For Sakura, the next month of school was heaven. That sounded a bit like an oxymoron; what high schooler actually enjoyed going to school?
Well, Sakura did! The ANHS was great. There were positives, like her friend group and the generous allowance they received, and negatives, like the idiots named Ike and Yamauchi who never failed to sexually harass just about any girl in class 1-D.
Okay, Sakura herself was spared as she apparently wasn't "blessed enough" according to Yamauchi (yes, she'd actually overheard him telling that to his friend group consisting of Ike, Sudo, and a quiet kid named Ayanokouji during their swimming class), but the boys did occasionally make some very sexist comments.
Once, she'd heard them dismissing Kei as a dating option because she was too "cheap" and "easy" just because she'd started dating so soon (Kei and Hirata made the cutest couple in Sakura's opinion).
But this negative was far outweighed by the positives. Some of the classes were downright fun. Like swimming for example - if she ignored many of the boys ogling her friends like pigs - and she enjoyed racing with the other girls.
She'd even spoken to Onodera, a girl in class 1-D who was excellent at swimming. Sakura had even gotten some swimming tips from her, which made her very happy.
And although she was going to the Judo club with Hatake, they hadn't spoken at all actually. He was in the advanced group, while she was a beginner.
Without seeing much of him there, Sakura was enjoying Judo quite a lot, and she was good at it too. In no time, she'd become the best in the beginner group, and she was looking forward to moving up to the intermediates.
Ignoring a few exceptions such as Horikita; a quiet and very academically-inclined girl, and Kouenji; well, he was just weird and seemed too arrogant to get along with, most of the class D's students were friendly, and Sakura had no problem talking with them at all.
Even the other classes were great (well, only class 1-B, the others were a bit weird...). After meeting Ichinose at the fair, they met up to talk a few more times after that.
Since Ichinose was always flunked by her classmates, Sakura had naturally made friends with a few class 1-B students as well.
She should've realized that something would go wrong.
It went like this.
It was the very first day of class in May when Chabashira-sensei casually strode into the room, her expression different than usual.
Ike, being stupid, thought it would be peak comedy to make a sexist comment once again: "Hey, sensei, did you start menopause or something?"
Miraculously, Chabashira-sensei ignored him and asked the class if they had any questions. A weird thing to ask, but something was troubling Sakura. She was about to raise her hand and ask, but Hondou beat her to it.
"Um, I checked my point balance this morning, but I didn't see any deposits. Points are given on the first day of every month, aren't they? I couldn't buy juice this morning."
When Chabashira-sensei only repeated what she'd already said about the point system and them receiving points every month, and also said that they'd all received the amount of points they were supposed to, more students began to look uneasy.
"Um, but... nothing was deposited into my account, though," Hondou said again, but this time, Chabashira-sensei's response wasn't nearly as calm as it had been before.
"Are you kids really that dumb?"
Now, Sakura knew for sure something was very wrong. Never before had Chabashira-sensei spoken to them like that, nor had any other teacher for that matter.
At that, the students started whispering between themselves, and Hondou continued speaking to Chabashira-sensei, still extremely confused, while she remained cryptic.
Cryptic to everyone but Kouenji apparently, because he started laughing loudly.
"Ha ha ha! I see. So, it's like that then, teacher? I think I've solved the mystery," he boomed.
Sakura looked at him dubiously, but she too was beginning to think she knew what was going on.
At the beginning of the term, she had thought something like this could happen... she'd refused to believe the school would be giving them 100,000 points every month, but she'd grown comfortable, and all her worries had subsided.
"It's simple. We're Class D, so we didn't receive a single point."
At that, Hatake's words came back to her.
"You're from Class D, aren't you?" He'd said. When she asked how he knew, he responded:
"Just a hunch, most of the people at this school from those classes are either dumb, punks, or crazy. You fit in with them, that's why I assumed."
Had Hatake known back then, she wondered. There was no way he could've figured it out on the first day since classes started, right?
While she'd been lost in her thoughts, Hirata had tried to reason with Chabashira-sensei, trying to get an answer from her. Finally, he got something out of her.
"A total of ninety-eight absences and late arrivals. Three hundred ninety-one incidences of talking or using a cell phone in class. That is quite a few infractions over one month. In this school, your class's results are reflected in the points that you receive. As a result, you wasted all of the 100,000 points that you should have received. That's what happened."
Then,
"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 being worth nothing. That's all."
Sakura gritted her teeth together. She really, really hoped that the only thing their class's evaluation affected were the private points they got.
However, she was beginning to think this was not the case, and she felt dread dawning upon her.
She could handle living off freebies without a problem. She was used to that sort of lifestyle. However, if this impacted her chances of getting to a med school and becoming a...
