At exactly 8:30 AM, Chabashira Sae strode into Class 1-D's classroom. Her gaze lingered pointedly on Shimizu Akira before she rapped her knuckles on the lectern.
"Morning assembly begins now. Any questions before we start?"
The room fell silent, most students shaking their heads in unison.
"Hmph—" Chabashira smirked. "Figures. You've already dissected the S-system inside out."
She brandished a folder suddenly. *"Not bad this month. Buying intel and leasing cameras. Thanks to that, we only had 12 tardies/absences, 18 instances of chatter/phone use, plus other off-class violations... Final tally: Class D scored 530 points."*
The classroom erupted.
"Wait! We leased the cameras! How'd we still get penalized?!" Yamauchi Haruki shot up, bewildered.
"Yeah! Wasn't the footage deleted? How'd they catch phone usage?!" Others chimed in.
Chabashira's icy glare swept the room as she crossed her arms. "The cameras were yours last month. But did you really think the school wouldn't archive Week 1's data? Use your brains."
"WHAT?!" Yamauchi's eyes bulged comically. "Then what was the fucking point of spending all those points?!"
"Not my problem!" Chabashira smacked the lectern. "Think for yourselves!"
Her tone shifted. "Today's first agenda: showing how far behind Class D is." She slapped a class-points chart onto the board with magnets, reading aloud: "Class A: 950. Class B: 790. Class C: 640. Class D: 530." A sardonic smile curled her lips. "In short? Still dead last. Even at your best, you're barely licking Class C's heels—forget about B or A."
Shimizu's brow arched slightly.
Class A's dominance was expected, but Classes B and C had also gained 100+ points—exactly as predicted.
"How're other classes scoring so high?!"
"Did they find hidden rules too?!"
"No way! We used cameras and still can't win?!"
Chabashira's mocking gaze silenced the outcry. "Grow up. You think you're the only clever ones? Other classes aren't idiots."
"Second agenda: last month's exam results." She pinned another sheet to the board. "Frankly? You sucked. If this were midterms, everyone scoring under 32 in Japanese would face expulsion. And there are so many of you... How flawed."
"Finally... Third agenda..." Her eyes gleamed. "Class president re-election. Keep Kushida or pick someone new? Your call."
"Study hard these next three weeks if you don't want to get expelled." With that, she exited.
The moment the door shut, chaos erupted.
"What the hell with the cameras?!"
"Kushida-san... This isn't what you promised!"
""Flawed"? Was class assignment never random?!"
At the room's center, Kushida Kikyou and Hirata Yōsuke exchanged weary looks—their well-intentioned lies now laid bare by cold, hard data.
The boomerang had come full circle.
Shimizu ignored the uproar, striding to the board to scrutinize the exam results.
(Damage control first.)
The school tested five subjects: Japanese, Math, English, Social Studies, and Chemistry.
Top scorers matched Shimizu's expectations:
Horikita Suzune
Kōenji Rokusuke
Yukimura Teruhiko
All averaged 90+, dominating the top five.
But two glaring anomalies caught his eye:
Ayanokouji Kiyotaka: *50* across all subjects (Total: *250*)
Matsushita Chiaki: ~60 per subject (Total: *300*)
(You've got to be kidding me. 250 and 300?)
(Ayanokouji! This sandbagging is painfully obvious! Not even trying?!)
(And Matsushita... barely better!)
(Are you both trying to get caught?!)
Shimizu's eye twitched as he glanced back.
Ayanokouji sat impassively but subtly scratched his head—a perfect "whoops, I failed" act.
Matsushita, meanwhile, laughed with Karuizawa's clique about "barely passing."
Their calculated mediocrity was almost impressive.
But Shimizu had no time for theatrics—his own scores demanded attention:
Math: *100*
English: *98*
Social Studies: *91*
Chemistry: *93*
Japanese: *29*
This placed him comfortably in the top ten (though Class D's top ten meant little).
Math/English dominance was expected—skills honed in his past life translated effortlessly.
Chemistry, as a STEM subject, posed no challenge either.
Social Studies relied on rote memorization and essay questions—also manageable.
(But this Japanese score...)
Shimizu massaged his temples at the glaring "29."
(Still not enough, huh?)