Chapter 8: The Delightful Fortune of a Tea Pillar

[Knowledge of Volume 1: Chapter 7 would be helpful but not necessary]

"Hey, Yukio-Kun. Did you receive any points this morning?"

"No. Nor did anyone in the class, for that matter, Matsushita-Chan."

"Oh? And how would you know that Yukio-Kun?"

"Well… I've been watching them of course."

Yukio's eyes twinkled in excitement as he thought of the class's upcoming reaction to Chabashira's revelations.

— — —

"Are you guys really that stupid?"

Yukio could not suppress the Cheshire Cat-like grin that slipped onto his face as he watched Sae delightedly asking the class a rhetorical question.

She went on to explain that the points were deposited, to which the class's faces became ugly and confused, bar three students- himself, Ayanokouji, and Kouenji. Ayanokouji had his usual expressionless look while Kouenji Rokosuke, the narcissistic conglomerate heir, realised the situation and began to laugh boisterously.

The teacher who kept a placid expression on her face, but with a hint of mirth in her eyes, had also noticed the abnormalities within the class but did not comment.

After Hirata questioned Sae about the class's absence of points, the woman emotionlessly listed off the offences of the class, raining down a well-deserved reality check for the unruly bunch.

"…this school measures the abilities of the students. This time around, you guys were valued to be worth zero…"

At this statement, the heads of several girls perked, and they discretely looked at the foreign boy sitting comfortably in the middle of the class.

Continuing, Chabashira berated Hirata's foolish attempts at playing the victim.

"…If you behaved as a student should, your points wouldn't have dropped to zero. It's your self-responsibility."

Yukio decided to raise his hand to engage in a conversation with the bemused teacher.

"Yes, Kobayashi-Kun?"

"Chabashira-sensei, isn't this and that different matters? While it is the personal responsibility of the students to behave in class, is it not negligence on the school's part to keep us in the dark about the private points system?"

"We cannot disclose the mechanics behind the private points system, however, it should be obvious that the private points distributed are an investment into the students of the school. Did you really think that you would get 100,000 points every month without any restrictions?"

Ignoring her sarcastic question, Yukio went on to make an observation.

"I see… so will the school deliberately hold back information when it sees fit to do so?"

"I cannot divulge such details. The school…"

Deciding to hand the spotlight back to Hirata, Yukio contemplated the words he received from Sae. His main intention was to highlight to the class that the school was an insidious institution while reminding his circle of friends of his insightful thoughts on the private points system that lead to the tens of thousands of private points they had left to get by.

However, he also had another intention for asking questions that could not be answered. One that he hoped would bear fruit later on that day.

After the commotion of the class points, with Sudou kicking his table into Ike, Sae brought out a poster with the quiz results, and Yukio found his name tied with Yukimura and Kouenji for first place.

Yukio very much enjoyed Sae's sarcastic remarks about the number of would-be dropouts in the class had the sheet recorded the midterm or final exam ranks. It was a breath of fresh air after all the indulgence that occurred in the past month. Having an ambitious woman like her on the side of class D, as opposed to against the class would do wonders for the class points.

In fact, it was only because she bluffed Ayanokouji into putting in 1% of his abilities to win the island exam, that the class even had any hopes of rising in ranks.

Yukimura finally lost his cool and angrily stood up from his seat, eliciting a contemptuous sigh from Kouenji.

"How shameful. There's nothing as pitiful as boys making a commotion and panicking. Learn to carry yourself like Mathematics Boy here."

Kouenji, feeling amused at his desk-mates reactions to all the news revealed that day, directed the attention of the class to Yukio.

'Mathematics Boy? What? Is that meant to be my nickname? Where'd he pull that from?'

Everyone looked back at the results, and then at Yukio who sat calmly as though without worries, feeling humbled by the way the boy took the information, despite his great results. Yukio was just busy regulating his placid expression to prevent a smirk from growing on his face.

The most shocked in the class was his friendship circle, who until then had not realised the student that played with them most evenings, was achieving stellar grades.

"But don't you guys feel resentment from being in class D?"

Asked Yukimura meekly, a reaction that did not reflect his behaviour in the light novels. He could understand if Kouenji beat him since the blonde appeared well-bred and probably received a good education.

He could not, for the life of him, however, imagine that the boy he judged an idiot, purely because he was quite popular with girls and engaged in noisy conversations every break, could tie with him in the quiz.

"Resentment? Why would I…"

Thus began Kouenji on an untruthful explanation of his indifference. The boy proclaimed not requiring the school's assistance, and that he had an easy route into the position of heir at the Kouenji conglomerate.

