Distribute Wealth

"Hey, that student over there—you're Sakura, right?"

Karuizawa didn't hesitate, walking straight toward Sakura's direction.

A gyaru bullying a wallflower—wasn't that normal?

As a gyaru, if she didn't bully her, wouldn't all her efforts be for nothing?

"Mm..."

Sakura kept her head down, her voice tiny.

Luckily, there weren't many people in the class, so Karuizawa could barely make it out.

"Hey, could you lend me a few points? Not much, just... five thousand points, okay? You eat bread every day anyway, so you don't spend much."

Ten thousand points was about five hundred bucks, so five thousand was around two-fifty.

It was pretty bold of her to even ask.

In fact, Sakura had bought a camera at the start of the semester and didn't have many points left.

Sure enough, Sakura looked hesitant. If she lent them out, she'd probably starve in a few days.

"No way? You won't even lend me five thousand points?"

Karuizawa's expression turned sour. She was great at threatening people—after all, she'd been on the receiving end plenty of times.

Seeing that Karuizawa had already borrowed points from someone else but was still targeting Sakura, Suzuki Tsubame frowned slightly.

He hadn't wanted to get involved when Karuizawa Kei borrowed from Kushida—Kushida wasn't a good person anyway.

Evil people get their comeuppance from other evil people; it was fine to let her suffer a bit.

But if she wouldn't even spare Sakura, Suzuki couldn't just stand by.

After all, Sakura hadn't done anything wrong. She was clearly terrified, yet she'd still stepped up to testify for Sudo. A good person like that didn't deserve this treatment.

"Karuizawa-san, if you want points, you can borrow them from me instead."

"As for me, I still have quite a few points left."

Suzuki Tsubame's offer didn't tempt Karuizawa.

After all, if she borrowed from Sakura, she wouldn't have to pay it back.

Suzuki Tsubame had taken first place in the men's division during the last class swimming competition.

Even Hirata, who was in the Soccer Club, only managed fifth.

That said a lot about his physical fitness.

Unless absolutely necessary, Karuizawa didn't want to provoke him.

"Why would I borrow from you? We're just ordinary classmates, right?"

Karuizawa's tone softened considerably, putting on a friendly front.

It was a stark contrast to her earlier attitude.

Even Suzuki Tsubame couldn't help but let out a dry laugh.

He hadn't expected her to be the type who sized people up before acting.

"If you can borrow from Sakura, why not from me? Are you looking down on me?"

"No, it's not that..."

With Suzuki Tsubame putting it that way, Karuizawa had no choice but to probe tentatively:

"Then, Suzuki-san, how much can you lend me? Just so you know, it might take me a long time to pay you back."

Suzuki Tsubame didn't reply. He opened the scan function on his phone.

Walking over to her, he scanned the points over.

"One, ten, a hundred... one hundred thousand, one hundred thousand points!"

Counting to the end, Karuizawa's face was full of shock. Had he not spent a single point last month?

How did he still have this many points left, and he'd scanned them all to her?

"Suzuki-san, I can't take these points. That's way too much."

If it were just a few thousand points, she'd dare to accept them, but one hundred thousand was something she could never pay back.

"It's fine. Don't borrow from them anymore. If you're short on points, come to me. I still have plenty."

"Huh? Then... I'll be going now?"

Karuizawa asked instinctively.

She didn't know why Suzuki Tsubame was being so generous, but she didn't overthink it.

"Mm-hmm."

Suzuki Tsubame gave a noncommittal hum. He'd find a way to get it back later anyway.

"Thank you... thank you!"

Suzuki Tsubame's words made Karuizawa instinctively feel that he didn't care about those points at all.

Though that was indeed the case.

But unfortunately, Suzuki Tsubame didn't like losing deals.

"Thank you..."

Only after Karuizawa left did Sakura Airi dare to speak. She seemed quite shaken by the other girl.

"Take out your phone."

At the start of the semester, Sakura had been eating yakisoba bread. It was still terrible, but at least it had some nutritional balance.

The bread she was eating now—Suzuki Tsubame didn't recognize it.

But clearly, it was the kind with zero nutritional value. Just looking at it made him feel dry.

Even in his past life, he wouldn't have taken a single bite.

"O-Okay."

Sakura timidly pulled her pink phone from her desk drawer and handed it to Suzuki Tsubame.

Because they'd interacted yesterday, and he'd helped her again today, Sakura wasn't so averse to him anymore.

Of course, the main credit went to a face handsome enough to rival the readers themselves.

Opening Sakura's S-system, he scanned her another hundred thousand. His own points were plentiful—he couldn't care less about this drizzle.

Besides, points weren't saved by skimping.

"Eat properly from now on. Don't eat this kind of junk anymore, got it?"

Handing her phone back, Suzuki Tsubame warned.

"Th-This is way too much. I... I can't take your points."

Sakura lifted her head, her voice trembling slightly.

She extended her phone back toward Suzuki Tsubame, wanting him to take the points back.

She'd been shocked enough when he lent Karuizawa a hundred thousand points just now.

She never expected him to turn around and transfer another hundred thousand to her.

Even though she didn't have many points left herself.

But one shouldn't accept rewards without merit. She couldn't take it.

"Woman, do you want to defy me? I've never taken back anything I've given."

Meeting her sky-blue pupils directly.

Suzuki Tsubame noticed how big her eyes were.

Even with an old-fashioned red-frame glasses, it didn't deduct much from that flawless face.

"B-But..."

Being stared at like that by Suzuki Tsubame, Sakura suddenly grew shy. She averted his gaze and dropped her head again.

Suzuki Tsubame reasonably suspected that if Sakura ever had a child, she could be entirely self-sufficient.

He shook his head, casting those lewd thoughts aside.

"You were chatting pretty well with Hasebe yesterday, weren't you?"

"She came to find you just now to go to the cafeteria together. Why didn't you go?"

Yes, Hasebe had come looking for her at noon.

Because she'd fallen out with the gyaru group, she wanted to go to the cafeteria with Sakura.

"B-Because I bought bread."

Sakura spoke in a soft, hushed voice.

From shyness, her volume dropped a few more notches, barely audible.

Fortunately, Suzuki Tsubame was close enough to barely catch it.

That probably wasn't the only reason. Bread could be eaten anytime.

A bigger reason was likely that she didn't have enough points.

Suzuki Tsubame didn't call her out on it, but warned instead:

"Don't eat bread anymore from now on. Go to the cafeteria with Hasebe properly."

"If you run short on points, come to me. Don't skimp."

Suzuki Tsubame showed her his phone balance, letting her see his capability.

Sakura counted one by one: ones, tens, hundreds, thousands...

"Th-This much!"

Sakura was completely dumbfounded, her mind a blank slate.

Over five million—even robbing a bank wouldn't be that easy.

"If I ever see you eating plain bread again, I'll confess my feelings to you in front of the whole class. Understood?"

For an introvert, whether it's confessing to someone publicly or being confessed to publicly...

Either one qualifies as a public execution in a vegetable market.

"I... I understand."

Since she couldn't refuse, Sakura could only accept it.

She'd try her best to be frugal.