Advanced Nurturing High School…
'That's a pretty fancy name.'
Hikigaya Hachiman, certified loner, looks outside of the bus window, watching as they leave mainland Tokyo to Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School, where he'll be separated from his beloved sister, Komachi for the next 3 years.
'Shitty parents, signing me up just cause the tuition was free.'
Spring was upon me, and with it came Youth.
'Youth is truly a shitty thing.'
I watched as we arrived at the school gates, sakura petals flowing all around the gate, creating a rather picturesque look.
'Too much pink, it's kind of hurting my eyes.'
I made my way out of the bus, looking at my pamphlet at the events that was happening today.
'Orientation Ceremony…'
I looked down at the pamphlet once more, memorizing the route before folding it and putting it in my pocket.
Observing the surroundings, things can be seen that look quite unique.
For one, there was an excessive amount of security cameras all around, and a clear lack of guards or security detail, implying that the main goal was surveillance, or at least the illusion of surveillance.
Taking note of the locations of such areas, I made my way to the Orientation Ceremony.
—+—
That was quite boring.
I can't deal with such events, I'd rather excuse myself to the bathroom if I had anything to entertain myself with.
There were interesting people there though. For one, the student council was an interesting group of people. From my observation, the relationship between the President and the Vice President weren't the best.
For what reason, it doesn't really matter to me, but such information can either be useful or not depending on the situation.
Now it was time to make my way towards my assigned class.
Class 1-B
The range was from A to D.
This could have multiple implications, and because of the setting of this being a ground where youth is continuously stimulated, and boasts a 99.9% employment rate right after graduation, nothing can be ruled out.
I arrived at my class pretty early.
There was a calculated reason for this.
Being too early warrents a higher probability regarding starting conversation, but being too late and entering in the middle can generate attention.
This was also my opportunity to use one of my famed 108 skills: Stealth Hikki, reducing my presence up to 99%!
Buy one get one free~
I entered through the back entrance, scaned the board for my sitting placement, and found that I sat in the back row near the door.
'My day couldn't be better.'
This was extremely optimal, with few cons.
While it allows for stealthy exits and entrances, it increases the rate of people passing by before they leave, but it can be easily counteracted by just leaving earlier and arriving later.
'This is amazing.'
I hanged by bag on the hook on the side of my desk before sitting down, garnering the attention of nobody in the class.
This was also another opportunity to activate another one of my 108 skills: Fake Sleeping!
This skill increases the effectiveness of Stealth Hikki and creates a ward against extroverted people. Truly a feared skill!
Now I just had to keep this up until the teacher arrived and this was be stellar.
I listened to the conversations, using another one of my 108 skills: Cold Reading, where I could assume the outward personality of anyone after only a few minutes of talking! I obtained this skill back when I was getting bullied back in Junior High, preventing any deceptions thereafter.
Though still, the spring breeze was nice.
The window was open, allowing for a cool breeze to pass through the room, as if cleansing the sins of anyone here.
Except it didn't for I was still alive!
While Fake Sleeping, I could occasionally feel the gaze of a few people, who spared me a passing glance, before continuing their conversation.
From what I could hear, this woman named Ichinose Hanami has already united the class in the short time frame she was in the class.
My weakness— nice girls.
Of course, I wasn't just observing and peeping on their conversation, I had a set of plans for today.
First, I would walk around the classes to see differences and create hypotheses regarding the classification for classes.
Then, I would go to the library to check out the book selection.
Finally, I go home, read, and then sleep.
This was a perfect plan.
I have to set up somewhat of a exercise routine though. With my daily exercise of biking me and my sister to school gone, my chances of increasing my cardio has dramatically decreased.
This is because instead of it being a 'necessity,' it's become more of a chore.
For this, I planned on creating a carrot and stick method toward myself to motivate myself and create good habits while still maintaining my daily life.
While I was monologuing, it seemed that the teacher was approaching, from the lack of background noise.
I slowly opened my eyes, acting as if I was actually sleeping the entire time, as getting discovered that I fake slept on purpose to avoid conversation could reduce my social status and put me in the loner category for my entire life.
"Hey guys let's all be respectful so the homeroom teacher get's a good impression of us!" A girl spoke up, looking around the room, getting excited nods from the other classmates.
