At 9 PM, Hikaru opehe door to his dorm room.

  Today had been another busy day. Despite a few setbacks along the way, he had successfully recimed one million Private Points from Css D. With Iose already holding over two million, once Css C was taken care of, this phase of the pn would finally be plete.

  Even though it had only bee days sihe school year started, Hikaru felt as though time had dragged on endlessly. He wasn't the only one—Iose Honami, who had been w alongside him, must have felt the same.

  Under normal circumstahe first month after enrollment should be a time for freshmen to familiarize themselves with the school and their cssmates. But this school was different. The moment they set foot here, the petitioween csses had already begun.

  "And as expected, the biggest problem is still Nagumo…"

  Leaning ba his chair, Hikaru repyed his earlier versation in his mind. As the leader of 2nd-year Css A and the Vice President of the Student cil, Nagumo Miyabi had already solidated his hold over the entire sed year.

  If Manabu's information was accurate, then Nagumo possessed a terrifying amount of resources—enough to manipute student behavior with ease. After all, no one could afford to ignore Private Points.

  Hikaru absentmindedly tapped his fingers against the edge of his desk, deep in thought.

  At the same time, Manabu's attitude earlier today had caught him off guard. From their two brief enters, Hikaru had expected him to be someone profoundly shrewd, a man with an unfathomable depth to his schemes.

  For someone like that, it made little seo reveal critical information so openly to a first-year—a, not only had Manabu done so, but he had also agreed to let Hikaru involve himself iudent cil.

  "Because of Horikita Suzune?"

  Hikaru stroked his thoughtfully. It was obvious that Manabu cared about his younger sister—after all, he had asked Hikaru to help her grow. That alone spoke volumes.

  But then why did he treat Suzune so coldly?

  If Hikaru hadn't intervened yesterday, would Manabu really have spped her?

  That part was difficult to uand. However, now that their deal was set, Hikaru wasn't particurly ed. Beyond Suzuhe real priority was still Nagumo.

  He picked up his phone, his s dispying Manabu's number. A faint smile crossed Hikaru's lips—he had more or less pieced together Manabu's underlying iions.

  Manabu's objectives could be broken down into two key parts.

  One: He was warning Hikaru in advance about Nagumo's future as, giving him time to prepare.

  Two: He wanted his sister to develop into someone capable of standing on her own.

  "Helping Horikita Suzune grow doesn't really matter to me. She'll figure out soon enough that Css D has no ce of rising. But through this, I access Horikita Manabu's intelligework."

  If Hikaru wao take on Nagumo, the Student cil was essential. That was the significe of those two vat seats.

  And vely, Suzune had already been added to the Love Stock Market System. While her initial stock price was only 100 points, as long as Hikaru could earn more from elsewhere, buying in wouldn't be a problem.

  Speaking of which—he had just secured Kushida's stock, hadn't he?

  sidering the plicated retionship between those two, using profits from Kushida to buy Suzune's stock… would she be angry if she found out?

  As for the inter css petition, Hikaru suspected that the rankings might shift ohe first month ended, given the Private Point transas he had orchestrated.

  Currently, Css B had received a 100-point bonus from the school, boosting their overall Css Points. As long as they maintained order, there was a ce the rankings would reset on May 1st.

  "In any case, I o settle things with Css orrow. Once I retrieve the st batch of Private Points, I'll shift my focus toward unifying Css B and leading them toward Css A."

  Opening his system interface, Hikaru g his current stock listings.

  There were four active stocks:

  [Iose Honami Stock]

  [Chabashira Sae Stock]

  [Horikita Suzuock]

  [Kushida Kikyo Stock]

  Meanwhile, in his portfolio, he only held two stocks:

  [Iose Honami Stock]

  [Kushida Kikyo Stock] (Current Price: 10 points, Shares: ???)

  "I still o increase my favorability with Kushida and build trust."

  Besides, hadn't Kushida invited him to dihat was the perfect opportunity.

  After spending some time anizing his thoughts, Hikaru jotted everything down in a notebook. He believed that writing things out was more effective than relying on memory—the more notes he took, the better he could review and refine his strategies.

  Before heading to bed, he sent Iose a message, tellio be ready for tomorrow's Css C transa.

  It had been a while since he st saw Ibuki—he wondered how things were going in Css C.

  ---

  The M

  After pleting his m workout routine, Hikaru stepped into Css B's .

  Last night, the css group chat had been lively until nearly 2 AM.

  On one hand, everyone had been celebrating Hikaru's success in seg another batch of Private Points, bringing Css B's total assets even higher.

  Oher hand, they had been discussing whether to host a css-wide gathering after all three transas were plete—a reward for their ret efforts.

  Iose had immediately agreed in the chat, saying that spending time together as a css was important.

  But soon after, everyone in the group chat began spamming Hikaru's name, waiting for his response.

  By now, Css B collectively reized Iose as their leader. However, when it came to actual deaking, nobody felt reassured unless Hikaru gave his approval.

  This was an unspoken sensus among his cssmates.

  "Good m, Hikaru-kun!"

  "M, Hikaru-kun!"

  The moment he walked in, his cssmates greeted him enthusiastically.

  Without realizing it, he had bee the erstone of the css—trusted by both the boys and the girls.

  "Good m, everyone."

  Returning their greetings with a smile, Hikaru made his way to his seat.

  Seated nearby, a girl with long pink hair had already arrived. However, she looked a little tired, faint dark circles visible beh her eyes.

  "Iose-san, did you stay up te?" Hikaru asked gently.

  "Not really… I was just having too much fun chatting with everyone and lost track of time…"

  Iose gave a sheepish smile, clearly embarrassed. Seeing everyone praise Hikaru in the group chat st night had made her happy, so she had kept replying to their messages non-stop.

  "Make sure you don't overdo it," Hikaru said, his tone carrying a hint of admonition. "Otherwise, I might have to ban te-night messages in the group chat."

  "Got it, I'll be careful ime."

  Iose nodded, feeling warmth from his . She quickly took out her notebook taining the rule expnations and ha to him.

  "When we go to Css C today, we just hand them this notebook after colleg the points. That way, you won't have to expihing yourself."

  "That works."

  Hikaru had no objes—less work for him. Take the money, drop the notebook, and leave.

  "I'll tact Ibuki first," Iose said, gripping her phone. "I'm curious about Css C's current situation."

  "True. With Ryuen and the others suspeheir css lost three major enforcers."

  Pulling out his textbook, Hikaru's lips curled into a subtle smile.

  "Css C must have chosen a new leader by now… We'll find out soon enough."

  ~~~

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