Means of Transfer

"Is that so?" Toru Hasegawa pretended to ponder for a moment before saying, "In your opinion, what kind of school is this?"

"Eh?" Airi Sakura hadn't expected Toru Hasegawa to suddenly ask her such a question.

"The first month was an assessment given to us by the school. Do normal schools subject their students to such trials? And then there were the 100,000 points in the first month; I wonder how many people were blinded by that," Toru Hasegawa said, speaking fluently. "After reconfirming these things, I want to ask for your thoughts on the next three years."

Thoughts on the future?

Airi Sakura had never considered such a question. She had simply followed the routine to enroll, thinking that as long as she entered this place, she might be able to change herself a little.

As it turned out, aside from an unexpected romance, her changes could be described as negligible.

"I... I don't know."

Toru Hasegawa sighed helplessly: "Although the teachers haven't explicitly explained it to us yet, the class assignments must be based on something. It's very likely that only by graduating from Class A can one obtain the promises the school made earlier. Do you understand what that means?"

Airi Sakura shook her head blankly.

Toru Hasegawa was truly speechless now. Should he lay out the truth directly, or wait for her to figure out the reason herself?

He decided to wait a little longer.

"Alright, let's solve the problem of dinner first."

Toru Hasegawa took the ingredients out of the plastic bag and began to wash and prepare them simply.

Cooking wasn't actually that troublesome; what was annoying was the preparation stage and the subsequent cleanup. Having someone to lend a hand would greatly increase efficiency.

In the small dormitory room, the two went about their own business.

Airi Sakura's mind was filled with the words Toru Hasegawa had just spoken.

Toru-kun is in Class A, and I am in Class D. Why would he say this to me?

What exactly is the meaning behind this?

Airi Sakura didn't believe that Toru Hasegawa would say things without any basis.

While waiting for the miso soup, Airi Sakura's whole body suddenly shuddered.

"What's wrong?"

"C-could it be that we... are going to have to compete with each other from now on?"

"Ah, you figured it out? Not bad." Toru Hasegawa smiled, but he had no intention of delving deeper into the topic.

For the rest of the dinner, neither of them spoke.

An eerie silence hung in the dormitory space.

When it was over, Toru Hasegawa walked Airi Sakura to the door.

"Can we... still be friends?"

"Hmm? If you don't want to, then forget it."

"No, I do!" Airi Sakura hurriedly denied it loudly, then lowered her voice, "Actually, it doesn't matter if you don't graduate from Class A..."

Although the volume was very low, Toru Hasegawa heard it clearly.

He couldn't help it; his ears were a bit too sensitive right now. Whether he should have heard it or not, he heard it all regardless.

"Did you say something just now?" Toru Hasegawa said intentionally.

"No, nothing!"

Hmm, as expected, it was a very interesting expression. Toru Hasegawa watched with a smile as Airi Sakura ran off.

He had never thought that Airi Sakura could become a spy or anything of the sort for him in Class D. To be honest, it was hard for him to imagine her in the role of a spy.

And engaging in predatory behavior here was also wrong.

He currently just wanted to clarify the facts, nothing more.

The next day, during the daily Student Council meeting, Toru Hasegawa proposed a suggestion to President Horikita regarding the school's mobile phone replacement service.

"It is quite rare for students to accidentally break their phones. Regarding the point you mentioned, I will submit a suggestion to the school administration."

After listening to Toru Hasegawa's suggestion, President Horikita nodded slightly. The Student Council existed to handle these kinds of things.

As the meeting ended, Miyabi Nagumo blocked President Horikita, who was about to leave.

"Is there something you need?" President Horikita did not lose his composure due to the surprise.

"I thought a lot after our chance encounter yesterday, President Horikita. You shouldn't have anything else to do next, right?" Miyabi Nagumo said as if he had already done his research beforehand. "Would you mind keeping me company?"

Hearing this statement that sounded like it came from a gay man, Akane Tachibana stepped forward: "President Horikita won't let you get your way. President, reject him."

"Tachibana, go make some tea."

"Eh?"

Although she didn't understand what was happening, Akane Tachibana obediently went to make tea.

"President Horikita has always avoided conflict before, which really troubles me." Miyabi Nagumo smiled.

"I don't intend to completely deny your philosophy," Manabu Horikita said calmly, "I only wish to avoid meaningless competition."

"So I thought of a good idea. Let's set aside the special exam and have a competition between the two of us this afternoon, how about that?"

"If that is all it takes to satisfy you, I can accommodate you."

"No, no, whether I'll be satisfied or not depends on how I feel afterward." Miyabi Nagumo would not make a definitive statement here. "In any case, can I count that as you agreeing?"

"Have you finally managed to consider the feelings of your companions?"

"Think whatever you like." Miyabi Nagumo shrugged and glanced at Akane Tachibana, who was making tea not far away. "You really are single-minded, Manabu."

Toru Hasegawa snuck away, his intuition telling him that nothing good would come of staying any longer.

Anyway, the meeting was already over, and the Student Council had no rule stating that newcomers had to be the ones to close up.

As it happened, by sheer coincidence, he ran into Ran Morishita at the convenience store.

The moment she spotted him, she tossed aside the items in her hands and approached him.

"If possible, I don't want others to misunderstand the relationship between us."

"It seems your mind is quite dirty." Ran Morishita arbitrarily slapped a label on Toru Hasegawa, though the latter couldn't exactly refute it from the bottom of his heart...

Toru Hasegawa decided to temporarily ignore this entity that was clinging to him like a vengeful spirit and began to purchase the toothbrush he had ruined yesterday.

Likewise, he might as well buy a few extra towels.

After all, they were daily necessities, and the price wasn't very high.

When checking out, Toru Hasegawa consciously covered the numbers on the receipt and tucked it into the plastic bag very naturally.

In a way, this practice by the school made it convenient for individuals to determine the points they actually held, but in every other sense, it felt like the disadvantages outweighed the advantages.

If you were out hanging out with friends and accidentally let it slip that you had an unusually large amount of points, what would happen...?

In short, it was nothing but trouble.

Toru Hasegawa was already thinking about registering a second account; his intuition told him there was a lot of room for maneuvering here, and the school had likely considered this as well.

Trust and betrayal have been happening endlessly since ancient times, eventually being edited into stories passed down to later generations.

"Are you stocking up on daily necessities again, only two weeks into the school year?"

"Yeah, and what does what I do have to do with you?" Toru Hasegawa slightly deepened his tone, hoping the girl beside him would take the hint and back off.

"I am observing the human known as 'Toru Hasegawa.' This is a very meaningful task."

Although he had expected as much, Toru Hasegawa still sighed; he no longer knew how to deal with this girl.

However, an idea suddenly popped into his head.

"I have an excellent candidate for observation to recommend to you. I'm sure you'll be interested."