By a strange twist of fate, Sakayanagi’s seat was directly to the left of Mamoru’s.
“What a coincidence.” “Yeah, it really is.” Mamoru returned her smile with a polite one of his own, though internally he was suffering a slight shock: ‘Are you kidding me?’ Since it was still early in the morning, only a few classmates were present, but as time went on, students trickled in, bringing the room to life.
Among them, Sakayanagi—sitting right beside him—stood out the most.
Being a delicate, strikingly beautiful girl, she naturally drew a great deal of attention.
Quite a few classmates actively came over to strike up a conversation with her.
Because a crowd formed right next to him, several students naturally drifted toward Mamoru and struck up conversations with him as well.
Mamoru handled them with harmless small talk, all the while calmly observing his surroundings.
‘For an elite school, everyone seems surprisingly normal.’ Given the school’s premise of nurturing exceptional individuals, he had assumed it would be filled with rigid, hyper-ambitious elites, but talking to them proved they were just ordinary high schoolers.
Before long, the morning chime rang, and a man who appeared to be their homeroom teacher entered the room.
He was a stern-looking man whose broad, solid frame was obvious even through his suit.
“Nice to meet you, freshmen.
I am Tomoya Mashima, the homeroom teacher for Class A.
I teach English.
Since this school does not reshuffle classes between academic years, I will generally be your homeroom teacher for the next three years.
In one hour, the entrance ceremony will begin in the gymnasium, but before that, I will explain the rules of this school.” With that, materials were handed out to everyone in the class, and the explanation began.
First came the basic details everyone already knew before enrolling: a complete prohibition on contacting the outside world for three years.
Then came the introduction of the school’s unique system—the S-System.
“I will now distribute your student ID cards.
These serve as identification and are also required to use campus facilities, so be careful not to lose them.
Points are accumulated on these cards, and on campus, these points replace physical currency.
You can think of it as a credit card.
Anything available on school grounds can be purchased with points, so keep that in mind.” Anything available on school grounds can be purchased.
Mamoru didn’t miss the subtle emphasis placed on those words.
“One point holds the value of one yen, and points are distributed on the first of every month.
As for you freshmen, every single one of you has already been issued 100,000 points.” That statement instantly sent a stir through the classroom.
“You may be surprised by the amount, but this school measures its students by merit.
These points are the result of evaluating your potential and worth as incoming students.
Feel free to spend them as you see fit.
However, note that all points will be collected upon graduation and cannot be converted into cash.” The students, who had initially felt suspicious about receiving 100,000 yen, instantly brightened up the moment they heard it was an evaluation of their worth.
Though everyone listened to the rest of the explanation in silence, the air in the classroom grew distinctly lighthearted.
Yet, amid this festive atmosphere, Mamoru knit his brows.
‘Ah…
I see.
So it’s that kind of school.
In that case, what the Chairman meant was…’ “How you use your points is entirely up to you.
Saving them, lending them out, or transferring them to others is all permitted.
However, extortion and similar acts are strictly forbidden.
Bullying and harassment will be severely punished on campus.
That concludes the explanation.
Are there any questions?” After confirming that no one was raising their hand in response to Mr.
Mashima’s call, Mamoru quietly raised his.
“Gojo, is it?
What is it?” It seemed the homeroom teacher had already memorized his students’ names and faces.
Without even glancing at the roster, he spat the name out smoothly the moment he locked eyes with him.
“Earlier, you mentioned that anything could be purchased as long as we have points.
Does that apply to things other than physical items?” ‘Honestly, there’s only one thing I want to verify, but asking directly might make me look weird to the people around me.’ “For example, rights.
Things like asking you for private supplementary lessons, requesting permission to use the gym or pool on off-days…
or asking you to overlook being a minute late.” To most people, it was an utterly bewildering question.
Hardly anyone voluntarily took extra lessons, and even without using the main school gym, the campus was fully equipped with commercial fitness centers and swimming pools—they could just use those.
In truth, the first two examples meant nothing to Mamoru.
They were merely smoke screens so he wouldn’t seem like a weirdo if his deeper underlying theory turned out to be wrong.
The critical part was the third one: whether it was possible to use points to get tardiness forgiven, even by a single minute.
‘If that’s possible, there’s a chance we can buy attendance days too.
That would make moving around behind the scenes a lot easier.’ “It is possible.” And the answer aligned perfectly with Mamoru’s deduction.
“In that case, could you provide us with a list or price sheet for those rights?” “Hmph…” It was likely an unexpected question.
Mashima’s expression turned rigid; though he opened his mouth to reply, he hesitated, carefully picking his words.
“…Regrettably, no such list exists.
If there is something you need, inquire on a case-by-case basis.
Why do you want such a list?” “No deep reason.
I just thought that if an unexpected situation arose—like being unable to attend class due to illness or an accident—and points could resolve it, having a list like that would be useful.
It would be a shame if my absence dragged down the class’s evaluation.” In reality, he asked this expecting he might have to miss classes due to Curse-related incidents in the future.
