Now that my business with the Student Council was over, I finally had a chance to explore the school. My freedom was finally achieved. Even though this was still a prison of sorts, there was far more freedom, and I could make decisions for myself here.
Three years. I had three years to learn what it was like to live in society, how to interact with ordinary people, how to be human.
Unfortunately, while I had met some very interesting people such as Kiryuuin, Manabu and Nagumo, the people I had intended to interact with and learn from were my classmates.
My dull, stupid, shallow classmates. And I had blown that opportunity completely this morning. It was extremely unlikely that they would move on and forgive me for my attitude this morning, so some form of intervention would likely be necessary. Perhaps a sob story. From my readings in literature, a sad story to guise an apology was an effective method of garnering sympathy, especially with girls. Something to contemplate before class tomorrow.
For now, though, I needed to eat something. It was mid-afternoon, and I hadn't eaten food since breakfast. While I am capable of going days without food thanks to my training, it was not an ideal situation to be in.
As I approached the first-year dorms, I saw there was a small store nearby. It appeared to sell many necessities needed for a simple life, and most notably, ingredients and cooking utensils. Over the past year, Matuso had gone to great lengths to ensure I was capable of cooking high quality and nutritious meals, even with limited ingredients.
In order to save points, it was essential to cook meals. Even though I had warned my classmates, they most likely would not listen due to a stubborn refusal to accept me as someone better than them, and hence the number of points we received next month would certainly be much less. Cooking food was almost always cheaper, for both lunches and dinner. Obtaining a bento box should also be possible in this store, as that would allow me to save on lunches as well as eat where I want to.
This school was rather large, however, and so I should not make a static judgement so quickly. It was possible that on the far corner of campus or hidden in an alleyway there was a small store with cheap food that could rival my cooking. Of course, this was unlikely, but I could not rule it out until I had explored the entirety of campus.
Unfortunately for me, as I entered, I saw one of my classmates who was certain to detest me.
Standing in the isle of ingredients, which I was heading to was Horikita, my seatmate, and the girl that Kouenji and I had humiliated the most out of the class. Although she hadn't done much not only was she shot down by our double-pronged attack, but she also inadvertently insulted the rest of the class earning their ire as well.
As she stood there comparing two different products, I walked up to her and attempted to start a conversation. Despite her incredible hindering superiority complex, she was an intelligent person, and based on small observations she was rather fit too, probably above average when it came to athletics. Her nature was based in reason, however she simply did not consider the possibility of anyone being better than her. Also, her disregard for those below her, ironically, made her unable to act as someone superior, in the sense of a leader, since no one would ever follow someone with an attitude such as hers. Based on what I had observed in the class, she was one of the most observant students, and if she abandoned her superiority complex, she would make a great leader. Perhaps then the class could become a little more interesting.
Until she did that, I would needle at her and slowly chip away at this facet of her personality and make her into someone worth my time. A return on my investment, I suppose. If she was anything like her brother, then her potential would most certainly be worth developing, if only to see what chaos she could bring to the other three classes.
"Trying to save some points?" She was obviously doing so, comparing the same item but for different prices, trying to justify whether it was worth spending more.
"This has to be a joke. What could you possibly want to speak with me about? Here to brag your genius again?" The fact that she even spoke to me was a surprise. I was expecting to be ignored and walked away from, but this made things much easy.
"Obviously you have some suspicious about the points. I saw you react when sensei was explaining it."
"Of course. 100,000 is a ridiculous amount per month for high school students. Also..." She hesitated here, probably not wanting to admit something. "I read your post. It was well written and covered every argument. As much as I dislike your attitude, I can't refute what you said. Even though it's still a hypothesis, I would rather be cautious."
"So, you admit my superiority then?" Her gaze became sharp, and I could tell she was doing everything she could to resist hitting me. Calm down, you're nothing. "Clearly your though process is much more refined than the rest of the defectives in the class." At the mention of the word defective, Horikita seemed to give up controlling her impulses. Her left hand came up to try and slap me, rather quickly too, clearly, she had some training. I grabbed her wrist just before it reached me and applied a small amount of pressure. Once I saw her face contort slightly from pain, I released her. "Although it's not a theory, I spoke with Manabu earlier, and he confirmed everything I said." Oops. That was a mistake. Her face went red, a vein popping out and her grip was so tight on her shopping basket her entire hand had gone white.
