Exchange Privileges, a Lunch Invitation

At that moment, the elevator reached the first floor. As the doors opened, Hoshino En hurriedly pulled Ayanokoji Kiyotaka out.

"Come on, let's go eat in the cafeteria."

"Okay."

Though a few things had come up, thanks to Ichinose Honami and Kushida Kikyo, Hoshino En remembered that he couldn't let them tell anyone about what happened yesterday. Otherwise, trouble would come one thing after another.

So he quickly sent Karuizawa Kei a message, and soon received an [ok] in reply.

As for Sakayanagi Arisu, if he messaged her, she'd just use it as leverage to make him do things. Better to do nothing and leave her alone.

"By the way, you'd better not spend too many points this month. Ten thousand yen per person per month is a ridiculous amount. We might not get that much next month."

On the way to the cafeteria, Hoshino En warned Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

The kid didn't have much common sense, so it was better to remind him.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka: "..."

Actually, I do have that much common sense.

Currently Available Information:

[Name: Hoshino En]

[Class: Class 1-D]

[Birthday: July 20]

[Academic Ability: B+]

[Intelligence: A]

[Judgment: A]

[Physical Ability: A]

[Teamwork Ability: E+]

[Appearance: Purplish-black hair, purple eyes, gloomy, Starry Eyes, and bangs long enough to cover his eyebrows. It's said that with a different hairstyle, once he breaks the seal, he'd be a bona fide handsome guy.]

[Family Situation: He has a mother who steals, is abusive, and is jealous, as well as a twin younger sister who seems scatterbrained but is actually shrewd. Their current guardians are the Kubo couple. In short, since he was adopted, he gained an older sister and a younger sister.]

[Past Experience 1: He grew up in an unloving environment and had only books for company. Later, he learned about the "siscon" archetype from books, so he put it into practice, treating his younger sister as his top priority and playing the role of a good big brother. In reality, he doesn't have much affection for his sister (or so he claims).]

[Past Experience 2: At age twelve, he had his mother, who was jealous of his sister's beauty, and the man who tried to rape his sister sent to prison through a scheme. Afterward, he and his sister depended on each other. That same year, their current parents found them. With their "We're so cute, please adopt us" charm offensive, they completely won over the kindhearted couple, who became their guardians. As a result, he gained two more sisters who weren't related to him by blood.]

First Semester of First Year:

Chapter 16: Exchange Privileges, a Lunch Invitation

After breakfast, Hoshino En and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka arrived in the classroom.

Because of yesterday's news, everyone else in the class was excited. Some were sharing stories about desserts from a particular shop in the Shopping Mall, others were showing off the latest game console they'd bought, and some were debating the latest seasonal fashions. Still others were discussing the size of girls' breasts...

Hmm, had something that really shouldn't be here slipped in among the rest? Oh well. It didn't matter.

Sitting in the corner at the very back of the classroom, Hoshino En watched the chaos with an indifferent expression.

Whatever everyone in class was talking about, it had nothing to do with him.

Besides, during homeroom, Kushida Kikyo would probably announce the conclusions she'd reached through her "analysis." Compared with all the noise now, Hoshino En was more interested in seeing how they'd react then.

Ah~ just thinking about it was too much to bear. He couldn't wait to see them panic and fall apart in shock!

Noticing something black rising from his body, Hoshino En quickly composed himself.

Come to think of it, someone seemed to have been looking over this way for a while.

He swept his gaze across the class from his corner and quickly found the "culprit"—Karuizawa Kei.

She was chatting with her Gal Group, but every so often, she kept glancing in his direction.

Did she want to say something? But after adding him as a friend yesterday, she hadn't sent him a message.

He was busy today, too. He couldn't afford to get held up at the last minute.

Hoshino En: [If you have something to say, just message me. Don't keep looking over here for no reason. You're really obvious, you know?]

Hoshino En: [Or we can find a time to talk in private.]

Karuizawa Kei: [Okay (????????)??????]

Her reply was much more straightforward than her behavior.

"...The bell's rung. Let's go."

The lesson bell rang, and Chabashira Sae walked in. The daily homeroom began, as usual.

Just as Hoshino En had expected, Kushida Kikyo asked the teacher for permission to speak during homeroom. Then she explained the conclusions and reasoning behind the "Behavioral Norms Exam" that Hoshino En had told her about yesterday.

Chabashira Sae was visibly surprised by what Kushida Kikyo said. She evidently hadn't expected her to come up with something like that. But the vast majority of the class ignored the teacher's reaction and immediately began to protest.

"Kushida, this is all just your guess, right? You don't have any solid evidence."

"Yeah, exactly. What if you're wrong? Then our class will have scrimped and saved for nothing and become a laughingstock for the whole year."

"Besides, we should wait until the future to worry about what happens in the future. At least this month, we should enjoy ourselves."

"..."

Everyone had their own ideas, and the situation quickly grew chaotic. Even Kushida Kikyo seemed at a loss in the face of this turn of events.

Even if she had no evidence, there was nothing wrong with preparing from now on. This involved everyone's personal interests, after all. Why were they even against that?

Hoshino En figured most of them had already spent quite a few of their points. Now that they'd suddenly heard the news, they probably regretted it but couldn't do anything about it. So they were trying to avoid reality by rejecting the theory.

Seeing that things were about to get out of hand, Hirata Yosuke quickly stepped in to smooth things over.

"Okay, everyone, aren't we all classmates? Let's not fight."

"And there are definitely some suspicious points here. Kushida's guess isn't unreasonable. It can't hurt to be cautious."

After calming everyone down, he turned to Chabashira Sae, who had stepped away from the lectern and was standing to one side.

