Chapter 5 - The Test And Revelation Of S - System.

"Kikyo-chan, do you want to stop by a cafe on our way back?" Mei Yang, or Mii-chan, asked her friend Kushida Kikyo, suggesting their usual cafe rendezvous.

"Yup, sure. But wait for a bit, I want to invite one more person," Kushida replied, hinting at another companion. With determination, she approached the person she had in mind.

"Horikita-san, do you want to come with us to the café?" Kushida extended the invitation, her anticipation evident. However, Horikita's response was blunt.

"Not interested," Horikita replied dismissively, declining the invitation in an amusingly straightforward manner.

"I see. I will try inviting you again another time," Kushida said with a helpless smile, her disappointment fleeting. Horikita, noticing Kushida's reaction, intercepted her departure.

"Wait, Kushida-san," Horikita called out, pausing her friend's exit.

"So will yo-..." Kushida began, her tone hopeful, but Horikita interrupted her with a firm refusal.

"Please don't invite me ever again. It's a bother," Horikita stated plainly, expecting Kushida to understand her stance.

Undeterred, Kushida responded with a smile, "I'll invite you again."

"Ayanokouji-kun, now you won't try to invite me, would you?" Horikita addressed me, catching me off guard. Despite the potential consequences, I seized the opportunity to play along, knowing I would face the repercussions later.

"What do you prefer?" I asked cheekily, testing the waters of our dynamic.

"I would prefer not to," Horikita replied, visibly perplexed by my unorthodox behavior.

"So you are saying that you don't need friends for this whole three years?" I prodded, delving into a topic I had previously avoided.

"Yep," Horikita affirmed, her resolve firm, yet I sensed her confusion regarding my intentions.

"If you don't mind, can you tell me a little about yourself in the past?" I inquired, laying the groundwork for my plan.

"What? Do you have a crush on me or something like that?" Horikita questioned, weary of my motives. Sensing an opportunity amidst her skepticism, I ventured forth.

"Well, you are super beautiful and gorgeou -..." I began, only to be abruptly interrupted by a sharp pain.

"Ittai(ouch)," I groaned, caught off guard by Horikita's unexpected retaliation.

"Why did you stab me? Besides, I didn't say I had a crush on you," I protested childishly, deviating from my usual demeanor.

"When?" Horikita's inquiry shattered the silence, prompting me to feign surprise.

"I am asking for evidence. When did I ever stab you? Because I don't recall such memories," Horikita challenged, a lie concealed beneath her words. Her statement triggered a cascade of memories.

"Hmph! You were a FOOL to believe if this world ever has something like HOPE. People LIE almost like breathing. Do you think you can overturn it, huh? ******," echoed the words of someone dear to me, someone who had once disagreed with my ideals.

"Well, I don't have any," I admitted, though I possessed evidence to the contrary. However, revealing it would jeopardize my future plans.

"So were you saying something?" Horikita prompted, her curiosity piqued.

"No, nothing. Okay, I'll go now," I replied, concealing my true intentions as I left the classroom.

As expected, upon leaving the class, I headed straight for the dormitory. Kushida, who was supposed to have left with a friend earlier, seemed to be waiting for someone while leaning against the wall. Upon noticing me, she smiled warmly.

"I'm so glad! I was waiting for you, Ayanokouji-kun. There's something I wanted to talk to you about. Do you have a minute?" Kushida called out, her tone eager. I acquiesced, knowing that soon I wouldn't have to comply with her requests.

"Okay," I replied simply.

"I'll just ask you outright. Ayanokouji-kun, have you seen Horikita-san smile even once?" Kushida posed the question, revealing her underlying concern.

"Nope. Do you think that a devil can smile?" I countered, prompting a surprised reaction from Kushida. After a brief moment, she asked, "What do you mean?"

"Look at this," I said, displaying my arms to her.

"Oh no, it's bad, isn't it?" she asked, seeking confirmation. I nodded in agreement. "Yes, it's exactly what you think."