"Nii-san. Spoke to you. Why. How. And. You call him Manabu? Disgraceful. Show some respect." Noted. Don't mention the brother to the bro-con.
"He asked me to call him that." A lie, but he probably wouldn't mind. "And as for meeting him, he simply wanted to talk to the 'the most interesting student to ever come through this school'. His words not mine." This seemed to finally break her. Torn between her respect for her brother, her hatred of me for humiliating her in class, but having to respect me as a person both recognised by Manabu and someone she considered to be as perceptive as her (not capable of admitting I was more so) had finally collided and broken her ability to rationalise the situation at all.
Either way that conversation had been progress. It seems she didn't hate me as much as I expected, her superiority forcing her to recognise greatness as good. "Well, enjoy your shopping, and try to save some points." I grabbed the last items I needed from that isle and walked to the register.
There seemed to be some sort of a commotion occurring at the front of the line. A big red-haired boy was yelling at the cashier, something about forgetting his card. Idiot. We explicitly got told our id card pays for everything, yet he put it down somewhere and left without it. Oh, he was one of the students in my class, wasn't he? I didn't catch his name, but based on his physique, he was someone who had extensively trained, not even close to the level that I had, but he was incredibly fit and strong, far higher than the average high school student. He could be useful to have as a tool, so getting on his good side was essential.
"Look, just hold my stuff for a sec! I'll run back and grab it!" Sigh. This was annoying. I could see the line of customers behind him were frustrated, some of them even calling out, telling him to hurry up or get lost. However, this provided a unique opportunity to get on his good side.
"Hey, let me pay for you." I walked to the front of the line and offered to pay for him. Obviously, he would be suspicious of this, but it wasn't like he had many options.
"Wait, you're that rude kid from earlier! What do you want, come to talk down on me again?" So, he had anger issues. They would need to be resolved quickly before they caused him to get in my way. Although leaving him to rampage for the next three years would be quite entertaining, being able to direct that rampage would be a much more valuable use for this moron.
"You're causing a ruckus. I just want to deal with this now, so let me pay and you can go back and find your card." Saying this I placed my card on the scanner, and waited for a beep before walking off, having payed for his cup noodles, and lined up at the back. A few customers gave me grateful looks, and the cashier started to serve the next person. The red-haired boy, looked at me, probably torn between wanting to thank me and still being mad at my attitude in class, before going outside to sit at a table and eat his noodles.
After paying for my items, I left the store, and saw three older boys about to approach the table the red-haired boy was sitting at. This could prove interesting. A show of dominance, perhaps? Or an extortion, trying to scam a clueless first year? I took out my phone and started recording, watching from around a pole. It never hurt to be cautious.
Ah, so that was their plan. Rile him up, since he clearly looked like a delinquent with a hot head, and get it caught on camera. Each of the three boys had taken a second to glance at it, but somehow the red-haired boy hadn't noticed. People really were slow here, not seeing such a long glance.
Oh well, time to interfere and get some points. Walking over, I put a hand on the red-haired boy's shoulder, holding him back slightly.
"Calm down. It's obvious that they want you to fight them, or they wouldn't be trying to antagonise you so much. There's clearly cameras here, their plan was to catch you on video and extort points from you." Both my surprise appearance and comprehensive understanding of their plan shocked both the upperclassmen and my classmate, stopping them all in their tracks. Previously, the red-haired boy, I really need to learn his name, was about to get violent with me, but after hearing my explanation calmed down a little.
Or not, because he immediately turned his rage back at the upperclassmen.
"Hey, you! Trying to steal my points! You really think you can get away with that!" Oh god, he actually was stupid. It would take a long time to be able to fix his anger issue. Perhaps I could manipulate him to focus on another person, either through competition or attraction. While I may not feel romance, affection or hate myself, the concepts were rather simple, and I had read enough books on psychology that I could use and manipulate these feelings simply enough. Something to consider later.
