The Prodigy - Classroom Of The Elite

On May 1st, the day didn't start off great for me. I ended up waking up late, which is something that hasn't happened since I moved here. The culprit? Staying up way too late watching anime.

Here's a tip: if you have school the next morning, resist the urge to binge-watch anime. It's super tempting and addictive!

But hey, watching Bleach is totally worth it, right?

On a more serious note, I noticed something odd. The school said we'd get a point allocation of about 100,000 at the start of each month, but I haven't received mine yet. I still have 85,100 points left from last month. It's a bit puzzling, but I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of it once I head to school today.

When I finally arrived at school, the bell rang just as I walked into the classroom. I let out a huge sigh of relief walking in.

"Good morning, Hayashi-Kun," Hirata said with a friendly smile.

"Good morning," I replied, heading straight to my seat.

"Is it just me, or does the class feel a bit off today?" I asked, looking over at Horikita and Ayanokoji.

"No, you're right. It's definitely different than usual," Ayanokoji agreed.

"Did either of you get the monthly point allocation?" I inquired.

"No..." Ayanokoji started to say, but before he could continue, Chiyabashira-sensei walked into the room with a rolled-up poster in her hand. Her face looked even more serious than it usually does.

"Hey, sensei, did you start menopause or something?" Ike blurted out.

I don't condone violence, but seriously, can I smack him for that joke?

"All right, class, we're about to start the morning homeroom. Before we dive in, does anyone have questions? Now's your chance to ask," she said, ignoring Ike's comment and maintaining her serious demeanor.

As soon as Chiyabashira-sensei asked if anyone had questions, a bunch of hands shot up. Clearly, there were a lot of students with queries.

"Um, I checked my point balance this morning, and I noticed there weren't any new deposits. Aren't points supposed to be added on the first of every month? I couldn't even get my morning juice," Hondou said, sounding concerned.

"Hondou, I've explained this before, haven't I? Points are indeed deposited on the first day of the month. I've confirmed that everything went smoothly this month," Chiyabashira-sensei replied.

"But... nothing showed up in my account," Hondou continued, his confusion mirrored by everyone else, including me. Though I wasn't as desperate for points as Ike, it was odd not to receive them as we should have.

"Are you kids really that dumb?" Chiyabashira-sensei's blunt question stung.

"Dumb? What?" Hondou repeated, clearly baffled. From my seat at the back, I watched this exchange with a mix of detachment and growing curiosity.

Chiyabashira-sensei's sharp retort highlighted her no-nonsense attitude. "Sit down, Hondou. I'll go over it again," she instructed, making it clear there was no room for debate.

"S-Sae-chan-sensei?" Hondou stammered, sitting back down. The tension in the room was palpable, something I had expected given my doubts about the school's point system.

"Points were indeed deposited. I can assure you of that. There's absolutely no way anyone in this class was overlooked. Thinking otherwise is just silly. Got it?" she continued, her firm words doing little to ease the growing unease among us. My own doubts were becoming more concrete.

Hondou, still not satisfied, echoed what many of us were feeling. "Even if we say we get it, we still haven't seen any points..."

Then, Kouenji's laughter echoed through the room. "Ha ha ha! I understand now, teacher. I think I've cracked the mystery," he said, his arrogance annoying but hard to ignore.

"It's quite simple. We're in Class D, so we didn't get any points," he said with the kind of smugness only Kouenji could pull off.

"What? That's not right! They told us we'd receive 100,000 points every month—" Hondou tried to argue, but Kouenji's laughter drowned him out.

"I don't recall hearing that. Do you?" Kouenji asked, pointing directly at Chiyabashira-sensei. Despite his attitude, his words made me think.

"As much as Kouenji's attitude might be annoying, he's right. I dropped some hints, but hardly anyone picked up on them. It's disappointing," Chiyabashira-sensei said, confirming my suspicions about the school.

It made me wonder, why would the school give us such a large amount of money, like 100,000 points, every month?

In the midst of the classroom's chaos, Hirata spoke up, his voice calm and steady. "Sensei, may I ask you something? I'm still confused." Hirata's leadership was something I admired; he voiced the confusion we all felt.

"Could you explain why we didn't receive any points? We can't fully understand unless you tell us," Hirata requested.

"There were ninety-eight absences and late arrivals. Three hundred ninety-one instances of talking or using a cell phone in class. These are quite a few infractions for just one month. In this school, your class's performance is reflected in the points you receive. Because of these infractions, you lost all the 100,000 points you were supposed to get. That's what happened."

