Starting in class B: Ayanokouji Kiyone

Arc 2 chapter 1: delayed income

Mornings in class 1-B were always lively, because most of the students were so talkative and friendly.

I took out my school-provide cell phone, launched the pre-installed school app, and logged in using my student ID and password. I then selected the option "Balance Inquiry" from the menu. From here, you could do many things. You could check your current personal balance, or you could see how many collective points the class had. There was also a function that enabled you to send points to another student.

There were 2 types of points listed. One of them was marked with a "cl" at the end, which was short for "class". These were also referred to as "class points"-not points that an individual student possessed, but rather, points that the class had accumulated together. Class D had zero points since June. No points at all. The other points were marked with a "pr" at the end, which stood for "private." These were our individual points.

On the first day of every month, they multiplied the cl points, or class points, by 100, then deposited that amount into our private point accounts. We used these private points to purchase daily necessities, meals, even electrical appliances. At this school, points are currency. They're very important.

If you didn't have any private points, you were forced to live day-to-day without spending money. You couldn't use real currency anywhere on campus.

When we first started here, we had 1000 class points.

If we had kept those points, we would have received 100,000-yen worth of points each month. Unfortunately, our class points fluctuated every day. Many things caused a reduction in points, like talking in class or getting a low score on a test. As a result, class B had 650 points when May came around. Things had continued in that vein until now, July 1.

In addition to determining our monthly allowance, the class points were used to measure our class's merit. The classes were ordered by class points, in descending order from A through D. So, in the event that class B managed to get enough points to surpass class A, our class would probably be promoted from B to A for the next month. Moreover, should we finally manage to get to class A, then we'd have the chance to attend the college of our choice, or to get the job we wanted.

When I first heard about this system, I thought it'd be important to accumulate as many class points as possible. Private points would grant us only personal satisfaction. However, Hoshinomiya-sensei, our homeroom teacher, had said that anything on campus could be purchased with private points. I wondered how far that extended. Could I buy my way into class A? Could I overturn an expulsion? Could I purchase a larger dormitory? If truly anything could be purchased, then the possibilities were almost endless.

Ergo, holding onto private points meant that it was possible to favourably change your situation.

"Good morning everyone. You all seem real restless today."

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

"Chie-sensei! Did we lose all our class points? When I checked this morning, I didn't see a single point deposited into my account!"

"Oh, so that's why you're all restless?"

"We worked real hard this past month! We passed the midterm, so why don't we have any points?! No one's been late or absent, and no one's talking during class, either!"

"Don't jump to conclusions. Listen to what I have to say first. You're correct, Himeno-san. You have all worked harder than ever before. I recognise that. Naturally, the school understand full well how you all feel."

After being admonished by the teacher, Himeno shut her mouth and sat back down.

"Well then. Without further ado, her are this month's point totals!"

She put a paper up on the board that listed the point values, starting with class A on the top.

Class 1-A: 1004
Class 1-B: 0745
Class 1-C: 0540
Class 1-D: 0087

Class B had increased their points the most, with 95 points more than last month. Class A now sat at 1004 points, slightly above where everyone had started when we were admitted.

"This is good. We're advancing faster than all the other classes."

My neighbour, Kanzaki Ryuuji, appeared solely focused on the other classes. However, most of the other class B students didn't care much about the other classes' points. The more important question for them was whether we had received more class points. That was it.

"Huh? Wait, 745? Does that mean we actually went up? Yahoo!"

A few students were excited when they saw our score.

"It's too early to celebrate. All the other classes saw a similar increase in their points. We didn't close the distance at all. This might just be a reward first-year students receive for getting through the midterm. Every class seems to have gotten nearly 100 points,"

"So that's what happened. I thought it odd that we'd been awarded so many points so quickly."

Kanzaki, who hoped to reach class A, appeared pleased with the results, but didn't celebrate.

"Are you disappointed because the gap between the classes only changed slightly, Kanzaki?" I asked.

"No, that's not it. Sensei, why didn't we get any points?"

He lobbed Ichinose's original question again back at Hoshinomiya-sensei. It was indeed strange that we hadn't received 74,500 points in our accounts.

"Well, this time there was a little trouble. The first-year students' point distribution was delayed. I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait a bit longer," she said.

"Huh? Seriously? If this is the school's fault, then shouldn't we get some kind of bonus compensation?"

A few students grumbled in discontent. Once they found out that they wouldn't be getting their points, their attitudes changed dramatically.

"Don't blame me. This was the school's decision, there's nothing I can do about it. Once the trouble has been resolved, you'll receive your points. If there are still points left, that is."

There was a deeper meaning behind Hoshinomiya-sensei's words.

Authors notes
1029 words
Yep pretty much copied from the ln.
Start of a new arc 🥳.
Not much else to say really
Hope you're all doing well and I hope you enjoyed