The Rules of Victory Were Now Set

That night, in Room 403.

Natsukawa washed away the day's fatigue, sat down at his desk, and opened the laptop that had witnessed the start of his struggle. The screen lit up, revealing a clean yet complex interface: the Campus Situational Awareness System.

This was his greatest and most precious gain this month, aside from the points.

A couple of days earlier, after strictly adhering to the system's absurd rules, he had finally completed the system's core framework. He had tested it repeatedly to make sure there were no obvious bugs affecting its main functions. After submitting it for the system's review, he heard the cold prompt in his mind confirm that he had fulfilled the "price." The knowledge named "Primary Programming Mastery" had completely become an ability he could rely on.

Now it was time to put it to use.

The system consisted of several modules:

Data collection layer: Using Python's rq (requests) and bs4 (BeautifulSoup) libraries, he had written several crawler scripts to periodically collect new posts, replies, and public posting records from various sections of the school forum. To avoid anti-crawling measures, he had set reasonable intervals between visits and randomized the User-Agent.

Data processing and analysis layer: This was the most verbose part of the code. He had written complex text-parsing and cleaning logic to extract keywords, such as classes, teachers, exams, conflicts, and points. Using a simple statistical model, it calculated topic popularity and sentiment (positive, negative, or neutral), and detected sudden spikes in discussion.

Intelligence output layer: This generated visual reports, including "Hot Topic Tracking" (showing the forum's most active current discussions and their popularity trends), "Public Opinion Monitoring" (flagging posts containing sensitive keywords or strong emotions), and "User Behavior Analysis" (flagging users with abnormal posting frequencies or sudden changes in behavior, which could help identify "suspicious people" or countermeasures from the other side that specifically targeted Natsukawa because they knew his methods).

Although limitations in the data sources and algorithms meant the system was far from 100% accurate, it was more like an advanced "public opinion radar" and "trend indicator." Still, it could monitor the entire campus's "sphere of public opinion" around the clock, filtering and refining vast amounts of chaotic information into valuable intelligence leads, allowing Natsukawa to "sense" the undercurrents beneath the surface. Without a doubt, it would be a crucial weapon in his future struggles.

Why, he'd only just started using it and already found posts from some second-year students mocking the first-years...

After closing the system interface, Natsukawa turned his attention to the small test papers that had been returned that day. Math and chemistry were fine; his foundation from his previous life and his logical thinking skills made them easy to handle. But the red circles covering his Japanese and social studies papers, which included Japanese history, were truly a sorry sight.

"Phew..." He sighed. The downside of transmigrating without any memories had finally caught up with him. He had never studied Japanese language or history; at most, he knew about famous events like the Incident at Honnō-ji and the Meiji Restoration. His difficult studies that month had only managed to keep him barely above the cutoff line, safe from expulsion. Although he knew that, according to the "plot," he could get through the first midterm exam by buying "past exam papers," he didn't want to place all his hopes on that.

If he were expelled, he'd have to repay the system's 20 million debt immediately. With such a wonderful start, how could he let his future be decided by some so-called past exam papers?

"Wait, before I got the system, I had to study hard. Now that I have the system, I still have to study hard. So what was the point of getting the system?!"

There was no need to rush becoming a well-rounded powerhouse, but if he put off spending his points, he'd really have to bury himself in books later.

Besides, relying on cheating was no long-term solution. Improving his own abilities was fundamental. Basic academic knowledge in particular was the foundation for understanding this world, fitting into its environment, and making more complex decisions in the future.

He closed his eyes and connected with the system display in his mind.

"System, exchange for 'Basic Education Knowledge Mastery.'"

The display shifted, and a new price appeared:

[Exchange item: Basic Education Knowledge Mastery (Japanese high school curriculum)]

[Price: Study for at least 4 hours a day using textbooks and designated workbooks for 30 consecutive calendar days. If interrupted, the count resets.]

"Four hours a day... That's acceptable." Natsukawa felt relieved. This time, all he had to do was put in the hours. There were no other strings attached.

A faint electric sensation passed through his mind. The knowledge from the Japanese middle and high school curricula entered his mind, as if the system had directly copied it into his brain. Whenever he wanted to know something, the relevant knowledge surfaced automatically, like a search function. But he knew that over the next month, he would have to follow the study plan strictly.

And even though the knowledge had entered his mind, it was still up to Natsukawa to organize and summarize it and learn how to use it. It was like taking an open-book exam: knowing everything there was to know didn't mean he could simply sit back and relax.

As he gazed at the deep darkness outside the window, Natsukawa's eyes were sharp and clear. The million points he'd gained, the launch of the situational awareness system, the bridge he'd built with Class B, and the opportunities created by shaking up the year group's balance of power—all of these were assets he had accumulated.

Now, he was about to begin a plan to make up for his shortcomings. He would use the system to become a true well-rounded powerhouse and prepare for whatever challenges the future might bring.

The next day, when he entered the classroom during the lunch break, the afternoon sunlight came through a gap in the curtains, stretching into long bands of light that lay quietly between the desks. As Natsukawa opened the classroom door, he saw Sakura Airi curled up at a seat on the edge of one such band, like a little squirrel hiding in the shade to keep cool.

He walked over naturally and leaned down, the fabric of his uniform jacket brushing lightly against the edge of her desk. "Sakura," he called, deliberately lowering his voice. His warm breath accidentally brushed her ear.

Sakura shuddered. The mechanical pencil in her hand drew a sudden, crooked line across her notebook. She looked up, her blue eyes widening slightly behind her thick lenses. The tips of her ears visibly flushed a translucent pink.

"Could I borrow some points?" He straightened up, his tone as casual as if he were talking about the weather.

It was as though his words had pressed a switch somewhere inside her. Sakura sat up straight almost at once and fumbled for the Student Terminal in her pocket, her fingertips slipping on the screen twice. "H-have you run out of points, Natsukawa?" she asked, her voice full of genuine concern, as if she were the one in trouble.

When Natsukawa asked, "How many do you have?" her fingers slowed on the terminal. Her lashes lowered, casting small shadows beneath her eyes. "I have... fifty thousand left," she reported softly, as if handing over all her stored provisions.

"Lend me forty thousand for now."

The air went still. Her fingers tightened slightly around the terminal, her knuckles turning white. Her gaze flickered between the remaining balance on the screen and the boy's calm profile. She might not have any income for a long time, and she still didn't want to eat the mountain vegetable set meal. But three seconds later, she pressed her lips together and opened the transaction screen. She entered the amount and hit confirm.

"The points... have gone through," she said softly, her voice carrying a hint of exhaustion.

Just then, she heard a faint sigh from above her. Natsukawa slipped his terminal into his pocket, his gaze sweeping over the clear sky outside the window. "There, that's settled." His voice returned to its usual clarity. "From now on, no matter who asks to borrow points, you can honestly tell them you don't have any either."

Sakura froze. Her earlier panic, reluctance, and resolve still lingered in her eyes, but now they were like rain clouds blown away by the wind, slowly letting the light through. At last, she lifted her head and met his gaze fully for the first time. Her blue eyes, which usually darted away, were now like a clear sky washed by rain. Something gentle rippled softly in their depths.

The sunlight happened to fall on the corner of her desk, illuminating the bottle of strawberry milk she'd bought at lunch and not yet finished until it gleamed.