Feelings went both ways. Since he'd raised the heroines' affection for him, they naturally wouldn't just wait around. They'd strike hard at their rivals to declare that Hikaru belonged to them.
Hikaru wouldn't be a mere task robot acting only to earn stock funds, either. He'd have his own preferences and feelings. Through his frequent interactions with the heroines, he would gradually grow more certain of what he wanted, ultimately choosing the ending where he wanted them all.
The second issue was Chabashira Sae Stock. At first, I'd planned to add a teacher to bring in a little fun, but it seemed like nobody liked her much. I'll figure out how to handle her later, once I come up with a better approach. In the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
The third issue was everyone's feedback that the updates were too few. I don't have a great solution for that right now, but don't worry: I'll absolutely keep to the two fixed updates every day. Please trust me.
When I have more time on weekends or during holidays, I'll do my best to build up a backlog and prepare some bonus chapters and extra updates. I definitely won't let you down.
Lastly, this book will be available for purchase tomorrow. The updates will still come at the usual time. Thank you for reading this far.
I want to give the stories and characters I love a happier ending. I hope you'll support the book by subscribing and voting. Thank you all!!!
Chapter 52: The Final Target
At nine that evening, Hashiba Hikaru opened the door to his dorm room.
It had been another busy day. Despite a few complications along the way, they'd successfully collected one million Private Points from Class D. Ichinose now had more than two million in hand. Once they finished with Class C, this plan would finally be complete.
He'd only been at the school for eight days, yet the time already felt unusually long. He was sure Ichinose Honami, who'd been working alongside him, felt the same way.
Normally, the first month of school was when new students got used to the campus and their classmates. But this school was different. The competition between classes had begun the moment they enrolled.
"And the biggest headache is still Nagumo, isn't it?"
Hashiba Hikaru leaned back in his chair, thinking over their recent conversation. As the leader of Class 2-A and the Student Council's Vice President, Nagumo had already gained complete control over the Second Year.
If Horikita Manabu's information was accurate, Nagumo had access to an absolutely terrifying amount of resources. He could even use them to manipulate students' behavior. After all, nobody would turn down Private Points.
The boy tapped a finger against the edge of his desk, lost in thought.
On the other hand, Horikita Manabu's attitude today had surprised Hikaru. Based on their two brief meetings, he'd thought Horikita was a deeply calculating man, with unfathomable depths.
He shouldn't have been willing to lay out such crucial information for a new student. Yet he'd also agreed outright to Hikaru's request to get involved in the Student Council.
"Is it because of Horikita Suzune?"
Hikaru rubbed his chin. He could tell Horikita Manabu cared about his younger sister. His request for Hikaru to help her grow made that clear.
But why was he so harsh toward Horikita Suzune?
If Hikaru hadn't run into him yesterday, would he really have slapped her?
Hikaru couldn't make sense of it. But the deal was already done. More important than Horikita Suzune was the need to focus on Nagumo.
The boy raised his phone. It was open to Horikita Manabu's contact page. He smiled faintly, having pieced together the general outline of the other man's intentions.
Horikita Manabu's goals probably fell into two parts. One was to warn Hikaru about what Nagumo would do in the future, giving him time to prepare. The other was to help his younger sister grow.
"Helping Horikita Suzune grow is no problem. Before long, she'll realize there's no chance Class D will ever move up. But I can use this opportunity to get access to Horikita Manabu's intelligence network."
If he was going to deal with Nagumo, he needed someone in the Student Council. That was the point of those two spots.
Horikita Suzune was also a stock character who'd just become available in the system. Her starting price was 100 points, but if he could scrape together some funds from elsewhere, buying her stock wouldn't be a problem.
And he'd just gotten Kushida Stock, too.
Considering the complicated relationship between the two of them, would Kushida get mad if he used the money he'd earned from her to buy Horikita Stock?
As for the competition between classes, after seeing the rules for the two previous sales, Hikaru suspected the class rankings might change after the first month ended.
Class B's Class Evaluation Points had received an extra 100 as a reward from the school. If they kept a tight rein on the class over the next few days, the rankings might be completely reshuffled by May 1.
"Anyway, let's get to Class C tomorrow. We'll collect that money as soon as possible. Then we can spend the rest of the time building unity and pushing together for Class A."
Hikaru opened his System Panel. There were now four stocks available in the system.
They were [Ichinose Honami Stock], [Chabashira Sae Stock], [Horikita Suzune Stock], and [Kushida Kikyo Stock].
He'd only bought two stocks in the [Stock Interface].
