In terms of returns, it was definitely operating at a loss.
Although the Shopping District staff had wages they could spend, not all the students had money.
The fact was that the upperclassmen in Classes C and D were living in hunger and cold. Otherwise, the two senpai targeted by Ryuen wouldn't have needed to collect free supplies like handouts.
That suggested the students didn't have much purchasing power.
They didn't have many points.
So could the shops still make a profit?
Most of the shops at the school served the students. It wasn't as if they could force all the staff to spend their wages there. Was the school really supposed to earn money and spend it all, without taking a single cent home?
So the only possibility was that the school covered the shops' expenses.
And the range of shops on offer was clearly not based on cost.
After all,
it would be foolish to open bathhouses, movie theaters, art galleries, and the like in a place with only a little over two thousand people.
Running a movie theater cost money every day, and the screenings couldn't be expected to fill every seat.
"..."
Looking at it this way, it seemed he couldn't even get a part-time job.
Right.
As a typical high school student, Shirogane had actually been prepared to work part-time.
But now, it seemed neither the practical circumstances nor the school would allow it.
If the shops were operating at a loss, hiring people to work there was basically impossible. And from what he already knew, the school wanted students to compete against one another as classes, with something at stake.
First, students who graduated from Class A would receive a reward from the school.
Second, the school deposited living expenses into each student's Private Points account, based on their class's evaluation score multiplied by 100.
Shirogane also understood why every new student received 100,000 points when they enrolled. Each new class started with an evaluation score of 1,000 points, and 1,000 multiplied by 100 came to 100,000 points.
It seemed everything made sense now.
In that case, the school probably didn't want students to earn points by other means.
Thinking this over, Shirogane headed to the nearest Electronics Store.
There was only one employee in the store. He wore a red uniform and was a short man with a faint mustache. His skin was dark, and his eyes were tiny. He was the sort of person you didn't particularly want to look at.
If Shirogane had to describe it, the man seemed... untrustworthy.
But that was only his first impression.
As Shirogane stood by the door, the employee came over at once, eager to make a sale.
"What are you looking for? A camera or a laptop?"
"You're a new student, right? A lot of new students choose to buy a new laptop. If you're looking for the best value, our store recommends..."
Business at the Electronics Store seemed slow, but the shelves held a wide variety of products.
And the prices weren't bad.
There were computers for just over 30,000 points, and cameras priced between 20,000 and 40,000.
Shirogane had 100,000 points, which was enough to buy some electronic devices.
Still, whether a new student actually needed a computer was debatable.
After all, Shirogane had only come to consider buying a USB drive so he could copy the video of Classmate Ryuen beating someone and keep it as evidence.
But he couldn't transfer the video from his phone to a USB drive directly.
So he needed a computer as an intermediary.
What about using the store's computer or borrowing one from someone else? That didn't seem safe, either. There was still a risk of leaking information.
So the best option might be to buy a laptop to use as a backup.
That meant his expenses had suddenly gone up.
Classmate Shirogane felt a pang of regret for his points, but he made up his mind quickly.
He still had to buy what he needed.
But just as Shirogane opened his mouth, he heard a sound by the entrance. Two girls had walked in.
One was tall, the other short.
The tall one had purple hair and bangs held back with two clips. She was pretty, but her expression was cold and stern, as if she were in a bad mood.
The other girl was much shorter. She had short, dark blue hair and a hair clip, but she wasn't nearly as pretty as the first girl.
But the short-haired girl was straightforward.
"Hello, I'd like to take a look at hair dryers," she said loudly.
"Hair dryers, huh..." The employee glanced at Shirogane with an awkward expression.
"Go ahead and help her. I'll look around on my own," Shirogane said.
The employee nodded, but he didn't go straight over to the short-haired girl. Instead, he walked toward the nearby checkout counter and lightly adjusted the display camera sitting on it before heading over to her.
Shirogane continued looking at the laptops.
The cheapest one cost 28,888 points. The most expensive one in the store cost 99,999.
As for USB drives, they were sold separately and cost between 2,000 and 7,000 points.
The prices seemed reasonable.
But Shirogane noticed that the store also sold voice recorders. They were absurdly expensive, though.
100,000 points.
"..."
Did an ordinary voice recorder really cost 100,000 points? More than a laptop?
What was the justification for that?
