The kids in class 1-B were fairly well behaved. We acted like actual high school students should. I'd heard that there were some kids in class C or D who would sleep in class, or turn up halfway through the lesson. But, perhaps out of some feeling of laissez faire, all of the teachers they had tolerated that kind of behaviour.
Speaking of behaviour, the worst behaved person in our class was our teacher, Hoshinomiya-sensei. She always turned up to lessons either drunk or hungover. I couldn't imagine that would be allowed at such a prestigious institution.
For third period, we had science class with Hoshinomiya-sensei. When the bell rang, Hoshinomiya-sensei walked into the noisy classroom. The students quietened when she entered. There was something off about her. She seemed sober.
"Quiet down a little, please. Today's lesson will be a bit serious."
"What do you mean, Chie-sensei?"
Some students liked to refer to Hoshinomiya-sensei by her first name.
"It's the end of the month, so we're going to have a short test. Please pass these to the back."
She handed out the papers to the students in the front row. Eventually, the single-sheet test reached my desk. It contained questions in the five main subjects. With only a few questions per subject, it really was short.
"This test is just for future reference. It won't be reflected in your report cards. There is no risk involved, so don't worry. Of course, cheating is prohibited."
Her phrasing struck me as odd. Normally, only general grades were reflected in your report card. But the way Hoshinomiya-sensei said they wouldn't be reflected in our report cards made me think the the grade could be reflected in some other way. Well...did it have something to do with the class ranks? With the more capable students in class A? Could we prove we were more capable?
As soon as the pop quiz began, I scanned the questions. There were four questions per subject, for a total of twenty. Each question was worth five points, for a total of one hundred points. Most of the questions were extraordinarily easy, to the point where it was almost a letdown. In fact, the questions seemed to be about two levels less difficult than the ones in the entrance examination. It appeared far too easy.
However, just as I thought that, I reached the end of the test. The final three questions were an order of magnitude higher in terms of difficulty. The final math problem couldn't be solved without complex formulae.
"No way. These questions are seriously way too hard..."
These questions couldn't be geared toward a first-year high school student. The final three questions were clearly on a level of difficulty than the others, so it was possible they'd been put on the test by mistake. Even though the results wouldn't be reflected in our grades, what in the hell were they evaluating with this?
Well, I guess I'll just solve these problems the same way I solved the entrance exam.
Hoshinomiya-sensei monitored us. As she slowly patrolled the classroom, she kept a watchful eye to dissuade us from cheating. I quickly glanced at Kanzaki, who would never even think of cheating. His pen danced across the paper as he filled in all of the answers. While he wasn't going to get a perfect score, he would certainly score high.
I continued staring intently at my test until the bell rang.
On May 1, I woke up to knocking on my door. I got up, opened said door, and looked into the face of Kanzaki.
"What do you want? It's, like, 6AM," I yawned.
"Hey, Ayanokouji. We only got 65,000 points this morning, not 100,000 like the school said we would," he said, slightly panicked.
"Well, of course. What did you expect? We're in class B, after all."
"W-what do you mean by that?" He asked.
"On the first day, I...persuaded an upperclassman to tell me more information about the school. He said that the best students in the year were in class A, while the worst were in class D," I explained.
He looked a little dumbstruck, but managed to compose himself.
"What do we do?" He asked.
"Well...first..." I invited him inside, and explained my plan to him.
the morning bell rang for our very first day of class. Soon afterward, Hoshinomiya-sensei strode into the room, holding a rolled-up poster. Her expression today was quite stern.
"Hey, sensei. What's wrong?"
Ichinose, kind as ever, checked to see if she was alright.
"All right, your morning homeroom is about to begin. Before we get started, does anyone have any questions? If so, now is the time to speak." Hoshinomiya-sensei ignored Ichinose, which was a rare occurrence. She appeared totally convinced that the students had questions they wanted answered. Immediately, several students raised their hands.
"Um, I checked my point balance this morning, but I only got 65,000 points today. I thought we were supposed to get 100,000 points on the first day of every month, aren't we?"
"Hamaguchi-kun, I already explained this before, didn't I? Points are deposited on the first day of the month. I've confirmed that all points were wired this month without any issues."
"Um, but...I didn't get as much as you said I would, though."
A few of the students exchanged glances.
"Are you really that dumb?" Kanzaki said, standing up.
"Dumb? What?"
As Hamaguchi stupidly repeated his words, Kanzaki looked at him sharply.
"Allow me to explain."
"K-Kanzaki-kun?"
Ichinose, taken aback by his unusually strict tone, slumped in her seat.
"All our points were deposited this month. That much can be said for certain. There is absolutely no chance that we were forgotten. Understood?"
There were a few confused looks around the class.
"It's simple. Because were in class B, we didn't receive as much as we did on the start of term."
"Huh? What are you talking about? They said that we'd get 100,000 points every month-"
"I don't remember hearing that, though. Do you?" He addressed Hoshinomiya.
"While this new attitude is...different, Kanzaki is exactly right. None of you seemed to have noticed the hint I gave you. It's okay, though, we're still friends."
In response to this sudden turn of events, the classroom exploded in an uproar.
"Sensei, may I please ask you a question? I'm afraid I still don't understand." Ichinose raised her hand. She appeared to ask on behalf of her classmates rather than out of selfish concern. It still seemed she held the most sway in the class. The plan had failed, at least for now.
"Can you please tell us why we didn't receive 100,000 points? We won't completely understand, otherwise."
That was certainly true.
"A total of 24 absences and late arrivals. 96 incidences of talking or using a cell phone in class. That is quite a few infractions over one month. In this school, your classes results are reflected in the points that you receive. As a result, you wasted 35,000 points of the 100,000 you should have received. That's what happened. I should have explained this all to you on the day of the entrance ceremony. This school measures its students' true abilities. This time, you were evaluated as not being the best. That's all."
Hoshinomiya-sensei spoke in an unusual tone, devoid of any emotion. I could tell ever word she spoke now was scripted. The doubts I'd had since coming to this school were finally confirmed, though, in the worst way possible. Even though we'd started with the huge advantage of 100,000 points, class B had wasted over a third of it in just a single month.