Mashima Tomonari had served as the homeroom teacher for Class 1-A at Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School for four cohorts. All four had ultimately graduated as Class A, yet he never credited himself too much for it. After all, Class A always started with overwhelming advantages from the outset.
As a teacher at this institution, Mashima initially couldn't quite understand the so-called "meritocratic" educational policy. In his view, fair competition required universally accepted rules, and rules could only be accepted if they were relatively fair. But this school seemed to lack both.
The students of Class 1-A were handed an enormous advantage from the start. If the inter-class competition was a game of poker, their excellent starting roster would be the small joker, and the school's special first-month rules would hand them the big joker—"class points."
In past years, Class 1-A always managed to achieve a huge lead right after the first month, maintaining class points over 900. Just catching up with the initial gap took other classes nearly a full year. It was clearly an unfair game.
Because of this, Mashima often felt he hadn't really done anything special. While he taught English specifically for Class 1-A, he also taught English for the entire first-year cohort. That gave him a chance to observe particularly hardworking students in other classes.
Even before becoming a teacher, Mashima had resolved to treat every student seriously. However, the structure of Advanced Nurturing High twisted even teachers into pawns, making them representatives of their classes. As the competition escalated, the rivalries weren't just between students—but between teachers too.
Some teachers were driven by the enormous bonus granted to Class A homeroom instructors. Others were motivated by a desire to ensure promising futures for students they favored. Yet none of this aligned with Mashima's original ideals of education.
Before this year, Chabashira Sae was known for slacking off. Mashima had even seen her publicly arguing with her own students in the faculty office. Hoshinomiya Chie seemed friendly with Chabashira, but whenever Class D showed signs of hope, she stomped it out without hesitation. Ironically, she didn't even seem to care whether her own class advanced.
Then there was Sakagami Kazuma, who went too far in shielding his class. He had even concealed incidents of in-class violence to protect their rank.
It wasn't until he became Class D's homeroom teacher that Mashima truly noticed all the twisted realities he'd once ignored.
It wasn't just the students. Even the teachers were warped by this system.
"Alright, that's all for today. Final exams are coming up, so do your best. After that, it'll be summer break."
After organizing his materials, Mashima left Class 1-D. Ever since the midterm exams, the class had finally started resembling a functional classroom.
The expulsion of six students had been a wake-up call. Even Sudo was studying seriously now, inspiring ordinary students to shape up. With no way to gain class points other than exams, everyone had no choice but to throw themselves into the finals. Most had given up on reaching Class A, but no one wanted to be expelled either. That would be devastating for their records and futures.
Not to mention—everyone was sick of the bland vegetable set meals.
But the news of Kitagawa Ryo winning an award in the drama club and earning personal points lit a spark in Class 1-D. Students started throwing themselves into club activities with surprising zeal. Maybe it was a temporary burst of energy, but things were finally moving in a positive direction.
As Ryo once told Sudo, Advanced Nurturing High was a phenomenal platform. If you couldn't use it to leap forward, then at the very least, learning something from it was never a loss.
"So, is it Ryo's plan to keep Class D's points at zero forever?"
Horikita Suzune paused her pen and looked up at Ryo.
"Do I look like someone who can casually manipulate class points at will?"
Ryo replied, turning to ask:
"Is Class D doing badly right now?"
"Not terrible, per se. It's more like everyone's standing on a precipice."
Ichinose Honami jumped in. She probably understood the mindset of Class D students better than anyone else there.
"It's only the second month. Everyone still has leftover personal points from the 100,000 we were given, so they're barely hanging on."
"Next month should still be okay. But the month after that... things will get ugly."
She sighed.
"In hindsight, maybe the school should've split that 100,000 points across four months. Like 25,000 each time."
"The drop-off is too steep."
"I remember Ryo said there would be a special exam during summer break. If possible, we should try to increase our class points then."
"Why not just focus on increasing personal points instead?"
Ryo shot back. He did have a plan to make Class D absolute victors in both the uninhabited island and VIP special exams, but to him, class points were a burden.
Class points only mattered for providing students with a monthly stipend and determining rankings. Unless you could jump straight to Class A, they were largely meaningless. They didn't improve teacher quality or classroom resources.
"That's true."
Honami finally saw his point. Since day one, the school had drilled into their heads that class points were all-important. But maybe that wasn't entirely true.
"Come to think of it, I've never been to an uninhabited island before."
"Technically, it won't be pure wilderness. If the school dares to run an exam there, it's probably more like a nature resort."
Horikita said calmly. As a student council member with a brother who was council president, she had picked up on some insider info.
