Kiyotaka Pov
Everybody complied quickly with what Shiba-Sensei said and sat down in their seats.
Except for Hosen.
He stood tall and proudly still while he wore a smirk on his face directed to Shiba-Sensei.
"Sit down, Hosen-Kun!" hissed Nanase nervously with a bead of sweat gathering on her forehead."
"Hey Teach...try and expel me right now!" challenged Hosen with his smirk only getting larger.
So Hosen saw through Shiba-Sensei? He and I think alike. Expelling a student so recklessly would be strange but a homeroom teacher does have a lot of say.
Hosen is directly challenging the school and testing its limits. I need to be careful with him then if he intends to use strategies that will require finesse to escape the school's rules.
Shiba-Sensei made no reaction and he didn't say anything to Hosen. Instead, he picked up a bucket from behind the podium.
Inside the bucket were phones in white cases. On the back of the case was the school's insignia.
This lack of response means Shiba-Sensei can't expel one of us of his own accord then.
"Our own phones? Sweet!" cheered Nakajima.
Everybody else whooped and hollered at the prospect of getting their own phones, and even I was excited for it.
I've never had a phone as just up until a month ago I was in the White Room. After that, I lived in That Man's private mansion with a staff of butlers.
The phones were passed back from the front of each row to the back.
However, when my phone landed in Hosen's hand, he smirked.
Crack
He broke the phone with just his grip alone. Hosen laughed and put the shattered remains of my phone onto my desk.
"Jeez, what the hell?!"
"Hey why did you do that?" asked Nanase.
"Cause I can," said Hosen bluntly.
He stood up and pushed his chair against my deck with a loud crash.
"Listen here punks. Ayanokouji will be a demonstration. Anybody who tries to go against me will suffer. Physically, mentally? I'll do it all, got it?"
Hosen leaned down in my face, and spoke, his hot breath washing over my face, "Surrender now, or I'll break every bone in that face of yours, got it punk?"
I stayed silent and matched his eyes, starting a staring contest.
As I stared, his smile grew wider and wider, until it stretched across his entire face like a feral dog about to pounce on its first meal.
"Ayanokouji-Kun," whispered Nanase, "Don't do this..."
"He's a psycho just do whatever he wants!" yelled Tendo, the fear evident in his voice.
I suppose I'm causing everyone else a great deal of distress in this stare down.
"Fine," I said suddenly, leaning back in my chair, "As long as you don't hurt anybody here, not only will I surrender but I'll make sure everybody else does as well."
"Shit, he sold us out!" cried Yasuhiro.
"Well yeah it was him or destruction," hissed a girl, "Anybody sane would do it."
Hosen smirked, "Good. Hear that everybody? Just listen to Sparkles here and I won't have to hurtcha! Now then, onto you!" He pointed down at Mimi, who had her video game console in her hands still.
She paused her gaming session to watch our fight, and now, she tried to shove it into her pocket.
Hosen grabbed her hand however, stopping her attempt.
"What's the problem?" she asked. She didn't sound particularly afraid at him grabbing her, instead she sounded confused.
"When we're in class, you're giving that to me. Already you've been goofing off with it, so hand it over," said Hosen angrily.
"Shiba-Sensei isn't speaking right now so I'm not interrupting class time am I?"
Hosen looked towards Shiba-Sensei as if expecting an answer.
"Considering this is a homeroom period, regardless if I am speaking, any misbehavior or talking is unacceptable. If you're looking for a concrete figure, you've lost 50 points by now," noted Shiba-Sensei in an annoyed tone.
"Shit!" roared Hosen. The boy dropped Mimi's hand and scrambled back towards his seat where he landed with a thud.
Mimi placed her video game console in her pocket, ending the playtime for her.
"Ayanokouji-Kun, you require a new phone, correct?"
"Yeah Shiba-Sensei, no rush though," I responded.
This brought an odd smile to his face. Around me, I could see people get weirded out and shift awkwardly in their seats at the face.
"Unfortunately, it is is a rush. Enough about that. Using this phone, you can download apps, communicate with people via the Rine app, and pay for things with your private points. Almost anything can be bought with private points in this school, so you would do well to be frugal with your money," he sighed and took out a sheet of paper, "There will be no time to rest, as the school has a challenge for you: The Partner Special Exam."
"A special exam?!"
"How?!"
Hosen glared at the speakers and they all became quiet again.
"This event will be a test in academics. Normally, for failing a test at this school you will be expelled, however, failing in this exam will not expel you. As long as you do not break any rules, you will not be expelled in this exam. Each of you must pair up with a Second Year student and meet a specific score. In the case that you fail, your partner will be expelled and you will not receive any private points for three months. If you intentionally hold back and are caught, you will be expelled alongside your partner."
I see...this could be a simple way to expel Shiro quickly by pairing up with him and then purposefully failing.
