1st June, Friday
My eyes opened quite late today, compensating for yesterday night. Today, two blue screens were floating instead of one.
[Your ability [(D Grade) Evolver] has evolved [(E+ Grade) Crappy Singer] into [(D Grade) Newbie Singer].]
Sigh… I would have preferred a useful D- Grade ability rather than this, but oh well.
Dismissing the screens, I picked up my phone and opened the school's app.
[PR - 20,050
CL - 0]
We hadn't got any points yet. Or, we hadn't earned any points at all.
Well, only one way to find out…
But before that, I had something to check.
I eyed the gift which my clubmates had got me.
After opening it, I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Not that I was complaining, but why a Yogurt maker, of all things?
[Your disability, [Memory Lock] is shaking.]
(A/N: This really happened, fr. /s)
The class was mostly full, it seemed everyone was worried about class points. Or, rather, private points.
"So, no points this month too, huh?" I asked, a bit disappointed.
"Yeah… but I think we will get them next month, since our results for midterms are going to be given on 1st July," Hirata answered.
[Name: Hirata Yousuke
Class: 1-D
Physical stats:
Stamina - ??
Strength - ??
Combat technique - ??
Average physical stats - ??
Mental stats:
Academic ability - 301
Memorisation power - 268
Critical thinking - 254
Average mental stats - 274.33]
"Huh? When did they give us the dates for the results? And why is it so late anyway?" I frowned.
"Oh, it's mentioned on the school's app… I just got to know from my friend in class B too. I think it's so late because of the exams third and second year students have."
Hirata was as resourceful as ever, he probably knew that he and Kushida had to keep the morale high till the next month.
"Hirata-kun! Good morning!"
Kei, who had just entered the classroom, jumped at him, clinging to his arm.
[Name: Karuizawa Kei
Class: 1-D
Physical stats:
Stamina - 89
Strength - 81
Combat technique - 85
Average physical stats - 85
Mental stats:
Academic ability - 65
Memorisation power - 100
Critical thinking - 198
Average mental stats - 121]
She was… someone I would like to keep my distance from, to say the least. After Kushida and Hirata, she was probably the most popular student in our class. If I had to describe her in one word, it'd be annoying.
Honestly, I found it difficult to believe Hirata would date someone like her without getting blackmailed. Likely, he was just worried that she would be heart broken if he denied, and thus was forced to agree. But since I didn't know all the details, and Hirata had previously denied a few girls too, I had no reason to sniff into their business.
"Well, see you two later! It's class time, Chabashira-sensei will be coming in any moment…" I said, quickly getting to my seat.
Soon, Chabashira came in and put up the class points poster after answering a few questions.
Class A - 930
Class B - 630
Class C - 470
Class D - 0
While we had not gained any points, the other three classes lost them. Well, maybe we did too and were in negative but it was simply locked at 0.
———
12th June, Tuesday
"So, what's going on between class B and C?"
I asked Kushida, who had called us three.
"Well, as you have probably heard, Ryueen-kun has been trying to harass some of Class B's students by stalking, cornering and isolating them."
"We know that, but what did class B want to discuss with us about it?"
Horikita cut in, clearly not wanting to stay here a single moment more than necessary.
"They simply need our cooperation. Ryueen-kun's classmates only try to make moves when class B's students are in places with few cameras and alone, so they don't have any proof, and thus, can't take the matter to school yet."
"So they want us to collect proof in case we witness anything like that? I personally agree-"
As Hirata was speaking, Horikita interrupted.
"No. If class B and class C are having conflicts, why should we bother ourselves? It'll only be to our advantage if both of them lose their class points."
"I disagree. While that may be good for short term gains, our competition will be for three long years. While completely allying is impossible, by cooperating, we can at least focus on bringing class A down.
Besides, there is no saying that after class B, they will not target us. If a class as united as class B is having trouble, this will become a much more dire problem for us."
With me, Kushida, and Hirata agreeing to cooperate with class B, Horikita had no choice but to go along.
Although we had put up Horikita as a leader, she didn't control every decision single-handedly. Currently, she was more of a puppet than anything else. And even though she still wasn't on friendly terms with Kushida for some reason, she recognized the influence she held in the whole school, and how important her help was.
"Since everything is decided, I won't be coming. The meeting is at 6, right? I have to go to the club during that time."
"Sigh… Okay, we three will talk to them then." Horikita answered, unsurprised that I didn't bother joining.