[Ichinose Honami Stock]
[Current Price: 150, Quantity Held: 3000]
[Kushida Kikyo Stock]
[Current Price: 10, Quantity Held: 5000]
"I should work on raising Kushida's affection and building trust with her."
Kushida Kikyo had invited him to dinner, after all. It was a perfect opportunity.
After sitting in his chair and thinking for a long while, Hikaru wrote down all his ideas. He believed that a written record was more reliable than memory. Reviewing his thoughts would be easier if he made sure to write them down.
Before going to bed, he messaged Ichinose Honami, asking her to get ready to go to Class C with him the next day and sell them the rules. He hadn't seen Ibuki in several days. He wondered how things were going in Class C.
The next day, after finishing his usual exercise routine, Hashiba Hikaru walked into Class B's classroom. The night before, the class chat had been buzzing before bed, and the notifications hadn't stopped until two in the morning.
On one hand, the students were praising Hikaru for successfully completing the second point-collection plan. Class B had collected quite a few more points.
On the other, they were discussing whether they should all go out for a meal after collecting the points from all three classes. They wanted to invite everyone from Class B and hold a get-together to celebrate how hard they'd worked lately.
Ichinose immediately said in the group chat that she was on board. Spending time together as a group meant a lot to her. After that, the other students started calling for Hikaru in the chat until he finally replied.
Everyone in Class B knew that Ichinose Honami was their class leader. But whenever they made a decision, they didn't feel at ease unless Hashiba Hikaru had approved it. That was something they all agreed on.
"Good morning, Hashiba!"
"Morning, Hashiba."
As soon as he stepped through the classroom door, his classmates greeted him. Without even realizing it, the boy had become the heart of the class. Everyone trusted him, regardless of gender.
"Good morning, everyone."
Smiling as he responded to each greeting, Hashiba Hikaru returned to his seat. The girl with pink hair had arrived early, of course, but she looked tired. Faint dark circles lay beneath her beautiful eyes.
"Ichinose, did you stay up late yesterday?" Hashiba asked gently.
"Not really. I was just having so much fun chatting with everyone that I lost track of time..."
Ichinose Honami's lovely face turned bashful. She'd been so happy to see everyone praising Hashiba Hikaru yesterday that she'd kept replying to messages in the group chat.
"You can't do that again," the boy cautioned, studying her expression. "Otherwise, I'll have to ban everyone from chatting at night."
"I understand. I'll be more careful."
Ichinose nodded. She was glad that Hashiba Hikaru cared about her. Then she took out the notebook with the rules in it, the one they hadn't needed yesterday, and showed it to him.
"When we go to Class C to sell the rules today, we can just give them this notebook after we collect the points. Then Hashiba won't have to explain the rules to them."
"...That works."
Hikaru didn't mind either way. He didn't feel like explaining things to them, anyway. He could collect the money, hand over the notebook, and then leave.
"I'll get in touch with Ibuki first again," Ichinose Honami said, holding her phone. "I wonder what things are like in her class now. I'm curious."
"True. With Ryuen and the other two suspended, their class has lost three of its biggest enforcers," Hashiba Hikaru said, taking his books out of his desk. There was an odd note of anticipation in his voice. "Class C must have chosen a new class leader. We'll find out when we get there."
Chapter 53: Shiina Hiyori Stock Goes Live
When the dismissal bell rang, Hashiba Hikaru and Ichinose Honami stood up together. As the final step in their point-collection plan, everyone understood that today's operation was crucial. Their faces were serious.
"Hashiba, today's the final step. Good luck!"
"That's right," Hashiba Hikaru said solemnly, looking at the Class B students in front of him. "No matter what, today's the last stop. Once we've collected these points, we'll be one step closer to our plan to gather twenty million Private Points."
Ichinose and I will do our best. Please trust us.
"Don't worry, Hashiba. When you get back, we'll throw you a celebration. This time, we're going all out." Shibata looked thrilled as he said it. They were all underage and couldn't drink, but he'd already thought of how to make Hashiba Hikaru's life difficult.
"Yes, Ichinose and Hashiba are the most important members of Class B." Ando's pretty face lit up with a bright smile. "We'll pick the best place for the celebration. We're looking forward to your triumphant return."
"Good luck, Hashiba! Ichinose!"
The Class B students watched the two of them leave the classroom. Only after they successfully collected this one million Private Points today would they finally be able to put their worries to rest.
After leaving the classroom, Hashiba Hikaru and Ichinose Honami soon arrived at Class C's door. Ichinose had just contacted Ibuki, who'd sounded very confident and told them to come right over.
Once they entered the classroom, the two of them understood why Ibuki had said that. She was standing at the podium, and everyone in the class was there except for the three empty seats left by the suspended students.