However, his plan to acquire twenty million private points made it apparent that behind the narcissism, was an individual who knew how to scheme and manipulate his surroundings. Whether or not he had thought up the plan yet, there was no doubt in Yukio's mind that the young man was a genius.

A genius he had no intentions of poking without a reason anytime soon.

Yukimura, speechless at Kouenji's indifference, turned to Yukio hoping for a more sensible answer.

"Don't look at me Yukimura-Kun. I'm just going off of what Sensei said. If you don't want to remain in class D then why don't we just move up to class A."

Yukimura looked speechless for a second, as did the rest of the class, before stuttering out-

"B-but Chabashira-sensei said we will remain at zero points until we graduate."

Yukio sighed heavily, one that penetrated the minds of the entire class, making them curious about the boy's thoughts.

"Zero points until we graduate? What a load of drivel. If they kept us at zero points, then there would be very little incentive for class D students to remain in the school since they can never rise to class A. But as far as I'm aware, the second and third years each have a class D."

Realising the error of their conclusions, many of the students turned to Yukio hopefully.

"Then how do we rise to class A, Kobayashi-San?"

"I don't know. While I wouldn't like to agree with Kouenji-San's abnormal opinions, he was correct about remaining calm at least. As you are right now, rising to class A is impossible anyway."

Most of the class deflated when Yukio did not have a solution to their problems, but they realised the wisdom behind his words and looked back at Sae. Kouenji, however, had one last comment about Yukio's words.

"Perfection is not abnormal, Mathematics Boy. To grow in resemblance to my beautiful self is an impossible feat but something you should aspire for, Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!"

"Besides Kouenji, it looks like your happy mood has been dampened…"

Sae concluded the information dump by announcing the midterm exams to be held in three weeks, before intending to exit the classroom.

"One moment, Chabashira-sensei. Would it be possible to speak with you after school?"

"You'll find me in the guidance room Kobayashi-Kun."

As Sae left the classroom, despite Yukio's earlier remarks, the classroom still broke out into chaos. While the students now had a broader understanding of their situation, it did not change the fact that many of them were penniless for the next month.

Hirata quickly took to the stage and put his charisma on overdrive, but he still couldn't get away from the ire of Sudou, who eventually walked out of the room.

'I don't know how butterflies will affect his grades at midterm, but Sudou is an essential asset to class D. I'll approach him later and butter him up so he joins the study groups. Whether he stays or not can be dealt with by Kushida and Horikita.'

Yukimura did not attack the class representative either as a lot of the sense of injustice in the light novel was dissipated by Yukio's words, which he was still pondering over.

Watching Horikita reject Hirata's proposal to join the strategy meeting later, Yukio had no thoughts. Horikita had yet to experience the feeling of loss and doubling down on Her at this point would not be beneficial to her development.

— — —

'Kouenji Rokosuke, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka… and now the third wildcard in Kobayashi Yukio. This year's class has potential, but it's a shame none of them cares much for rising to class A.'

Sae monologued, remembering the grin that plastered Yukio's face when she ridiculed the class. The memory stuck with her because it was obvious he knew what was coming, and yet he did not do anything to prevent it.

'I'm not too familiar with Yukio, but his friendship circle isn't the most well-behaved in class. What's he playing at? I'll need to find out about Yukio's past before I decide how to continue. The meeting this afternoon will be interesting.'

And while devising schemes to blackmail another student of interest in her class, she made her way over to the faculty office.

— — —

"Hey, Kobayashi-Kun. I'm running low on points. Would you mind helping a friend out?"

Yukio looked on dryly, as Karuizawa shamelessly beseeched him for points, but he would not falter before her cutesy act.

"Who told me they had 20,000 private points remaining the other night, Karuizawa-Chan? PPs are very important, so I applaud your efforts, but my pockets will remain firmly shut on this occasion."

Karuizawa looked at the boy in indignation, but then remembered who had implored her to save points in the first place. Feeling discomfited, she quickly moved on to asking Kushida, who was an easy picking.

'The sly fox is worried about her image as the leader of the girls. This girl must have some serious confidence to unabashedly ask her friends for points. Well, I guess in front of the threat of bullying, and having to maintain a bitchy persona, shame can go bury itself in the dirt. Haa… Let's think of other things.'

"Ayanokouji-Kun from class D. Chabashira-sensei is calling for you…"

With classes finally over, Yukio slowly made his way over to the guidance room after Ayanokouji had been called.

The fact that Ayanokouji had still been called despite Sae knowing Yukio had requested a meeting, probably meant she would try to involve him in her plans.

'I wonder what she's found out.'