On Thursday, discussions about the school trip intensified within Sobu High. The two riajuu groups in the back row rarely gathered together, loudly discussing potential trip destinations meaninglessly.
Why call it meaningless?
That was because the location of the school trip had long been determined. No matter how many places the students wanted to go, they could only obediently listen to the school's arrangements in the end.
But not entirely. Maybe someone's family had a powerful lady who could call the principal's office and arrange a private customized version of the school trip?
Though the hope was slim.
The students understood these principles too, but they never tired of it. On one hand, because this was the most fashionable topic at the moment, the best excuse to integrate into the collective. On the other hand, because there were really no interesting things in school recently.
Shinra had no interest in these topics. After all, he wasn't an ordinary student. Besides family affairs, there was also the supernatural event of Futaba Rio waiting for him to solve, and mm, the fragrant wish-power points waiting for him.
Recently, even Hachiman didn't drop wish-power points much. Shinra hadn't had new wish-power points for nearly a month.
The body tempering plan regarding electric current control ability also hit a bottleneck. His constitution was firmly stuck at 19 points without any intention of moving.
This made Shinra, who was used to rapid improvement, very uncomfortable. He really wanted to ask Haruno whether she would settle this purple wish-power commission or not.
Blocking the process, right?!
As expected of the woman who will inherit the Yukinoshita family business and step into Japanese politics in the future; getting familiar with the business during university, so to speak.
"Um..."
Just as Shinra was thinking about when to meet that bad woman Haruno who owed him the settlement of wish-power points again, Kawasaki Saki approached Shinra first.
"Saki?"
Shinra didn't expect Saki to approach him actively. Did she encounter something?
"Um, well... are you free this Saturday?" Kawasaki Saki appeared a bit uneasy, her gaze erratic, not daring to look at Shinra.
The pale blue ponytail behind her head swayed restlessly. How to put it?
Very sneaky.
"This Saturday..."
"If you are not free, forget it." Kawasaki Saki seemed very worried that her rash invitation would cause trouble for Shinra. Seeing he didn't reply immediately, she added hurriedly.
"Free. Is there something?" Shinra was curious. Usually in the classroom, Kawasaki Saki rarely talked to people actively. Even with Shinra, she would only stop to chat a few sentences when meeting in the Service Club or accidentally after school.
Even chatting was just polite remarks like 'Hello', 'Have you eaten?', 'See you later'.
"Just want to treat you to a meal. You helped me so much before..." Kawasaki Saki wasn't the kind of girl who took others' help for granted.
Even because of her previous part-time work experience, having contacted society earlier, she understood better than her peers how much Shinra helped her.
This included the scholarship from Minegahara High School, which was also introduced to her by Shinra; otherwise, she really wouldn't know about such a thing.
It is worth mentioning that scholarships in Japan are different from those in China. Rather than scholarships, student loans are more realistic.
Yes, you heard right. Scholarships in Japan need to be repaid, and the interest rate is not low; it can even be called legal usury.
Moreover, due to the extremely expensive tuition fees of Japanese universities, many graduated Japanese university students dropped out helplessly because they couldn't afford the tuition fees. However, even if they dropped out, the money owed wouldn't be less. Even because they dropped out and didn't get a diploma, they couldn't find any good jobs in society at all, so they could only work desperately to barely repay the monthly scholarship loan.
Maximizing losses, so to speak.
This is the calmness of an old-established capitalist country.
Of course, there are also free scholarships, like the one Hiratsuka Shizuka applied for Kawasaki Saki before, but such scholarships can only be handled by powerful teachers like Hiratsuka Shizuka. For ordinary students wanting to apply for such scholarships... maybe buying a lottery ticket is more practical?
And the scholarship prepared by Shinra for Kawasaki Saki naturally didn't belong to any of the above categories. Although it was also a loan, it was a low-interest loan. Even in the future after graduation, as long as she worked in a specific enterprise, the interest could also be waived directly.
