Perhaps because the date of the midterm exams was drawing closer by the day, the remaining days of May seemed to fly by in the blink of an eye. And finally, the midterm exams—a trial that felt almost like a judgment day for most students in Class 1-D—had arrived.
In the faculty office, Class 1-D's homeroom teacher, Mashima Tomonari, finished grading the last test paper with his red pen. After entering the final score into his computer, he clicked a few times with the mouse, and the class average for 1-D appeared on the screen. He then divided it by two to calculate the passing line for the class.
Frankly speaking, the passing score for each subject was already dismal enough. Dividing that number by two made it shockingly low. And yet, what made Mashima sigh was that even with such a lenient standard, there were still students who had failed—or in other words, potential expellees.
With a heavy heart, Mashima closed his laptop. After packing his briefcase, he stepped out of the office. Just as he was locking the door, he suddenly heard a male voice from behind him.
Two hours had passed since the end of the exam and dismissal. There shouldn't have been any students left in the school building. Mashima turned around in confusion, only to meet the gaze of Kitagawa Ryo.
"Mashima-sensei."
As the homeroom teacher of Class 1-D, Mashima had become fairly familiar with each of his students over the past two months. Moreover, Kitagawa Ryo's enrollment file had been vague and mysterious, leaving a deep impression on him.
"Kitagawa-kun, is there something you need?"
"If you're here about your grades, there's no need to worry. You did quite well this time."
Despite the air of mystery that surrounded Kitagawa Ryo, Mashima couldn't deny that the boy had shown exceptional ability in both academics and athletics. He was one of the few students in Class 1-D who had performed well in the midterm exams.
"No, I'm not asking about my own grades."
Kitagawa took a step forward.
"I want to know who in the class failed."
"...Are you planning to tamper with the grades, Kitagawa-kun?"
Mashima chuckled, recalling a message he had just received from the chairman today:
"I almost forgot to tell you—your Drama Club's entry, Forbidden Game of Youth, won the grand prize in the competition. Although the award doesn't grant class points due to its level, the Student Council should be issuing personal point rewards soon."
"Still, real life isn't like a play. Even if you threaten me, there's no way I could change the grades."
Kitagawa couldn't help but laugh at that:
"Of course, threatening you is out of the question. But bribery? That's entirely feasible."
"Didn't you say it yourself at the start of the school year, Mashima-sensei? In this school, points can buy anything. That should include grades as well, right?"
Mashima's pupils narrowed slightly. He had indeed forgotten about that.
But that was due to old habits—after all, he had previously taught only Class 1-A, and in three years, he had almost never encountered a situation where students needed to buy grades with points.
Still, he quickly regained his composure. After mentally reviewing the rules issued by the school administration, he said in a low voice:
"You can't afford it."
"There are six students in Class 1-D who failed. To bring all of them up to the passing line would cost more points than you have—no, even if you pooled all the points from Class D, it still wouldn't be enough."
"But I never said I wanted to buy points for all of them."
Kitagawa stepped forward and patted Mashima on the shoulder, lowering his voice:
"That's why I need the list of students who failed and their specific scores."
"And also..."
-------------------------------------
"Yay!"
As Chabashira Sae, the homeroom teacher, announced that everyone had passed the midterm exams, Class 1-A erupted in a rare cheer. Although many had achieved good results, passing an exam was still a huge relief for students. Among the most excited was Totsuka Yahiko, whose voice was the loudest. Meanwhile, Kamuro Masumi also let out a sigh of relief.
Being placed in Class 1-A didn't mean that everyone was a top student. Both Kamuro Masumi and Totsuka Yahiko had only average academic performance. Especially with Class 1-A's insanely high average score, it had taken both of them over half a month of hard work to barely scrape past the passing line.
"It's all thanks to Katsuragi-kun organizing the study sessions. Otherwise, I'd definitely have been below the line."
Totsuka Yahiko, who prided himself on being Katsuragi Kohei's number one follower, immediately started singing his praises. On the results sheet posted on the board, Yahiko was ranked dead last in Class 1-A, scoring only four points above the pass line. Perhaps because he was well aware of his academic shortcomings, Yahiko had been clinging tightly to Katsuragi in hopes of improving his standing in the class.
