Volume 2: Chapter 5.1 - The Beginning of Our Troubles

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Mornings in Class D were always lively, mostly because the students were far from studious. Today, they were about to be even more raucous than usual.

The reason was obvious. We were about to finally get points for the first time since we’d come to this school.

“Good morning, everyone. You all seem more restless than usual today.”

Chabashira-sensei strode into the classroom as the homeroom bell rang.

“Sae-chan-sensei! Do we have zero points again this month? When I checked this morning, I didn’t see a single point deposited into my account!”

“Oh, so that’s why you’re all so restless?”

“We worked ourselves half to death this past month! We passed the midterm, so why are we still at zero points? No one’s been late or absent, and no one’s talked during class, either!”

Ike voiced the class's frustrations, demanding an explanation.

“Don’t jump to conclusions. You’re correct, Ike. You have all worked harder than ever before. I recognize that. Naturally, the school understands how you all feel.”

Chabashira-sensei put a paper up on the board that listed the point values, starting with Class A at the top. Excluding Class D, all of the other classes had nearly 100 more points than last month. Class A now sat at 770 points, with Classes B and C very close behind.

Written next to Class D was our point total: 87 points.

“Huh? 87? Does that mean we actually went up? Yahoo!”

Ike jumped excitedly up and down the instant he saw our score.

“Don’t celebrate too early, Ike. All the other classes saw a similar increase in their points. This was just a reward first-year students receive for getting through the midterm.”

I glanced at Horikita, curious what she made of all this. Given how badly she wanted to reach Class A, I expected her to be laser-focused on the results.

But to my surprise, she wasn’t even looking at the board. She seemed lost in thought, detached from everything happening around her.

“Horikita? Are you all right?” I asked.

She didn’t answer. I gently shook her shoulder, trying to elicit a response.

She flinched slightly, then turned to glare at me. “What do you want?”

“You seem off today. Normally you’d be poring over these results. But now, it’s like you don’t even care. Did something happen?”

Horikita blinked, as if just remembering where she was, then slowly turned her gaze toward the sheet at the front of the room.

“Oh… yes. I suppose it’s a good sign we managed to secure something this time.”
She paused, her voice trailing off. “But…”

Before she could finish, a voice cut through the air.

“Wait, Sae-chan-sensei,” Ike blurted out, raising his hand. “If we actually have 87 class points, then how come we didn’t get anything this morning?”

He lobbed his original question again. It was indeed strange that we hadn’t received 8700 private points in our accounts.

“Well, this time there was a little trouble. The first-year students’ point distribution has been delayed. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait a bit longer,” Chabashira-sensei said.

“Huh? Seriously? If this is the school’s fault, then shouldn’t we get some kind of bonus as compensation?”

The students grumbled in discontent. Once they found out that they would be getting their points, their attitudes had changed dramatically. There was a significant difference between 87 points and no points.

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