COTE: Someone Extraordinary (Kiyotaka x Honami)

Arc 1 Chapter 5: Classroom of the Elite

Part 1

The bell rang announcing our first class of May. Today was supposed to be another joyous occasion, as it was the day that our points were scheduled to be allotted. However, the class was instead engulfed in a silent cloud of worry and anxiety. It was fairly obvious to me as to why this was.

It was a given that Hoshinomiya-sensei would arrive at class either exuberant and cheerful or drunk as a skunk. Today though, she strode in with a much sterner expression than we were all used to.

"All right, your morning homeroom is about to begin. Before we get started, does anyone have any questions?" She spoke similar to her usual kind tone, but her words were ever so slightly sharper and her smile was much less fake and appeared thinner. She seemed convinced already that at least someone would want questions to be answered. Ichinose immediately raised her hand.

"Yes, Ichinose-san~?"

"Sensei, I think the whole class is wanting some sort of clarification regarding the number of points we got this morning. We were supposedly due to get another 100,000 right? Everyone in class B only received 65,000. Has there been some mistake?"

Hoshinomiya-sensei continued to smile sweetly at Ichinose before she blinked a few times deliberately as if she was trying to process what she had said.

"Sensei?" Ichinose asked concerned.

Sensei then chuckled to herself before clapping lightly.

"Hehe~, well done, well done! It seems that for the most part you have all been very well behaved this past month! I'm honestly a little surprised, Class B rarely does this well in the first month."

Ichinose made a confused expression and looked at the people around her for help. I'd checked my point balance this morning as well, and saw that I'd only been given 65,000 points.

"What do you mean Sensei?" Shibata called out.

"Didn't I tell you at the start of term, Class 1-B~?"

I was starting to get a slightly ominous vibe from her. Although she was still smiling sweetly at us, Hoshinomiya-sensei was becoming more and more baleful. At the same time, it seemed like she was also trying to compliment us, in a roundabout way.

"Yes sensei! You said we'd get 100,000 points a month! Now please stop with these weird words and tell us what's going on!" Tabata suddenly lashed out.

Hoshinomiya-sensei shot Tabata a sinister-looking glare just for a moment, before returning to normal again. I don't think the majority of people noticed though.

"Ahhh, But I don't remember saying that explicitly now do I, Tabata-kun. Did I ever say you were going to get 100,000 points per month? If you search your memory, you will most definitely not hear me say that."

"What? You never said that?" Tabata said his eyes going wide in shock.

"Of course, I didn't. What I said was that you are all examined based on your value and you're worth."

Now I get it.

"Sensei, I recall you mentioning that, but what does that have to do with the class having their allowances reduced?" Ichinose asked. Even now Ichinose was trying to take the initiative.

"It's just the way the school has evaluated you. Last month you were all given 100,000 points as you all met our standards for admission. Now that the school has evaluated you all further, it has been decided you are collectively worth less than before."