However, Mamoru felt that asking directly if he could “buy days off with money (points)” would make him look like an irresponsible student and create a bad reputation.
Hence, he asked for a price list in a roundabout manner.
But that statement turned out to be far more troublesome for Mashima than Mamoru had anticipated.
“Dragged down the class’s evaluation, you say?
…Did someone tell you about this school before you enrolled?” “Huh?
No, I don’t know anything beyond what was in the school brochure.” “…Then why did you assume your absence would drag down the class’s evaluation?” “Well, based on what you told us earlier, I assumed that was standard…” “Based on what I told you?” His pronoun had slipped from the formal watashi to the informal ore.
He had likely been trying to keep up a professional teacher facade in front of the new students, but he was evidently rattled enough to break character.
To Mamoru, it felt like an obvious conclusion that the rest of his classmates should have picked up on too.
However, as the other students directed glances at him that practically said, “What is this guy talking about?”, Mamoru continued with a trace of confusion.
“Yes.
Based on what you said, these 100,000 points are the result of our evaluation, right?
If so, I assumed the monthly point distribution would fluctuate based on student performance as well.
Was I mistaken?” Logically speaking, giving every student 100,000 yen every month for three years until graduation was unthinkable.
Well, perhaps it wasn’t completely impossible for a school backed by such enormous funding, but it was far too large a sum to give out as mere pocket money.
Since dormitory utilities were free, the remaining amount would be excessively high even after deducting living expenses.
On top of that, Mashima’s earlier explanation had placed subtle emphasis on words like “evaluation” and “worth.” So, to Mamoru, arriving at this conclusion was only natural…
or so he thought.
Yet for some reason, his classmates looked utterly dumbfounded.
Seeing Sakayanagi beside him holding back an amused smile only added to his growing unease that he might have said something wrong.
“…” Mashima offered no response.
‘What’s going on?
Did I overthink things because I was on guard after hearing this was a special school?
Are they staring because they think I’m an idiot?’ While Mamoru felt increasingly uneasy in the silence, his deduction was, in fact, spot on.
However—unbeknownst to him—school rules explicitly prohibited teachers from explaining the details of this system to students right after enrollment.
Therefore, as an instructor, Mashima couldn’t deny it since Mamoru wasn’t wrong, but school regulations prevented him from explicitly confirming it either.
“…Supposing your deduction is correct, what made you think evaluations are handled on a class-by-class basis?” In the end, Mashima chose to dodge giving a direct answer and responded with another question instead.
‘Ah, ops.
It’s not that I’m wrong—this is something he’s not allowed to talk about.’ Mashima’s evasive response gave it away.
It was likely against school rules to explain it at this point in time.
Seeing Mashima put in a tough spot, Mamoru felt a slight pang of guilt.
At this point, he was practically certain his deduction was correct and wanted to drop the subject, but leaving the teacher’s question unanswered would look unnatural.
“…Since this is an educational institution, I figured that alongside individual performance, group teamwork would also be evaluated.” Why am I giving such a long-winded speech when I thought this was just a quick question?
Mamoru felt a wave of resignation wash over him.
“Additionally, on my way to school, I noticed quite a few new students who seemed…
rather unruly, if I’m being frank.
Despite that, this class is composed of relatively calm and collected individuals.
That led me to believe students were split into classes and ranked based on their entry performance.” Truth be told, that wasn’t the only reason Mamoru had arrived at this conclusion.
It was also the sheer number of Curses he had spotted upon entering the campus.
Seeing them made him predict that there was undoubtedly a system within this school that created disparities among students.
Combining that prediction with the point system brought him to the idea of class-based point rankings.
Unaware of it himself, it was precisely because he was a sorcerer on high alert for a “special school” that he had managed to notice it so quickly.
“I see…
Impressive analytical skills.
However, my apologies.
We need to prepare for the entrance ceremony, so I cannot spare any more time right now.
Come see me after the ceremony if you have further questions.” In the end, Mashima decided to postpone answering the question.
“Understood.” ‘Sorry for asking such a troublesome question’ Mamoru apologized inwardly with folded hands as he gave his assent.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Author’s Note: Right now, something I’m subtly bothered by is whether Class A was aware of how the S-System worked right from the start.
At the very least, Sakayanagi definitely realized it, but was that information shared with the rest of the class?
Was the information shared and they still lost points, or was it not shared and they managed to keep their point loss that low purely through sheer natural ability?
Personally, I lean toward the idea that she shared the information, but they still couldn’t prevent point deductions completely.
However, I haven’t found any clear descriptions in the original work to back that up.
If anyone happens to have solid evidence or arguments for either side, I would greatly appreciate it if you could share!
For reference, the two main reasons I lean toward this theory are: * Class A kept far too many points for a group that supposedly didn’t know how the system worked.
* From the start of the story until Sakayanagi’s official appearance, Katsuragi was the main one taking action during special exams and such.
Yet Sakayanagi had already gathered massive influence—meaning she must have achieved something huge early on.
Other than revealing the system, I can’t think of anything else that could count as such a major achievement before the special exams.