Hirata continued arguing with their sensei, but Sakura was lost in her mind once more, hyperventilating.
Eventually, Hirata got another important piece of information from Chabashira-sensei, but it felt bittersweet.
"Let's say that you stop being late to class and have no more absences... Even though zero points will be deducted from you this month, that doesn't mean that your points will increase, either. That means next month you will still receive zero points. From another perspective, you could say no matter how many times you're late or absent from class, it doesn't matter. So, you're not really at a loss, are you?"
'Is my class doomed?' Sakura wondered, feeling bad for the people she'd grown fond of over the past month.
The bell rang, but hardly anyone paid it any mind. Chabashira-sensei took out a white poster that she spread out. On the poster, the four first-year classes were written, and next to them was a number.
Next to class 1-D, the number 0 was written. Class C had 490 next to it, Class B had 650, and at the top stood Class A with 980.
Curiously, the classes that were first in the alphabet had a higher number next to them. The numbers were also all odd and ended in 0.
"Are these... the results for each class?" Horikita guessed. That would make a lot of sense. And if that were true, then two things stood out the most: the extremely high number class A had, and the extremely low number class D had.
'Maybe Hatake had known about the system after all, and he'd informed his class about it... Or someone else from Class A had told him. Either way, that number is too high...'
Apparently, the meaning behind the points was simple. One of these so-called class points equaled 100 private points they would get every month per person.
That meant they'd all started with 1000 class points. Class A had only lost 20, while Class D had lost all 1000. The imbalance felt unreal.
"This isn't fair, though! We can't enjoy our student lives like this!" shouted Ike.
Currently, private points were the least of Sakura's worries. What worried her were the implications behind the class points.
"But... why is there such a difference in our point values?" Hirata wondered. It was true, the numbers were not only too tidy, but unbalanced as well.
"Do you finally understand now? Do you see why you were placed in Class D?" Chabashira-sensei asked mockingly.
That would imply that the best students got placed in Class A, while the worst in Class D.
That didn't make much sense though. Sakura wasn't particularly mad about being deemed trash by the school, what confused her more were the criteria by which this had been decided.
Had the school been choosing entirely by their intellect, she wouldn't have been in Class D.
While Sakura didn't think she was the smartest in their year, she had solved all of the problems on the short test they'd taken a few days ago except for one out of three of the most difficult ones.
Surely, that counted for something, right?
By now, more students had joined the discussion, none happy about being told that from now on, they'd all receive 0 points every month.
"Your class's points aren't just linked to the amount of money that you receive each month. They're also indicative of your class rank."
Oh. No. It was exactly as she'd thought.
This entire private point system wasn't there just for fun. The classes were divided in a certain way, and apparently, the other classes would be their enemies.
Having a class points system implied there being advantages for the winners (Class A), and disadvantages for the losers (Class D and maybe all of the other classes as well.)
Sakura doubted that these class points only meant they'd receive fewer private points every month. It probably ran deeper than that. Just how deep though?
"Now then, I have one more bit of bad news to share with you all."
Great. Sakura was so looking forward to that. By now, her classmates' expressions were completely dismal. Sakura had over the last month grown rather fond of her classmates, and she didn't want to see them take yet another blow in one day.
She was perhaps beginning to hate Chabashira-sensei. The woman was enjoying mocking them way too much.
Also, this situation could've been avoided entirely if she'd bothered telling them a little more about the school rules.
Chabashira-sensei took out a sheet of paper and put it up on the board. On it were the names of everyone in class, with a number next to everyone's name.
'Not another ranking system,' Sakura mentally groaned, taking a closer look at the paper.
Two people stood out the most. Sudo, who had the number fourteen next to his name, and then her at the top, with ninety-three next to her name.
"Judging from these, I can see that we've got quite a few idiots in this class. These are the results of the short test you took a while ago. Your sensei was so happy after your excellent performance. Come on, what in the world did you all study when you were in junior high?"
Oh, so in this case, her having a high score wasn't a bad thing. Somehow, that didn't calm her down at all.
Knowing this, Sudo's fourteen points seemed very ridiculous now. The average was sixty-five, and the second lowest score belonged to Ike, who stood at twenty-four points total.
"I'm so glad. If this were an actual test, then seven of you would've had to drop out."
Oh? In less than two hours, Sakura had gone from loving this place to pretty much hating it. Just what news would their beloved sensei share with them next, she wondered.
This news understandably shocked everyone, the most vocal person being Ike, one of the endangered students.
Then there was Kouenji, who easily mocked the failing students. No wonder, he shared the second top spot with Yukimura, a particularly brainy classmate.
Sakura was rather surprised to see Kouenji so high up; she hadn't expected him to be this smart.
He must have solved one of the three incredibly difficult questions, which was only one less than she had solved.
