Soybean

Ever since the school's rules had been revealed, the atmosphere throughout the school had changed. This was most obvious among the first-years,

Take April, for example. When school had just started, nobody knew the rules, so everyone had basically spent their time making friends,

But by May, friendships had suddenly become awkward. Because of the competition, many friends they'd put so much effort into making,

had turned into fair-weather friends and useless social connections. Even some of the friendships they were maintaining had grown distant,

Class D had inevitably been swept up in the storm. Some people felt they shouldn't have received such a low evaluation, while others felt no sense of urgency and continued to muddle through,

Some had already squandered all 100,000 points within a month and started borrowing points from others. There were even those who wanted to escape this evaluation, hoping to lead this group of oddballs to a higher class,

There weren't any Special Exams in May. If there was anything to mention, it was a formal test. Anyone who failed would be expelled,

Meanwhile, Beihai sat at his desk, sending a message,

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

I can't spend that much in a month. You should focus on your studies instead. If you run into any trouble, you can rely on me.]

Beihai was sending a message to the girl on the other end, telling her not to worry too much. That helpful gentleman was undoubtedly Class B's current leader, Honami Ichinose,

It was strange, though. Barely a month had passed, and May 1 had only just begun, yet she'd already asked Beihai if he was short on points,

Beihai found it a little hard to get used to. What was this, getting kept out of nowhere? Or was she secretly trying to buy him off because there was something she couldn't handle?

That seemed more likely. After all, theirs was just a business relationship. She wouldn't give him points for no reason. She must have had something she couldn't deal with herself and wanted him to do her dirty work,

Beihai felt like he'd figured out the truth. As for telling her to focus on her studies, that was because of Mind Sharing,

After all, he had no use for her thoughts, but he could really use her thoughts about studying,

After replying to her, Beihai tapped the desk beside him,

Beihai hadn't forgotten his adorable classmate Sakura,

"Do you have enough points, Sakura?"

Giving her points was one thing, asking whether she needed them was another. He had to at least go through the motions,

Just like the classic saying: I may not want it, but you can't just refuse to give it to me,

Airisu Sakura had of course understood what Beihai meant, and immediately shook her head. There was no way she could accept them. Beihai often fed her, and she already felt a little embarrassed about it every day,

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

Seeing that she didn't need any, Beihai didn't press the matter. It was lucky Airisu Sakura was a little introverted and didn't have many friends. Otherwise, in Class D's environment, she'd have already been caught in a cycle of borrowing from everyone,

With things the way they were now, once you lent someone points, you wouldn't get them back for at least three months,

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka had watched Beihai's entire operation. He thought it over, then looked at the points on his Terminal. As a friend, should he help Beihai out? But he had points to spare, so that would be overdoing it,

Just as he was thinking, someone came along to surprise him. It was Yamauchi and the others, whom he'd only spoken to a few times before,

Haruki Yamauchi was very outgoing, after all, he was the kind of man who could discuss women's private matters in public,

He didn't dare approach Beihai now, afraid he'd get punched before he could say much. By comparison, it was safer to approach friends he'd managed to exchange a few words with, like Kiyotaka Kiyotaka,

After all, the other guy had gone over and joined them in discussing women's bust sizes. That made him one of the same crowd, didn't it?

When the three of them showed up, Kiyotaka Kiyotaka took action,

"Sorry, I saw a Game Console I liked and couldn't resist buying it. I've already spent my points..."

He didn't finish the sentence, but the hint was clear enough. And he really could back it up: if they pressed him, Kiyotaka Kiyotaka could pull out a receipt on the spot,

They were just surface-level friends. It was enough to keep things civil; there was no need to get closer or sacrifice his own interests,

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka had drawn a clear line between his new categories: close friends on one side, surface-level friends on the other,

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

Haruki Yamauchi and the others could only groan in despair where they stood. They couldn't say anything, since one of the three of them had spent tens of thousands of points on a Game Console,

But Class D did have its good points. For instance, people could quickly forget their troubles and get into the right frame of mind. Whatever, things were already this bad, so they could always cram at the last minute,

And so, they happily ran off to swimming class. The boys were excited, and the girls were delighted,

The misery was gone. They could worry about points later. It wasn't as if they couldn't survive,

Beihai couldn't help reflecting that, back in his previous life, he'd only dreamed of having swimming lessons and a swimming pool. If they had gym class and the school hadn't torn up the field, that alone would've been a blessing,

Besides, the field wasn't even for gym class. It was where they ran laps in the morning,

The groups had already formed by now. Some gathered in pairs or threes, while a few didn't go down at all, instead staying up on the platform to watch in their uniforms,

The groups had settled into place, and Beihai sat beside Airisu Sakura, completely at ease,

Once again, he had to admit that he'd picked a good group. The only downside was that one guy had forced his way in and broken it up,

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka sat beside Beihai. The thing was, he even had a Soybean in his arms—the Shiba Inu Beihai had given him,

He petted its head, and likewise neither took off his clothes to swim nor went down to watch,

He just thought that the groups really had taken shape. Still, he wasn't too bad at making friends,

Beihai could only interpret the other guy's behavior as a provocation. He'd even brought the dog along,

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

The stalemate was soon broken when Suzune Horikita walked over. Her target wasn't Beihai, though. In her eyes, he was just an ordinary, even somewhat uncouth student,

He had no outstanding qualities and nothing worth paying attention to. He couldn't even help the class. He was the kind of student who'd vanish in a crowd in the blink of an eye, utterly mediocre,

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka was a little unlucky. He didn't know how to interact with her, so she jabbed him with a compass. He'd assumed it was some kind of special way of getting along,

But in his eyes, he'd already sorted people into ordinary friends and somewhat special female friends. He only had to keep up appearances,

As soon as Suzune Horikita arrived, her gaze fell on the Shiba Inu. After all, there weren't any stray cats or dogs at this school, so seeing one was quite unusual,

"A puppy?"

"Yeah. His name's Soybean. A friend gave him to me."