Chapter 167: Changes in Class Points!
What exactly were the Class D students finding so unbelievable?
Naturally, it was the fact that this school truly would forcibly expel students.
As for the expulsion of Ike, Yamauchi, and Sudo, nobody in Class D felt even the slightest reluctance or regret. Some students were practically ready to celebrate.
After all, all three were poor students and major contributors to Class D's class points being reduced all the way to zero.
So quite a few students were actually happy that the school had expelled them.
Yuto was one of them.
Ike, Yamauchi, and Sudo were hopeless cases. With all three expelled for failing the midterm, it would now be considerably easier for Yuto to lead Class D toward Class A.
Without those troublesome students dragging everyone down, the discipline and atmosphere of the class would also improve.
'Yuto has basically brought all of Class D under control now, but there's still one problem student. The only remaining one.'
Standing at the podium, Chabashira looked toward Koenji Rokusuke.
Koenji was casually filing his nails, acting as though everything happening around him had absolutely nothing to do with him.
Chabashira had heard that Koenji was severely punished by the school after privately violating the rules by purchasing points from upperclassmen.
All of his personal points had been confiscated.
At the time, Chabashira had actually been quite pleased.
Since Koenji could no longer buy points with cash, she assumed the school would become his only source of personal points.
That should have forced him to cooperate with Yuto and contribute toward earning class points.
A few days earlier, while preparing dinner for Yuto together with Airi, Chabashira had happily praised him for successfully unifying Class D.
However, Yuto told her he still hadn't completely accomplished that.
Koenji remained an uncontrollable exception who did whatever he pleased.
At the time, Chabashira had been standing in the kitchen with a spatula in hand and an apron around her waist.
"But Koenji has no points left, doesn't he?" she asked in surprise. "If he wants more, shouldn't he have no choice but to cooperate with everyone and earn class points?"
Leaning against the kitchen doorway, Yuto watched Chabashira and Airi busy themselves with dinner before answering.
"Koenji can't directly buy points with cash anymore, but that doesn't mean he has no way to obtain points from other students."
"All he has to do is promise graduating third-years various benefits."
"For example, Koenji could write them cash IOUs. After those students graduate, they could take those IOUs to the Koenji Group and exchange them for money."
"Or he could promise graduating students direct employment at companies under the Koenji Group."
Chabashira fell silent.
She had been thinking of Koenji as an ordinary student and had completely overlooked the fact that he was the heir to a massive corporate group.
Most people might never think of exchanging cash for personal points.
A wealthy heir certainly would.
"Koenji's verbal promises and handwritten IOUs might not seem especially reliable on their own, but everyone at this school already knows he's successfully traded with other students before," Yuto continued.
"So people believe doing business with him is trustworthy."
After all, the students who had traded points with Koenji previously really had received their cash almost immediately.
That history made others willing to trust him.
...
Back in the present, Chabashira ended her recollection and looked sternly over the students below.
"The midterm results have already been finalized, and the school has now distributed class points to each class based on those results."
The announcement immediately brought delighted expressions to the Class D students.
Kikyo raised her hand with a sweet smile.
"Chabashira-sensei, how many class points did Class D earn from the midterm?"
"Don't rush, Kushida. I'm about to show everyone the current class-point standings for all four first-year classes."
Chabashira turned around and attached the sheet in her hand to the blackboard with magnets.
She then stepped aside so everyone could clearly see the contents.
Class A—gained 150 points, rising from 960 to 1,110.
Class B—gained 120 points, rising from 870 to 990.
Class C—gained 61 points, rising from 0 to 61.
Class C had lost five students during the midterm, resulting in a deduction of 1,500 class points. That had previously reduced them to zero, just like Class D.
Class D—gained 72 + 50 points, rising from 0 to 122.
"Our class points actually increased that much!"
"Wait, we have 122 class points now! Does that mean we'll get 12,200 personal points next month?"
"Yeah! The personal points we receive from the school each month are our class points multiplied by one hundred!"
Most of Class D immediately celebrated.
Suzune, however, frowned slightly because her attention had gone straight to Class A's score.
Class A now had 988 more class points than Class D.
"Looking at the numbers, catching Class A will be extremely difficult. But..."
Suzune murmured to herself before turning toward the classmate seated to her left.
Yuto was resting his cheek against one hand, looking completely relaxed.
That easygoing appearance somehow reassured Suzune.
The gap between them and Class A was enormous, but she felt it was still manageable because their class had an extraordinarily reliable leader.
'Shimizu has enormous influence in this class, and everyone listens to his arrangements and instructions.'
'Our chances of reaching Class A are extremely high.'
Suzune firmly believed that.
Aside from Yuto and Suzune, however, the rest of Class D barely paid attention to the other classes' scores.
After receiving no personal points this month because their class points had fallen to zero, everyone was focused entirely on the points they had just earned from the midterm.
"Chabashira-sensei, I have a question," Hirata said. "Why does every other class only have one number, while ours says '72 + 50'? Why isn't it simply written as 122?"
"Yeah, I was wondering that too."
"Let me explain."
Chabashira looked down at them.
"The seventy-two points are what your class earned directly from the midterm examination."
"In addition, after every exam, the school awards fifty class points to the student with the highest overall average in the grade."
"This time, that student was Shimizu from our class."
"That is why our result is written as seventy-two plus fifty."
