Book 1.
Chapter 5: Bribes, Scrolls, and Lunch Money
KokoroMoneAcademy was, in truth, a giant show-off of a school. The main building looked like a mix between a temple, a palace, and a rich kid's over-decorated birthday cake. It was covered in jade and gold, too tall for its own good, and the rooftops stabbed the sky like the teeth of a dragon that didn't know when to stop growing.
Inside, the marble halls were filled with students wearing perfect uniforms. They walked like they owned the place, their bodies glowing with Mone they had trained since childhood. Here, Mone was worth more than gold, and power worked like money in a bank. This was the empire's top school, and into this world walked KenHanzori, a boy who was about to change the meaning of both wealth and power without even realizing it.
Ken stood at the gates, blocking traffic as older students stared. Next to him was Narutama, who looked like a scarecrow stuffed into a stiff uniform two sizes too small. He held onto his old wooden sword like it was the only thing keeping him alive. Around them, the air thrummed with trained Mone, neat and precise. Ken's Mone, however, buzzed like a sugar-high child let loose in a candy shop.
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The Art of the Accidental Bribe
Their first class was "Basic Mone Manipulation," taught by ProfessorHimura, a man whose hairline had already given up, and whose patience was not far behind.
The professor looked over his glasses at the new group, his eyes narrowing when they reached Ken.
"Hanzori-dono. Your placement test scores… were unusual. A perfect score, even though you didn't answer a single question. Explain."
Ken smiled wide, cheerful as always.
"Oh, that? I just thought real hard about how much I wanted to come here. Then my card in my pocket buzzed, and poof, here I am."
He patted his chest where his ATM card rested, warm against the fabric.
"Probably just good vibes, Professor. Or maybe I accidentally sent over some… appreciation?"
The "appreciation" was Ken's idea of bribing his way forward, even though he didn't fully realize it. His card gave a soft whir, and suddenly Professor Himura's desk, an ordinary, tough oak table, began to shimmer. Before anyone could react, it stretched and twisted, the wood smoothing into shining gold.
Within seconds, the plain desk had become a giant statue made of solid gold, shaped exactly like Ken as a little boy, chubby-cheeked and holding a toy training dagger. The golden statue blinked slowly three times, long enough for Narutama to notice, not long enough for Ken to care.
Professor Himura froze, staring at the golden cheeks of his new desk. For one quick, dangerous second, he thought about retiring early and moving to the countryside, far away from golden toddlers and whatever this disaster was.
The classroom burst into chaos. Some gasped, others whispered, "Mone genius!" A few scrambled to try their own cards. One noble slammed his Platinum card on the desk. Nothing happened. A merchant's daughter whispered sweet promises to hers. A single bronze coin dropped out with a sad clink. Meanwhile, Ken's ATM pulsed smugly like it had just won a prize.
The professor rubbed a shaking hand across the golden face of the statue, a vein throbbing in his temple.
"Remarkable," he croaked, his throat dry. "Truly… a unique way to… demonstrate materialization."
He marked Ken as "Exceptional in Practical Application."
Narutama groaned into his hands. "This year's going to be torture," he thought.
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The Saga of the Misread Scrolls
While Ken stumbled his way through class with random success and cheers, Narutama was barely keeping his head above water. Desperate, he had bought a pile of "ancient training scrolls" from a shady salesman outside the Academy gates. The catch? They were written in a language so old that even the Academy monks squinted at them.
During "Aura Blending and Stealth," Narutama tried to follow one scroll he thought said "Invisible Ninja Feats."
The real title was "How to Hide from Debt Collectors." Instead of vanishing into shadows, he launched into a perfect ballet routine complete with a feather boa that appeared out of thin air. The boa faded away mid-spin, but Narutama's graceful steps remained flawless—until he tripped over his own foot. But for one short breath, he truly moved like a shadow.
The teacher, a woman said to have once trained actual shadows, just stared, unable to speak. Finally, she gave him a B- for "Creative Expression in Stealth."
In "Basic Healing Arts," Narutama followed another scroll he thought was about healing wounds. The actual title was "How to Make Really Good Tea." Instead of a healing spell, he brewed an unbelievably strong, glowing tea that knocked out the entire class, teacher included, for three straight hours. He was given an A for "Innovative Use of Tranquilizers."
Other students didn't know what to make of him.
"He's just lucky," said Hikari, daughter of the empire's top blacksmith family. She worked for weeks on her flame control. She nearly exploded when Ken casually burned a dummy just by wishing it would shut up.
"It's the Hanzori luck!" insisted Kaito, a boy already dropping his family business card at Ken's feet. "Stick close to him, and you'll share in his fortune!"
Soon, students hovered around Ken, hoping to get lucky, waiting for random gold chunks to appear or homework to finish itself.
Meanwhile, Narutama stood alone, unaffected by Mone and earning only stares and whispers. He and Ken earned a new nickname in the halls: "The Rich Idiot and the Tryhard." It was whispered during classes, scratched into desks, and even sung by bored kids during lunch.
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The Ledger of Looming Lunacy
One sweaty afternoon, the school gathered for "Communal Bath and Aura Cleansing," a tradition Ken thought was just a fancy excuse to soak in lukewarm water.
As Ken scrubbed his ears, wondering why bathwater always cooled so quickly, his ATM card, which was kept safe in a waterproof pocket, decided to act up. The usual glow of "??? UNREGISTERED TIER" flickered and shifted into strange symbols. For one split second, blood-red letters appeared:
LOAN DUE: [REDACTED]
The words vanished instantly, leaving behind jumbled codes before returning to the familiar "???" shimmer.
Ken squinted. "Huh," he muttered. He tapped the card.
"This thing's always buggy down here. Must be the pipes messing with the aura signal."
He blew on it, shook it, then pressed the balance button. The screen settled back to "???." Shrugging, Ken dismissed it as a random glitch. After all, his balance never changed. Why worry?
Narutama, scrubbing his single uniform nearby, caught the flash of red.
"Your card's busted," he said.
Ken shook it. "Nah, it's just buffering."
The glow stabilized. Meanwhile, Narutama's Bronze card twitched in his pocket, as if being watched.
He squeezed the water from his gi, humming off-key, and glanced at Ken, who was now using his card to pop soap bubbles in patterns. Narutama sighed. "Some people have everything," he thought. "Even problems they don't understand."
That night, as Ken snored away without a care, his ATM card rested calmly by his side. But Narutama's Bronze card pulsed faintly in the dark, as if something vast had reached out to touch it.
The universe was preparing a bill no one could afford, and Ken's ATM was starting to get hungry. Hungry for more than just his own Mone.