As he watched the Student Council President leave, the senior secretary hurried after him.
However, she glanced back at Hachiman and Kushida in surprise.
Because...
This year's Class A, First Year students were really making a fuss.
But they were Class A students, after all.
Yet even First-year Class D students were this bold? They had gone straight for the class evaluation points, which were incredibly important to every student.
Meanwhile, on Hachiman's side.
Since they had run into a Student Council officer, their investigation came to a temporary end.
Hachiman felt as though he had obtained some information.
It was just that...
"Beep beep!"
At that moment, he received an email.
But the sender was a number he had never seen before.
There was only one message.
[Congratulations, Hachiman Hikigaya. Your application for the early conversion of points into cash has been approved. The Board of Directors has voted to grant you this privilege.
You may visit the Chairman's Office at any time to apply for the service of converting points into cash.
The exchange rate is 1,000 Private Points for 800 yen. We will also handle depositing the money or mailing cash to an address you designate.
However, please note that the minimum cash-out amount is 1,000,000 points. You will need to accumulate 1,000,000 points before you can officially redeem them.
At the same time, you may not collect points through fundraising to cash out on behalf of others, nor may you act as an intermediary for profit.
That is all. We look forward to your progress.
Advanced Nurturing High School Board of Directors.]
Although it was an unfamiliar number, it somehow felt like it came from the school.
Then, immediately afterward.
Hachiman noticed that his homeroom teacher, Chabashira-sensei, was calling him.
Chabashira: Do You Think Kikyo Kushida Has Something Wrong with Her Heart?
Almost as soon as he received the email that seemed to be from the school, Chabashira-sensei's call came through.
However, Kushida was still here, so Hachiman did not answer right away. He declined the call and sent her a message saying it was inconvenient for him to talk at the moment and that he would contact her later.
After doing all that, Hachiman turned to look at Kushida.
Kushida blinked lightly, maintaining her cute expression. Though she looked at him curiously, she kept her distance from him.
Or rather.
When Hachiman had been looking at his phone just now, she had made a point of stepping aside.
She really understood how to maintain the proper boundaries when dealing with people.
"Is there anywhere you want to go next?"
Hachiman put away his phone as he spoke.
"Eh? Hachiman, have you already finished investigating the school?"
Kushida looked somewhat surprised.
"Next, I'm planning to go to the Shopping Street to buy daily necessities, and it's already time to eat," Hachiman said.
It was 12:30. It was indeed time for lunch.
"Also, I found the school's exclusive app on my phone—the School Forum. It seems that we can post after verifying our identities with our student ID numbers."
"There are regular students, Student Council members, and even some faculty members and Shopping Street employees on it," Hachiman said.
"Ohh." Kushida nodded.
She hurriedly took out her phone.
Then she opened the forum app.
She had been busy contacting people and exchanging friend requests earlier, so she had not had the time to look through her phone's contents.
Hachiman watched Kushida's movements without expression.
In truth, during their exploration of the first floor for all three grades, Hachiman had obtained more important information and formed some related theories. But before confirming them, he did not think they were things that needed to be revealed—or that revealing them would be useful.
So he had only brought up the ordinary forum information.
For someone like Kushida, who was skilled at socializing, she would probably learn about the forum's purpose soon enough anyway.
So bringing it up now was merely an ordinary gesture of goodwill, a reward for her following him around to gather information.
"..." Hachiman.
He suddenly felt as though he had wavered a little.
"So, Hachiman, are you going to eat first?"
Kushida asked after checking her phone.
"More or less," Hachiman said. "According to the GPS on my phone, it takes nearly ten minutes to get to the Shopping Street, but only five minutes to get to the cafeteria."
So Hachiman was the type who chose whatever was closest?
"I see. Then, would you like to eat together?" Kushida invited him.
"..." Hachiman.
???
All the way here with Kushida, Hachiman had kept telling himself to stay clear-headed and not be affected by her.
Not to waver.
Kushida wanted to be friends with everyone, so perhaps even a difficult, hard nut like him fell within her range of targets.
So don't waver. Don't waver.
And yet...
Kushida... you really seemed to be trying to win him over now.
Were you really this determined, Kushida?
The school cafeteria.
It was their first time there, and they discovered that it was enormous, with many serving windows.
However.
"Hachiman, I noticed something. The food at several of the windows doesn't require any points," Kushida said.
"It seems you can just line up and receive it. You don't even need to scan your student ID."
"Hehe, the school really treats its students well."
"Even if you run out of points, you can still get relief."
I see.
Hachiman had noticed that too.
Or rather, he had deliberately looked for it.
And.
What Hachiman had focused on was Window No. 5.
The worker at that window brought out a [Sold Out] sign.
That meant the free set meals there had already run out.
When Hachiman had checked the School Forum in the dormitory, he had seen an upperclassman mention that window's free mountain vegetable set meal, which was not too difficult to stomach.
And now it was actually sold out.
That meant... there were many people at this school who had to survive on free meals.
And the largest number of them were upperclassmen from Class D.
So it really was like that... the living expenses the school allocated to students came with conditions and restrictions. And from here on... students in Class D were going to have a miserable time.
The school food was delicious, but Hachiman could not taste it.
He knew the reason, probably because he was eating with a girl—and a rather cute one at that.
However, after the meal, Kushida did not continue acting with him.
Like Hirata, she was a busy person too, though she was not going off to help others. Some girls had invited her to go shopping and buy supplies.
So the two parted ways beside the fountain outside the Shopping Street.
Kushida wanted him to go in first, while she would wait a while before entering the Shopping Street.
That was quite realistic of you, Kushida.
Were you worried about being seen together with him?
Still, Hachiman followed the map on his phone's built-in GPS to the Shopping Street.
Just as Chabashira-sensei had said, the school required all students to live in the dorms, but it also provided corresponding facilities to ensure they would not be bored even after living here for three years.
From ordinary electronics stores, family restaurants, teppanyaki, and Haidilao to shops selling all kinds of goods, it had everything.
Besides one type of store, the Shopping Street's central Zelkova Shopping Center had more facilities for eating, drinking, and entertainment.
It was extremely popular with the students.
Hachiman entered the Zelkova Shopping Center but did not buy anything. He merely sat on a sofa provided for resting and observed the students passing by as they shopped.
Sometimes he saw students in uniforms, but many were also wearing their own casual clothes.
Logically speaking, those should have been upperclassmen. On holidays, they did not need to wear school uniforms.
However.
He could also see that some of those upperclassmen spent lavishly, buying rather expensive things.
For example, gold pendants and bracelets.
Some upperclassmen could not afford food, while some upperclasswomen spent money like water.
It was a very interesting sight.
But as someone from Class D, Hachiman felt a little disheartened.
Because the more he observed, the more terrifyingly clear it became just how bad it was to be assigned to Class D.
As he was thinking that, Hachiman noticed more than a dozen students coming up from the escalator on the first floor.
All of them wore school uniforms.
Counting them.
There were sixteen students.
The apparent leader was a girl with short silver hair.
Her health might not have been very good, as she supported herself with a black cane in her left hand.
Yet her appearance was exceptionally cute.
Her eyes were clear and lively, while her skin was pale and soft.
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