Chapter Nine: The Wild Vegetable Set Meal and the Acting Manager / Chapter Ten: Fragments of Information from Sato Ken

Item effect: After depositing currency in this bank, you gain an additional 10% of the principal plus interest in assets every hour. Points can be used as currency.

In other words, if Shuichi Kanda deposited 100,000 points now, then withdrew them an hour later, he would have 110,000 Private Points.

If he left them in, then after another hour, he would have 121,000 Private Points.

The item lasted for 24 hours, yielding a 9.8-fold return. If he played his cards right, Shuichi Kanda might even bankrupt the school!

But even the cleverest housewife couldn't cook without ingredients. With Shuichi Kanda's current principal, depositing it directly would undoubtedly be a terrible deal. He had to plan carefully.

He checked the time. It was nearly noon. Shuichi Kanda closed the School Forum, opened Line, and pulled up Akito Miyake's profile.

"Want to get lunch?"

The message was marked as read in less than five seconds.

Akito Miyake was also sprawled in his dorm room. When he saw Shuichi Kanda's message, he glanced at the time and started typing on his phone.

"Isn't it a little early to go now?"

"At my pace, it'll probably be about lunchtime by the time I get to the restaurant."

When Akito Miyake saw Shuichi Kanda's message, he seemed to recall how slowly he'd walked that short distance earlier. Then he agreed.

"I see. Then let's go."

After sending the message, Akito Miyake rolled out of bed and went to the entrance to put on his shoes. Before leaving, he also remembered to open the bathroom door and check himself in the mirror, giving his hair a quick tousle.

All right, looking good!

When Shuichi Kanda stepped outside, Akito Miyake happened to emerge from his room as well. It seemed he wasn't the sort to dawdle.

Shuichi Kanda really hated people who kept him waiting, so Akito Miyake's standing in his eyes rose a little.

"I saw on the forum that this school cafeteria also serves free set meals," Shuichi Kanda said as he approached, taking the initiative to start a conversation.

"Free?" Akito Miyake scratched his head. "With a hundred thousand points a month, shouldn't we be fine even if we eat meat every day?"

Shuichi Kanda fell silent. It seemed Akito Miyake wasn't all that perceptive. No matter. Shuichi Kanda was perceptive enough for both of them.

"Let's go take a look first. Maybe there's some special reason for it."

"Yeah. If I can eat for free, I'll be able to save up for a better bow."

Man, just how much do you love Kyudo?

"You really do love Kyudo, don't you?"

"Well, how should I put it? My family runs a dojo, so I've been practicing since I was little. Besides, I don't dislike Kyudo."

Damn, he comes from a martial arts family, too. If it were a few hundred years ago, his family might've been minor nobles. And he looks to be in pretty good shape...

"I see. Too bad my physical condition doesn't really allow me to take part in sports," Shuichi Kanda lamented deliberately.

At Shuichi Kanda's words, Akito Miyake looked hesitant.

Seeing his expression, Shuichi Kanda asked first.

"What's wrong?"

"Well, actually..."

"Do you want to ask about my condition?"

As if Shuichi Kanda had seen right through him, Akito Miyake looked embarrassed. For him, it might have touched on Shuichi Kanda's privacy and pain, and he hadn't felt comfortable asking.

"If you'd rather not talk about it, you don't have to."

The truth was, they'd only just met, so naturally they'd started with surface-level topics. Shuichi Kanda's slow pace was bound to come up. Of course, he'd expected that.

In fact, he would've been a little disappointed if Akito Miyake hadn't brought it up. That would've meant he wasn't someone worth getting close to and was better off as just an ordinary friend.

Akito Miyake had asked, and whatever his approach, that showed he cared about Shuichi Kanda.

Shuichi Kanda didn't hide anything. He explained to Akito Miyake that he'd been in an accident six months ago and had only woken up a week earlier.

"I see. Sorry."

"It's fine. I'm doing all right now, aren't I?"

Shuichi Kanda smiled carefree. "As an apology, come try the free set meal with me today."

"Hahaha, sure."

Chapter Nine: The Wild Vegetable Set Meal and the Acting Manager

A little over ten minutes later, at the school cafeteria.

"Let's eat!" *2

Shuichi Kanda picked up a piece of greens with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth. His brows twitched slightly.

"It's not bad, and the set meal has enough nutrients."

As he spoke, he swallowed the greens.

Across from him, Miyake was eating with gusto.

"Miyake, what do you think?"

"Me? It's all right. My family's dojo is in the mountains, so we sometimes go camping. Compared to the dinners we had back then, this is pretty decent."

He picked up his miso soup and took a sip. "Though this miso soup is a little salty."

"Is it?"

Shuichi Kanda picked up his miso soup and took a sip too. He glanced at Akito Miyake, who kept eating without so much as a change in expression. Impressive, man.

The free Wild Vegetable Set Meal wasn't quite to Shuichi Kanda's taste, but it wasn't as awful as people on the forum had claimed. At least he hadn't wasted any of it, eating everything he could. The same went for Miyake across from him.

After returning their trays to the designated spot, Shuichi Kanda and Akito Miyake left the cafeteria together.

"Want to check out the Shopping Street? Some people in our class have already tested things out. Apparently, even buying a game console for fifty thousand points is allowed."

Miyake took out his phone and showed him the class chat.

