First Day of School

"Uh... Hamaguchi, if you ignore the lyrics, the melody of the song is actually quite nice, isn't it?" Shibata said to Hamaguchi with a dry laugh.

"Indeed, Byakuya sang it quite well too. If you ignore the lyrics, that is..."

Amidst the slightly awkward atmosphere of the room, Ying finished his performance. Watching the silent crowd, Ying felt they must have been stunned by his heaven-sent singing voice, and he couldn't help but grin.

Ichinose felt the atmosphere was off and took the lead in praising Ying: "I didn't expect Byakuya-kun to be not only smart and handsome, but his singing is... quite good too!"

"Really!? I thought you guys might not like this type of song, so I'll sing another one!" Ying was eager to perform again.

"No need!" the group shouted in unison.

Ying: ...

"Byakuya... just drink some water and take a break." Kanzaki was completely speechless regarding the person sitting behind him; he clearly had plenty of ability, yet he kept acting so bizarrely.

As the gathering dispersed, Ying was just about to head back to the dormitory for a nice shower and a cup of hot milk when he was called out by Ichinose.

"Um! Byakuya-kun, let me transfer the points to you." Ichinose shook her terminal, which displayed a staggering 2.7 million personal points.

Only then did Ying suddenly remember this matter, and he quickly waved his hands, refusing: "Sorry, Ichinose. I forgot to tell you, I'm not short on points right now, so there's no need to trouble everyone."

Ichinose tilted her head, clearly confused as to why Ying, who had spent all 100,000 points, wouldn't be short on points.

Ying sighed, opened his own terminal, and showed the screen displaying a whopping 1.15 million points to Ichinose.

Ichinose covered her small mouth, clearly shocked. Where did so many points come from? Could Byakuya-kun have done something illegal?

Watching the expressive Ichinose, Ying hurriedly explained the process of obtaining the points, fearing she might misunderstand.

"So, Byakuya-kun used information bought from Hoshinomiya-sensei to play games with the second-year students and earned this many points?" Ichinose pinched her chin, clearly contemplating whether their class should also use such information to gain points like Ying.

"Yeah, I think Class B could also sell this information to students in other classes to gain significant benefits," Ying said casually.

Ichinose was even more surprised. Could Byakuya-kun know what she was thinking?

"However, not every class should be able to buy the information with points; we have to limit it." Ying felt that if too many people knew, the value of the information would depreciate, and it wouldn't fetch many points. Furthermore, if students from other classes found out they were selling points to the entire grade, they might face a collective backlash.

But Ichinose clearly didn't think that way. Not buyable with points? Did that mean it could be traded in other forms? However, they couldn't trade with every class. If the information were sold to the entire grade, Class B's advantage in knowing the intel would be greatly diminished; they could only select a few classes. And Class A and Class C were both strong competitors to Class B...

"I understand! Thank you, Byakuya-kun, I will conduct the trade with Class D!" Ichinose said excitedly.

Ying: Class D? But will those people in Class D really cooperate properly? I remember there are quite a few students like Koenji in there; I probably won't be able to squeeze much profit out of them.

"Um... Ichinose. Trading with Class D might not be as beneficial as you imagine. I think you could do a little with all three classes, but pay attention to the pricing." Since he was selling to all three, he certainly couldn't sell it too expensively, Ying thought.

Ichinose thought for a moment, then smiled at Ying with a sudden realization: "Byakuya-kun, thank you! I know how to utilize this information with maximum efficiency! See you tomorrow!"

"Oh... right." Ying watched Ichinose's retreating back. She wouldn't sell the information for too much, would she?

Ichinose: Byakuya-kun is truly amazing. To think he could come up with using existing information to keep three classes in check—not only can Class B reap the benefits, but it also limits the information gap. It's a good thing Byakuya-kun is a student in Class B.

The next day, Ying arrived at the classroom early and picked up his textbook to start his morning reading.

"Uh... no, I've almost finished reading the textbook, how come no one else is here?" Ying shook his head and walked to the window, looking at the sky just beginning to turn pale.

"Eh? Byakuya!? Why are you here?" At the classroom door, Shibata was holding a bottle of milk, looking at Byakuya in surprise.

"What do you mean 'why am I here'? I should be asking where everyone went! It's almost dawn, why aren't you in the classroom yet?" Ying looked at Shibata, speechless.

"What are you talking about? Isn't class at 8:30? It's only 6:30 right now. I just came to the classroom to drop some things off before morning exercise. Are you going to morning exercise too?"

"Wha...t!?" Ying stared at Shibata in disbelief. He thought he hadn't heard the teacher mention the schedule yesterday, so to be safe, he had followed his previous high school's schedule. And you're telling me I woke up 3 hours early?

Ying felt a bit numb for a moment. With this kind of schedule, can college students really study well?

"Hey, what are you spacing out for so early in the morning? I'm going to morning exercise, do you want to come along?" Shibata, who had changed into a tracksuit at some point, was inviting Ying.

Ying figured he had nothing better to do, so he went to exercise.

"Starting at 5:00 PM this afternoon, a club orientation will be held at the First Gymnasium. Students interested in clubs, please gather at the First Gymnasium. Repeating. Today..."

A cute female voice came over the broadcast.

At noon, while eating his luxurious lunch, Ying suddenly heard the school broadcast. This was that, right? The iconic scene of President Horikita.

"Byakuya, is there any club you want to join?" Kanzaki asked while eating his standard student lunch, turning to Ying who was deep in thought.

"Of course, Ying is going to become the ace soccer player of the school with me!" Shibata, also eating a standard student lunch, chimed in from the side.

"Nah, I don't remember saying I'd join the soccer club with you." They say friendship between boys is simple; after just exercising together this morning, Ying and Shibata had already become close friends who talked about everything.

"Eh!? Why! You really like sports, don't you? Watching you during morning exercise, you looked so at ease. You must have been the ace of your school's sports club in middle school, right? You're definitely going to join a sports club," Shibata said.

"What!? Byakuya is even good at sports?" Hamaguchi and Beppu, who were nearby, exclaimed.

Ying chuckled to himself. Although this super athletic ability was given by the system, it was his own skill now. At times like this, experts must be humble.

"Not at all, not at all. Just a little bit of knowledge. I didn't have any flashy achievements in the past; I was just called Bolt when running, Messi when playing soccer, the boss when playing basketball, and mistaken for Sasuke when I went out. None of it is worth mentioning."

"You're that strong!? How did you do it!" Stars seemed to be visible in Shibata's eyes.

"Heh heh, it's simple. Because I eat fast food all the time, I die fast."

Shibata: ?