Open Elective Courses?

"...That was about it."

Chabashira Sae casually mentioned that points could be used as money, then got up and left.

You En felt she was afraid she'd laugh if she stayed any longer—laugh at how stupid they were.

Still, the people in Class D either had bad habits or were simply difficult by nature, with serious issues in their backgrounds and experiences. In short, they had little inclination to obey. You En could understand why she acted that way, though it certainly wasn't very professional.

Everyone on that bus had been from Class D. The school had set up a test of obedience. Whether they had realized it or not, doing nothing in that moral dilemma meant disobeying. And even among those who had taken action, it was possible to tell whether they were truly obedient—for example, Kushida Kikyo.

"100,000 points? Doesn't that mean the equivalent of 100,000 yen every month?"

Yamauchi Haruki's eyes widened.

Ken Sudō clicked his tongue. "The school's way too generous."

Kanji Ike excitedly slapped the desk. "This really is the high school with the strongest backing! I love it!"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka looked over at them and chimed in,

"I've never seen that much money before."

"Now you have."

You En couldn't be bothered to mock him. The poor kid had only just come from the White Room, that super-intensive cram school. He was probably being sincere.

Horikita Suzune spoke up. "That amount shouldn't be much to you, though."

She phrased it as a question, but her tone was certain.

"Master-level writing skills don't come from writing in isolation. What works have you written?"

You En glanced at the copy of Crime and Punishment in her hand.

"I only write novels for fun. I just want readers to enjoy themselves while reading them. They're nothing profound, so don't get your hopes up."

"I wasn't expecting much. If you don't want to say, then forget it."

Horikita Suzune closed her eyes, making it clear that she didn't mean what she said.

"Sigh."

At that moment, You En began to hate himself. Why had he given his novels such attention-grabbing titles? They were always something like "harem," "little sister," "girlfriend," or "wife." He thought for a while, then realized he really had nothing he could say out loud.

He should've written a novel with a more normal title.

"I can't say."

Horikita Suzune didn't press him further.

"Then you can at least tell me how much you made in royalties, right?"

You En nodded.

"My royalties last year came to 60 million yen."

"?"

Horikita Suzune and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who stood beside her, were instantly stunned.

"W-what?!"

"Oh, that wasn't from just one book. It was several combined. I'm not good enough to make that much from a single book."

"That's not the point."

Horikita Suzune was beginning to find it hard to believe that one of the students she'd met on her first day of high school was an author who could earn tens of millions of yen a year on his own.

"Are you sure that's true? You're not joking?"

You En replied earnestly, "I never lie."

Horikita Suzune fell silent, seemingly trying to process that fact.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka kept a blank expression, but inside, he was rapidly calculating the other boy's estimated net worth.

No wonder You En wasn't interested in this school.

In the end, Advanced Nurturing High School only offered an almost 100% employment and college admission rate.

And You En didn't need that.

"I see. So that's the qualitative difference between a level-three skill and a level-two one."

Horikita Suzune let out a soft breath. "In that case, there's nothing wrong with this assessment panel. My abilities really aren't master-level in any field, not even in a single branch of one."

You En didn't want to get bogged down in that kind of discussion.

"It's getting late. Shall we head to the gym?"

"Right. Let's go together, then."

You En stood up, and Horikita Suzune gathered her books, ready to go with him.

Ayanokoji glanced at the Three Idiots, then finally said,

"I'll pass."

Still clinging to that stupid persona of yours.

You En patted him on the shoulder. Take your time putting on the act, Koji.

"Okay, then. We'll head out first."

"Mm."

"Why are you so interested in him?"

Once they were in the hallway, Horikita Suzune quickly caught up with You En and walked beside him.

"I'm not that interested. I just find him amusing."

You En said, "You're the one who's so wary of him. Why aren't you wary of me?"

"Wary of him? Wary of you?"

Horikita Suzune repeated the words and glared at You En. She was about to say something when she suddenly frowned, realizing something was off.

"I don't know why, but I don't really feel like dealing with him."

You En thought Horikita Suzune was adorably straightforward. That was probably how girls who studied all the time and never made any friends were.