That seems too plain for the likes of Takuya though. He would want to crush Shiro fully, not expel him because of a cheap rule.
Takuya would sooner go all out than hold back, even if it meant winning.
As for me, I don't intend on expelling Shiro in this exam.
I have a few things I was to investigate before I even think about getting rid of him.
"Continuing on, the score across all 5 subjects that must be exceeded is 500 points. Your combined score in each subject is the final score. For example, if one of you scored a 40, and your partner scores a 60, you would have 100 points in one subject. Each subject is worth 100 equally. Forcing another student to hold back will result in all three students being expelled: the first years and the second year partner. Understood?"
"Yes, Shiba-Sensei."
Hosen, without raising his hand, shouted out, "How will the school determine if a student held back?"
"Excellent question, Hosen-Kun. Allow me to introduce you to a new feature: the OAA app. This app sorts each student into categories based off many categories. Each student has an academic rating, which will measure the estimated range of each student. Failure to stay within or exceed with range will tip off the school to some manipulation, to which they will investigate further and determine in a meeting with the Acting-Chairman. Allow me to show you the estimated scores."
Shiba-Sensei wrote onto the board with black sharpie.
E Rank-150-200 points total
D Rank-200-250 points total
C Rank-250-300
B Rank-300-375
A Rank-375-425
"This will be your first time to fight with the other classes. There are rewards for both Class Points and Private Points."
Shiba-Sensei wrote on the board:
1st Place-50 CP
2nd Place-30 CP
3rd Place-10 CP
4th Place-0 CP
Top 5 Pairs School-Wide: 100,000 PP each
Top 30%: 10,000 PP each
"To request a pair with a student, look up their information on the OAA app, where all their stats are on display. You can request to pair for 24 hours. After those hours, it will reset. In the Second year, 3 students have been expelled this far. The three first years who end up without a partner will suffer a 5% penalty, however, their scores will be doubled to make up for the missing link. When a pair is finalized, there is no cancellation. If the other student is expelled or falls seriously ill, the same situation that applies to single students would apply to the remaining student in the pair."
"How harsh," murmured Nanase beside me.
If our class is stuck with the unpaired students and my theory is correct, those three will be expelled. It is essential that we speak with Class A or Class B and convince them to take the burden.
Maybe we could offer financial compensation as well?
"That will be all for our homeroom period. Feel free to spend today adjusting to your new life. Tomorrow, each teacher will be going over their syllabus."
"Understood."
"Yup!"
With that, Shiba-Sensei fled the room. Almost seconds later, he returned with a fresh phone which he placed directly on my desk.
The screen lit up, and I began to set up my phone for myself.
Hosen stood up quickly, "Here's the situation. Since I can tell all of you are dumbasses, I'll handle making all of the pairs. In the meantime, if a Senpai requests a partnership, tell them they have to pay for it."
"So you're going to make them pay for us?" I questioned.
"Basically. This is about money to me, as long as you dumbasses don't succumb to peer pressure or some made up shit there's no reason for any of you to be expelled. This exam is about money, nothing more, nothing less," explained Hosen.
Tendo hummed loudly, "Are you giving up on winning then?"
Hosen laughed and leaned back onto the white board, "If you think your grades could beat anybody else please enlighten me!"
"He's right," murmured Mimi.
"Right about what?"
"Our prospects aren't the greatest," she explained, "How are we sorted as defects. Just behavior? Something like that can easily be changed so that can't really stick. My guess is that it's a multitude of categories. Academics, Athletics, and Social behavior."
"Look at our OAA scores," commented Nanase, "Most of us have low scores in at least one stat. Only a few of us have decent scores."
Nakajima sighed, "Class A and B have higher scores then?"
Nanase nodded and everybody groaned.
"So then our strategy is to gain as many points as possible while studying. I believe we should create study groups so that we have a chance at increasing our basic academic skills," I announced.
"That's what I was about to say," nodded Hosen while scrolling through his phone. After a moment he cleared his throat.
"Ayanokouji, Nanase, Mimi, Kencho, Reiichi, and I will be in charge of the study groups."
Kencho Seiyo was a boy with gray eyes and silver hair that was combed and cared for meticulously it appeared. He wore expensive designer watches and rings decorated his fingers. He was a bit arrogant from his introduction but based off Hosen's perception of him he's intelligent.
Reiichi Takahashi was a girl with brown eyes and shiny blonde hair. She had a very amiable persona and seemed to be nice.
Kencho nodded, "I'll take the smallest group you got thanks. And Yasuhiro being in my group is a major no-no."
"Huh? You gotta problem with me?!" yelled Yasuhiro.
"Essentially," smirked Kencho, "You're pathetic and I'd prefer you not stain my image by being near me."
