The next day, just as the school bell rang signaling the end of classes, Shikime Natsu's phone vibrated in his pocket.
Shikime Natsu took out his phone and looked at the three characters "Ryuuen Kakeru" displayed on the screen, involuntarily raising an eyebrow.
"Has this guy not been beaten enough yet?"
Shikime Natsu silently roasted him in his heart.
Aside from the transfer notification for the 200,000 personal points "protection fee" at the beginning of every month, Ryuuen Kakeru actually dared to message him, arranging to meet up shortly.
Could it be that he felt his resistance to beatings had improved and wanted to challenge him again?
However, on second thought, although Ryuuen Kakeru was a violence maniac, he wasn't a brainless idiot.
Seeking him out at this critical juncture meant there was a high probability he needed something from him.
After all, the first midterm exam was coming up soon.
Shikime Natsu cast his gaze towards Kamuro Masumi, who was packing her school bag.
"Masumi, you go back first today. You've basically mastered everything I need to teach you. The rest is just going back to consolidate and practice on your own; defeating Sakayanagi will definitely not be a problem."
Shikime Natsu certainly didn't want to leave an impression of being a violence maniac in Kamuro Masumi's eyes; he was a gentleman.
Hearing this, Kamuro Masumi's movements paused slightly, her purple eyes looking at Shikime Natsu with some suspicion.
Today... seemed to be Wednesday?
In Kamuro Masumi's intelligence network, Wednesday was usually the day Shikime Natsu went to the library to find that girl from Class C named Shiina Hiyori.
"Understood."
Kamuro Masumi's voice was slightly muffled. Although she maintained that cold expression on her face, her slightly pursed lips betrayed the young girl's current mood.
Although she had already occupied enough of Shikime Natsu's time, but... she still wanted to occupy more. Ideally, she wanted Shikime Natsu to accompany her all day long.
Of course, Kamuro Masumi couldn't say such things out loud; it would sound simply like a pervert's declaration.
Bidding farewell to Kamuro Masumi, Shikime Natsu didn't head to the library but turned and walked towards Keyaki Mall.
Following the address given by Ryuuen Kakeru, he arrived at the designated karaoke room.
Because Shiina Hiyori needed to tutor the failing students of Class C today, it was regrettable that she couldn't enjoy a pleasant reading time with Shikime Natsu.
Just as he walked into the room, Shikime Natsu saw the four members of Ryuuen's group.
Ryuuen Kakeru sat on the sofa in the very center, flanked by Ishizaki Daichi and Yamada Albert, who looked like bodyguards.
And in the corner, Ibuki Mio, who always wore a stern face as if everyone owed her several million points, was crossing her arms and staring at Shikime Natsu with a look of displeasure.
Still that strong scent of a delinquent.
"Yo, Ryuuen. Is there something you need me for?"
Shikime Natsu greeted him quite casually, walked straight to the table, glanced at the snacks and drinks placed there, and sat casually on the sofa opposite.
Shikime Natsu wouldn't dare eat these snacks and drinks; what if they were drugged?
Even if Ryuuen Kakeru had guaranteed it, Shikime Natsu wouldn't let down his guard so easily.
At the very least, he had to wait until he obtained a constitution impervious to all poisons.
Ryuuen Kakeru paid no attention to Shikime Natsu's somewhat provocative smile and stated his purpose directly.
"I want to know how to solve the problem of failing students in the class."
Although he was very annoyed, Ryuuen Kakeru had to admit that while this guy, Shikime Natsu, had a personality that was terrible to the extreme, his intelligence and methods in certain areas were indeed terrifying.
"Hah?"
"You're asking me about this kind of thing too? Tutoring, of course~ Is this not common sense?"
"I want another method. I originally thought about buying the exam papers directly from Sakagami, but that failed. So, I need another way. Relying solely on tutoring isn't a secure way to secure those one hundred Class Points."
