No Free Lunch

"Please wait, Takagahara-kun."

After school at noon, Mu Tianchen called out to Rokusuke Takagahara, who was about to leave.

The reason he sought out Beauty Bro was that when it came to information about the upper grades, probably no one was more informed than him.

After all, he could be seen every day fooling around with senior girls...

Asking him directly like this would save a lot of trouble.

"Oh? This mysterious Boy has finally decided to make a move?"

Takagahara stopped in his tracks and turned back, staring at Mu Tianchen with a half-smile.

"Mysterious Boy, huh? I wonder where he got that assessment. Whatever, no need to argue with him about it."

Thinking this, Mu Tianchen glanced at the flow of people around him. It was after-school time, and talking here would inevitably attract the attention of passing classmates.

"Do you have time? Let's find another place to chat."

"Time? As a high-quality male, my time is very precious. At this hour, I should be accompanying beautiful women." Takagahara said this, then suddenly his gaze toward Mu Tianchen sharpened.

"However, since it's you, this mysterious Boy, I can squeeze out a bit of precious time."

"Then let's go." Mu Tianchen didn't want to waste more words with him and directly led him out of the teaching building.

Cafés were suitable places for conversation, but most were concentrated in Birch Shopping Center, which had heavy foot traffic, and since it was after-school time, it naturally wasn't ideal.

So Mu Tianchen led him to a nearby tea house instead, which was also good for talking and had far fewer people.

After arriving at the tea house, Mu Tianchen ordered two cups of their signature tea at the counter and sat down with Takagahara in the back row.

Mu Tianchen looked around. The tea house was just as he'd imagined—almost no customers. That was perfect.

Once the waiter served the tea, Takagahara picked up his cup and took a small sip.

"You have good taste." Takagahara set down the cup, closing his eyes to savor the lingering flavor.

"Flattery. Let's get straight to the point. I want to know the current situation in the upper grades."

Takagahara slowly opened his eyes, seemingly not at all surprised by Mu Tianchen's question.

"As far as I know, the entire second year is currently under the control of Nanyun Ya Hitori."

Nanyun Ya Hitori controlling the entire grade—it would be a lie to say he wasn't surprised. Under this school's system, being able to control an entire grade showed considerable strength.

"What kind of person is Nanyun Ya?"

"Him? Heh, he's the student council vice president. His academic ability and leadership are both extremely formidable. Honestly, I kind of admire him. But he advocates for individual strength above all else."

For someone as willful and arrogant as Beauty Bro to praise him, he must indeed be outstanding. But from Mu Tianchen's observations over this period, the school promoted collective strength above all—that was beyond doubt—while he championed individualism...

"He values individuals with outstanding personal strength and treats them as rivals. After defeating all his opponents in the second year, he turned his attention to the third year."

"And he's focused on the leader of Class A in the third year—the current student council president, Horikita Manabu."

After saying this, Takagahara picked up his tea cup again.

Honestly, Mu Tianchen felt that with Nanyun Ya's current strength, coasting through to graduation as Class A in the third year would be no problem at all.

But he seemed to enjoy challenges, even going against the student council president Horikita Manabu, who wasn't even in his grade. Probably he found school life too boring otherwise.

As for his advocacy of individual strength above all? Well, it had both pros and cons.

At the very least, if implemented, it would give outstanding students not in Class A an opportunity. But conversely, if everyone acted for their own personal gain, it would be very detrimental to class unity.

"So I'd advise you, if you're looking for help from the upper grades, it's best to avoid the second year." Takagahara finished his tea and continued.

Was he warning him? If his actions were too unusual, they'd attract Nanyun Ya's attention.

But it seemed too late for that.

Last time he went to the Table Tennis Club, that vice-captain was also from Class A of the second year. If he'd reported that incident to Nanyun Ya, then Nanyun Ya had probably already noticed him.

"I'll keep that in mind." Mu Tianchen accepted Takagahara's reminder out of politeness. "What about the third year?"

"The third year? Nothing much to say. Class A, under Horikita Manabu's leadership, is far ahead of the other classes."

President Horikita Manabu really is strong. No wonder Nanyun Ya chose him as a rival.

"However." Takagahara shifted his tone. "Recently, Nanyun Ya seems to be strongly supporting Class B of the third year. Their class point growth has been a bit too fast."

Even Beauty Bro noticed that? I guess that's just him. If he put that kind of attention into Class D, wouldn't he crush the other classes?

It seemed he really had little interest in his own class's competition.

Honestly, Mu Tianchen didn't either. If not for the point benefits Teacher Chazhu gave him, he wouldn't bother putting in the effort.

"Anything else you want to ask?"

As time passed, Takagahara grew impatient and directly propped his legs up on the table.

Fortunately, there were few people here, so no one noticed. Otherwise, it would have drawn more disdainful looks.

"Well... can you get me a copy of the past exam papers for this midterm?"

"Past exam papers? Haha, so this is the real reason you called me out."

Takagahara was sharp and immediately caught on.

"150,000, plus the 100,000 from the intelligence fee just now, that's 250,000 points total."

Mu Tianchen: "..."

As expected, there's no such thing as a free lunch in this world. Takagahara was, after all, still a merchant at heart.

Even though his family was wealthy and wouldn't care about such a small amount.

But this was school—completely enclosed, with a unified currency.

After living a life of luxury outside, it was inevitable that he'd be short on silver.

"Deal." Mu Tianchen hesitated for a moment before finally speaking.

Although he wasn't exactly short on these points, if he counted carefully, this amount was enough to cover several months of his living expenses. It was bound to sting for a while.

Mu Tianchen could have chosen to buy cheaper points from the seniors in the lower-ranked third-year classes, but he didn't think it was necessary.

First, it was too much trouble. Second, it was only right to let Takagahara earn a bit more. Some points might seem expensive on the surface, but the actual benefits they brought far outweighed the value of the points saved.