Wake Up Call

Today was the day, May 1st has finally arrived and it's been a month since school has started.

I let out a yawn as I look towards the clock at my bedstand which reads 6:30 AM. Class doesn't start until 8:45 AM so I have some time to kill. I made myself breakfast and had my daily cups of coffee before reading some light novels. It was quite interesting, it was about a high schooler that was forced to join a club because of a cynical essay he wrote. His essay was quite rotten but what he said did make sense. Normally I would be reading an educational book but the plots light novel authors can come up with are quite fascinating.

After a while, I decided to head to school early. I contemplated calling Kiyotaka, but in the end, I just sent him a text that I was heading to school early cause I wanted some alone time to think. Listening to music, I went down the elevator and walked down the hallway leading to the entrance of the dorms. As I turned the corner, I accidentally bumped into someone.

"Oof."

The person I walked into fell to the floor. I hastily take off my headphones and look at the said person.

Oh my god, is that a loli?

No, she can't. She's in high school so she has to be at least fifteen years old but still, she's abnormally short for someone her age. As I look more closely, she is quite beautiful, perhaps as beautiful as Horikita. I also notice her cane that she is holding. She must suffer from a physical condition or disease.

She then looks up at me and I notice her mouth subtly drops open the moment she lays her eyes on me. I regain my composure and offer her my hand.

"Sorry about that, I wasn't paying attention. Are you hurt?"

No response. She just stares at me as if she were in a trance.

"Did you hit your head? Shit, you might have a concussion-"

"What on Earth are you doing?"

I turn sharply to see another beautiful girl that was, unfortunately, glaring at me. She had purple hair and purple eyes, quite a unique look. Yeah, the current situation doesn't look too good. Bumping into a cripple and not helping said person up looks awful. Before I could reply, another voice cut me off.

"Its alright Masumi-san. It was a mistake," the girl said as she took my hand. Once she was standing upright I looked toward her to realize she was still staring at me. The purple-haired woman walked up to the girl and held out her hand.

"If you say so. Anyway, let's walk to school. I'll grab your bag and-"

"There's no need Masumi-san, this man offered to carry my bag and walk me to class A as a way of saying sorry. Right?" She then turned toward me and held out her bag. She had a smug smile that could only mean trouble.

"...Right..." I say with uncertainty as I reluctantly grab the bag from her.

I didn't really want to but I kind of felt bad for running into her, plus she's super cute.

The girl who was named 'Masumi' looked at us with skepticism before nodding her head and reluctantly walking down the hall towards the entrance. The atmosphere immediately became awkward since she kept examining me as if I was a lab rat. That smug smile didn't really help ease the tension either. Despite her adorable appearance, she gave off a commanding aura that was hard to ignore. I'll have to be careful around her.

"...Well, lets head to school then..." I mumble as I point towards the door. She then suddenly grabbed my arm with her smooth small hands.

"What are you doing?"

"Because of my condition, it's quite hard for me to walk, but with you around, walking to school should be much easier." She then clung to my forearm, essentially attaching herself to me. My heartbeat quickened because of her aggressive action.

But you have a cane for that purpose...

She held out her cane and I grabbed it with my other hand. I still felt guilty for earlier so I let her cling to my arm as we started to walk towards the school. We walked in silence for a minute before she spoke up.

"Hmmm... what do you think of the 's system?' Do you think there's a reason why the school divided the students the way they did? Surely you have already questioned it right?" She looks towards me as if I already knew the answer. That odd question and the way she stared at me threw me off guard but I quickly regained my composure.

"Honestly I don't know, this school is pretty peculiar, we will most likely find out soon enough. Why are you asking?"

"Oh, just wondering... what's your opinion on this school? This must be vastly different from what you are used to." She continues to stare straight into my eyes as she asked this question.

"It's certainly different from other schools. The points they give us and the fact that we can't have contact with the outside world is strange."

"Hmmm yes it is certainly strange... and is there someone out there that misses you?"

Fairly an innocuous question, but not for me.

