After finding a good moment between classes, Mu Tianchen went straight to Beauty Bro's seat.
"Takagodera, I've gathered the points you wanted to see."
As usual, Beauty Bro was admiring his "beauty" in a small mirror. When he heard Mu Tianchen speak, he didn't even turn around. He simply replied:
"You really are beautiful, Boy. Here's my contact information."
With that, he pulled a slip of paper with his contact details from his desk and casually tossed it over.
Mu Tianchen caught the slip, checked the information, and put it in his pocket. Then he took out his phone and reminded him, "Aren't you even going to look at my points? Aren't you worried I'm bluffing?"
"No need. I trust you," Takagodera replied calmly.
"Fine, then."
Just as Mu Tianchen was about to return to his seat, Takagahara suddenly spoke again:
"Boy, having ability but refusing to use it is not a beautiful thing to do."
His words left Mu Tianchen a little startled. What did he mean?
Could he want Mu Tianchen to lead the whole class? He had experience doing that in the past, but until he understood why his father had sent him here, he only wanted to be an ordinary student.
"I'll keep that in mind," Mu Tianchen replied calmly, then went straight back to his seat.
He took out his phone, added Beauty Bro using the contact information on the slip, then copied the number and sent it to Kushida as well.
After receiving the message, Kushida naturally thanked Mu Tianchen.
While looking at his phone, Mu Tianchen happened to notice the date: April 30.
Come to think of it, Teacher Chazhu had said they would receive points on the first of every month. That meant the points would arrive tomorrow.
Still, judging by Class D's performance lately, he didn't expect them to receive many...
Early the next morning, Mu Tianchen got up as usual, planning to run a few laps around the track.
Before that, though, he decided to check the points information on his phone. After all, today was the day the school distributed points.
He opened his phone and checked. The balance displayed was:
1,502,000 points
It was the same as the last time he'd checked the previous night!
They hadn't received even a single point?
He'd already expected them to receive very few points this month, but getting none at all was still a surprise.
Mu Tianchen couldn't help wondering whether the school's system had been delayed, or if they really had been given zero points.
He decided to ask a student from another class while running on the track. He'd noticed a few first-years wearing the same uniform as him running there before.
When he arrived at the track, it was still early and no one else had shown up, so Mu Tianchen decided to run a few laps first.
By the time he reached his third lap, people had started arriving. He seized the chance to approach a handsome boy with a slender build.
"Hi, I'm Mu Tianchen from Class 1-D. I wanted to ask if you've received the points the school handed out today."
Mu Tianchen asked him.
"Points? Come to think of it, I haven't checked yet. Let me see." The handsome boy stopped running as soon as someone brought up points and took out his phone to check.
Was he just not wary of strangers, or what? Still, this worked out well—at least Mu Tianchen could find out what was happening with Class D's points.
"It says I received 65,000 points from the school, but that seems a little low. I thought Teacher Hoshinomiya said we'd get 100,000." He rubbed his head awkwardly, then continued, "Maybe they deducted some because I left early to attend a Soccer Club activity."
His words confirmed that Class D had received zero points. After all, they were all first-years. Would the school give everyone else points but deliberately leave out Class D? That seemed unlikely.
Still, getting 65,000 points suggested his class was doing pretty well. The gap between them and Class D was obvious. Mu Tianchen wondered which class he was in and asked, "May I ask what class you're in?"
"Oh, I completely forgot to introduce myself! Sorry about that, Mu Tianchen. I'm Shibata So from Class B. Ichinose even reminded us to be polite."
He seemed even more embarrassed, and his face turned slightly red.
"It's all right, Shibata So. I forgot to explain why I was asking about your points, too. I asked because I found out today that Class D hadn't received any points, so I wanted to ask you about it."
"Huh? You didn't get any points at all? Could the school have forgotten about you?" Shibata So seemed a little disbelieving.
"I doubt it. You all received yours, so there'd be no reason to leave out our class. Besides, our class's performance has been terrible."
"I see. How about we exchange contact information? If you run out of points, I can lend you some. It's tough not having points at this school." He brought up the add-friend screen on his phone and continued, "Besides, I've seen you on the track a few times. We could arrange to run together."
Why was this guy being so kind? Mu Tianchen was almost touched, even though he didn't actually need any points.
"Sure. But could I ask you one more question?"
"Of course. I'll answer anything I can, but please don't ask me about schoolwork. I'm not very bright, haha."
"It's not about schoolwork. It's just that we're in different classes, and we might be rivals someday. Aren't you worried about leaking information about your class or anything like that? And why are you being so kind to someone from another class?"
"Of course not! Our classmates are all very friendly under Ichinose's leadership, and we get along well as a class. We treat students from other classes the same way." Shibata So sounded proud.
Ichinose again. He'd mentioned that name more than once. She was probably some sort of leader in Class B.
From the way he spoke, Ichinose seemed kind and upright.
There was nothing wrong with that kind of personality, but it could put them at a disadvantage in real competition with other classes, especially against someone like Ryuen, whose class would stop at nothing to achieve its goals.
"I'm jealous of your class."
"Hahaha, I'm often proud of how lucky I am to have been placed in a class like Class B."
Mu Tianchen checked the time. It was almost time to head to class, so he exchanged contact information with Shibata So and left.
Before he went, Shibata So called after him, "Let me know if you run out of points! Don't be embarrassed. We're friends now. Let's run together sometime."
"Sure. Thank you," Mu Tianchen replied, turning back to him.
This feeling was strangely familiar...
Before you continue