Chapter 9: This Css Doesn’t Need Saving

  "Hey, hey! What's going on with you guys?"

  It was only the second css of the morning, and Hikigaya looked at his cssmates who were sleeping, reading comics, or pying with handheld gaming consoles in their desks. His face already bore an expression of utter despair.

  At first, everyone had taken cssroom discipline seriously, but gradually, distractions began to appear. People started zoning out, losing focus, and as the teacher either knowingly or unknowingly turned a blind eye, the situation became more and more chaotic.

  Although Hikigaya understood that listening in css was a personal choice for students, didn’t teachers have an obligation to intervene and remind them?

  This was clearly intentional neglect, as if the teacher was saying, "Do whatever you want, I won’t interfere."

  With the teacher's ambiguous attitude, the school's generous perks, and the rexed environment without parental supervision for three years, the students in the css began to get bolder. Eventually, by the end of the morning, the css atmosphere was a complete mess!

  The worst part was the herd mentality. If one person is distracted, it may not have much effect, but what about two or three? The greatest impact was on the students who cked strong willpower, and the bad influence gradually spread throughout the group.

  And this was only the second day!

  So, what was the css's ‘leader’ doing?

  Oh, turns out they were doing it too! I’m talking about you, the blonde, fiery Karuizawa Kei! She was openly reading a fashion magazine during css!

  As for Kushida? She was being the model student, paying attention in css, and outside css, she was happily interacting with different students as always, as if she saw nothing wrong during css.

  The popur handsome guy, Hirata, hurry up and do something! As expected of a leader, he noticed the seriousness of the situation, and after css, he took action... but it was completely useless!

  Is this the kind of behavior you’d expect from students at a school with near-100% employment and graduation rates?

  This is basically a delinquent high school!

  In reality, Hikigaya knew he couldn't pce all the bme on them. After all, the css didn’t have a true "css president" or "leader" yet. Whether it was Kushida, Karuizawa, or others, they were more like the heads of small groups and couldn’t be expected to bear the responsibility of maintaining css order.

  Thinking from their perspective, Hikigaya probably would have chosen to "ignore" as well, though it was just a passing thought in his mind. As someone at the bottom of the social hierarchy, he didn’t have any say.

  Hikigaya sighed helplessly inwardly.

  Actually, this was the normal situation. What’s the biggest difference between students and adults?

  Hikigaya believed it was growth. And what is growth?

  Responsibility!

  Once you realize that you must take on responsibility, it means you’ve grown, transitioning from being a student to an adult, rather than just aging in years.

  The biggest problem for students is passivity, the inability to recognize or actively take on this responsibility. After all, they had just become high school students. Even Hikigaya couldn’t bme them for that; the most he could do was silently compin in his mind.

  However, there were still aspects that surprised and pleased him. The "popur" handsome guy, Hirata Yousuke, was the only one who took action as a ‘leader’. Though the results were far from ideal, at least he recognized the responsibility on his shoulders.

  "This school is disgusting!"

  What Hikigaya disliked most was not the students who were disrupting the css atmosphere, but the completely inactive teachers—or rather, the school behind them!

  This was evil!

  Sometimes, taking no action while holding responsibility is a form of evil!

  After learning the truth about the school, Hikigaya had anticipated situations like this, but he didn’t expect it to be this cold-hearted. Looking at the teacher's attitude today, it was clear to see the school's stance.

  They pnned to completely avoid interference!

  The consequences of this policy were already visibly evident. The students of Css D, without supervision or guidance, had caused the css atmosphere to fall apart in just a morning. It was clear that neither side was innocent!

  But more importantly...

  "My God, don’t you guys realize there are cameras in the cssroom?!"

  The cameras with blinking red lights were recording everything happening in the cssroom, and many probably still hadn’t realized the seriousness of the situation.

  After discovering that the Css Points were the school’s evaluation of students' abilities, Hikigaya started thinking about what factors affected these Css Points.

  If he thought about it differently, factors like attendance and discipline would be the first to come to mind when it came to the selection for the "civilized css". Then, expanding further, things like academic rankings, cultural festivals, sports festivals, and other student activities would come into py.

  So, the factors that affect Css Points should be fairly simir. While he wasn’t sure how to increase Css Points, the methods for decreasing them were clear—just look at Css D's current terrible situation.

  Hikigaya could already foresee how bad the situation would be when individual points were given out in May.

  "This is garbage! I wonder if other csses are like this too."

  Hikigaya was frustrated, and he felt a strong sense of point crisis, needing to reassess his points usage pn.

  Suddenly, he thought of something. When the red-haired boy had cshed with the senior students, they had repeatedly mentioned Css D, "defective product," and "hell." Clearly, Css Points hadn’t changed yet at the beginning of the school year, so why were they so "certain" that Css D was the defective product?

  "I see," Hikigaya finally understood.

  Because these senior students had already experienced the same situation, they knew exactly what it implied, which is why they were so confident that Css D was the defective product!

  "So, from the beginning, different csses were in unequal positions. Css A is the best, and the others are progressively worse?"

  Was it based on grades or other factors that students were ranked, with Css A being the top, and Css D being the worst?

  You really are something, you lousy school!

  Based on Hikigaya’s observations yesterday, it was true that the students in Css D seemed like a group of problem children. It seemed reasonable that he had been pced in Css D, and the current situation in Css D was the best proof of that!

  So, the one in Css A, Haruno... truly is excellent!

  However... Hikigaya’s gaze turned toward the iceberg girl who was paying attention in css. What? Turns out her grades aren’t that great either, yet she pretends to be so aloof. Just thinking about it made Hikigaya want to ugh.

  Staring!

  It was as if she sensed something, and Horikita suddenly shot him a cold, piercing gnce, causing Hikigaya to immediately straighten up.