#19 Cafeteria

"Horikita-san, if you were at least half as serious as you appear to be, you would have chosen to answer my question instead of "harassing" Ayanokoji-kun, however, at least it shows that you are on a halfway to become good friends." Yuichi said with a faint smile.

"Ugh, please don't say such unpleasant things. Anyway, to answer your earlier question...Their behavior is indeed very strange because when some students slack off, it creates a relaxing atmosphere where other students already on the edge get hooked on and start to slack off too." Horikita replied while looking at Yuichi.

"Don't you think we should try to make them stop this behavior?" Yuichi asked with a frown.

"You mean teachers or our classmates? Either way, it is none of my business what they are doing during the classes." Horikita replied with her indifferent tone before focusing on her book once again.

"Are you sure it's none of your business?" Yuichi asked mysteriously which caused both Ayanokoji and Horikita to raise their eyebrow in question.

"We all know that there is some kind of system on how to advance to a higher class however do you think that system is oriented for individuals?" Yuichi asked.

Ayanokoji perhaps wanted to go grab lunch so he stood up from his seat without interrupting their conversation however Yuichi stopped him from leaving.

"This is also for you to listen to, Ayanokoji-kun. We can go have lunch later, there is quite a lot of time left from the lunch break, however, if you really want to go, I won't stop you, just know that you are more than welcomed here." Yuichi said with closed eyes before opening them, looking at Ayanokoji's answer who just sat back down.

"What do you mean by that? Do you know something we don't?" Horikita naturally was intrigued by his question.

"I know nothing about this system but this is the most elite school, I doubt they would just let us slack off. I also noticed those teachers always looking at who was sleeping or playing on the phone, it looked as if they were counting them. Why would they pay attention to them if they wouldn't care about them?" Yuichi said with narrowed eyes and his words caused Horikita to open her eyes wide.

"You observed that much just from a few classes?" Ayanokoji-kun asked.

"When I find something strange and I have no answer to it, it really bothers me. And when I am bothered, I can be very perceptive." Yuichi replied with a nod of his head.

"Then what do you think they will do? And why do you think that this system is not individual-oriented?" Horikita asked with a curious expression.

'Why is someone like him in Class D? I don't understand it, even I ended up here with all these slacking students who do nothing to improve.' Horikita thought while frowning inwardly.

"Alright, let's go slowly at it and first say what we know" Yuichi said and closed his eyes, placing his hands on Ayanokoji's desk.

"First, we know that so-called Private Points that serve as our new currency are given to us after the whole month, just like a paycheck in work. Second, we still have close to none information about other things except basic rules what we can't do. What could be those teachers' goals? Observing how we "work" and then give us pay according to our work? However, this is practically a work in one big group, if we mess up our "project" none of us will get rewarded even if only one person messed it up. If this school is here to teach us how to live outside, this is the method they would most likely use." Yuichi said before opening his eyes, revealing the image of Horikita staring at him with a thoughtful expression while Ayanokoji was frowning in a thinking manner.

"What do you think?" Yuichi asked when he didn't get a reply for more than 5 seconds.

"When you say it this way, there indeed is a certain logic to it." Ayanokoji nodded his head with closed eyes.

"...Even if this is true, how do you want us to convince everyone to stop slacking? That's impossible" Horikita said with narrowed eyes.

"Heh, I guess it indeed is impossible, even for someone popular like Hirata or me. I can change the mind of a few people but not everyone. I guess we will have to experience hell to rise from there." Yuichi said before getting up, stretching his arms and back in a relaxed manner.

"Experience hell?" Horikita questioned.

"When you left yesterday, a few upperclassmen approached us to make trouble but in the end, they left with the words that we will soon experience real hell" Ayanokoji replied in Yuichi's stead which made him smile.

'Alright, now with what those upperclassmen said, it is more than certain that those teachers don't just ignore those slackers.' Horikita thought with narrowed eyes, trying to think of a solution.

"Well, I took a lot of your time already, sorry about that. Would you two like to go to the cafeteria now?" Yuichi asked with a grin.

"Um, I am in, however, I am not sure about h-" Ayanokoji got up from his seat and said while glancing towards Horikita however before he could finish, he was interrupted.

"Let's go" Horikita closed her book and got up from her seat to go with them.

"Eh?" Ayanokoji looked at her with a bit surprised expression.

"Is there something wrong, Ayanokoji-kun?" She asked with narrowed eyes, indicating him to know better than answer truthfully.

"Um, no." He replied before looking away from her.

'It's hard to admit but Iwamura-kun is very perceptive and also quite intelligent. I have no idea why are his grades so average compared to what he has been talking about here right now, however, if this system on advancing to higher classes really depends on the entire class, I might need his help. His popularity might actually make it easier to persuade our slacking classmates.' Horikita thought as the trio made their way to the cafeteria.

When they arrived, they immediately bought themselves a lunch, finding an empty table before sitting down with their trays.

"There are a lot of people buying really cheap meals..." Ayanokoji muttered while glancing around.

Yuichi nodded his head as he also noticed a lot of people with the cheapest lunches that looked really dull. Most of it was just vegetable and even though Yuichi himself didn't mind vegetables at all, he still liked to have a piece of meat together with it. And even the vegetable itself didn't look exactly fresh, at least it looked edible.

"I bet they are upperclassmen from Class D. With this evidence, we might even persuade a few people to stop slacking off." Yuichi muttered. He even though of asking a few of them for how it works here but he quickly abandoned that plan since they most likely can't talk about it. If their own homeroom teacher isn't allowed to disclose more information, other students either.

"At five PM today, we will be holding a student club fair in Gymnasium No. 1. Students who are interested in joining a club, please gather Gymnasium No. 1." A girl announced and repeated a few times for everyone to clearly hear her before wanting to go somewhere else.

"Tsk, please watch over my lunch." Yuichi said before darting off his seat.

"Don't worry, I will make sure Ayanokoji-kun won't take even a bite." Horikita reassured with closed eyes before taking a small bite of her sandwich.

"Hey-" Ayanokoji began to defend himself as both started to argue once again while Yuichi jogged towards the announcement girl.

"Hello, may I ask you one question?" Yuichi asked quite a cute girl, most likely from a higher grade.

"Huh? Sure~! Ask right away, fellow student~!" She turned around with a surprised expression before replying with a cheerful expression.

"Can student join more than 1 club?" Yuichi asked.

"Huh? Well, if you want to join the student council then the answer is no but I am not exactly sure if you want to join for example the Art club and Soccer club. Most students just join one club that is if they do join any because they usually don't have much time to attend more than one club. The best course of action will be to consult this with your homeroom teacher. I hope my answers were of satisfactory" The girl replied with a bright smile.

"Yes, thank you for your time. Good luck and the rest of the day to you!" Yuichi said with a friendly smile and one small nod.

"Why thank you! Good luck and the rest of the day to you too~!" The girl said before running off.

Yuichi returned to his seat and resumed eating his meal while listening to Ayanokoji and Horikita arguing with each other.

'Maybe I should really join just 1 club...however I can't decide which sport to abandon because I don't want to abandon either of them.' Yuichi thought while eating his meal.