Ryuuen Kakeru was absolutely convinced that Shikime Natsu had other methods. His goal was one hundred Class Points, and Sakagami Kazunori hadn't told them the conditions needed to securely secure those one hundred Class Points.
If it were just tutoring, Class C could indeed achieve a passing grade for everyone, but that was all; the one hundred Class Points weren't secure.
Hearing this, Shikime Natsu looked at Ryuuen Kakeru as if looking at a fool.
Was this guy... suffering from a drop in intelligence?
If buying exam questions from the teacher didn't work, couldn't he switch his line of thinking?
Shikime Natsu shifted to a comfortable position leaning on the sofa and crossed his legs.
"As for the method, naturally I know it, but... consulting me requires payment."
The price of past exam questions was roughly around ten thousand points. If Ryuuen Kakeru could also buy past exam questions from the upperclassmen, the cost would naturally be this much as well.
It was just that... since Ryuuen Kakeru was now begging at his doorstep, the price... naturally had to be doubled. No, quadrupled, to make this trip worth his while.
"How much do you intend to pay? Ryuuen~"
Ryuuen Kakeru looked at that greedy face of Shikime Natsu, and the muscles at the corner of his eyes twitched slightly.
"Thirty thousand personal points."
Ryuuen Kakeru blurted out a fixed price, then directly unlocked his phone and slammed it onto the table in front of Shikime Natsu.
The screen clearly displayed Ryuuen Kakeru's balance: 508,000 points.
Ryuuen Kakeru had transferred 200,000 personal points to Shikime Natsu at the beginning of the month. If he transferred another 300,000, Ryuuen Kakeru would only have 200,000 left. One had to realize that Ryuuen Kakeru could be said to control the majority of Class C's personal points; having only 200,000 left meant he could almost sit at the same table as Class D.
"Oh? Is this all your points?"
Shikime Natsu looked at him with a faint smile.
"That's right."
False.
This was a lie. Of course, even without using that ability, Shikime Natsu knew this guy wasn't speaking the truth.
Although Class C had many points deducted, there was still an income of about 76,000 personal points this month.
Ryuuen Kakeru controlled the points of most people in the class.
With forty people in the class, even if he only confiscated half, there would be an income of 1.52 million this month. And this didn't even count the points Ryuuen Kakeru had saved from last month.
He gave him 200,000 at the start of the month, plus this so-called 500,000 balance—that was only 700,000.
However, Shikime Natsu didn't intend to expose Ryuuen Kakeru on the spot.
Selling this kind of intelligence for 300,000 was already a huge profit, making Shikime Natsu even wonder if Ryuuen Kakeru was intentionally giving him money.
But... 300,000 personal points in exchange for 100 Class Points was still very worth it.
"Fine, seeing how sincere you are, 300,000 it is."
Shikime Natsu spoke magnanimously.
"Transfer it over."
Although Ryuuen Kakeru felt the sting, his movements were decisive.
300,000 personal points arrived instantly.
Looking at the numbers on his account, Shikime Natsu was in a great mood.
"Then, listen well, Ryuuen."
"Since you can't buy them from the teacher, why not start with the upperclassmen?"
Hearing this sentence, Ryuuen Kakeru was stunned. Don't seek the teacher, seek the upperclassmen?
Wait, Ryuuen Kakeru had sought out Shikime Natsu precisely because he thought this was a major difficulty, and in the end, Shikime Natsu gave this solution?
Although it looked feasible, but... if one said it was worth 300,000, then it was obviously not worth it.
"Are you sure those guys have something useful?"
Ryuuen Kakeru really didn't respect his seniors at all, referring to them directly as 'those guys'.
"How will you know it's useless if you don't try?"
Shikime Natsu didn't give Ryuuen Kakeru a definitive answer.
"Since you say so, you should already have the exam questions from the previous year in your hand, right?"
Ryuuen Kakeru stared at Shikime Natsu, his tone certain.
"That is natural~"
Shikime Natsu took out his phone, pulled up the quiz questions from the previous year, and waved it in front of Ryuuen Kakeru.