"What happened?" Her tone reflected genuine concern, though her underlying motive might have been to gather information about Horikita.

"I was just discussing Horikita-san's past with her, and when she asked if I had a crush on her, I simply mentioned her beauty, and this happened," I explained truthfully. Hopefully, this would diminish her suspicions about my knowledge of Horikita and our past connection.

"I see. By the way, I've been hoping to become friends with Horikita-san too. Do you know any way I could make her smile? It might help both of us become friends with her," she asked, her concern evident. If I get infected, things might get really bad, you know.

"Yes, I can only think of one thing: her big brother," I replied, dropping a hint about how she could potentially connect with Horikita-san.

"Ah, you mean Horikita Manabu, the Student Council President?" Her interest was piqued.

"Yes, they seem to have a strained relationship. I noticed the tension between them at the club fair. Improving their relationship might earn us her gratitude, though I doubt it," I shared my observations.

"I see," she murmured, her gaze dropping as she processed the information.

"With my current social standing, reaching him might be challenging, but with yours, you have a chance. Just be careful; he might be even harder to reach than his sister, especially if he's anything like her," I cautioned, anticipating potential difficulties.

"Thank you for considering me. Oh, I almost forgot about your wound. We should hurry to the infirmary and get it bandaged before it gets infected," she reminded me. It seemed she finally remembered, though her motives might lead her to approach Manabu or even Nagumo to get Horikita-san expelled.

As a famous philosopher once said, people don't know what they don't see. It's unlikely she considered this approach before, but with no other options to connect with Horikita Manabu, she might find it worth the risk. Then there's the possibility of Nagumo's involvement, which could lead to Horikita-san's expulsion and potentially Manabu's humiliation. She could use that fact to get close to Nagumo too if she realizes Manabu cared for her. And finally get Horikita-san expelled with the help of Mr. Notice Me Senpai.

But neither Nagumo nor Kushida would succeed in this endeavor, because I wouldn't allow it.

"Oh, I forgot about it too," I feigned forgetfulness after my internal monologue, swiftly changing the subject.

With the mission to dissuade Horikita-san from assisting Kushida in making friends with her successful, we hastened to the infirmary. After tending to my wound, we resumed our daily activities.

Eventually, April 30 arrived. Some students were displaying proper behavior, while others lagged behind. Yet, unlike before, the situation had improved considerably. I had tasked Hirata, Kushida, and Karuizawa with reminding the class about their responsibilities every week, given their influential roles. While Hirata and Kushida's cooperation wasn't surprising, Karuizawa's willingness to assist me caught me off guard.

In the novel, it was mentioned that Ryueen regarded her as quite intelligent, possibly ranking her among the top four or five smartest girls in our class. Horikita-san held the first position, followed by Matsushita, Kushida, and possibly Mei or Karuizawa. Therefore, it was conceivable that she might have concerns about the S System after hearing my theory.

Sudo arrived on time that day, though he seemed more engaged than before, attentively listening to the teacher's instructions before occasionally drifting off. He behaved differently, a change attributed to losing a bet with me during a swimming race.

Upon witnessing my initial performance, he fell for my trick, believing it to be my full potential. I managed to convince his friends as well, albeit with a compromise allowing them to doze off or use their smartphones three times per period.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have made the bet, which I didn't want in the first place. Moving on to the third period, we had History class with Chabashira-sensei, our homeroom teacher. As she entered, the entire class seemed to notice her unusual demeanor, and a pin-drop silence enveloped the room. Despite the solemn atmosphere, some students continued to chat away.

"Quiet down a little, please. Today's lesson will be a bit serious," she announced, capturing everyone's attention.

"What's up, Sae-chan-sensei?" Ike chimed in with his usual nickname antics.

"It's the end of the month, so we're having a short test. Please pass these to the back," she instructed, distributing papers to the students in the front row. Eventually, the test reached my desk—a single sheet with questions covering the five main subjects. With only a few questions per subject, it was indeed brief.

