Chapter 054 ↦ The First Month Comes to an End!

It all began when Houtarou visited the Student Council and waited for Manabu before heading to the Chairman's office in the school's upper management.

After considering Miyabi's shop permission, his thoughts turned to Work Permits.

These permits had to be purchased from the school's upper management — specifically the Board of Directors. While the Student Council had no authority in this matter, Manabu's introduction was still necessary.

Typically, Work Permits would be forbidden since they would affect the school's control over students. However, Arisu had described the Chairman as tolerant — someone willing to delegate power to students. This suggested he might approve such a proposal.

This made the permits worth pursuing.

But a curious detail emerged.

Initially, when Houtarou uncovered Masumi's stalking, he'd only asked Arisu to gather information about the Chairman. Instead, she'd offered a direct assessment of his character.

This was intriguing — after all, evaluating someone usually requires knowing them personally.

At that moment, Houtarou suspected Arisu might have a connection to the Chairman.

Then...

"This is Chairman Sakayanagi's office." Manabu said, remaining outside the door.

Upon hearing "Sakayanagi", Houtarou's understanding deepened. Arisu's connection to the Chairman went beyond mere acquaintance.

Then he came face-to-face with the school's highest authority — a middle-aged man who shared Arisu's distinctive hair color.

Narumori Sakayanagi.

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Returning to the present situation.

Based on their surnames and appearances, Narumori Sakayanagi and Arisu Sakayanagi were almost certainly father and daughter.

As his daughter, she naturally understood her father's character, which explained her quick assessment of him.

Though one might expect her to feel uncomfortable exploiting a system run by her tolerant father, it made perfect sense. After all, this school operated on merit — if there were legitimate ways to earn Points, why not use them?

While Houtarou simply waited for the school's rewards, Arisu took a more complex approach by gathering student information and capitalizing on the school's compensation system.

This explained why so many upperclassmen readily purchased Work Permits through him — Arisu was facilitating these transactions behind the scenes.

Given the system's assessment of "Arisu Sakayanagi is a T-Rex", mere facilitation wouldn't demonstrate her true capabilities.

She likely struck direct betting agreements with the upperclassmen, securing a share of the 50,000 Points compensation that the school provided to each permit purchaser.

This was why Houtarou had messaged her about profiting significantly from the situation.

Compared to Kōhei's faction, Arisu's group clearly demonstrated superior intelligence and initiative.

The relaxed expressions of her faction members revealed they hadn't missed out on the school's free Points. They had clearly been tipped off by their Princess Arisu and pooled resources for this Point-farming operation.

While Suzune's data showed no first-year student participation, they could have easily convinced seniors to use their information for permit purchases.

Lost in these thoughts, Houtarou checked his student ID information.

The school had refunded the permit fee and awarded 10 million Points, minus Suzune's 10% cut. Nazuna had covered Miyabi's 300,000 gambling debt.

The final tally came to...

『Houtarou Oreki』

『Student ID: 1008610010』

『Class: First Year, Class A』

『Personal Account: ¤ 14,290,000 Pts』

Then, he opened the system tasks.

〖 Main Task: 20 Million Points Big Mission! 〗

〖 Task Requirement: Gather 20 million Points within three months! 〗

〖 Task Duration: 76/90 Days 〗

〖 Task Reward: Superhuman Physique — Major Physical Enhancement 〗

〖 Task Progress: 14,290,000 Pts / 20,000,000 Pts 〗

〖 Note: All Points earned by the host can be entrusted to Manabu Horikita, who is about to graduate from the third year, and can be guaranteed to be exchanged for cash! 〗

With 71% progress toward the goal and Superhuman Physique as the reward, plus the ability to convert Points to cash when Manabu graduates, the situation looked promising.

A perfect win-win scenario, wouldn't you say?

And so, in his first month of school, Houtarou earned his first pot of gold — a young man's first 10 million Points.

Having already exploited all three grades, there weren't any good opportunities to continue collecting Points, so he decided to take it easy.

