A Business Comes Knocking

Yorozuya.

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Come in."

A tall, thin boy walked in from outside, carrying a document envelope.

"Sorry to bother you. Are you the president of the Yorozuya?"

"That's me. What can I do for you?"

"Ah, from the look of you, you must be an underclassman. Let me introduce myself. I'm Kojima Hayato from Class 2-B. To be precise, I'm not here to commission anything."

At that, Shinjo, who had been full of enthusiasm, lost interest at once.

With Horikita Manabu's introduction and endorsement, plenty of people had grown curious about the Yorozuya lately. Some of them had even come by just to look around.

Still, Shinjo wasn't about to treat the other boy poorly just for that. A deal might fall through, but there was no reason to make an enemy.

He got up, poured the other boy a glass of water, then invited him to sit in the chair opposite his desk.

"In that case, did you come to take a look around the Yorozuya, senpai?"

"No. I came to do business with you."

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

Shinjo took a frank look at it.

"Oh? Senpai, I'm just a newcomer. I honestly don't understand what we could possibly trade."

"Heh heh heh. That's not very sporting, underclassman. You run a business like this right here at school. I don't believe you don't understand what I mean."

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

"But at the very least, you'll have to tell me what this treasure is."

"Uh, of course. Of course. I know you're from Class 1-D. The academic level of your class as a whole still has a lot of room for improvement, wouldn't you say?"

Isn't that obvious?!

Seeing that Shinjo had no intention of replying, Kojima Hayato added:

"I also know the midterm exams are coming up soon. If you fail, you'll face a penalty as severe as expulsion."

"So, if you could get your hands on a copy of the midterm answers ahead of time... What a great opportunity. You can have them for just twenty thousand points~"

Shinjo Katsuya raised an eyebrow. Kojima Hayato wouldn't have come to offer a deal unless he had something to back it up. In other words, there was a very good chance the answers were real.

"The answers?!"

"Not interested."

Heh, this is that tired old trick of playing hard to get, isn't it? Damn merchants! But I'm not some naive kid who just started out. That little eyebrow raise won't fool me!

"Come on, underclassman. These answers are extremely valuable. They're actually the original questions from our exam, but I guarantee they'll be a huge help to you."

No matter how enticing Kojima Hayato made them sound, Shinjo remained unmoved. Instead, he replied in a lazy tone:

"I believe you. But I doubt you've done much market research, senpai. Otherwise, you wouldn't be trying to sell answers to me."

"W-what do you mean by that?"

"As everyone knows, I'm a businessman. Why would I make a deal at a loss? Classes A and B are full of top students, so there's no market there. I don't get along with Class 1-C, 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? I'd get isolated pretty quickly."

"So your product might be great, but to me it's no better than waste paper. It's not worth a thing."

Hearing Shinjo talk down his answers so much, Kojima Hayato hurried to persuade him.

"W-well, even so, you could give them to your classmates and earn their goodwill! That'd be worth it, wouldn't it? How about this: fifteen thousand points. I'll sell them to you for that."

Shinjo gave a derisive chuckle.

"If you're selling goodwill, even fifteen thousand is still a bit steep for me."

Kojima Hayato's expression shifted.

"Looks like you're dead set against buying them, underclassman. In that case... forget it."

He picked up the envelope from the desk and started toward the door.

One step, two steps, three steps.

"Wait!"

Just as I thought! Heh, I knew he wouldn't be able to hold out.

Kojima Hayato replied with feigned displeasure:

"What is it? Do you need something, underclassman?"

"You said this was business, but you're awfully impatient. That's not a good way to do business, is it? Sit down, sit down. How about this: I'll make you an offer, and you can decide whether you'll accept it."

"In that case... I'll hear you out."

Kojima Hayato pretended to be reluctant, then returned to his chair and sat down.

"Here's the deal. You give a little, I give a little. Five thousand points. What do you say?"

Kojima Hayato narrowed his eyes. He had clearly run out of patience.

"Underclassman, are you messing with me?! You want me to give in twice in a row?!"

"See? You're getting worked up again."

"I haven't finished talking. For five thousand points, you'll earn the Yorozuya's friendship and get priority... cutting-in-line privileges from us in the future."

Kojima Hayato, who had been about to blow up, calmed down a little. He didn't know what these priority cutting-in-line privileges were, but he could tell the Yorozuya's friendship was an empty promise.

Seeing the other boy about to lose his temper again, Shinjo leisurely picked up his teacup and took a sip.

"Actually, you should think it over. If you sell them to someone else for fifteen thousand points, all you'll get is the points. I don't know what things are like for second-years, but you're from Class B, so I doubt you're all that short on money, right?"

"Think about the long term. Sure, you'll earn ten thousand points less, but you'll have gained our friendship. You know who's behind the Yorozuya, don't you?"

Shinjo shamelessly invoked Horikita Manabu's name as a banner to wave.

"Hmm..."

At first, Kojima Hayato had thought there might actually be some sense in what the other boy was saying.

He wasn't short of ten thousand points himself, but these priority cutting-in-line privileges sounded like a load of nonsense.

So he promptly took out his phone and messaged someone.

Shinjo didn't seem in a hurry. He simply closed his eyes and rested.

Three minutes later, Kojima Hayato nodded as he looked at the message on his screen.

"All right, underclassman. I'll consider it my way of making a friend! You can transfer the points to me now."

"Huh? I think you've misunderstood something. When did I ever say I wanted to make a deal with you?"

"Wha...? Wait! You were just messing with me?!"

Kojima Hayato shouted and slammed his hands on Shinjo's desk. He looked furious, as if he might transform into a savage beast and tear Shinjo to pieces the very next second.