"I'll do my best," Renjiro replies in a flat monotone.
He takes the card. The plastic feels thick and heavy. His name and picture are printed clearly on the front.
Hoshinomiya skips back to the front of the room. She spins around on her heel to face the class again.
"Your student ID card acts exactly like a credit card," she explains, tapping the edge of her own card against her chin. "You just swipe it at the register when you want to buy something. It's super easy. The school uses a special currency called points. One point is worth exactly one yen."
She pauses for a second. Her smile grows just a fraction wider.
"And guess what? The school already put your allowance on your cards for this month. Every single one of you just received one hundred thousand points."
The classroom freezes.
Nobody moves and nobody speaks. The sheer weight of the number hangs heavily in the air.
"Huh?" a boy near the middle row finally breaks the silence.
"One hundred thousand?" Mako whispers next to Renjiro. She stares down at her small plastic card with wide, disbelieving eyes. "Wait. Does that mean we have one hundred thousand yen?"
"Yep!" Hoshinomiya giggles, clapping her hands again. "You guys are rich! The school automatically deposits points into your accounts on the first day of every month. You can spend them on whatever you want. Clothes, video games, fancy food. It's all yours!"
The classroom suddenly explodes.
Students talk over each other in loud, excited bursts. A boy in the front row pumps his fist in the air. Two girls near the window start laughing and pointing at the shopping mall map in their booklets. The noise level spikes rapidly, echoing off the concrete walls.
Renjiro just stares at his desk. He rubs his thumb slowly across the smooth plastic of the ID card.
One hundred thousand yen a month.
He runs the math again.
Forty students in Class B. That equals four million yen per month just for this room. Multiply that by four classes per grade, and then by three grade levels. The school hands out nearly fifty million yen every single month to teenagers.
It is a huge sum of money. A government-funded institution relies entirely on revenue collected from taxpayers. The government does not hand out millions of yen to fifteen-year-old kids just to buy video games and karaoke sessions. That completely defies basic economic logic.
Something is off.
"Sensei," a clear, confident voice rings out above the noise.
The chatter dies down slightly. Renjiro looks toward the center of the room. A beautiful girl with bright, strawberry-pink hair stands up from her desk. She holds her ID card in one hand and looks directly at Hoshinomiya with a polite, engaging smile.
"Is it really okay for us to receive this much money?" the pink-haired girl asks. "It seems like an awful lot for high school students. Are there any restrictions on what we can purchase?"
"Oh, good question!" Hoshinomiya points at her. "What's your name, cutie?"
"I'm Ichinose Honami."
"Well, Ichinose-san, there are zero restrictions!" Hoshinomiya winks, leaning against the podium. "You can buy anything sold on campus. The school evaluates its students' talents. You all passed the really hard entrance exam, right? That means you have high value. The points reflect your worth. The school believes you deserve it."
Ichinose nods slowly, though she still looks slightly unsure. She sits back down.
Renjiro watches the exchange. She has good instincts.
"If we don't spend all our points, do they roll over to the next month?" a boy asks from the opposite side of the room. He has sharp features and straight black hair. He looks serious, sitting with his back perfectly straight.