The entrance ceremony ended quickly.
Even at Advanced Nurturing High School, the entrance ceremony was no different from that of an ordinary school.
High-ranking officials droned on endlessly from the stage with long-winded, useless speeches, while rows upon rows of students below grew drowsy.
Thankfully, the torment was short-lived. After what felt like an eternity measured in seconds, the first-year students were finally set free.
There were no classes today. Everyone was free to explore this brand-new, unfamiliar campus as they pleased.
For first-years, that urge to explore was even stronger.
After all, every first-year student had just received the staggering sum of 100,000 points.
Of course—except for Class C.
The moment the entrance ceremony ended, Ryūen forcibly collected half of their points. Though they were extremely reluctant to hand the money over, seeing Sakagami Kazuma standing silently at Ryūen's side, they still obediently paid up.
What else could they do, when even the homeroom teacher was on his side?
Even though having half taken still left them with 50,000 points, having money taken out of their pockets was, inevitably, a huge mood killer.
But Ryūen Kakeru didn't care in the slightest what the others in Class C were thinking.
All he cared about was what this guy in front of him—Asakusa Tōru—was about to spit out.
Under the watchful gazes of Ryūen Kakeru and Sakagami Kazuma, Asakusa Tōru finally stopped beating around the bush and opened his mouth in earnest.
"Where did I leave off again?" Asakusa Tōru raised a hand to his forehead and thought for a moment before continuing. "Oh right—points."
"The points the school distributes every month are called 'personal points.' Since personal points exist, if you use your brain even a little, you should realize that there must also be corresponding 'class points.'"
"1 to 100. Direct conversion. The amount of points distributed each month is determined by class points."
"Not hard to understand, right?" he said. "This month's distribution is 100,000 points, which means every class starts with 1,000 class points."
"In the first month, there'll be an exam evaluating student conduct, using a deduction system. Things like absences, tardiness, and leaving early will all deduct points."
"Of course, it's not an endless deduction, so there's no need to panic. There will be exams later on that add points." Pausing briefly, Asakusa Tōru continued, "But since we're talking about class points, we can't avoid talking about class rankings."
"There are four first-year classes—A, B, C, and D. From top to bottom, the school's evaluation of the students assigned to each class decreases accordingly."
"In my understanding, Class A are high-quality, highly usable products. Class B are mass-produced, mediocre goods. Class C are uneven, inferior products. And Class D are disruptive defective items."
Hearing this, Ryūen Kakeru's eyebrow twitched slightly.
"So you're saying I'm an inferior product?"
"I didn't say that." Asakusa Tōru spread his hands. "In the end, that's just my interpretation. How you think about it is up to you, and how the school evaluates you is up to the school."
"At the very least, the initial class assignment is ordered from superior to inferior."
"Oh, and one more thing." He added casually. "That 100% employment and advancement rate mentioned in the brochures? Only Class A gets that."
Ryūen Kakeru let out a snort. "Heh. Not surprising in the slightest."
He'd already suspected as much.
Leaving himself aside, just based on how some of his classmates had behaved when he took control, it was easy to question what grounds the school had for guaranteeing their future employment and advancement.
If it was a privilege reserved solely for Class A, then it all made sense.
"And the condition for moving up to Class A…"
Ryūen chuckled. "Surpass them in class points. Right?"
"Mhm, mhm. Very smart, Ryūen-kun." Asakusa Tōru nodded repeatedly. "Want me to give you a little gold star?"
"..."
Ryūen Kakeru said nothing, simply staring at him coldly.
As if nothing were wrong, Asakusa Tōru continued. "Although overturning things through class points is one way, personally, I'd say there's another option too."
"What option?"
"Changing classes," he replied. "Apply for a class transfer with 20 million personal points."
"..."
Twenty million. A truly terrifying number.
Even maintaining the 100,000-per-month standard and spending absolutely nothing, it would take 200 months to save that amount—something completely impossible through normal means.
"Of course, I don't think there's any need to obsess over Class A," Asakusa Tōru shrugged. "In the end, the school's promises are nothing more than recommendations. The ones who actually decide whether you get into your desired university or company are the universities and companies themselves."
"Even if they accept you under pressure from the government, do you really think you'd be satisfied with that? Do you really think you'd be able to rest easy, never to be cut loose again?"
"Get real." Asakusa Tōru clicked his tongue. "Trash is trash—doesn't matter where you put it."
His words seemed to carry some pointed implication, but Ryūen Kakeru couldn't be bothered to figure out who exactly he was mocking.
All he knew was this—
The two million points were money well spent.
Just knowing that personal points could be used to transfer classes was enough to fundamentally change his decisions going forward.
Still… even as he thought that, his expression remained unreadable as he said,
"Anything else? Two million points should be worth more than just this."
If he could dig more out of this guy, the better.
"Nope." Asakusa Tōru spread his hands. "That's all two million gets you. The biggest value is knowing this on the very first day. With each passing day, the information depreciates, until after the first month it becomes outdated."
"Whether you resell the intel to recoup your losses or keep it to gain a first-mover advantage—that's up to you. Our contract doesn't restrict that."
"But consider this a freebie." Asakusa Tōru smiled. "In the first month's exam, the lowest possible deduction is 'zero.'"
It won't go any lower.
"Alright, that's it, overprotective Sakagami-chan." Asakusa Tōru waved and turned to leave. "Thanks to Class C for contributing to my wallet. See you if fate allows."
He still had shopping to do.
After all, the fully closed-off Advanced Nurturing High School didn't allow students to bring luggage from home.
Well—though even if it did, he probably wouldn't bother anyway.
"...Very well. Asakusa Tōru, was it?" Watching Asakusa Tōru's departing back, Ryūen Kakeru curled his lips into a grin. "Looks like the next three years won't be boring."
Class points.
Deduction-based exams.
Class competition.
Class transfers.
The information alone was already more than interesting enough—enough to clearly sense the attitude the school was trying to convey.
But what intrigued Ryūen even more—
Was Asakusa Tōru himself.
On the very first day of school, just what exactly had he relied on to know so much?