93 Act 16: Scene 2

Upon hearing that familiar voice, the students of Class D were quick to turn their heads to the door, where they saw Chabashira-sensei walking into the classroom and stopping at her podium. She'd arrived just five minutes before class started.

"Wait, wait. What did you say, sensei?" Ike nearly fell off his chair as he saw their teacher in front of them, while everyone else immediately rushed back to their seats in fear of being scolded by the woman.

Setting her things on top of the podium, Sae folded her arms and gave all of them a serious look. "I said that there's a way to reach Class A without class points."

Suzune's eyes widened for a brief moment, as she began to listen closely to their teacher's next words. No doubt that this had gotten her attention in no time at all.

Ike raised an eyebrow at their teacher, feeling skeptical of her words. If it was true, then why was she only telling them about this now? Why didn't she tell them about this earlier, because it would have helped to motivate them even further!

"Are you being serious, sensei?"

"It's true. At this school, there are certain special methods you can use," answered Chabashira-sensei with a shrug. From her nonchalant voice and unchanging expression, it could be said that she wasn't joking around by any means.

"I don't think Chabashira-sensei would joke about something like this, Ike-kun." Hirata spoke up next, his full attention now directed towards their teacher. The same went for the rest of their classmates, their attention piqued by the prospect of being able to transfer into another class. "What are these special methods, Chabashira-sensei?"

"I told you on the day you arrived at this school, didn't I? I said there's nothing you cannot buy with your points at this school. In other words, you can change classes by using your private points."

Almost everyone in the class widened their eyes in response, even Horikita. The idea had never crossed their minds before and only thought about it now when they were reminded of it. They were too focused on bettering themselves to prevent a decrease in their points to even think of relying on their own point balance to guarantee their future. On the other hand, Kiyotaka's expression remained unchanged but he was equally curious about something else.

"If switching classes is possible by buying the privilege using points, then it's obvious that it'll take a huge amount for even a single student to be able to transfer to another class. If it didn't, then she would have alluded to it even once in the two discussions that I've had with her," he thought, remembering the conversation she had with him in the faculty room with Suzune and the private meeting he had with her at the rooftop. "Doing that for every single one of my classmates would be ridiculous, so she never mentioned that method to me."

"S-Seriously! How many points do we need to save up to do that?!" asked Ike, a sense of excitement filling him up at the possibility of being able to be with a class where he could earn points easily.

"Twenty million. Conserve your points to the best of your abilities. Do that, and you'll be able to transfer to whichever class you like."

After hearing that absurdly high number, Ike almost fell out of his chair. The rest of the class began to groan and voice out their disappointment in a chorus of boos. Their hopes were dashed away as soon as they were beginning to have faith in themselves.

"Did you just say twenty million, sensei? Uh, isn't that kind of impossible?" asked Shinohara, looking just as mortified as everyone else.

"From a normal standpoint, yes, it would be impossible. However, because it is an instant ticket to Class A, of course it would be expensive. Furthermore, if I were to reduce the required number by one digit, there would probably be over 100 people in Class A by the time you graduate from this school. If that happened, then there'd be no point to our system."

"The only viable options are to compete against other classes or pass our exams with flying colors if we want to increase our points," Kiyotaka mentally noted.

Even if they somehow maintained their monthly allowance for the remainder of the three years, that still wouldn't be an easy number to reach. Especially because there were a lot of unknown factors in play, like the chances of his classmates willingly participating in this endeavor.

In fact, it was completely sure that most of them would reject the idea.

"Out of curiosity, has anyone successfully changed their class like this before?" asked Yukimura.

Everyone turned to Sae with a look of hope in their eyes.

That was an obvious question. This school has been running for 10 years and more than a thousand students have struggled to make it through. There must be someone who has accomplished the goal of reaching 20 million points, even if it was just one person. But then again, if someone had managed to reach Class A using that method, it should have been a popular story around here.

"Unfortunately, no. No one has done it before. The reason why is as clear as day. Even if you perfectly maintain your class points upon starting school here, after three years you'd only have 3.6 million. Class A could raise points enough to reach four million. In other words, you simply wouldn't be able to do it."

"Doesn't that just mean it's impossible?" asked Ike, feeling confused at what their teacher was trying to tell them.

"It's almost impossible. However, that does not mean it actually is impossible. There's a big difference, Ike."

Despite that strange assurance from Chabashira-sensei, around half the class had already lost interest in what she was saying. For many of the students in Class D, reaching 20 million was a faraway dream despite having at least 200 class points at the moment. As a class, they would need to have 200,000 points to even reach 20 million and that was way beyond the scope of their imagination.

"May I ask a question, Chabashira-sensei?"

The watchful Horikita raised her hand, looking quite determined. Considering this was a potential road to Class A, the girl saw this as a potential option for her to take if the time comes. Even though she knew that reaching 20 million points for a single student sounded impossible, there's no telling if it really is.

Sae folded her arms across her chest. "Go ahead, Horikita."

"What is the highest number of points that a student has saved since the opening of this school? I am asking for the sake of reference."

The older woman smirked as everyone's eyes were directed towards her once again. "A very good question, Horikita. About three years ago, one student from Class B managed to save nearly 12 million points before graduating."

"T-Twelve million?! A student from Class B?!" Sudo cried out in disbelief.

"...he was expelled before graduation, however, so he was unable to save those 20 million points in the end. He was engaged in a large-scale fraudulent operation to save up points, which led to his expulsion."

