Three Hundred Million

At Ichinose's suggestion, Ichinose froze for a moment. But before long, she came to her senses, a hint of realization and mockery in her voice.

"One hundred million!?"

"You just make things up as you go, don't you? Why should I believe you can come up with one hundred million?"

Satsu wasn't surprised by Ichinose's doubts. On the contrary, he thought this was only natural.

If some student suddenly told you he wanted to trade one hundred million yen for one million points that could only be used at school, you'd either think he was messing with you or that he was crazy. It was a perfectly normal reaction.

"You can't just pull a hundred million out of thin air," Ichinose said.

"This school has detailed records on every one of us. You don't need me to explain that it includes our family backgrounds. You can buy my full records from your homeroom teacher for a small number of points."

Satsu replied without a hint of panic. "Then you'll know I'm telling the truth. The fact is, I'm fairly well-off outside school."

"How about this? I'll offer another hundred million. Two hundred million yen in exchange for you lending me one million points."

"That amount could buy an apartment even in Tokyo, where every square meter is worth a fortune. I can't see why you'd refuse."

Satsu spoke confidently, even taking it upon himself to explain the pros and cons of lending him the points.

"First, if you agree, you'll get two hundred million when we graduate. You could give your family a better life. Even if you graduate from Class A, who knows how long it'll take you to earn that much?"

"Second, I'll promise not to approach anyone from Class B again."

"Even if you really can come up with two hundred million, why should I believe you'll pay me? After graduation? I doubt I'd even be able to find you!"

Ichinose cut him off, but Satsu didn't take offense. He quickly offered a solution.

"We can draw up some kind of contract. You don't have to worry about me backing out."

"I'm kind, not stupid!"

Ichinose clearly wasn't convinced by Satsu's proposal. "At our age, a contract like that wouldn't have any legal force. It'd be worthless even if we signed it."

"That's easy enough to fix. We can first sign an agreement through the school. It'll stipulate that we must sign the two-hundred-million-yen contract by the day before graduation at the latest."

Faced with this proposal, Ichinose fell silent, lost in thought.

If they did as Satsu suggested, the school could ensure that they signed the two-hundred-million-yen contract.

By the time they graduated in their third year, they'd be old enough to sign a legally binding contract for that amount.

After a moment, Ichinose spoke again. "Then what if... you don't pay me back after a month?"

Her earlier decisiveness had faded, replaced by hesitation. She sounded almost as if she were asking Satsu whether he had a solution.

"If you don't pay me back, I won't have enough points to last after a month, and I'll have no choice but to drop out."

"Then we won't be old enough to sign the two-hundred-million-yen contract. And the school won't enforce an agreement for someone who's no longer a student."

"You could still walk away with everything!"

Seeing that Ichinose was still hesitating, Satsu simply made her a direct promise. "If you have to drop out because I don't repay the points in a month, then I'll drop out with you!"

"Three hundred million!"

"What!?"

Ichinose had been thinking things over, but at those words, she jerked her head up. For a moment, she wondered if she'd heard him wrong.

"I'll pay three hundred million yen!"

Satsu practically ground the words out through his teeth. This was almost the limit of what he could accept.

His plan against Nagumo wasn't guaranteed to succeed. After all, it hadn't even officially begun.

He also couldn't guarantee he'd graduate as a Class A student. To make sure he could still live a life of luxury even if he dropped out, Satsu needed to keep some money for himself.

"I'll leave you to think it over."

"You can also check whether I can really come up with three hundred million yen."

As he spoke, Satsu took out the notepad he carried with him, wrote down his contact information, and handed it to Ichinose. Then he turned and left. "Get in touch once you've made up your mind!"

"With that money, you won't have to resort to stealing when your sister wants something."

"Your mother won't get sick from overwork, either."

At Satsu's words, Ichinose's mind finally ground to a complete halt.

Just how much does he know about me!? Watching Satsu walk away, Ichinose couldn't calm down for a long time.

She didn't stay there for long. As soon as Satsu was out of sight, she went straight to the teachers' office.

She was desperate to find out whether Satsu was telling the truth. If he was lying, then there'd be no reason for her to even consider his offer.

Although their conversation had already given her an answer—Satsu really could come up with three hundred million.

If he couldn't, why would he have said all that? Did he have nothing better to do?

Even so, Ichinose still wanted to confirm it for herself. She couldn't let the matter rest without knowing for sure. What did it even mean for a student to have three hundred million yen?

"Hoshinomiya-sensei!"

"Wah!"

"I wasn't playing a game!"

Hoshinomiya, who'd been secretly playing a computer game, let out another shriek. Only when she saw that it was Ichinose did she finally pull herself away from the screen in relief.

After being startled by Ichinose twice in a row, Hoshinomiya couldn't help feeling a headache coming on. "What is it, Ichinose? Why have you been so jumpy these past couple of days?"

"Hoshinomiya-sensei, I'd like to buy a student's records." Ichinose ignored her teacher's reaction and got straight to the point.

"I can do that, but it won't be cheap! You know these records are the students' private information."

"After all, when the school investigates students during the admissions process, it's very thorough and detailed."

"That's fine!" Ichinose replied without hesitation.

"Fifty thousand points. Whose records do you want to see?"

At Hoshinomiya's words, even Ichinose hesitated. Fifty thousand was no small amount, so she settled for less. "I only need to know how wealthy his family is. Could you make it cheaper?"

Hoshinomiya tilted her head, puzzled. Ichinose didn't seem like the sort of person who would care about something like that. "Sure. Just ten thousand points."

Seeing that the price was manageable, Ichinose nodded and gave her the name.

"Kato Satsu!"

"I want to see the records for Kato Satsu from Class 1-D!"

As she pulled up the records for Ichinose, Hoshinomiya wondered what had prompted her to do this.

Why had Ichinose suddenly become so interested in Kato? This was already the second time she'd heard Ichinose mention Kato Satsu's name.