April passed not like a gentle river flow, but rather like holding one's breath underwater.
For the students of Class 1-D, the days of the first month felt like torture. Under the "emergency regime" led by Horikita Suzune and Hirata Yosuke—with Seiji Koroizumi acting as a shadow advisor—the class had transformed into a disciplinary boot camp.
No one dared to sleep during lessons. No phones rang while the teacher was explaining. No trash-talking during productive hours.
Yamauchi Haruki looked like his soul had half-departed his body as he tried to comprehend math formulas. His eyes were empty, his mouth slightly agape, but he wasn't sleeping. He sat upright, fighting off drowsiness with the fear of Suzune's wrath (or Kushida's biting sarcasm).
Ike Kanji, who usually couldn't sit still, chewed the end of his pen to shreds to suppress the urge to chat.
Even Sudou Ken, the ticking time bomb, sat quietly—though his face was scrunched up in boredom. Every time he was about to explode or skip class, a sharp glare from Karuizawa Kei across the room was enough to make him sit back down. Furthermore, Seiji often provided him with "bait" in the form of limited-edition basketball magazines as a reward if he could sit still for a full week.
"You guys are doing a great job," Seiji murmured softly one afternoon, looking at his friends who were exhausted from having to... behave normally.
Only one person could not be fully controlled: Koenji Rokusuke.
However, that narcissist had a logic of his own. When Suzune warned that bad behavior could reduce points, Koenji simply combed his hair and said, "Beauty requires maintenance funds. I will not let poverty touch my skin."
So, even though he didn't listen to the teachers and continued to buff his nails, he did so in silence. He didn't disrupt. He didn't violate written rules. He played on the borderline with annoying but safe precision.
And in the back corner, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka observed everything in silence. He went with the flow, his presence barely visible.
.........................
Until finally, May 1st arrived.
The atmosphere that morning was different. The air in Class 1-D felt heavy, filled with a mixture of hope and fear.
Students stared at their phones. The point balance hadn't increased. It remained the remnant of last month's.
"Hey, Horikita..." Ike whispered, his voice trembling. "The points haven't come in. Did we fail?"
Suzune sat with her back straight at her desk. Her face was calm, but Seiji could see her index finger tapping the desk at a rapid tempo.
"Automatic transfer systems are usually executed at 09:00 or after the homeroom teacher submits a report," Suzune replied logically. "We have done our best. We minimized violations. Statistically, it is impossible for us to get zero unless there is a hidden rule beyond reason."
"Statistics," Seiji repeated with a relaxed smile. He spun his chair to face his friends. "Are the only honest things in this school. Relax. Hard work never betrays results... usually."
The classroom door opened.
The sound of the sliding door made the entire class jump. Chabashira Sae walked in.
The woman's aura was different today. Usually, she looked bored, tired, and as if she wanted to be anywhere but in this classroom. But today, there was tension in her shoulders. Her eyes swept the class with a sharp gaze, assessing the "defective products" before her.
She placed a stack of papers on the podium, then looked at all the students who were already seated neatly. No one was sleeping. No one was playing on their phones. Ike and Yamauchi sat as straight as soldiers.
The corner of Chabashira's lips twitched slightly. Interesting. Very interesting.
"The first month is over," Chabashira's voice broke the silence. "Points haven't entered your accounts, and I see panicked faces here."
She picked up a marker, then wrote two large terms on the whiteboard: CP and PP.
"Before I show the results, there is a fundamental thing you must understand about the structure of this school. Something deliberately unexplained at the start to test your powers of observation," Chabashira stated firmly.
The class held its breath.
"This school operates using the S-System. This system evaluates you collectively, not individually," she explained while tapping the 'CP' writing. "This is Class Points. Every class starts the academic year with 1,000 Class Points. Every violation—tardiness, sleeping in class, chatting, bad grades—will reduce these Class Points."
She switched to the 'PP' writing.
"And this is Private Points. The electronic money you use to live. The relationship between the two is absolute."
Chabashira wrote a simple yet deadly formula on the board: Class Points x 100 = Private Points (per student)
"Which means," Chabashira continued, her eyes glinting, "If your Class Points are 0, then the Private Points you receive this month are 0. If your Class Points are 1,000, you get 100,000 yen. The fate of your wallet depends entirely on the behavior of the friend next to you."
Ike swallowed hard. "S-so... if one person acts stupid, we're all poor?"
"Precisely, Ike," Chabashira answered coldly. "Usually, Class D in previous years would have lost half or even all of their Class Points in the first week. They were late, skipped class, and fought. But you..."
She stopped right in front of Suzune's desk, then glanced toward Seiji.
