A Tyrant's Will

Volume 1: Chapter 6.1 - Classroom of the Elite

It was May 1st, the first day of the new month. The entire class was discussing the amount of points they received this morning. Some people asked me questions as well, but I simply ignored them. Everything would be explained soon anyways.

The bell soon rang. Sakagami walked into the room carrying a rolled-up poster, but instead of donning his usual stern and stoic expression, a part of his lips were curved into a slight smile.

"Good morning, class. Your morning homeroom is about to begin. Before we get started, does anyone have any questions? Now is the time to ask."

"Sensei, is it true that the amount of points we receive is deducted based on our behavior during class?" Sonoda asked.

"Correct. The reason why you received fewer points this time around was because of your less than exemplary behavior during lessons."

"I paid attention and never once used my phone during class, but the amount of points I received was also reduced. Why does everyone in the class get the same number of points? Isn't that unfair to the well-behaved students?"

"In junior high, our results are based on our own behavior and effort. Why should the actions of others impact me as well?" Kaneda added.

"You do have a point, Kaneda. But in this school, the entire class is evaluated as one, and everyone shares the same fate. Even though you and a couple other students paid attention, the fact that others misbehaved dragged you down."

"Man. Are you saying if everyone behaved better, we could have received the 100,000 yen like before? That's kinda lame," a student blurted out.

"How were we supposed to know? This isn't fair at all," another student complained.

"Why are you all so dissatisfied? It's true you lost points, but you still received a sizable amount. Besides, you all should have some points left over from the first month. I did tell you all not to overindulge yourselves on the first day. If you didn't heed my warning, then you only have yourselves to blame."

Several of the students looked at each other with guilty expressions.

"You had a total of 24 absences and late arrivals, as well as 71 incidents of talking or using phones during class. In this school, your class's results are reflected in the points that you receive. As a result, you lost a part of the 100,000 points given to you in the first month," Sakagami explained.

"Why didn't you tell us this before, Sakagami-sensei? If you mentioned that talking or using our phones in class would decrease our points, then everyone would have behaved from the very beginning." Suzuki expressed his dissatisfaction.

"Why should I explain something so obvious? You all are high-schoolers, are you not? Didn't you learn that you shouldn't talk in class or use your phones? Even elementary and middle schoolers understand this fact. Why do I have to explicitly tell you to pay attention for you to start acting like actual students? That's a flimsy argument." Sakagami mercilessly shut down his question.

"That's—"

Suzuki started speaking, but stopped when he realized he couldn't argue against Sakagami's solid reasoning.

"I hope you all didn't think you'd simply receive 100,000 points every month with no strings attached. This is a school established by the Japanese government for the sole purpose to shape the country's future leaders and train its students. Nothing comes easy in this world," Sakagami continued.

"Can you tell us how points are deducted? It would be nice to know this information for future reference," Kaneda said.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you. Teachers aren't allowed to disclose the school's methods in evaluating the students."