Check out advanced chapters on P@treon: [email protected]/CosmicKaminari
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Ichinose naturally didn't notice the delicate thoughts of her classmates.
As soon as she finished collecting the class fees, she briefly mentioned the precautions for the midterm exam and distributed the review sheets she'd printed at the print shop to everyone.
This month, Class B received 790 class points. According to the rules, each student transferred 39,500 private points to her. Including her own existing points, she had a total of 1.58 million points in her account. A considerable sum for any student.
"I wonder if so many points can break the rule of 'students must withdraw from school,'" she thought, looking at her classmates earnestly flipping through the test papers below the podium. Her idea was simple yet stubborn. She wanted to protect every single person in Class B and absolutely not let anyone be expelled.
Perhaps this was the meaning of these points.
Since the school stipulated that "points can be exchanged for everything," could they also be exchanged for the opportunity to "avoid expulsion"?
She didn't think any further and immediately pulled up Hoshinomiya's contact information and dialed her.
The phone rang a dozen times before it was picked up. Hoshinomiya's lazy voice came through the receiver, with the sticky sound of someone not fully awake. "What's wrong~ Ichinose-chan~ I drank too much last night, and I finally got through class. Let me get some more sleep..."
"Sensei, I have a very important question I want to ask you. Please wake up."
"What's the emergency this time...?" Hoshinomiya let out a long yawn. "Wasn't helping you with that last matter enough? This school always encourages students to solve problems themselves. Relying on teachers all the time isn't good..."
"The last matter?" Ichinose frowned in confusion. "I don't quite understand what you're saying. I just want to ask one question."
"Ask away, ask away."
"Can private points really buy everything?"
"Mm-hmm~ The school rules do say that," Hoshinomiya's voice suddenly became a little more energetic. "What? Our honor student has finally figured it out? Planning to buy something good?"
"Then... can points prevent a classmate from being expelled?"
"Expulsion?!" Hoshinomiya's voice instantly became clear, completely devoid of drowsiness, yet she still answered slowly. "Actually, it's similar to the cost of transferring classes. Twenty million points can forcefully get the school to cancel an expulsion. I see, our class representative plans to use class funds to insure her classmates?"
Ichinose's fingers tightened around her phone.
Based on the current rate of class point growth, Class B would need approximately 13 months to accumulate 20 million points.
Of course, there might be fluctuations. If class points increased quickly, the goal could be reached earlier. If unexpected deductions occurred, progress would slow down.
But looking at the 1.58 million in her account, there was no hesitation in her eyes.
From this moment on, "20 million" became a long-term goal for her and Class B.
Even if 20 million points could only save one person, for Ichinose, this was already incredibly good news. At least there was hope, which was better than watching a classmate get expelled helplessly.
"Oh, by the way," Hoshinomiya suddenly changed the subject. "Did you investigate who rented the surveillance cameras for three million points, Ichinose-chan?"
"No, Hoshinomiya-sensei," Ichinose's voice remained gentle. "After all, spending three million points to gain over a hundred class points was already a great deal."
She didn't really care who rented the surveillance cameras.
For her, as long as the outcome was beneficial to the class, the small mysteries in the process didn't need to be deeply investigated. Right now, there were more important things to do, such as monitoring everyone's preparation for the midterm exams and slowly accumulating points towards the 20 million goal.
"Huh? Ichinose-chan, you're so naive that it's impossible to talk sense into you! That was three million points. Even when I started school, I never had that many points in my hand after half a year! Aren't you even a little curious who had such a big budget?"
"...Actually, who the other party is isn't important, sensei. The transaction is already over."
"Idiot! If 20 million can save someone, why can't it be used to poach someone? The other party could take out three million, which means they definitely have a lot of points. Isn't it a smart strategy to poach such a capable person to Class B?"
"Hoshinomiya-sensei, I still want to save these 20 million points to use them as much as possible to protect my classmates in the future."
"...Sigh, I knew I shouldn't have told you about this." Hoshinomiya sighed, her voice full of frustration. "This really is like lifting a rock only to drop it on one's own feet."
"By the way, just a quick question. Do you know if Class D rented surveillance cameras? They got 530 class points! It's too suspicious."
"That... I'm not entirely sure." Ichinose paused, then added, recalling. "But they probably did. Everyone in Class B came to the same conclusion."
"Then have you talked to Shimizu-kun again recently?"
"Why are you suddenly asking that, sensei?" Ichinose's voice held a hint of confusion.
"Hehe... I was just curious what Shimizu-kun has been busy with recently." Hoshinomiya's tone sounded like she was smiling. "It's okay if you don't want to say. I'll just go ask him myself, so you go back to your work."
As soon as she finished speaking, the call was abruptly hung up.
"Oh dear..." Ichinose sighed softly at the dial tone. Her homeroom teacher's interest in Akira was truly inexplicable.
She thought about it. It was probably last month. Akira somehow got caught by Hoshinomiya-sensei when he bought information from an upperclassman.
Since then, the teacher had been bringing him up now and then, as if she'd set her sights on an interesting prey.
"Come to think of it, does Shimizu-kun have any ready-made test papers?"
Ichinose's gaze fell on the podium. The last test paper was still there. When she went to print them, she somehow thought of how Akira had helped her a lot recently, and as if by some strange impulse, she printed one extra copy.
She simply sent him a message directly. {Shimizu-kun, I printed an extra test paper. If you need it, can I bring it to you tomorrow?}
His reply popped up quickly. {Is it a physical printed test paper? Thank you.}
{Then when are you free tomorrow? Is noon okay?}
{Yes. Also, I happen to have something I'd like to ask you for help with.}
Ichinose was about to reply, "Then shall we meet after lunch?" when another message popped up on her phone. It was from the girlfriend of Sato-senpai, who always looked out for her, asking if she was free tomorrow and saying she wanted to introduce her to a very reliable male junior from the boxing club.
She looked at the screen, a little exasperated.
Whether it was the mysterious person who rented the surveillance cameras or this boxing club junior she'd never met, she now seemed to have no idea who they were.
But since she'd already made plans to meet Akira tomorrow, and the usually independent Shimizu-kun had actually taken the initiative to say "there's something I need to ask you for help with," this was far more important than any stranger.
She tapped on her phone's virtual keyboard, first replying to Sato-senpai's girlfriend, {I have plans for tomorrow noon, perhaps next time,} before turning to Akira's chat box and slowly typing: {Okay, what time is good at noon? I'm free anytime.}