On the morning of the first day of the month, I was walking slowly down the hallway to get to class. It was truly stifling, because today is not an ordinary day. It's the day the results are announced. Those who knew about the system had to accept the results and assess the damage, while those who were ignorant would today collide with painful reality. Everyone would know the truth they had been unaware of.
But the hallway was relatively empty; perhaps most students had gathered in their classrooms to discuss the current situation. I wonder how Class D is doing.
I approached the classroom and began to see a girl with long black hair leaning against the door, her eyes closed. Was she waiting for someone? It's not Yukinoshita's habit to draw attention with such gestures; she's usually found sitting quietly in her seat.
Maybe she was waiting for me. I was a little late today because I needed a can of Max Coffee; it would be necessary for this difficult day.
"Yukinoshita, what's the matter?" I approached Yukinoshita, who noticed my presence and slowly opened her eyes.
"Hikigaya-kun, you're late... From your expression, it seems you still don't know." The traces of shock were still evident on her features.
Was she that shocked by the results? Well, even I was shocked at first, but I got over it...
Or no, I just convinced myself that I did.
"Hmmm... Is there a problem?" I wasn't ready to face any problems this morning.
Yukinoshita slowly raised her finger, pointing upwards. What did she mean?
I kept looking at her, confused. She seemed to realize I still hadn't understood her point, so she decided to speak.
"Look up." Yukinoshita's tone was serious, proof that she wasn't joking.
What could be up there to warrant such seriousness? I wouldn't know unless I looked.
I slowly raised my tired eyes upward. I didn't see anything special, just the high ceiling of the hallway and a sign by the door that looked clean and new. They must clean it daily. I can only say: as expected of a top-tier school.
But wait...
There's something wrong with it, apparently: 1-C. Was I in front of the wrong classroom? I looked inside; there were the same annoying, familiar faces.
I turned around; the class next to us had a sign above its door saying 1-D. What is this? Am I still dreaming?
I started rubbing my eyes; perhaps my vision was impaired.
"Yukinoshita, it seems you were right. My eye condition has affected my eyesight." I was still trying to understand what was going on around me, even though it was clear, it was unbelievable. But Yukinoshita seemed annoyed by my joke. What's this? She's the one who mocks my eyes whenever she gets the chance.
"Hikigaya-kun, there's no time for this. Do you realize what happened here?" Yukinoshita's words were serious, although her eyes suggested she still didn't believe it herself.
"Hmmm... It seems the school made a mistake with the sign. How careless of them." Can't they put it in the right place after cleaning? Where is the class representative to solve this problem?
"Hikigaya-kun, I told you, this is no time for joking." Her eyes looked extremely cold.
Scary... Truly scary.
My mind was still trying to reject the idea. How could Class D advance so easily?
Yukinoshita sensed my serious gaze. The time for joking was indeed over.
"Were you expecting this?" Yukinoshita thought I had planned this outcome.
In truth, I had no idea about such a result. All I thought about at the time was minimizing the damage.
"No." I wouldn't have dreamed of such a thing.
"...So did luck play in our favor?" Yukinoshita put her hand on her chin, thinking about how we had arrived here.
I still didn't understand how we got here, but I was sure it wasn't luck. Perhaps Class C was worse than us, or maybe they made a mistake at some point.
There must be a logical explanation.
The sound of firm heels echoed through the quiet hallway. The sound grew closer with each step.
"Please come in, class is about to start." Chabashira-sensei was standing behind us, speaking to us in her usual stern voice.
I was late coming in today, so time passed quickly.
Without uttering a word, Yukinoshita entered the classroom first, and I moved to follow her. I stole a glance at Chabashira-sensei's face; there was a hint of joy and pleasure on it that I had never seen on her during the past month.
Was it just my imagination?
I quickly entered the classroom. The atmosphere was filled with tension, and faces were full of bewilderment. Surely, none of them understood what was going on, but none of them could cause any commotion.
I sat in my seat, and right after that, the bell rang, and Chabashira-sensei entered the classroom. She stood at the door for a moment, scanning all the faces with her stern expression and sharp eyes.
Perhaps what I saw earlier was just my imagination. Who would believe that this teacher could be pleased?
She moved towards the podium, holding the black folder she usually carries, and a large, carefully rolled-up piece of paper.
An announcement?
"Sensei, why did we only get 50,000 points? Didn't you say we would get more?" It was Yamauchi who started asking the question bothering everyone.
It was all over now. The moment of truth had come.
"Sit down, Yamauchi. It seems you've noticed some changes. I will explain everything to you." The teacher asked all students to calm down so she could explain everything.
"First, I congratulate you on your promotion to Class C." Shock was evident on everyone's faces.
"Promotion?"
"Wasn't it just a mistake?"
"What's happening here?"
"Silence, I will explain." Chabashira-sensei adjusted her stance as if preparing. "It seems you've already noticed that the points you received this morning were 50,000 points. By the way, these are called Personal Points in the S System."
"The S System?"
With every word she spoke, the astonishment and bewilderment of everyone in the room increased. Their minds were still trying to process the new information.
"In addition to Personal Points, there are Class Points. Each Class Point is worth 100 Personal Points. When you arrive at this school, the school grants you 1000 Class Points to all four classes, treating you as equals." The teacher began explaining the basics of points and their types.
I had discussed almost all this information with Yukinoshita before, so nothing was new.
The teacher took a pen and started writing on the blackboard:
Class A: 940
Class B: 650
Class C: 490
Class D: 500
"These are the Class Points for the four classes after one month at this school. Your behavior and your level of merit have been evaluated, and these are the results." The teacher pointed to the numbers on the blackboard.
