Undercurrents in the Classroom

The next morning, when Yuto was awakened by his alarm, he stared blankly at the ceiling for several seconds before remembering that he had transmigrated.

He washed up, changed into his school uniform, and headed out.

People were already moving about in the dormitory corridor. Some were on the phone, some greeted classmates from neighboring rooms, and others, with the same sleepy faces as him, were heading toward the school building.

As Yuto walked, he thought things over.

Points. That was the most urgent issue at the moment.

He knew that Class D would soon lose so many points that they could barely afford to eat. In the original story, someone with Sudo's personality had lost plenty of points right after enrollment for being late, talking in class, and talking back to teachers. Ike and Yamauchi were no saints either. On top of that, Class D's overall discipline was poor to begin with, and its class points were dropping almost every week.

By the end-of-month settlement, Class D might receive fewer than a thousand points per person.

A thousand points.

That would only cover the cafeteria's free meal set for an entire month. They would not even be able to buy a bottle of juice.

Trouble. Real trouble.

He could not just sit around and wait. His plan was to keep a low profile and observe, but what was the point of observing if he could not even afford food? He needed to find a way to earn some extra points.

The problem was that it was only his second day at the school, and his understanding of it was still limited to memories from his previous life. There were indeed ways to earn points in the original story—reselling information to upperclassmen, for example, or placing bets during special exams. But all of those required time, connections, and capital, none of which he had.

The only asset he currently possessed was the hundred thousand points saved by this body's original owner.

A hundred thousand points was neither a lot nor a little. If he spent carefully, it would last a month without issue. But if he did not find a way to increase his income, it would be stagnant water.

He had to make money make money.

Yuto entered the school building and climbed the stairs. His mind was already weighing all sorts of possibilities. There was a shopping center on campus—could he profit from buying low and selling high? Or, like other characters in the original story, could he obtain information from upperclassmen and resell it?

He also thought of the cake shop he had passed while wandering around campus yesterday. It was not large, but elegant cakes and desserts were displayed in its glass cases. A part-time job notice was posted at the entrance: three hundred points an hour, with a maximum of four working hours per day. The school had probably imposed limits on part-time work so students would not neglect their studies.

If he could work there, he could not only earn points but also genuinely practice baking. He had always been interested in making cakes in his previous life, occasionally baking cookies and chiffon cakes at home. He was not a professional, but he could handle the basics.

Besides, girls had little resistance to sweets. Cake was naturally a social tool. If he wanted to spend time alone with any female character in the future, saying, "I made a new dessert. Want to come try it?" would be more natural than any excuse.

Earn points, learn a skill, build relationships.

Three birds with one stone.

He silently made a note of it and continued upstairs.

Still, all of that depended on becoming familiar with the environment first. He could not rush it.

He pushed open the classroom door.

Quite a few people had already arrived. Sudo, Ike, and Yamauchi were seated in the back row, their desks covered with things they had bought at the convenience store last night—chips, drinks, snacks, piled high across the table.

"Yuto! Morning!" Sudo waved at him.

"Morning."

Yuto walked over and took his seat. Horikita had not arrived yet, which surprised him slightly. By all rights, that woman should have arrived before him.

"Look what I bought last night!" Sudo held up a bag of chips. "Limited-edition barbecue flavor! Ten thousand points a bag! It's damn good!"

Ten thousand points for a bag of chips.

Yuto's mouth twitched.

"You can buy ten bags of chips with your hundred thousand points for the month, and then it's all gone," he said.

"What's there to worry about? We'll get another hundred thousand next month!"

Yuto said nothing. He could already foresee how the three of them would end up. What expressions would they make when their account balances turned to zero next month?

The classroom door opened.

Horikita walked in with textbooks in hand, expressionless. When she saw Yuto already sitting in his seat, her steps paused for a moment. But she did not change seats and walked straight over to sit beside him.

"Morning," Yuto said.

Horikita ignored him, set her textbooks on the desk, and opened them.

Yuto did not mind.

After a while, Kushida arrived as well. When she pushed open the door, she wore that signature radiant smile. "Good morning, everyone!"

"Morning, Kushida!"

"Morning, Kikyo!"

Several boys rushed to answer.

Kushida smiled as she walked to her seat and put down her bag. Then she turned and swept her gaze around the classroom. When her eyes passed over Yuto, they stopped.

"Ah, good morning, Hayashi!" she greeted him proactively. "You left so early yesterday. How was the dorm afterward?"

Several gazes in the classroom turned toward Yuto.

"Not bad. The single room was pretty clean," Yuto answered.

"That's good!" Kushida smiled. "Oh, by the way, do you want to go check out the cafeteria together during break? I heard they have quite a variety for breakfast, and it'd be a little boring going alone."

Her tone was natural, as though she were inviting an ordinary friend. But Yuto noticed that the corner of her eye was constantly observing his reaction as she spoke.

This was socializing, but it was also gathering information.

"Sure," he said.

Kushida nodded in satisfaction and turned back around.

A faint snort came from beside him.

Yuto turned his head and saw Horikita staring at her textbook, her expression colder than before.

He said nothing.

The class bell rang.

The first lesson was Japanese. The teacher was a middle-aged man with glasses who spoke slowly and taught without much enthusiasm. As Yuto listened, his mind began to wander, returning to the matter of points.

When he had worked in internet operations in his previous life, he had dealt with user growth and conversion rates every day. Put simply, he had found ways to make money. Now that he was in an environment where points were currency, the substance had not changed. It was still the same logic.

The key was finding demand.