Behind Ibuki Mio stood a boy who immediately caught the eye. It was impossible to ignore him.
He was a tall, dark-skinned student with a buzz cut. He was so huge that the petite Ibuki beside him looked like a small animal. His face was expressionless, and his muscular body and hard-edged presence made him intimidating.
No way. Was this the Yamada who'd beaten Ryuen before? This was ridiculous. Was he really a high schooler?
"You're here. Come on in."
When she saw Hashiba Hikaru and Ichinose Honami walk in, Ibuki immediately beckoned them over. After receiving Ichinose's message, she'd realized at once that this must be the important matter Hashiba had mentioned before.
After all, it had been the thing that first drew her in before they joined forces to accuse Ryuen.
"Good afternoon, Ibuki," Ichinose Honami said with a smile, greeting the short-haired girl. Hashiba Hikaru, meanwhile, looked past Ibuki at the towering figure behind her.
"This must be Yamada, right? Ibuki, would you mind explaining what's going on?"
"Hah. Aren't you supposed to be clever? Why don't you guess?"
Ibuki crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the boy who'd left such a deep impression on her before. She still remembered his cunning schemes all too well.
"Hmm..." Hashiba Hikaru glanced at Ibuki's expression, then looked around at the other Class C students. Suddenly, he seemed to understand. "Ibuki, are you the class leader of Class C now?"
"..."
She hadn't expected him to figure it out so quickly. Ibuki pouted and said irritably, "You're perceptive, all right. Yes, I'm the class leader now, and I have two assistants."
"One is Yamada." The girl pointed to the man behind her, who stood like an iron tower. Then she gestured toward a girl sitting at her desk. "The other is Shiina."
Following her gesture, Hashiba Hikaru saw the quiet, gray-haired girl. Her expression was gentle as she watched them.
At that moment, the System Bar chimed with a new notification.
[Beep! Shiina Hiyori Stock is now available!]
[Current Price: 30]
[Total Shares Issued: 3000]
"?"
Hashiba Hikaru's expression changed. Instinctively, he looked again at the gray-haired girl sitting at her desk. She seemed very gentle, and since she was Ibuki's assistant, she must hold a fairly high position in Class C.
"What are you looking at? Didn't you have something to say?"
Ibuki's voice interrupted Hashiba Hikaru's thoughts. He immediately realized this wasn't the time to focus on Shiina Hiyori, so he put aside the urge to examine her further and turned to Ibuki.
Looks like you've done a lot since getting Ryuen suspended.
When he'd first invited Ibuki to carry out the hidden-camera plan, his goal had been to get Ryuen suspended. That would make it easier for him to sell the rules to Class C, while also letting him take advantage of the gap to weaken Ryuen's influence in the class.
With Ryuen suspended and unable to come to class, he couldn't use the people he'd previously subdued through violence, even if he'd won them over. Now, Ryuen's opponents in Class C had managed to take over.
Once Ryuen returned, regaining control of the class wouldn't be easy.
"After that guy was suspended, Yamada came to me and said he wanted me to become Class C's leader." Ibuki looked a little helpless. Of course she had no interest in leading the class; she'd just been pushed into it.
"Shiina also said that since I'd successfully stopped Ryuen's violence, making me the class leader was what everyone wanted. So I had no choice but to agree."
"That's a good thing. I think you're amazing, Ibuki. I'm sure you'll be able to protect everyone in Class C from further violence." Ichinose looked especially happy to hear that.
Ibuki wasn't used to Ichinose's enthusiastic praise, so she quickly changed the subject. "Ahem. Anyway, if you have a plan, you can tell us now. Everyone's here."
"Great. Since Ibuki has already brought Class C together, that saves me the trouble of convincing everyone."
Hashiba Hikaru looked again at Yamada Albert, standing behind Ibuki. He seemed to have become the girl's follower. No wonder he could help her bring Class C together. After all, even Ryuen couldn't beat him. Just standing there, he put enormous pressure on everyone.
"Everyone, please listen. Let me introduce myself first." Hashiba Hikaru smiled. "I'm Hashiba Hikaru from Class 1-B, and this is Ichinose Honami."
"Hello, everyone." The pink-haired girl smiled and greeted them from behind Hashiba Hikaru.
"We're here today to discuss a deal with the people of Class C. It concerns the school's hidden rules."
Since this was the final class, they no longer needed to worry about the contract clause prohibiting a second transaction. All they needed to do was persuade them to pay. After that, they could do whatever they wanted.
"Hidden rules?"
At those words, Ibuki's delicate face changed. She immediately pressed him for an answer. "What exactly do you know?"
"Please take a look at this first."
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