"Huh! I wasn't paying much attention. Can't we have some time to study?" someone protested, and I couldn't help but wonder about Chabashira-sensei's inner reaction.

"In other words, you want to postpone the test, huh?" she retorted.

"Yup," came the response, but our sensei had a perfect reason ready.

"Don't worry. This test is just for future reference. It won't affect your report card. However, cheating is strictly prohibited," she clarified as we began the test.

As I scanned through the questions, they appeared easier than expected, almost disappointing compared to entrance exam standards. Yet, the last three questions proved to be significantly more challenging, seemingly beyond the scope of a first-year high school student.

Throughout the test, Chabashira-sensei vigilantly monitored the room, deterring any attempts at cheating. Horikita, beside me, diligently filled in her answers, seemingly poised for a perfect score—if she could tackle those difficult questions at the end.

Once the bell rang, signaling the end of the test, I quickly submitted my paper and discussed it briefly with Horikita, who also noted the unusual difficulty of the final questions.

After school, Sudo and the notorious duo approached me, their intentions unclear until they spoke up.

"So, Sudo, Ike, and Yamauchi, what's up?" I inquired, curious about their sudden appearance.

"Um, could you give us some dating tips, Ayanokouji? We've got a girl in mind and figured you could help," Sudo requested earnestly.

"Well, I could try, but honestly, I have zero experience," I admitted, surprised by their request.

"Huh!?" they exclaimed, mirroring my own confusion.

"Huh!?" I too exclaimed.

"So, you mean you're not dating her?" they asked simultaneously, prompting a realization.

"Nope, we're not even friends yet. She's just a classmate, and she seems to think friendships are unnecessary. By the way, you guys are talking about Horikita-san, right?" I confirmed, unraveling their intentions.

The idiocy seemed contagious, but at least it clarified their motives.

"So, you mean you aren't dating her?" They asked me in perfect unison.

"Oh, I think I got it."

"Nope, I don't think we're even at the level of friends yet. She's just a classmate. And apparently, she thinks friends are unnecessary. Also, by the way, you guys are talking about Horikita-san, aren't you?" I clarified with them.

"Yup," they confirmed.

"Oh! I see. We get it. Well, if you do get a girlfriend, do tell us, okay?" they requested.

"Okay," I answered genuinely, though I suspected that the next day would involve questions about me and a potential girlfriend.

"Man, this school is so nice! There are many cute girls like Kushida-chan, not to mention we get 100,000 points every month," they said, completely immersed in fantasy.

"Yeah, dream on, dream on," I thought.

"Okay, if that's all, then sayonara (bye)," they said as they departed.

"Sayonara (bye)," I replied.

And then I think I heard "Ku-" and "Sak-" from their direction.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

"Yawn!"

I woke up exactly at 5:00 o'clock in the morning, just as usual. I washed my face, brushed my teeth, etc. Then, I did some light exercises that I prefer, like planks, push-ups, squats, sit-ups, etc. Afterward, I did some laps around the school grounds. Then, I revised a few study materials ranging from high school to university level.

After that, I made breakfast and also prepared my bento, a common dish from my old country named Chatpate. It's a mixture of puffed rice, crushed noodles, various veggies like onion, tomato, coriander, cabbage, boiled potato, etc., along with various spices, lemon, and chilies according to taste, and oil too. However, I decided not to mix it now; I'll do it later at lunchtime and enjoy it, as it won't taste good if I do it now. But I doubted there would be a good atmosphere in class to enjoy it.

After finishing my breakfast, I headed towards the class. Oh, I forgot the most important thing. Let's check it.

"Hmm, it's so-so, I guess," I noted, regarding the total points that increased for this month. Well, I guess it's good that it didn't drop to zero. Then, I entered my class. As expected, the atmosphere was not good. All of them seemed confused. While some were already aware of the situation to some extent, having connected the dots after listening to my theory from Hirata. After I reached the class, I went towards my seat and waited for the bell for the first period to ring.