"So just relax. There's no need to be so tense."
While speaking, she also kept a close eye on Sakayanagi Arisu's expression. Just a few days ago, she had seen the exemption application Arisu submitted and even vouched for its validity. As classmates, she felt a subtle obligation to watch over Arisu's emotional state.
Perhaps influenced by lingering emotions from the simulations, Horikita found herself feeling like a sister-in-law around Arisu. Since she was "family," she tried to subtly accommodate her.
Ichinose also picked up on Horikita's glance. Aware of Arisu's health, she wisely chose not to continue the topic, and a heavy silence settled over the room.
"Done!"
Sakura Airi pulled out her earbuds and exhaled in relief. Her excitement broke the awkward silence. After wasting two years academically, she had managed to pass midterms by grinding questions nonstop. Now, she was throwing herself full-force into finals prep.
"What were you guys talking about just now?"
Looking confused, Airi was now arguably the most student-like student in the room.
Studying was a student's duty!
Turns out everyone else here were top students. Never mind, then.
"Nothing much. Just talking about Class D's current situation."
While marking Airi's test paper with a red pen, Ryo casually replied:
"Got any insights, Airi?"
"Hmm... Class D doesn't seem to have much going on. But I heard stuff about the other classes. Like, Class A's atmosphere is tense with people arguing all the time, and Class B suddenly made someone named Kanzaki Ryuji their vice rep."
Airi's social network was surprisingly wide. She was just too lazy to actively maintain it. Her former status as a professional idol meant she easily attracted attention. Without even trying, she picked up all kinds of rumors daily.
At this point, no one cared that she was from Class D.
It was like when Ryo saw Kouenji Rokusuke thriving in simulations. No one cared if he was from Class D. No one called him defective.
Of course, there were always fools who treated the A/B/C/D system like some caste structure. Ryo recalled that Totsuka from Class A seemed to have that mindset.
Without Arisu around, Katsuragi Kouhei was thriving in Class A. Which meant that Totsuka Yahiko might be even dumber than before. That could be useful.
"Sorry, but I don't think I'll be able to participate in this uninhabited island exam."
Finally, Arisu spoke. Her voice was calm and flat, showing no emotional ripples.
"Since Ryo might have plans, I figured I should give advance notice."
"Please exclude me from any strategies. Also, there might be penalties for my absence, so some flexibility may be required."
For some reason, as she said these words, she gave off a delicate, fleeting aura—like the season's first snow.
You will participate.
Ryo thought silently to himself.
And you will be the undisputed heroine of that arc.
This stage was built for you from the very beginning.
-------------------------------------
Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School, First-Year Faculty Office.
After experiencing the most chaotic and eventful first month in the school's history, the second month for the first-years had significantly calmed down. Aside from Class A, who had to swallow their frustrations in silence, the remaining classes seemed to have passed the midterms peacefully on the surface. The top three classes passed smoothly, and Class 1-D quietly lost students to expulsion.
Although the school had preemptively provided a cheating-like method in the form of "buying the answers," none of the first-year classes had apparently noticed or taken advantage of it. As such, the results weren't surprising at all.
After six students were expelled due to failing the midterms, Class 1-D now had only thirty-four students remaining. Their class points still sat stubbornly at zero.
But considering it was Class D, perhaps that was to be expected.
Mashima Tomonari, Class 1-D's homeroom teacher, frowned at the glaring zero. After the midterms, each class had been awarded at least 100 class points as a reward from the school for passing. But with six students expelled, Class D had no chance of retaining even that token bonus.
As a veteran teacher, Mashima knew that before the special exam during summer break in July, there were virtually no opportunities to increase class points. That meant every student in Class 1-D would have to finish the semester with zero points hanging over their heads.
While Mashima was worrying for his students, Chabashira Sae, the homeroom teacher for Class 1-A, suddenly approached him.
"Something wrong?" he asked, puzzled. Ever since Chabashira had taken charge of Class A, she had thrown herself completely into it. He, Chabashira, and Hoshinomiya had once been close—often grabbing meals together when free—but lately, the three barely spoke outside of work.
Everyone had their own hang-ups, and naturally, the relationships had cooled.
Mashima suspected she might be here to flaunt Class A's midterm results. But instead, Chabashira inhaled deeply, visibly conflicted, and handed him a document.
Mashima glanced down curiously—and then his eyes widened in shock. His pupils shrank as if he'd seen something truly unbelievable.
No way... How could something like this happen?
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To Read Advanced Chapters, and support this novel, please join me on [email protected]/geats2000