Part-Time Work

The two stared each other down, neither willing to back down. They both accepted the wager.

"Seems like something's missing. Oh, right—a wager needs a referee, doesn't it?"

Dongfang Yi rubbed his chin, thought it over, then concluded, "Then let's ask Sakura to be our referee."

"Huh? M-me?"

Sakura Airi pointed at herself. She'd thought she had nothing to do with this, but being suddenly entrusted with such an "important" responsibility made her nervous.

"Yeah. I'm sure you'll be fair and impartial, Sakura."

Ichinose smiled and winked at her.

"Same here. With Sakura as the referee, I'm sure the scales of victory will tip in my favor." Dongfang Yi gave her a thumbs-up.

"You're surprisingly mean, you know."

"Mm-hmm. Thanks for the compliment." Dongfang Yi lifted his chin smugly. "After all, I'm an utterly wicked villain."

"I-I'll do my best."

The socially anxious girl nodded earnestly.

Dongfang Yi watched Sakura take everything so seriously and couldn't help laughing.

He raised an eyebrow and looked at Ichinose again. "Will you win?"

"I will!"

The girl shook her little fist at him, her eyes full of determination.

The afternoon flew by.

When the school bell rang, Satoshi Ritonaka still hadn't managed to make Dongfang Yi—who'd vanished in the blink of an eye—his shield.

So the handsome top-ranked student had no choice but to steel himself and go to the agreed-upon place to respond to the feelings of the person who'd sent him a love letter.

"Do you want to take a look at the gym, Sakura? If you do, we can find Ichinose to go with you."

Dongfang Yi looked at the girl beside him and asked gently.

"I-I don't really want to join a club, either..." Sakura Airi edged closer to him and caught a mischievous flower petal as it drifted by. "But there doesn't seem to be anywhere else to go right now..."

"Can I go with you, Dongfang?"

"To work as a waitress? Or a barista?" Dongfang Yi smiled and plucked a cherry blossom from the girl's hair. "Working can be exhausting, you know."

"I-I want to go with you! I'm not afraid!"

"You can't quit halfway, either."

"I-I won't!"

"Can you keep up with your studies while working, Sakura? If your grades aren't good enough, you could be expelled."

Dongfang Yi spoke seriously.

After all, he was a cheater. With 32,635 points in hand, he could work around the clock without having to worry about running out of energy.

On top of that, as long as he could afford the price of 1,000 points per hour, the System Training Camp could open the Time Rift.

It was a training area where time stood still and everything was exactly like the surrounding environment. You could do anything there without dying.

It could be opened in front of other people and seamlessly connected to the real world.

It was practically the same as stopping time.

But Sakura Airi was just an ordinary person. She couldn't possibly have the same boundless energy as him.

Taking on these unimportant tasks might well do her more harm than good.

However, though he meant well, the girl didn't take it that way.

"Does Dongfang not want to go with me?"

Sakura Airi felt inexplicably disappointed. She lowered her head, as if something were lodged in her chest.

It was as though yesterday had been nothing but a dream.

"Forget it. If you want to come with me, then come along. I'm only working for a month, anyway." Dongfang Yi rubbed her head helplessly. "I'll help you catch up on your studies afterward."

"Catch up on my studies?" Sakura Airi's eyes filled with confusion.

"Uh... Sakura, you didn't really think this school had no academic requirements, did you?" Dongfang Yi pulled a face. "Your C-minus academic ability isn't nearly good enough."

"C-minus?"

"Oh, right. I forgot the Student Evaluation Area is still locked. Please pretend I never said that."

Dongfang knows a lot of things.

Sakura Airi nodded earnestly. "I-I won't tell anyone."

She fell silent for a while, then asked curiously, "Is Dongfang actually really capable?"

"Sakura, I don't know when I gave you that impression, but I'm just an ordinary person—only a tiny bit better than most people."

Dongfang Yi felt there was still a huge gap between him and the transmigrators of old who could destroy the heavens and earth, move mountains and fill seas, and roam among the stars. He was nowhere near worthy of being called "strong." He could barely even be considered ordinary.

"Really?"

Sakura Airi felt inexplicably happy.

It was as if she'd suddenly gained the tiniest chance. She edged closer to Dongfang Yi and smiled radiantly.

"Really. I never lie."

"Dongfang, who's this?" Manager Fujimoto asked curiously, looking at the two of them.

"She's Sakura Airi from Class 1-D, a friend of mine. She wants to come work at Palette for a month, too." Dongfang Yi introduced the girl beside him to Fujimoto, then turned to Sakura. "Airi, this is Manager Fujimoto. He's in charge of Palette Cafe."

A friend, huh? More like your girlfriend.

Fujimoto Itsuki felt rather pleased with himself, certain he'd figured it all out.

But if she was from Class D, he had no particular reason to turn them down.

After thinking it over briefly, he agreed to their request, but set the hourly wage at only 400 points.

That came to a little over 32,000 points a month.

Dongfang Yi didn't mind.

The school provided electricity, water, and housing for free. Fifty thousand points a month was enough for a slightly frugal, ordinary life in the cafeteria.

If you cooked for yourself, a little over twenty thousand points was plenty.

But living lavishly required at least 70,000 points. After all, teenagers in their prime still needed to buy clothes regularly.

And compared to boys, girls spent more. They also needed to use points for things like sanitary products and makeup.

If they weren't careful with their spending, 100,000 points could disappear in a month.

Having read the original work thoroughly, Dongfang Yi knew that most of the girls in Class D were anything but frugal. They couldn't wait to burn through all their points.

The 100,000 points on their phones would quietly vanish before they even noticed, until not a single point remained.

When the next month rolled around and they had no points coming in, they'd naturally start borrowing money. At that point, Sakura, who worked at Palette, would become their first target.

The socially anxious girl had all the makings of a prime sucker to lend them money.

So it didn't matter much whether Sakura Airi had a few more or a few fewer points. Whatever she had left would be used to help those in need anyway.

And since Sakura had made the decision because she wanted to spend time with Dongfang Yi, she had no objections.

Once they'd reached an agreement, Manager Fujimoto called over the young woman who'd been working at the front desk the day before to train the two newcomers.

This time, Dongfang Yi learned the senior employee's name.

Nishikawa Rin, from Class 3-C.

At the same time, he thought he heard something shatter.