Arisu Sakayanagi's Congratulations, 50,000 per Person Is Far Too Low for Tuition

The next day.

Chess Club.

Arisu Sakayanagi was in the middle of a match against the president of the Chess Club.

Arisu Sakayanagi's follower, Masumi Kamuro, stood to the side, her brows furrowed and her beautiful eyes fixed intently on the chessboard, a thoughtful expression on her face.

Hmm.

She couldn't understand it at all.

She didn't even know the names of the pieces, let alone who had the advantage or who was at a disadvantage.

Perhaps the players currently dueling had just pulled off a god-tier move, but to Masumi Kamuro, it just looked like they were moving pieces around quite normally.

The match lasted a long time.

After an hour had passed.

The president of the Chess Club finally lowered his head and said in a dejected voice, "I lost."

Hmm.

Masumi understood now.

So, Sakayanagi had won.

Masumi Kamuro lowered her head slightly, noticing that although the white-haired girl sitting in the chair still wore a faint smile, the details on her face were different from usual.

It looked as if she had just gone through a grueling battle.

"Your level has truly improved a lot compared to last time, senior."

Arisu Sakayanagi picked up the cane placed beside her and slowly stood up. "I am very happy to have had such a wonderful match with you today, senior. I have other matters to attend to, so I will be taking my leave."

Hearing the white-haired girl's words, Masumi Kamuro's expression turned strange.

You have matters to attend to?

How come I didn't know you had other matters?

Masumi Kamuro remembered that before they came, Arisu Sakayanagi had intended to use the members of the Chess Club as an appetizer, with the real main course being Dokuho Kouya.

Why was Sakayanagi's appetite so small that she was full after just one appetizer?

As she was about to leave, Arisu Sakayanagi walked up to the boy from the neighboring class of the same grade. "Kouya-kun, come to think of it, I haven't congratulated you on your promotion to Class A yet."

"Even though Kohei Katsuragi and I took many precautions, in the end, we still couldn't stop you and your class from becoming Class A."

The original Class A currently had two leaders.

One was Arisu Sakayanagi, and the other was Kohei Katsuragi.

The latter was quite skilled at managing the class; he dared to correct his classmates' minor infractions during class and was able to win them over with virtue, which helped the class maintain 940 class points after the first month's aptitude assessment.

According to the teachers, the original Class A's class points were actually the highest in history; even Manabu Horikita, who was hailed as the most outstanding student at Advanced Nurturing, did not leave behind that many points in his first month leading Class A.

But what was surprising was that the original Class B was even more terrifying; not only did they surpass the results of previous Class Bs, but they even exceeded the original Class A led by both Sakayanagi and Katsuragi, boasting an impressive score of 980 points.

It would likely be many years before any class achieved better results in the aptitude assessment exams.

"I just told them the school's rules; being able to achieve such good results is thanks to everyone in the class," Dokuho Kouya said truthfully.

He had indeed only mentioned the existence of the school's aptitude assessment on the second day of school.

As for whether his classmates followed classroom discipline or messed around during class, he hadn't bothered to manage that.

"Hehe." Hearing this, the white-haired girl let out a pleasant laugh. "Kouya-kun shouldn't be the type of person who only says pretty words like friendship and effort, right?"

"Even in Weekly Shonen Jump, they always add the word victory at the end, you know," Dokuho Kouya replied with a smile.

Friendship, effort, victory.

This was the slogan of the manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump.

If there were only friendship and effort without the final victory, then it would be an incomplete slogan.

What Dokuho Kouya said was not just helping to complete the slogan, but also expressing his own opinion.

Hearing the boy's words, a faint smile appeared on Arisu Sakayanagi's pretty face. "Kouya-kun, that makes it interesting."

"I look forward to our next match."

Arisu Sakayanagi walked out of the activity room with her cane, her classmate Masumi Kamuro following behind without a word, though the expression on her face was somewhat strange.

After the girls left, the members of the Chess Club dejectedly approached Dokuho Kouya.

The president, who was the leader, spoke up. "Junior Kouya, I'm sorry. You taught us with all your heart for a month, but I still lost in the end."

Dokuho Kouya shook his head. "Seniors, please don't mind it. Your level has indeed improved significantly compared to last month."

Hearing this, the Chess Club president's eyes brightened slightly. "Then, can we continue to ask for your guidance this month?"

Kouya's level of instruction was indeed excellent.

Over the past month, their skills had been steadily improving.

Being able to hire a chess expert to guide them for a fee of 50,000 per month could definitely be considered a bargain.

Dokuho Kouya raised his hand in refusal, "Sorry, I no longer have a need for that."

He chose to tutor members of the Shogi Club and the Chess Club not to earn points, but to cultivate a persona in the eyes of the audience as someone highly capable of earning them.

In his initial plan, he had intended to earn approximately 2 million points by the end of the first month.

However, as the point-collection scheme involving the third-years proceeded smoothly, Dokuho Kouya had already successfully established his persona as a high earner before the audience.

If he were to continue tutoring the upperclassmen at the "low price" of 50,000 points per month, his image might actually suffer if the audience were to find out.

Therefore, ceasing to tutor the upperclassmen from this point forward was the correct course of action.

"Junior, do you feel that the points we're offering are too few?"

The president of the Chess Club furrowed his brows, "We can discuss the price further; even 55,000 points per month wouldn't be a problem."

Dokuho Kouya shook his head and said regretfully, "Senior, this isn't about the points; I truly don't want to waste any more time on this."

Having to come to the Club Activity Building every afternoon to tutor the seniors was a hassle for him as well.

Dokuho Kouya smiled and patted the other student on the shoulder, "If there's an opportunity in the future, perhaps we can play a game together again."

He turned and left the activity room, leaving the club members behind to exchange bewildered glances.

Meanwhile, at the school cafe, Arisu Sakayanagi arrived at a table and sat down, quietly enjoying the atmosphere.

"Why did you stop trying to play chess against Dokuho Kouya?" Masumi Kamuro asked softly as she sat across from her, "Weren't you looking forward to a match against him?"

The corners of Arisu Sakayanagi's mouth curled up slightly, "Masumi-san, being too impatient is never a good thing."

"My contest with Dokuho-kun won't be decided on a chessboard, but on a much higher stage."

Is that for real?

Masumi Kamuro felt that the girl was lying.

Why did she get the feeling that the girl had simply overtaxed her brain and no longer had the energy to compete with Dokuho?