Akasaka let out a long breath. He hadn't expected things to turn out this way, either.
It looked like his arrival had thrown things off their intended course. He'd have to be careful from now on.
Akasaka peeled the apple in his hand and passed it to Horikita Suzune, who was lying in the hospital bed.
Horikita looked annoyed.
"Why are you here?"
Akasaka was at a loss, too. He couldn't very well tell her that Horikita Manabu, that stubborn tsundere, was busy dealing with Sudo's expulsion and had no time to come by, so he'd asked Akasaka to look after his little sister for him.
That was right. Sudo had been expelled by Horikita Manabu.
He wouldn't have been expelled under normal circumstances, but he'd injured the Student Council President's little sister—and Horikita Manabu was a hopeless sister-con.
How could Horikita Manabu let Sudo Ken off? He'd spent 10,000,000 Personal Points to force the school to expel him.
At This School, points could buy anything.
Even someone's expulsion was possible, as long as you had enough points.
Normally, 10,000,000 Personal Points wouldn't have been enough to get someone expelled. But since Sudo Ken had attacked someone first, and had hit them pretty hard, the price had been discounted. 10,000,000 had done the trick.
As for Akasaka, Horikita Manabu had sent him to look after his sister. Of course, he wasn't doing it for free.
He'd been paid about 50,000 points.
Akasaka Ryunosuke, who was already buried in debt, would never pass up a chance to make money.
Of course he'd agreed, but he couldn't say that to Horikita. So he'd found an excuse.
"As your classmate, isn't it only natural that I care about you?"
Horikita looked at me suspiciously. "That doesn't sound like something you'd say."
Still, she happily accepted the apple I'd handed her and began eating it, though she didn't say thank you...
Faced with Horikita Suzune's lack of manners, I could only sigh and accept it.
After all, I was getting paid to do this...
After a while...
Horikita looked at the apple in her hand and asked, as if it were just a casual question,
"Aren't you going to the Student Council today?"
Akasaka shrugged. "Who do you think is responsible for that? My classmate got hurt. How could I be in the mood to go to work?"
"Besides, you don't have a single friend... That honestly worries me."
Horikita glared at me fiercely but didn't argue. She really didn't have a single friend.
Even though she'd been injured while helping her classmates, no one had come to see her. They'd only taken her to the infirmary.
Horikita let out a long breath and suddenly felt a little desolate.
Her own brother didn't approve of her, and she didn't have a single decent friend by her side. Her life really was a failure...
Seeing how downcast Horikita looked, I didn't know what to say. Since it was getting late, I asked,
"What do you want for dinner?"
Horikita froze for a moment, unsure why I was asking. I said impatiently,
"You're not going to skip dinner, are you?"
Only then did Horikita catch on. She looked confused. "Are you going to cook for me?"
Akasaka got to his feet and replied, "What do you want to eat? I'll pick something up for you. Call it repayment for the 400-yen pork cutlet bowl you treated me to last time."
Horikita's expression turned complicated. "Then bring me something that costs 400 yen, too. That way we'll be even."
"You really are... No wonder you don't have any friends."
"None of your business!" Horikita snapped, turning her head away. "I don't need friends..."
After a while, I brought back the food and handed it to Horikita. "Eat up. I'll come by again tomorrow. It'll take at least a week for that injury to heal."
Horikita took it with both hands and thanked me before starting to eat. She didn't forget to get one more jab in, either.
"It didn't cost more than 400 yen, did it? If it did, I'm not paying you back."
Akasaka was utterly baffled. "You really are a penny-pincher. I only mentioned the 400 yen offhand. Do you think I'd come see you for a measly 400 yen? You're adorably stupid."
Horikita looked at me indignantly but didn't say anything.
She knew very well that this wasn't about owing me 400 yen. It was simply someone being kind to her, though she didn't really need that sort of kindness.
Horikita wasn't good with words—or, more accurately, she was the sort of person who offended people every time she opened her mouth. She spoke the truth and never softened her words.
As a result, despite being exceptionally beautiful, she'd never been popular.
Since Akasaka had finished his job, he was ready to leave.
"I'll get going, then. See you tomorrow."
After I left, Horikita murmured under her breath,
"See you tomorrow..."
Meanwhile, I went to Hoshinomiya Chie's office, where she worked as a head teacher, to collect the points I'd won.
