Less than two minutes after the messages were sent, Katsuragi and Ichinose both accepted Natsukawa's friend requests.
Of course, Natsukawa was using an Anonymous Account, so they could get no useful information about him.
True to his honest, justice-minded nature early on, Katsuragi sent a message:
〔Who are you? What is this supposed to mean?〕
Natsukawa typed a reply using the pitch he had prepared:
〔Never mind who I am. I'm just an observer! I just want to sell some information that would be useful to you. And all of this is within the rules.〕
Katsuragi sat thinking in his dorm room. The other person was a mystery, and the app offered no other useful information about him.
But he had mentioned the words "information" and "rules."
Always levelheaded, Katsuragi decided to hear him out. The other person had said this concerned Class A, so he could not ignore it.
〔If the information is useful to Class A, I can make a deal with you. Provided I judge it to be useful.〕
〔Just what I'd expect from you, Katsuragi. Have you already figured out that trading is also information covered by the school rules?〕
〔Of course, that's an extra piece of information I'm giving you to prove that my information really is valuable. You guessed correctly: large transfers of points between students are permitted at this school, as long as there's a legitimate reason.〕
〔Katsuragi, someone as smart as you seems to have guessed it too, right? The school's benefit of giving each student 100,000 points every month couldn't possibly be that simple, could it?〕
〔You seem to know me quite well? I have questions about the points myself. Have you judged me to be someone you can trade with?〕
Natsukawa continued typing his reply:
〔Katsuragi Kohei, one of Class A's leaders, currently holding a considerable advantage in the struggle for leadership within Class A. Am I right? I believe you can come up with your own reasons to raise the points for this deal. Take a look at this contract first...〕
In any case, Class A and Class B were already made up of well-disciplined students, and they had barely lost any points in the first month of the original story. Natsukawa was merely using his information advantage to get some points for practically nothing first.
An electronic contract then arrived on Katsuragi's phone. It stated in detail that, as long as Katsuragi provided the mysterious person with 500,000 points, he would receive important information about the school-information that was extremely useful to new students.
Katsuragi frowned as he analyzed it. The other person's words certainly concerned him, but the information being offered would only be revealed after he signed the contract. If the information proved useless, he would take a huge loss.
〔500,000 points? That's a steep price. How can I trust the terms you've stated?〕
Natsukawa continued his response:
"The price certainly is steep! But I can tell you that contracts are also part of the school rules. Once we sign, I can't possibly deceive you. I'll have to provide useful information!"
"For the sake of our newfound friendship, I'll give you another piece of information for free! I believe you'll agree to trade with me once you hear it. Here it is: the excellent terms this school advertises, guaranteeing placement at your preferred school or workplace after graduation, only apply to students who graduate from Class A! Can you figure it out now? As long as you buy information from me, you can get a head start."
Katsuragi was deeply shocked by the words Natsukawa sent to his phone. Did that mean Classes A, B, C, and D in the same year were competing against each other...?
〔I believe you. I'm willing to sign an electronic contract and make this deal! But you must belong to a class too, right? Is it really all right for you to sell information that could give you an advantage?〕
〔Who knows? Maybe I'm someone who doesn't care about his class and only wants to enjoy himself. Let's sign the contract, then. You know how to do that, right?〕
And so, to obtain Natsukawa's so-called information, the levelheaded Katsuragi Kohei signed an electronic contract with him and added his electronic fingerprint.
It had to be said that, in the Advanced Nurturing school's S System for fostering competition among students, contract documents could be freely edited to generate valid contracts. They could be printed out, signed by both students with a teacher as witness, and submitted to the school's archives, or students could handle electronic contracts on their phones and submit them to the school's online archives. It was extremely convenient!
Thus, the electronic contract Natsukawa signed with Katsuragi Kohei was equally valid under the school rules! Neither party could violate its terms.
Natsukawa then provided some information they would learn in a month, such as the link between Class Points and personal points, his speculation that the first month might assess students' everyday conduct, and so on...
After all, Katsuragi Kohei did not pay attention to how his classmates behaved during lessons, nor did he know how they behaved elsewhere on campus at other times.
And so Natsukawa felt he had come out ahead by trading information that would be common knowledge in a month for points.
The levelheaded Katsuragi Kohei also felt he had come out ahead by obtaining information that could help him establish an early advantage.
Both sides won.
〔Thank you for the information. We can work together again if the opportunity arises!〕
〔I'll transfer the points to you tomorrow once I've collected them!〕
See? He even had to thank me.
Natsukawa's conversation with Ichinose had been taking place at the same time, but dealing with her was even simpler.
When Natsukawa's Anonymous Account said he might have discovered special information about the school, that it was important to her class, and that he wanted points in exchange,
Ichinose agreed to sign an electronic contract.
〔I'll transfer the points to you tomorrow.〕
〔My mysterious fellow student! Thank you so much for the information! If you have any more special information in the future, you can come to me for another deal if I judge it worthwhile!〕
Natsukawa had gained another million personal points.
Although both had opted to transfer the points tomorrow, the contracts meant Natsukawa had no need to worry.
Just as in the original story, it seemed neither had collected a portion of their classmates' personal points to serve as class funds for dealing with future situations.
In the original story, only Ichinose Honami, who had earned considerable trust from her classmates, had collected the entire class's points for temporary safekeeping, and even that had happened after they learned the school rules in the first month.
After all, the other classes were either caught up in infighting, ruled through violence, or left without a leader. None had Class B's friendly atmosphere...
Ding-a-ling!
It was a message sent to Natsukawa's own account.
Before you continue