———
22nd June, Friday
The deal with Class B and D had shown drastic success. Though since all the students of both the classes were supposed to know about it, it became impossible to keep it a secret.
Surprisingly, even that brought a benefit– Katsuragi's faction from class A had also joined in the deal a few days later. After that, class C had no choice but to stop since the risk of losing class points or even expulsion was high if they got caught.
But it made one thing evident– Ryueen had most, if not the complete control of his class now. Whole class C had fallen to his tyranny, and had no choice but to support him if they wanted a chance to aim for class A. It was even more obvious to me, since Ryueen was the only one in class C who had a critical thinking stat more than 300, let alone undetectable.
Our class has improved a lot in terms of discipline and academics, too. The study groups weren't stopped even after the exams ended since their results were quite good. Most of us had started to survive using the bare minimum points. A few even started the free meals, though I didn't know how good of an idea that was.
Not like I would have to do that, being a member of eati- ahem, cooking club. Moreover, since the second and third years had some exams, they were all allowed to leave the club temporarily, so only us first years were using the club for now.
Meanwhile in my own study group, things were going quite more smoothly than one would expect.
Airi could speak with anyone in the group, apart from Ike, quite easily. Her academic foundation was becoming strong, especially in languages and history.
Sudo was still growing explosively in nearly every direction. He could get around 50 in tests without even studying, his anger issue had significantly gone down, at least with classmates.
Most importantly, he was doing really well in basketball and was under consideration to become a permanent team member. This was a feat very few first year students in the whole history of ANHS could share, let alone someone merely in their 3rd month.
Kikuchi, ever so lazy, still found it difficult to study for long periods, but his efficiency had improved by a lot. He somehow managed to keep up with others.
While the others hadn't changed a lot, they all improved academically.
———
1st July, Sunday [Merely for plot convenience, it isn't Sunday. Or you could take it as: school is still open on Sunday.]
I had started waking up a few minutes earlier from the past few days, just to give myself extra time to finish and exceed my daily missions.
[Daily Mission:
1. Run 8 kilometres. (0/8)
2. Complete 62 push-ups. (0/62)
3. Choose and learn any technique for 39 minutes. (0/39)
4. Study each subject for 37 minutes. (0/37)
5. Meditate for 52 minutes continuously. (0/52)
6. Read any non-academic book for 135 minutes. (0/135)
Rewards:
+6 available points
Up to +5 points in each stat, depending on exceeding tasks.
Penalty:
-3 points in each stat with an incomplete task.
Time left: 18:29:42]
While stamina, combat technique, and memorization power were up to a reasonable level, the strength's mission had become much more demanding.
I could use my available points to keep it at the same level with stats, but that would just increase the difficulty further.
I wanted to join a gym, but with no income, my private points were already quite low, at around 14k, even after cutting nearly all the expenses.
With a deep sigh, I turned to the next screen, hoping for something good.
[Congratulations, you have gained a new ability because of [(D Grade) Evolver]
Ability: [(D- Grade) Ugly Charmer].]
What the…
[(D- Grade) Ugly Charmer] - Your looks are slightly improved.]
…that's all? It seemed it was, I looked at the mirror and could barely find any difference in my whole body.
To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. But then again, these abilities were supposed to be random, it was my fault for keeping any expectations in the first place.
If I wanted to use this effectively, a good plan would be to collect low grade useful skills, so they would get evolved to grade D.
'Status.'
[Name: Yamauchi Haruki
Physical stats:
Stamina - 198
Strength - 167
Combat technique - 187
Average physical stats - 184
Mental stats:
Academic ability - 244
Memorisation power - 245
Critical thinking - 256
Average mental stats - 248.33
Available points: 304
Abilities:
(A Grade) Eye of Jealousy, (A- Grade) Professional cook, (B Grade) Gifted, (C+ Grade) Wilderness Survival, (D Grade) Evolver, (D Grade) Newbie Singer, (D- Grade) Ugly Charmer.
Disabilities:
Memory lock]
After completing my tasks, I decided to head into the class earlier than usual, we would be getting our results for midterms, and probably class points too, after all.
Most of the class was empty, even Hirata hadn't arrived yet.
"Morning, Yamauchi-kun! Huh? You look… a bit different today." Kushida cheerfully greeted me.
"R-Really?"
It had taken me quite a few minutes to barely realise that there was some change in me, and she just took a single glance at me and felt something different?