These questions were starting to make me uncomfortable but thankfully we finally reached her classroom. I peered into the classroom and there was a large number of students there already. I shouldn't be surprised since this is class A. They all stopped chatting and looked towards the two of us, well mainly me. It was most likely because this loli has clung to me as if I was her boyfriend. Their intense gazes were a little unnerving so I wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. I wiggled my arm out of her grip and turned toward the hallway that leads to my classroom.

"Well I walked you to class, I'll be going now."

"Wait!"

I turn around and I feel small arms wrap around my waist. I look down to see that the girl was hugging me. She had her cheek resting against my chest with a smile on her face.

"W-What are you doing?" I say with the calmest voice I could muster.

"Fufufufu... and I thought I was going to have a boring student life but now that you're here, things have just gotten a lot more interesting! Maybe even he is here too..."

He... is she referring to-

"I'll see you around Akira. I look forward to our next meeting." With a smile and a wink, the girl walked into her class.

How does she know my name?

~~~~~~~

After that peculiar incident, I walked to my own class and just took a seat. I checked my watch which read 8:15 AM. After a couple of minutes, students started to slowly pour in. They are usually cheerful but every one of them had a wary nervous look on their face. Once the classroom was filled with students, the uneasiness in the room was transparent.

The class was usually energetic and cheerful but it was different. Today, the class was anxious and tense. There was a foreboding feeling in the air.

"Akira."

I turn my head to see Kiyotaka looking at me.

"You seem to be in deep thought. Is something wrong?"

"No, I'm just tired." It was a half-truth half-lie. I was pretty tired but I could tell Kiyotaka knew there was something that I wasn't telling him but he didn't say anything else.

The bell rang and soon after Chabashira-sensei walked into the class with a grim and serious look on her face.

"Sensei, are you in menopause?" Ike practically yelled that question. I could hardly contain myself because I almost spat out my water. I thought sensei was going to punish him but she ignored him as if he did not exist.

"Alright, class is about to begin. Before we start, does anyone have any questions? If you have any, now is the time to ask them." Chabashira asked this as if she already knew the students had questions. She was right because immediately after she said this, several people raised their hands.

"Um, I check my point balance this morning and I was not given any points. Points are given on the first day of every month right?"

"That is correct, points are wired to students accounts on the first day of the month, every month. They were wired this month without any problems."

"I didn't get any points though."

All the students started to look at each other in confusion. I take out my phone to check my point balance, which is still 62,380.

"You guys are idiots."

"I-Idiots?" Yamauchi repeated her words like an idiot. Sensei looked at him sharply.

"Sit down, I'll explain it again."

Surprised by her sudden change in demeanor, Yamauchi complied and slumped back into his chair.

"The points were distributed without fail. The probability that this class was left out is very low. Do you understand?"

"No, even if I say I don't understand, no one has received their points yet."

Yamauchi, you're a fucking moron.

"Hahahaha, I understand teacher, I think I solved this riddle," Koenji said in a loud voice while laughing. Remaining in his seat, he pointed a finger at Yamauchi.

"When you think about it, the answer is obvious, were in class D, and because of that we get no points."

"W-What? What's that supposed to mean? They said we'd get 100,000 pointe every month..."

"I don't remember hearing that. Right?" Koenji pointed at sensei with a smirk on his face.

"Your attitude can be irritating, but what Koenji said was spot on. Not a lot of people seemed to notice my hint. I almost feel bad for you guys. Almost."

Hirata stood up from his seat and expressed his confusion.

"Sensei I don't understand, please tell us why we didn't get any points. If that's not possible, we will never understand."

Sensei gave Hirata a look that said 'isn't it obvious?'

"98 total absences and tardies. 391 incidences of talking or using cell phones in class. Every single one of those instances was noted. In this school, your class performance is reflected in the number of points received. As a result, the 100,000 points you could have gotten has withered away. That's all that happened."

I heard the sound of a pencil on paper. I turn my head and in my peripheral, I can see Horikita calmly writing down the number of absences and incidents. It looks like she's trying to understand what went wrong.

