Shinomiya's Day

It had been nearly a week since the incident.

Over the past few days, to make it up to Kushida, Shinomiya had let her share the school rules they had sold before with Class D.

This raised Kushida's standing in the class even further.

In truth, those were only the rules on the surface; there were plenty of loopholes within them.

Otherwise, people like Ryuuen and his group would have been expelled long ago.

Smart people would always test the school's limits, and Ryuuen was especially passionate about it.

Every day, he had people harass other classes and provoke them in all sorts of ways, pushing the line further and further.

This educational system where people stepped on one another was truly cruel.

If someone stood above, someone else was bound to be below.

Shinomiya did not particularly care. After all, in his eyes, no one stood higher than him.

Society was not equal, and neither was this school, but the rules applied to everyone.

There might be loopholes, but as long as one made good use of the rules on the surface, they could survive here.

Looking at Class D, which had already reverted to its old ways, Shinomiya felt that the road ahead was pitch-black.

It had only been a few weeks, yet their sense of urgency from starting with zero points was already nearly gone.

Shinomiya and Kushida still attended Horikita's study sessions afterward. All that could be said was that those three were beyond saving.

Sudo did not even have middle school-level skills anymore.

It was only because Horikita had personally persuaded him that Sudo had returned to studying.

The way Horikita looked at Shinomiya now was no different from how she looked at trash.

Shinomiya thought it was fine. It could get even worse.

After Horikita found out, she began looking at him as though he were a paramecium.

Kushida and Horikita acted as if nothing had happened, maintaining the same distance as before.

Still, Shinomiya noticed that Kushida seemed to be avoiding him a little now.

That was nothing. Shinomiya was already devising a new plan.

He would make real-time adjustments based on the specific circumstances.

Ayanokoji had gotten along quite well with the trio by now. He had also been forced into joining their group.

Other than that, Shinomiya was starting to take things easy these days.

He had not seen any of those oddballs from before lately.

That disappointed Shinomiya somewhat.

Lord Shinomiya's daily routine was remarkably regular.

In the morning, he did morning training.

Daily exercise and boxing practice were indispensable.

Sometimes, Koenji joined him.

He also had to thank him for drawing Kushida away at the track. If Shinomiya had not told him in advance, even handling business right in front of him would not have affected his training.

After working out, he went to the cafeteria to buy breakfast, returned to the dormitory to deliver it to Kushida, then went back to his own room to wash up and eat.

Kushida thought bringing it to class was too conspicuous now, so having it delivered to the dormitory was more discreet.

During morning classes, Shinomiya's mind drifted far away.

At noon, he ate in a private room at a restaurant.

Shinomiya had discovered a good restaurant and permanently reserved a private room there. He had also deposited quite a few points there, and the transportation was fairly convenient.

Kushida sometimes had to spend time with friends, so she did not always come.

In the afternoon, his mind continued to wander.

Only during breaks did Shinomiya wake up. He liked observing his classmates' actions and conversations at those times.

Ever since his body had been enhanced, Shinomiya had diligently practiced martial arts. His hearing and eyesight were now exceptionally sharp, and he could hear most conversations in class.

His classmates' gossip was incredibly entertaining!

Shinomiya even felt that he could write a fantasy novel.

After school, Shinomiya transformed into the Chess King.

He went to a plaza and invited heroes from every corner to challenge him!

Shinomiya had even bought a microphone.

His persona was that of a chess fanatic.

Every day, he gave the same speech.

"My friends, I love chess!"

"Whether it's Go, international chess, Chinese chess, shogi, Othello, or gomoku... I love them all!"

"I also love every way of playing! Blindfold chess, speed chess, timed matches, simultaneous exhibitions... I love them all!"

"Let's play chess in the plaza, in the classroom, on the field, in the rain, in the snow... I can do it all!"

"My friends, the game has begun!"

Speeches like this always brought Shinomiya popularity.

This plaza was also the place Shinomiya had selected for its highest foot traffic.

He had spent quite a few points on venue fees, too.

Shinomiya bought copies of all the mainstream board games.

He also made a sign listing the challenge rules.

One challenge cost one thousand points, and a victory earned ten thousand points.

Originally, he had wanted to make it one hundred thousand points, but then he found that too few people would participate. It was not enough for him to earn from, and if he occasionally lost a game, he would be operating at a loss by giving out one hundred thousand points.

Fortunately, Shinomiya not only played simultaneous matches every time, but also mastered the art of holding back. He always let his opponents lose by a narrow margin while keeping each game's duration under control.

This attracted quite a few returning customers.

After a win, Shinomiya even gave his opponent a cheap little medal as a souvenir.

He also put their name on his signboard.

The chess clubs contributed the most to Shinomiya's revenue.

Now, they even came to Shinomiya for their club activities.

In just a week or two, Shinomiya had already earned quite a bit, but it was too exhausting.

How much he earned depended entirely on Shinomiya's stamina.

There was no way to scale things up like this.

Shinomiya did not lack points for the time being, so he now limited the number of challenges each day.

Shinomiya was considering new ways to make money.

There were many choices for dinner. This was Shinomiya's culinary journey.

Shinomiya made an electronic map, and every time he tried a place, he left a review.

Whenever he found good food, he brought Kushida along to try it as well.

The map was shared with Kushida in real time, and she often used it as a reference when going out with friends.

Shinomiya also often recruited people to go with him, because whenever he came across bad food, he only took one bite before refusing to eat any more.

He gave the leftovers to the classmates accompanying him.

Especially those without points—they were more than happy to help Shinomiya finish the food.

By now, Shinomiya was famous throughout the school as a living bodhisattva.

Whenever he raised an arm and called out in the cafeteria, students with no points who were eating mountain vegetable set meals answered in droves.

They raised both hands high, jumping and shouting without pause.

"Pick me! Pick me!"

When Shinomiya was in the cafeteria, one call from him brought a hundred responses.

The evening was free time.

Spa treatments, massages, foot baths, skincare...

As long as a shop had opened, Shinomiya would go try it once and leave a review on his electronic map.

Kushida came too. That had been her request before, but whenever someone asked for her, she left.

That was Kushida's life, and Shinomiya had long been prepared for it.

To become someone everyone liked, Kushida was not like Ichinose, who excelled at everything. She could only start with the things others did not want to do.

Running errands, cleaning, helping people catch up on lessons... she never turned down such requests.

Step by step, she earned people's trust.

But the reason no one wanted to do those things was that they were painful.

Kushida had to endure that pain every day, and Shinomiya had no way to solve it. It was Kushida's own choice.

At night, he returned to the dormitory, wrote in his diary, washed up, watched a movie, and slept.

Sometimes, he even followed Kushida to the artificial lake to make sure no one discovered her.

As for how he confirmed that Kushida had gone out—

Shinomiya had recently discovered that the school phones could locate friends. It was incredibly convenient.

That even saved him the trouble of buying a tracker.

Thank you to King Who Loves Pan-Fried Food for your support, and thank you to ieesh for your support.

Lastly, I hope everyone will leave more paragraph comments and reviews. This is truly the author's first novel. None of the previous ones reached eighty thousand words, and updates were never stable. I hope everyone will offer more suggestions. Sometimes, the author also realizes that he cannot fully bring the images in his mind to life, but recently he has been learning writing techniques through Tomato Assistant. That was a bit too much rambling today. See you tomorrow, everyone.