Suzune Horikita lay quietly on her bed, refreshing her point balance one more time.
"9,900 points..."
She stared at the number on the screen, repeating it softly, her brow furrowing unconsciously. She had to gather 25,000 points before the end of school tomorrow. The number weighed on her heart like a heavy stone. With her current balance, she was far from it. Besides, even if she managed to scrape it together, she still needed to set aside some points for daily expenses.
In fact, although Suzune Horikita's family was well-off, she had developed a frugal habit since she was young. Since the start of school, she had deliberately avoided buying expensive items, always looking for more cost-effective alternatives. There were no brand-name stationeries in her locker, her uniform was always kept neat, and she never bought unnecessary casual clothes. Even when eating in the cafeteria, she would carefully calculate every expense to ensure her points were used where they were most needed.
But even so, the current point deficit still made her feel a little anxious.
"My points... where did they all go?"
Suzune Horikita lightly bit her lower lip, her fingertip quickly swiping across the terminal screen to pull up her detailed transaction history. Fortunately, every expenditure was clearly recorded. She decided to review them carefully from the beginning.
First day of school—
Since she had deliberately packed light, she had to purchase a large number of necessities: shampoo, laundry detergent, a washbasin, toothpaste... plus the cost of three meals a day. These were unavoidable expenses, totaling 3,000 points.
Balance: 97,000 points
Second day—
A bottle of mineral water, three simple hair clips, and daily meals.
Expenditure: 1,500 points
Balance: 95,500 points
For the next two days, she controlled her spending quite well, keeping her daily expenses under 1,000 points.
However—the record for the fifth day made her finger pause.
Transfer to Kiyomizu Akira: 80,000 points
Deluxe Meal Set: 1,000 points
Transfer to Kiyomizu Akira: 100 points
These three expenditures had instantly slashed her balance to 13,000 points. She stared at the screen in silence for a moment. Her finger gently swiped over the record for the deluxe meal set—that was the meal she had treated Kiyomizu to. As for the 100-point miso soup, it was just to settle a debt.
"So... Kiyomizu took most of my points?" she muttered to herself, her tone not of anger, but rather self-mockery. Thinking back, the transaction was indeed not worth it. One of the pieces of information she had bought for 80,000 points had been casually revealed by Kushida after school today. In other words, she had paid a huge price for only one piece of information: that the classes were divided based on merit.
Strangely, Suzune Horikita couldn't bring herself to blame Kiyomizu. The first thought that came to her mind was: was I too rash? After all, he had never forced her. She was the one who had approached him, and she was the one who had willingly transferred the 80,000 points. What was more ironic was that she had never expected to face the dilemma of paying class fees just a few days later.
Suzune Horikita had never once thought of getting the 80,000 points back. She knew very well that if not for Chabashira's intervention today, Kiyomizu would never have provided the information to Class D for free. It had been a legitimate transaction where goods and money were exchanged. The content was clear, the process transparent, and no one could find any fault with it.
But what truly bothered her was a deeper issue of self-esteem.
"I can't let him look down on me..."
The moment this thought flashed through her mind, she could almost see Kiyomizu's surprised eyes again. The mere thought of that scene made her feel like she was sitting on pins and needles, her breath unconsciously quickening. Compared to the huge loss of points, the feeling of being looked down upon by Kiyomizu was much harder to bear.
"These 25,000 points... are ultimately class fees paid to Kiyomizu."
Although Chabashira had nominally paid the one million points upfront, at its root, this class fee was essentially flowing into Kiyomizu's pocket. Thinking this, she suddenly realized an absurd fact—all the points in her account had, in one way or another, ended up in that person's hands.
"The 80,000-point information fee... the 25,000-point class fee..." Her finger swiped across the terminal, suddenly stopping on a certain record. "Oh, right! I also have the 5,000-point bonus from the swimming class..." These numbers quickly added up in her head, finally settling on a precise and startling sum—105,000 points.
Suzune Horikita's recent income was exactly 105,000, and the points Kiyomizu had gotten from her were also 105,000. Not a single point left! The number was too perfect, so perfect it seemed intentional.
The anger that should have welled up was replaced by a more complex emotion. Suzune Horikita's fingertip gently touched her lower lip, Kiyomizu's perpetually composed face clearly appearing in her mind. This feeling of being completely seen through was too familiar, so familiar that it made her chest feel tight. It was exactly like being in a chess game where the opponent had unknowingly taken control of all your moves. It might have been a coincidence, but it was so perfect it felt like a carefully crafted script. This terrifying sense of control couldn't help but remind her of the person who always looked down on her from above.
"So much like... my brother..."
Manabu Horikita—the brother who had been held up as a model since childhood, who always treated her with strict standards. If she hadn't followed in his footsteps, she would never have chosen this school. Her fingers unconsciously toyed with a strand of her long hair. This long, dark hair was in itself a silent vow. Kiyomizu had been right at the pool. She just... wasn't willing to admit it in front of the person who always saw through everything.
That day, when Kushida had belittled Kiyomizu in front of her, she couldn't help but retort. Because she knew better than anyone just how hard that seemingly ordinary guy worked. At 6:30 on the morning of the second day of school, when she had opened her curtains as usual, she had seen that figure running on the track. The school's track was one kilometer per lap, and Kiyomizu ran ten laps every day without fail. This habit had continued from the second day of school until now, without interruption.
Thinking of her brother, Horikita's gaze unconsciously fell on her phone screen. At the very top of her contact list, under the name "Manabu Horikita," was the message she had sent after school:
Suzune Horikita: Brother, now that I'm also at the Advanced Nurturing High School, I will prove it to you! I'm not the same person I was before. I will show you my resolve!
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