"...Damn, my arms are shaking?"
Nemuri mumbled, watching with a semi-interested expression as he watched his arms shake while he wasn't even holding anything.
'It makes me seem like I have tremors.'
Nemuri remembered his embarrassing past, when he wanted some unique condition even if it wasn't bad, just to feel special.
He didn't know why he felt that way, but wanting to be special was common in young children, including himself.
His soreness was probably from carrying a moderately heavy bag from Keyaki Mall back to his room. It felt bearable on the way home, but it was heavier than what he was used to in Junior High.
Heavier, as in it carried the clothes he bought and some textbooks.
After all, he didn't need to bring textbooks if he memorized them.
Though, knowing the general gist of the Behavioral Exam, not having one's textbooks could very much count as 'not acting as expected of a student.'
Too bad they were heavy.
'Wait… I'm going to use the restroom for the entire day today anyway.'
Nemuri quickly realized that, and promptly emptied his school-issued bag before adding a single pencil and notebook.
He lifted it with ease even with his shaking arms, before hanging it over his shoulder in satisfaction.
'This should be enough to pass as a good student.'
It's not like he needed the textbooks anyway.
It definitely wasn't because he immediately changed his mind after testing how heavy his bag was.
'After I become rich, I'll definitely spend some coins to fix my body.'
Only after he got rich, though.
After he got fully ready, he reached for his phone.
He hadn't charged it, but since he hadn't used it for anything other than paying for his stuff, the battery probably hadn't drained that much.
Lifting the phone, Nemuri saw that Ichinose had texted him a few more times after he checked the first time before heading to bed.
[Ichinose Honami: Kyusoku-kun! Have you eaten dinner yet? We ordered a little too much at the class meetup, and everyone thought we should offer you some since you couldn't come!]
[Ichinose Honami: {Image of a To-Go Box With some pasta and bread}]
[Ichinose Honami: It's an extra order we haven't touched, so let me know if you'd like it!]
[Ichinose Honami: Are you free to pick it up?]
The text was sent at 6:32 P.M.
[Ichinose Honami: We also talked about setting up a class fund after dinner. Since points can buy so many things, we thought it might help to have some saved for class competition!]
[Ichinose Honami: Nothing's decided yet! We'll discuss it with everyone before homeroom tomorrow.]
[Ichinose Honami: {Sparkling Eyes Sticker}]
That was sent shortly after, at 7:01 P.M.
[Ichinose Honami: …You didn't leave me on mute too, right?]
[Ichinose Honami: JK]
[Ichinose Honami: {Peeking behind a corner Sticker}]
[Ichinose Honami: Good Night!]
That was sent at 9:31 P.M.
'Sounding a bit scary there at the end.'
He sent a reply before she could start wondering whether he'd muted her after all.
[Me: Sry I was sleeping. Thanks for letting me know]
After that, he just shoved it into his bag before walking out of his dorm, still in thought.
Though, judging from Ichinose's texts, he was probably the only one who didn't go to that 'Class Dinner'.
He didn't really care that he seemed left out.
Even if he knew beforehand that everyone would be there, he would have refused anyway. Places with too many people crowded together just annoyed and stressed him out.
And it seemed that Ichinose was the Class Leader at this point, though in hindsight it was inevitable.
'Why even discuss the class fund today at class anyway? It's not like missing one person's input would matter.'
Though he rationally knew the benefits of the class fund, knowing Ichinose was a fraud, he didn't really want to contribute to a losing stock.
But not contributing meant that if he ever were in trouble, the class funds probably wouldn't be used for him…
With someone like Ichinose as leader, a scenario where he would be abandoned was unlikely, but if Ichinose's stock suddenly crashed, he would be cooked at that point.
Though at that point, the entire class would be cooked, not just him.
Then he would need to put in effort to keep Ichinose from messing up…
Nemuri paused at that thought.
'...So I'm relying on her being too nice.'
That was inconvenient.
Nemuri rubbed his face in annoyance while waiting for the elevator to arrive.
"Haaaa…"
Today was already turning into a tiring day for Nemuri.
'Should I just argue back…?'
There was no way that everyone agreed to contribute to a class fund without some dissenting opinions.
'But even if I rally them, they probably won't even speak up to help me…'
In the end, Nemuri resorted to his most reliable backup plan:
Giving up.
'Yeah. Can't be bothered.'
