As the bell rang for the last class of the day, Shangguan Che stretched luxuriously, feeling relaxed down to his bones.
Aside from the tough Chinese lesson that morning and the baffling history class, math and English had been easy. The material was much simpler than what he had studied back home, and he could follow along with the teacher and understand almost everything.
"Finally, lunchtime!"
With an empty stomach, Shangguan Che made a beeline for the cafeteria's free meal counter.
The familiar giant tubs of food were there, with little flecks of minced meat sprinkled over the bright green vegetables. Yet everything tasted especially good to him. As he chewed, he came up with a nickname for the meal:
"'Attribute-Point-Boosting' food. Better eat plenty so I'll have the energy to get things done!"
He had only taken a couple of bites when the cafeteria loudspeaker suddenly crackled twice.
A clear, sweet girl's voice followed:
[Mic check... Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Tachibana Akane, secretary of the Student Council.
A club fair will be held at the First Gymnasium at 5:00 p.m. today. Anyone interested is welcome to attend.]
The announcement played again. The freshmen in the cafeteria stopped eating and began whispering among themselves.
"Clubs?" Shangguan Che still had food in his mouth, but his eyes lit up.
He remembered that in the Japanese light novels he used to read, club activities were a staple of high school life. Some schools even required students to join one.
"You only live once, so go wild while you can! Joining a club doesn't sound like a bad idea."
As he chewed, he weighed his options. "If I want something easygoing, the Soccer Club or a guitar club might be a good fit.
"Playing soccer would help me get in shape, and I might even win a school tournament and improve the school's opinion of me.
"Playing guitar would make me look artsy. Who knows, maybe I could smoke, drink, and fool around with women, too.
"...That's a bass joke."
At that thought, Shangguan Che's face fell. "Wait, don't I have to buy my own guitar? My points are tight as it is. How am I supposed to afford an instrument?"
With that in mind, he put the idea of joining a guitar club aside for now. "I'll check out the club fair first. If nothing else, I can find a club that doesn't cost anything and just hang around."
Once he'd made up his mind, Shangguan Che quickly polished off the rest of his meal, returned his tray to the collection counter, and headed straight for the teachers' office.
He had spent all night yesterday working on a crooked little scheme to "raise his attributes," and he had to put it into action today.
Standing outside the office, Shangguan Che took a deep breath and knocked twice. Before anyone inside could answer, he pushed the door open—mostly because he was afraid he'd lose his nerve if he waited too long.
The office was quiet. Only one tall male teacher sat at a desk, grading papers; all the other seats were empty.
"No one here?" Shangguan Che froze. He was about to slip away and come back when Chabashira-sensei was around, but the male teacher looked up, his gaze landing on him. "What can I do for you?"
"Ah, good afternoon, sir!" Shangguan Che quickly straightened up, trying to look polite.
"I'm Shangguan Che from Class 1-D. I'm here to see our homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae."
He had planned to say "Chabashira-sensei," but remembered how back home, calling out "Teacher Wang" in the staff room could get several people to stand up. So he gave her full name instead, to avoid any mix-ups.
The male teacher pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and said unhurriedly, "Chabashira-sensei stepped out. She probably won't be back until this afternoon. Is it urgent? If not, you can come back later."
"Um..." Shangguan Che hesitated.
He hadn't expected much to begin with. Now that Chabashira-sensei wasn't there, should he just go back? But then he thought about how he'd worked up the courage to come all the way here. He couldn't just turn around and slink off.
Shangguan Che remembered the "shamelessness principle" he'd used to pep himself up yesterday. Gritting his teeth, he looked up at the male teacher. "Thank you for letting me know, sir! By the way, may I ask your name?"
"I'm Mashima Tomoya, the homeroom teacher of Class 1-A." Mashima set down his pen and regarded him with interest. Not many students went out of their way to ask the name of a teacher who wasn't their own.
"Nice to meet you, Mashima-sensei!" Shangguan Che bowed, then finally voiced what he'd been holding back.
"There's something I'd like to ask you about, if you have a moment... I want to donate 60,000 personal points to an orphanage. Do you know how I could go about doing that?"
"Sixty thousand personal points?" Mashima's pupils contracted slightly, clearly taken aback by the amount.
How many points could a new student possibly have? And he wanted to give them away?
But when Mashima heard the rest—"donate them to an orphanage"—he was completely stunned. His face plainly asked, "Are you kidding me?" It took him a while to find the words.
"That won't be possible. The school has clear rules about personal points. They can only be used to purchase goods and services on campus. You can't transfer them outside the school, much less donate them to an outside organization like an orphanage."
Shangguan Che had expected that answer, so he immediately brought up his backup plan, his tone earnest. "In that case... could I donate the points to the school? I know it might seem a little sudden, but I really do want to do this."
This was Shangguan Che's real goal all along. The orphanage was just a pretext; donating to the school was what he actually had in mind. Maybe he could earn some goodwill with the school and get a reward for being a good citizen.
This time, Mashima was silent for even longer. He stared at Shangguan Che as though trying to determine whether the student was playing a prank on him.
Feeling a little uncomfortable under his gaze, Shangguan Che hurried to add, "Mashima-sensei, I'm not trying to mess with you, and this isn't some spur-of-the-moment decision. I thought about it all night yesterday. I truly mean it."
Mashima thought to himself, He really is a Class D student. His ideas are something else...
But Shangguan Che looked so serious that he didn't seem to be lying. In the end, Mashima relented. "I can't make that decision myself. I'll call the school and ask what they think. Wait here."
With that, he picked up his phone, stood, and walked over to the office door. He deliberately stepped away from Shangguan Che and lowered his voice as he made the call.
He's actually pretty nice. He didn't make me wait outside. Shangguan Che felt a little touched. It seemed that no matter which world you were in, there were always reasonable, understanding teachers.
A few minutes later, Mashima hung up and came back, looking a little surprised. "The school has agreed. You can transfer the points to my account for now, and I'll help handle the rest of the paperwork."
"Really? Thank you so much, Mashima-sensei!"
Shangguan Che nearly jumped with excitement. He quickly pulled out his phone, opened the points transfer screen, entered Mashima's information, and sent him the 60,000 points.
After the transfer, he took the opportunity to add Mashima as a contact. "If I have a similar question in the future, I might need to trouble you again. It'll be easier to get in touch if we're friends."
Mashima didn't refuse and accepted the request. Looking at his phone screen, Shangguan Che suddenly remembered an important question. He tentatively asked, "By the way, Mashima-sensei, I heard Chabashira-sensei say that the school gives us 100,000 points every month. Is that true?"
Mashima adjusted his glasses, his tone flat. "No comment."
"Got it. Thank you, sir! I won't keep you from your work. I'll be going now!"
Shangguan Che knew when to quit. He bowed and left. The moment he stepped out of the office, he couldn't help grinning.
Wasn't "no comment" just an indirect confirmation? It seemed the monthly point allowance would definitely change. Maybe it was even tied to how well the students performed.
Looks like I really need to study hard from now on. I can't end up at the bottom of the class, or I won't have enough points to spend!
As he walked, he pulled out his phone and stared at the screen, waiting for a system notification. If he'd donated points, surely the system would give him a reward, right? But after waiting for ages, the screen stayed quiet. There wasn't even a notification sound.
Seriously? System, are you asleep? Isn't it supposed to be instant?
Shangguan Che muttered at his phone, but he wasn't too worried.
He'd already donated the points, so sooner or later, the reward would come. For now, the most important thing was the club fair that afternoon. He had to hurry back and get ready, then figure out which club suited him best.
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