And students funded by the scholarship would have extra preferential treatment when joining specific enterprises, priority admission under the same conditions. Therefore, rather than a scholarship, it was better to say it was a directional training agreement.
Compared to those usurious scholarships, the conditions were undeniably generous.
Therefore, Kawasaki Saki was very grateful to Shinra for introducing this scholarship to her. In a sense, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that Shinra gave her a second choice in life.
And Kawasaki Saki wasn't stupid. How could the scholarship from the neighboring Minegahara High School reach Sobu High? She definitely wouldn't believe if someone said Shinra didn't exert effort behind this.
Now Kawasaki Saki was poor and had nothing to repay Shinra, so she could only treat him to a meal first, then study hard, and repay the kindness slowly when she had value.
As for why she didn't treat him before and dragged it until now...
That was because she just saved enough money recently.
The money earned from part-time work last semester was all spent on cram school in the summer vacation, and the money earned from part-time work in the summer vacation was spent on cram school this semester. The money to treat Shinra to a meal was all saved by her bit by bit usually.
It doesn't matter if I eat poorly usually, but treating Shinra must be good, Kawasaki Saki thought.
"Okay." Shinra agreed without thinking too much. Someone treating, no reason to disagree.
And Shinra knew if he refused, that would make Kawasaki Saki sad.
Making girls sad was something he would absolutely not... try to do less.
Thinking of the romantic debts on him, Shinra sweated a bit.
"Mm, it's settled then." Seeing Shinra agree, a rare bright smile appeared on Kawasaki Saki's face. Then with a flick of her ponytail, she sat back in her seat.
Not long after Saki returned to her seat, Ebina approached her. Just saying a few words made Saki turn into a steam engine directly. At the same time, Ebina seemed to sense Shinra's gaze and waved to him with a smile, seemingly greeting him, but was quickly pressed back by Kawasaki Saki.
Don't know what was said...
Shinra didn't have the hobby of eavesdropping on girls' chats. Even with his current hearing, if he really wanted to listen, he could hear chats in the next class, but concentrating on listening to a specific conversation in a noisy environment consumed quite a lot of energy, so Shinra wouldn't do it.
—Except for gossip.
Later after school, he had to ask Yukino for leave again.
After all, Shinra promised Mai this morning to accompany her to find Inner Futaba after school.
"Wait a moment, the homeroom class seems to decide the groups for the school trip."
After Kawasaki Saki left, Hachiman came to find him.
What's wrong today? Two rare guests coming in succession.
"Yeah, but looks like everyone has pretty much grouped up, right?" Shinra replied.
School trip grouping was just like the summer camp activity Shinra participated in during the summer vacation. The first day was class collective activity, the second day was group action, and the third day was personal time. Because they were high school students, they were freer than elementary school students.
Therefore, except for the fixed itinerary on the first day, the remaining two days were arranged freely by everyone. These days, the class discussions about where to play were mostly about this.
Shinra glanced at Hachiman and suddenly asked with interest: "You came to find me probably for the grouping matter, right?"
"So... so what?"
What's with this tsundere tone?
Hachiman felt a bit disgusted himself. He suddenly regretted running over to find Shinra. Anyway, this guy wasn't popular in class; they would most likely be grouped together in the end.
Should have found Totsuka...
The angelic face floated into Hachiman's mind.
"Then let's team up." Shinra didn't care who he teamed up with. Besides, teaming up with Hachiman had benefits; there would be much less trouble.
"Um... can I join?"
While Shinra was talking, Hachiman's little angel—Totsuka Saika joined the conversation weakly.
"I have no objection. Ask Hachiman?" Shinra stated his position.
Hearing this, Totsuka looked at Hachiman, big eyes blinking.
"Can I?"
"I, I don't mind..."
What's with the blushing?
Shinra looked at Hachiman with disdain. This guy was completely hopeless.
Hachiman ignored Shinra's gaze.
Because the grouping requirement was four people, for the remaining one person, just wait until after grouping and pick an unlucky guy who was isolated to fill the number.
