Now that Shiina still felt no real attachment to Class C, Aragaki Shun decided he had to settle the transfer immediately.
Otherwise, given Shiina's cool exterior and warm heart, her longing for friendship, and the importance she placed on emotional bonds, once she found her place in Class C and accepted its students as her companions, it wouldn't be so easy to convince her to join Class A.
After spending a month with her, Aragaki Shun had long since realized that although Shiina seemed aloof and indifferent to everything, she actually had a strong sense of collective pride.
Shiina might not care much about whether she graduated from Class A. Her family was well-off, and her grades ranked near the top of the year. Even without the school's recommendation, she could shape her own future through her abilities.
The problem was that she cared deeply about her team. If she stayed in Class C for long, she might end up seeing herself as one of its members without even realizing it. When that happened, she would surely do her part to support the class's shared goals.
Since he had a chance to prevent that future, Aragaki Shun naturally intended to eliminate the possibility. Otherwise, when he launched an attack against Class C in the future, he worried he might accidentally drag her into it.
After all, he wasn't the sort of person who would go easy on a rival class because of a personal friendship.
Or perhaps she had already been caught up in his attacks?
Under his plans, each student in Class C could now freely spend only twenty thousand Private Points per month. Shiina was no exception.
"..."
Faced with Aragaki Shun's direct invitation, the girl still didn't accept right away, for some reason. It was the chance to graduate from Class A that most students in the school dreamed of.
Even if someone had confidence in their abilities, who would turn down a free opportunity to secure their future?
But Shiina was genuinely hesitating.
It wasn't that she looked down on the benefits of graduating from Class A, nor had she already grown attached to Class C or developed any reservations about transferring there on her own.
On one side was a book-loving friend she got along with and who intended to help her transfer. On the other was a tyrant who ruled the class through violence, along with his gang of delinquents.
Any normal person could make the right choice.
But if she accepted the transfer opportunity Aragaki-kun was offering, it would be equivalent to accepting twenty million Private Points!
Even without considering the various benefits the school provided to Class A graduates, twenty million Private Points alone were worth twenty million yen outside the school.
If they weren't spouses or family, under what circumstances would a man give a woman that much money for free?
She couldn't help feeling that if she accepted the gift, it would be like letting Aragaki-kun keep her...
81. A Crucial Turning Point in Life; Planting a Spy in Class C
She couldn't help feeling that if she accepted the gift, it would be like letting Aragaki-kun keep her.
At the thought, a faint blush rose to Shiina's cheeks. To keep Aragaki Shun from noticing, she hurriedly looked away, flustered and embarrassed. In her haste, all she could do was keep stalling.
"Didn't you promise me last night, Aragaki-kun, that I could give you my answer when you wanted me to transfer?"
"But I want you to transfer now, Shiina!"
Aragaki Shun took out his phone and showed Shiina Hiyori the Private Points on the screen.
"I have 5.2 million Private Points, and seven Transfer Tickets can cover another fourteen million. I can also get a batch of Private Points from the school within the next day or two. If you're willing, I can apply to transfer you to Class A right away."
When she saw the Private Points on Aragaki Shun's phone, Shiina Hiyori's eyes widened in astonishment. She was almost speechless.
In the more than ten years since Kodo Ikusei Senior High School was founded, not a single student had ever managed to collect the twenty million points required for a permanent transfer. Yet the boy had done it in just one month?
"Are those the Private Points everyone in Class A saved together? If so..."
Shiina was still trying to find a reason to stall, but Aragaki Shun shook his head without hesitation. "No. Our class has a dedicated class-fund administrator. All the Private Points on my phone belong to me. I can use them however I want."
If he were using the class fund to invite a student from another class, even a candidate he had proposed would have to go through a class-wide vote.
But given his authority in Class A, the vote would merely ensure that the process was proper.
Unless the student he chose had a terrible reputation throughout the year and was truly intolerable to the rest of Class A, his classmates generally wouldn't object to his decisions.
"But wouldn't that make it seem even more like Aragaki-kun is trying to pay to keep me?"
She didn't say it outright, but Shiina Hiyori's face clearly showed her distress.
In Sakurajima, an average office worker earned around four million yen a year.
That meant an ordinary person would have to save every penny for at least five years to put away twenty million.
Of course, as long as someone was human, they had to spend money to live.
So even if they budgeted carefully and managed to save half their salary every year without falling ill or having any accidents, they'd still need ten years to build up twenty million in cash.
To put it bluntly, if Aragaki Shun took that twenty million outside the school, he could easily find an attractive girl and pay to keep her for three or four years at the very least, perhaps as long as eight or nine.
