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Akira no longer had time to pay attention to Kushida's reaction, because Horikita Manabu had finally sent him the long-awaited text message.
{Call me immediately.}
The concise message conveyed his usual directness.
Akira's eyes narrowed, and he unhesitatingly stood up and left the classroom, walking quickly to the relatively private space of the restroom.
After the call connected, Horikita Manabu's characteristic calm voice came through the receiver. "The school authorities have approved your application, which is largely consistent with my prediction."
"Four classes, eight surveillance devices, with a rental period of three weeks, starting from this Monday and expiring completely at the end of this month." Horikita Manabu paused. "However, the school authorities have attached four conditions."
"First, because there's no surveillance data from last week, the class points that your four classes have already lost in the first week can't be changed."
"Second, you can only rent out the surveillance rights to the class where the surveillance is located, and not to other classes. You must sell them within three days. If they're still in your possession, the school has the right to reclaim these permissions. Correspondingly, the school authorities' buyback price is four hundred thousand points per device."
"Third, you need to pay a rental fee of 1.2 million points."
"Fourth," Horikita Manabu's voice held a hint of amusement, "Chairman Sakayanagi is very interested in you and wishes to speak with you personally. You should be able to accept these conditions, right?"
On this end of the phone, Akira's lips curved slightly upward.
"Yes."
This cost was much lower than he'd anticipated.
It seemed the Student Council President's judgment was mistaken.
He'd initially thought the school authorities would directly approve a one-month rental period, but unexpectedly, they only granted three weeks.
But after calm consideration, Akira realized that the school authorities' reasoning wasn't without merit—if surveillance covered a whole month, the point gap between the four classes would likely be significantly narrowed, which would cause the competition to lose its meaning entirely.
If the school authorities truly allowed students to completely prevent rule violations through surveillance, they might ultimately need to pay a high reward of one hundred thousand points to each of the one hundred sixty first-year students.
This would clearly be an unbearable burden for the school authorities' finances.
Based solely on the deduction data from the first week, it was already possible to determine which classes belonged to Class A and which had fallen to Class D.
"Judging by this, Class D will probably still be at the bottom!" Akira immediately realized this.
Thinking carefully, Class D had dozens of late arrivals and absences in the first week of school alone.
However, considering it was only the first week, the class points should still retain more than half, not be completely deducted.
As for the second condition, the school authorities' intention was clear.
They hoped students would earn points in moderation, rather than treating other classmates as surveillance targets, and certainly not affecting others' normal study life.
The implication was: "Please be mindful, seize this three-day sales opportunity, and don't think about monitoring other classmates, otherwise the school authorities will revoke the surveillance rights."
However, the school authorities' buyback price was four hundred thousand points per device, so overall, he'd still make a steady profit.
In reality, Akira had no intention of holding the surveillance rights long-term from the beginning.
Earning some money was enough. There was no need to do anything extra.
As for the rent being 1.2 million points, it actually wasn't that much.
"Chairman Sakayanagi is right beside me now. He wants to speak with you. Is that convenient for you?" the Student Council President's voice came through the receiver again.
Akira was taken aback. "Of course."
Although he didn't know why Chairman Sakayanagi wanted to speak with him, he was, after all, the principal, and he had no right to refuse.
"Shimizu-kun, hello. I am Sakayanagi Narimori, the chairman of this school."
The voice on the other end of the phone was gentle and refined, with the broad warmth characteristic of an elder.
Akira raised an eyebrow slightly—for the esteemed chairman to introduce himself so humbly to a student was quite unexpected.
Regardless of whether this friendliness was genuine or not, at least at this moment, he felt a slight liking for this chairman he'd never met before.
"Hello, Chairman Sakayanagi. I am Shimizu Akira from first-year Class D." He responded with equally appropriate politeness, his voice neither humble nor arrogant.
"Shimizu-kun, you've been enrolled for over a week now, haven't you? How are you adapting to school life?" Sakayanagi's tone was like an elder concerned for a junior.
Akira's lips curved slightly, understanding this kind of leadership-style small talk. "Thank you for your concern. The school environment is excellent, and I've fully adapted."
"Is that so? By the way, how's your health lately? Are you feeling unwell anywhere?"
"My health has always been excellent. To be honest, I haven't even caught a cold since I was a child."
"Oh?" The chairman let out a meaningful sigh. "It's truly rare for a young person to have such a good physique. Speaking of which..." He suddenly changed the subject. "You must also have a habit of morning runs, right? A few days ago, I was at my office window and happened to see you running on the track. If I'm not mistaken, you run at least ten kilometers every time."
"Yes, it's one of the habits I've had since childhood."
Akira was taken aback—the chairman's office window indeed overlooked the entire track. But the question was, how did the other party recognize him?
Being seen by chance was one thing, but being recognized and remembered by the chairman at a glance—this meant he'd long been on the other party's list of key interests.
He didn't think there was anything special about him that would warrant such attention from the esteemed chairman.
"Maintaining exercise is a good habit!" On the other end of the phone, Sakayanagi's voice suddenly carried a touch of genuine emotion. "As parents, our greatest wish is for our children to grow up healthy and safe..."
Akira keenly caught the hint of undisguised melancholy in the other party's tone. This was definitely not polite small talk—this chairman seemed to have an unusual obsession with "health."
'Could it be... he himself is in poor health? Could it be that...'
He decided to probe. "Forgive my impertinence, Chairman Sakayanagi. I know a student named Sakayanagi Arisu. I wonder if she's related to you...?"
A slight gasp came from the other end of the phone, followed by a bitter chuckle. "She is my daughter... She's been a sickly child since she was young."
Akira's eyes widened instantly.
"Shimizu-kun, you needn't worry," Sakayanagi's voice regained its composure. "I've always advocated for fair competition and won't interfere with class matters due to personal relationships."
"Shimizu-kun, I initially thought you were a student who wasn't very good at studying, but it seems I was greatly mistaken. I hope you can continue to maintain this state." On the other end of the phone, Sakayanagi ended the call abruptly after a brief instruction.
Akira held his phone, feeling a sense of incongruity.
The other party hadn't even asked about the surveillance.
Instead, he'd inquired about many mundane details, a kind of overly concerned questioning that inexplicably reminded him of arranged blind dates by elders.
"I must be overthinking it..." Akira shook his head and put his phone back in his pocket.
After all, don't older people tend to be this chatty?