"Chabashira-sensei, is Kushida's guess true?"

"I have no comment."

Chabashira Sae answered with four icy words.

Although it wasn't exactly "yes" or "no," her answer said plenty.

"Everyone, since Chabashira-sensei hasn't denied it, let's assume it's true. We should pay attention in class and limit our spending. Then we can see what happens at the beginning of next month."

Chabashira Sae: "..."

She'd misjudged him. She hadn't expected Hirata Yosuke to be so capable.

However, although most of the girls agreed with Hirata Yosuke, the vast majority of the boys opposed him.

It wasn't that they didn't understand the logic behind what Hirata Yosuke was saying. They simply disliked the handsome guy who was so popular with the girls, so they opposed him for the sake of opposing him.

And if they let him have his way, wouldn't he get all the attention? What did that make the rest of them? Extras?

The situation had suddenly become both simple and complicated.

Hoshino En watched coldly from the corner. "..."

Tsk. Kushida hadn't told them the whole truth.

He'd been looking forward to seeing how the students in Class D would react when they heard the terms "Defective Product" and "Flawed Product." He hadn't expected Kushida to hold something back and leave him disappointed.

Still, being criticized by everyone must have put a lot of pressure on her. In that case—

Hoshino En: [Kushida, are you free at ten tonight? Come to my room, 404. I said I'd make it up to you. Come by tonight.]

After sending the message, Hoshino En slipped out through the back door of the classroom.

Since he hadn't gotten to see what he'd wanted to see, there was no point in staying.

He had quite a few things to do today. Maybe he should move that matter to the morning.

Every class was having homeroom at the moment, so the school was unusually quiet.

Aside from the security cameras scattered everywhere, there was no one around to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere with Hoshino En.

He left the classroom building and headed to the Special Building near the athletic field. Climbing the stairs, he arrived at his destination: the Chairman's Office.

Yesterday, after learning that one point was equivalent to one yen—and finding that these points really did have the same purchasing power as yen at school—Hoshino En had thought of something. What happened to the points third-years had left over when they graduated?

Would the school simply take them back? Would students be allowed to spend all their points at school before they left? Or would they be allowed to exchange their points for yen and take the money with them?

He'd found indirect confirmation of this question yesterday when he'd gone to pick a fight. He'd noticed that the third-years were much more aggressive about attacking him than the second-years. They were far more eager for Private Points.

If it had only been students in Class 3-B, whose standing was about the same as Class 3-A, that would have made sense. The more Private Points they had, the more methods they could use to rise in rank. But it was strange that even the third-years in Classes C and D, who had little hope of moving up by now, were so eager for points.

Few people went around picking fights the way he did. It was basically impossible to collect the twenty million points needed to go solo that way, yet they were still so eager for points. That meant Private Points must have another use for them—not for class competition, nor for moving up to a higher-ranked class, but for what came afterward...for their future prospects.

Private Points were only useful at school. Once they left, they'd need yen. Yet they still considered Private Points important, which meant his third theory was all but confirmed.

It was possible they simply wanted to make one last profit and live extravagantly, but that explanation wasn't very likely. There was no harm in coming here to find out.

Before entering the Chairman's Office, Hoshino En glanced at his phone. Kushida Kikyo had replied in the affirmative, but she and Karuizawa Kei had both noticed that he was gone and were asking where he was.

Hoshino En fobbed them off with the excuse, "My stomach hurts. I went to the bathroom." Then he switched his phone to silent mode and slipped it into his pocket.

He was about to meet the head of the school, after all. It was only natural for Hoshino En to feel a little nervous.

He took a deep breath, then knocked on the office door.

"Come in."

A steady male voice came from inside the office.

"Excuse me."

Hoshino En pushed the door open and entered, closing it behind him.

He looked at the man seated behind the desk. He had short silver hair, a square face, and black rectangular glasses. He gave off a steady, dignified air, and wore a gentle, refined smile.

Was this really Sakayanagi Arisu's father? He felt completely different from her.

Noticing the nameplate on the desk that read "Sakayanagi," Hoshino En silently made a comment to himself.

"Student, this should be homeroom time. May I ask what brings you here?"

The voice of Chairman Sakayanagi—the father of Sakayanagi Arisu, Sakayanagi Narimori—was warm and friendly, making it difficult to feel any ill will toward him.

"Everyone in my class is excited and noisy, and the teacher couldn't control them, so she changed homeroom into a study period."

"As for why I'm here, of course I have a question for you, Chairman. By the way, I'm Hoshino En from Class 1-D."

Class 1-D?

Sakayanagi Narimori seemed to think of something and paused for a moment, but quickly recovered.

He gestured for Hoshino En to sit on the sofa in front of the desk, then came around from behind it and sat opposite him.

"So, Hoshino, what would you like to ask?"

"But I don't know the answer to everything, so you should be prepared for that."

He was hinting at something, but it wasn't what Hoshino En wanted to know.

"Don't worry, Chairman. My question is simple, and I won't put you on the spot: how many points does it take to get permission to exchange Private Points for yen in advance?"

"...Why do you want to know that?"

"Because I want to."

Sakayanagi Narimori: "..."

No, that's not what I meant...Never mind. That answer works, too.

"Three hundred thousand points. And the exchange rate is only 0.8 yen per Private Point. That's the same even for third-years when they graduate."

"How many points would it take to make that permission available exclusively to me?"

"You..."

Looking at the confident boy in front of him, Chairman Sakayanagi suddenly felt puzzled.

The fact that he'd thought of this showed that the student was highly perceptive. Why had a student like him been assigned to Class D?

Even if his past record had some blemishes, wouldn't Class C or B have been more suitable for him?

"One million points to monopolize that permission."