Shuichi Kanda looked.

[This is so awesome! I've always wanted this game console! I can get it for just 50K points!]

The sender was Yamauchi Haruki.

[I bought a laptop, too...]

Looking at these almost boastful messages, Shuichi Kanda was at a loss for words. He'd practically grilled them about it in the classroom, so how were there still idiots who didn't value their points and spent them recklessly?

"Are these guys planning to eat the Wild Vegetable Set Meal for a whole month next month? Chabashira-sensei made her attitude pretty clear, didn't she?"

"Forget it. We just need to look after ourselves. They'll learn their lesson eventually."

Miyake scratched his head. He hadn't said anything in the class chat yet, but that didn't stop him from lurking and watching. Besides, he had no reason to warn these people.

But those few weren't representative of everyone. For example, after seeing Yamauchi Haruki brag, Hirata Yosuke immediately urged everyone not to waste their points.

After all, Chabashira-sensei hadn't promised they'd definitely receive a hundred thousand Class Points next month.

[Hirata, you're worrying too much.]

[Yeah, you're just jealous because we bought stuff, right? We'll deal with next month when it comes.]

Those latest two messages made Shuichi Kanda laugh. What kind of idiots are these? Does this school admit students on a whim? They're really living for today, huh?

Shuichi Kanda wasn't an ambitious student. Even after getting a second life, he didn't share his fellow transmigrators' lofty aspirations.

He just wanted to live a peaceful life, make a few friends, have a simple romance, earn a little money, get married and have children, raise them, and then quietly bring his life to an end.

And unless something unexpected happened, Shuichi Kanda could achieve all of that with ease. In his second week after transmigrating, he'd already gotten a piece of economic sci-fi tech called Value-Added Bank: One Day. Who knew what even more ridiculous things might show up in the future? Maybe he'd get Value-Added Bank: One Year.

Even if none of the future items proved useful, properly using this 10x Asset Appreciation Voucher would let him live quite comfortably.

Most importantly, this system didn't force him to take on quests. And without pressure, there was no motivation—which only made Shuichi Kanda want to lie low even more.

After arriving at the Shopping Street with Akito Miyake, Shuichi Kanda saw that it had everything from regular electronics stores to cafés and family restaurants. He even spotted Chinese and French restaurants.

There were also some less common shops, including ones for things Akito Miyake liked, such as Kyudo equipment. They could make custom Kyudo uniforms, and there were bows in all kinds of sizes to choose from.

Still, with so few people at this school, the shops probably didn't make enough profit to cover their electricity bills.

But Shuichi Kanda quickly understood. What kind of school would give its students so many points for free and expect to make money from these shops?

In other words, the shops were all the school's own property, and school staff were responsible for running them. If so, any purchases made there would be recorded; there'd be no privacy.

That's harsh.

"Let's get the Kyudo uniform you need custom-made first."

"Are you sure?"

"I don't want to stand around waiting for you while you carry things. It'd be a burden for me, too."

"Then thanks for coming with me. The shop should have somewhere to sit. You can take a break."

As it happened, that was what Shuichi Kanda wanted, too. So their first stop was the Kyudo Equipment Resale Shop, tucked away in a very secluded spot on the edge of the Shopping Street.

As soon as Akito Miyake and Shuichi Kanda walked in, a handsome senior in a school uniform came over from the counter.

"Are you two interested in Kyudo?"

"What makes you so sure we're underclassmen?" Shuichi Kanda asked casually.

"There are fewer than three hundred second- and third-years combined at this school, and I've met most of them. You two are strangers to me, so you must be new students who just enrolled today."

The young man laughed heartily, then introduced himself, sounding somewhat proud.

"I'm Sato Ken from Class 3-A, captain of the school's Archery Club, and the acting manager of this shop."

Acting manager of the shop?

Shuichi Kanda and Akito Miyake both froze. A student was managing a shop?

Sato Ken saw their expressions clearly and explained, "Ordinary shops hire staff from outside to run them. But shops for activities like Kyudo are rather niche, so their annual sales are very low."

"Besides, at this school, this shop mainly serves the Archery Club members and prospective members. Rather than paying high labor costs, the current Archery Club captain can also serve as the shop manager.

"That way, the school saves a lot on labor costs, and students can earn some extra points."

So that was a thing?

No wonder he'd called himself the acting manager. Now it made sense.

Chapter Ten: Fragments of Information from Sato Ken

But more than that, Shuichi Kanda was interested in another piece of information Sato Ken had casually mentioned.

"Sato-senpai, did you just say there were fewer than three hundred second- and third-years combined?"

Each year at this school had four classes, with forty students in each class, meaning there should be 160 students in each grade. That made 320 students across two grades.

But when they'd first met, Sato Ken had said there were fewer than three hundred second- and third-years combined. So where had at least twenty students gone?

Had they been dumped in Tokyo Bay?

Wait, did this school do that kind of thing?

Wasn't it safe here after all?

Shuichi Kanda had thought Sato Ken would answer right away, but instead, he saw a flicker of surprise in the older student's expression.

"Come to think of it, you two are..."

Ah, he'd naturally changed the subject.

There was no helping it. They had to introduce themselves first; otherwise, it really would be rude.

"Ah, excuse me. I'm Akito Miyake from Class 1-D."

"I'm Shuichi Kanda, from the same class."

"Class D?"