Once Chabashira finished explaining, everyone immediately understood.
They turned toward Yuto in the back of the classroom and began sincerely praising him.
"As expected of Shimizu-kun! He earned fifty class points for us all by himself!"
"Exactly! If it weren't for Shimizu, we wouldn't be getting nearly as many personal points next month."
"..."
Suzune remained silent amid the praise.
She was actually capable of achieving perfect scores across the entire midterm too.
Unfortunately, she had deliberately controlled her scores to lower the passing threshold.
Yuto waved a hand dismissively.
"You don't need to thank me. I only did what I could to earn class points."
"And don't celebrate too much yet. Our goal is Class A, and there's still a huge gap between our class points and theirs."
"Uh... Can we really catch up to Class A? The difference is enormous."
Some students immediately lost confidence.
Kikyo stood up and spoke with the bright, encouraging demeanor of Class D's little angel.
"Of course we can! Everyone, have more confidence!"
"We all want to reach Class A and graduate with the school's guaranteed employment and higher-education placement benefits, right?"
"So let's all work hard together!"
"Yeah!"
Thanks to Kikyo's exceptional charisma, the atmosphere in Class D immediately improved.
She truly deserved her reputation as the class's little angel.
Amid the renewed enthusiasm, Kikyo discreetly winked at Yuto as though asking for praise.
Yuto smiled back.
His little-devil girlfriend really was incredibly useful.
With Kikyo helping maintain morale, Class D was much less likely to descend into chaos.
Chabashira looked at the atmosphere with satisfaction before clapping her hands to regain everyone's attention.
"After the midterm, every class except Class C gained roughly a hundred points."
"And because our class-point total has now surpassed Class C's, from this moment onward—"
"We are Class C."
"OOOOOH!"
Class D—No.
The newly promoted Class C erupted into cheers.
From today onward, they were finally free from the humiliating label of being the lowest-ranked class.
"Don't celebrate too soon," Chabashira immediately warned them.
"The former Class C, now Class D, has sixty-one class points. They're only sixty-one points behind us."
"If you let your guard down, they could overtake you very quickly."
"Chabashira-sensei, don't worry! We absolutely won't let that happen!"
"Exactly! Ike and the other poor students are already gone, so we won't keep losing class points because of classroom-rule violations!"
"I hope so," Chabashira replied noncommittally.
...
Compared with the celebration in the new Class C, the atmosphere in the new Class D was much colder.
The students had already learned from their homeroom teacher, Sakagami Kazuma, that their class had fallen to the bottom rank.
Tokito Hiroya clutched his head and repeatedly shouted, "I can't accept this!"
Not long ago, he had mocked Suzune and the others in the library, claiming Class D was full of defective students.
And now...
His own class was Class D.
How was he supposed to accept that he had become one of those so-called defects himself?!
Tokito was far from the only one unable to accept it.
Most of the class felt the same way.
Only Hiyori remained unconcerned.
That gentle, easygoing girl didn't particularly care whether her class was called Class C or Class D.
All she wanted was a class where she could live peacefully.
"It's all Ryuen Kakeru's fault!" Tokito shouted angrily. "Those midterm papers he got were completely useless!"
More than half of the new Class D immediately agreed with him.
They also blamed Ryuen.
Since Ryuen was still suspended, everyone could freely vent their dissatisfaction without worrying about confronting him directly.
Sakagami watched the classroom descend into chaos.
He first raised his voice and forced everyone to quiet down before speaking seriously.
"Ryuen wasn't wrong."
"This school really did reuse past examination papers in previous years. For some unknown reason, the school suddenly changed that practice this year."
"You could confirm that simply by asking upperclassmen."
He paused before continuing.
"More importantly, this class needs someone to lead it. Without a leader, all of you will remain nothing more than scattered individuals."
"I'll do it!"
Tokito abruptly stood.
"I'm capable of leading everyone!"
"You aren't suitable, Tokito-kun," Sakagami rejected him without hesitation.
"You lack Ryuen's decisiveness and cunning. You're not suited to being the class leader."
Tokito's expression instantly darkened.
He was beginning to feel that Sakagami was blatantly favoring Ryuen.
Filled with resentment, Tokito loudly challenged him.
"Sensei, why do you keep defending Ryuen?"
"Don't you realize our class fell from Class C to Class D because of him?!"
The other students immediately voiced their agreement.
From their perspective, Ryuen really was responsible.
If he hadn't repeatedly targeted that demon Shimizu Yuto, their class wouldn't have lost so many points, and five students wouldn't have been expelled during the midterm.
Most importantly, they never would have fallen from Class C to Class D.
Facing the growing anger in the classroom, Sakagami shook his head and slapped the blackboard to quiet them.
"Calm down and listen to me!"
"In the former Class D, there is a student named Shimizu Yuto. He has already unified almost the entire class, and his goal is to reach Class A."
"We were Class C—the first obstacle standing between Shimizu Yuto and Class A."
"If Ryuen's plans against Shimizu had succeeded, the former Class D would have lost its leader."
"Then we would never have needed to worry about that class threatening us."
Sakagami spoke earnestly, trying to make them understand.
"What does any of that matter, Sensei?!"
"Ryuen failed!"
"And because he failed, our class fell all the way to Class D!"
"..."
Sakagami fell silent.
There was simply no way for him to argue against that.
…
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