Establishing a Persona, Inexplicable Comprehension, and Terrible Pacing

"What kind of move is this?"

"Give the seat to me, I'll pay 500 yen for it."

"I'll pay 100."

"I'll do it for free."

"I'll pay you to let me have the seat, please! I'll do anything!"

The netizens watching the stream were left completely bewildered.

Paying people to give up their seats—how could such a bizarre situation even exist?

However, Fan Gege's eyes sparkled; he had already taken a liking to this new character.

After the new character spent 2,000 yen to get the student sitting next to the brown-haired boy to stand up and vacate the seat, Fan Gege pressed the pause button to share his thoughts.

"I think..."

"This show leaves a very deep impression."

"The animation is high quality, and it uses a small incident to flesh out a lot of characters."

"Like the guy who looks like a poker-face but has some wild thoughts inside, or the girl who fits the classic Japanese anime trope of long black hair—the production team managed to make a strong impression on us in just a few minutes."

"Of course, the one who left the deepest impression on me is the student who paid money to get someone to give up their seat. He's the one I like the most."

"In everyday life, you'd think this behavior is weird, maybe even think the guy is a bit of an idiot."

"But compared to the others, you get the feeling that this student is actually very kind-hearted. He makes something that would normally be awkward feel perfectly acceptable."

"Also, this... Money Brother actually had many ways to solve the situation. For example, he could have used verbal persuasion, hoping the other person would respect the elderly and give up their seat. If he had done that, even though he'd be doing a good deed, it would feel like moral kidnapping."

"But what did Money Brother do? He just paid. It was simple and crude. Even if some contrarian came along, they couldn't call him a 'virtue-signaling saint' because he actually paid money and sacrificed his own interests."

"I see everyone in the chat likes this character. If he actually turns out to be the protagonist, then the production team designed this scene quite successfully—it really establishes the protagonist's image."

But as he continued watching, Fan Gege was proven wrong.

The protagonist of the story really was the brown-haired boy with the wild inner monologue.

Next, before heading to school, the boy encountered the long-haired girl from the bus once again.

After discussing their reasons for not giving up their seats, the two headed toward their classroom.

"Imagine holding onto your convictions just to not give up a seat."

"Who just said this girl looks like Yukino? She looks nothing like her, okay?"

"I give up. If you don't want to give up your seat, fine, but don't come up with such ridiculous theories."

"It's just like Fan Gege said, making such a fuss over trivial matters."

Seeing his thoughts echoed by the netizens, Fan Gege laughed happily and continued watching the anime.

On screen, the brown-haired boy arrived at the classroom and happened to sit next to the black-haired girl. After a brief exchange, they learned each other's names.

It turned out the brown-haired boy was named Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, and the black-haired girl was Horikita Suzune.

Immediately after, the homeroom teacher entered to explain the school rules, while simultaneously introducing the school's benefits through Ayanokouji's inner thoughts.

"Freely choose the job you want? There's definitely something fishy going on."

"As everyone knows, when something sounds too good to be true, there's bound to be a huge problem."

"Luring people in with good jobs, isolating them from the outside world, and not even letting them use their phones—are we sure this isn't a scam park in northern Myanmar?"

When he saw the teacher explain that students would be given points every month, and that they had received 100,000 points this month, Fan Gege pressed the pause button.

"Everyone, I think I'm a bit confused about the current situation."

"Didn't the teacher only say they get points every month, and that they received 100,000 this month?"

"How come everyone in this class just assumes they'll get 100,000 every month?"

Fan Gege was completely dumbfounded.

He thought he had missed something.

He dragged the progress bar back to re-watch the scene where the teacher explained the exam rules.

He hadn't missed anything.

"Do the students in this anime have something wrong with their thought processes?"

Fan Gege rubbed his hair with both hands. "Maybe these are just background characters meant to contrast with the protagonist. The protagonist shouldn't be that stupid."

Sure enough, Horikita Suzune, sitting in the back row, furrowed her brow, sensing that things weren't as simple as they seemed.

She was surprised that the school would give the students so much money.

She took the initiative to discuss it with Ayanokouji, but the latter only gave vague, meaningless answers that amounted to nothing.

Fan Gege watched on patiently.

During the self-introductions, a hot-headed boy with red hair roared in dissatisfaction before storming out.

As the protagonist, Ayanokouji stammered through a rather pathetic introduction.

The entrance ceremony flashed by in the blink of an eye.

After returning to his dorm and taking inventory of the items he needed, Ayanokouji headed to a nearby convenience store to shop, where he ran into Horikita Suzune once again.

In an attempt to strike up a conversation, he introduced the girl to hair removal cream.

"Hahaha!"

Fan Gege couldn't help but laugh out loud, "I don't think this is a battle of wits anime at all; it's a comedy!"

Watching the deadpan male lead earnestly explain the uses of hair removal cream to a girl was just too hilarious.

"Come to think of it, Ayanokouji and Horikita should have already noticed that the school won't be giving out 100,000 points every month, right?"

Even as a viewer, Fan Gege realized the school's scheme the moment he saw that scene.

If they were going to give out 100,000 points every month, the teacher would have simply stated that 100,000 points would be issued monthly, rather than phrasing it as 100,000 for this month and then depositing points on the 1st of every month thereafter.

And then, the convenience store was actually offering limited free items.

This was undoubtedly a sign that the school had a hidden agenda, and the points issued next month would definitely not be 100,000.

Horikita Suzune seemed to have noticed this as well, which was why she deliberately chose the cheapest brands while picking out her items.

Just as the audience was anticipating her to share her thoughts on the school's various behaviors, she inexplicably started talking to Ayanokouji about the issue of self-introductions, and they chatted for quite a while.

"The pacing here isn't great."

Fan Gege shook his head.

As a veteran anime fan, even if he had never produced an animation himself, he knew exactly what the characters should be doing at this moment.

That would be for Horikita Suzune to start explaining her deductions after gathering the clues, revealing the fact that the school wouldn't be issuing 100,000 points every month, thus completing the first mystery-solving sequence.

But instead, just as the audience's appetite had been whetted, they went off to discuss irrelevant self-introductions.

The viewing experience was truly poor.

Just then, a familiar figure approached and spoke up, asking Horikita Suzune a question.

"Excuse me, classmate, I noticed you've been deliberately picking out the cheaper items."

"Have you perhaps discovered the school's hidden rules?"