"Why you-"
"Yasuhiro sit down or I'll put you in a wheelchair," snarled Hosen.
"Erm...fine."
Reiichi patted Yasuhiro's back, "Don't worry! You can be in my group!"
"No thanks," he said quickly.
How do I word this...Reiichi wasn't conveniently attractive. Based off Yasuhiro's ogling of some of the attractive girls I can guess he's a perverted type.
Sometimes being kind isn't enough for some people I suppose.
Suddenly, all of our phones rang with a text notification.
"What was that?" asked Reiichi.
Hosen checked his phone and sneered, "We're not doing that."
He was referring to a text we had received from Ichinose Honami, a Senpai from Class 2-B, which was for a meet and greet for the new exam.
"Huh? That could really help us," I said.
"I said we're not going, so we're not going," hissed Hosen, "Or do you need another demonstration."
"Don't hurt his face!" squealed a random girl.
Weird.
"There's no need for that Hosen," I said, holding my hands up in a mock surrender.
"Good. Now, all of you leave immediately. I have a feeling some visitors will come by."
"Visitors? You mean the Senpai?" I asked.
"Yup."
"Ah, so we're playing hard to get eh? That's good for us since all the girls here are doing that," chuckled Yasuhiro.
"Ew," said Nakajima.
"Ew?! What do you mean ew?!"
She paused, looking him up and down, "You're just not very...demure, not mindful or cutesy."
"What does that mean?!"
I walked over and comforted Yasuhiro as he screamed into his arms.
Hosen slammed his fist on the podium, "Out. Now!"
Everybody jumped up and fled immediately to avoid incurring the wrath of the new tyrant.
As I walked out of the classroom, I feminine voiced called out, "Ayanokouji-Kun, got a minute?"
It was Nakajima and two girls behind her known as Mina Osu and Maya Asu, both girls with short hair.
Mina's hair was pink and she had black eyes, while Maya had brown hair and blue eyes.
"I've got time," I said.
"Perfect, let's go explore this place together," said Nakajima excitedly as she latched onto my arm, "This place has a mall I heard!"
"Awh~no fair Nakajima-Chan!" cried Mina. She playfully shoved Nakajima, who only clung to my arm tighter in response to this assault.
Maya rushed and grabbed onto my arm, pushing her breasts into my arm, "Too bad, Mina-Chan! Lost your chance!"
"So, Ayanokouji-Kun, what are your hobbies?" asked Nakajima.
"Hobbies? I like to read, go to the gym, play sports, and play piano! What about you three?"
"Scrolling on Social Media for me," replied Nakajima.
"Fashion! It's my dream to go to fashion school," said Mina.
Maya hummed, "Swimming! This school supposedly has a really big cool so I'm stoked for that."
"We should go together then," I said.
"Bring me too!" cried out Nakajima.
Mina nodded, "Leaving me out is a no-no!"
All of these girls seem to be all over me...this could be useful in the future to have a cult following me around.
"Hosen sure is something," I commented.
"Oh my God! He freaked me out! How could you stay so strong when he was staring you down like that?" questioned Nakajima.
I pretended to be flustered and chuckled, "It was just pretending. I was scared of him though!"
"If I were in that position I might have just given up and started crying," lamented Mina.
By now, we were walking by the shoe lockers when my phone suddenly rang.
Another text from Ichinose maybe? But then none of the girls got the text so it couldn't be that.
Did Hosen get my number somehow?
"One second," I said, freeing myself from the iron grips on my arms.
On my phone was an email from a boy:
Nagumo Miyabi
For an optional special exam, come to the Student Council room upon receiving this message.
A special meeting for an optional exam? That explains why I was the only one here to get the message then.
But what would the President want with me specifically?
Maybe he drew lots and that's how I was selected. Either way, I should go if I want to join the Student Council.
"Ah, sorry guys, I have somewhere to be! I'll make it up to you sometime though, I promise!"
"Hehe, it's a date then!" teased Nakajima. Her words worked on the other two girls who exploded into red tomatoes.
Quickly, I went up the stairs to the third floor, and to the council room.
The big wooden doors stood in front of me, with gold doorknobs.
In front of the door were two people.
Nanase and Hosen stood by the door with their arms crossed.
"Hosen? Nanase? Why are you two here?"
"Got an email, just like you I bet," said Hosen while staring at me for any sign of something.
"Nagumo-Senpai called us all then? I wonder why."
"An optional special exam," recounted Nanase, "Any chance we have to further our class we should take. According to Shiba-Sensei, we already lost 50 points."
"How inconvenient," scoffed Hosen.
"It was your fault," snapped Nanase aggressively.
Hosen seemed to be surprised as his eyebrows flashed up and his eyes widened for a second.
He smirked, "At least you're not a boring bitch like I thought you were."
Nanase shook her head and opened the council room to step in. We followed right after her.