"This is the quiz from the previous year. It doesn't hurt to let you see it."
Ryuuen Kakeru looked at the image on the screen. The questions were the same as the quiz he had experienced not long ago, but one could see the date of the exam paper; it was from the previous year.
"Send me all the exam questions and answers."
Ryuuen Kakeru spoke.
"Ryuuen, have you misunderstood something?"
Shikime Natsu retracted his phone and looked at him with a face full of smiles.
"Thirty thousand, that was the fee for purchasing the method. As for these..."
"That's a separate price."
"Hah?!"
Ibuki Mio, who had been sitting in the corner without speaking, couldn't take it anymore.
She stood up abruptly and glared at Shikime Natsu.
"Aren't you too insatiably greedy! 300,000 for one sentence wasn't enough, and now you want more money?"
This guy simply ate people without spitting out the bones!
"Ibuki-san, you can't put it that way."
Shikime Natsu still maintained that smile that begged for a beating, completely ignoring the girl's anger.
"I spent a massive amount of manpower, material resources, and financial resources to obtain these from the senior, shouldn't I recoup a little bit of the cost?"
Of course, this was all nonsense.
These exam questions were bought by Kushida Kikyou and Horikita Suzune; he had merely taken a copy in passing.
By the way... he had told Horikita Suzune at the time that only Class D needed these papers; she didn't actually believe it, did she?
To think she didn't seize this opportunity to sell the questions to Class B and Class C. One had to realize that although he said he didn't care, he had also taken a copy.
Sigh... Horikita Suzune was still too lacking in cunning.
"How much do you want?"
"Seeing as you're a repeat customer, I won't ask for much."
Shikime Natsu extended one finger.
"Ten thousand points. It cost me eleven thousand to buy this from the senior. Consider it a loss-making clearance sale."
He omitted the subject. These words couldn't be counted as a lie, but everyone would assume Shikime Natsu had purchased them personally.
"Transferred."
Ryuuen Kakeru didn't hesitate in the slightest and directly transferred ten thousand points over. His heart was bleeding; if he had known earlier, he would have just spent ten thousand to buy the past exam questions directly. But... now that he knew, intelligence could also be purchased from the seniors, so... other staff members of this school might also be viable.
Not a loss!
Stubborn Ryuuen.jpg
As the points arrived, Shikime Natsu cut the chatter and directly packaged the full set of prepared exam questions and answers, sending them to Ryuuen Kakeru.
Shikime Natsu looked at the transfer notification on his phone, feeling an involuntary sigh of emotion in his heart.
Ryuuen Kakeru really was a qualified fat sheep; he didn't even blink when giving money.
Originally, he had prepared a set of rhetoric, such as "These expenses can be exchanged for one hundred Class Points next month; it's a good deal no matter how you look at it, right?" and other such sales pitches, but they were completely unneeded.
This guy was really willing to invest heavily.
"By the way, a friendly reminder."
Shikime Natsu stood up, pausing as he reached the door.
"This is a gray market transaction, you know. Make sure not to let other upperclassmen or the teachers find out. Otherwise... if the school temporarily changes the exam questions, then your 310,000 will really have gone down the drain."
Shikime Natsu had spoken quite clearly. If word leaked out leading to a change in the exam questions, these people in Class C, if they relied only on memorizing answers, would likely die a miserable death.
"I know."
Ryuuen Kakeru gave a cold snort. Naturally, he had considered this point, and also knew that Shikime Natsu might speak of this matter.
But he didn't ask Shikime Natsu to make a guarantee.
Because he knew that if he asked this greedy guy to guarantee "no leaking," he would probably propose another price.
Even if he was squandering the points of the entire class, it wasn't meant to be spent like this.
"Then good luck to you, Ryuuen~"
Shikime Natsu waved his hand and pushed the door open to leave.
"Is this... is this it? 310,000 points... just gone like that?"
Ishizaki Daichi felt his heart bleeding.
Walking out of the private room, Shikime Natsu actually felt a slight regret in his heart.