What was scarce in this school? What did people want but could not obtain?

Information.

That was the most straightforward answer. Quite a few people in the original story had made their fortunes reselling information—exam content, class movements, personal backgrounds. All of it was valuable merchandise. He possessed memories of the original plot from his previous life, and that was his greatest information resource.

But the problem was that he could not state it directly. How could a freshman who had only enrolled two days ago possibly know so many inside details? He needed to "discover" that information through reasonable means, then make "natural" use of it.

There was another option—point trading.

According to the original setting, upperclassmen's points would become invalid after graduation, so they would dump them at low prices before leaving school. If he could secure enough capital, he could buy upperclassmen's points cheaply during graduation season and spend them gradually afterward. That was another path.

But that would take time.

He first needed to obtain some startup capital.

He had to hold on to these hundred thousand points and could not spend recklessly like Sudo.

"Yuto Hayashi."

The teacher's voice pulled him back.

"Here." He stood up.

"Read the third paragraph."

Yuto glanced down at his textbook, found the place, and began reading. When he finished, he sat back down. Horikita glanced at him from beside him. "You actually managed to keep up."

"What else would I do?" Yuto said.

Horikita did not answer.

The bell rang for break.

The teacher had barely left the classroom when Kushida stood and walked over to Yuto. "Hayashi, shall we go to the cafeteria?"

"Sure."

Yuto stood and followed Kushida out of the classroom.

He could feel a gaze on his back. Horikita was watching him.

The cafeteria was on the first floor of the school building and larger than he had expected. There were many counters: Japanese set meals, ramen, bread, and drinks. Yuto scanned the prices. A simple meal set cost between three hundred and five hundred points, which was not expensive.

But it was not cheap either.

If he ate all three meals in the cafeteria every day, he would spend roughly one thousand to fifteen hundred points a day. That came to thirty thousand to forty-five thousand a month. Add daily necessities, water, and electricity, and basic monthly expenses would probably be around fifty thousand points.

As long as their class points did not fall too much, a monthly income of a hundred thousand points would be enough.

But the problem was that class points would fall.

"What do you want to eat, Hayashi?" Kushida asked beside him.

"I'll look around."

"Then I recommend that sandwich set. I tried it yesterday, and it tasted pretty good!"

"Then I'll have that."

They each ordered breakfast and found an empty seat.

Kushida ate in a refined manner, taking small bites of her sandwich. She had her hair in a single ponytail today, exposing her fair neck. She really was quite pretty.

"What do you think of this school, Hayashi?"

"It's all right."

"Just all right?" Kushida smiled. "I thought you'd say something more distinctive, like your impressions of the school."

"It's only my second day here. I don't have any particular impressions yet."

"True." Kushida nodded. "Oh, which middle school did you attend before this?"

There it was. She was probing his background.

"Some ordinary place," Yuto said. "You wouldn't know it even if I told you."

"I see." Kushida did not press the issue and changed the subject. "So, are you planning to join any clubs? The school has lots of interesting clubs!"

"I haven't decided yet."

"Then would you consider joining a cultural club? Something like a book club. I think it would suit you."

Yuto looked at her.

A book club. The kind of club Hiyori Shiina would most likely join.

What was Kushida testing for?

"We'll see," he said.

Kushida smiled and said no more.

When the two returned to the classroom after breakfast, the bell had not rung yet. The classroom was noisy, and Sudo's group was showing off their purchases from last night.

"Look at these headphones! Twenty thousand points! The sound quality is damn good!"

"Whoa, that's way too extravagant!"

"We get a hundred thousand every month anyway. What's there to be afraid of?"

Yuto sat at his desk, watching Sudo's excited face, and silently sighed.

The second class was mathematics. The math teacher was an old man in his fifties whose lectures were even more sleep-inducing than the Japanese teacher's. Yuto listened for a while and started to feel drowsy, but he forced himself not to fall asleep.

He had already begun calculating something else.

If events followed the rhythm of the original story, the Sudo incident should be the first important plot point. Someone would frame Sudo, triggering a conflict between Class D and Class C. If he handled that incident well, he could not only gain a wave of favor with Kushida and Horikita, but also secretly earn some points.

The premise was that he had to play the right role in the incident—he could not appear too clever and arouse suspicion, but he had to produce evidence at the critical moment and solve the problem.

He needed to control that balance carefully.

He first needed to gather information and figure out what was really going on with the people around him. Kushida, Horikita, and Sudo were the three most important pieces in the early stage.

During break, Yuto left the classroom and stood in the corridor to get some air.

People in the hallway were chatting, playing on their phones, or leaning against the wall with headphones on, listening to music. Sunlight streamed through the windows and spread across the corridor floor. It truly looked like a peaceful campus scene.

But Yuto knew it was only an illusion.

Leaning by the window, he looked down at the athletic field and continued planning.

The first step to earning points—protect his hundred thousand points.

The second step—find reliable channels for information.

The third step—wait for the Sudo incident and take action when the opportunity came.

Once he completed those three steps, he would have the capital to do bigger things.

"Daydreaming again."

A voice came from beside him.

Yuto turned and saw that Horikita had somehow left the classroom as well. She stood beside him.

"I was thinking," he said.

"About what?"

"Why this school gives out so many points every month."

Horikita looked at him. "You think there's a problem?"

"Don't you?" Yuto asked in return.

Horikita did not answer, but her eyes told him that she was suspicious too.

Yuto did not pursue the subject. It was enough to make a subtle hint. Saying too much would only invite suspicion.