After Sae left the class it was chaotic due to how the students didn't have much points left and was in an uproar.
"What am I going to do without any more points…?"
"I used up the remainder of my points yesterday…"
Yep. They definitely regret their spending habits now.
"Even more than the points, this is a problem with the class… Why was I put in class D!?" Yukimura shouted in frustration.
I could see beads of sweat on his face and I can understand why. He is one of the most studious students in our class and the fact that he has gotten 90 on his test is a testament of that. He knows that he is quite superior in that regard and so isn't happy with his placement.
"Wait, does that mean we won’t be able to go to a college we want to go to? Then why did I come to this school in this first place? I wonder if Sae-chan-sensei hates me…" Ike said frustrated and scared.
It's not the end idiot. This is only the first month. Our highschool is three years, which means we have enough time to get better. Of course, it looks like these guys can't understand that due to their panic.
"I understand that everyone is panicking right now, but calm down." Hirata said starting to get control of the class.
"How can we calm down in this situation? Are you not frustrated that we are the class of leftovers!?" Yukimura asked as he glared at Hirata.
"Even if I say I am, isn’t it better to work together to get out of this situation?" Hirata said trying to placate him.
"Get out of this situation? In the first place, I don’t even agree with this hierarchy of classes!" Yukimura shouted in anger.
"I completely understand your feelings. However, there’s no use in sitting here and complaining about it." Hirata said trying to pacify him, which is evidently failing.
"What!?" Yukimura said angrily as he grabbed Hirata's collar.
I kind of expected that. While it isn't at the level of Horikita, Yukimura does possess some feelings of superiority due to his studies.
"Calm down, you two. Ok? Surely, Sensei must have explained it to us sternly in order to cheer us up, right?" Kushida said as she went to break the fight.
She grabbed ahold of Yukimura's balled fist while separating the two boys. He of course didn't try to hurt her and took a step back.
"Also, it’s only been a month since school started. As Hirata-kun said, I think that it’s better for all of us to persevere through this situation. Do you think I’m wrong?" Kushida asked him as she looked at Yukimura.
"N-no, that's… Certainly, I don’t think what Kushida said is wrong, but…" Yukimura stuttered when he was asked that.
His anger was slowly dissipating while Kushida looked at the rest of the class sincerely, honestly wishing for everyone's cooperation. And from the looks on the students, I think it is working.
"T-that’s right. We shouldn’t be impatient. There’s no need for Yukimura-kun and Hirata-kun to fight." Kushida said as she looked at the two boys.
"… My bad. I lost my composure for a bit there." Yukimura apologized as he regained his composure.
"It’s fine. I should’ve chosen my words more carefully as well." Hirata apologized as well.
The atmosphere calmed down a bit thanks to Kushida's words.
"What are you doing?" Horikita's voice drew my attention as I looked at her.
"I haven’t been able to figure out the specifics behind the points yet. Haven’t you also taken some notes?" Ayanokoji said as he held up his phone.
Did he take a picture of the class points? That looks like it and Horikita has also written down the points.
"Wouldn’t it be hard to calculate the numbers with this little information? Also, even if you managed to figure something, I don’t think it will help resolve this problem. Simply speaking, everyone is always late and talks way too much during class." Horikita asked him in her usual tone.
She's right about that. Unless we know on what basis this school deducts points, trying to find a way to calculate the numbers won't be efficient.
"Are you also at this school to get into college?" Ayanokoji asked surprising me due to the unexpected question.
"…Why are you asking that?" Horikita asked him in return.
"It’s just that when she talked about the difference between class A and class D, you looked really shocked." Ayanokoji said to her with a straight face.
Oh right. Yep. She must be feeling pretty angry right now due to her placement. Considering how she views herself as superior, she would no doubt be displeased with her position.
"That was more or less everyone’s reaction in the class, no? Even though we were given an explanation on the first day of school, I can’t understand this new development." Horikita said with an indifferent tone.
"Well, I guess we were lucky them." I said getting their attention.
"What do you mean?" Horikita asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I mean, I didn't spend much points and I don't think you two did as well so compared to the rest we still have points to use." I said to them at that.
"I suppose that is correct." Horikita said as she agreed with me.