"Uhh sensei, if my memory serves me right, I don't ever remember hearing this explanation before..."

"Oh for crying out loud are you people incapable of understanding something unless it's explained in detail?"

"Well if we knew our points would decrease, we wouldn't have been late or talked during class."

"That's quite an interesting argument. Sure, maybe I should have explained the rules at the beginning of the month, but didn't you learn in elementary school that talking and being late to class is disrespectful?"

After sensei tore through his argument, Hirata had nothing to say and reluctantly sat back down in his seat. With that out of the way, sensei looked towards the entire class.

"I must say that I am very impressed with you students. This class D is the first one to lose all its points in the first month. That deserves some praise."

Before ending her monologue, Chabashira-sensei dropped one more bombshell onto us.

"In this school, all of the students are divided into classes by merit. The best students are placed in class A while the worst students are placed in class D. Simply put, you guys are the worst of the worst, the leftovers, the defectives of the school. All of you are the lowest forms of life on Earth."

I could hear a subtle gasp come from behind me. I turned around to see Horikita with wide eyes and a pale face. The reason why the classes are divided must have been quite a shock to her.

In fact, everyone was quite shocked. The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Other than a couple of students who asked questions as sensei explained the way to regain points and get to class A, no one uttered a word.

However, that didn't last long because when she walked out of the room, the class erupted into chaos.

"It isn't even the points, it is a problem with the class, why was I placed into class D?!" Yukimura yelled in frustration.

"I understand this is a dire situation but the best thing we can do is remain calm." Sensing the potential catastrophe, Hirata attempted to calm down the class.

"Remain calm? How can we remain calm in a situation like this? How are you not frustrated that we are the leftovers of the school?!"

"I understand how you are feeling but there's no use sitting here and complaining about it."

"What did you say?!"

Yukimura walked up to Hirata and grabbed him by the collar.

"Calm down you two okay? All of us should persevere through the situation, right? There's no need for you two to fight."Kushida said as she gently took Yukimura's balled fist. After looking at Kushida, Yukimura lets out a sigh.

"Your right. My bad I lost my composure there."

"No need to apologize. I should have chosen my words more carefully."

As expected, Kushida was able to resolve the fight in an orderly fashion.

"Nishida!"

"H-Huh?" I turn my head to see Yamauchi practically slamming a game console onto my desk. Yamauchi stared at me with watery eyes.

"Buy this for 18,000 points. I can't buy anything because I don't have any points!"

I looked at the game console before looking back at him.

"I'll buy it for 1,000 points."

"Nishida-kun, please! I have no one else I can rely on!"

"Sorry. Not my problem."

He realized asking me to buy his console was futile so he switched to another target.

"Ayanokoji you're my only hope man! Buy this for 20,000 points!"

Did he just raise the price?

I couldn't help but scoff at this shameless display.

"Must be hard for everyone who used up all their points."

Kushida said while watching Yamauchi beg Kiyotaka to buy his game console.

"What about you Kushida, are you fine pointwise?"

"For now I should be fine. I used up half of my points already so I'll have to cut back on spending. What about you?"

"I have enough to last me one or two more months so I'll be fine."

"That's good to hear, you probably would have spent more if you had more friends."

Ouch... words can hurt you know?

"Did you really have to say that out loud?"

"Oh I'm so sorry, I didn't mean any offense." Kushida apologized to me while giggling. God shes so cute when she laughs.

"Uh, Kushida-san?"

"Oh, it's Karuizawa-san. She probably needs help so Ill see ya later Nishida." Kushida says then walks to Karuizawa-san. I look back to Kiyotaka who finished his exchange with Yamauchi.

"Kiyo your fine with points right? Last time you showed me you had around 90,000 points."

"Yeah, I still have around 80,000 points. No need to worry about me."

"That's good to hear," I say in relief.

"Ayanokoji-kun and Nishida-kun from class D. Chabashira-sensei is calling for you. Please come to the staff room."

Kiyotaka and I give each other a confused look. We didn't do anything that would draw attention to us. We could feel the heavy gaze from the students as we walked out of the classroom.

Once we reached the staff room I cautiously opened the door. I didn't spot sensei anywhere so I called out to the teacher that was checking her reflection in the mirror.

"Hello, is Chabashira-sensei here?"

"Oh, Sae-chan? She was just here but I don't know where she went."

