Although the school was unusual, plenty of things were still just like they were at an ordinary school.
For example, the long and boring opening ceremony.
It was the usual parade of speeches from the principal, teachers, student representatives, and the like, while the students below listened sleepily.
All the school rules had already been laid out clearly in the student handbook. And with the excitement of being in a new environment, few people paid attention to what the school officials were saying.
So, once the opening ceremony ended, the students began a day of free time.
Watching classmates head off in groups of three or five to go shopping or grab coffee, Shintō Katsuya felt his own thoughts growing more lively.
If points could buy anything, it would be a shame not to treat himself properly.
"Grrr..."
"Well, well. You think we should enjoy ourselves first, too? Is that right, tummy?"
Thinking this, Shintō chuckled and headed to the cafeteria.
Perhaps because there weren't many students, but they were unexpectedly well-off, the cafeteria served an astonishing variety of food.
Fried, stir-fried, boiled, deep-fried, steamed, roasted, braised, stewed—dishes from home and abroad, things that flew through the sky, ran across the land, hopped through the grass, or swam in the water. It had just about everything.
But an inconspicuous section in the corner of the menu caught his eye.
"Free... mountain vegetable set meal. That's strange..."
Prices at Advanced Nurturing High School were about the same as those outside. If anything, things might even be a little cheaper at school.
But students who received a hundred thousand points every month shouldn't have been so strapped for cash that they couldn't afford even the simplest lunchbox, no matter how carelessly they spent.
So why did the school offer a free meal?
Something was off... nine out of ten, it had to be!
Shintō Katsuya's eyes rolled twice in their sockets, and a bizarre guess popped into his mind.
With that thought, he ordered two hamburger sets and headed straight for an upperclassman who was eating a mountain vegetable set meal with a pained, almost numb expression.
"Hey, senpai, mind if I sit here?"
"How do you know I'm an upperclassman? Our uniforms are all the same."
"Well, let's call it a little talent of mine. I can tell from your eyes and expression that you're not a new student."
The boy eating with his head down looked up at Shintō and nodded without saying much. But when he glanced at the hamburgers, there was a hint of longing in his eyes.
Once upon a time, he'd lived in luxury. A mere hamburger hadn't even been worth a second glance.
But then... sigh.
Shintō naturally noticed the other boy's unnatural expression. After thanking him, he pushed one of the sets toward him.
"What's this supposed to mean?"
There were plenty of empty seats in the cafeteria. This new student had no reason to squeeze in at the same table as him, so it was only natural to be suspicious.
But could a mere first-year really be so calculating?
Shintō Katsuya smiled at the question.
"I'm a new student, after all. There's a lot I don't know yet. Accidentally ordering an extra meal is perfectly normal, right?"
The upperclassman pursed his lips. How could he not tell Shintō was lying?
Unless the guy across from him was a caveman, how could he not know how to buy meal tickets?
He glanced at the hamburger that had been pushed toward him again, then pretended he hadn't heard and continued eating the vegetables on his plate.
"Are these things good?"
Shintō's endless questions irritated him, and his tone grew impatient.
"If you want to know, why not go buy a set yourself? It's free!"
"Don't get worked up. I'm just having trouble believing there are people in this world who actually like eating wild vegetables that look like tree roots. Good thing they're free, or I doubt they'd sell many in a whole year, right?"
Shintō's casual chatter immediately got the upperclassman worked up.
"Like them? If they charged for this stuff, would people like us who are poor even be able to survive?! I..."
Apparently realizing he'd said something he shouldn't have, he stopped short. He quickly finished the last of the food on his plate and got ready to leave.
But Shintō stood up and left the cafeteria before him. As he went, he tossed back one last remark:
"Thanks, senpai. That set's all yours. If you don't like it, you can throw it away~"
The upperclassman was left sitting there, stunned. After a long while, he sighed and looked at the hamburger and fries on the table, then put them into a takeaway bag.
To confirm his guess, Shintō went to a convenience store. When he saw that everyday necessities, including toiletries, also had a free section, his suspicions became all but certain.
But while paying, he ran into the person he least wanted to see.
What he hadn't expected was that the boy was chatting intermittently with a cool, long-haired beauty.
Though she clearly seemed to find him a little annoying.
I should just leave... I don't want to get mixed up with that guy...
But before Shintō could use his stealth talent to slip away, the other boy greeted him first.
"Ah, I remember you. You're Shintō, right?"
As the saying went, you didn't hit someone who greeted you with a smile, even though neither of the two across from him was anywhere close to smiling.
But out of politeness and professional habit, Shintō forced himself to walk over and greet them.
"Hello. I'm surprised you remember my name. You're Ayanokoji... Kiyotaka, right?"
The long-haired girl beside him frowned. She clearly had no interest in talking to Shintō either, and silently joined the checkout line.
Perhaps to smooth things over, Ayanokoji spoke up in her defense.
"Don't mind her, Horikita. That's just how she is."
"I don't mind, of course... Anyway, Ayanokoji, are you and Horikita close? I saw you sitting next to each other in class."
Not only that—they'd even sat next to each other on the bus!
But Shintō clearly hadn't noticed Horikita at the time.
"No, we've only just met."
This was what happened when you tried talking with someone like Ayanokoji. No matter how sociable the other person was, there was always a point when the conversation died.
An ordinary person couldn't talk to a block of wood all day. Unless he wasn't ordinary to begin with.
Just then, Shintō noticed that Ayanokoji's shopping basket held nothing but free items, so he asked,
"You're more frugal than I expected, Ayanokoji."
"Ah, well, they work just as well."
"Well, I just remembered I have something to do. See you tomorrow!"
After making up an excuse, Shintō turned and left the convenience store, which had made his toes curl with secondhand embarrassment, and headed back to the dorm alone.
I must've lost my mind to even try talking to that guy!
Elsewhere, based on the information he'd gathered, he could conclude the following:
Between the upperclassman calling himself poor and the free goods that could keep a person alive, there was also what Chabashira Sae had said earlier:
"Points will be deposited automatically on the first of every month. Points are the school's measure of ability. This month, everyone gets a fair hundred thousand points."
That meant... a hundred thousand points wasn't a fixed amount. It could be more, or it could be less. And the first of every month was when they'd find out whether they'd get more or less.
"If that's really how it works, and the school didn't tell us, wouldn't it be easy for new students to spend all their hundred thousand points in the first month? It'd be fine if we got just a little less next month, but what if we got a lot less? Hey, hey, hey..."
Shintō Katsuya suddenly felt uneasy. He wasn't someone who cared much about money. You couldn't take it with you when you were born or when you died, so as long as you had enough, that was fine.
But if that was how things worked, he'd have to think about how he was going to afford food and other necessities over the next three years.
And so...
"Sigh, what's done is done. I'll sleep on it..."
Back in his dorm, Shintō Katsuya stretched, took out the headphones and portable music player he'd just bought for fifty thousand points, and hummed himself to sleep:
"Save where you should, spend where you can. The money hasn't disappeared; it's just found another way to stay by my side."
Before you continue