Check out advanced chapters on P@treon: [email protected]/CosmicKaminari
----------
[BIG CHAPTER]
And so, a few more days quietly passed, bringing them to the first day of the first week of June.
Last Friday, Chabashira had already announced Class D's exam results. The average score was 88 points, which was considered decent.
Since the ancient scrolls were brought out from the first week of the second month, no one in the class failed any single subject.
This result was actually within expectations. After all, they were given a full four weeks to study those ancient scrolls. If they still couldn't reach the passing line, then they probably weren't very suited for studying.
Because Akira had already figured out last month that the points arrived at 7 AM, he specifically held his phone in advance, quietly waiting for the system's deposit notification.
But until 7:30, the deposit information from the school remained elusive.
Hmm?!
Akira's heart skipped a beat, and his first reaction was: Class D couldn't have messed up again and had all their points deducted, could they?
But on second thought, it didn't seem that serious.
After all, they originally had 530 class points, plus the 88 points they could get from last month's midterm exam, which added up to over 650 points.
There's no way they'd deduct more than 600 points all at once! That's clearly not realistic.
'If something goes wrong here, my debt collection plan might also be affected.'
This was what Akira was most worried about.
According to the previous agreement, the entire Class D should've transferred a total of 1.26 million private points to him.
Once an accident occurred, it wouldn't just be Class D that suffered. His savings would also be affected.
However, the most urgent thing right now was to go to the classroom first.
He'd just received a notification from the class group that Chabashira-sensei was going to hold a class meeting again.
On the first morning of the first week of every month, Chabashira would always hold a class meeting, mainly to announce important matters for the current month and the class points.
Akira guessed that the homeroom teacher would probably announce some important news this time.
By the time he changed his clothes, had breakfast, and arrived at the Class D classroom, the other students were already complaining loudly.
"Have your points arrived?"
"No!"
"Yours haven't either? Mine too."
It seemed that it wasn't just his system that had a problem, but that all of Class D's points for this month hadn't been credited normally.
As Akira was pondering this matter, time unconsciously reached 8 o'clock, and the daily intelligence was refreshed on time:
[1. Sakura Airi of first-year Class D, her hidden identity is the gravure idol "Shizuku."]
[2. Kushida Kikyo of first-year Class D has been in a bad mood recently for not being able to become class representative, often kicking the door in front of the school rooftop, even kicking through a pair of shoes.]
[3. Ryuuen Kakeru of first-year Class C mentioned Shimizu Akira's name during a class meeting last night.]
Sakura was secretly an idol?
Her looks and figure were already outstanding, so being an idol was quite fitting.
Akira wasn't too surprised by this. After all, last month he vaguely felt that this classmate was deliberately hiding something. Just her decorative glasses without prescription already hinted at a deliberate cover-up.
In that case, the camera she was holding when he ran into her last time was probably for taking her own gravure photos.
Then look at the second piece of information.
Well, to some extent, it was also within his expectations.
But he didn't expect her to be so angry that she kicked through a pair of shoes. It seemed her displeasure about not becoming class representative was far greater than what she showed on the surface.
The last piece of information was a bit thought-provoking.
His name appeared in the intelligence again this time, and it was Ryuuen who actively mentioned him.
'Why did he mention my name?'
'He couldn't have discovered my true identity, could he?'
This thought flashed through Akira's mind, but after careful consideration, he felt it was unlikely.
After all, Shiina had been completely fooled by him last month. Since even Shiina didn't think he was the one manipulating the surveillance, it was naturally unlikely that she, who was assigned to investigate for Ryuuen, would make him associate it with this matter.
Would it be another reason? Or just a casual mention?
For example, Shiina might've casually mentioned that her assistant was Shimizu Akira, or Albert might've talked about a new boxing club member named Shimizu Akira. By logical deduction, Ryuuen most likely heard his name from these two people.
However, on the other hand, hearing his name from Ryuuen's mouth was in itself never a good thing.
That person was like a venomous snake hidden in the dark, very troublesome.
He only hoped this wouldn't cause any trouble.
Soon, just as the morning assembly was about to begin, Chabashira walked into the classroom.
"Chabashira-sensei, why haven't our private points been issued yet?"
"We clearly worked hard these past two months!"
"That's right! We've been desperately memorizing answers, and even English was memorized letter by letter!"
"Well, even if you were memorizing answers, you did indeed work hard for it." Chabashira responded calmly. "Effort always pays off. Last month, your average score was 88 points, so your class points increased by 88 points."
"That's great! Not only did everyone pass safely, but our class points also increased by 88 points!" Kushida in the class said with a relieved tone, as if a huge weight had been lifted.
"It's just a shame about the math problem. I don't know who was behind it, but they actually changed one of the questions! Otherwise, everyone would definitely have gotten that math question right!"
"The answer I wrote at the time was first-year Class D!"
"But when the test papers were distributed two days ago, the teacher announced the correct answer! It was first-year Class C."
"It must've been those people from Class C who did it on purpose! Their goal was to lower the average scores of the other classes!"
"Thinking about it, Ichinose from Class B doesn't seem like the type to do something like this. Sakayanagi from Class A is even less likely, especially since last month she even voluntarily told us the content of the ancient scrolls for free. So, it seems only Class C would have this motive!"
The students immediately started discussing, their voices buzzing in the classroom.
In fact, as early as when the test papers were distributed, everyone was dissatisfied with that particular question on the midterm exam.
Because of that question, almost all the students in the class answered it incorrectly, losing ten points at once.
This midterm exam had a total of five subjects, with a perfect score of 500 points.
Ten points, converted, accounted for exactly two percent of the total score. In other words, this question directly lowered the class's average score by 2 points.