That said, the study sessions organized by Katsuragi had indeed helped the students at the bottom, so no one in Class 1-A objected to Yahiko's flattery. After all, everyone was in a good mood after passing the midterms.
Standing at the podium, Chabashira Sae was also quite pleased and was just about to offer some further encouragement when the classroom door suddenly opened. She turned her gaze toward the sound in confusion.
"Hello, hello."
The moment Kitagawa Ryo appeared, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's body instantly tensed up. He abandoned his usual laid-back demeanor and locked his golden eyes on Kitagawa, staring straight at him from the last row.
[He came, just as expected.]
"As expected of Class 1-A. Your average score is almost double that of our Class D. Even if we copied the answers, we probably couldn't score that high."
Under the watchful eyes of Chabashira Sae and the entire Class A, Kitagawa Ryo didn't seem nervous at all. He walked straight up to the podium and began pointing at the score sheet on the board.
"Last place... Totsuka Yahiko."
Caught off guard by having his name called out, Totsuka Yahiko stood up with displeasure and shouted:
"Hey, what class are you from? Did you come to the wrong room?"
"Class 1-A. I didn't come to the wrong place."
"You're not even one of us!"
Faced with Yahiko's questioning, Kitagawa gave a mocking smile:
"True, I'm not a student of Class A. But soon, you won't be either."
"What kind of joke is that?!"
Hearing this declaration, Yahiko suddenly felt a chill in his heart. At the same time, Chabashira Sae, who was standing at the podium, took two steps back in shock. Her pupils shrank to needlepoints as if she had just realized something and looked at Kitagawa in disbelief.
She met his gaze—those pitch-black eyes, as deep as an abyss.
"Chabashira-sensei of Class 1-A."
"This morning, I heard something interesting from my homeroom teacher. Apparently, midterm scores can be bought with points. For example, adding one point to someone's score."
"If that's possible, then surely the reverse is true as well."
Kitagawa picked up a piece of chalk and drew a line above Totsuka Yahiko's name.
"I would like to purchase four points from Class 1-A student Totsuka Yahiko. Name your price."
As Kitagawa finished speaking, the once-calm classroom atmosphere erupted into chaos. Katsuragi Kohei stood up in shock, other students were wide-eyed or frozen in disbelief, and Totsuka Yahiko screamed in horror:
"There's no way something this absurd could happen! Impossible, right?!"
Chabashira forced herself to stay calm in the face of Yahiko's pleading. That's right, even if such a rule existed, Kitagawa Ryo was just a student from Class 1-D. Since the start of the month, their class points were zero. At most, he might have the 100,000 personal points distributed last month, nothing more.
"One point—100,000 points."
Gritting her teeth, Chabashira announced the price as she stared at Kitagawa, who had come here alone.
Under the eyes of Chabashira and all of Class 1-A, Kitagawa began operating his phone.
The next second, Chabashira received a transfer notification: [You have received 400,000 personal points.]
"...He really bought them."
As Chabashira muttered in disbelief, Totsuka Yahiko's vision went dark. Katsuragi Kohei suddenly declared:
"Class A can also pay 400,000 personal points to buy back those four points."
Hearing this, Chabashira snapped back to reality. She had been swept up in Kitagawa's momentum and nearly forgot that her own class could also use points to purchase scores.
Last month, Class A had 1,000 class points. This month, they had 450. After Kouenji Rokusuke's expulsion, 39 students remained. Pooling their personal points, gathering 400,000 should be easy.
"I can contribute 20,000."
Kushida Kikyou stood up immediately.
"I didn't spend much last month, so I can give 50,000."
Hirata Yousuke began rallying others.
"Me too..."
Under Katsuragi's call, Class 1-A came together in a show of unity that nearly moved Chabashira to tears. This was the A-Class she had always dreamed of. If it were Class D, there was no way they could...
"Add another 400,000."
But the boy beside her coldly interrupted her fantasy again.
Theoretically, Class 1-A could have a maximum of 5.75 million points, but that was assuming no one spent a single point. In reality, the most they could possibly scrape together was around 4 million.
Katsuragi Kohei, who held the bulk of the class's personal points, looked at his phone: 3.1 million.
Some students might be hiding funds, but not by much.
