Just.
Uh.
That wasn't what Classmate Shirogane wanted to ask.
Besides, Shirogane had seen Ayanokoji Kiyotaka in the cafeteria once before. He'd only watched him from a distance, though. Ayanokoji had acted like an ordinary student, and Shirogane hadn't seen any sign of motivation in him.
"Ayanokoji?" Though Shirogane had asked Kushida, Horikita Suzune, who was standing beside her, turned her gaze toward him.
"Isn't he just an ordinary high school student?" Horikita said. "His seat in class is next to mine."
Hmm.
Shirogane confirmed it.
This Horikita girl really was leagues behind her brother. There was a super-boss right beside her, and she hadn't even noticed. Did that mean Ayanokoji himself hadn't shown anything at all?
Then why was he hiding his abilities? Was he completely uninterested in class competition, or had he simply given up after being assigned to Class D?
"..."
Still, Shirogane would have to find out what Ayanokoji was thinking.
Shirogane took Class A seriously, and he wasn't about to let his guard down around Class D either. After all, Class D was full of surprises.
After Shirogane and Horikita's group left the café, they went their separate ways.
Though they'd made a deal, Shirogane still made a copy of the materials he'd received.
The two groups didn't part right away. Horikita even watched as Shirogane made the copy.
Clearly, Horikita hadn't been involved in the deal. Even though she'd had Kushida's help, she didn't seem to consider Kushida an ally. She hadn't even gone over the materials with her.
In a way, Kushida was rather pitiful.
According to the Narrator System, Kushida had a secret. Shirogane didn't know what it was, but he felt that the pressure she was under was about to make her snap.
Chapter 044: Class D Starts to Stir!
The two groups parted by the fountain.
"Keep one set of the materials," Shirogane said to Classmate Shiina. "Give the other to Classmate Ryuen."
"You don't want a copy, Classmate Shirogane?" Hiyori didn't refuse, but she was a little curious.
There were only two copies. Shirogane hadn't kept one for himself, and now he was giving both to them. That meant he'd be left with nothing.
"I've already finished reading through and memorizing them," Shirogane said. "Besides, making another full copy would cost an extra thousand points. There's no need to spend that when I've already memorized everything."
Uh.
So he'd made copies for her and Classmate Ryuen simply to save money.
As his desk neighbor and a classmate, Classmate Shiina knew just how frugal Shirogane was.
Still.
"You memorized all of it just now, while you were looking through it?" Classmate Shiina asked.
"I did," Shirogane said. "I spent ten minutes or so going over it, after all."
"Is that really so strange?" Shirogane asked.
Was it strange?
Classmate Shiina stared wordlessly at Shirogane Miyuki, who was looking back at her as if she were the strange one.
[There's nothing strange about it.] The Narrator System agreed. [I was reading along just now, and I memorized it all too.]
Right.
Shirogane figured that anything could be done with enough effort.
While things were going smoothly between Shirogane and Classmate Shiina, Horikita and Kushida were walking back toward the dorms.
"Horikita, why do you think Classmate Shirogane and the others want to gather information about the other classes?" Kushida asked.
Since Horikita wasn't saying anything, Kushida had to come up with a topic herself.
She'd said in class that she wanted to be friends with every student.
That naturally included Horikita Suzune. Besides, Kushida had her own reasons for needing to get along with Horikita.
So even when Horikita got on her nerves, Kushida had swallowed her frustration again and again.
Now that they were walking back from the Shopping District, they still had more than ten minutes together. Maybe she could use that time to make their shallow friendship a little deeper.
That was why Kushida was looking for a topic Horikita might be interested in.
But.
"..." Horikita.
Shirogane had said she could get information that would earn her brother's approval this way.
But her instincts told her that Shirogane actually wanted the information for himself. Still, he'd provided her with information about both Class A and Class B.
That meant Shirogane was the one losing out.
If he was helping her at such a cost to himself, did that mean information about the students in Class D was important?
Of course, it was also possible he'd just taken pity on her and decided to give her a hand.
"..." Horikita.
The thought made Horikita feel conflicted.
But Kushida was still waiting for her to answer.
"I don't know. But the information we gathered must be important," Horikita said. She also remembered the deadline Teacher Chabashira had given them.
"But things are going to change a lot tomorrow. Our teacher will tell us what this school is really like," Horikita said.
"Huh? What it's really like?" Kushida was taken aback. "Does it have something to do with our living expenses?"
"..." Horikita.
