Ryuen’s words quickly enraged many of the students present.
"Who the hell do you think you are, calling us idiots?"
"Yeah! What gives you the right to call us idiots?"
Others watched from the sidelines. The girl Ryuen had interrupted stood there awkwardly as he strode to the podium under everyone’s gaze. Kazuma Sakagami willingly stepped aside, evidently curious to see what Ryuen intended to do.
"Sit down."
Ryuen stood at the podium with an imposing presence. His voice was neither loud nor soft, but it carried an authority that allowed no defiance. The still-awkward girl’s legs gave out beneath her, and she collapsed into her seat as though frightened by his voice. The protests gradually died down as well.
"I will now ask Mr. Sakagami several questions on behalf of the entire class. He may answer yes, no, or refuse to answer."
The students below were bewildered, unable to tell what Ryuen was trying to pull.
"No problem," Sakagami answered readily. Answering students’ questions was part of a teacher’s duty, after all.
"First question. Are we under constant surveillance? I noticed quite a few cameras in the academic building."
Sakagami gave a helpless smile but did not answer. His homeroom teacher’s reaction immediately sparked noisy discussion below. Some students cared deeply about their privacy, while others were less concerned.
"Quiet! No one speaks while I’m talking!"
Ryuen slammed his fist against the podium. The tremendous bang bought him another round of silence. By now, some students had begun to realize that something about this school was not right. Though displeased, they patiently waited to hear what else Ryuen would ask.
"Second question. Are we currently being evaluated?"
Sakagami remained silent.
That alone made many students panic. To a student, nothing was more serious than an exam. Plenty of them did not care about getting top marks, but nobody wanted to fall behind everyone else—especially in an evaluation they knew absolutely nothing about.
Although the students desperately wanted to complain and discuss the second question with those around them, most chose to keep quiet after seeing Ryuen’s vicious glare and the muscles his uniform could barely conceal. A few fools still whispered among themselves. They had lowered their voices, but in the silent classroom, the sound was especially grating.
Ryuen did not indulge them. He stepped down from the podium, marched to a boy muttering in the second-to-last row, and immediately put him in a chokehold. Even under the cameras’ watchful eye, Ryuen did not care about losing a few points if it meant unifying the class.
The scene terrified the surrounding students. The boy being choked was nearly suffocating, his face crimson as he weakly pounded against Ryuen’s arm. Several people wanted to stop him, but none dared act for fear of becoming the next target. Anyone with half a brain could see that Ryuen was making an example of him, so they wisely stayed out of it. More importantly, Sakagami said nothing. Their homeroom teacher was allowing Ryuen’s violence to continue.
Ryuen released him. The boy collapsed over his desk, coughing violently.
"I’ll say it again. No one interrupts while I’m speaking!"
Ryuen swept his gaze across the classroom. Every student who had been whispering lowered their heads, too afraid to meet his eyes.
"Third question. Will we receive one hundred thousand points every month?"
"No."
At last, Sakagami had a question he could answer. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief; even he had been shocked by Ryuen’s sheer pressure.
Now everyone in the class realized something was wrong. Sakagami had never actually said that they would receive one hundred thousand points every month. They could not use yen at this school, so every necessity of life had to be paid for with points. If the school stopped issuing points, that meant they would go hungry. The students who had just been thinking about how to splurge no longer had any desire to play around.
Those admitted to Class C might vary in intelligence, but their baseline was not low. Give them a few hints, and they could piece things together.
"Fourth question. Do the results of these evaluations affect the distribution of points?"
Sakagami fell silent again, but the students had already formed their own suspicions.
"Fifth question. Will everyone graduate successfully and receive the right to choose their own career?"
"No."
Sakagami still cared somewhat about his class, so he added, "Some students will be expelled. And only students in Class A will be granted the privilege of freely choosing their careers upon graduation."
Sakagami’s addition instantly extinguished the students’ last traces of excitement. They had only just enrolled, and they were already being told that expulsion was possible. The emotional whiplash left the entire classroom feeling bleak and lifeless.
Rather than ask a sixth question, Ryuen wrote his name in the center of the blackboard: "Kakeru Ryuen."
"From today onward, everyone in Class C obeys my orders. I will lead you into Class A. Starting now, every one of you will turn over half your monthly points to..."
Ryuen paused, then scanned the classroom before speaking the girl’s name.
"Hiyori Shiina."
Many students had no idea who Hiyori Shiina was. Hiyori herself was equally confused. She had no desire to help Ryuen, nor was she afraid that he might use violence against her. Only one thought ran through her mind.
How does he know my name? Or did he just choose someone at random, and I happened to be picked?
In that brief moment of distraction, Hiyori missed her chance to refuse.
"Why should we listen to you?"
A crew-cut boy finally spoke up. Even after Ryuen had demonstrated his iron-fisted methods, fools would still kick up a fuss when their own interests were threatened.
He was far from alone. Others were already itching to move, and Ryuen, who had spent years navigating every kind of social gathering, could plainly see the unmasked anger and greed in their eyes.
If Class C had a defining trait, it was its abundance of troublemakers. It would have been stranger if no one opposed him.
Ryuen laughed—wildly, arrogantly, and with a face that practically begged to be punched.
"The entrance ceremony starts in ten minutes. I’ll give everyone who opposes me one chance. After school, meet me on the rooftop. Come at me together. If any of you can put me down, I’ll step aside willingly."
"By tomorrow morning, I expect Hiyori Shiina to have collected everyone’s points. Don’t make me do it myself. I don’t know how to hold back."
With that, Ryuen walked out of the classroom, leaving control of the class in Sakagami’s hands once more.
"What makes him so damn arrogant?"
"Just wait until this afternoon. I’ll beat the hell out of him!"
"I’ll make sure he never sees tomorrow’s sun!"
One tough declaration followed another—childish and laughable. When Ryuen had been standing right in front of them, they had not dared make a sound.
At the same time, softer voices arose from elsewhere in the classroom.
"But Ryuen was the only one who noticed the school’s problems. And he promised to lead us into Class A."
"He isn’t asking us to do anything that outrageous. Fifty thousand points should still be enough to live on."
"Thirty thousand would be enough for me."
Nanami Yabu and the girls around her clearly had different thoughts from the boys.
Some girls were naturally drawn to strength, and Nanami Yabu was one of them. This kind of parasitic arrangement was hardly uncommon at this school.
"Let’s wait and see. You may have a point, but I still think Ryuen is awful. And I don’t want to hand over half my points. I hope one of the boys can beat him this afternoon."
After saying that, they glanced toward the boys who had just been shouting about beating Ryuen senseless. Unfortunately, there was no hero among them who could save the girls.
Most of the class chose to wait and see. They acknowledged some of Ryuen’s ability, but they did not approve of his methods. All of them were hoping that some brave challenger would defeat him that afternoon.
Among Class C’s students, only the black student posed even the slightest threat to Ryuen. In Ryuen’s eyes, everyone else was no different from ants.
In the gymnasium, Ryuen spotted a familiar face: Kikyo Kushida. Seated behind her was Kei Karuizawa, her familiar blond high ponytail impossible to miss. At this point, she had not yet been brought under Kiyotaka Ayanokoji’s control. Ryuen decided to make the first move.
I wonder whether Ayanokoji’s pawn will be useful in my hands. No—Kei Karuizawa isn’t Ayanokoji’s yet, and she never will be. She’ll be mine.
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