After all, if he paid by the month, keeping an ordinary girl would cost between one hundred thousand and five hundred thousand yen a month.
And if he paid per encounter, the price could be as low as five thousand yen each time. Twenty million would be enough for someone to experience a harem of three thousand without repeating a single partner.
How could Shiina accept such an enormous sum with a clear conscience?
Even lovers rarely entrusted each other with that much wealth before deciding to marry.
Unless they had already committed to spending the rest of their lives together...
Shiina Hiyori didn't dare think any further. A hint of shyness and unease showed in her eyes. She lightly bit her lip, as if trying to calm herself.
"Aragaki-kun," the Literary Girl said, her voice trembling slightly. "Do you really think this is okay?"
Why would he go this far? They were only friends who read together in the afternoons...
Watching her reaction, Aragaki Shun suddenly sensed a heavy atmosphere. Some instinct told him he was standing at a crucial turning point in his life, and that one wrong step might make him regret his choice someday.
The boy exhaled, calming his overheated thoughts. "Sorry, Shiina. I got a little carried away."
Aragaki Shun realized that his actions might have been inappropriate.
He didn't care about a mere twenty million. If the school opened up its exchange limits, he could easily produce not only twenty million but even two hundred million or a billion.
Besides, the money was entirely his. He didn't need to rely on the Aragaki Family for any of it.
Was it because he had never worried about money in this life that his sense of wealth had grown so distant from that of ordinary people?
In his eyes, any problem that could be solved with money wasn't much of a problem.
What Aragaki Shun truly valued was Source Power, the thing that could help him transcend the ordinary.
But for ordinary people, accepting an unsolicited gift of twenty million from someone else was bound to be stressful, wasn't it?
Even if the twenty million was a gift and didn't need to be repaid, the debt of gratitude it created would still weigh heavily on anyone with a normal sense of right and wrong.
After all, a debtor couldn't hold their head high in front of a creditor.
Shiina Hiyori clearly didn't want to accept the gift without thinking it through. Perhaps she worried that their friendship, which had been on equal footing, would change if it became entangled with too many material interests.
"Shiina knows my circumstances. Twenty million may be a lot, but it really isn't much to me. I was simply looking for the most efficient way to do this. I didn't mean to offend you."
At least, he didn't think he had... For a moment, even Aragaki Shun couldn't quite understand what he was feeling.
Hearing that, Shiina Hiyori felt a little relieved. If Aragaki-kun kept insisting, she wasn't sure she could continue stalling.
As for refusing outright, she didn't think she could bring herself to do that.
If refusing the invitation to join Class A meant she couldn't be friends with him anymore... she would definitely regret it.
If she could no longer sit and chat with Aragaki-kun as an equal, she would regret that too.
"I know. You're just trying to help me." She spoke softly, and her fingers loosened slightly around her book as she began to relax. "I'm the one who can't accept such a gift."
"Twenty million might be something Aragaki-kun can easily earn in your first month at school, but you earned it through your own abilities. How could I accept the fruits of your hard work with a clear conscience?"
Aragaki Shun nodded. He knew Shiina couldn't accept something she hadn't earned, and she had no particular reason she had to graduate from Class A.
Receiving such a great favor for no reason would naturally make her feel embarrassed.
"In that case, I'm not asking as your friend. As the Leader of Class A, I'd like to invite you to join us."
"Afterward, I'll propose at the Class A meeting that we use twenty million from the class fund to arrange your transfer. Would you accept the invitation?"
Shiina Hiyori visibly relaxed. She gave him a faint smile. "If this is an invitation from Class A to strengthen its position, then I have no reason to refuse."
Aragaki Shun had already told her about the strategy he'd set for Class A: keep recruiting talent from other classes to strengthen their position while weakening the others.
Once Class A's strength far surpassed that of the other classes, capable students in those classes might have to consider protecting themselves by gathering Private Points and transferring directly to Class A.
That would create a positive feedback loop, allowing Class A to secure its position naturally.
So even if she refused Aragaki Shun's invitation now, he would still use his Private Points to recruit other talented students from Classes B, C, and D.
Since that was the case, Shiina Hiyori couldn't keep refusing him again and again.
In the end, she simply couldn't accept receiving so much from Aragaki Shun personally when their relationship was no more than friendship. It wasn't that she didn't want to join Class A.
"But there's no need to arrange my transfer just yet. The school will probably hold some Special Exams that affect Class Evaluation Points quite a bit. If I stay in Class C for now, I might be able to help Class A when the time comes."