Originally, he had wondered if Ryuuen Kakeru would give some hush money or something. After all, he had already agreed with Horikita Suzune not to report it; this was originally a business where he could charge fees from both sides.
Whatever, Ryuuen Kakeru didn't catch on.
Just then, a burst of cheerful laughter attracted his attention.
Turning his head to look, it was Ichinose Honami and a group of people. Most were from Class B; looking at this lineup, Class B should have arrived in full force, right?
"Ah, it's Shikime-san!"
Amikura Mako was the first to spot Shikime Natsu and immediately waved her hand excitedly.
Ichinose Honami also turned her head. After seeing Shikime Natsu, those eyes as clear as sapphires lit up instantly, and she walked over with a gentle smile.
"What a coincidence, Shikime-san."
"Mn, quite a coincidence."
Shikime Natsu nodded with a smile, his gaze sweeping over the crowd from Class B.
"Are you guys here to sing?"
"That's right."
"The study session just now went very smoothly, and everyone was very motivated. So, to reward everyone, we came here together to relax," Ichinose Honami explained with a smile.
"So that's how it is."
Shikime Natsu nodded slightly.
"Do you want to come along, Shikime-kun?"
Amikura Mako issued a warm invitation.
"Since we ran into each other, why not play together! I heard Shikime-san helped Honami-chan a lot last time; we haven't even properly thanked you yet!"
"This... wouldn't be appropriate, right? After all, it's your class gathering, and I'm an outsider..."
Shikime Natsu pretended to be reserved and tried to decline.
"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter!"
"That's right, come along, Shikime-san!"
"We also want to get to know Shikime-san!"
The surrounding girls from Class B chimed in one after another, looking at Shikime Natsu with expectant eyes. It was Shikime Natsu, the number one on the boys' looks ranking!
Being warmly invited by so many cute girls, Shikime Natsu naturally agreed. Mn, although there were also some enthusiastic boys.
However, the overall atmosphere of Class B was quite nice.
"Since everyone doesn't mind, then I'll respectfully accept."
Shikime Natsu revealed a gentle smile.
Ishizaki Daichi, who had just walked out of the private room intending to go to the toilet, happened to witness this scene.
Why is Shikime Natsu so popular?
After being pulled into Class B's large private room, the atmosphere instantly heated up.
"Since Shikime-san has joined, let's have a song to warm up the room first!"
Amikura Mako shoved the microphone into Shikime Natsu's hand and spoke with a mischievous smile.
"I really want to hear Shikime-san sing!"
"In that case, I'll embarrass myself."
Shikime Natsu didn't act coy either. Taking the microphone, he directly selected a love song with a relatively strong rhythm.
The moment Shikime Natsu opened his mouth, the originally somewhat noisy private room instantly fell silent.
Where was this embarrassing himself? This was simply a professional singer coming to crash the venue! No, it sounded even better than a professional singer's song!
Soon, Shikime Natsu finished singing the song.
"That was too good!"
"Heavens, Shikime-kun, are you a professional?"
"My ears are going to get pregnant!"
Facing the girls' unsparing praise, Shikime Natsu merely smiled calmly and handed the microphone back.
"I'll just be a listener for the next part."
Shikime Natsu was planning to find a place to sit down when his gaze quickly landed on a certain figure.
That was a young girl with twin tails.
She was wearing the extremely rare gray school uniform jacket, her legs wrapped in black knee-socks, and she wore somewhat conspicuous ear studs on her ears.
The most eye-catching thing was that pair of dead fish eyes that seemed to have no interest in anything.
Clearly situated in such a lively gathering, she was like an outsider, sitting alone in the most marginal position.
[Ding~]
[CG38: Reluctantly Fitting In (Himeno Yuki)]
[Don't want to stay here.]
[Congratulations Host for obtaining Skill Card: Synchronization (Able to impose your own thoughts onto the surrounding people, letting others have the same opinion as you regarding a certain matter. Duration: twelve hours. Cooldown: three days)]
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