After checking out the board in the second-year area, Yonezu and Kanzaki headed straight to the third-year section. When they got there, they found another board listing the class points.
Kanzaki stared at it and said, "Well, look at that."
**3rd Year**
Class A: 1150 CPoints
Class B: 845 CPoints
Class C: 320 CPoints
Class D: 122 CPoints
"Huh… It looks like Class A always has the highest points. The whole thing seems like a ranking system," Kanzaki said.
"Yeah… The second-year CPoints looked weird too. Like everything's being controlled," Yonezu added.
He turned to Kanzaki. "Did you see any board like this in our area?"
Kanzaki thought for a second. "I don't think so, not that I remember."
While they were talking, someone approached them-a guy with glasses.
"You two are first years, right? What are you doing here?" the upperclassman asked.
"Yeah, we're first years. Just looking around, and we wanted to ask some questions to the upperclassmen. I'm Kanzaki Ryuji, and this is my classmate, Yonezu Haruto," Kanzaki replied.
"Why not just ask your homeroom teacher?" the upperclassman said.
"We'll ask them later, but since you're here, Senpai, we were hoping you could explain the difference between CPoints and PPT. And can we use CPoints to buy things too?" Yonezu jumped in.
The upperclassman smirked at Yonezu. "You're Yonezu, right? What class are you in?"
"I'm from Class D," Yonezu answered.
Kanzaki glanced at Yonezu, surprised.
"Oh… Class D, huh? Seems like Class D is more interesting than usual this year," the upperclassman said.
Yonezu pressed, "So, are you going to answer my question, or do I have to pay with my points?"
The upperclassman shook his head. "Sorry, I can't answer that. And honestly, I don't think your points would be enough anyway."
Yonezu sighed. "So you're not even going to sell us that info, huh?"
The upperclassman nodded. "Yeah… Since I'm part of the student council, I can't really help you with that."
He handed them a card. "But here's my contact info. If the conditions are right, I might be able to answer your questions another time. I'm Horikita Manabu, third year, Class A. I've got stuff to do, so I'll see you around." With that, he left.
Kanzaki turned to Yonezu. "Why did you lie about your class?"
Yonezu shrugged. "Nothing big. I just wanted to see how he'd react."
He continued, "Now I've got even more questions."
Kanzaki sighed. "Well, at least now we know we can't just ask anyone who's part of the school. Not that it helps, since we don't even know who's who yet."
"Yeah… I got what I wanted, at least," Yonezu replied.
"So, where do you want to go now?" Kanzaki asked.
"Let's check out the stores. Maybe they sell some interesting stuff," Yonezu said.
They started walking together.
As they walked, Kanzaki started thinking out loud. "So, if I get this right, there might be some kind of competition here, with each class going up against the others."
"But why? What's the reward?" he wondered.
Yonezu nodded. "I've got a couple of ideas. Maybe it's the PPT, or maybe it's your class ranking itself."
"What do you mean?" Kanzaki asked.
Yonezu explained, "It might be a stretch, but after seeing those boards, I think the goal is to get to Class A. There are probably a lot more benefits if you're in Class A compared to the others. Or maybe the higher your class, the more perks you get."
He looked at Kanzaki and shrugged. "But that's just a theory. A game theory."
Kanzaki looked confused. "…What?"
Yonezu grinned. "It's from YouTube, if you didn't know."