As I watched the teacher leave through the door, the students in the class also began filing out, heading to the gym for the entrance ceremony.
To me, things like entrance ceremonies were a complete waste of time. Standing around listening to rules I already knew and a bunch of brainwashing flies buzzing on and on? Earning some pocket money was far more important!
After picking out my targets, I stood up and headed in the same direction the teacher had gone, ignoring Sakura as she approached me.
"Huh? Why's Gojo-kun going the opposite way?"
Sakura Airi wondered aloud.
"But since we're in the same class, I can thank him tomorrow!"
"Teacher~ Don't go so fast."
Chabashira Sae heard the playful, drawn-out call from behind her. Frowning, she turned around.
"What is it, Gojo-kun? Or was what I said earlier not clear enough?"
Though she was a little annoyed by the way he spoke, she still wanted to know what he was after.
The freshman entrance ceremony was about to begin, yet instead of going to the gym, he'd come looking for her. Had he already noticed some of the hidden rules? Or had he simply failed to understand anything?
But his next words left her stunned.
"Chabashira-sensei, as a member of the school faculty, you must know a few business owners in the commercial district, right? Do you have their contact information?"
She was confused by his bizarre question, but answered honestly.
"I don't have much contact with ordinary employees, but I have the contact information of most of the owners. Why are you asking?"
"Then could you get the owners of xxx Café, xx Computers, the amusement park, and xxxx Sweets to come to an empty conference room? Just tell them Chairman Sakayanagi wants to see them."
He named a few shops he'd made a point of noting down while wandering around.
"Then get Chairman Sakayanagi to come, too. Tell him, 'Gojo Satoru would like you to come sit with him for a while. If you don't say anything while you're in there, you'll get 500,000 Private Points.'"
Chabashira Sae looked baffled.
"Where did you get 500,000 Private Points?"
"Don't worry about the details. Just pass on the message. I'll give you 30,000 Private Points for your trouble."
Gojo Satoru's lips curled up as he kept trying to tempt Chabashira Sae.
Before long, Chabashira-sensei led me to an empty conference room.
The room was about the size of a classroom, but it only had two sofas facing each other, with a small table between them. At the far end stood a desk and an office chair.
After looking around, I flopped down on the sofa closest to the desk and tossed four contracts I'd had printed out earlier onto the table.
Chabashira Sae sat on the sofa opposite me. She eyed the four contracts on the table, looking puzzled, but decided not to ask about them. Instead, she picked one up and started reading.
The farther she got, the more deeply her brows furrowed. She looked at the boy across from her, confused.
He didn't seem interested in talking to her. He simply looked at his phone.
We waited in there for about fifteen minutes.
Knock, knock, knock.
At the sound of someone knocking, Chabashira-sensei immediately got up to open the door.
Two men and a woman walked in. They didn't see the chairman anywhere—just a student lying on the sofa.
"Chabashira-sensei, weren't you supposed to say the chairman wanted to see us? Why isn't he here?"
One of the three men asked pointedly.
The only woman in the group followed up, displeased.
"Yeah. Isn't it the freshman entrance ceremony right now? Chairman Sakayanagi should still be over there giving a speech. Are we supposed to wait here until it's over?"
The last man, who looked to be in his early thirties, didn't say anything, but he was clearly unhappy.
It was already eleven. Even if the ceremony ended quickly, it wouldn't be over until around 11:30. It was nearly lunchtime, and they'd been summoned at a time like this while someone else got special treatment. It was infuriating.
Gojo Satoru, however, didn't care. He spoke casually.
"Now, now, don't rush. Have a seat for a while. There are a few contracts here you can look over."
As he spoke, he straightened up and sat down, though he still looked perfectly relaxed, leaning back against the sofa with one leg crossed over the other.
The three of them took one look at the strange student wearing a blindfold and immediately understood: the chairman hadn't actually summoned them. He was just a pretext.
They went over to the empty three-seater sofa and sat down. Fenfen picked up a contract and began to read.
After they'd all had a chance to look through the contracts, they were clearly unsettled. They set them down and exchanged glances.
Just then, the man of the hour finally walked in. They were about to get up and greet Chairman Sakayanagi, but he waved them down, indicating they should stay seated, then went straight to the office chair and sat down.