In other words, this was everything Class 1-A had left.
Now, they had only two options:
Use the 3.1 million points to cancel Kitagawa's transaction and watch him buy Yahiko's score again.
Or...
Hold onto their points and let Yahiko be expelled.
Katsuragi closed his eyes in anguish. Either choice meant Yahiko would be expelled. He didn't have time to wonder how Kitagawa had amassed such a fortune. All he could do was clench his fists and think.
[Here are 5 million points I borrowed from the Student Council Vice President.]
The message and transfer notification from Ayanokouji Kiyotaka rekindled a sliver of hope. Katsuragi didn't even question the relationship between Ayanokouji and the VP, and shouted:
"I have 8.1 million points now...!"
His emotional outburst made the veins on his bald head bulge. Glaring at Kitagawa, he growled:
"Can you match that?!"
"Add another 400,000 points."
Kitagawa casually transferred the amount to Chabashira again, his malicious grin belying his arrogance:
"Got—any—more?"
"You bastard!"
At the center of the storm, Yahiko finally lost control and lunged at Kitagawa to attack him.
But Kitagawa simply pointed at the classroom's surveillance cameras and elegantly sidestepped like a matador:
"If you get violent, I might not even have to spend a single point."
Class A students in the front row quickly held Yahiko back, terrified he might actually strike Kitagawa.
Ayanokouji sighed almost imperceptibly. He had realized long ago that points, not scores, were the true battleground of the midterms. But time had been too short. Even with the 5 million points he borrowed from Nagumo Miyabi, it still wasn't enough to counter Kitagawa's blatant strategy.
Five million personal points was an unimaginably huge sum for a first-year student less than two months into the school year. Even Nagumo wouldn't have handed it over lightly, and Ayanokouji himself didn't have a close relationship with him.
This was an open and righteous move, yet no one could counter it.
Yahiko continued shouting that there was no way Kitagawa could have that many points and that the money must be dirty. But the whole class knew—if the source were really illegal, Kitagawa wouldn't be flaunting it so openly.
He had the confidence. That meant the points were clean.
"No... there's no way I'll get expelled."
Still howling in denial, Yahiko sobbed. But Kitagawa casually called out another name:
"Oh my, there's another student just eight points above the passing line."
"Kamuro Masumi... It's just 800,000 points anyway."
"Well then, you can be expelled too."
Chabashira tasted bitterness in her mouth. She wanted to curse whoever had designed the points-for-grades rule, but she understood the logic behind it.
The midterms were held just two months after enrollment. At 100,000 per point, it was meant to be an astronomical amount for any new student.
Who could have predicted that a monster would appear who, in their second month, would possess more personal points than the entire Class A combined?
Class 1-A had 450 class points left. If two students were expelled, that number would become zero.
They would be on par with the very same Class 1-D they had mocked just yesterday.
The easiest way to destroy someone was to first give them hope, and then crush them with despair.
And if it came to that, the first to break would be Chabashira Sae.
She could have maintained a defeatist attitude toward Class D's zero points.
If only this weren't the former Class 1-A.
The entire classroom atmosphere dropped to freezing.
For the first time, Katsuragi Kohei tasted the crushing despair of powerlessness, even with 8.1 million points in hand.
"But... it's not like the score-buying is entirely non-negotiable."
Kitagawa showed a slight willingness to talk. Chabashira, desperate, clung to this lifeline and asked hoarsely:
"What do you mean?"
Kitagawa gave her a once-over, clearly amused. For a high school boy, Chabashira Sae was practically a teacher straight out of a light novel.
Long black hair in a high ponytail, a white blouse with a tight jacket accentuating her figure, black stockings, and high heels.
But to Kitagawa, he still preferred Mashima Tomonari, the homeroom teacher of Class D—even if he looked like a stiff, old-fashioned uncle.
Unlike Chabashira or Hoshinomiya Chie, Mashima felt like a true teacher in this school.
More importantly...
Kitagawa inconspicuously glanced toward the corridor outside the classroom. All the A-Class students were fixated on him, but thanks to his [Super Detective] talent, he could hear the faint sounds near the wall and windows.
Through a crack in the curtain, a few golden ahoge strands sparkled in the sunlight.
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