"Fraudulent?" asked Suzune whilst raising an eyebrow curiously.

"He took advantage of the newly admitted first-year students that year who didn't yet understand the system. He went to them one by one and scammed points out of them, just so he could reach the 20 million points necessary to move to Class A. There was no way the school could overlook such reckless and cruel actions, however. Personally, I don't think that his goal was particularly bad, but his way of doing so was and people who break the rules must be punished."

For the majority of the Class D students, that was more than a mere anecdote. It made the possibility of success sound truly impossible.

"So you're saying that even if we were to use criminal methods, 12 million points is about the limit?" Suzune muttered.

"Give up on that method. Strive to save up your points responsibly and without relying on underhanded methods. That being said, I don't believe anyone from this class would be able to save up that amount of points to make themselves a Class A student," the woman smirked at the looks of disappointment on her students' faces. "Nor do I see this class becoming the new Class A, at least not with the amount of points you have at the moment."

Sae gave a subtle glance at Kiyotaka as she said those words, which was something that he noticed. He knew what it meant even without the woman saying it to his face.

"She doesn't believe I can get our class to the top, huh?" The young man sighed to himself in disappointment but on the inside, he felt very amused. "I just hope she can take the shock when we become the new Class A. I wonder if she'll back out of our little wager when that happens."

Feeling a bit disappointed, Suzune remained quiet in her seat. She shouldn't have bothered raising her hand.

"Oh, that reminds me. None of you have gotten any points yet from club activities, have you?" remarked Chabashira-sensei, with the air of suddenly remembering.

"What do you mean, sensei?" asked Ike.

"There are cases where individuals may earn points based on their efforts in club activities, or their degree of participation. For example, if someone in a calligraphy club were to win a contest, they could receive corresponding points for that award."

This new information took everyone aback, even though it seemed like they had lost hope just moments earlier.

"Y-You mean we can get points for participating in clubs?!"

Chabashira-sensei nodded. "Yes. The other classes should have already been well informed of this."

"Wh-What the hell? That's so mean! Why didn't you tell us earlier, sensei?!" Ike demanded, looking annoyed for not being made aware of this information beforehand.

"I simply forgot, sorry. However, extracurricular activities aren't there just as a way to earn points. So it shouldn't have made any difference when you learn this information," said Chabashira-sensei without a hint of timidity.

"No, no, no! That's not true at all! If you'd told us before, I—"

"Are you saying you would have participated in extracurricular activities, Ike? Do you really think you would've been able to see any results after joining a club, results like winning prizes or being in games, with such shallow feelings?"

The boy almost choked on his words thinking of what to say. "Well... you might be right about that, but... it was possible! You never know that someone might be good at whatever they join in!"

Kiyotaka stared at the scene, listening to both his teacher and his classmate's arguments. Despite the conflict between the two, their viewpoints made sense.

For instance, If someone were to join a club simply for the sake of earning points, he or she probably wouldn't see great results. If anything, joining a club for such a lazy, indifferent reason would probably make that student a nuisance for the other people who were serious about it.

On the other hand, there's also a chance that someone who joined the club for the sake of points might discover that they possessed a talent for it.

"At any rate, Chabashira-sensei is either doing this to mock us or to push us to be better, and she's doing this because of what happened between Miyake and those Class C students," he concluded in his thoughts. "Though I wonder if she truly believes that her own student was the one who started that fight."

"You know, if you think back on it now, it was obvious from the start."

"What do you mean, Hirata-kun?" asked one of the girls.

"Think about it. Remember what our P.E. instructor Miyajima-sensei said when we went to the pool for our first swimming class? He said the student who got the best time would get 5000 points. That was a stepping stone to prepare us for other opportunities. I can bet that doing exceptionally well in club activities would give our class some extra points."

Ike scratched his head and slumped, unable to remember what Hirata was trying to point out. "I don't really remember," he said.

"If I got points for it, I probably would've joined calligraphy club, or some other kind of art club..." Hondo mumbled to himself.

Despite most of them not being part of a club of any sort, it did make the students of Class D relieved that club activities are a way to earn points. Perhaps during the next club fair or when a club is trying to recruit more members, they could try their luck in joining one. If it was a way for them to earn points, then it's the best option for them to take this opportunity.

"Then this just means we have to do better in saving Miyacchi," said Haruka.

"We should save him because he's in a club?"

"He's a part of a club? What exactly?" asked Shinohara.

"Archery," said Miyake.

Yamauchi secretly threw a dirty look at the magenta-haired boy. "I bet he's not even good..." he muttered to himself.

Hirata chose to speak up and explain things for his classmates. "Since he's part of a club, Miyake-kun can earn points for our class. The same goes for Sudo-kun and Onodera-san who are also members of a sports club, and every other person who joined one or several clubs during the fair. All of them can earn points to help our class even further."

"That's why we need to work harder to find that witness! Especially when we need more points if we want to become the new Class A, right?" Haruka added.

Somehow, her words were beginning to get through to several people in the classroom. Those who were involved in helping Akito were feeling reinvigorated about helping their classmate while those who weren't were starting to be convinced that putting in some effort to save their classmate would be worth it.

"That's enough. We're not here to talk about what to do with your classmate. We're here to learn, now I believe we've wasted enough time already."

The whole class had become temporarily excited and pumped after realizing that there are other ways to earn points, but were immediately pulled back to reality by their teacher who began their class.

Today was surely going to be an interesting day for everyone...