April in Tokyo brought a gentle drizzle. The faint fragrance of cherry blossoms mingled with the fresh scent of the earth. Along the streets, all kinds of students in brand-new uniforms headed for their schools, full of hopes for the future. Their laughter and chatter drifted through the thin veil of rain.
"Ah-choo!"
Watching the lively students below his apartment, Natsukawa Sosuke could only think how noisy they were. People's joys and sorrows had nothing to do with one another. All he wanted was to curl up under his little blanket. It had already been five days since he'd transmigrated, and he hadn't had a single day of peace. Actually, no—he hadn't had a peaceful day in a long time, even before he transmigrated.
Before transmigrating, Natsukawa Sosuke had worked in embedded development at a major tech company. After several days of working overtime until three in the morning, he'd finally finished the client's urgent new requirements. Thinking he could at last take it easy, he'd relaxed and slumped over his desk, planning to nap until work started, then head down to the cafeteria for breakfast. Instead, he'd woken up staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. At least there hadn't been a nurse beside him saying, "The surgery was a success. You're now a ***."
Then he'd been faced with one piece of good news and one piece of bad news. The good news was that he'd transmigrated and wouldn't have to be driven by his boss to work overtime every day to fulfill new requirements. The bad news was that he hadn't inherited the original owner's memories, and didn't even know how old he was.
"That's not how this is supposed to work. Doesn't everyone inherit the original owner's memories when they transmigrate these days? Don't tell me I'm going to have to pretend to be the original owner and outwit his parents and friends. Please, no. Who wants to read that kind of story? More importantly, I don't know how to act!"
Natsukawa Sosuke flung his right hand, sending a student ID slapping onto the table. Just moments ago, he'd learned his current name from it. After searching the room, he'd even found a diary the original owner had left behind.
"What kind of normal person keeps a diary these days?"
From the diary, he learned that the original owner had come from a happy family. He'd just graduated middle school, and had gone on a trip with his parents when they got into a car accident. His parents had died, but since he'd been wearing a seat belt in the back, he'd only been jolted and hadn't suffered any serious injuries. The diary ended on the day his parents died. The original owner had probably spent the entire spring break grieving, and then it had been my turn to show up.
Over the past few days, Natsukawa Sosuke had sorted through the original owner's belongings and used the computer to learn about the outside world. Tokyo was still a little chilly. Since this body had stayed indoors all spring break, its condition couldn't exactly be called robust. It was more like a pile of brittle bones and weak muscles. Even Du Fu would have been healthier than him.
His body might have been weak, but at least his wallet was clean. He'd searched the whole apartment and could only scrape together enough money to get by for a month. And with his body so frail, he urgently needed plenty of nutrition to build himself back up.
"Looks like I'll have to experience the unique charm of working at a convenience store in Japan."
Today, while browsing the web for part-time work, Natsukawa Sosuke had stumbled across a post about Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School. At first, he hadn't paid it much attention, but then he'd seen phrases like "a state-supported project," "a 100% employment and college admission rate," and "an isolated campus environment." Suddenly, a shocking thought had struck him: wasn't this the school from the light novel Classroom of the Elite that he'd read before transmigrating? In that instant, illustrations of characters like Sakayanagi Arisu and Ichinose Honami had flashed through his mind, along with countless scenes of characters showing off and humiliating their opponents. Just as his heart began to race uncontrollably...
Reality had elbowed him out of his fantasy without hesitation. Getting into Advanced Nurturing High School wasn't as easy as just wanting to. He wasn't some rich young master who could snap his fingers and receive an admission letter. Besides, school was about to start, and the roster had long since been finalized.
"Of course, not everyone gets to enjoy a bright and youthful school life after transmigrating. I'd better just go find a job like a good little rat."
Just as Natsukawa Sosuke was losing hope and preparing to face the cold, hard reality—
[Beep! The host's intense desire has been detected. System functions are now active.]
[Would you like to exchange for an admission invitation to Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School?]
[Required payment: 20,000,000 yen (twenty million yen exactly)]
[Payment deadline: the day of graduation]
[Yes/No]
Looking at the System interface that had suddenly appeared, Natsukawa Sosuke felt as if a path had opened up where none had seemed to exist. But the supposed price had truly startled him. Twenty million yen! He hadn't earned that much in his previous life, even working himself to the bone. And now, right from the start, he was expected to take on a loan of that size? Was that reasonable? It was an astronomical sum for an ordinary person, and he had to pay it back within three years. It was impossible. After a long silence, Natsukawa Sosuke finally clicked, with an exceptionally heavy heart...
[Yes]
There's no way I'm working part-time. I'll never work part-time again. Everyone at Advanced Nurturing High School is talented, and they're so nice to talk to. I really like it there. Since Natsukawa Sosuke had probably died suddenly at his desk in his previous life, there was no way he'd want to repeat the same mistake, especially in an unfamiliar country like Japan. He wasn't sure if this was the same class as the one he knew, but at least he understood the school's rules. What's more, Advanced Nurturing High School provided free room and board, which would be enough to help him adjust to his new body and surroundings.
Even if I'm burdened with a broken body and a 20-million-yen loan, I, Natsukawa Sosuke, will still be invincible.
"Grrr..."
Just as Natsukawa was thinking this, his stomach suddenly growled, as if to say:
I've let you get away with enough.
"Can't be helped. I'll eat first."
Natsukawa Sosuke pushed aside the keyboard and went to the kitchen. He fried two eggs and made do with a bowl of noodles. As he ate, he asked,
"System, what happens if I can't pay off the loan?"
[At that point, all rewards granted by the System will be reclaimed, including any proceeds the host has earned by using those rewards.]
"That's good, then. At least it's not one of those systems that makes you do illegal work if you can't pay up. System, can I still make another exchange now? What can I exchange for?"
[The host can only have one transaction in progress at a time. The next transaction can begin only after the current one is complete.]
[As this is the host's first time using this function, this transaction does not count toward the limit.]
[The System can exchange for anything the host has a chance of achieving. The price will depend on how difficult it is for the host to achieve.]
"Anything I have a chance of achieving?"
Natsukawa Sosuke thought it over. School was about to start, so he couldn't make this exchange carelessly. It would determine whether he could save enough to pay back the loan as soon as possible. Even though he had three years, Natsukawa Sosuke had never liked being saddled with a loan he had no way to repay.
"Ding-dong~"
The doorbell rang. Natsukawa Sosuke had just finished lunch, so he opened the door, only to find no one there. A package lay quietly on the doorstep. Natsukawa carried it inside and opened it. Inside was an admission invitation to Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School. Beneath it were an enrollment handbook and two red uniforms.
"I didn't expect the System to work so fast. It's already taken care of my enrollment and even sent the uniform. I wonder which unlucky guy I replaced."
After rubbing the uniform between his fingers and thinking for a long while, Natsukawa Sosuke finally made up his mind.
"System, exchange for programming skills."
[Would you like to exchange for Primary Programming Mastery?]
[Required payment: Write a program that runs properly, using no variable names longer than three letters, with at least 3,000 lines of effective code.]
[Payment deadline: one month]
[Yes/No]
Natsukawa Sosuke looked at the required payment and clicked "Yes."
"So not everything has to be paid for with money."
Natsukawa felt relieved. With a 20-million-yen loan weighing on him, he was under a lot of pressure to repay it. If he could avoid paying with money, he would. This price was a little difficult, but still manageable.
"School starts the day after tomorrow. Let's see what this 'opportunity' and 'future' I bought for twenty million yen can get me in return."
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