Hirata Yousuke knew very well that they were in the wrong.
In the end, every action that led to point deductions was their own fault.
Chabashira Sae had explained the exam.
She had warned them.
Yet they still went their own way and refused to change.
But… the problem couldn't be viewed like that.
If he were in another class, he might not have said anything.
But he was a D-Class student.
So he had no choice.
He had to seize onto the one flaw in Chabashira's explanation and attack it.
Otherwise, they would truly have no choice but to accept the zero points and drown at the very bottom.
"Do I really need to explain this again and again?" Chabashira sighed and pressed her temple.
Her head hurt.
"In this school, there is nothing you can't buy with points."
She tapped the lectern irritably, each knock conveying her frustration.
"The value of ten thousand points is getting a 'yes' or 'no' from me."
"Likewise, on the third day after enrollment, the value of two hundred thousand points was merely an explanation of the 'special exam' itself."
"I have no obligation to tell you that the school distributes points based on your 'evaluation.'"
"Th—This…" Hirata was left speechless.
"Hey, Kouenji, say something! Aren't you good at talking?!" Yamauchi shouted anxiously when he saw Hirata faltering.
"Boring."
"I act on my own will. I don't need your instructions."
Kouenji didn't even put his legs down.
Instead, he pulled out a nail clipper and calmly began trimming his nails.
Kouenji was useless.
Yamauchi clenched his teeth and looked around.
Hirata had failed.
Kouenji wouldn't cooperate.
Kushida was absent…
Right—wasn't Horikita Suzune still here?!
Just as he fixed his gaze on Horikita, who was lying on her desk, preparing to shout—
Chabashira suddenly slammed the lectern.
"Save your arguments for later."
"I still have something unfortunate to tell you."
With a slap, she pinned another sheet to the blackboard.
Names.
And numbers.
The exam results.
"How wonderful."
"If this were an official exam, seven of you would already be expelled."
After the "good news" of zero points came even better news.
Expulsion.
Chabashira stated it casually, dripping with sarcasm.
School rules dictated that failing even one subject in midterms or finals meant expulsion.
And passing wasn't based on sixty points.
It was half of the class average.
Chaotic emotions plunged D-Class into total disorder.
One blow after another shattered their illusions.
They wanted to protest.
They wanted to struggle.
But when Chabashira's cold gaze swept over them, anyone who wanted to speak shrank back.
"There are three weeks until midterms."
"If you want to stay here, think carefully about how to avoid failing."
"How to survive."
After leaving those words, she disappeared through the doorway.
"..."
"..."
A long, deathlike silence spread through D-Class.
Then, almost simultaneously, nearly everyone turned to look at Yamauchi Haruki.
Like a horror movie scene, countless cold gazes locked onto him.
"Hey… now that I think about it, Yamauchi skipped class the most, right?"
"And he was the first one to talk and use his phone."
"I remember he ditched class to hang out with Ryuuen from C-Class."
"Didn't he also say Ryuuen gave him fifty thousand?"
One after another, their voices aligned.
As if reaching the same conclusion.
"Why do we have to live without a single point…"
"While Yamauchi gets to enjoy fifty thousand from another class?"
Their gazes stabbed into him like needles.
The classroom fell silent.
As if sensing what was coming, Yamauchi's face flushed red.
He jumped up.
His chair scraped loudly across the floor.
"Hey! What do you mean by that?!"
He shouted, pointing wildly around.
But he couldn't lock onto anyone.
Because everyone was his target.
"We all messed up! Why are you blaming only me?!"
"K-Kanji skipped class too!" He turned to his "buddy," but froze when he saw Iké's stunned expression.
He hurriedly turned elsewhere.
"Kikyou! Didn't Kushida skip too?!"
"Hondou! Miyamoto! Sotomura! You're late all the time too!"
"Satou and Shinohara, don't pretend you're innocent! You talk in class the most!"
"And Karuizawa too!!!"
"She's with Hirata all day—there's definitely something going on! That should deduct tons of points!!!"
"And isn't Kouenji the worst one?!"
Like a drowning man flailing, Yamauchi pointed everywhere, trying to shift the blame.
"Because you're the worst!" Shinohara Satsuki stood up and shouted.
"You're the one who kept saying 'Deductions don't matter'!"
Because of that…
They had relaxed.
Because he was already doing it, they thought it didn't matter if they joined in.
"I… I wanted to study properly too…" a girl sobbed.
"But Yamauchi was always making noise… I couldn't concentrate…"
"Huh?!" Yamauchi's face twisted.
"What do you mean you wanted to study?! How is that my fault?!"
"Isn't it all your own fault?!"
"Even if we get zero points, it's on you!"
—
Those words were like a fuse.
Boom.
Several boys exploded.
They stood up and rushed toward him.
"Hand over Ryuuen's money! That should've been ours!"
Enjoyed these chapters? Access advanced chapters and exclusive content by visiting my Patreon. https://patreon.com/WillOFD129?