I knocked on the door, and a lazy voice came from inside.
"Come in~"
I pushed the door open and saw Hoshinomiya, who looked a little drunk.
"Hic~" Hoshinomiya belched and slumped over her desk, bleary-eyed. She couldn't hide the smile on her face. She was clearly very happy.
I went over and sat across from her, speaking to her with a helpless sigh.
"Looks like you're really happy. You're completely drunk."
Hoshinomiya swirled the liquor in her hand and drawled, "Of course I'm happy! Hic~ Our class made it to Class A, and my salary doubled. How could I not be happy? Hic~"
Akasaka immediately perked up. "Oh? Your salary goes up when your class ranking improves?"
Hoshinomiya smiled mysteriously at my question and playfully traced circles on Akasaka's chest.
"Trying to get the scoop out of me, are you? That's a secret you have to pay points to learn. I'm not telling you."
"Unless you're willing to spend Personal Points to buy the information, I'll tell you~ Hic."
I pushed up the glasses I wasn't wearing. "No need, Teacher Hoshinomiya. All I needed to know was that a teacher's salary goes up when her class moves up."
The rest didn't matter.
Hoshinomiya pouted like a child, rolling around on the floor and clutching her bottle of liquor.
"Ah! I don't care, I don't care! Little Akasaka, you have to pay for my information! I've spent several million out of my own pocket on the class! At least let me earn some of it back!"
"Oh? Now that you mention it, I remember why I'm here. I came to collect my money. Time to pay up, Teacher Hoshinomiya."
Hoshinomiya immediately quieted down. She stopped rolling around on the floor, slowly stood up with the bottle in her arms, and sat in her chair. Her expression grew a little more serious. Rubbing her head, which ached from drinking too much, she took out her phone terminal.
Without another word, Akasaka took out his own phone terminal and accepted the final payment from Hoshinomiya.
One payment was 2,100,000 Personal Points for getting Class D's points below 100.
The other was 600,000 Personal Points for raising Class B to Class A.
That made 2,700,000 in total.
After receiving the points, I was ready to leave. Just as I was about to get up, Hoshinomiya called out to me.
"Akasaka, would you be interested in joining our Class B?"
"You're far too talented to be stuck in Little Sae's class. Class B is the perfect place for you to show what you can do."
"Oh, right. We're not Class B anymore. We're Class A now."
Hoshinomiya smiled warmly, but there was a hint of greed in her eyes.
Someone as talented as him was wasted in Little Sae's class. She might as well poach him for her own class. Even if she had to pay the 20,000,000 transfer fee herself, she wanted to get him on her side...
After all... if someone like him became an enemy, he'd be terrifying.
He'd raised Class B to Class A all on his own. She didn't know what method he'd used, but that wasn't the most frightening part.
The scariest thing was that he'd brought his own class down to zero points.
She'd thought getting them below 100 was already impressive. She hadn't expected this little fellow to be so ruthless. He'd taken his class's points all the way down to zero.
The thought of someone that ruthless becoming an enemy frightened Hoshinomiya.
That was right. Hoshinomiya mistakenly believed Akasaka had also been responsible for Class D reaching zero points. In reality, Akasaka hadn't done anything at all. He'd simply won by doing nothing.
After all, those defective Class D students could turn their own class's points into zero without him lifting a finger.
But Hoshinomiya didn't know that. She thought it had all been Akasaka Ryunosuke's doing, so she was afraid he might become an enemy.
A person who didn't care about his class's interests and acted only out of selfish desire would be a huge threat as an enemy.
She didn't think her Ichinose could outplay this devil.
If she could turn an enemy into an ally, then 20,000,000 points was a small price to pay.
Faced with Teacher Hoshinomiya's question, I answered directly. "I'm not going to spend 20,000,000 Personal Points to transfer classes."
Hoshinomiya immediately caught on and smiled. "You don't have to spend your own Personal Points, Akasaka. I'll pay for it myself. I've got plenty of savings."
"Oh?"
That caught Akasaka's interest. He was here for the points, after all. He wanted every opportunity to make money so he could pay off his debts. He asked Hoshinomiya curiously,
"Your salary must be pretty high, Teacher. From what you just said, it seems the salaries of the teachers in Classes A, B, C, and D are all tied to the classes they manage."