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April 30th arrived.

The students who knew the school's rules understood that tomorrow would bring a major shake-up.

The teachers would announce the school's rules.

Additionally, it was time to reveal the Class Evaluation Scores (Class Points) after the first month.

However...

"What's wrong, Oreki?" A sweet female voice came from beside him.

Turning his head, he found an incredibly cute girl with short golden hair watching him intently. This was Kikyō.

Since the Work Permit incident, she had been frequently inviting him out, claiming, "Aren't we friends? Isn't it natural to maintain relationships?"

Houtarou understood her motives clearly. She was still bothered about being excluded from the previous Point-collection scheme.

Unfortunately for Kikyō, there weren't any money-making opportunities available lately. Even Miyabi, who had capital to invest, had gone quiet after being demoted.

The opposition had strengthened their defenses, leaving no openings to exploit.

Houtarou had also realized he'd become Kikyō's bridge to Suzune.

Whenever she invited him out, she hoped he would bring along the solitary girl. Yet despite Kikyō's persistent enthusiasm and multiple meetings, Suzune maintained an icy demeanor.

After a month of trying, she still hadn't managed to forge a connection with Suzune.

Now, the three of them stood at the bulletin board on the first floor of the third-year building. The Student Council members had just passed by.

The third-year Class Evaluation Scores for this month had been updated again.

「Class A: 2530 Points」

「Class B: 1981 Points」

「Class C: 509 Points」

「Class D: 0 Points」

At the time of enrollment, they were:

「Class A: 2645 Points」

「Class B: 1701 Points」

「Class C: 695 Points」

「Class D: 90 Points」

During this month's special exam, third-year Class A lost some points, while Class B gained ground rapidly. Meanwhile, Classes C and D fell behind significantly.

Third-year Class D suffered the worst outcome, dropping to zero Points.

Suzune wasn't easy to invite out — she had been emotionle… I mean, friendless in the past and struggled with social interactions. Getting her to come along always required an excuse.

Her weakness, though, was anything related to her brother. Mention him, and she'd take the bait without fail.

That's why today's invitation to check the third-year Class Points on the first floor after school had worked perfectly.

"By the way, Kikyō, are there any interesting characters in your class?" As a Class A student, Houtarou was naturally gathering intelligence about Class D.

On the first day of school, when he'd sold information to first-year Class D, he'd concluded the class was beyond help. Still, with capable but problematic students like Kikyō and Suzune, there might be others of similar caliber.

These were exactly the kind of students Class A needed to monitor.

"Interesting characters? We have quite a few." Kikyō said, "One exemple is Kōenji-kun — he doesn't just avoid fitting in, he actively looks down on socializing with others. He's a loner with high academic ability, and lately he's been seen with upperclassmen."

This Kōenji — Rokusuke was his first name — Houtarou remembered him. He was the one who'd refused to spend money on information.

His reasoning had been striking: listening would be pointless, not because the information lacked value, but because Class D students wouldn't change even if they heard it.

Clearly, he was both intelligent and perceptive.

"Then there's Matsushita-san (Chiaki Matsushita), who comes from privilege but seems rather ordinary." Kikyō continued, "We also have Kiyotaka Ayanokōji, who seems to lack basic common sense. And Sudō-kun (Ken Sudō) — while he struggles academically, he excels in athletics and has already secured a regular position on the basketball team."

"And there's Hirata-kun (Yōsuke Hirata). Though he's gentle, good-looking, and accomplished all around, he'll even postpone club activities to mediate class disputes. He's completely devoted to the group."

While this sounded like praise, it revealed something deeper — Yōsuke would readily sacrifice his other commitments for the sake of the team.

But considering they had just enrolled and the team was newly formed, such extreme dedication seemed unusual.

In other words, he was obsessive — this was the subtle message behind Kikyō's words.

However, Houtarou gazed at the angel-like girl.

You're not so different, Kikyō. Your relentless pursuit of Suzune shows the same obsessive nature.

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And so, May 1st—the next day arrived.

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