#15 Exploring 1

"Hey Iwamura-kun, do you mind if I ask a few questions?" Sudo who walked next to Yuichi asked while holding his bag over his shoulder.

"Yuichi is just fine however if you are uncomfortable with that...ask right away." Yuichi replied while looking in front of him to memorize the hallways.

'There are a lot of cameras installed on each corridor, this is quite tight security. As they said...bullying here is a very complicated process however nothing is impossible.' Yuichi thought with a naive smile, while actually exploring the school's hallways.

Sudo started asking some questions regarding basketball and Yuichi always replied without any problem.

After a while Mei caught up to them and looked a bit startled to find that Yuichi isn't alone but she still decided to call out to him.

"Yuichi-kun!" Mei called out while hopping next to Yuichi, the opposite side of where Sudo was walking.

Sudo was a bit pissed off by being interrupted like that since he had more questions for Yuichi however when he saw Yuichi smile at her in a familiar way, he noticed that they already know each other.

"Mei-san, how was it? " Yuichi asked.

"It was good, the girls like to tease a bit but everyone is friendly. Oh, and i-it's nice to meet you...Sudo-kun" Mei replied with a bright smile before she remembered Sudo's presence so she quickly tried to say something not to look like she was ignoring him.

Sudo just nodded his head at her.

"Well, I will be going. Iwamura-kun, I really hope you can join the basketball club if you won't be allowed to join both clubs at the same time." Sudo was feeling a bit weird being near those 2, so he excused himself, quickly disappearing in the next corridor.

"Um, did I cause unnecessary trouble?" Mei asked with a slightly guilty expression as she looked back to where Sudo disappeared at.

"No, he doesn't seem like someone who is great at fitting into already formed groups so it's fine. Oh, by the way, don't buy anything expensive, at least until this first month ends." Yuichi replied before warning Mei.

"Hm? Why?" Mei also felt that 100.000 points were a bit too much but she couldn't see the reason why would school lie to them, therefore she asked as they finally exited the school building.

"There are simply too many things that don't make any sense. This school isn't being completely honest with us. At least that's what I noticed when Chabashira-sensei didn't want to directly answer a few of my questions, however instead of saying that she doesn't want to answer, she said that she "can't". Perhaps as the students are sorted into 4 classes of each being better than another, maybe even teachers have similar rules. Maybe she just isn't allowed to say more because she is that Class D's teacher." Yuichi kept on saying aloud his thoughts for Mei to hear however her brain was slowly getting roasted by the amount of information.

"Yuichi-kun, are you sure that you aren't just a bit paranoid? I understand the matter with those Private Points but what you are talking about here are all theories. Also, it doesn't really make sense if they allow better classes to have additional information. How hard it would be to advance if they favored better classes?" Mei asked with a worried look.

'But that's how it works...people always favor those who are more experienced, those who are more valuable. Why shouldn't they favor those who are already quite brilliant and filled with potential? Why should they favor so-called trash students from the lowest class, Class D? They are actually already favoring us by giving us a chance to overcome others.' Yuichi thought while staring at the clear blue sky.

"...Heh, forget it." Noticing her worried look, Yuichi just smiled with closed eyes before opening them and replying to her.

"Are you sure?" Mei looked still a bit unconvinced.

"Just make sure not to spend your points on pointless things like make-up, haha" Yuichi said before laughing aloud without care.

"Wha-?! Make-up isn't a pointless thing! Take that back!" Mei's womanly side woke up as she took a few steps in front of Yuichi to stop him while pressing her index finger to his heart, giving him a strong stare.

"Heh" Yuichi chuckled and gently moved Mei's finger away with the back of his hand.

"I value natural beauty much more, after all, some grandiose things that weren't created by humans also look many times better. Not to mention make-up will gradually destroy that natural beauty and cause up to serious skin problems." Yuichi said with his index finger pointing up and a provoking smile before he walked past Mei.

"Huh?! Why is it that you are so smart only when it comes to useless things?" Mei turned around and jogged a bit to catch up to him before complaining while pouting.

"What can I say, I am perceptive of things I hear and read but I had no time to seriously study. Anyway, do you want to go somewhere? We can't just wander around without a goal in mind...well, maybe we can because this is like a small town, we can slowly explore it before going to the dorms." Yuichi shrugged his shoulders before asking with a curious expression.

"Are you sure we should walk around together right on the first day? I have already told a few girls that we are friends from Junior High but it will definitely cause a few misunderstandings..." Mei asked and further explained with a worried expression.

"Hmm, that's right I guess...But I don't really care about some misunderstandings. If you also don't mind then we can go look around." Yuichi shrugged his shoulders, to be honest, for him it was much better if there was a rumor that he was going out with Mei because this way, no one would try to confess to him as during the Junior High.

It wasn't as if Yuichi was asexual. He was interested in girls and even that girl who confessed to him at that time looked good and seemed to be a nice person however he simply couldn't find the strength to put in the effort to form a good relationship. Simply put, his philosophy was: One day it will simply happen, no need to put in effort in finding something you don't know how it looks like.

"Huh? Alright...I also don't mind even though girls will probably tease me a bit which will be slightly embarrassing. Let's check out the nearest facilities!" Mei said with a bright smile, dragging Yuichi by his wrist.

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They walked around for a few hours until they stopped at the cafe to get something to drink.

"Wait, I almost completely forgot but shouldn't we also warn others regarding those Private Points?" Mei asked when she suddenly recalled their conversation a few hours ago.

"Well, you can do that if you want to but I don't think they will listen." Yuichi said while sipping on the coffee with closed eyes.

"Huh? Why do you think so?" She asked with a confused expression while tilting her head to the side.

"It's actually not so hard...It's similar to Carrot and stick approach however the school already knows that there will be some students who will lose their reasoning in front of that carrot. At least that's how I see it, they are playing with our minds and giving us temptations, finding out who will find those temptations suspicious and who will succumb to them. Plus we have no evidence that it is like that." Yuichi tried his best to explain it very simply.

"?! Why would they do that? Why misguiding students when their job is to nurture them into better people?" Mei asked with a shocked expression.

"The greatest teacher is a failure itself. This isn't the most elite school for nothing, they are risking it all because those who are at the bottom can only rise by the miracle itself. They need to suffer to realize it, however, then it depends on those at the bottom if they will rise or simply remain at the bottom for the rest of their lives." Yuichi opened his eyes, put down the cup on the table, and looked out of the window at the sunset before replying.

"..." When more than 5 seconds of silence passed, Yuichi glanced at Mei what she was doing just to see her gaping at him.

"What is it? Do I have something on my face?" Yuichi asked with a confused expression.

"No...I-It's just that didn't really sound like you...Anyway, how come you can come up with those things? Are secretly genius who is faking his average grades to stay friends with me out of pity or what?" Mei wasn't sure whether Yuichi's words were true but she had to admit that there was something to them.

"Heh, hardly...I bet there are a lot of students who could see through this school's intentions, plus there are a lot of things that still confuse me. I can hardly be called a genius." Yuichi snickered and replied with a relaxed smile.

"Then what about athletic genius?!" Mei changed her question with narrowed eyes while pointing with her index finger right at Yuichi's face.

"Well...that's not something for me to decide that." Yuichi just shrugged his shoulders with a helpless smile.