The teacher that responded had wavy, shoulder-length hair. They must be pretty close if this teacher was using Chabashira's first name so casually.

"She must have had a little errand to run. Do you guys want to wait inside?"

"Oh no that's fine we can wait outside."

We left the room but the teacher decided to follow us.

"My name is is Hoshinomiya Chie and I am the teacher of class B. Sae and I have been best friends since high school. We're close enough to call each other by our first names."

That's kind of nice. High School friends usually eventually lose contact with each other but they were able to keep their friendship alive.

"Ne, spill the beans! Why did Sae-chan call you here? Tell me tell me tell me!"

"Oh uh, I don't know..."

"I don't understand. There has to be a reason you guys were called out here. What're your guys' names?"

"Oh okay I'm Nishida."

"Ayanokōji."

"Oh, those are some cool names. You guys must be popular!"

I wish.

Hoshinomiya is the complete opposite of Chabashira-sensei. It's kind of hard to believe they are best friends, but I guess opposites do attract.

She let out a chuckle before asking another question.

"Do you guys have any girlfriends yet?"

I wish again.

"Both of us aren't really that popular so we don't."

"That's surprising because both of you guys are pretty good looking." She inspected Kiyotaka from top to bottom. She then grabbed Kiyotaka's face and turned it to the side, inspecting his jawline. Kiyotaka's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before going back to normal.

"You got a nice jawline and an excellent side profile shot."

She let go of Kiyotaka's face and in one smooth motion, she laced her beautiful hands around my neck and pulled me close. She was a couple of inches away from my face and there was a faint scent of alcohol coming from her breath.

Is she drunk?

"You could use a little more sun but still you're pretty attractive. Not to mention your red eyes are quite a sight. If I was in your class I would have totally gone for you. Maybe even both-"

Hoshinomiya-sensei was not able to finish that sentence because Chabashira-sensei smacked her head with a clipboard. Hoshinomiya-sensei clutched her head in pain.

"Owwww. What was that for?"

"That was because you were doing weird things with my students."

"I was only talking to them while they waited for you to get back!"

"Just drop it. Anyway, sorry for making you two wait. Let's head to the guidance office."

"Alright, but why did you want us exactly? We haven't done anything wrong."

"Your question will be answered soon."

We began to follow Chabashira-sensei but I noticed Hoshinomiya-sensei was also following us with a mischievous smile on her face. When she noticed, Chabashira-sensei turned around and gave her a look that would send normal students running away.

"Not you, stay out of this."

"Oh come on why the cold shoulder? Besides, I've never seen you have a lesson with two boys at the same time... do you have some goal in mind?"

After saying that, she walked behind Kiyotaka and me and placed her hands on our shoulders.

"Are you looking to have some fun with two younger men?"

Why did I strangely get excited by this question?

"What you said was idiotic. That's impossible."

Before Hoshinomiya-sensei could respond to that statement, a beautiful female student with long pink hair suddenly walked up to us.

"Hoshinomiya-sensei, do you have a moment?"

Seizing this opportunity to get rid of Hoshinomiya-sensei, Chabashira-sensei smacked Hoshinomiya-sensei's but with her clipboard then said: "Looks like someone needs you. Now go on and get out of here."

"All right all right I'll leave. Shell probably get angrier if I stay any longer. I'll see you, two boys later! Alright, let's head to the faculty room Ichinose-san."

And with that, Hoshinomiya-sensei and Ichinose walked to the faculty room. Chabashira-sensei soon let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm sorry that you guys had to go through that, Hoshinomiya can be a little... bold at times."

"Yeah, we can tell," I mumble quietly.

"Anyway, we've wasted enough time already. Let's go."

We started walking behind Chabashira-sensei and we soon arrived at the guidance room. As soon as we walked into the guidance room, Kiyotaka got straight to the point.

"Why did you call us here?"

"Hmm, about that... before I tell you guys, come over here."

She opened a door that led to another room and motioned with her hand for both of us to go in. Once we walked in, Chabashira-sensei's raised voice surprised me.

"You two stay in there and don't make a sound, and don't come out until I say so. If you don't, I'll expel both of you."

"Eh? What are you-"

My question was cut off by the door being slammed in my face. I let out a sigh and look at Kiyotaka. He looks back at me and shrugs his shoulders before he just sat on the floor. The floor looked cold but I did the same. Not long after I heard the sound of the guidance room door opening.

