Soybean

Since the school's rules were disclosed, the atmosphere across the entire campus has shifted somewhat, with the most obvious change being in the first-year level.

Take April for example—when school first started, no one knew the rules, so everyone was basically making friends.

But by May, those friendships suddenly turned awkward. Because of the competitive element, many of the relationships people had put effort into building

became surface-level friends and useless social connections. Some ties that were still maintained also grew weaker.

Class D couldn't avoid a storm either. Some people felt they shouldn't have received such a low evaluation, while others had no sense of crisis and continued muddling along.

There were also those who had already blown through 100,000 points within a month and started borrowing from others. And then there were those who wanted to break free from this evaluation, delusionally trying to lead this ragtag group toward a higher class.

May didn't have any special exams. If anything, there was just one formal test paper, and failing meant expulsion.

Meanwhile, Beihai was sending messages from his seat.

[I'm not short on points. Don't forget, I gave you 50,000 before, then 100,000, and even 1,000,000.

I can't spend that much in a month anyway. Focus on studying instead. If anything difficult comes up, feel free to rely on me.]

Beihai was sending a message to the person on the other end, telling her not to worry too much. And this good-natured gentleman was none other than the current leader of Class B, Honami Ichinose.

Still, it was pretty strange. Just a month had passed, and May 1st had only just begun, yet she was already asking Beihai if he needed points.

This made Beihai a bit uncomfortable. How was he supposed to take this—being kept like some sort of kept man? Or was she secretly trying to buy him off because she had some problem she couldn't solve?

The latter seemed more likely. After all, their relationship was purely transactional. Giving points for no reason definitely meant she had something she couldn't handle and wanted him to do the dirty work.

Beihai felt he'd found the truth. As for telling her to study hard, that was of course because of Mind Sharing.

Anyway, Beihai's own thinking wasn't something she needed, but her academic thinking was something he genuinely could use.

After replying to her, Beihai patted the desk next to him.

He hadn't forgotten his lovely classmate Airisu Sakura.

"Sakura, do you have enough points?"

Whether he gave or not was one thing; whether he asked or not was another. He had to at least go through the motions.

Just like the classic saying: I might not need it, but you can't not offer.

Airisu Sakura naturally caught the implication in Beihai's words and immediately shook her head. There was no way she'd accept—after all, Beihai was always treating her to things, making her feel embarrassed every day.

"No, I'm fine for now. I haven't spent much before."

Seeing that she didn't need it, Beihai didn't push further. It was fortunate that Airisu Sakura was somewhat introverted and didn't have many friends; otherwise, in Class D's environment, she'd have already started a borrowing spree.

In the current climate, if you lent points out, you wouldn't see them back for at least three months.

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka watched Beihai's entire operation. He thought for a moment, then glanced at the points on his own terminal. So, as a friend, should he be offering help now? But Beihai seemed to have enough points, so that would be redundant.

While he was thinking, someone always managed to surprise him—like Yamauchi and his group, who had only exchanged a few words with him before.

Haruki Yamauchi was the type to act overly familiar, the kind of guy who'd talk about a woman's private matters in public.

He didn't dare approach Beihai now, afraid he'd get a punch before he could even say much. So instead, he went for someone he'd at least exchanged a few words with, like Kiyotaka Kiyotaka.

After all, Kiyotaka had joined them in discussing women's bust sizes before, so that made them buddies, right?

Faced with their arrival, Kiyotaka Kiyotaka made his move.

"Sorry, I had my eye on a game console earlier and couldn't resist buying it. My points are already..."

He didn't finish the sentence, but the implication was clear. And the key was, there was actually evidence for this—if they pressed further, Kiyotaka Kiyotaka could pull out a receipt on the spot.

They were just surface-level friends anyway. As long as appearances were kept, there was no need for deeper ties or sacrificing his own interests.

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka had drawn clear lines. He knew exactly who were true friends and who were just acquaintances, and he cut them apart cleanly.

Besides, he was just enjoying the process. Once he figured things out, he could discard Beihai without hesitation.

Haruki Yamauchi and his group could only groan where they stood. They couldn't say anything—after all, among the three of them, someone had already spent tens of thousands of points on a game console.

But Class D still had its merits. For example, they could quickly forget their troubles and adjust their mindset. Whatever, things were already this bad—they'd just cram at the last minute.

And so they happily ran off to swimming class. The guys were excited, the girls were cheerful.

No more pain. Points could wait—it wasn't like they were going to die.

Beihai couldn't help but sigh. In his past life, dreaming of swimming class or a pool? If PE class didn't involve shoveling the track flat, that was already a blessing.

And the track wasn't even for PE—it was for morning runs.

Now, the cliques were still there. Some people gathered in twos and threes, while others simply didn't go down to the pool at all, staying in their uniforms and watching from the stands.

Everything was already set. Beihai sat beside Airisu Sakura, completely at ease.

He sighed again—he'd chosen his circle well. The only downside was that one guy had forcefully squeezed in and broken it.

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka sat down next to Beihai. The key detail was that he was holding a soybean—that is, the Shiba Inu Beihai had given him.

Petting its head, he also hadn't stripped down to swim or watch.

He was just remarking that these cliques had really solidified. Still, his skill at making friends wasn't too bad.

Beihai only felt the provocation. This guy had even brought the dog along.

Beihai stared at him, and Kiyotaka Kiyotaka stared back. Both had their own thoughts.

This stalemate was soon broken as Suzune Horikita walked over, though her target was not Beihai. In her eyes, Beihai was just an ordinary—even a bit rustic—student.

Nothing outstanding about him, nothing worth paying attention to, not even capable of helping the class. The kind who would vanish the moment he was thrown into a crowd—far too mediocre.

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka was somewhat unlucky. He didn't understand how to interact with her, so he got stabbed by her compass. He thought this was a special way of getting along.

But in his eyes, he had already drawn a line: ordinary friends and somewhat special female friends—just go through the motions.

As soon as Horikita arrived, her gaze landed on the Shiba Inu. After all, there were no stray cats or dogs in this school, so it was quite a novelty.

"A puppy?"

"Yeah, its name is Soybean. A friend gave it to me."