"...you are an anomaly."
Chabashira turned back to face the whiteboard.
"Let's look at the results of the S-System this month."
She began writing numbers.
First row. Class A: 946 CP
Whispers broke out. "Wow, almost perfect..." Class A, led by Sakayanagi Arisu and Katsuragi Kohei, clearly maintained high standards. They only lost 54 points, equivalent to a 5,400 yen deduction per student.
Chabashira wrote the second row. Class B: 985 CP
Seiji's eyes narrowed. A thin smile etched onto his lips. Ichinose... he thought proudly. You really did it.
The number 985 was a monstrous score. It meant Class B under Ichinose Honami possessed absolute unity. The girl had used the principles Seiji had once taught her to create a small utopia.
Chabashira continued to the third row. Class C: 490 CP
The class gasped in shock.
"Huh?! That's so low!" Ike exclaimed.
"That means they only get 49,000 yen?" Shinohara calculated quickly.
Ryuen Kakeru. The tyranny he built might have been effective, but the chaos and dirty tactics early in the month had cost them a lot of points. More than half their points had gone up in smoke.
And finally... Chabashira's hand moved to the last row.
Suzune's heart pounded. Sudou held his breath. Kushida widened her eyes, her mask cracking slightly out of pure anticipation.
Chabashira wrote the number with a firm stroke.
Class D: 910 CP
Silence.
One second. Two seconds.
Their brains processed the formula just taught.
910 x 100 = …
Then, an explosion.
"NINETY-ONE THOUSAND?!!"
"YES!! MY EFFORT SITTING STILL WASN'T IN VAIN!" Sudou punched the air while shouting. Ike jumped and hugged Yamauchi.
Suzune let out a long breath, her shoulders slumping in relief. She stared at the number. 910. They had only lost 90 points. For a class filled with societal "trash," this was a monumental achievement.
"We did it," Suzune whispered, turning to Seiji.
Seiji nodded, his eyes warm. "Good work, leader."
"QUIET!" Chabashira barked.
The sound of that whip of authority calmed the class down, though wide grins remained plastered on their faces.
"Don't get happy just yet," Chabashira said. She pointed to the whiteboard, to the order of those numbers. "Look closely at these Class Point rankings."
Class B: 985 CP
Class A: 946 CP
Class D: 910 CP
Class C: 490 CP
"Do you notice something?" Chabashira asked, her tone shifting into a rarely seen smirk.
"The order..." Hirata murmured, his eyes wide in disbelief.
"Correct," Chabashira said. "In this school, class names are not permanent labels. Class names are a reflection of your current Class Point ranking."
Chabashira crossed out the letter 'A' beside 946 and replaced it with 'B'. She crossed out the letter 'B' beside 985 and replaced it with 'A'.
"Starting this month, Class B led by Ichinose Honami rises to become Class A. Class A led by Sakayanagi and Katsuragi falls to become Class B."
Then, her sharp gaze fell on Class 1-D.
"And you..."
She crossed out the letter 'C' at 490 points, replacing it with 'D'. She crossed out the letter 'D' at 910 points, replacing it with 'C'.
"Starting today, you are no longer Class D. You are Class 1-C."
The shock was greater than when they found out the money amount.
They had ranked up.
In one month.
The class called "defective products," the "garbage dump," had leaped up one level and almost caught up to the legendary former Class A.
"This... this is crazy..." Kei muttered, her eyes sparkling. "We aren't the lowest class anymore?"
"No," Seiji replied calmly, his voice audible throughout the room. "We are challengers."
Chabashira looked at Seiji. She saw the young man smiling at her—a smile that seemed to say, 'I told you, don't underestimate my students.'
For the first time in her teaching career, Chabashira Sae felt the fire of ambition burning fiercely in her chest. She was no longer leading a defeated army. She was leading a dark horse army that had just kicked down the palace gates.
She reached into her blazer pocket, pulled out her phone, and pressed the point transfer button.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The phones of every student rang in unison.
Balance Received: +91,000 Points.
"Use that money wisely. Remember the formula: Class Points are your life. Maintain them, or return to being trash," Chabashira said.
She walked toward the exit, her steps lighter than usual. As she gripped the door handle, she looked back, gazing at the faces of her students: the determined Suzune, the satisfied Kushida, the relieved Hirata, the proud Sudou, the stoic Ayanokouji, and the mysterious Seiji.
Chabashira offered a genuine, terrifying smile.
"Welcome to the Classroom of the Elite."
------------------------------
"Love what I make? Support my work and get access to exclusive monthly content!"
P - Gem_Blanks
Thank you so much for your support — you make all of this worthwhile.)