"That being the case, we should think about getting guaranteed points rather than thinking about Class A or Class D." Ayanokoji said to us.
"Points are only a byproduct of our efforts in class. Not having any points won’t hinder our school life. After all, this school provides everything for free at some capacity." Horikita said to us at that.
"Won’t hinder our school life, huh…" Ayanokoji parroted when she finished.
"Well, the problems is that I don't think most of our classmates can live like that." I said to her as I am right.
They have been living lavishly so suddenly stopping that would be difficult for them. They can live, yes. But they can't get entertained or leisure due to not having any points.
"Last month, how many points did you use Ayanokouji-kun?" Horikita suddenly asked the two of us.
"Hmm? Oh, how many points I used. I used roughly 20,000 points." Ayanokoji said as he got the answer.
"For me it was 16,000 points." I said to them.
At my answer the two of them looked at me. I could see surprise and shock on Horikita's face while Ayanokoji still has his usual emotionless face.
"You only used 16,000 points. How did you do that?" Horikita asked me seriously.
"Hey, it's much cheaper to prepare your own food than buy food 3 times everyday at the cafeteria." I said with a shrug.
I mean, I could make a good amount of food to last me a day, and when comparing the amount of points I use to buy the ingredients to the points needed to buy food for a week, my purchases are cheaper. Sometimes I just bring salad for lunch, just for the heck of it.
Of course, this only applies to the three of us and those of our class who had decided to save their points. Those like Ike and Yamauchi won't be able to do anything because they had already used up all of their points which means that their life will he much harder than before. Which is the reason why they are still panicking.
Though it is amusing to watch them panic like this. It just feels right to see people fuck around and find out the consequences of their actions.
"Even though I think it’s unfortunate, they’re paying for their own mistakes." Ayanokoji said as I have to agree with him.
"We were baited by the lure of the points in the first month…" Horikita said as she looked at our classmates.
Yeah. The excitement of getting 100,000 points on the first month basically became their undoing.
"Everyone, once classes starts, I ask that everyone pays attention earnestly. Especially you, Sudou-kun." Hirata said as he addressed the class while standing on the podium.
"Tch, what is it." Sudo said dissatisfied.
"This month, we didn’t get any points. This is a problem that will hugely affect our future student life. We can’t go on like this and graduate with 0 points, can we?" Hirata said to the whole class.
"Definitely not!" One girl shouted immediately which gained her a gentle nod from Hirata.
"Of course not. So, we have no choice but to try and get some points next month. That’s why everyone in the class has to work together to fix our problem. We should refrain from being late to and talking during class. Naturally, using cell phones during class is also prohibited." Hirata said to all of us but I don't think most would be able to do it.
"Ha? Why do we have to listen to what you say? If the points stay constant, there’s no reason to stop." Sudo said with clear dissatisfaction.
"However, if we continue being late and talking during class, our points will not increase. Although we can’t go further down from 0 points, it still counts as a negative." Hirata said as he tried to explain the intricacies to Sudo.
Sorry Hirata but mental things aren't his forte so whatever explanation you will give him might fly over his head.
"I don’t understand. Even if we work hard during class it’s not like our points will go up." Sudo said as he crossed his arms.
"Didn’t the school say that not being late and not talking during class should be an obvious mentality?" Kushida asked him sensing Sudo's feelings.
"Un, I also think the same way as Kushida-san. It’s the natural thing to do." One girl said in favour of her.
"That’s just an explanation for your own convenience. If you understand that our points won’t increase, it’s pointless. Talk after you figure out how to increase our points." Sudo said with a small glare.
No it's not. There might be ways to increase our points and I don't think the school will make a system like this without thinking about that.
"I don’t think there’s anything wrong with what Sudou-kun’s saying. Sorry for making you feel uncomfortable." Hirata said as he gave a small bow to him.
Though his friendliness is a good trait he apologises too quickly which kind of makes him seem as a pushover in the eyes of those students who are a bit more assertive.
"However Sudou-kun, it is a fact that if we don’t cooperate, our points will never increase." Hirata said trying to make him understand.
"… It doesn’t matter what you do. Don’t involve me. Do you understand?" Sudo said irritated as he left the class.
This act of Sudo will definitely lower the class's opinion about him. And considering the amount of time he had been late to class I can see them having a negative opinion of him.