I didn't want to accidentally make eye contact with the girl, who from the familiarity of the voice, was presumably Ichinose Honami.
I kept my eyes in front, looking at the front door, ignoring as Ichinose's gaze lurked on my being a split second longer, before passing me.
I let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Though I had to say. This school had extremely beautiful students in spades.
From my quick glance over the class, there were no girls that I could decisively say that they were ugly.
Even still Ichinose Honami was an extremely attractive teenager. Her strawberry blonde hair cascading down her back, and her porportions could be lethal in some occasions.
It was as if a summer fairy had blessed the classroom, warding the monsters away i.e. me.
Komachi always complimented my face, saying that if only my dead fish eyes weren't as harsh as they were, I would actually be pretty handsome.
But God had to nerf me. Hikigerma-kun over here. Harsher names were once said.
*Slide*
The door slid open, revealing a woman that was probably much older than she looks.
"Hi everyone~ My name is Hoshinomiya Chie, and you can call me whatever you want, but I won't mind if you call me Chi-chan~"
It's over. This woman's gone bad in the head.
It seemed that a few of the other students had the same thoughts, with a few of the more outgoing students being more receptive.
"I'll be your homeroom teacher for the next 3 years, so don't make me mad~ I hold grudges for a long time you know~"
The teacher seemed to be the mock flirty type. No matter what, if a middle aged woman started pouting in front of her students, a clenching fist in hand, it was bound to be cringe.
But somehow, it felt surprisingly natural. I had to give it to her, her facade was top tier.
I listened as Hoshinomiya-sensei discussed with the students over mundane topics, interest dropping by the minute, until a savior appeared from under the rubble.
"Excuse me, the Entrance Ceremony is starting in an hour, and you haven't given us any meaningful information at all."
Yes, serious-kun! Let's go!
But the response was suprisingly effective.
"With such an attitude, you'll never get a girlfriend you know~" Hoshinomiya said with a teasing tone.
Flawless rebuttal!
I had to give it to the teacher, she shuts down serious-kun in an instant.
Thankfully, Ichinose seemed to support serious-kun, and Hoshinomiya reluctantly took out a basket of what looked to be phones.
"Take one and pass it down your columns~ This is considered your Student ID, so don't lose it either~"
Thankfully I was the last in my column. If I touched and passed it back in Junior High a girl would be like "Ew~ Why did I have to sit behind Hikigerma, can I get a wipe?"
I might cry if that happened here.
"Each students start with 100,000 Points, and new points will be issued at the beginning of every month. The transfer rate is one Yen per Point. You can use these points to buy anything on school grounds."
"That's all, you can spend the remainder of your time talking, but don't for get about the Entrance Ceremony at the end of the hour. Any Questions?"
I had quite a lot, but I didn't have any intention of asking them.
But because of the reputation of this school being a prestigious school, this can't be consistent.
Multiple Hypotheses can be made from this short explanation.
From what I can tell, the 100,000 Points are similar to a benchmark.
Hoshinomiya just saying new points being issued while implying that 100,000 Points will be given, doesn't explicitly say that it'll happen.
This means that there are probably multple criteria in which this increases or decreases.
As this is an academic institution, they probably decrease it if you don't do things expected from a student at a high school.
There are a bunch of unknowns, but I can just ask her and Cold Read when she leaves.
I watched as they asked questions pertaining to the points in rapid succession, and I was a little impressed with the questions that even I didn't think of.
In the end, Hoshinomiya-sensei ended the conversation with a "I'll let you guys think over it yourselves!" and left the room.
I quickly followed, ignoring the one glance I got from the person next to me that I don't know the name of.
I followed her to the teacher's lounge, where I assumed that no student would be around.
"Excuse me, I had a few questions."
Hoshinomiya-sensei looked back, a face of confusion before morphing into a face of recognition.
"Hikigaya-kun, right?"
She memorized our names already?
"Uh, yes."
Her eyebrows raised in a questioning face.
"Why didn't you ask when I asked if there were anymore questions?"
I looked away in feigned embarassment.
"Uh… It was embarrassing?"
She smiled knowingly, as if she quickly saw through my facade.
'How scary.'
"Fine, I'm in a good mood~ Ask away!"
Nice.
"Uh first. Is this supposed to be a class competition?"
A flicker of surprise flashed across her face, before flashing back to her original expression just as fast.
