It was the morning of the next day.
I made my way into the classroom of 2-E, and as usual, I was the first one inside. I placed my bag down and took a seat near the back. There was really no need to sit at the front, especially when I didn't really need to listen to the class. I didn't receive any notice of a seating plan, so I decided to sit where I liked.
Around twenty minutes later, the class filled up, and the teacher walked in.
I saw Ichikawa Mana.
Looks like my gamble paid off.
"Alright, everyone, it is mandatory that I tell you this. Basically, under the new system, all classes are optional. If you do not see the need to attend classes or if you want to study on your own, you are completely free to do so. The decision is up to you."
A cheer resounded as soon as she said that. However, she wasn't done.
"I will also tell you this. No matter what, there will be exams throughout the year. There are various different rewards for getting a good score. However, if you fail, which means getting a score of 40% or below in any subject, you will immediately be expelled."
In complete contrast to before, the class was in dismay.
"Wait, we don't get any chances? We just straight up get expelled?" One of the students asked.
"Yes, a score below 40% means immediate expulsion unless you have enough points to reverse it."
"How many points do you need to spend?" Another one of the students asked.
"It will change throughout the year, but at the moment, it is 10,000 points for every per cent below 40%."
"That's way too much!"
For most students in class 2-E, who were getting 4,000 points per month, 10,000 points were nearly impossible to achieve, and that was for one mere per cent.
"I will also tell you this, the exams this year will be much harder than the previous years. I highly recommend focussing on your studies. Otherwise, even a passing grade may be unachievable for you."
The class went silent.
It was some pretty big news. For most students, this was a level of freedom that they had never experienced before. However, I had the feeling that many students would be overwhelmed by such freedom and, as a result, suffer the consequences.
The teacher then prepared for the first class of the day.
All of a sudden, rumbling erupted throughout the classroom. At first, it was a small group of girls who got out of their seats, then a group of boys, and then, one by one, students began joining in. The students began leaving the room, and a few moments later, only five people remained. From what I could see, only Takeuchi, Furukawa, Hamasaki, Itsuki and I were left.
The teacher had a disappointed look on her face.
"Well, there's nothing I can do to stop them from skipping," they sighed.
On the board, she pulled up the work for English.
"Today, we'll be studying The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood."
Another dystopian novel...
She began reading some background information for the book.
I thought about it, and whilst there probably wouldn't be any issues for me if I did decide to skip class as well, I decided to stay. It was mainly because even if I skipped, there wasn't really much else I wanted to do. I might as well sit and listen to the class to pass the time.
I looked over at the others who were writing down notes.
"Hey, Mizuhara, do you want to skip as well?" Takeuchi whispered to me.
"I mean, what are we going to do, though?"
"Um, we could walk around the school, I guess," he replied.
"I'd rather just stay in class."
"Alright, it might be good for me to listen in class as well."
As the class concluded, it felt a little awkward with such a small number of students. The teacher finished up and prepared for the second period. Furukawa and Itsuki made their way over to us.
"Hey, the class feels pretty lonely. Do you mind if we sit with you guys?" Furukawa asked.
"Yeah, that's fine with me."
He turned over and waved at Hamasaki.
"Hey, you want to come to sit with us as well?"
"Sure, I'm getting pretty lonely over here as well."
They all laughed before we sat together in the back left corner.
"Alright, today we'll be doing..." The teacher looked over at the group of us who were quite a distance away from her, "Ah, it'll take me a while to get used to this..." she muttered.
As we listened to the next class, there were moments of eerie silence as the teacher spoke.
A few moments later, she got through all the content on the board.
She grabbed a handful of sheets and made her way over to us. We watched silently as the teacher walked past rows and rows of empty tables. She handed each of us a sheet before making her way back to the front. There was barely a dent in the handful of sheets that she brought to us.
"If you need help, I'll be up here."
The others began working on the worksheet she handed out.
I had a look at the questions.
From what I could see, they were definitely a step up from what we were learning last year.
I guess I'll do the worksheet. It was a little awkward sitting here without doing anything.
After completing the sheet, we all looked at each other.
"Aah, honestly, I like the small class much better," commented Itsuki.
"Yeah, I don't mind it. It's quite relaxing," replied Furukawa.
"Hey, I don't know how to do question twelve," said Takeuchi.
"Ah, I can help!" Offered Hamasaki.
It was quite a nice little group we had here. It seemed like the learning was honestly better now that there was only a small group of people. As Hamasaki helped Takeuchi with the question, I noticed that Furukawa and Itsuki were quite close. It seemed as if they were dating.
A few minutes later, the teacher stood up.
"Alright, that's it for the class. You guys are dismissed."
We got up from our seats and began making our way out of the classroom.
"Hey, do you guys want to come study in the library? I want to get ahead of all the people who are skipping class," suggested Itsuki.
"Sure, that sounds good!" replied Furukawa.
With that, our group began walking toward the library.
A/N: I'll add some more characters to the glossary in case it's hard to follow. For now:
Furukawa is a soccer talent and is very close to Itsuki
Itsuki is the somewhat playful girl who's always with Furukawa
Hamasaki is a very sociable girl who is also studious and was called into the group separately.
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