"Here, come in. What can I do for you, Horikita?"

I'm not surprised that Horikita visited Chabashira-sensei so soon. She's probably not happy with being placed in class D. In fact, everyone was unhappy with being placed in class D. Kiyotaka is most likely the only one that was happy with his placement.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush, why was I placed into class D? You said students are divided into classes by superiority, and that class D was the lowest of the low."

"That's true, seems like you consider yourself a superior person."

I'm not surprised, Horikita has shown signs of being a narcissist.

"I believed I solved nearly every problem on the entrance exams, and I did not make any major mistakes in the interview. At the very least, I don't think I should have been placed in class D."

"That's true, normally teachers are not allowed to show the results of an entrance exam to students, but I'll make a special exception for you. Besides, I happen to have your result sheet here."

"You are thoroughly prepared. It's as if you knew I would come in to question my placement."

"Once you become a teacher, you quickly learn how to read students like an open book. What you said was correct. On the entrance exam, you scored third among the first years and there were no massive problems with your interview either. To be frank, you were highly rated."

"I'm flattered by your praise, then explain to me why?"

"Denying the fact that you are a capable student would be foolish. However, this school's goal is to manufacture excellent individuals. It's a blunder to think you would be assigned to a superior class by only studying. That was one of the first things we explained at the entrance ceremony. Do you think we would allow someone like Sudou into the school if we judged people by their intelligence alone?

Upon hearing this, Horikita went silent. Chabashira-sensei continued on.

"You may be unhappy with your placement. However, there are some students that are content with being evaluated lower than they actually are."

"That's not a funny joke. I cannot begin to comprehend those types of people."

"You think I'm joking? I'm confident that class D has some students that fit in that category. Peculiar students that are happy with their placement."

Horikita let out a sigh.

"I can see that this meeting was pointless, I'll ask someone else another time."

"People in higher positions will give you the exact same answer I gave you."

Horikita said nothing in response to that.

"I also called two students to the guidance room. They may be relevant to you."

"Relevant to me? You don't mean..."

"You two can come out now."

Shit.

Kiyotaka and I didn't make a single move.

"If you don't come out right now, Ill expel you two."

After hearing that, Kiyotaka and I reluctantly walk out of the room we were instructed to stay in. Horikita looked at us with a surprised expression.

"What are you two doing here. Were you listening to our conversation?" Horikita said in a scary tone.

"No. The walls are pretty thick so we didn't hear anything." Kiyotaka said in a heartbeat.

"False. You could hear everything clearly from the kitchen."

"Sensei what is the meaning of this?" The anger on Horikita's face was clear, she must have realized this was a setup.

"I did this because it was necessary. Anyway, time to learn the reason why you two are here."

Chabashira-sensei directed her attention to Kiyotaka and me.

"I'll be leaving then," Horikita said as she began to walk towards the door.

"It would be in your best interest to stay Horikita. I'm about to reveal a hint that could help you get to class A."

Horikita stopped in her tracks and turned around to face Chabashira-sensei.

"Please keep it brief then."

Looking down at her clipboard, Chabashira-sensei let out a laugh.

"Never in my teaching career I have encountered students that are as interesting as you two."

Horikita raised an eyebrow when she heard this.

"I'll start with you, Ayanokoji."

Chabashira-sensei pulled out what appeared to be Kiyotaka's answer sheet from the entrance exam.

"Your test results surprised me. 50 points in Japanese, 50 points in history, 50 points in English, 50 points in math... you also scored 50 points on the recent test too. Do you know what this means?"

In surprise, Horikita looked over his test form then shifted her gaze to Kiyotaka.

"Coincidences can be freaky."

"I don't believe that. Math problem #5 was only solved by 3% of all students this year, you used a complex formula flawlessly too. On the other hand, you got #10 wrong, which had a correct answer rate of 76%. Was that intentional? Is this normal?"

"In this world, 'normal' can be subjective, this was a coincidence."

"I admire your attitude, but it will bring you problems in the future."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Chabashira-sensei sent a look to Horikita that said: "What do you think about that?"

"Why do you... pretend to not understand?"

"I don't understand. This was a coincidence, nothing more, nothing less."