"I don't know, Hikigaya-kun~"
"Then, how much points to transfer to Class A?"
This question implied that a class competition did indeed exist, if she did respond.
"20,000,000 Pri- Points, why, trying to abandon your Class already? I'm sad Hikigaya-kun, maybe I should punish you~"
Pri… This probably meant Private Points. But the existence of Private Points implies the existence of Class Points or something similar.
This means that Class Competition did indeed exist. But why?
Hoshinomiya approached me, but I activated one of my 108 skills: Physical Contact Avoidance!
I swiftly avoided her by backing up, causing her to freeze in her approach.
"Scared, are you, Hikigaya-kun?"
Her smile was quite scary.
"One more question."
Her smile widened, and I took that as my queue.
"How many people from the previous year were able to choose their jobs after graduation?"
"… Fine, only Class A has the ability to freely choose their jobs after graduation. You happy?"
She started pouting, which admittedly, was quite adorable.
"Thank you. Seeing as you avoided my question, all 40 people wasn't able to graduate, right?"
She looked at me with surprise, before approaching me again, making me back up into a wall.
"What a mischievous student I have~"
She said in a low tone, before approaching my ear.
I closed my eyes in both fear and anticipation.
"But I don't dislike it~"
She backed up, reveling in my flushed face, before smiling as if nothing happened.
"You should make your way to the Entrance Ceremony~ See you tomorrow, Hikigaya-kun~"
She walked out of the room, in a much better mood.
'What a scary woman.'
I raised my hand to my right ear, feeling the heat and remembering Hoshinomiya's whisper.
'A Devil in human skin.'
I quickly made my way out, plans changed for the day.
I obtained a lot of info today.
Much more than I anticipated.
First, a class competition existed. Judging by Hoshinomiya-sensei saying that I was betraying the class by switching means that the school priortizes group thinking and collaboration.
Also, with her implying that not the total 40 students graduated implies that they got expelled, which can mean two things.
One, Expulsion was more common in the school because of it's difficulty.
Next, the possibility of 'Events' where expulsion is a possibility.
I had sufficient evidence that it was probably both.
I can assume that expulsion means that there will be a penalty in Class Points, which I will tentatively name until I know the correct classificiation.
But if Class A has the most amount of points, then the possibility of there being an event where expulsion is a 100% possibility is extremely high, with no deductions given.
So this means that on top of getting 20,000,000 Points to get into Class A right before school ends, I also have to get more points as a backup to prevent a possible expulsion.
'This is looking to be more impossible by the second.'
I arrived at the gymnasium, hand on my stomach, planning on using it as an excuse that I was late.
I entered, a queasy expression on my face, getting looks of pity and understanding from my classmates, as I lined up last in line.
I looked around the gym, and it seemed that my guess was right on the dot. The differences in quality between Class C and D compared to Class B and A were stark.
From my observation, it seemed that Class D had more "Deviants" and class C had more "Delinquents".
Looking at Class A, they looked like prim and proper students, more on the academic side of things, with a few exceptions.
I kept up my queasy expression, rubbing my stomach.
There was multiple options regarding getting Points.
The three main options I had were:
Extortion - This was risky and required a lot of prep time to prevent such risks.
Betting - This had a reduced amount of risks but it would probably happen less.
Reselling - This was the most safe option, but it was an extremely slow process.
My least likely option was probably reselling.
Online reselling can only go so far in a secluded community.
So my fast pace to points was Extortion and Betting.
Betting was an easy way to get funds for Extortion.
To safely blackmail someone, and extort them out of their money, a burner phone was needed.
I could probably procure one if I asked Hoshinomiya.
Secret cameras were also necessary.
For example, if someone started fighting in a location where they originally assumed to have no cameras, but they suddenly did, it was an easy way to extort them of money.
And while I do this, I had to prevent anyone from finding out that I was the culprit, or else I would be under threat, which was why I had a burner phone.
It was truly a genius idea, from your resident loner.
This extortion gig is probably going to start in the later times, but I need some leverage.
I looked at Class D.
'They seem to have the stupidest people, so they probably didn't understand the underlying concept of Class Points, so that means extorting them is free game.'
Looking at the Class D students, a red haired student who was relatively well built looked to have anger issues.
It was a perfect target.