"Sudou-kun really can’t read the atmosphere. He’s the one that’s late the most. Even without Sudou-kun, can’t we still get some points?"
"Yea… he’s the worst. Why is he in the same class as us…"
And lo and behold, their opinion about him as already lowered significantly. It probably doesn't help that he looks like a delinquent, and is also quite hotheaded.
Well, after that was done Hirata walked down the podium and came to my place as he stood in front of me, Horikita and Ayanokoji.
"Horikita-san , Ayanokouji-kun and Aaron-kun, do you have time later? After school, I want to talk about how we can increase our points. I want you guys to participate. Can you?" Hirata asked us with a smile.
"Why us?" Horikita asked him seriously.
"I want to hear everyone’s thoughts. However, even if I ask for everyone to speak up, I think more than half will not listen seriously." Hirata said with a smile.
Well, it's a good idea to be honest. Having an input from everyone can give an good answer, that is if all of them do actually tell their thoughts.
"Sorry, but can you ask someone else? I’m not very good at discussing things." Horikita declined immediately.
Yeah. I can see that. She would probably insult one of us the moment she opens her mouth and say that it is their own incompetence which caused the class and themselves to be in this state.
"You don’t have to force yourself to say anything in particular. It’s good enough to just be there." Hirata said kindly.
"I’m sorry, but I have no intention of meeting for a pointless reason." Horikita said in her usual tone.
It's not pointless you know Horikita.
"I think that this is our first trial as a united class. So—" Hirata said still trying to convince her, but I knew that she wouldn't be convinced like that.
"I already refused. I am not participating." Horikita said with strong and calm words.
Horikita is someone who puts herself before all else so even if she knows Hirata's standpoint she will still prioritise her needs.
Unless it's her brother of course, I have a feeling that she will follow him without asking any questions if he ordered her to.
"I-is that so. Sorry… If you ever change your mind, please participate." Hirata said to her keeping his smile.
Though Horikita already stopped paying attention to him after that.
"How about you, Ayanokouji-kun?" Hirata asked as he turned to him.
"Ah… I’ll pass. Sorry." Ayanokoji said after a few seconds.
"…No, I’m the one that should be sorry, If you ever change your mind though, feel free to join." Hirata said with a smile.
He also probably realised that Ayanokoji is doing this so that Horikita doesn't get ostracized like Sudo. Despite how she acted with him he seems to want to help him so it's fine.
"I'll participate." I said to him before he could ask me.
"Thank you Aaron-kun. I'll be happy to have you there." Hirata said with a smile before he walked away.
Horikita and Ayanokoji looked at me while she started to prepare for her next class.
"Wow, Hirata is pretty remarkable. He was able to get everyone in action. It’s not unusual to feel depressed by the situation." Ayanokoji said as he looked at him.
"That’s one way to look at it. If you’re good at solving problems with discussions, there won’t be any difficulties. However, if a student that’s not very smart tries to hold a discussion, it would probably fall into mayhem. Also, I can’t bring myself to accept the situation right now." Horikita said as she prepared.
"Bring yourself to accept the situation? What do you mean by that?" Ayanokoji asked to which she stayed silent.
Horikita didn't dignify him with an answer and kept her mouth shut. But I already have a hunch as to what she is thinking about.
With all of that out of the way, we went through our class and when lunch came I went out of the class with my lunch box and went to the area of the cafeteria and then found Fuka sitting in her usual place.
She noticed me as she looked at me and smirked at my direction as I went and sat beside her. Though this time I placed my lunch box on the bench and relaxed on it.
"How was your day kouhai-kun?" Fuka asked me with her smirk as I looked at her.
"It was fine. The revelation of the class points shocked my class." I said to her calmly.
"Is that so? I came to know about the class points. Your class actually managed to get 0 points there. This is the first time I'm hearing something like that." Fuka said with a smirk.
"I guess. So, about the other thing that I had asked you. Is it done?" I asked her as I looked at her.
"Sure." Fuka said as she took out her ID.
I also took out mine as she fiddled with her's for a few seconds before I got a notification on my Phone/ID.
"Here is your points kouhai-kun. 1,430,000 Points." Fuka said with a wide smirk on her face.