Sae Chabashira was not in a good mood.
Long before the homeroom session had even begun, she had actually been standing in the hallway outside the classroom, observing this year’s Class D students.
The results of her observation were, naturally, rather dreadful, so she had already resigned herself to the prospect of wasting another three years.
But to her surprise, a pleasant shock arrived out of nowhere.
“Do I need to repeat myself?
On the first of every month, the school will deposit points into your student terminals.”
Suzune Horikita furrowed her brow.
She wasn’t even relieved right now at having narrowly escaped a moment of social death, because she had detected something off about this obviously evasive answer Sae Chabashira had given.
Points would be deposited, yes—but how many?
This month it was 100,000, but what about next month?
“This shouldn’t be an inconvenient question to answer.
I simply want to know how many points we’ll receive next month,” Suzune Horikita pressed.
At those words, the corner of Sae Chabashira’s mouth curved upward by half a pixel’s worth, and her mood improved a little.
But rules were rules.
She couldn’t answer.
“You’ll find out when next month comes.”
By now, some of the Class D students had also realized something was amiss, and one of them promptly stood up to take up the topic.
“Sensei, can you really not answer right now?”
Sae Chabashira remained silent, letting emotions like unease and confusion spread throughout the class, while she secretly observed the students’ reactions.
Unfortunately, right up to the end, no one uncovered the deeper problem—not even Suzune Horikita, who had been the first to suspect that something was wrong with the point distribution.
“So this is the extent of it?”
She let out a sigh.
“Homeroom ends here.
There’s an opening ceremony later, so remember to attend and don’t be late.”
With that, Sae Chabashira left.
On his end, Axel End also rose at once, preparing to leave the classroom—but to everyone’s surprise, Suzune Horikita took the initiative to speak to him.
“You know something more, don’t you?”
Well, you’ve asked the right person.
He knew far too much.
But the reason he hadn’t gone on to cram it into a third task for Suzune Horikita to complete was, naturally, that the cost-effectiveness was too low.
Because the timeliness and value of this intelligence could only be maintained for one month; by next month it would be common knowledge to everyone.
The only reason he’d specifically spent a task allotment before was that he’d intended to give Suzune Horikita a little taste of something sweet.
After all, draining the pond to catch the fish was unwise; only knowing when to tighten and when to loosen the reins would let Suzune Horikita serve as a fine little fat lamb.
That said, Axel End’s footsteps didn’t pause for even half a second as he walked out of the classroom.
Suzune Horikita’s eyes flickered a few times, but in the end she gritted her teeth and followed after him, attempting all the while to extract information using her own particular brand of reasoning.
“Chabashira-sensei’s attitude was far too suspicious.
I suspect this school is hiding some information from us, so if you know something, I hope you’ll tell me.”
Axel End said nothing, simply walking on.
Advanced Nurturing High School was built atop an artificial island, its grounds so vast that they were utterly beyond the level any normal high school ought to have.
Fortunately, the various buildings were laid out quite reasonably, so there was no situation requiring dozens of minutes of walking to get anywhere.
“Even if I really did know something, why should I tell you?”
“You should know that you tried to slap me earlier.
I’m the kind of person who holds a grudge.”
A fish taking the bait was a good thing.
But a fish wanting to freeload off the bait was a bad thing.
“Did your mom and dad, or your older brother or sister, never teach you that when you ask someone for something, you should have the proper attitude?”
“At the very least, you ought to apologize to me for what happened earlier first, right?”
Suzune Horikita fell silent.
She had never been particularly good at dealing with people.
In her teachers’ eyes, perhaps the halo of a top student could gloss things over a little, but among the student body her reputation was rather brutal.
Not that she cared about such things in the slightest.
Still, now that she’d realized there was something wrong with this school, she had no intention of sitting still and waiting for the first of next month.
Her intuition told her this was nothing good.
And on top of that, Axel End had taken a potshot at her brother—that was a remark she absolutely could not pretend she hadn’t heard!
“Fine.
I apologize to you.”
“Now can you tell me?”
Axel End shook his head.
Is that how you apologize?
Where’s the sincerity?
Where’s the human decency?
Manabu Horikita, you truly are steeped in sin.
A perfectly good girl, forced into this state through your influence.
When the little sister is untaught, the fault lies with the elder brother.
Since you couldn’t teach her well and were unwilling to, then I, the esteemed Axel, will just have to give Suzune Horikita a proper lesson.
“You understand the concept of an equivalent exchange, don’t you?”
“You give money, I give intelligence.
That’s all.”
Axel End lamented that he was simply too kind, hinting both openly and covertly at the correct way to use points.
But Suzune Horikita saw it differently.
“You warned me during homeroom that there was a problem with the points, so why are you now making me pay to buy the answer?”
No—could your focus possibly be any more off the mark?
Truly, this child cannot be taught!
“Horikita-san, during that entire homeroom session I never spoke a single word to you, nor did I so much as glance at you.
All the surveillance can attest to that.”
“So right now I’m getting the feeling that there really is something wrong with the way you think.
Come find me once you’ve become a bit more normal.”
With that, Axel End quickened his pace.
Suzune Horikita pursed her lips.
Could she really have judged wrong?
Was this thing called the system unrelated to Axel End after all?
Had she been too subjective, taking things for granted?
[Hello, Host Suzune Horikita]
[I am the AI assistant of the Perfect Life System.
If you have any questions, please silently recite them in your mind to communicate with me]
A synthetic mechanical voice suddenly sounded in her mind.
Suzune Horikita gave a start, but quickly calmed down.
“An AI assistant?
What do you want?
Do you have anything to do with Axel End or not?”
[The Perfect Life System is dedicated to perfecting every imperfect life.
This AI assistant exists solely to guide the Host]
[Axel End is the human male in this world most compatible with the Host—in this system’s terms, a “Community of Fate”—so the tasks the system issues will basically be related to Axel End]
“Are you saying my life is imperfect?”
Suzune Horikita’s focus was somewhat peculiar.
She had a happy, harmonious family, a brother she was proud of, and she herself was excellent enough to be accepted into the legendary Advanced Nurturing High School.
As long as she graduated, she would have a bright and beautiful future.
And yet you’re telling her that her life is imperfect?
[This system has preserved many visual records concerning perfect lives.
If the Host wishes, she may view them herself for comparison]
A blue panel appeared in her field of vision, covered with folder after folder each named “Perfect Life Case Study.”
Suzune Horikita refused to believe it and clicked into one to take a look—whereupon she fell utterly silent.
“…”
“Let me first take a look at the system’s Exchange Store.”
Even though Suzune Horikita was still rather unwilling to believe it, the scene of the punishment at the school gate was still vivid in her memory.
Since the punishment was real, then what about the rewards?
With a faint, barely-there anticipation—one she wasn’t even willing to admit to herself—Suzune Horikita silently recited a phrase in her heart.
A flash of blue light swept across the panel before her.
And then she saw the one item she needed most at this very moment——
[Secret Intelligence on Advanced Nurturing High School: It may just tell you the answer you seek.
Points required for exchange: 50]