Looking at just 2 points of class points, it doesn't seem like much, but the problem with the question itself was really infuriating. It directly asked which of the four classes would ultimately be promoted to Class A. Any student with a bit of collective consciousness would most likely answer their own class, but it was judged wrong, and the correct answer was first-year Class C.
As a result, many students in Class D had already begun to suspect that Class C was behind it, deliberately using this method to annoy other classes and, along the way, lower everyone's average score.
But was this really a tactic that Class C could've pulled off?
Not necessarily. They really didn't need to do that.
Akira didn't think they'd be that foolish.
Ryuuen wasn't an idiot. He should know better than anyone how stupid it'd be to include such a question in a public test paper and set the correct answer as first-year Class C. This was undoubtedly no different from openly mocking the other three classes.
After all, it was still far from the time for Class C to become Class A. Even if he really wanted to mock others, he should wait until he truly reached the top.
In the third month, a stage that required steady and solid development, openly offending other classes would definitely be more detrimental than beneficial for Class C, not to mention that this was only two class points.
Ryuuen was a smart person and would never make such a losing deal.
So the answer was obvious: someone was deliberately targeting and framing Ryuuen.
It was ten to nine the good deed of that "Chattering Cat." It seemed this play was specially arranged by her for him to see.
With that thought, Akira also realized another key point. Chattering Cat only changed one question.
Because five questions totaled one million points, one question naturally only cost two hundred thousand private points.
In other words, she used only two hundred thousand private points to completely ruin the reputation of first-year Class C.
Her tactic was very clever.
Currently, Class D had already started to develop a sense of resistance toward Class C.
If Akira remembered correctly, Class B was also disgusted by Ryuuen's hooliganism for quite some time last month, so it's likely that the relationship between Class B and Class C was already not good.
As for Class A's attitude, although unclear, at least between Class B and Class C, if described with game values, their favorability would probably have to start from -20.
"Alright, I'm not done speaking yet. You can discuss these questions after class. Now, I'll first announce the class points situation for each class this month." Chabashira cleared her throat and pulled out a slip of paper from her pocket. "Class A currently has 1035 points, Class B has 870 points, Class C has 710 points, and Class D has 590 points."
"Wait, last month we were clearly at 530 points. Plus 88 points, it should be 618 points. How did we lose 28 points?" A student immediately raised a question.
"Because some students in the class slept in class and played with their phones. These are the corresponding deducted points. Other classes also had some points deducted. This kind of thing is inevitable." Chabashira explained expressionlessly.
"So that's how it is."
"Even Class A had points deducted? Then that's acceptable."
This reason was somewhat plausible. Compared to more significant issues like truancy or tardiness, occasionally dozing off in class or secretly checking one's phone was somewhat understandable. After all, no one is a saint, and sometimes after eating carbs for lunch, it's easy to feel sleepy and lazy.
Akira opened his notebook, which recorded the points situation for each class last month and this month:
Second month: Class A 950 points, Class B 790 points, Class C 640 points, Class D 530 points.
Third month: Class A 1035 points, Class B 870 points, Class C 710 points, Class D 590 points.
Compared to last month, the growth of each class was as follows: Class A increased by 85 points, Class B by 80 points, Class C by 70 points, and Class D only by 60 points.
Overall, all classes were progressing. Especially Class A, which was far ahead, having broken through the thousand-point mark first, with almost double the points of Class D.
A 60-point increase, while seemingly steady progress, appeared somewhat lacking in momentum when compared horizontally across the four classes.
Class A's 85-point increase was like a chasm, widening the gap even further.
At this rate of growth, it could almost be certain that Class A would most likely graduate with the best results.
But the school probably wouldn't sit idly by and let this situation continue.
'This month's and last month's special exams were both non-confrontational, so it was reasonable for Class A to have an advantage.'
Non-confrontational special exams: exams that test academic ability and other basic skills, where Class A has the most advantage.
If other classes wanted to catch up to Class A, this steady exam model clearly wouldn't work.
The only chance was through zero-sum game special exams. That is, they had to take away class points that rightfully belonged to Class A while increasing their own class points. Only with such an increase and decrease could they truly win against Class A.
It was just unknown when the school would hold such a special exam.
Chabashira's words continued. "Oh, by the way, to explain why your points haven't arrived yet. There was a dispute this time, so the first-year points will all be delayed."
"This is a decision by the school, and my authority as a homeroom teacher is limited. After the dispute is resolved, the school should issue the points. However, I can't say for sure if the class points for this class will still be the original amount then."
Chabashira left these meaningful words and then announced the end of the morning assembly.
'Dispute?'
At the mention of a dispute, Akira first thought of the student council.
After all, in this school, the student council was responsible for handling various dispute matters.
Moreover, Chabashira-sensei specifically emphasized "homeroom teacher's rights are limited," which clearly hinted that the student council held the main authority.
It seemed that to find out the truth of the matter, he'd have to ask the student council president.
After all, this matter concerned his 1.26 million points, so Akira couldn't help but be a bit more serious.
He turned his head and asked his deskmate. "Is your brother free after school today?"
Horikita was startled by the question, then replied, "I don't know."
Although her relationship with her brother had indeed eased somewhat after visiting the student council last month, as her respected brother, Horikita Manabu, had said, he'd send her a few messages every week, but it was limited to that.
Her brother had never mentioned his schedule to her, and she herself didn't dare to ask.
However, after a moment of daze, she also understood Akira's unspoken meaning. He probably thought that this dispute was being handled by the student council and was related to her brother?
"...I just asked, and your brother is free after school today." Akira added casually at this moment.
Horikita felt an inexplicable discomfort in her heart again.
Why did her brother reply instantly when he sent a message?
She knew that messages she sent to her brother often took two or three hours to receive a reply.