Without realizing it, the Literary Girl had returned to her usual thoughtful and levelheaded self. She smiled sweetly, already looking at things from Class A's perspective.
A Midterm Exam awarded only up to one hundred Class Points. If future class competitions were worth so little, the lower-ranked classes would never be able to close the gap with those at the top.
The school would certainly set some high-value exams to make competition between the classes more intense.
"Since everyone in Class A will have to help me out, I should at least prove my abilities and make a contribution. That way, I won't let my future classmates' support go to waste."
So the girl decided to stay in Class C as a spy for the time being. By the time she joined Class A, she would have earned the confidence to do so.
Ultimately, receiving a favor from Aragaki Shun personally was entirely different from being invited by Class A as a whole.
In the former case, she would only have to consider her relationship with Aragaki Shun.
But given the boy's family background, abilities, and standing at Advanced Nurturing High School, Shiina couldn't imagine how she would ever repay the favor if she accepted it. She couldn't exactly offer herself to him, could she?
In the latter case, she would have to consider the interests of Class A as a whole, which she found much easier to accept.
The girl had some confidence in her abilities. If she joined Aragaki Class, she could both strengthen Class A's position and significantly weaken Class C. It would be a win-win for Shiina and Class A.
Aragaki Shun thought it over, then agreed with Shiina's idea.
Although the thought of someone with Shiina's temperament acting as a spy felt especially strange, from the perspective of the Leader of Class A, her decision was undoubtedly the one that would maximize Class A's interests.
"According to the information I got from the upperclassmen, though, the new students' first Special Exam won't take place until the summer break in August. That's three months from now."
"Wouldn't that be even better?" Shiina smiled faintly. "Class A probably hasn't collected twenty million Private Points yet, has it?"
"Even if Aragaki-kun could lend the money to Class A, asking everyone to contribute twenty million to invite an unknown student would surely stir up some criticism, even with your influence."
To his surprise, Aragaki Shun didn't agree with her. "I think you're underestimating how friendly our class is."
"Still, as class leader, I shouldn't make such a major and costly decision about transferring someone just because I feel like it."
The boy thought for a moment, then looked at Shiina with an unexpectedly mischievous expression. "I've decided. From now on, any student invited to transfer to Class A has to sign an agreement acknowledging that they owe Class A twenty million. They'll have to contribute to Class A to pay off the debt. Otherwise, they can live frugally for three years and pay it back bit by bit."
"That does seem more reasonable."
Shiina Hiyori didn't look intimidated. Instead, she nodded thoughtfully. "If the debt still hasn't been paid off after three years at school, given Aragaki-kun's abilities, you could even extend it until after graduation, couldn't you?"
"It shouldn't just be me. The whole of Class A should witness it. If the debt isn't paid off within three years, the remainder will be converted into an equivalent amount of yen and divided into forty equal shares to repay everyone in Class A."
Aragaki Shun had figured it out too.
Everyone in Class A contributed half of their Private Points each month to build up the class fund.
Even if inviting talented students to Class A helped secure the class's position, those students still had to repay the effort everyone had put into saving up that money.
If someone transferred into Class A and then slacked off without contributing anything, wouldn't they have wasted twenty million Private Points?
He also wasn't worried that the invitees would refuse to sign the agreement.
The benefits of graduating from Class A were valuable, and plenty of first-year students would be willing to pay that price for a brighter future.
"In that case, I suppose I'll have to put in a little effort while I'm still in Class C."
Shiina Hiyori smiled and tucked a strand of silver hair behind her ear. She thought that this kind of straightforward exchange of interests was quite reasonable.
That way, she wouldn't have to rack her brains trying to repay her future classmates for their kindness.
"Right. Just use your own judgment, Shiina. If you run into danger, come to me right away."
Aragaki Shun wasn't too worried about her safety. After all, this was a school, the four classes weren't far apart, and the two of them could contact each other at any time.
But Ryuen of Class C was a dangerous man who worshipped violence, so he still needed to warn her, just in case she tried to handle things on her own.
"Don't worry. I'll still be an ordinary Class C student in my daily life. Ryuen won't suspect I'm a spy for no reason."
Shiina was confident about that.
In fact, if it weren't for her friendship with Aragaki Shun and the thought that being in the same class as her book-loving friend would give her more time to spend with him, she wouldn't have wanted to take on the role of a spy at all.
To be honest, Aragaki Shun himself wasn't all that interested in training spies. After all, the students he valued were generally not the type to betray their class.
And as for those who were good at betrayal, he was willing to give them some Private Points, at most. He wasn't willing to invite them to transfer to Class A.
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