Despair.
Complete and utter despair.
One noisy voice after another poured into her ears, yet Horikita Suzune only felt a chill spread through her entire body.
She had actually been evaluated as being on the same level as people like this?
…If she had committed a sin, then punish her.
Don't throw her into a pile of trash like this.
Was transferring classes with twenty million points really the only path left?
No. She couldn't give up yet.
Her brother's increasingly complicated expression from yesterday flashed through her mind, and determination once again appeared in her eyes.
Her heart thumped wildly as she swept her gaze across her "classmates," who stirred her emotions beyond control.
"Please… lend me the money."
She bent deeply at the waist.
It was more humiliating than she had imagined, yet strangely, it didn't hurt as much as she thought it would.
Perhaps, little by little, she had lowered her pride while listening to their discussions.
Horikita Suzune bit her lip hard and waited silently for their response.
"..."
"..."
She remained bent over.
And in that moment, she killed every sound in Class D.
Mocking words.
Urging voices.
Sneering gazes.
Indifferent stares.
Everyone fell silent.
Except for Kōenji.
"Hahahahaha! Hahahaha! Horikita-girl, you're more interesting than I thought!" He laughed loudly, clearly entertained, flashing a brilliant smile. "In that case, I'll lend you five thousand points!"
No one paid any attention to Kōenji's words. Everyone already knew he was a weirdo.
So although he broke the silence, once his laughter faded, the classroom returned to a deathly stillness.
Until Hirata Yōsuke took a deep breath and turned around.
"...You've gone too far." His voice suddenly became heavy. "Horikita-san is clearly doing this for the sake of the class."
Without realizing it, his fists clenched tightly, his nails almost digging into his palms.
If this continued, he would probably lose his temper.
Sensing that, the gyaru beside him quickly spoke up to ease the tension.
"Hirata-kun's right. Don't be so harsh. Horikita-san is doing this for the class. And it's just two hundred thousand points, right? We get a hundred thousand every month, so it's not that scary."
With her taking the lead, others hurriedly followed.
"Y-Yeah, sorry, Horikita-san. We really went too far."
"Lift your head. Even if you didn't do this, we'd still pay."
Still, even as the atmosphere eased, a discordant voice remained.
"B-But… tomorrow it'll only be a hundred thousand…" Ike Kanji muttered quietly.
Though his voice was small, it was still clearly heard.
Hirata turned his head and looked straight at him.
"Hm?"
The pressure skyrocketed. Ike immediately shut up and shrank back.
He didn't want to be the one standing out.
"Tch, what a fake good guy." Ike backed down, but Yamauchi Haruki muttered resentfully under his breath.
It was just because acting nice made girls like him, right?
Still, no matter how dissatisfied the two were, the outcome wouldn't change.
One by one, the students transferred five thousand points to Hirata.
Though extremely unwilling, Yamauchi and Ike eventually paid as well.
After paying, they moved closer to Sudō Ken, who hadn't said a word the whole time.
"Hey, Ken, why didn't you back us up?"
"If you spoke up, Hirata wouldn't be anything!"
"..." Sudō, unusually calm, waved them off with a dark expression. "Shut up. Let them do whatever they want. It's none of my business."
"I'm really annoyed right now."
Yesterday, he had joined the basketball club.
He thought that even if his life and academics were a mess, as long as he had basketball, he could keep going.
In basketball, he wouldn't lose to anyone.
That was why he joined.
Then, the club captain turned on the screen in the clubroom and pointed at the people on it.
"Our goal is to defeat the 'Generation of Miracles.'"
He had heard that name before, but never looked into it.
With family issues already stressing him out, and with his focus entirely on basketball, Sudō had never cared about anything else.
Besides, he believed that in basketball, he wouldn't lose. There was no need to study anyone.
But maybe it was to crush their pride.
Or maybe to make them understand the gap.
The captain played footage of the Generation of Miracles' matches.
…That was when Sudō realized for the first time—
Basketball could be played like that.
What was that? What even was that?
Were they human? Could humans even do that?
It was awful.
If that was the case, didn't it mean he had nothing he could truly be proud of?
After tossing and turning all night, Sudō was still in a foul mood.
"Ugh…" Yamauchi and Ike pulled long faces.
Since they couldn't rely on Sudō, they wouldn't dare oppose things themselves.
Though annoyed about losing five thousand points, thinking about the hundred thousand they'd get next month made it more bearable.
Bored, they sat at their desks, watching the immoral teacher on the podium smile after receiving two hundred thousand points.
"Very well. I've received the points." Chabashira Sae nodded. "Now, as promised, I'll tell you about the special exam for the first month."
"'The Code of Conduct Exam.'"
"As the name suggests, it evaluates students' basic behavior. From being late or leaving early, to using phones in class or spacing out—any action that violates proper student conduct will be penalized."
"Roughly speaking… you've probably already lost over a hundred points." She tilted her head. "No, maybe even more."
"Your behavior over the past two days has exceeded my expectations. If it weren't for today, I might have suspected you'd become the worst Class D in this school's history."
It was only the third day.
At most, just over two days had passed, excluding the first day without classes.
Just from what she personally observed, more than a hundred points had been deducted.
And that didn't even include what the cameras recorded.
It was hard to imagine what their final result would look like at the end of the month.
"Code of Conduct Exam…"
"Being late and leaving early deducts points…"
"Already over a hundred points…"
The students froze, murmuring as they processed her words.
Then, almost everyone subconsciously turned to look at Yamauchi's group.
If they remembered correctly…
Weren't those three late and leaving early every single day?
"Hey, hey, why are you looking at me?! It's not my fault! It's the teacher's fault for not telling us from the start that this was an exam!" Feeling the silent pressure, Yamauchi struck back first. "And doesn't Kōenji never pay attention either?!"
Whether he was right or wrong didn't matter.
Blaming others first was always correct.
"Because it's an 'exam.'"
Suddenly, a light voice came from outside the door.
The next moment, standing there was a delicate silver-haired princess, as if she had stepped out of a fairy tale.
First-Year Class A—
Sakayanagi Arisu.
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