Chapter 17

"Can you stop making people laugh?"

Although she was only pretending to be a gyaru, Karuizawa Kei had indeed spent quite a bit of time specifically studying how to act like one.

That was why her forceful declaration had clearly stunned some of the students with guilty consciences.

[You have received a deposit of Private Points]

"Everyone, please listen to me."

Although she was already cursing inwardly, Kikyo Kushida knew she still had to stand up and make her position clear.

"I believe Nangong Cheng wouldn't do anything meaningless. If he wants Points, it must be to contribute to the class, such as exchanging information with other classes or proposing some kind of cooperation."

"We can't possibly make Nangong Cheng bear all the Points needed for those things alone, can we?"

Once the greater good of the class was brought up, the other students indeed no longer felt comfortable talking about splitting the money.

But getting them to hand over the money was still difficult.

That was because some of the students no longer had 50,000 Points left.

"If you're only short a few thousand, everyone can pool together what they have. If that still doesn't work... Nangong Cheng, could you accept something like an IOU and let them pay you next month?"

The last person to stand up was Yosuke Hirata.

He played the part of the good-natured nice guy to perfection and proposed a solution that both sides could more or less accept.

"Sure. I have no objections."

Nangong Cheng naturally had no objections.

He had already felt that holding onto Class D's students' money was troublesome, and had planned to use this opportunity to cut loose students like Kanji Ike and Haruki Yamauchi first.

He just hadn't expected Horikita Suzune and the others to coordinate with him without even receiving a task.

Instead, he had ended up being put in a difficult position.

"Whatever. Free Points are still worth taking. Leaving them in their hands would only be a waste."

"That's called the rational allocation of resources!"

Only about half the students could still hand over 50,000 Points. Even that was the result of Yosuke Hirata deliberately pushing things along after stepping in as the good guy.

Nangong Cheng even confirmed that Ayanokoji had paid up too. What the hell? He really paid protection money?

Bro, don't be like this~ He's scared~

"All right, since things have come to this, I'll give you one more reminder—do your absolute best to become good students before next month arrives. Even if you're only pretending, understand?"

"This concerns how many Points you'll receive next month, so don't say I didn't warn you."

With that, Nangong Cheng walked straight down from the podium.

But just after he sat down, his phone rang again.

I'm going to develop PTSD!

Damn it, how did I forget to turn off the transfer notifications?

It was all that naturally evil Ryuuen's fault!

Nangong Cheng opened his phone while grumbling, only to find that the message had come from Horikita Suzune.

[Was this part of your plan too?]

It wasn't exactly part of his plan.

At first, he simply hadn't wanted Class D to muddle through its first month in a daze. After all, a more harmonious class atmosphere would benefit him as well.

He naturally had no intention of acting as a babysitter and painstakingly handling everything for them. But reminding them with a single sentence was no trouble, and he didn't mind doing that.

[Did you learn anything?]

[Don't just learn one thing and then go completely silent.]

After replying, Nangong Cheng began transferring the money.

That was right, transferring it.

The 50,000 Points belonging to Sakura Airi, Karuizawa Kei, and Wang Meiyu were returned to them through the same channels. After all, they were current and potential little cash cows, so he had to keep an eye on their mental and physical well-being at all times.

Hmm? You ask about Kikyo Kushida?

Her pressure still wasn't high enough. He would hold onto this money for the time being and bring it out later when she signed the fingerprint acknowledgment, just to make the scene more entertaining.

As for Horikita Suzune...

He could return her money, or he could not.

After all, if Horikita Suzune hadn't stepped up and led the others, he might not have been able to get this money from Class D's gullible students with more money than sense.

The torment still had to continue, but he wasn't an unreasonable man.

Those who performed meritorious deeds should be rewarded, and those who committed offenses should be punished.

So in the end, Nangong Cheng transferred the money and left a message.

[Keep it. I'm not short of that little bit of money.]

As for the others, he used the same line across the board.

[We're all on the same side. I won't take your money.]

After finishing the transfers, Nangong Cheng began to think.

Including this unexpected windfall, he now had roughly seven million Points on hand. If he worked a little harder, he might be able to complete half of his progress in the very first month.

But considering the principle of sustainable development, there wasn't much more profit to squeeze out of the first-year students.

He mainly felt a little bad about wiping them out completely.

So Nangong Cheng's next target would naturally be the second-year students—or, more precisely, Miyabi Nagumo of Class 2-A.