"In other words, the higher-ranked the class, the higher the salary."
"You've been at This School for three years, haven't you? When I was on the Student Council, I looked into when each of the teachers started working here."
"You and Chabashira Sae have both been at this school for three years."
"And I happened to see Chabashira's personal savings. She had about 8,050,000."
"But Teacher Hoshinomiya's savings are over 20,000,000."
"Judging by how unfazed you look, you still have plenty of savings left even after spending 20,000,000."
"Let me take a guess."
"Chabashira Sae saved 8,050,000 over three years. Divide that by three years, or 36 months, and it comes to about 223,600 yen a month."
"After daily expenses, her monthly salary must be around 300,000 yen."
"But Teacher Hoshinomiya's is far higher than that. In other words, a teacher's salary increases as her class moves up in rank."
"If Chabashira Sae earns 300,000 yen, and the salary for Class C is double that, then it's 600,000 yen. If Teacher Hoshinomiya's Class B salary doubles again, that makes 1,200,000 yen."
"1,200,000 times 36 means you've earned 43,000,000 yen. After three years' expenses, you should have about 40,000,000 left."
"That's the only way to explain how you could pay me 2,700,000 and still have another 20,000,000 Personal Points to spend without batting an eye."
"Come to think of it, if I helped you reach Class A and your salary doubled again, you'd be making 2,400,000 a month, right?"
"No wonder you're so generous. You've got that much money coming in every year."
Akasaka couldn't help pouting, feeling a little envious.
If he had a salary that high, he'd never leave. He'd even scrub toilets if he had to.
Meanwhile, Hoshinomiya Chie stared at him in stunned silence—or, more accurately, in fear.
He hadn't said anything, yet the person across from her had calculated her salary down to the last detail. He'd even guessed it exactly.
Was this the monster who'd joined the Student Council in just two days, reduced his own class's points to zero, and helped Class B reach Class A? He was frightening!
Hoshinomiya was so scared of the boy in front of her that she was sweating profusely.
She'd never imagined he could figure out her monthly salary from just a few offhand remarks. Calling him a monster wasn't enough. This boy was a freak!
Hoshinomiya had no idea that Akasaka was simply sensitive about money. When it came to anything involving money, he wouldn't get even a single point wrong, because he was broke...
Hoshinomiya gradually recovered from her fearful expression and calmed herself. Her face turned complicated as she said,
"I really don't want to be your enemy... My Shiho couldn't possibly outplay a big bad wolf like you. You'd eat her up, bones and all..."
"Then I'm grateful for the compliment, Teacher."
"I wasn't complimenting you... By the way, will you consider joining our class? I'll pay the 20,000,000 Personal Points myself. I won't make you pay a single point."
Akasaka thought it over. "I'll think about it..."
"All right, then..." Hoshinomiya immediately looked dejected.
After a while, once I'd finished talking with Hoshinomiya, I got ready to leave and head to Sakayanagi Arisu's place to collect another payment.
Akasaka couldn't stop grinning.
Now that he'd received 2,700,000 Personal Points, he added them to his earlier savings, subtracted the 100,000 points he'd given Kamuro and his personal expenses, and added the 50,000 Personal Points the President had just given him.
At that moment, he had a total of.
3,365,500 Personal Points.
He'd only spent a measly amount in a month, getting by mostly on free goods. Add the 900,000 Personal Points he was about to collect from Sakayanagi Arisu, and his Personal Points would reach an unprecedented high.
4,535,500 Personal Points—but it still wasn't enough!
Now that he knew how high the teachers' salaries were, he could shift his target and start going after them.
After all, how much money could students have?
Aside from Student Council President Horikita Manabu, who stood at the top, and Miyabi Nagumo, who was a second-year, who else had a large number of points?
If he wanted to target students, he couldn't avoid those two. He'd even have to go after them. But now wasn't the time.
For now, he didn't want to make enemies of those two wolves.
One was the leader of the third-years, and the other was the leader of the second-years. If he antagonized both of them, his life would be difficult.
That left the teachers...
Sorry, teachers. You're all so rich... I just can't help myself~
Akasaka Ryunosuke wore an evil grin as deep as an abyss.
He looked as if he were about to devour the teachers whole.
Before you continue