"Oh, one more thing. This school, which operates under government supervision, boasts a high rate of advancement into elite education and workforce placement. That is a well-known fact. Most of you have likely chosen a college or a future workplace."
Sakura saw where this was going, and she didn't like it. This was exactly what she'd been worried about ever since seeing these so-called class points.
The school boasted the highest rates of advancement in the whole country. This was the very thing that had given her hope that graduating from this school could turn her life around.
Was it not true, after all? Was this all a waste of time? 'No, please don't take my only hope from me, please...'
"However, nothing comes easy in this world. Mediocre people such as yourselves would have to be naive to think that you could easily get into the college or workplace of your choice."
'No, no, no,' she chanted desperately to herself, feeling her eyes tearing up. There had to be a way to salvage everything, right? Surely one month of bad decisions wouldn't take away all of their hopes forever, right?!
Chabashira-sensei's words carried throughout the room.
"In other words, you're saying that if we want to get into the company or college of our choice, we must, at minimum, surpass Class C?" Hirata, the class representative and Kei's new boyfriend asked, making Sakura feel a surge of hope.
'Please let it be true,'
"You're wrong. To make your dreams of a bright future come true, your only option is to overtake Class A. This school guarantees nothing for any other students."
Outrage filled the room, many people protesting that this was unfair and that they hadn't heard anything about this rule. Sakura shared the sentiment very much.
'You never told us this!' She thought to herself, her body beginning to shake. 'You made us all hope when all along, we as Class D never had a chance! How is this fair!'
The class point gap between Class A and Class D was exactly 980 class points. Sakura felt like laughing hysterically.
Yukimura stood out amongst the desperate people, completely breaking down. Kouenji, on the other hand, didn't have a care in the world.
After mocking Yukimura for breaking down, Kouenji had a smile on his face, as if everything was alright. It was a sharp contrast between two of the top three students.
'What sets them apart, I wonder?'
"Don't you feel dissatisfied in Class D, Kouenji?" Yukimura asked, somehow managing his voice to not sound as shaky as his body looked.
When Kouenji started talking, everyone listened.
"The school simply hasn't seen my potential yet. I pride myself on being great, and I value, respect, and regard myself more highly than anyone. So, the school arbitrarily placing me into Class D means nothing Say, for instance, that I dropped out of school - I would be perfectly fine. After all, I am 100 percent positive that the school would come crying to take me back."
Rich people had it so easy. Sakura clenched her fists, anger filling her entire being. This just wasn't fair. People like Kouenji didn't care, because even if they didn't graduate from Class A, their mommies and daddies would fall over themselves to get them to the school they wanted to go to.
Then, the smug bastard had to fucking open his mouth again.
"Besides, I don't care in the slightest if the school does or doesn't assist me in higher education or the workforce. It's been decided that I will lead the Kouenji conglomerate group. Whether I'm in Class D or Class A is a trivial matter."
Sakura hadn't particularly hated rich people for being rich before. She'd occasionally envied them, but never hated them.
But Kouenji... his words made something inside of her snap.
"How the fuck is that fair?" she spat out, standing up and looking at Kouenji angrily.
"You... why are you even at this school? Even if we try getting to Class A, you'll ruin it for us, won't you? After all, money can get you anything. You don't even need to graduate from Class A - you won't care if you don't, either, you're just wasting space here; someone who would've appreciated the opportunity more could've been here instead!" she ranted.
Kouenji only looked amused. That bastard. He was about to say something, something that would've probably made Sakura physically attack him, but luckily, Hirata stepped in.
"S- Sakura-san, getting angry at Kouenji won't solve anything..." Hirata tried to calm her down.
She said nothing for a while, staring down at the ground in anger. Her classmates were looking at her in surprise, no doubt not expecting their constantly cheery and kind classmates to break down so suddenly and become so angry.
"Sensei," Sakura said blankly, looking at the woman she'd grown to dislike with cold eyes. "The homeroom period is over, is it not? Am I allowed to leave?"
Chabashira-sensei sighed, then nodded.
"Very well, but please note that the midterm exams are in three weeks. This goes to you all, be careful to avoid getting red marks on your report cards. If you get a score below this line I've drawn, you will find yourself expelled from the school. That is all."
Sakura stormed out of the classroom, Chabashira following behind at a much slower pace. Sakura knew exactly how she could blow off some steam.
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A/N
Hello, dear readers! I hope you liked this chapter, it is one of my personal favourites after all. As I'm writing this, I've come to realize that this will be going on for a while. Do mind the slow burn tag, because so far, it looks like it'll be more of a char than a burn, hehe. But anyway, we're finally getting to the cool parts about the classroom of the elite - all that's left is the Sudo arc before the real fun begins. Hope you're looking forward to that as much as I am!