With a satisfied smirk, Chabashira-sensei turned towards me.

"Now, onto you, Nishida ."

Horikita looked toward Chabashira-sensei, who was taking out what I assumed to be my answer sheet, with anticipation.

"You got 30 points in Japanese, 30 points in history, and 30 points in English. Some of the worst scores among the first years. However, what comes next amazed me. You got perfect scores on the math and chemistry test. 100 points. There is only one other student among the first years that got the same score. He scored higher than you Horikita."

Horikita visibly flinched when she heard this.

"You also got a 65 on the recent test. That may seem inconspicuous, but that test score is far from it."

Chabashira-sensei looked towards Horikita.

"Horikita, 100 plus 30 is 130. When you divide by 2, what do you get?"

"65..."

Perhaps I had a little too much fun with the tests.

"On the math test, you also solved #5 using the same complex formula as Ayanokoji, But there is a major difference. Horikita, look at this."

Chabashira-sensei handed my answer sheet to Horikita. After Horikita looked over the answer sheet, goosebumps were visible on her skin.

"You skipped major steps, you didn't show nearly as much work as Ayanokoji..."

"I know. Isn't it strange? It's almost as if he did it all in his head." Chabashira-sensei said with a smirk.

"I think it was a lucky guess," I said while shrugging my shoulders.

"I don't think so, guessing the answer to that problem is improbable, perhaps even impossible. I also have one more thing I want to confirm."

Chabashira-sensei put her elbows on her desk and clamped her hands together.

"You were aware of the point system, weren't you? You already knew class D would end up with 0 points. Am I wrong? You wouldn't have come to my office and asked me those questions if you didn't have any suspicions. You came to clarify your theory."

Silence enveloped the room. Everyone looked at me with anticipation.

"I suspected it, but after that talk with you, my theory was confirmed."

"May I ask, how did you come to that conclusion?"

I hesitated, I was not sure if telling them was smart.

Ah whatever, I guess I'll humor them.

"I knew something was amiss right when every first-year received 100,000 points. Everyone thought we would receive 100,000 points every month. I almost believed that but I don't recall you ever saying we would receive 100,000 points every month. Also if you do the math, the thought that students receiving that amount every month are ridiculous. Since my grade has about 160 people in it, the high school would have about 480 people in total. Giving all of those students 100,000 points in one month is equivalent to 48 million yen. In a year that would be 560 million. In three years that would be 1.68 billion yen. I know this school is supported by the government, but that number is absurd. Want to know more?"

"Please continue," Chabashira-sensei said with amusement.

"There were a bunch of situational factors that gave me even more clues. Kiyotaka and I were with Sudou after class where we had a dispute with some upperclassmen. When they found out that we were in class D, they said we would be experiencing "hell" soon. That was alarming. Also at the convenience store, there were free items that are obviously for people that were stupid enough to spend all of their points. There were a plethora of free items in other places such as the cafeteria, so it's not uncommon for students to use up their points or at the very least be in desperate need of points. I noticed that some upperclassmen would head straight to the section of the cafeteria that offered free food. I then asked them what class they were from and they told me they were in class D. After this discovery, my suspicions grew even more. But three things influenced my theory."

"And what are they?" Chabashira-sensei asked.

"The first one is the ranking system. The class systems resembled letter grades and they were similar to cram schools. A is at the top and a D can be considered a failing grade. I then took my classmates into account. Academically Sudou, Ike, and Yamauchi are some of the worst students I have ever encountered and they were placed into class D. Now as Horikita said, it would make sense that they were placed in class D if the students were ranked based on their academic skills, but that argument is proven invalid when class D has students like Koenji, Horikita, Kushida, Hirata, and Yukimura." I said then pointed to Horikita.

"If this school ranked people based upon their academic grades, there's no doubt in my mind that they would be placed into class A. But obvious they were not placed in that class because this school doesn't rank people based on just their academic abilities, they all have defects. Horikita isolates herself from other people, Koenji has a narcissistic attitude, and from the looks of it, Yukimura is physically inept. I still haven't figured out Hirata's and Kushida's defects. They seem like excellent students with no behavior defects like Koenji or Horikita. Perhaps they have a questionable past. I'm not entirely sure yet but I'm confident I'll find out soon enough."

