a kind of hierarchy where the most outstanding students go to Class A. We also found out that we won't receive 100,000 points every month—our points depend on our class ranking," she said.
"I see," Manabu said.
"Now can I ask you a question?" I said.
"Go ahead," he said.
"What are the criteria for earning class points this month, since there are no tests or anything?" I said.
"I can't tell you that," Manabu said.
"Is it based on our behavior?" I asked.
Hearing this, Tachibana looked a little surprised, as did Sudo and Horikita.
"Why do you think that?" Manabu asked.
"Well, there's no particular reason, but there are a lot of cameras here. It's like the school wants to track our every move," I said with a sigh.
"Well, I can't tell you about that, but you'll receive 100,000 points as a reward for reporting the information leak," Manabu said.
"Okay, thanks then. We should get going—it's already late," I said.
As we left—
Tachibana: "They found out about this awfully fast."
Manabu: "Tachibana, keep an eye on that boy."
Tachibana: "You mean him?"
Manabu: "Yeah, he could be useful against Nagumo."
Tachibana: "Okay."
We were all walking down the road.
Sudo said, "You're completely awesome, man. You found out so much."
"Well, I didn't do this alone. You were all with me too, right?" I said.
"Ah... yeah, give me your phone number so I can send you some money," I said.
"What? But why?" Sudo asked.
"Well, I wasn't able to do this alone, and I think we all deserve our share," I said, sending 25,000 points to all of them.
"Are you sure you want to give me some too?" Ayanokoji asked.
"Yeah, you were with me too, so it wouldn't be fair if I didn't give you a share," I said.
"Are you okay, Horikita?" I asked.
"I am... well, why did you tell me to talk to my brother in there?" she said in an annoyed tone.
"I thought you wanted to talk with your brother," I said.
"You called her by her first name in there too," Sudo said in a joking tone.
"Well... it would've felt a little awkward calling both of them 'Horikita,' so that's why I called her Suzune in there," I said.
"Don't call me by my first name again," Horikita said.
"Okay, miss," I said.
"You can call me Horikita," she said, a little angrily.
"We should tell the class about this," Ayanokoji said.
"Yeah, we'll tell them tomorrow," I said.
"Okay, then I'm leaving now," Horikita said, as she left.
I went to my dorm, ate something, rested for a while, and then headed to Sudo's room.
The next day, Sudo and I met at class. I told Hirata and Kushida everything, along with Sudo.
Kushida asked, "Is that true?"
"Yeah, so I think if you were the one to tell everyone about it, they'd believe you. Please say you found this out after going to the upper classes," I said.
"Okay, fine, I'll do my best, Kai," Kushida said.
"Thanks," I said, as I went toward my seat.
Soon Kushida and Hirata called everyone's attention.
Hirata said, "Everyone, we found out something important, so please listen."
A girl asked, "What is it, Hirata?" and many other girls started asking too.
The boys started to get envious and began to leave, but then Kushida spoke up.
Kushida said, "Yes, this is really important, so please wait."
All the boys stayed after hearing Kushida.
Kushida said, "We found out that we're not going to receive 100,000 points next month."
"What?" Ike said.
"That's not true—Chabashira-sensei clearly told us we were going to receive them," Yamada said.
Everyone in the class erupted.
"Listen up—I was there too, okay?" Sudo yelled, and everyone in class flinched.
"Is it true?" Ike asked.
"Yeah, it is. I can swear to that," Sudo said.
"But sensei didn't tell us this," Ike said.
"Think about it carefully—she never actually said we'd receive 100,000 points every month, did she?" Sudo said.
"So how many points are we going to receive next month?" Yamada asked.
"It depends on how we behave. I heard the authorities are going to observe our behavior," Hirata said.
"So if we behave well, we can get 100,000 points next month too?" Ike asked.
"Yeah," Sudo said.
"Shit, I shouldn't have wasted my points buying that game console," Yamada said.
The girls were a little better off, since Mii-chan had already told her group not to waste money this month.
"Can I ask, Hirata, how did you all find this out?" Kudo Kazuwara asked.
"Well, yesterday Ayanokoji, Horikita, Sudo, and Kai found out about this after going to the upper-class classrooms," Hirata said.
"Really?" a girl said.
Everyone started praising us.
I saw a flicker of something change in Kushida's expression for a split second.
"Thank you for telling me about it yesterday, Kai-kun," Mii said, sitting next to me.
"No problem. I just thought it would be better to see whether we'd actually receive that much next month or not," I said.
Soon Chabashira came in, and the whole class erupted with questions.
Chabashira: "I can't answer your questions."
"What do you mean, you can't?" Ike said.
But Chabashira didn't care and continued the class as usual.
Soon lunch came, and Horikita invited me to eat with her.
I was just about to go buy food, but Horikita stopped me.
"What's going on, Horikita?" I asked, confused.
"I'll buy you lunch," Horikita said.
I sighed and looked at Horikita seriously. She looked back at me.
"Sorry, Horikita, but I have to decline," I said in a serious tone.
"W-what do—" she started, but I cut her off.
"I'm not interested in dating you right now," I said.
"What are you talking about?" she said, a little annoyed.
"I mean, you're not going to ask me out using lunch as an excuse," I said confidently, though a little confused myself.
"No, I'm not," Horikita said.
"So what do you really want, then?" I asked.
"You caught me," Horikita said.
"It's pretty simple—you're not the type of person who'd ask me to lunch out of nowhere," I said, as I bought lunch for the two of us.
"Hey, you didn't have to buy for me," Horikita said.
"It's okay," I said, as we both sat down at a table.
"So what is it about?" I asked.
"I got into an argument with a teacher this morning," Horikita said.
"About how you don't deserve to be in Class D, or something like that, right?" I said with a sigh.
"How do you know that?" Horikita asked.
"Well, it's easy—because it's true," I said.
"No, it's not true," Horikita said angrily.
"Yes, it is, and you didn't even realize it, did you? Do you know why you're in Class D, Horikita?" I said.
"You mean you know why?" she asked.
"Because of your superiority complex and your brother complex," I said.
"What?!" she yelled.
"Yes, you heard right. I think the main reason you're here is that you keep trying to follow in your brother's footsteps, even though you're not him—and maybe that's also why he's trying to avoid you," I said.
"It's not like that. He's not ignoring me," she yelled.
"I'm not telling you to trust me, but think about it with a cool head. When did he start avoiding you? Did your brother really want you to follow him, or does he want something else from you?" I said, as I left with my tray.
Horikita's face was full of confusion, and she looked a little uneasy afterward.
Everyone started behaving properly in class after that. Sudo and I played basketball from time to time.
A month passed like this.
Chabashira-sensei wrote on the board:
Class A (Sakagaki): 940
Class B (Ichinose): 650
Class C (Horikita): 550
Class D (Ryuen): 490
We had already surpassed Class C and become the new Class C in our first month. Something like this had never happened before.
Chabashira said, "You've all done far better than I expected."
Everyone in class erupted happily upon hearing this.
"Good thing I behaved well, or I wouldn't be able to enjoy school life anymore," Ike said happily.
"Let's go celebrate," Yamada said.