Commercial Street

As soon as Konoe stepped into the Student Council Room, he heard Tachibana Senpai's irritated voice.

"You're late! How long did you expect us to wait?"

"Sorry, Chabashira-sensei called me away just now." Konoe wondered, Don't you have things of your own to do?

Everyone was in the Student Council Room except Miyabi Nagumo.

"Konoe, this time I'd like you to look into the accounting side of things. Kiriyama." Horikita Manabu called out Kiriyama's name, the student council's current accountant.

"Yes, President." Kiriyama answered and took out the things he had prepared in advance: a USB drive and a small notebook.

Curious, Konoe accepted the two items Kiriyama handed him and asked, "May I ask what these are?"

Kiriyama explained, "The USB drive contains the income and expenditure records for all the school's third-party shops. The other item is the corresponding ledger."

Konoe looked at Horikita Manabu and asked, "So this is student council work too? Isn't it a bit too difficult for me?"

"Konoe, I'm not asking you to be the accountant. I just want you to gather information."

"Gather information?"

Before Horikita Manabu could explain, Tachibana couldn't help cutting in. "First, tell me what was going on last time. How could an ordinary person read and memorize... more than eight hundred pages of material in ten or twenty minutes?"

Kiriyama stared at Konoe in surprise.

Tachibana continued, "And the math olympiad problem I gave you before that, too..."

"You used a math olympiad problem as an interview question? And you knew how much material there was last time, Senpai? I thought this was just ordinary student council work." Konoe sounded annoyed.

"I asked Tachibana to find a problem no student could possibly solve, so I could test you. I thought you'd only managed to solve the Mini-test because you'd gotten hold of previous years' questions. I didn't expect you to have worked it out on your own." Horikita Manabu nodded in satisfaction. "The material from last time, too. It seems you have a special talent."

"...You're too kind. But I don't have a computer. How am I supposed to look at the contents of the USB drive? Can I use one in the Student Council Room?"

"There's a lot of material this time, so I'll have Tachibana take care of that for you. For this week, focus only on memorizing the information." Horikita Manabu paused before continuing, "What you're being given is confidential, as you should understand. No matter who asks, you mustn't tell them what you're doing."

Hearing that it had to be kept secret, Konoe felt a strange thrill. "No problem! I just need to memorize the contents?"

"For now, yes."

"...All right, then. What do I do next?"

"Tachibana, take Konoe to buy a laptop for work. Put it on the student council's account."

"Yes, President." Tachibana took out a key and opened a metal safe, then retrieved something from inside.

Konoe looked delighted. "I get something like this too?"

"...The computer isn't being bought for you. It's equipment purchased by the student council. You're just borrowing it temporarily for work," Horikita Manabu reminded him.

"I know. It's fine if I work from home, right?"

"What strange things are you saying in front of the President? Come on!" Tachibana stepped forward, took hold of Konoe's sleeve, and led him out of the Student Council Room.

The purple-haired senpai with her hair in a bun led the way. People kept glancing in her direction as they passed. The student council often held events, and Tachibana usually ran them. She was a little petite, but her pace was brisk.

Konoe followed her all the way to Commercial Street. With Tachibana striding ahead at a brisk pace, he was left panting behind her.

"W-wait... a second... Senpai, are you... speed-walking?"

Tachibana put her hands on her hips and glared at Konoe. "You're too slow! No wonder you kept the President waiting just now. If everyone on student council errands dawdled like you, when would we ever get anything done?"

"Huff... I..." Konoe tried to explain, but nearly got a stitch in his side, so he shut his mouth and focused on breathing.

Tachibana looked exasperated. "Honestly, you're hopeless. Wait here."

I may be a junior, but couldn't the bun-haired senpai be a little nicer...? Konoe felt a little hurt.

To his surprise, though, Tachibana returned just a few minutes later.

"Here." Tachibana held out a bottle of energy drink.

"What?" Konoe had caught his breath, but still didn't understand when he saw the bottle in front of him.

"It's obvious, isn't it? I bought it for you. Once you've rested, hurry up."

Konoe took the drink and asked curiously, "Thanks, Senpai. But can the student council reimburse this too?"

"What are you dreaming about? Of course I bought it for you!"

"...Wah, wah, Senpai, you're so good to me. I'll never call you Bun-haired Senpai again," Konoe said, touched.

Seeing Konoe putting on an act made Tachibana's skin crawl. She glared at him angrily. "...You little brat."

"Don't worry, Tachibana Senpai. I'll tell Horikita President that you're a kind, adorable senior who treats her juniors well."

"I-is that so?" Tachibana smiled bashfully, apparently forgetting what had just happened.

She's easy to handle.

Before long, the two of them finally reached their destination: a shop specializing in laptops, with all kinds of models inside.

"Senpai, I want that one!" Konoe pointed at a price tag marked 199,999.

"Are you a child?!" Startled, Tachibana glanced around. After making sure no one had noticed them, she let out a breath, hurried over, and smacked Konoe on the head. "Behave yourself! The computer's already been reserved."

"Ow! Why does everyone like using violence so much..." Konoe clutched his head with both hands.

"You two seem to get along well," a middle-aged man said with a smile as he came over carrying a laptop bag.

"...Sorry you had to see that, Shop Manager," Tachibana said awkwardly.

Konoe stepped forward. "Hello, Shop Manager. By the way, can a shop really make money here? I saw that a lot of the prices were more than students could afford."

"Hey, you..." Tachibana started to step in. She thought Konoe's question was a little too blunt.

"Hahaha, it's all right, it's all right. You're on the student council too, aren't you?"

"Sorry for not introducing myself earlier. I'm Konoe Hirakawa from Class 1-D, and I just joined the student council."

"Hello, young man. I handle purchasing the student council's equipment. Kiriyama should know the details about the shops, so I don't mind telling you: this shop hasn't made a profit once since it opened."

"It hasn't made a profit? But I thought young people all liked electronic products."

"That's true, but it depends on the number of customers. As you can see, there are only a few hundred people at the school, while the commercial district here is huge. Without the school subsidizing part of the rent and the occasional visits from adults who work at the school, I doubt many shops would be able to stay open."

"...I see. Can I ask which expense is the biggest?"

"Of course. The biggest expense is probably still transportation. If a shop doesn't have enough products, it won't attract students. If it has too many, they'll pile up and no one will want them. That wouldn't be a problem if transportation were easy, but the school has some strict rules about it. It's not easy to get products back out once they've been brought in, so people are reluctant to ship goods to the warehouses here. That's why most orders at the shops here are made in advance. It's a bit of a hassle, but it's the cheapest option. The model I have here was also reserved by Kiriyama."

After patiently explaining, the Shop Manager handed over the product.

Konoe quickly accepted it with both hands. "I see. Thanks for explaining."

"Not at all. Thanks for your business."

After saying goodbye to the Shop Manager, Konoe left with Tachibana. As soon as they were outside, Tachibana said goodbye and told him she had to return to the Student Council Room to help out.

After taking the computer back to his dorm room, Konoe turned it on and casually looked through the contents of the USB drive. It contained income and expenditure charts for hundreds, nearly a thousand, shops, covering an entire year.

The school has this many shops? But hardly any of them are turning a profit...

Even Konoe looked troubled by the sea of data before him. "I'll just have to skip tonight's workout and memorize some of it each day..."