"And what are the last two giveaways?"

"The behavior of the students. They were some of the most disrespectful students I have ever laid my eyes upon. They would constantly ditch or just use their phones during class. I looked around the classroom and I spotted some cameras so I knew you were secretly recording all of their ill-mannered activities. It's reasonable to believe we had zero points by the end of the month because of this. I mean there were 98 absences and 391 incidences of talking in class or using their phones, I don't blame the school for penalizing us that hard. The last reason I have is more of my opinion but I think it is reasonable. This school is known for producing excellent people and amazing leaders right? If it's known for that, would the school really give disrespectful brats 100,000 points every month? Giving them that amount of points every month encourages that kind of behavior. It would be telling the students that it's okay to be ill-mannered and undisciplined. Now I think excellent people or amazing leaders don't have those traits right? In the real world, you have to work hard to get what you want, not be served everything on a silver platter. There are a few exceptions such as Kōenji, but the vast majority of people don't have access to the advantages that wealthier or more powerful people have. Giving those students that mindset would not only ill prepare them for the world, but it contradicts the school's goal. That is all I have to say."

I finish my monologue and allow them to digest what I just told them. I look around the room. Chabashira-sensei had an amused look on her face while Horikita was staring at me in wonder. Kiyotaka was looking at me with his normal emotionless expression. He most likely reached the same conclusion as me. I then heard slow, methodical clapping coming from Chabashira-sensei.

"You truly are an exceptional student Nishida, one of the brightest I have ever come across."

Chabashira-sensei then looked towards Horikita.

"I'm confident that he is smarter than even you."

I could hear a subtle gasp come from Horikita.

"You don't need good grades to come up with that."

Chabashira-sensei looked at the clock.

"Looks like we're out of time. A staff meeting is about to start so I have to leave. I'm closing this room so you guys have to leave."

She then urged the three of us out of the room and after locking the room, Chabashira-sensei walked down the hall.

"We should head back to class." Kiyotaka and I begin to walk back to class. Rumors would most likely spread if we arrived at class at the same time.

"Wait!"

Horikita calls out to us and we but we keep walking.

"Are your guys' scores... really a coincidence?"

"We already said it was. Do you have proof that proves otherwise?" Kiyotaka said, challenging Horikita's question.

"T-The way Nishida solved the math problem..."

"As I said, it was a guess..." I said, starting to get annoyed.

"I... I don't understand. You guys avoid trouble and have no interest in getting to class A."

"You seem to have some peculiar thoughts of class A," said Kiyotaka.

"Should I not? I'm thinking about my future."

"No, it's completely normal to think that way."

"That's been my goal since day 1 but still, class D isn't even at the starting line yet."

"Sounds like you'll face my hardships in the future."

I hear the shuffling of feet and soon notice that she sped up her pace to walk beside us.

"Yeah, I'm going to need some help if I want to reach class A."

"Oh. Who are you going to ask? Are you going to ask Hirata or Kushida?" Kiyotaka asked, tilting his head in wonder.

"No. You guys are going to help me."

Eh?

This caught my attention. I stopped dead in my tracks and turned to face Kiyotaka and Horikita.

"We never agreed to help you in the first place."

"Yeah, you did. The voice in your head said you would be more than happy to help."

"Even if we did agree, I don't know how we would be able to help you."

"Nishida-kun, there's nothing to worry about. I don't need your brainpower. I'll come up with the plans, and you two just act as the muscle."

"Are you referring to us as 'pawns'?" I said, starting to get a little angry.

"Yes. I need obedient pawns that will do what I say without question. If you follow my orders, I can guarantee we will get more class and private points."

"Hate to break it to ya but neither of us has any intention of becoming your pawns. Kiyo let's get out of here."

We sped up our pace to leave her behind.

"Come back to me once you collect your thoughts. Remember what I said."

Yeah, I remember what you said.

I remember it loud and clear.

You said you need us to be your pawns.

But sorry Horikita, you've got it all wrong.

If anyone is going to be a pawn.

It's not going to be me.

It's not going to be Kiyotaka.

It's going to be you.