Friend

Going to the cafeteria at this hour was obviously out of the question—meals had fixed times, after all.

But thankfully, there was a convenience store downstairs in the dormitory building where he could buy some food, like instant noodles and pineapple buns, as well as the eel rice that was all the rage across Sakura, and cold bentos.

Beihai bought a bucket of instant noodles, three sausages, and two eggs—extravagant to the extreme. The time was now 7 PM.

For a considerable number of people, the nightlife was just beginning. The same went for Beihai, even more exaggeratedly so than some.

As for now, he sprinkled the seasoning packets into the instant noodle cup, then waited by the hot water dispenser.

Across from Beihai sat Kiyotaka Kiyotaka, also waiting for hot water. On the table in front of him was a cup noodle.

Beihai's gaze was fixed on his terminal, while Kiyotaka Kiyotaka's eyes roamed over the clusters of people gathered around the convenience store, shopping.

Watching them, he suddenly spoke up. "So this is youth, huh?"

Beihai instinctively looked up and glanced around as well.

"What? What youth?

You mean this youth where people are kept in the dark, about to plummet into hell next month, then turn hostile toward each other, unable to even stay friends?

Youthful campus life is way more interesting than this. If it weren't for the free room, board, and tuition here, who would want to come?"

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka nodded, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with Beihai's response.

If it were anyone else, he might have played dumb, asked why they'd plummet into hell next month, then praised them for being amazing or something.

But in front of Beihai, that approach was completely useless.

During their gaming session, the other party had already figured out his personality.

A bit presumptuous, perhaps.

On the other hand, after they finished gaming, Beihai had directly stated that points would be insufficient next month, laying it all out plainly.

Conversely, Kiyotaka Kiyotaka felt that if he argued or played dumb, he'd only get looks of contempt and a request to cut ties.

He didn't want that. This was someone like him—someone who could see into his heart.

Two souls that didn't belong to this world, with no sense of belonging here, drawn together.

You know, people like this were extremely rare.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have spent all his points to buy a game console and personally go upstairs.

"So what do you think three years of youthful campus life is really like?"

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka didn't actually know what campus life would be like. That earlier remark was just a pretext; what he really wanted was for Beihai to answer this question.

He couldn't help but pull out a pen and paper, ready to take careful notes.

He was genuinely curious. In fact, after escaping from that place, his goal was to properly experience these three years of campus life.

Was it about getting a girlfriend, or messing around?

He wanted to try everything, to learn everything. When necessary, he could even go on dates with some people, learn that feeling, then dump them and declare the transaction over.

(Don't doubt his skills—galgames were his domain.)

Beihai hadn't expected the guy to suddenly blurt out something like that. But campus youth? He'd thought about it too.

"Youthful campus life—I don't know about girls, but for guys, it's about having a few close friends and some nodding acquaintances.

Especially friends you can open up to. With them around, your campus life won't be boring.

You can experience the perfect campus life: good friends pranking each other, standing together to face hardships, sometimes even skipping class together."

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka listened with exceptional seriousness, even mentally planning out some close friends and some surface-level usable contacts.

"But honestly, in this school, I don't think you'll get to experience that.

You've probably noticed how different this school is, right? And the moment I said we'd have no points, you didn't even ask a follow-up.

Might as well tell you: this school has a Special Exam every month, plus Class Points. That forces us into a mindset of mutual unity and competition.

To avoid being bullied and to survive here, you'll inevitably pull all kinds of shady moves. Friendships won't work—at least you absolutely can't become true confidants with students from other classes, or a backstab would be hilarious.

Here, classes are also stratified. We in Class D are the worst.

Of course, there are other troublesome things. If you're too strong, they'll fear you and gang up to attack you.

If you're too weak, they'll bully you, treat you like an ATM, and abandon you when necessary.

Only by being just like them can you avoid being targeted and stay out of trouble."

Beihai poured the hot water, then started peeling the red casing off his sausages.

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka understood clearly. In this school, a normal youthful life was hard to come by, but there wasn't much he could do about it.

If he could, he'd want to be in an ordinary school too.

But an ordinary school couldn't prevent his father's methods. If his father wanted him to drop out, it would be very simple.

Only in this school, under government jurisdiction, could he largely secure three years of freedom.

Still, the things Beihai had laid out were really impressive. Some things he hadn't fully grasped, Beihai had told him everything. Was this a confidant? Or could it be a frenemy?

So accordingly, Yamauchi's Group were ultimately just superficial friends—he could sense it himself.

If trouble arose, they would absolutely push him out to take the fall, so they were the kind of disposable, surface-level friends who would cut ties the moment interests clashed.

He'd never experienced this feeling before. Should he try learning it? But he couldn't bring himself to fully open his heart.

If he did go through that process of opening up, would it feel different?

"Hey, if you let the Instant Noodles soak too long, they won't taste good. Sure, soaking them longer makes the noodles expand, but they'll be terrible to eat."

Beihai kindly reminded him from the side, unaware of what Kiyotaka Kiyotaka was pondering. If he knew, he'd definitely have something to say.

He had sensed something off about this school, but he truly hadn't investigated it. He was even a bit lazy, only wanting to study seriously.

As for telling the other person everything he knew, the reason was simple: this month was almost over.

Even if you told someone else, setting aside whether they'd believe you, there simply wasn't enough time left.

After all, once next month arrived, everyone would learn the rules anyway.

"Beihai, are we friends? The good kind?"

The question caught Beihai off guard, even struck him as a bit odd, but he still nodded.

Friendship was a simple thing—greet each other, share a meal, and that counted as friends you could talk to. As for deeper bonds, that was something for later.

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka heard Beihai's reply, nodded, opened his Instant Noodles, and started eating without giving a response.