May 11, 2026.
Monday noon. The cafeteria was packed with students. The noise was a loud, constant hum of voices and clinking silverware.
Reine sat alone at a small table near a thick concrete pillar. Her table was fifteen meters away from the main group of Class D. She looked down at her lunch tray. The school served premium food.
Today, she had a thick cut of roasted pork, a bowl of steamed rice, and a side of fresh vegetables. It tasted like something from a high-end restaurant.
It was a strange reality. Her entire class had zero points in their accounts. They were bankrupt in the school system but they did not eat like poor people. They did not scavenge for cheap bread or instant noodles. The tuition paid by the students' parents in the outside world covered all physical needs. The dorms were pristine. The electricity was free and the food was top tier.
For everything else, the school provided a digital Yen allowance. It was a strict, uniform amount loaded onto their student ID's every month. It did not matter how much money a student's family had in the real world. External wealth was blocked at the front gates to keep the board even. This fixed allowance was the only currency they could use for non-primary items. If a student wanted a sweet coffee at the cafe, clothes from the mall, or a can of soda from a vending machine, they scanned their ID and used that specific digital Yen.
The SC points were not meant for survival. They were meant for war. And right now, Class D was losing that war badly.
Reine took a bite of the pork. She chewed slowly and watched the center of the cafeteria.
Most of Class D sat together at three pushed-together tables. Hirano Yui was in the middle. She smiled and talked with the girls around her, trying to keep the mood light. Kariya Sho sat across from her. He was laughing, leading the boys in a loud conversation about video games.
At the far end of their table sat Kato Kenji. He was hunched over his handheld console, mashing buttons. He blended into the background, completely ignoring the noise around him.
Then, a group of five students walked into the cafeteria.
They wore the standard uniform, but they carried themselves differently. Their backs were straight. Their chins were high. They did not carry food trays because they were not here to eat.
They were from Class A.
Reine watched them walk straight toward the Class D tables. The leader of the group was a tall boy with slicked-back hair. He had a cruel, arrogant smile on his face. The four students behind him copied his confident walk.
The tall boy stopped right behind Kariya. He crossed his arms.
"Wow!" the tall boy said. His voice was loud. He wanted people to hear him. "Look at this. You guys are really enjoying your lunch, huh?"
Kariya stopped laughing. He put his fork down on his plate and turned around in his chair. "Yeah. We are. What do you want?"
"Oh, nothing much," the tall boy said, shrugging his shoulders. "Just checking on our property. You know how it is. We have to make sure our investments are doing well."
The four Class A students behind him chuckled.
The chatter at the Class D tables died down. The girls stopped smiling. The boys frowned.
"What are you talking about?" a boy from Class D asked as he glared at the group.
The tall boy smirked. He leaned forward and rested his hands on the back of Kariya's chair. "I'm talking about the seats. We bought nine of your chairs. Class B and Class C bought the rest. You guys don't even own the ground you sit on. Every single month, you bleed ten thousand points each seat just to exist in our shadow. We basically own you."
Kariya's face turned red. He gripped the edge of the table. "Shut up! You just got lucky with the rules."
"Lucky?" A girl from Class A stepped forward. She laughed. It was a high, mocking sound. "We didn't get lucky. We just aren't stupid. We paid attention and we didn't sleep in class. We didn't play on our phones like a bunch of children. You guys earned your zero points."
"You earned the title," the tall boy added. He looked around the table, making eye contact with as many Class D students as possible. "Defectives. That is what you are. The school gathered all the trash, put you in one room, and labeled it Class D."
A loud scrape echoed across the floor.
Sugimoto Ken stood up. His chair fell backward and hit the ground hard. His hands were curled into tight fists. He stepped toward the tall boy. The veins in his neck popped out.
"Say that again," Sugimoto growled. "I dare you!"
The tall boy did not step back. He smiled wider. "I said you are a defective. What are you going to do about it? Hit me?"
Sugimoto raised his fist.
"Stop!" Hirano jumped up from her seat. She rushed around the table and grabbed Sugimoto's arm. She pulled him back with all her weight. "Don't do it, Sugimoto-kun! Please!"
"Let go!" Sugimoto yelled, trying to shake her off. "I'm going to break his nose!"
"If you hit him, you get expelled!" Kariya shouted. He stood up and grabbed Sugimoto's other arm. Two other boys rushed over to help hold the muscular delinquent back. "They want you to hit them! Don't be stupid!"
The tall boy sighed dramatically and shook his head. "So violent. But what do you expect from animals? You can't even afford to pay your rent next month. You're all going to get expelled anyway. Maybe we should just let him punch me so he can leave early."
The Class A girl laughed again. "It would save us the trouble of looking at them."
"You rich snobs think you are so great," a Class D girl cried out from the table. She had tears in her eyes. "Leave us alone!"
"We will," the tall boy said. He uncrossed his arms and turned around. "We just wanted to see what failure looked like up close. Enjoy your free food, defectives. It's the only thing the school is going to give you."
The five Class A students walked away. They laughed and joked with each other as they headed toward the exit.
Class D was left in silence. Sugimoto breathed heavily as he glared at the cafeteria doors. Hirano let go of his arm. Her hands were shaking. She looked down at the floor. Kariya kicked a chair in frustration.
At the far end of the table, Kato just kept playing his game.
Reine watched the entire scene from her isolated table as she chewed her food.
The tactic is clear, Reine thought. Class A wants to break our morale before the midterms. If Class D is angry, stressed, and focused on revenge, we won't study. If we don't study, we will fail the tests. If we fail the tests, we will default on our rent and get expelled. It is a clean, vicious strategy.
That was only the beginning.
In the afternoon of the same day (Monday), the final bell rang. Reine packed her bag. She slung it over her shoulder and turned toward the door.
Hirano walked over and stopped in front of Hori's desk. She looked upset.
"Hori-san," Hirano started, keeping her voice low. "I'm going to the Student Council. We need to report what happened during lunch. That was harassment. They can't treat us like that."
Hori paused. He zipped his bag shut and stood up.
"We share the same objective," Hori replied coldly. "I'm already planning to file a formal complaint."
Reine took a step toward the aisle. She wanted to return to the dorms.
A warm hand clamped down on her wrist. Reine stopped and looked down. Hirano was holding her arm tightly.
"Please come with us, Asakura-san," Hirano pleaded. "We need witnesses."
Reine stared at the grip on her wrist. She was not interested. She did not want to get involved. Going to the Student Council was a complete waste of time. She had read the black rulebook from cover to cover on the very first day. She knew the boundaries. Class A had not crossed them.
But pulling her arm away would cause problems. Refusing the most popular girl in class right after a stressful event would generate too much social friction. People would talk. It would ruin her quiet background presence.
I guess I have no choice, Reine thought.
"Okay," Reine muttered.
Hirano let go of her wrist, offering a weak, grateful smile.
The three of them walked to the Student Council room on the second floor.
Hori knocked thrice, then he opened the door.
The room was large and pristine. A familiar female student sat behind a huge wooden desk. A male secretary stood quietly by the filing cabinets.