Moreover, this grouping number wasn't fixed actually. Every time there would be situations with more or fewer people. Barring any accidents, the school trip group members should be fixed.
Next, just needed to consider where to play.
"About this, I'm fine with anything." Hachiman said. He didn't care where to go. Rather, going nowhere fit his mind better, but unfortunately, he had to write a trip report later, so he better deal with it tentatively.
"Me too." Shinra followed closely. He wasn't interested in traveling. Compared to traveling, he wanted to put his energy into wish-power commissions. Therefore, he paused and said: "Don't consider me. I might have other things later."
Rare school trip, definitely have to find a way to farm Yukino's favorability.
The older sister played rogue; Shinra naturally had to make up for it from her younger sister.
The golden wish-power commission has tempted him for a long time; Shinra felt it was time for him to eat.
Having said that, Totsuka was still thinking hard about where to go. Hachiman knew he would think for a while, so he suggested: "Wait until the homeroom meeting is over, create a group chat. Send the places you want to go in the group chat then, and then decide the route based on location."
"Good idea." Totsuka Saika's eyes lit up. This was much faster than him planning the travel route alone.
Shinra had no objection either. He would ask Yukino where she planned to go later by the way.
Anyway, he had made up his mind to attack Yukino fiercely during this school trip.
Homeroom began. Hiratsuka Shizuka announced some clichéd precautions, then handed the podium to the class monitor to host the grouping ceremony for the school trip.
Called a grouping ceremony, but actually, the groups had been divided before the homeroom class.
Unsurprisingly, Shinra, Hachiman, and Totsuka Saika were grouped together, with no extra person filled in.
As for the riajuu group boys, it was the same old: Hayama, Tobe, Ooka, and Yamato, four people in a group. The girls' side surprised Shinra a bit. Miura Yumiko was actually in the same group as Kawasaki Saki. They were Miura Yumiko, Yuigahama Yui, Ebina Hina, and Kawasaki Saki.
Needless to think, this must be Ebina's idea. After all, among them, only she had a decent relationship with Kawasaki Saki. Yui and Kawasaki's relationship was at most average. As for Miura... better not mention it.
Don't know how Ebina persuaded Miura Yumiko and Kawasaki Saki. Does this guy really have some succubus physique?
Able to bring two incompatible people together.
Shinra admired this rotten girl (fujoshi) a bit.
Homeroom ended, time officially came to after school.
Shinra skillfully asked Yukino for leave on the social app, then went to find Sakurajima Mai.
Eh? Why suddenly feel Yukino looks a bit like a NTR victim?
...
The dismissal time of high schools in the vicinity was about fixed. When Shinra arrived at the agreed location, Sakurajima Mai also arrived about the same time.
Their agreed location was the cake shop where Mai often bought cream buns before. The last time they came here was when Mai suffered from Adolescence Syndrome, lost her presence, couldn't buy things and pay, and finally ate the long-desired cream bun only after Shinra stepped in.
Based on the idea of 'since we're here', Shinra and Mai bought another box totaling 4 cream buns.
After all, visiting someone's home, how could they not bring gifts?
...Last time he seemed not to bring gifts when going to Futaba's house?
Oh, he was the gift. Then it's fine.
Shinra thought shamelessly, carrying the box with cream buns, and rang the doorbell in front of the villa familiarly.
"Wait a moment." Mixed with some static noise, it came from the electronic panel at the door.
Then they saw the single-ponytail Futaba dressed in school uniform walking out of the villa and opening the iron fence for Shinra and Mai.
Mai's gaze stayed on Inner Futaba for a moment, seemingly comparing the difference between her and Surface Futaba.
From the naked eye, it could be said there was no difference; looking from any angle, they were one person.
But from the light makeup on Inner Futaba's face and her straight back, the difference between her and Surface Futaba could be seen.
Mm, Inner Futaba pays more attention to appearance dressing than Surface Futaba.
No, should say Inner Futaba doesn't feel inferior because of her figure like Surface Futaba; she is more confident than Surface Futaba.
In layman's terms:
—She seems to know she is very beautiful.