"Is this that legendary female intuition?"

Horikita Suzune retorted, "Intuition has nothing to do with gender, does it?"

You En looked surprised. "If you don't mind me asking, what do you think of 'ladies first'?"

Horikita Suzune found the question strange. "If I can do something myself just as well as anyone else, why should I let someone else do it for me?"

You En raised his head. "Marry me after graduation."

"Huh?! What are you talking about?"

Horikita Suzune could only assume he was messing with her.

"Nothing. If you haven't changed by the time we graduate, I'll say it again."

You En quickened his pace.

Horikita Suzune hurried to keep up. "Hey, what did you mean by that? Was there some hidden meaning?"

"If we keep walking this slowly, we'll be late for the opening ceremony."

You En changed the subject and pointed toward the entrance to the gym.

"...Forget it."

Horikita Suzune could do nothing with this guy.

What a weirdo.

Inside the gym.

"Freshmen, if this were an ordinary school, I would welcome you. But the cruel truth is that this school does not welcome any of you."

Horikita Manabu looked at the freshmen below. He knew a great deal, but the school's rules prevented him from telling them.

His gaze fell on the Class D section, lingering for an instant on Horikita Suzune's face. He looked away before she noticed.

Horikita Manabu made his decision and spoke.

"Now, as Student Council President, I'm authorizing freshmen to withdraw. You can use the 100,000 points in your possession to leave school immediately. This is your last chance. It's still the start of the school year, so you can still make it in time to enroll elsewhere."

"What?"

"What's he talking about?"

"He's telling us to withdraw?"

Most of them understood the Student Council President's words literally. But that only left them even more confused.

"Is the Student Council President crazy or something?"

Ken Sudō cursed outright.

Yukimura Teruhiko pushed up his glasses. "What's going on with this school? The homeroom teacher was strange enough, and now the Student Council President at the opening ceremony is acting weird too. Is this really a place for studying?"

Horikita Suzune bit her lip. She had a faint suspicion that her brother might have been speaking to her.

Of everyone there, she knew Horikita Manabu best. She knew he wasn't joking. He'd probably made that suggestion because he genuinely wanted to help the freshmen.

This school was probably more complicated than she had imagined.

But that only made her more determined not to leave.

"Actually, listening to him might not be a bad idea."

You En suddenly spoke.

"What do you think, Suzune?"

Horikita Suzune didn't mind You En calling her by her name. It was better than him calling her something silly like "Little Suzune" or "Suzune-chan."

She simply asked him in return,

"Would you withdraw?"

You En's lips curled into a grin.

"I'm only afraid of being bored. To me, boredom is worse than death. I'm not afraid of how terrifying this school might be. I'm only afraid it won't live up to my expectations."

"My reason isn't the same as yours,"

Horikita Suzune replied calmly. If she wanted her brother to see her in a new light, then she had to stay and prove herself to him.

"But I'll stay, too."

Horikita Manabu heard one student's answer. Disappointed, he looked over the crowd. "It seems most of you have no clear sense of your own position. Very well, then."

He lost interest and wrapped up his speech in a hurry before leaving the stage. His secretary, Tachibana, took over the rest of the freshman arrangements.

"...Oh, right. We've added some elective courses this year. You can take a look and sign up if any of them interest you."

After wrapping up the event, Senior Tachibana smiled as she delivered her final words, then left the noisy hall, which sounded like a marketplace.

You En had listened attentively from beginning to end, so of course he'd heard her final announcement.

There were elective courses, too?

That was another thing he couldn't remember from the original story.

"I'm going to take a look. What about you?"

You En looked at Horikita Suzune. She nodded.

"I was planning to do the same."

The two of them went to the Academic Affairs Office, where they learned after asking the staff that

students had to sign up for elective courses through their homeroom teacher.

They spent some more time searching before finally finding Chabashira Sae smoking in the teachers' lounge.

"You want to sign up for electives?"

Chabashira Sae looked at the students who had come to see her, stubbed out her cigarette, and dropped it into the ashtray.

She glanced at Horikita Suzune, then looked You En up and down. A slight smile tugged at her lips as she pulled a form from her desk drawer.