"I should have explained this during the entrance ceremony. This school evaluates students based on their true abilities. This time, your evaluation showed you were worth nothing. That's it."

Wow, it's like you're a completely different person now. But honestly, I'm not that shocked.

"Chiyabashira-sensei, I don't remember you ever telling us about this before—"

"What? Do you need everything spelled out for you to get it?"

"Well, yeah. You never mentioned anything about our points getting reduced. If you had told us, we would have been more careful about being late or chatting during class."

"That's a strange thing to say, Hirata. You're right, I didn't spell out the point rules. But didn't they teach you in elementary school not to be late or talk during class? Wasn't that something you learned all through elementary and junior high?"

"Well, um—"

"Come on, in nine years of school, you must have learned that being late and talking in class aren't good things. And now you're saying you don't get it because I didn't explain it to you? That's a pretty weak excuse. If you just behaved properly, your points wouldn't be zero. It's about taking responsibility for your actions."

Nobody could argue with what she was saying. Everyone knew that misbehaving in class doesn't do them any favors. Seriously, as students, did you really think you could chat and use your phones without any consequences? Sometimes I wonder how these students even made it to high school with that kind of thinking.

"You're just starting your first year in high school. Did you honestly think you'd get 100,000 points every month without any strings attached? This is a school set up by the Japanese government to train talented people. It's not sensible to leave things to chance."

Even though Hirata looked a bit frustrated, he met the teacher's gaze. "Well, could you at least explain how points are added or taken away? That way, we can keep it in mind for the future."

"I can't tell you that. We can't reveal how we evaluate students. It's like any other organization. When you join a company, it's up to them whether or not they tell you how they assess employees. But I'm not heartless, and I'm not trying to be harsh. This situation is so unfortunate that I'll give you one tip."

That's a good point. Just like in real life, no one will lay everything out for you. You have to figure things out on your own. They're preparing students for the real world.

"Let's say you stop being late and don't miss any classes. Even though you won't lose any points this month, it doesn't mean your points will go up either. So, next month, you'll still get zero points. From another angle, you could say that no matter how many times you're late or absent, it doesn't really matter. So, you're not really losing out, are you?"

"Tch…" Hirata and the whole class were completely surprised by all the information their homeroom teacher shared.

The bell rang, marking the end of homeroom.

"We've spent quite a bit of time chatting. I hope you got the main idea. Now, let's move on to our main topic."

From the tube she carried, she pulled out a rolled-up white poster and spread it open. She attached it to the blackboard with some magnets. The still-baffled students stared blankly at the poster.

"Are these... the results for each class?" Horikita guessed tentatively. She was probably right, as it showed the results for classes A through D. Next to each class was a number that could go up to four digits. Our class, Class D, had zero. Class C had 490, Class B had 650, and at the top was Class A with 940. This means 1000 points would be like having 100,000 yen, right? It seemed every class had lost some points.

"Doesn't something seem off about this?"

"Yeah, the numbers seem too even."

Horikita and Ayanokoji shared similar thoughts and voiced them.

"You've all been doing whatever you wanted this past month. The school isn't stopping you from doing that. Your actions, like being late or chatting during class, only affect the points you get. The same goes for how you spend your points. It's your choice. We haven't put any limits on how you use your points."

"But this isn't fair! We can't enjoy our student lives like this!" Ike, who had been quiet until now, yelled out.

Yamauchi was in utter despair, having already spent all of his points.

"Listen up, fools. Every other class managed to hold onto some points. The amount we gave you for the first month should have been enough to live on."

"B-but, how come the other classes still have points? That doesn't make sense..."

"I've already explained, there's nothing unfair here. All classes were scored by the same rules. But they didn't lose as many points as you. That's the reality."

"But... why is there such a big difference in our points?" Hirata noticed how tidy the numbers were.

"Do you understand now? Do you see why you're in Class D?"

"The reason we're in Class D? Didn't we just get accepted into the school?"

"Huh? But classes are usually divided like this, right?" Students exchanged puzzled looks.

"At this school, students are sorted by their level of excellence. The top students are in Class A, and the least capable are in Class D. It's the same system used in major cram schools. In other words, Class D is like the last stop for failures. You're the worst of the worst. You're flawed. This is just the result of your deficiencies."

I felt a bit attacked by her words, but I guess I chose to be in Class D to challenge myself. Still, I didn't expect to have such clueless classmates.

Just like Horikita and me, no matter how capable you are on your own, it doesn't make a difference when you're surrounded by others who drag you down.