During that time, I could hear murmurs like:

"Hey, did you get all of your points?"

"Nope."

"Me too."

"Maybe they forgot to do it."

And so on. After a few moments, the bell for the first period rang, and Chabashira-sensei strode into the room, holding a rolled-up poster. Her expression today was even more stern than usual. Oh! I remembered the joke Ayanokouji and Ike thought of. Ike, my child, please don't do it.

"Hey, sensei, did you start menopause or something?" Ike blurted out, delivering the iconic joke.

You just had to go ahead and do it, huh? Anyway, let's see what she has to say, ignoring Ike's sexual harassment.

"All right, your morning homeroom is about to begin. Before we get started, does anyone have any questions? If so, now is the time to speak," she announced, appearing totally convinced that the students had questions they wanted answered. Immediately, several students raised their hands.

"Um, I checked my point balance this morning, but it wasn't fully deposited. Did the school have any problems? I mean, the points are deposited on the first day of every month, right?" Hondou asked, voicing the main concern on everyone's mind.

"Hondou, I already explained this before, didn't I? Points are deposited on the first day of the month. I've confirmed that points were wired this month without any issues," she said, sounding completely different, which apparently surprised the class.

"But I didn't get full points," Hondou stated hopelessly.

"It's unfortunate I cannot bring popcorn," I thought.

"Yeah, this has to be some mistake, right?" someone else joined the conversation, but the next sentence made my day.

"Are you kids really that dumb?" Chabashira-sensei said in a cold tone.

"Dumb? What?" As Hondou stupidly repeated her words, Chabashira-sensei looked at him sharply.

"Sit down, Hondou. I'll explain once more," she said in a cold and firm tone.

"S-Sae-chan-sensei?" Hondou, taken aback by her unusually strict tone, slumped in his seat.

"Points were deposited. That much I know for certain. There is absolutely no chance that we forgot about anyone in this class. To think so is ludicrous. Understood?" she reiterated, completely shattering the hearts of my dear classmates.

"Well, even if you tell us that, we didn't receive even half of the total points," Hondou said again, his confusion evident.

"Ha ha ha! I see. So, it's like that then, teacher? I think I've solved the mystery," Kouenji boomed, laughing. He propped his feet up on his desk and smugly pointed toward Hondou.

"It's simple. We're in Class D, so we received only a few points."

Half correct.

"Huh? What are you talking about? They said that we'd get 100,000 points every month-" Hondou tried to retort, but Kouenji brutally cut and silenced him.

"I don't remember hearing that, though. Do you?" Chuckling, Kouenji boldly pointed at Chiyabashira-sensei.

"While he certainly has an attitude problem, Kouenji is exactly right. For crying out loud, barely anyone seems to have noticed the hint I gave you. How deplorable," she said, disappointedly.

In response to this sudden turn of events, the classroom exploded in an uproar.

"So, Hirata-kun was right, huh?"

"I wish we had all taken him seriously; then the situation shouldn't have been this bad."

Hearing that, sensei seemed a little surprised or happy? Perhaps both, I guess. "Sensei, may I please ask you a question?" Hirata raised his hand to ask her regarding the questions related to the S-system.

"Go ahead," she permitted.

"Is it because we didn't act like proper high school students in class?" he asked her, once again realizing the mistakes he made. He had the answers yet couldn't solve the problems.

"Since you know that much, I guess there would be no problem telling you about one of the reasons," she said to us. Wait...

No! She would tell even if we didn't know about it.

"So then can you please tell us? We won't completely understand otherwise," Hirata asked her.

That was certainly true.

"A total of fifty-eight absences and late arrivals. One hundred and one incidents of talking or using a cell phone in class. That is quite a few infractions results reflected in the points that you receive. As a result, you wasted more than half of the 100,000 points that you should have received. That's what happened," she explained the S-system to the class.