"Take a look for yourselves. There are only two courses available right now, and they cost points to sign up for."

"Wilderness Survival (elective): 20,000 points per session, 4 sessions total"

"Amateur Sailor (elective): 10,000 points per session, 6 sessions total"

140,000 in all?

Horikita Suzune frowned.

What student could afford to sign up for both?

She turned to You En. "Come on. These classes are obviously a joke. They're probably just a way to take our points."

But You En remained where he was, staring at the four characters on the form:

"Wilderness Survival"

If he wasn't mistaken, this had to be connected to the upcoming Uninhabited Island test. But the original island test hadn't been about survival. It had been about how well students could use their points.

And there was also the "Amateur Sailor" course.

Things were completely different from how they'd unfolded in the original story.

Horikita Suzune leaned over, entering You En's field of vision.

"You're not actually going to sign up, are you?"

"Mm."

You En nodded and looked at Chabashira Sae.

"Chabashira-sensei, I want to sign up for both."

Chabashira Sae didn't answer right away. Instead, she said,

"You don't have enough points, do you?"

You En looked at Horikita Suzune, his expression earnest. "Suzune, lend me 40,000 points. When we get our next allowance, I'll pay you back with 30% interest—that's 52,000."

"Wait, are you serious? This is obviously—"

Horikita Suzune stopped halfway through her sentence. Looking into You En's eyes, she understood how determined he was. The fact that he'd offered to pay interest made it even clearer that he'd given this serious thought.

"Phew..."

Horikita Suzune let out a breath. She felt like she was being a little unreasonable, too. Closing her eyes, she said,

"Forget the interest. I'll lend you the 40,000. The question is, how are you going to afford food and lodging afterward?"

You En breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. "It's fine. I remember the brochure said this school covered all our food and lodging."

Covering all their food and lodging meant the food was free. They just shouldn't expect it to taste very good.

"Don't worry. We won't let you starve to death at this school. That's one thing it does better than those kind enough to do so,"

Chabashira Sae said, suppressing a smile.

"Transfer the points to me, and I'll sign you up."

You En borrowed 40,000 points from Horikita Suzune, then transferred the 140,000 to Chabashira Sae.

It didn't take long for a text message to arrive on his Student Terminal.

[New student You En, you have successfully enrolled in "Wilderness Survival 4/4 (Elective)" and "Amateur Sailor 6/6 (Elective)." They have been added to your schedule. Please confirm.]

Chabashira Sae seemed to be in a good mood as she spoke to You En.

"You seem to have a lot of questions. Is there anything you'd like to ask? I'll answer one question for free."

You En was in a good mood, too, with the thrill of walking a tightrope.

"No, I'll figure it out myself."

"Haha, good."

Chabashira Sae took out a cigarette but only held it between her fingers without lighting it.

"I'll answer one question for free. You can save it and ask me next time."

You En nodded slightly. "All right, then we'll be off."

Outside the teachers' office,

Horikita Suzune watched You En cheerfully ambling ahead and realized she'd been a little irrational herself. She really should have tried to talk him out of it.

"Regretting that you didn't charge me interest?"

You En looked back, bent down to study her expression, and teased, "You can still add some now."

"Like I'd want that pittance of interest from you."

Horikita Suzune said irritably, "I just can't stand watching some idiot throw away all 100,000 of his points at once."

"Didn't you throw away 40,000 of your own, too?

"If I'm an idiot,"

You En pointed to himself first, then at Horikita Suzune.

"Then you're a little idiot."

"You!"

Horikita Suzune couldn't take it anymore. She reached out, grabbed him around the waist, and gave him a hard pinch and twist.

A cry of pain echoed down the corridor and back into the teachers' office.

Chabashira Sae smiled as she looked down at the course enrollment details on the system.

Of the new electives offered this year, Class D had signed up for ten classes, Class B for two, and Classes A and C for just one each.

"I hope you really do study hard, You En Tiandai. Maybe you'll be the one to break Class D's curse."

Smoke swirled around her.

Chabashira Sae closed her eyes, her scarlet hair falling loose. Her mouth tasted bitter.

She savored the bitterness of the past.