"Tch. He figured out our plan. Let's go, no point sticking around with Class D defectives any longer." Luckily red-hair boy just stared at their retreating figures, making my job much easier.
"Wait." They stopped and turned around, about to badmouth me, but froze when they heard the recording I had taken. "This is you admitting to attempting to extortion. As I recall, sensei mentioned that the school takes these incidents very seriously. So, the question is, what are you willing to do to get me to delete this." It would be much more useful to hold the recording over their heads. Pawns in upper years would be essential, however, this video was flimsy at best, and currently securing private points was my number one priority. I'm sure these foolish upperclassmen would also try something later, and then I could properly trap them.
"What do you want, points? I know it sucks being new year, so many things and not enough points to try them all." Hit the nail on the head. Although, this upperclassman really was dumb. If they still assumed that the first years had no knowledge of the system, they would believe we believed that we got 100,000 each month, meaning that to us, points would be considered a lesser commodity. But I know that it's not true, so they are incorrect to believe that I believe that, making their entire attempt to bribe me usually stupid. Although, since I had solved the system, they lucked out and points did become something valuable to first years. A broken clock is right twice a day.
Confusing right? Gonna be honest I confused myself writing this.
"How many points do you each have." Upperclassmen should have decent amounts of savings available. After looking over them, I gave my demand. "80%. Give me 80% of all your points and I will delete the video." Looking frustrated at being outclassed by a new student, they transferred them over to me. 1.2 million each. A decent amount to work with, this would be useful in the future. Once they were transferred over, I showed them my phone, and deleted the video, then left them to walk off in silence.
"Yeah, run away you bastards! If I see you again, I'll show you not to mess with me!" He really didn't learn anything did he. I could almost guarantee that he would fall into the same trap sooner or later if I didn't do anything now.
"Oi. Moron." That got his attention. He turned to face me, fists clenched, as if he was going to strike me.
"Insulting me again? Yeah, you've helped me out a bit, but don't think I'm gonna let that go!"
"This whole situation is your fault. Either control your temper, or someone will be successful and scam your points." This was the boiling point for him. Stepping forward, he threw a fist at my face. It was quick, and quite powerful, he definitely had the strength to back up his attitude. Which just meant I had to crush him even easier.
Dodging his fist, I moved forward and threw a sharp jab into his stomach. I didn't put much power into it, but it was enough to drop him to the ground, winded and gasping in pain.
"You may have been the strongest one around before, but here and now, there are plenty of people stronger, and smarter. Use your brain, think. Because next time, I won't help you." That should get through to him. Displaying ones strength was a simple way to garner respect, especially from those that based their self-worth on their strength.
"Tch. Fine. I get it. You really can back up what you said in class today." Huh. He acquiesced to the situation much faster than I thought. "It's not easy for me to control my temper, I know it's a problem, but I can't do much about it." Even though he thought he couldn't change, recognising his problem was a huge difference from even five minutes ago.
"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
"Wait!" Good, he fell for my trap. By reaching the point in conversation for introductions then leaving, he was societally obliged to reach out a hand, making in his mind me his friend. "My name is Sudou Ken. What's yours. After you're insults in class, you left without introducing yourself." I turned back around to face him, and upon seeing him hold out his hand I grasped it firmly.
"Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. It's a pleasure." Saying this I finally left with my groceries and found my dorm room.
So, this was freedom. Well, it wasn't nearly as boring as I thought. I will have to make my own fun, train and raise those around me so they can actually pose a challenge, but either way, this school could use a little chaos. I will run amuck through my grade and defeat anyone who gets in my way.
Yes, that would be the interesting life I was searching for.
Authors Notes
So i was pretty happy with this chapter. The characters may be a bit OOC or rushed development, but it was a bit longer than the previous chapters so yay. Bit of setup, next chapter is also dull but things get more interesting in chapter 6. Hope you enjoyed!