Horikita was speechless when she realized that was what Kushida cared about.
Still, she answered, "I don't know. But we probably won't get so much money next month. There are forty students in each year, and if each one gets a hundred thousand points, that's sixteen million for the first year alone. The facilities and shops in the Shopping District belong to the school, and the stores often don't make a profit. That's a lot of money."
"So I don't think we'll get a hundred thousand Private Points each next month," Horikita said.
"How can they do that!" Kushida seemed troubled. She was pretty careful with her money. She hadn't spent all the hundred thousand points she'd gotten at the start of the month, and still had about thirty thousand left.
But most of the students in Class D were living paycheck to paycheck.
They'd assumed they could just wait for next month's allowance.
But now it seemed that tomorrow might mark the start of a living hell for Class D.
After thinking it over, Kushida had originally planned to use the walk back to the dorms to improve her friendship with Horikita. Instead, she immediately sent a message to the class group chat.
She told her classmates that their living expenses would be cut next month, hoping to prepare them for it.
She was worried that if they were caught completely off guard, they'd fall apart.
Sure enough.
Yamauchi: No way, Kushida. Where did you hear that?
Kanji Ike: We're not getting a hundred thousand points next month? But I've already run out of points.
Kanji Ike: I—I don't want to eat those awful wild vegetable set meals.
Ken Sudō: You idiots. Didn't Hirata say there are subsidies for joining a club? If you become a regular player, you can get twenty thousand points in subsidies each month.
Kanji Ike: Sudo, you really don't know how to read the room. You're in great shape, but not everyone is. It's not like just anyone can join a club.
Yamauchi: You're really annoying, Sudo.
Hirata Yosuke: Kushida, how reliable is this information? If our living expenses are cut, the class might not be able to accept it.
Kushida: This is just a guess, but I think it's pretty reliable. Horikita told me.
Karuizawa Kei: Huh? So we won't get a hundred thousand? How much will we get next month? I've only got a few dozen Private Points left.
Koenji Rokusuke: Heh. You're only figuring that out now? I don't think you'll have much spending money next month.
Kanji Ike: What? Koenji, you already knew? Why didn't you warn us? If we won't get much next month, we could've saved some this month.
Yamauchi: Exactly, Koenji. You said you'd spent all your points. Were you lying to us? You didn't spend them at all, and told us you had so you could secretly save them up. How could you do that?
Koenji Rokusuke: I'm going to work out.
As he said that, he sent a photo of himself exercising at a gym in the Shopping District.
Kanji Ike: @Koenji!
Yamauchi: @Koenji Rokusuke!
But Koenji's profile picture had gone dark. That meant he'd gone offline.
In other words, they couldn't get anything out of Koenji.
Hirata Yosuke: I'm going to the Shopping District.
It seemed Hirata was going to ask Koenji about it for the sake of the class.
But Koenji had left, and Kushida had just mentioned where she'd gotten the information. There was still one other person they could ask.
Karuizawa Kei: @Horikita Suzune, is that information true, Horikita?
Shinohara Satsuki: @Horikita Suzune
One after another, the students began tagging Horikita.
P.S. Today's update is here. Please support me! Boohoohoo.
Chapter 045: Announcing It! Welcome to Heaven and Hell!
Horikita Suzune liked studying. She studied ten hours a day and didn't rely much on her phone.
But she had it set to vibrate, so she soon noticed that someone was trying to reach her.
Horikita: ...
Horikita had gone back to her room and taken a shower. When she came out, she found that Kushida had mentioned her in the group chat, and the whole class had been tagging her nonstop.
First, she hadn't asked Kushida to post that in the class group chat.
Second.
Why had Kushida tagged her after saying something like that herself?
Over the past month, Horikita had sensed that Kushida seemed eager to get along with her, but didn't mean it sincerely. Horikita suspected that Kushida was uncomfortable even being around her. She couldn't figure out what Kushida was after.
Still, Kushida was good at socializing. That was useful, and it was probably why she'd managed to obtain the class information for her deal with Shirogane.
Horikita seemed to think it over.
Then she finally sent a message.
Horikita: There's no doubt that this school is unusual. We'll find out exactly what that means tomorrow. Ask our homeroom teacher when you get to the classroom.
And so.
The students switched to tagging someone else.
"Invite Chabashira Sae to the Class 1-D group chat?"
Yes.
Then.
Chabashira joined the group chat and found herself being tagged nonstop by her students, who were demanding that she spill the beans.
Before you continue