"Sensei, I have a question."
Silence fell as everyone turned towards Ichigo who had stood up.
Sakagami raised an eyebrow, "You are ... Kurosaki Ichigo, correct? Go on, what do you want to ask?"
Ichigo nodded and took out his phone and showed to the class, "After the ceremony in the gym, I went to the second year and saw this. What does Class Points actually mean? And how is it related to Personal Points?"
The classroom fell into a silence so profound that the hum of the air conditioning sounded like a roar.
Every eye was fixed on Ichigo as he remained completely composed, his posture relaxed but his eyes boring into Sakagami-sensei.
The photo on his phone screen—the stark disparity between Class 2-A and 2-D—glowed like a warning beacon in the dim light of the back row.
Sakagami-sensei didn't answer immediately.
He stared at Ichigo, his glasses reflecting the fluorescent lights, looking completely calm, but internally, the teacher was reeling.
In all his years at this institution, he had seen students realize the system was rigged, but usually, it took weeks of hedonistic spending and a sudden, brutal awakening on the first of the following month.
There are even those who discovered the system in merely a day, but for a student to have scouted the upperclassmen's wing before the first bell had even rung was unprecedented.
At that moment, a surge of genuine adrenaline hit Sakagami.
This boy... he thought, his heart racing. He's not just a brawler. I can't believe I'm this lucky, to actually have a 'monster' in my class! With him here, advancing to Class A is no longer a dream!
"No comment," Sakagami said finally, his voice tight with suppressed excitement. He had to maintain the facade. The school's curriculum was built on the trial by fire of the first month.
However, this is also Sakagami's test for Ichigo. If he really discovered the nature of this school, then his next words should be—
"Then, Sensei," Ichigo said, his voice steady, "how much would it cost to purchase that information from you? You said earlier that we could buy anything in this school with points. Does that include the truth?"
The classroom held its breath.
Tatsuki leaned forward, a grin tugging at the corner of her mouth—she loved it when Ichigo stopped playing dumb and started playing for keeps.
Orihime watched with wide, sparkling eyes, sensing the shift in the room's energy.
Sakagami let out a sharp, breathless chuckle that quickly spiraled into full, boisterous laughter.
He bent over his podium, his shoulders shaking.
"Wonderful!" he finally gasped, wiping a tear from behind his glasses. "Truly wonderful! Very well. Two million points. If this class can provide two million points right now, I will bypass the introductory period and tell you exactly what you want to know."
Two million. It was an impossible sum for a single student. Ichigo only had 100,000, but Ichigo didn't look at his own phone.
Instead, he turned his head and looked directly at Ryuen.
Ryuen was already staring back, his magenta hair messy and his face still bruised from the fight.
He didn't need an explanation. He saw the play Ichigo was making—a gambit to gain a head start on every other class in the year, and that seems like a perfectly good deal.
"You heard the man," Ryuen barked, his voice echoing with the authority he had just beaten into his classmates. "Everyone! Pull out your phones. Each of you transfer fifty-thousand points to Sakagami-sensei's account. Now!"
"But... that's half our money!" a boy in the front row stammered, his hand trembling.
Ryuen's eyes flashed with a predatory hunger. "And if you don't do it, you'll find out exactly how much a hospital bill costs in 'Personal Points.' Move!"
The threat was more than enough.
One by one, the students of Class 1-C tapped their screens.
The fear Ryuen had instilled earlier was the perfect catalyst and within minutes, Sakagami's terminal chirped with a series of notifications.
Two million points had been delivered.
Sakagami straightened his tie, his expression turning grave and professional as the playfulness vanished, replaced by the cold reality of the S-System.
"Very well," Sakagami began, dimming the lights. "Listen closely, because this is the only time I will be this candid. Upon enrollment, every class is evaluated. You were all given 1,000 Class Points. And your monthly allowance, your Personal Points, is calculated by multiplying your Class Points by one hundred. This month, you have 100,000 yen because you have 1,000 points."
He paused, letting the math sink in.
"However," he continued, his voice dropping to a chilling whisper, "the school records everything. Every time you talk in class, every time you're late, every time you get a bad grade, and every time you cause a disturbance, your Class Points are deducted. If you spend this month acting like children, your points will definitely drop. But don't worry, there hasn't been a case where a Class Point dropped to zero on the very first month, so you'd probably still have living expenses next month."
"Furthermore," Sakagami said, his eyes scanning the room, "the 100% success rate you were promised? That only applies to Class A. In this school, only those who reach the top are guaranteed the future of their dreams. The rest of you? You are the 'waste' of the system. You are here to provide the competition that pushes Class A to be better."
Orihime blinked. So she really was correct.
Tatsuki rubbed her forehead. As expected, how could there be such a good thing?
"But," Sakagami added, a small, twisted smile returning to his face, "there is a loophole, or rather, a rule. Classes can change. If your Class Points surpass those of Class B, you will swap places. You are currently Class C. You are 'Average.' But with the 2,000,000 points you just spent, you have bought the most valuable asset in this school: Time."
Ichigo nodded and sat back down, his mind racing.
He then looked at Ryuen, who was already wearing a look of intense calculation. He chuckled, it seems the delinquent wasn't scared; he was energized.
Why wouldn't he? He had a class that was already unified under his fist, and now he had the rules of the game before anyone else.
Tatsuki leaned over to Ichigo. "You just turned this school into a war zone, you know that?"
"It was already a war zone," Ichigo muttered. "I just turned the lights on."
Orihime looked at her phone, then at the bruised boys in the front row. "So, we have to be good so we can keep our points... but we also have to be better than everyone else."
She then looked at Ichigo with a determined nod. "We'll just have to make sure Class C becomes the most beautiful garden of all, Kurosaki-kun!"
Sakagami-sensei looked at his new students—each of them look more troublesome than the last, but he couldn't help but feel happy.
He dare say that this class of his was the most powerful Class C in the history of school, bar none!
For the first time in years, he felt like he wasn't just a teacher. He was a spectator at the start of a revolution.
He knew, with these people, the entire school would be far more intense than the previous years.
"The lesson is over," Sakagami said, picking up his briefcase. "I suggest you use the rest of the day to discuss how you plan to keep your points. Because the moment you stepped inside the school, the evaluation begins."