At last, he carefully stated his objective.
"We plan to graduate as Class A, with every single member of our class."
"Hahaha!"
Tanaka Yukishin burst out laughing.
The impression of them he'd just started to revise was now firmly reinforced.
What? Wasn't this exactly what happy-go-lucky education produced?
Once he'd laughed enough, he decided to verbally grill Honami-chan.
He might as well settle the matter of the 10 million points while he was at it.
"I know you're still in the process of adjusting to each other, but hearing such an absurdly naive declaration from you, I just can't hold back."
Then he sent over the contract he'd already prepared, with the amount filled in, through their student ID terminals.
Ichinose Honami and Kanzaki Ryuji read it carefully, then exchanged a glance and nodded.
It was exactly the same as the contract framework they'd learned about from their teacher.
The contract was valid, and all the relevant procedures had already been completed through the school's S-System.
Tanaka Yukishin accepted the 1 million points Honami-chan transferred to him.
The remaining 9 million would be paid over nine months, at 1 million points per month.
"My first suggestion: you have to give up one of these goals—either graduating with the whole class or graduating as Class A."
"I don't know whether you meant anything by 'the whole class' or just said it without thinking."
"But there's something I want you to know: students drop out every year."
Unlike the hardliners in other classes, who gathered or subdued their classmates through sheer ability and became their leaders, Ichinose Honami's strategy for unifying her class was essentially "building emotional bonds and pursuing shared interests." It was a gentle style of leadership.
Its success depended on the trust her personal charm and approachability inspired, and on her ability to shape the group's shared values.
Class B was united, which certainly made it very difficult to target.
But from another perspective, that meant they were all vulnerable.
All it would take was choosing an easy target and putting pressure on that student to bring Class B down.
"Can't we have both?"
Trusted by every member of Class B, Ichinose Honami spoke instinctively, without thinking it through.
"We're not children. It's unrealistic to think you can have everything you want."
"I don't think you'd want to know what it's like to suffer over something you can't have."
"Since your goal isn't realistic, here's what I suggest."
People bought advice to get results. The most obvious and effective approach was to play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses.
Honami-chan clearly didn't want to avoid her weakness or give up on her naive idea.
Then they'd have to play to their strengths to the fullest.
First, take advantage of Ichinose Honami's strong influence over her classmates to assess everyone's abilities.
Group them according to gender, personality, and strengths, then assign them accordingly.
Worth 2 million points.
Other classes hadn't yet become a cohesive whole. That gave Class B an absolute head start that only they could achieve.
What Class B managed to do with that advantage was none of his concern.
Second, make use of free ingredients, clothing alterations, and other methods to increase income and cut costs.
They could either sell the results themselves or resell them secondhand.
Worth 3 million points.
It was another advantage that only a united Class B could make the most of.
Even if the other classes caught on, how could they compete with Class B's 40 workers while acting alone?
Besides, these activities could also serve as team-building to some extent, bringing in more points than they spent.
Third... Tanaka Yukishin suddenly ran out of ideas.
That 10 million points really wasn't easy to earn.
But no matter. If he couldn't think of anything, he could always copy someone else's homework.
Class B's strength was its unity. He just had to refine it to the extreme.
Honami-chan would probably enjoy the process, too.
So Tanaka Yukishin's third suggestion borrowed the skills of the social butterfly Kushida Kikyo.
Anonymous peer reviews: once a month, use questionnaires to collect class members' feedback on teamwork and leadership decisions, bringing potential conflicts to light.
Crisis warning indicator: set an "internal conflict index."
For example, trigger intervention if the rate of anonymous negative feedback reaches a certain level.
Psychological resilience and stress tests:
Simulate extreme scenarios and observe how members respond.
Set up a counseling group (Ichinose and approachable classmates) to speak one-on-one with anyone experiencing anxiety.
Worth 5 million points.
After waiting a while, they said nothing more.
Kanzaki Ryuji and Ichinose Honami pressed their lips together, turmoil flickering in their eyes.
They admitted the information was valuable, but couldn't accept that a few casual remarks could be worth 10 million points.
Seeing their reaction, Tanaka Yukishin felt his irrational-people allergy about to flare up.
But he suppressed the urge to lose his temper.
He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
He closed his eyes and focused, steadying himself.
Over and over, he told himself:
I've lived two lives. I may have a young body, but my soul belongs to an old man in his forties.
They're pure, naive locals.
I can't blame them.
What have they done wrong? They're just unfortunate kids poisoned by happy-go-lucky education.
...After repeating those words again and again, his thoughts finally settled.
He thought it over carefully.
Without a doubt, this had to be the effect of the [Dragon Bloodline].
If they were measuring naivety and innocence, kindergarteners were several thousand levels purer than these kids.
Yet back then, he'd been able to take it in stride.
There was no reason for him to handle the people he was dealing with now—high schoolers instead of little kids—worse than before.
But he'd already realized that morning that his desires had intensified, and that he was having trouble controlling them.
He'd been aware of the problem and facing it head-on.
His body was still gradually adapting to the enhancements brought by the [Dragon Bloodline].
Since nothing had gone wrong in a while, there was no reason he should suddenly be unable to control himself.
His temper that morning, the attention he'd drawn in class, Honami and Kei, and now this emotional outburst...
All five of today's abnormal incidents pointed to the same reality: his body and mind were still out of sync.
His blood was restless, and his body was affecting his mind, making it easier for him to lose control.
It seemed like a serious problem.
Tanaka Yukishin no longer felt like explaining much to them.
He just wanted to get rid of the two of them quickly and check on his condition.
"I've already given you enough information."
"Here's what you can do. You'll definitely go to the Student Council afterward to get the information assessed."
"I'll throw in one more method."
"To demonstrate roughly what the information is worth, they'll probably analyze one piece of it for you as a matter of course."
"Keep up your current attitude and make it clear that you're not entirely convinced."
"They should analyze it in greater depth."
"The only problem is that your lack of trust might annoy some members of the Student Council."
"But how it actually goes will depend on how you handle yourselves when you interact with them."
"Honami-chan, you've brought the whole class together with your personal charm. I think this should be easy for you."
"That's all I have to say. Whether or not you use this method is up to you."
"I'm leaving."
With that, Tanaka Yukishin walked away without paying any attention to their reaction.
His actions left the two of them completely bewildered.
Had their attitude been the problem?
But...
Thinking of how both their teacher and their upperclassman had emphasized assessing the value of information, they began to doubt themselves.
Was he so confident because they'd failed to recognize how valuable those suggestions were?
After leaving, Tanaka Yukishin went to the washbasin, turned on the tap, and doused his head with water.
Cooling off physically really did work.
As the cold seeped into his brain, his dulled senses sharpened, freed from the agitation of his thoughts.
He'd figured out what the problem was, but there was nothing he could do about it.
It was time to try another function of [Nine Turns].
For example, converting gifts.
He moved [Aura of Hegemony] and [Mastery of Arts] from his first identity, [Celestial Transmigrator], to the gift conversion frame for his second identity, [Japanese High Schooler].
The words [Aura of Hegemony] and [Mastery of Arts] began to change.
They spun around like the reels of a slot machine.
A minute later, the transformation was complete.
[Aura of Hegemony] and [Mastery of Arts] disappeared.
In their place were [True Hero Kills with a Glance] and [Chef's Fortune].
He tapped to open it.
Before you continue