"I should have explained this all to you on the day of the entrance ceremony. This school measures its students' true abilities. This time, you were evaluated as being worth how much you got. That's all," Chabashira-sensei spoke in a robotic fashion, devoid of any emotion. Even though we'd started with the huge advantage of 100,000 points, Class D had lost more than half of it in just a single month.

"But I never heard this," Yamagod said, crushing his juice.

I heard a pencil moving against paper. Horikita seemed to be tallying the number of absences, tardy arrivals, and instances of talking in class down in her notebook, perhaps trying to make sense of the situation.

"Chabashira-sensei. However, I do not recall hearing you explain that to us before-" Hirata tried to argue with her but...

"What? Are you incapable of understanding something unless it's explained in detail?" she said, to which the argument amounted to nothing.

"Of course. There was never any talk about reducing our points. But sensei if we would have known about it before, we could have acted accordingly," he persisted.

"That's a rather bizarre argument, Hirata. It is certainly true that I don't recall explaining the rules of point distribution. However, didn't you all learn in elementary school not to be late or talk in class? Was that not taught throughout your elementary and junior high schools?" she said. Truly the perfect counter-back.

"Well, that's-" Hirata simply had no words.

"I'm sure that in nine years of compulsory education, you learned that being late and talking in class are bad things. And now you say that you can't understand this because I haven't explained it to you? I'm afraid your reasoning is flimsy. If you had simply acted properly, then your points would not have dropped all the way to this low. Besides, you seemed to know about the S-system a little bit. So I believe this comes down to you taking personal responsibility for this mess, don't you think so?" she said, reminding Hirata about his mistakes.

"Yeah, that's correct," Hirata finally accepted his loss. After all, there was no way for anyone to refute her perfectly sound argument. Everyone knew that bad behavior didn't pay off.

"Did you really think you would get 100,000 points every month throughout your three years of high school life without any strings attached? Try using your common sense. A normal allowance for any high school student would be near 5,000 to 7,000 yen, and that's if you come from a little rich family. Do you really think that by spoiling some brats they could be produced to be trained gifted people in a school established by the government with the aim to do so? That's unthinkable," she remarked to the class.

Although Hirata appeared frustrated, he looked the teacher straight in the eye. "Well then, could you at least explain in detail how points are added or deducted? We can keep that in mind for future reference."

"I cannot tell you. We cannot disclose the methods behind our student evaluation. It's the same as any other organization. When you enter a company, it is the company's choice whether or not to tell you how it evaluates its employees. However, I'm not cruel, and I'm not trying to be cold. In fact, this situation is so pathetic that I will give you one bit of guidance," she said, which made the class relax a little.

For the first time, I saw a faint sliver of a smile on Chabashira-sensei's lips.

"Remember my words from the first day about the school, or rather the introduction to the rules about this school. Use that information well, then you will be able to advance classes," she said, revealing a hint which I doubted not many would recognize.

"What? Advance classes?" Someone muttered.

"Oh! I hadn't told you about it yet, did I? Well, it's about time that we switch to our main topic," she said. From the tube she carried, she removed a white rolled-up poster and spread it out. She stuck the poster to the blackboard with some magnets. The still-confused students stared blankly at the poster.

"Are these... the results for each class?" Horikita tentatively took a guess. She was probably right. Class A through Class D were listed. To the side was a row of numbers that went up to a maximum of four digits. Those were as follows:-

Class A: 940

Class B: 650

Class C: 490

Class D: 130

"We got 13,000 points this month. Which means the total number of points we get is multiplied by 100 to that number. Which means the total points we had at first would be 1,000," I said. If I kept quiet during an important time, my social standing would certainly go down, or people may think I already knew about this situation since I already asked a question concerning the S-system on the first day itself.

"Good deduction, Ayanokouji. These points are CP, Class points, while the points you guys use are called private points, PP. And they are given to you just like he deduced," she said to the class.

"Sensei, you just said something about advancing classes, right? Can you please explain that part?" I asked her.