With the man of the hour finally present, Gojo Satoru broke the silence and began his introduction.
"Since everyone's here, let's introduce ourselves. I'm Gojo Satoru, a new student in Class 1-D. You've all read the contracts, right?"
"I'm Banben Kazuhiro, owner of the amusement park and café on campus. The terms in the contract are very generous to us, but are you sure this won't violate school rules?"
The middle-aged man was the first to speak up. The contract promised such a large income, with no chance of a loss.
He owns two businesses? No wonder only three people came. I thought the others couldn't make it for some reason.
"I'm Hashimoto Sana, the owner of the sweets shop. Rather than whether the contract complies with school rules, I'd like to know if you're sure you can fulfill its terms."
The only female owner pressed him for an answer.
"I'm Ikeda Taiga, the owner of the computer shop. I have the same question as them."
The last man added his question as well.
Gojo Satoru waved a hand.
"It's all laid out clearly in the contract, isn't it? Basically, from this year until I graduate or drop out, all the points earned at your shops will be transferred to the terminal in my student ID.
"When I leave the school, I'll convert those points into yen at a one-to-one rate, then add another 10% and pay you back.
"As for whether I can afford to do that, I'm sure you've all heard of XX Group. Its headquarters are right in central Tokyo, and it has branches in several countries. It's my company, and I own 100% of it. The chairman knows that."
Everyone looked at the chairman in astonishment. It was beyond anything they could have imagined. They could hardly believe that an underage student owned a company worth tens of billions of dollars.
As the others stared in shock, the chairman gave a slight nod.
The middle-aged man, who'd been wearing a stern expression, immediately stood up with a smile and excitedly reached out to shake Gojo Satoru's hand. Gojo dodged him, but the man wasn't offended. He said enthusiastically,
"Young and accomplished, truly young and accomplished! I never would have expected a little school like this to have someone like you, a Wolong and Fengchu. What a blessing for our school!"
The other two nodded along with smiles. As long as the chairman didn't object, their income over the next three years would increase by 10%. They wouldn't mind skipping a meal for that—not even ten!
Compared with their excitement, Gojo Satoru's mouth twitched. The phrase "Wolong and Fengchu" sounded far too awkward.
"Since everything's been confirmed, let's just sign. The chairman's been listening this whole time without objecting, so he clearly approves."
He looked toward the chairman, whose lips twitched, but he said nothing.
The three men didn't understand why the chairman had refused to say a word since he'd arrived. But since he didn't seem to be stopping them, they all signed their names.
After seeing the three business owners out, Gojo Satoru looked at the points displayed on his phone:
87523000
Capitalists really are evil! Just as I expected, the school doesn't buy back students' points in yen after graduation. That leads to a massive spending spree in the final few months. There's no avoiding entertainment spending, but most students also spend around 80% of their points on clothes and electronics to preserve their value. As long as brand-name clothes, computers, cameras, and the like are unopened, they retain more than 95% of their value. They can sell them off after leaving and recoup a decent amount.
Ikeda Taiga's computer shop alone had transferred more than sixty million points, far more than the other three businesses combined.
I hadn't called in the owners of the clothing shop or camera shop, but this was enough. The most important businesses were the amusement park and the sweets shop. From now on, I'd basically be buying all my sweets using my outside assets.
At the thought, it was as hard to keep my grin in check as a machine gun.
"Thanks, Chairman. I'm sorry for the trouble, making a busy man like you come all the way here."
"No problem. I've been looking forward to seeing the first step of the one known as 'The One Favored by the Gods.'"
As he spoke, he stood up.
At that, Gojo Satoru couldn't hold back his laughter.
"Hahaha! Well, I'll be off. I haven't had any sweets all morning, and my energy's almost gone."
Watching Gojo Satoru leave without paying him any points, the chairman finally realized he'd been had. I was told not to say anything in there? He played me. What a spiteful kid.
Then he smiled wryly.
"Looks like that child, Arisu, is in for a rough time."
Chabashira Sae, standing off to the side, had already shrunk her pupils in shock. She'd never seen a student start off like this before. It was only the first day of school, yet he already had an unimaginable number of points.
An evil capitalist, huh? But if it's him, he can definitely get Class D into Class A! This is our best chance yet. I absolutely can't let it slip by, even if I have to give up everything!
Before you continue