Chapter 6: Hikigaya Shuts Down
"Let me introduce myself. I'm Mashima Tomonari, and I'll be your homeroom teacher for the next three years. I'll also be teaching you English. Nice to meet you all. Due to this school's unique system, there will be no class reassignments during the next three years.
This classroom will remain your classroom and won't be changed," Mashima-sensei explained.
Mashima-sensei looked like a competent elite professional—swift and decisive in action.
He took out a package Hikigaya had seen on the bus earlier and, using a pair of scissors, cut through the tape wrapped around it. Inside were rows of neatly packaged silver phones.
"We'll now begin the homeroom meeting. First, please come to the podium one by one to collect a phone.
During your time at this school, you must use the school-issued phone. It's linked to your student ID and extremely important.
If it's damaged, not only will you have to compensate for it, but replacing it will be a hassle. Please use it with care."
Hikigaya didn't have any objections to this. His current phone had already been in use for several years and was getting sluggish. A new phone sounded great to him.
However…
When he looked at his old phone, it showed no signal. In other words, to force students to use the new school-issued phones, the school had likely blocked all other mobile signals.
Hikigaya removed the SIM card from his old phone and inserted it into the new one he had just received.
"Next, please open your handbooks and take a look at the school's most distinctive system."
Following Mashima-sensei's instruction, Hikigaya looked down at the handbook that had been passed to him by Yukinoshita.
On the cover, in bold, bright yellow letters, were the words: "Advanced Nurturing High School Introduction Handbook."
Aside from information about the campus facilities, the handbook focused on explaining a special system called "P-Points."
In short, each student's phone was linked to their personal student ID, which, in addition to functioning as a regular ID, could also be used to spend P-Points like electronic currency.
These points could be used at all school facilities, such as vending machines and the school store. Each point was equivalent to one yen. If you felt you didn't need to spend your points, you could also transfer them to someone else.
Hikigaya tapped on his student ID app. Under his name and student number, a number was displayed:
100,000
"You've probably already seen that your student ID shows 100,000 points.
On the first day of every month, the school will deposit points into your student account.
You can use these to purchase anything within school grounds," Mashima-sensei continued after noticing that everyone was checking their phones.
Assuming that each first-year class had 40 students, and there were four classes like Class A, that would be 160 students in total.
Each received a new phone and 100,000 points upon enrollment. Add to that the waived tuition fees, salaries of school faculty and staff, and the maintenance of all facilities, it could be roughly estimated that the school spent over 20 million yen just on the first day of enrollment for the first years.
Suddenly, Hikigaya felt a strong desire to meet the founder of this school.
After all, when you think about it, this school was spending huge amounts of taxpayer money to build a top-tier educational and living environment, completely free, to raise countless ordinary students like him while also supporting and cultivating the talents they truly wanted.
To be honest, if this money were saved instead, a lot of society's problems could probably already be solved.
But then again, there's no need to work overtime until late like a corporate drone and still get yelled at by your boss.
You don't have to pay tuition, and you even get paid to be here.
Isn't this basically living the life of someone being pampered?
Alright, decision made. I'll go buy a bouquet and propose to the Chairman—ask him to let me marry his daughter.
I want to stay here forever.
Dear corporate slaves and taxpayers—work hard, struggle, and overwork yourselves so I can enjoy this lazy, peaceful school life.
This is, without a doubt, the best school I've ever seen.
Because the envisioned future felt so bright and perfect, Hikigaya chose to ignore the many obvious red flags, brushing them to the back of his mind.
As everyone basked in the joy of receiving 100,000 yen for doing absolutely nothing, Mashima-sensei, with an indifferent expression, continued his explanation.
"One last point to add: this is a fully boarding school. In other words, until you graduate, none of you are allowed to leave the school, and you'll be living in the single-occupancy dorms assigned to you.
While you won't be charged for rent or utilities, there's a monthly limit on water and electricity usage. If you exceed it, you'll have to pay extra in points."
"What?!" Hikigaya was so shocked he almost jumped to his feet. His desk clattered from the sudden movement, its legs screeching loudly against the floor.
Yukinoshita, who was sitting in front of him diligently taking notes, frowned and turned around, glaring at him with a cold gaze.
But Hikigaya didn't notice. The weight of Mashima-sensei's last sentence had completely crushed him—far more than any of the previous explanations.
B-because if you're not allowed to leave school…
Doesn't that mean I won't be able to see my beloved little sister for the next three years?!
…I suddenly really want to drop out.
This is, without a doubt, the worst school I've ever seen.
"That's absolutely unacceptable! No way! If I can't see my little sister, I'll seriously die!"
And just like that, Hikigaya shut down completely.
Hearing such a pitiful outburst, Yukinoshita immediately shot him a look of pure contempt—as if looking at a criminal. Her expression said clearly, "Gross siscon. Go die."
"Absolutely useless… Being in the same class as someone like you is just disgusting."
After saying this, Yukinoshita lost all interest in him and turned away.
Even the normally quiet Sakayanagi, who had been sitting silently and listening to the teacher's explanation, casually added her own jab:
"Although Hikigaya-kun is smart, to put it gently… he's kind of gross, isn't he?"
Hikigaya, completely shut down, didn't respond to either of them. He just kept his head down like a withered pearl, full of despair.
Unlike Hikigaya, Yukinoshita wasn't the type to ignore glaring issues just because the future looked rosy.
She stood up without hesitation and addressed Mashima-sensei with a question.
"Mashima-sensei, I have a question."
"Yes?" Mashima-sensei looked at her serious expression and nodded. "Go ahead."
"Will the school continue depositing 100,000 points into our student accounts next month? Giving students such large sums every month must place enormous strain on the school's finances.
Is the school truly focused on nurturing students? In my opinion, giving out points only encourages a sense of entitlement in certain students."
"I'm afraid I can't answer that right now. But the school is supported by government funding and has its own development plans.
You don't need to worry about that," Mashima-sensei replied with a shake of his head.
"Then, may I ask—when will we receive a proper answer to that question?"
Yukinoshita met his gaze fearlessly, her eyes sharp.
"When the time comes that I can answer it," the teacher replied.
"…I see."
Seeing that the teacher still wouldn't provide a clear answer, Yukinoshita sat down, deep in thought.
After listening to the conversation between them, many of the Class A students realized something: this seemingly too-good-to-be-true system of point distribution might have hidden motives behind it.
They all began to ponder the deeper intentions of the school.