He was definitely going to butcher that fat wallet thoroughly.

His phone vibrated again.

It was another reply from Horikita Suzune, but this time, it made the corners of Nangong Cheng's mouth curl upward.

[My brother wants to meet you.]

This was the third update today. Please add it to your reading list!

Volume One: 22. The natural way to drink Milk Tea is to place it against your chest

[I can help you deal with Miyabi Nagumo]—that was what Nangong Cheng had asked Horikita Suzune to relay to Horikita Manabu yesterday.

As he had expected, Horikita Manabu really did have Horikita Suzune arrange for him to meet Nangong Cheng at the Student Council.

Looks like he would have to stand Sakura Airi up again today.

He would send her a task later as compensation.

The time came for lunch break.

Nangong Cheng didn't plan on going to the cafeteria today.

The first reason was as follows—

[Sakayanagi Arisu (nickname: brat): Nangong, that move of yours was quite something.]

[Ichinose Honami (nickname: Mom): Nangong, you really do have a bit of a wicked streak...]

[Ryuuen (nickname: ATM): Kid, you're good. Just you wait.]

But he wasn't really afraid that the people involved would come after him to settle the score. He mainly felt that it would be troublesome if they actually did.

It was better to avoid unnecessary trouble.

The second reason was to make up for standing his little sheep up.

Of course, the main reason was that Nangong Cheng also felt eating alone couldn't possibly be as comfortable as having a soft and delicious beauty eat with him.

As it happened, he had deliberately stopped by the Department Store on his way to school that morning and bought several boxed lunches. Everything was going according to plan.

"Sakura, how are you handling lunch?"

As for who to have lunch with, Nangong Cheng had chosen Sakura Airi first. After all, his little deskmate was gentle and easy to manipulate.

Karuizawa Kei and Horikita Suzune were also among his options, of course, but he had other ideas and arrangements for their tasks.

"I... I bought some bread at the Convenience Store earlier... N-Nangong, do you want some?"

Like a student whose name had been called by a teacher, Sakura Airi nervously slipped her hand into her desk and pulled out a bag of Pineapple Bread.

Nangong Cheng sighed.

I'm such an idiot. Why did I go to all that trouble?

He reached into his desk with one hand and exchanged food and a lunch box from the Shop, then pretended to take them out of the bag he had brought with him.

At the same time, he issued a task to Sakura Airi inwardly.

"Sakura, you should only eat something like that occasionally in an emergency. If you eat it every day, you won't get enough nutrition."

"Come on. I'll treat you to lunch today."

[Task issued: Accept Nangong Cheng's lunch invitation]

[Task reward: 100 Points]

[Task failure penalty: Become Nangong Cheng's lunch]

Eek!!!

Sakura Airi jumped to her feet in panic, then followed Nangong Cheng out of the classroom.

The scene looked exactly like a bullying incident.

Rooftop.

It was a place with a great deal of significance.

It was also where Brother Cheng had fought his battles.

Of course, this Brother Cheng wasn't that Brother Cheng.

Even after combining his two lifetimes, Nangong Cheng was still a pure and innocent little cook. And judging by his preferences, he absolutely wouldn't choose an outdoor setting except under special circumstances.

"Sakura, sit down."

"Mm..."

A Rooftop naturally had benches.

Don't ask why. The answer was that the plot required them.

Sakura Airi carefully sat down at the end of the bench, while Nangong Cheng chose the middle.

He took out one of the boxed lunches he had bought at the Department Store that morning and looked toward Sakura Airi, who was still keeping her head lowered and pretending to be an ostrich.

"Sakura, do you have any favorite foods?"

"I-I'm not picky... Curry Rice, Udon, and things like that are all fine."

Sakura Airi didn't understand why Nangong Cheng had brought her to the Rooftop when he had said he would treat her to lunch. Even she knew that places like this were often used for school bullying.

Could it be that Nangong...

"I see... This is the boxed lunch I bought this morning. Take a look, Sakura, and see if it suits your taste."

"We're at the age when our bodies are still growing. If you keep eating fast food, you won't get much nutrition. You need to break that bad habit."

Nangong Cheng naturally had no idea what Sakura Airi's little head was imagining.

As the saying went, a woman's heart was as deep as the sea. But if that woman also happened to be socially anxious, then her thought process would be impossible for an ordinary person to guess.

Still, he could exchange skills like [Microexpression Psychology] and [Body Language Psychology] from the Shop later.

"Mm!"