Ding!
As the elevators opened, he saw a familiar face.
'...Why do I keep running into her?'
Ichinose Honami.
This time, though, she was with another girl.
Amikura Mako.
"Kyusoku-kun?"
At Ichinose's voice, Amikura looked toward him.
"Good morning!" Ichinose greeted.
"Morning, Kyusoku-kun!" Amikura added, stepping aside to make room.
"...Good morning."
Nemuri walked into the elevator with a heavy heart.
'I thought I left pretty early—wait, Ichinose did say something about having the class fund discussion before homeroom…' Nemuri inwardly sighed.
"How was your first night here?" Ichinose asked. "It still feels strange being so far from home."
"I know, right?!!" Amikura nodded. "It's really weird not having someone to wake you up for breakfast or anything!"
The two girls turned to Nemuri.
"...It was nice."
"Already settling in, huh?" Amikura said. "I'm a little jealous. I kept waking up because the pillow felt different. I'll probably buy different covers after school today~."
"Mhm…"
'Let's just go with that.'
Nemuri thought, letting out a small breath in amusement.
"Oh, before I forget!" Ichinose reached into her bag. "I saw your message this morning. I still had the extra food, so I brought it in case you wanted it for lunch."
She took out two stainless steel containers.
"I put it in the fridge last night and moved it into these this morning. You don't have to take it if you've already got something though!"
"From the Italian restaurant?" Amikura asked. "That garlic bread was good."
"Mhm. We ordered more than we needed."
"..."
Nemuri looked at the containers for a few seconds, as if debating whether to take them, before reaching out and taking them.
The two containers dipped suddenly after Ichinose let go, but Nemuri quickly lifted them back up.
They were heavier than he thought.
"Thank you…?"
His arms were still weak from yesterday, so he quickly put them into his bag before he dropped them.
"No problem! You can return the containers whenever," Ichinose said.
"...Okay."
The elevator reached the first floor, and the three stepped into the lobby. Nemuri expected the girls to go ahead, but they kept pace beside him.
"Though you must have slept pretty early yesterday, Kyusoku-kun. It felt like I was talking to myself in that chat!"
That made Nemuri pause. He glanced around, hoping no one had overheard and taken that the wrong way.
Thankfully, leaving early for school seemed like a good decision, because other than the two boys a distance ahead of him, there was no one.
However, Amikura caught that sentence, teasing Ichinose with a hint of a smile on her face.
"Texting each other at night? Ichinose-chan's moving fast~"
"Huh?" Ichinose tilted her head in confusion, but realized what Amikura was implying soon after. "That's not what I meant!"
Ichinose shook her head, a hint of a blush on her face at her statement. She gave Amikura an exasperated look before quickly calming down.
"Kyusoku-kun muted the class group chat because it was filling up his phone with notifications, so I just decided to text him any important info so he doesn't miss anything…"
Amikura just responded with a teasing hum.
Ichinose felt a little helpless at the teasing. "It's true! Kyusoku-kun, help me…" Ichinose turned to Nemuri with a pleading look.
"...Ichinose-san's right," Nemuri, who didn't want to be seen as a large part of this conversation, helped Ichinose without any preamble.
"I slept early though, so I was only able to see the texts when I woke up."
"What Kyusoku-kun said!" Ichinose said, turning to Amikura with a confident expression.
"Okay, okay~" Amikura backed down, but by the looks of the expression on her face, it was obvious she hadn't taken the entire conversation seriously from the beginning.
Nemuri planned to keep this up, responding only to filler questions until he got to the classroom, before coming to a quick realization.
'Wait… Isn't this the perfect time to ask the questions I had for the class fund?'
"Ichinose-san, about the class fund…"
"Class fund?" Ichinose echoed, before figuring out that she hadn't yet told Nemuri what the class fund entailed.
"Basically, we just take a percentage out of our monthly allowance from our school, or leave enough points to buy necessities and the occasional personal item—we haven't decided yet—and put the rest into the fund!"
"Though," Ichinose quickly looked around, making sure other classes weren't overhearing her before turning back to Nemuri. "We aren't sure what to look forward to, so it's a safety measure more than anything."
"And we'll probably implement it next month since most classmates probably have to spend more this month to buy their essentials and all that."
"...And who holds the funds?"
"Wouldn't it be Ichinose-chan? She's the leader, no?" Amikura asked.