"Knock, knock—"
Just then, Shirogane noticed the tall girl with purple hair pick up a USB drive from the counter and head in one direction.
That direction was the checkout counter. It was an ordinary checkout counter, but there was a display camera sitting on it.
The girl stood in front of the counter, leaning forward slightly, with her left hand on the surface. She made a quick movement.
As she did, she suddenly turned and glared at Shirogane.
"..." Shirogane.
"I'm not buying it." The purple-haired girl muttered, turned around, put the USB drive back on the shelf, and left.
It was a little strange.
"You're too expensive. I'll go check the supermarket." The short-haired girl who had wanted a hair dryer didn't buy anything, either, and left as well.
"Hey, customer—"
Having lost two sales in a row, the employee had no choice but to come over to Shirogane.
"I'll take a laptop and a USB drive."
Classmate Shirogane was a straightforward guy. Rather than spend ages comparing options, he'd rather have more time to study.
He finished shopping in five minutes.
"Please come again."
Looking at the 61,233 Private Points remaining in his account, Classmate Shirogane felt conflicted.
At the sound of the employee's voice, he walked out of the store and nearly collided with someone.
"Are you okay?" Shirogane asked.
"I-I'm fine. I-I didn't bump into you. C-Classmate Shirogane?" The speaker was a plainly dressed girl with her back slightly hunched, big fluffy twin tails, and glasses.
She seemed accustomed to apologizing and acted timidly, but when she looked up, she appeared surprised.
"Have we met?" Shirogane asked.
"N-no."
The plainly dressed girl shook her head quickly. Then, as if frightened, she hurried into the store.
Was he really that scary?
[The girl in front of you seems familiar, but you can't remember why. She's seen you more than once, though.]
Just then, the familiar voice of the Narrator System rang out in his mind.
Shirogane remembered that back at the school gate, the Narrator System had said a girl saw him and got scared.
Was this the girl it meant?
Classmate Shirogane felt that he'd gotten along pretty well with Classmate Shiina today, but the purple-haired girl from earlier and now the girl with glasses both made him feel that girls really were hard to understand.
Beep, beep!
Just then, Shirogane noticed his phone vibrate in his pocket.
[Classmate Shirogane, I'm back at the supermarket. Someone just struck up a conversation with me, so I got delayed a little, but our carts haven't been moved. I pushed your cart over to the service counter. When you get back to the supermarket, you can pick it up there and pay. There's too much to buy, so I can only focus on my own shopping for now.] — Shiina Hiyori
Oh!
Classmate Shiina really was a good person.
Classmate Shirogane felt better.
Huh?
Just as Shirogane was about to leave, he felt that he'd stepped on something. He looked down and saw a small, hard, black object lying on the ground.
He crouched down and picked it up. It was an SD card.
Judging by its size, it seemed to be a camera's SD card.
Chapter 15: Shirogane: Was I Really Going to Be the First One to Lose Points?
Someone had dropped a camera's SD card on the ground.
Shirogane picked up the SD card and looked around. There were no other students nearby. After thinking it over, he put the card in his pocket and headed toward the Shopping District.
The street was lively. The new students had received 100,000 points for living expenses and were eager to shop. The most popular spots were, as expected, the bubble tea and coffee shops.
After all, everyone liked sweets.
Shirogane went to a café and bought a cup of coffee.
As someone who often stayed up late studying, coffee had become a necessity for Classmate Shirogane.
Shirogane chose a sugar-free coconut latte. It cost 350 points, which was a little expensive. The supermarket sold instant coffee in single-serving packets for 150 points each, much cheaper.
So making his own coffee was still the most economical choice.
Thinking this over, Shirogane started toward the supermarket. As he walked, he ran into the purple-haired girl he'd seen at the Electronics Store.
The girl seemed to be looking down at the ground as she walked. She eventually reached the Electronics Store, but, surprisingly, she stopped at the entrance and turned around.
That gave Shirogane an idea. Could the SD card he'd found have belonged to her?
"Did something happen?" Shirogane asked as he walked over.
?
The girl looked up at the sound of his voice, apparently not recognizing Classmate Shirogane.
"I didn't lose anything," she said.
"And I don't know you." The purple-haired girl spoke, then turned and went straight into the nearest bookstore.
She was really cold.
Before you continue