Advanced Nurturing High School was a deeply baffling school. You couldn't quite call it a vocational-school free-for-all; at least, looking at students from previous years, there didn't seem to be much fighting. At most, it was a school that placed greater demands on its students' thinking abilities.
But to say there was nothing wrong with it would be impossible. In my view, most of the problems came from that guy Ayanokoji.
Someone like Ryuen could at most be considered one of the usual types of school bullies, something common in Japanese high schools. Under normal circumstances, Sakayanagi probably wouldn't openly treat his class like a toy the way he did in the original story. He was going to take over as chairman eventually, after all, so he had to keep up appearances.
A school founded with funding from the Japanese government would inevitably attract some attention from the people at the top. The reason so many strange things had happened at the school this year was probably that the influence from above had reached it.
"Ah, it's been so long. The last time I tasted this was at a dinner party with Professor Ayanokoji. The old president of Tokyo University brought it along."
Chairman Sakayanagi relaxed as he held his glass, savoring the plum wine I'd brought and reminiscing about the past.
"Is this plum wine really that good? All I can taste is sourness and bitterness."
To me, this sour, bitter wine was nowhere near as good as juice. In the words of a literatus, perhaps I simply couldn't appreciate the wine's subtlety or understand the story behind it.
"It's normal for young people not to like this kind of wine. It carries too much of the flavor of history. Young people are better off with something more lively.
There's an old saying of yours, isn't there? 'Don't read Water Margin when young, and don't read Romance of the Three Kingdoms when old.'"
As expected, older educators always found a way to lecture their juniors, whether consciously or not. Maybe it had become a habit by then.
"Unfortunately, in my country, both books are already common knowledge by elementary school. So old sayings can't always be taken as a reference."
Before today's interviews began, I'd told Professor Ayanokoji that I'd nearly finished preparing the outline and story framework for the new book I planned to write. I estimated I could finish it by the end of the first semester.
I'd already picked out the book I planned to bring over from the system shop. It cost exactly 100,000 points, the same number of personal points the school would give us when we enrolled.
After promising to give him a copy of the original manuscript, I asked the professor to help arrange a meeting with Chairman Sakayanagi.
The professor was delighted. He took a bottle of plum wine from his collection and sent it along with a few bottles of the fruit juice I liked. According to him, Chairman Sakayanagi had been longing for that plum wine. Several times, he'd gone to Tokyo University, only for one thing or another to keep him from getting a taste.
When the interviews began today, my turn came, and I was led to another room. Chairman Sakayanagi was the only one inside. That was the power of connections.
"Advanced Nurturing High School is a school where the elite gather. Many of the talented people who graduate from here have become pillars of society.
"We admit only 160 students each year, divided into Classes A, B, C, and D. Which letter do you think our future literary giant feels the strongest connection to?"
We'd nearly finished the wine, and the reminiscing had come to an end. The conversation returned to business.
From what Chairman Sakayanagi said, was he planning to let me choose a class freely?
"Then I'd have to say C. I'm going to be a great CV writer in the future."
CV engineer. To people who didn't know the industry, it might sound like a joke. But once you got into the field, you'd find that plenty of people didn't have what it took to become CV engineers. In short, they couldn't even plagiarize properly.
If I really could choose my class, then compared to Class A, whose students were treated like toy parts; Class B, which was always embroiled in trouble and constantly targeted; and Class D, the eye of every storm, I'd still rather go to Class C.
Considering that I wanted to become a great CV writer, I didn't know if I'd still have opportunities to earn points and buy items after graduating from this school. So I had to save up enough points for the future during these three years.
I'd just have to tough it out for three years and save enough points for my next life!
Ryuen was the only leader in this year's class who wanted to try for 800 million points. We had the same goal. I was in!
"A great CV writer, huh? All right, then. Does our future great CV writer have any interesting suggestions for the school? This is a one-time offer, so don't miss your chance."
Chairman Sakayanagi glanced at the half bottle of wine he'd packed away, then at the class the young man before him had chosen. He felt a little guilty.
After all, if the classes were assigned according to the rules, the young man before him should have been placed in Class A. Asking which class he wanted had only been an off-the-cuff remark made while he was tipsy, and he hadn't expected him to choose Class C.
"Hm?"
Was I really getting this lucky? It was probably because of the class assignment. I shouldn't make things too difficult for him, so I'd ask for something related to literature.
"Then I'll gratefully accept the chairman's kindness. I'd like to start a Traditional Literature Club at the school, but the school mustn't set a minimum membership requirement for clubs."
If I remembered correctly, clubs at Advanced Nurturing High School could receive personal points from the school to cover their activity expenses. And if a club like the Basketball Club won a prize at an off-campus competition, it would receive additional personal points.
What I had my eye on was, first, the extra personal points we could get from the school; second, the clubroom. It could be turned into a completely safe and private space, which would be extremely useful at this school.
"If you're only asking to start a club, I can approve that right away. But I can't agree to waiving the minimum number of members required to establish one."
Strictly speaking, I had indeed made two requests, so I couldn't blame the chairman for rejecting the second one. But I still had another card to play.
"I know there's a rule at this school: everything can be bought with points.
"If I use the points I'll receive when I enroll to buy an exemption from the minimum membership requirement for a club, that shouldn't violate the rules, should it?"
It was like that exam in the original story where you could buy points. The first time, you could buy them at 100,000 apiece, but you wouldn't get that option again. After that, you either had to pay 20 million to protect someone or face expulsion.
It was hard not to think of that as a beginner's perk. So it was perfectly reasonable for me to propose this deal here.
Even if the deal didn't go through, that was fine. When the plot reached that point later on, I could just squeeze a few points out of Chabashira.
"How did you find out about that—did that fellow Takahashi tell you? Never mind. This is a one-time exception, anyway. I agree."
Chairman Sakayanagi was surprised when he heard my request, then quickly came around. That was another benefit of having connections.
On the surface, everyone claimed they wouldn't let secrets slip, but some secrets were impossible to keep hidden from the start. I couldn't believe that a rich heir like Koenji in the original story wouldn't know the secrets of this school. Honestly, it would've been ridiculous if a secret known by so many people could actually be kept under wraps.
Besides, I hadn't signed a confidentiality agreement yet, and there was no way the professor had signed one either. So there was no problem.
"Then I'll push my luck a little further. I'd like to ask the chairman to wait until after the opening ceremony to deduct the personal points I'll be given. If you're worried, we can sign an agreement."
"No need. Old sayings can still be useful in many situations. For instance, 'See the Buddha all the way to the west.'
"I have other things to take care of, so let's leave it here for today. See you at the start of the school year, our future great CV writer."
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