COTE: Zero Peace

Chapter 3 - Lights Out

After the introductions were done, I headed out to the cafeteria. Alone, might I add. I actually had the opportunity to go with Hirata and other classmates thanks to Hirata offering to have lunch with anyone who wanted to come, but how could I bring myself to go after that introduction?

Now that I'm here though, I don't really see any food options that stick out to me. I guess I'll just take this time to wander around. There's a convenience store here right? I think I saw it earlier. Guess I'll head there.

...

I made it here pretty quickly, and through the window I already see two people from my class. That is Horikita and Sudou. I enter the store and look around, picking up basic necessities like a toothbrush and toothpaste. In this store alone, there's quite a lot to spend your points on. Even though I have 100,000 of them, I still shop like I'm fairly low on points.

Horikita ends up coming into the aisle that I'm in, and I can see that she also chose to buy basic needs like shampoo.

"How did the introduction go?" She asked, but she sounded as if she already knew the answer somehow.

"They made me go first. I'd rather not talk about it." I chose to keep my gaze aimed at the shelves. I didn't want to experience what a smug Horikita could look like.

"Little sad that I missed that. Maybe I should've stayed." Her words were tinted with amusement.

"I'm glad you didn't...." I said, still scanning the shelf for items of interest.

My eyes then landed on something pretty peculiar. This aisle has an area for items that are free, specifically for the people that have run out of points.

With 100,000 points a month, It's impossible that enough people would ever be in the situation where they have no remaining points to warrant adding a whole free section to a convenience store.This pretty much confirms that there is more to it if people are going broke.

"You see this?" I asked her.

I wanted to see if she is also noticing that the school was keeping something from us. This could be viewed as me testing her.

"What?" She said, coming over to see what I was talking about.

"Everything here is free for people who have run out of points."

"I saw this earlier, but now that you mention it, it does seem a little strange....In what scenario would students ever run out of points?"

"That's what I've been wondering as well."

"I thought it was weird that we all were given so many points from the start. This basically confirms that something could happen to our points in the future." Horikita voiced her thoughts.

"Hm....."

Lucky me. I might have been right about her. Though she hasn't yet thought about what may be the cause of the lack of points, her showing suspicion in it is enough, I suppose.

"Well, I'll think about it. I'll see you around." I said, before paying for my items and leaving.

Oh yeah, I got two sandwiches as well. In total, I spent around 5000 points. The good thing is that I won't be spending much more than maybe 1,000 every day going forward, if even that.. Actually it'll be much less when I start cooking my own food. I should buy some cooking supplies from the mall tomorrow. Probably a cooking book too since I'm not well versed..

Saving up my private points will definitely be a necessity for what's to come.

Off to my dorm then.

.......