Business Knocking at the Door

Yorozuya.

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Please, come in."

A tall, thin boy walked in from outside the door, holding a document envelope in his hand.

"Pardon the intrusion. Are you the president of Yorozuya?"

"That would be me. How can I help you?"

"Ah, looking at you, you must be a junior, right? Let me introduce myself. I'm Kojima Hayato from Class 2-B. To be precise, I'm not here to commission anything."

Shintō Katsuya, who had been full of enthusiasm, lost interest the moment he heard that.

Because of the introduction and guarantee from Horikita Manabu, many people had been filled with curiosity about Yorozuya lately, and there was no shortage of visitors who came simply to look around.

However, Shintō wasn't the type to give someone a cold shoulder just because of that; after all, even if a deal doesn't go through, there's no need to burn bridges.

He stood up to pour the visitor a glass of water before inviting him to sit in the chair across from his desk.

"In that case, are you here to take a tour of our Yorozuya, senior?"

"No, I'm here to do business with you."

As Kojima Hayato spoke, he placed the document envelope in his hand onto the desk.

Shintō took a casual glance at it.

"Oh? Senior. I'm just a greenhorn who just arrived, so I really don't understand what kind of business we could have."

"Hehehe, that's a bit disingenuous, isn't it, junior? Running a Yorozuya right here in the school, I don't believe for a second that you don't understand what I mean."

As he spoke, Kojima Hayato tapped his index finger lightly on the envelope.

"But you at least have to tell me what kind of treasure this is, right?"

"Uh, of course. Of course. I know that you are from Class D, and the overall academic level of your class still has quite a bit of room for improvement, right?"

Isn't that just stating the obvious?!

Seeing that Shintō had no intention of speaking, Kojima Hayato added:

"I also know that the school's midterm exams are coming up soon. If you fail the exams, you'll be facing penalties on the level of expulsion, you know."

"So, if you could get your hands on a copy of the midterm exam answers in advance... such a great opportunity can be yours for just 20,000 points~"

Shintō Katsuya raised an eyebrow. The other party wouldn't have come here to initiate a deal if he didn't have something substantial. In other words, these answers were likely real.

"Answers?!"

"Not interested."

Heh, is this that 'playing hard to get' tactic you guys have run into the ground? Damn merchant! But I'm not some wet-behind-the-ears kid; that micro-expression of your eyebrow twitching didn't fool me!!

"Don't be like that, junior. These answers are extremely precious. Although they are essentially the original test questions from our own exams back then, I can guarantee they will be a huge help to you."

Despite the other party's flowery language, Shintō remained unmoved, instead saying in a lazy tone:

"I believe that. But I think you haven't done much market research, senior. Otherwise, you wouldn't have come to me to peddle answers."

"This... what do you mean by that?"

"As everyone knows, I am a businessman. Why would I ever engage in a losing deal? Class A and Class B are full of top students; there's simply no market there. My relationship with Class C isn't great either; their leader doesn't seem to like me much. As for Class D, you don't expect me to charge my own classmates, do you? That's an easy way to get ostracized."

"So, even though your product is excellent, to me, it's just like waste paper—worthless."

Hearing Shintō belittle his answers like that, Kojima Hayato hurriedly tried to persuade him:

"But, even so, it would be worth it to give them to your classmates and earn some goodwill! How about this? 15,000 points! I'll sell them to you."

Shintō let out a scoff.

"If it's about buying favors, even 15,000 is still a bit too high for me."

Kojima Hayato's expression changed upon hearing this.

"It seems you're dead set against it, junior. In that case... forget it."

As he spoke, he picked up the envelope from the desk and started walking toward the door.

One step, two steps, three steps.

"Wait!"

As expected! Heh, I knew you were an impatient guy.

Kojima Hayato feigned annoyance as he replied:

"What? Is there something else, junior?"

"I said we're doing business, so having so little patience probably isn't a good look, is it? Sit down, sit down. How about this? I'll provide a proposal, see if you can accept it, how about that?"

"In that case... I'll hear what you have to say."

Kojima Hayato pretended to be reluctant as he returned to his chair and sat down.

"How about this: you take a step back, I take a step back. Five thousand points, how does that sound?"

Kojima Hayato narrowed his eyes, clearly having run out of patience:

"Junior, are you intentionally messing with me?! You want me to take two steps back, is that it?!"

"Look at you, getting worked up again."

"I haven't finished speaking yet. For five thousand points, you gain the friendship of our Yorozuya, and in the days to come, you will enjoy our priority... line-cutting rights."

Kojima Hayato, who had been on the verge of an outburst, suddenly flared up. He didn't know what these priority line-cutting rights were, but he could tell that the friendship of the Yorozuya was nothing more than a hollow promise.

Seeing that the other party was about to explode again, Shinjo calmly lifted his teacup and took a sip:

"Actually, you should think about this carefully. If you sell it to someone else for fifteen thousand points, that's all you're getting. While I don't know the situation with you second-years, coming from Class B, you shouldn't be too short on cash, right?"

"Look at the big picture. Even though you're earning ten thousand points less, you've gained our friendship. You know who is behind the Yorozuya, don't you?"

Shinjo shamelessly used Horikita Manabu as a banner to bolster his position.

"This..."

Upon hearing this, Kojima Hayato actually felt that what the other party said made a bit of sense.

He personally wasn't lacking those ten thousand points, but these so-called priority line-cutting rights sounded like complete nonsense.

Therefore, he decisively took out his phone and sent a message to someone.

Shinjo wasn't in a hurry, instead closing his eyes to rest.

Three minutes later, Kojima Hayato looked at the text message on his screen and nodded.

"Fine, junior. I'll consider this as making a friend out of you! You can transfer the points to me now."

"Eh? It seems you've misunderstood something, haven't you? When did I ever say I wanted to trade with you?"

"Ah?... Wait! You were just playing me this whole time?!!"

Kojima Hayato shouted and slammed his hand onto Shinjo's desk. He looked absolutely furious, as if he wanted to transform into a wild beast the very next second and tear Shinjo to pieces.