"We haven't decided whether I'm the leader yet…" Ichinose said with a hint of humility, though to Nemuri it just looked like humble-bragging.
"Well… I think the leader—whoever it may be—shouldn't hold the class funds…" Nemuri trailed off.
"Huh? Why not? Wouldn't the leader use the funds the most?" Amikura tilted her head and fired off questions before Ichinose could say anything.
Nemuri paused.
"Well… If they're the leader, during class competitions, wouldn't she—or rather they, since the leader is undecided—be targeted by other classes the most?"
Since Nemuri didn't want a repeat of yesterday, when he kept losing the initiative because people spoke over him, he only paused for a second and wet his mouth before hastily continuing.
"And… if there are occasions where the leader is either physically or emotionally compromised, and they can't be contacted, our class funds are effectively frozen."
"...Also, there might be times where the leader might make hasty decisions and impulsively make purchases that 'seem for the benefit of the class' but might be the opposite…"
Nemuri started mumbling at the end, mainly because at that point it felt like he was just calling out Ichinose.
He was once again grateful for his face-covering bangs.
"...Not that I'm calling out Ichinose-san or anything… I'm just saying."
He glanced in the direction of the two girls, and contrary to his expectations, Ichinose had a thoughtful expression on her face, while Amikura was doing 'The Thinker' pose.
"So just in case Ichinose-chan—uh, the 'leader'—gets blackmailed or something, it's better to have it somewhere else… that actually makes a lot of sense!"
Amikura nodded along.
"But does Ichinose-chan even have anything blackmail worthy?"
At that sentence, Ichinose let out a small flinch that almost went unnoticed. Though, fortunately for her, Nemuri hadn't thought too deeply about it.
After all, with his vision impeded by nearly 50% due to his bangs, seeing small movements was pretty unreliable for him.
"You mean our 'undecided leader'?"
Nemuri responded.
"Oh—yeah, our 'undecided leader,' mhm." Amikura quickly nodded, trying to pass the sentence smoothly.
"Then how would you decide who has the funds, Kyusoku-kun?" Ichinose joined the conversation.
Nemuri had a bad feeling from that sentence.
"...I don't know."
He needed to distance himself from this conversation.
"It's fine if you don't know!" Ichinose said reassuringly. "I just want your opinions, since the idea of the leader not having the funds came from you."
Both Amikura and Ichinose's attention turned to Nemuri.
Nemuri hadn't expected his argument to get this far, but he fell into thought regardless.
"Well… first of all… they have to be pretty smart. They can't be too popular or have interactions with a lot of people either…"
He wanted to say 'has no friends and doesn't speak to anyone,' but that felt both self-incriminating and rude.
For one, he didn't really want to hold the class funds.
It may seem like a lot of money, but that was burdensome, unusable money. There was a large difference.
Holding the class funds would also directly elevate Nemuri's position in the class, but he didn't really want something like that anymore after his 'post-exhaustion clarity'.
"And they need to be frugal with money… I think that's it?"
Ichinose hummed in agreement, but Amikura felt a little bit confused.
"I get the frugal and smart part, but why can't they be popular?"
Before Nemuri could say anything, Ichinose had already answered.
"It probably means having a low profile outside the class, since there's a risk of people outside the class seeing their balance accidentally. Right?" She looked toward Nemuri, who nodded.
"Aha!"
"Since we're making the class fund next month anyway, we can probably decide then, and we'll know our classmates much more," Ichinose said, seemingly having already decided on Nemuri's proposal.
"Mhm," Amikura nodded. "So we just have to wait till the month ends… it feels so far away~"
As the school gate came into view, with a few more students in sight, the two girls' vigilance seemed to heighten.
"I wish," Amikura glanced around before lowering her voice. "I didn't need to care about looking like a model student already~"
"It won't be too difficult," Ichinose said, also glancing around before continuing. "It's not like any of us haven't been to school."
'...Both of you are acting like secret agents with all that glancing around…'
Nemuri inwardly pointed out.
'Though… with how Class D somehow got zero points from the anime, they might be even lower than students.'
--<>--
A/N: Another decently long chapter (2400)~ The strat of just spending 1-2 hours a day writing before I go to bed is pretty nice!
Though it does take a little longer to make any progress...
Probably just one more chap before I hit 15k words(finally)