The idiot probably wouldn't even bother looking for cameras if he was angry enough.
For now, my new plans are to look for clubs that are willing to bet money on games.
I was relatively decent at Chess, and similarly I was pretty good at Go and Shogi.
Looking up at the podium, they were having their final remarks.
It was still relatively early in the day, I looked at my phone.
12:10 P.M.
I had tons of time.
When I looked at the phamphlet I quickly made my way to the club building, ignoring the stares of my classmates.
—+—
Hoshinomiya Chie POV
I might have found a diamond in the rough~
I stood on the side of the gym, observing my new target of observation.
Hikigaya Hachiman.
From a glance, the first impression one would get was an 'Antisocial Loner'.
She wasn't wrong. When she was introducing herself, she glanced at Hikigaya's way multiple times, each time getting the same uninterested look.
But then, when she went back to the teacher's lounge to get some rest before the Entrance Ceremony, the same person she saw little potential in had already figured out the competition with just a few questions!
In her eyes, his value was quickly rising by the second, even rising above her initial thoughts that Ichinose Honami would be the "Ace" of the class.
She looked through her student's files soon after Hikigaya left, looking for a Hikigaya Hachiman.
She found it.
Name: Hikigaya Hachiman
Student ID: S01T004629
Age: 17
Birthday: August 8th
Gender: Male
Blood Type: A
Height: 172 cm
Academic Ability: A
Intelligence: A+
Decision Making: A+
Physical Ability: B
Cooperativeness: E
Interview Notes: While the subject's previous grades implies that he has had difficulty in Science and Mathematics, he seems to have improved incredibly before the entrance exam. The subject's Intelligence and Decision Making are extremely advanced for his age, and while this is grounds for A Class, due to his past with Bullying and excessive Utilitarian and Cynical tendencies, we believe that placing such a student in Class B is a valid location to build up his empathy.
This was even more than she expected.
For a student that she barely even thought to be relevant, evident by his lack of presence, a majority of his stats outrank anyone in the class, and she even wondered why he was even in her class until he read the Interview Notes.
'Excessive Utilitarian and Cynical tendencies, huh. That's enough to reduce an SSR+ to B Class?'
Forget that, she just got a student that quite possibly could overturn the school.
Back in the present, she watched as Hikigaya observed his surroundings while still keeping up his "My stomach isn't feeling well" facade.
She had to give it to him, if she wasn't observing him directly, I really looked like he was just glancing at random, until he stopped at someone.
She followed his gaze to a Class D student.
Ken Sudo, if she remembered correctly.
She watched as he observed him for a while, before looking away, a thin smile on his face.
It caused a chain reaction, causing her to smile unconsciously, biting her lip.
'How interesting…'
If Hikigaya decided to attack Class D, she would support him all the way.
'I feel bad for you, Sae-chan~'
—+—
Hikigaya Hachiman POV
I looked down at my phone, on my way to the dorms.
2078175 Points.
It was surprisingly easy, but it was more of a one time thing.
The strategy went like this:
Step 1: Introduce yourself as a new D Class student to lower their guards.
Step 2: Bet half of your current points and repeat. (If you don't have time make it a timed match)
Step 3: After the fourth time, tell them the truth, gain their trust, and then go on to the next club.
I started with the Chess Club, as it was surprisingly filled with seniors. That meant that they had a lot more money then I did. When I won against 4 I stopped, then went to the next one.
My first trial with the Chess Club went way better than I initially thought.
So with renewed confidence, I went to the Shogi Club and then the Go Club.
I had a lot of money. Does this mean I wasn't going to target the red haired gorilla? Of course not.
Point's aren't everything in the face of leverage.
Leverage is everything in Politics.
It's why going straight into politics without any backing is basically impossible.
I approached a convience store on my way to the dorm, planning to buy some cheap tolietries. It was even better if there were free tolietries.
I entered the store, a clear bell ringing, announcing my presence.
Not intent on staying longer than necessary, I quickly circled the store, and to my luck, there were free options, although I could only take three.
But hey, free lunch is the best lunch.
Quickly leaving the store, I turned on my phone, to see that I still had time to go to the mall.
'It's better to purchase easily available expensive items to money launder if my classmates ask for points. They also have to be easily revealed so it's more believable.'
Keyaki Mall, here I come.