So, we had surpassed Class C.
"I think most of you understand that if your points exceed the points of the class above you, you will surpass them. Therefore, you have become Class C." Chabashira-sensei adjusted the letters in front of the last two classes and placed Class C in front of our result.
"So we knocked down Class C!" Sudou's voice rang out loudly in the classroom. It seemed all the students were excited and happy about this victory; it was better than being at the bottom.
"But you must be cautious; the difference between you is only 10 Class Points. If they surpass you, you will return to Class D." There was no room for celebration right now, as the slightest mistake would send us back to square one.
"Sensei, why do we only have 500 points? We followed the rules long enough to get a better result than that." The student sitting in front of me started asking questions.
Doesn't he understand what happened well enough? Even though he wears glasses, shouldn't he be smart?
"Your results would have been worse than this. You lost 300 Class Points in the first week alone. That's a record for the first week. If it weren't for your improved behavior afterwards and the involvement of Class C students in incidents of violence, you would still be in Class D." Chabashira-sensei sounded as if she was saying we had already achieved the best possible results.
"Sensei, but the files you gave us didn't contain this information." Ike brought up the topic I had been waiting for.
Of course, they would ask about this.
"I'm sorry, but those files are not from the school. Someone else asked me to give them to you." Chabashira-sensei seemed unwilling to hide the matter and was ready to tell everyone that she had nothing to do with it.
"So... who sent them to us?" The same question started circulating in the air.
Who owned them?
Well, I have no problem admitting it. They might blame me a little because I gave them incomplete information.
I would simply say I didn't know the rest.
In the first place, if they had known all of this, they wouldn't have believed it. Something like Class Points, their relation to Personal Points, and class warfare might not have excited them at all.
They took what they needed to know, and that was enough.
"Fufufufu... It seems there's an unknown savior of the class... Isn't that right?" Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice resonated throughout the classroom. Koenji didn't usually participate in any class discussions, but why was he suddenly staring at me like that?
"Huh? What do you mean?" I decided to play the role of the ignorant one who doesn't understand.
"Playing dumb? Unfortunately, you won't fool my eyes. I trust my judgment well. Everyone was focused on the content of the files, except for two rigid eyes that were watching everyone's reaction... I admit, you succeeded in capturing my attention with that trivial information." Koenji's voice sounded very annoying.
The deal played its primary role: attracting everyone's attention to the content. No one, no matter who, would ignore something directly from the teacher.
I might be exposed easily, but I don't mind if he wants to play it this way.
"Calm down, Koenji. It seems we were saved, but if it weren't for your negligence and indifferent behavior, the results would have been better, wouldn't they?" Everyone knew Koenji's behavior had also affected the result. If he wanted to be a scapegoat and attract everyone's attention, then no problem.
Voices started rising here and there, blaming him.
"Yes, if he had cooperated with us, the result would have been better."
"All you do, Koenji, is hinder us."
Even Sudou, whose behavior had recently calmed down, did not hesitate to confront him.
"It seems your twisted method isn't bad, kid. You blame me to disappear... Fufufufu, interesting, interesting. But don't play with me; it's better." Koenji started running his fingers through his golden hair and closed his eyes again. His tone was extremely confident.
Arrogant jerk.
"Sensei, I have a question: If we had maintained our same behavior, what would our result have been?" Yukinoshita raised her hand to ask the teacher a question, as if trying to draw the students' attention to a disaster they hadn't considered.
"By my personal estimation, it would have been zero, and you wouldn't have received any Personal Points. An unprecedented result in this school."
Panic and bewilderment spread among everyone after they learned how disastrous their result would have been.
"Sensei, how can we raise our Class Points in the future?" Hirata started asking the most important question now: how could we widen the gap and catch up to the higher classes?
"There will be two main things: behavior and exams. But there is another problem." The teacher moved to take the rolled-up paper and stuck it on the blackboard.
It contained the test scores from the exams we took at the end of last month.
Like any student, I started looking for my scores. In most subjects, I scored above 70.
Second place in the Japanese language test.
And 40 in mathematics, a new record, my best score in years.
And Yukinoshita got top ranks in all subjects with scores exceeding 95.
As for most students, their scores were between average and below average.
"Look at this. Your scores are very low. Starting from the next midterm exam, any student who gets a failing score in one subject will be expelled." Astonishment spread throughout the entire classroom.
Expulsion for failing one subject... We hadn't heard of anything like that before.
"Sensei, that's unfair! Impossible, right? How could we be expelled so easily?" Yamauchi started, not believing Chabashira-sensei's words.
"Sorry, but that is the rule of this school." Everyone seemed incredulous at what they heard.
Who would believe that their entire future could be shattered by a failing grade in one subject?
"That's all. Are there any questions?" The teacher finished explaining all aspects of the S System, and her eyes moved among the students, watching their reactions.
She took our silence as a sign that there were no further inquiries, and left.
All the students were busy thinking about the massive amount of information they had just received.
Especially the expulsion, which could be considered everyone's nightmare.
Wait...
My eyes widened in shock. After a moment of realization, I couldn't help but put my hand on my face to cover my expression.
My score of 40 in mathematics... If this had been a midterm exam, I would have simply been expelled.
I couldn't believe what was happening before me. Everything could end in the blink of an eye.
This is truly unbelievable...
One wrong step, and you fall into the abyss.
The door opened again, bringing the classroom back to silence once more.
The sudden silence and the sound of heels snapped me out of my thoughts. I raised my head to see Chabashira-sensei standing at the door again.
What is this? Did she forget another piece of information?
She looked towards me, and her eyes met mine.
"Hikigaya Hachiman... The director wants to see you."