"I was going to do it right now. So, coming to this school means that you must have already chosen a university or future workplace for your future. But unfortunately, nothing comes that easily in this world," she said.

Everyone of us nodded. Then.

"Huuuhhh!?"

"Sensei, does that mean we must at most be the top 3 class to get privilege?" This time, one unexpected person asked the question instead of Hirata. I wonder if the butterfly effect had already started?

"No, you must surpass Class A or be Class A at most. There is no hope for others," she said, revealing yet another bomb to the class.

"Whattttt!?" The whole class screamed. Those who had dreamed of many luxurious jobs or lifestyles saw their dreams immediately crushed.

"Do you finally understand now? Do you see why you were placed in Class D?" She said, getting to the main point.

"The reason why we were placed in Class D? Weren't we simply accepted into this school?" Someone said, which was completely untrue.

"Huh? But classes are normally divided up like this, right?" Another one said.

Students exchanged glances.

"In this school, students are sorted by their level of excellence. The superior students are sorted into Class A, the least capable in Class D. It's the same system you'd find in the major cram schools. In other words, Class D is akin to the last bastion for failures. You are the worst of the worst. You're defective. This is just the result of you being defective," she said, yet blasting another bomb after another.

"Without many points, how can we survive? Plus, all the other classes would surely make fun of us," Sudo said, his worry palpable.

"Don't worry, you still have dorms to live in, free food, and also free items three times a month. You won't die," she said, offering a kind piece of advice.

"By the way, I have one more piece of bad news for you guys," she added, and now everyone wondered what could possibly happen next. She then presented another chart, following the same process as before.

"I see that we have quite a huge amount of idiots in our class. Come on, what the hell did you guys learn during middle school?" she remarked, observing our results.

With the exception of a few high scores, almost everyone tested below sixty. Even if you ignored Sudou's score of fourteen points, there was Ike, scoring a little above him at twenty-four points. The average score was sixty-five.

"I'm so glad. If this were an actual test, then seven of you would've been expelled," she said with a side glance.

"Expelled? What do you mean?" one of the seven people who failed suddenly exclaimed.

"Oh, what, did I not explain this to you? If you fail a midterm or final exam in this school, then you have to drop out. If we applied that rule to this test, anyone who scored below thirty-two points would be out. You guys really are stupid, aren't you?" she said, as if she had forgotten about it.

"No, you didn't. You should stop it," I thought to myself.

"What?!" wailed Ike and the other failures. There was a red line drawn on the paper, separating the seven people in question from the rest of the class. Among those seven people, Kikuchi had scored highest, with thirty-one points. Anyone with a score equal to or lower than Kikuchi's had failed.

"Hey, don't jerk us around, Sae-chan-sensei! Don't joke about kicking us out!" Sudo said, but to no avail.

"Frankly, I'm also at a loss," the teacher said. "These are the school rules. You should prepare for the worst."

"The teacher's right. There do seem to be a lot of morons here," Koenji said as he wore a smug grin while he polished his nails, his legs propped on the desk. "What the hell, Koenji? You scored below the red line, too!"

"Pah. Where exactly are you looking, boy? Look again," he said in his ever Koenji tone.

"Huh? Koenji is... huh?" Sudo muttered as he looked up.

Starting from the bottom of the page, Sudou scanned upward, and there he found Kouenji Rokosuke's name. Unbelievably, Kouenji had tied for the top spot, scoring ninety points. That meant he'd been able to solve one of those super difficult problems.

After that, Yukimura argued that he shouldn't be in class D. And Koenji, being himself, countered it back. And it went on. And Kushida helped calm down the situation, like in the light novel.

After a few moments, I thought of a way to calm down the situation, like in the light novel. At this moment, it was not important. The most important thing was what excuse I should give. After a few moments, I thought of a reliable one. Then I waited for a certain moment. One of my favorite iconic moments was about to happen from now on for the volume one of the light novel. Oh, I can't wait. Really, I wanna say.

Waku! Waku!