「The duel has concluded by forfeit. Please leave the arena. Further combat will be punishable.」

I guess I’ll go see what Akira’s up to.

[Sumire POV END]

-

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

—I wonder, Akira Kumagawa if you’ve been well. It’s been a while. I’ll see you sometime in the future. We’re both in the same school now, after all.

I’ll finally kill you, my younger brother—to protect everyone.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

-

[Akira POV]

…

My head hurt a little.

With a week passing. All of my [Star Minions] had finally produced their first stars. This was the first time in a while that I could properly make some big changes to my system. Sitting up a bit more on my plain, white bed, I looked down at my phone.

POINTS

Your current points: 130,298

Current Rank: #53,518

I had been stacking up points pretty comfortably. Unlike some other students, I hadn’t been spending anything in the various stores provided around the school. There were floors which were basically complete malls which would be a high-school student's dream. Still, it wasn’t like I had anything I needed.

[Star Minion]

Inventory: 1x Stars

[BASE] Produces 1x Star per week.

Stars can be used to research more items.

The very basic amenities provided by the school in the beginning were enough to last a few weeks at least.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Whilst I scrolled through the SHOP, I heard a knock on the door.

Was Sumire back already?

Lowering my phone, I made my way over and slid the door open.

It wasn’t Sumire.

///

It was two people I’d never seen before.

On the left was a tall boy with long-ish brown hair that wasn’t really styled so it sort of just sat on his head. I guess it was pretty close to a fringe if I had to describe it specifically. His uniform appeared to be quite well-kept, tie straight, and shoes polished, which seemed to contrast his messy hair.

On the right was a blonde-haired girl (although her blonde was more white and less strawberry-y unlike Sumire). It also seemed slightly longer than Sumire’s but was held up in a ponytail which made the observation more speculative.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

The boy responded.

“Ah, we’re just looking for friends to hang out with. Everyone’s really competitive here, so it’s not easy to find people… yeah, I’m Fern.”

“And I’m Erika. I saw that there’s another girl who comes to your room a lot so I figured that maybe you were pretty friendly.”

It was an interesting assumption to make. I felt like most people would come to a different conclusion.

“So, what did you want me to do?”

Fern raised his hand and placed it on my shoulder.

“We could go hang out at the bowling centre on the 300th floor. It’s not that expensive and is probably pretty empty after that exam. What do you reckon?”

“Um, and we can wait for that girl to come back too if she wants to join us,” added Erika.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to spend money on recreational activities. But if I really wanted to live the ‘normal’ life like I wanted, I guess this would be part of that.

“Yeah, I can see if Sumire wants to come.”

“Ah, her name’s Sumire! That’s such a cool name.”

“Yeah.”

I wasn’t sure why Erika was so enthusiastic about that, in particular, but to each their own.

*

A few minutes later, Sumire walked into my room (without knocking). As she came inside, she had a face of confusion.

“What’s this about? What do they want, Akira?”

“They’re just looking for friends.”

Fern and Erika were sitting on the floor beside my bed. In a bid to not seem rude, I was also sitting on the ground.

“That’s a weird request.”

Erika suddenly got up and walked to Sumire.

“Let’s go bowling together. That’s a fun activity for four people, isn’t it?”

Erika’s aura was definitely different to that of Sumire’s. She seemed almost completely carefree, which isn’t necessarily weird in general, but in this environment, it was weird. Even Fern appeared to be somewhat on edge whilst meeting new people, which is the rational human response.

Bouncing around (metaphorically), Erika tried to convince Sumire to come with us.

“I don’t want to come. I’m not interested.”

“Oh come on, it’ll be fun! Akira’s coming too.”

Sumire looked over at me.

“You really agreed to this?”

“I don’t have much else to do.”

She sighed.

“Alright, I’ll come then.”

As soon as Sumire accepted the invitation, Erika’s smile lit up. It wasn’t something that was fake or even overly exaggerated. It seemed uncomfortably genuine. She had straight white teeth, but a slight sharpness in one of her canines which made her look like a non-symmetrical cat—in theory, but in reality, it actually fit the rest of her aesthetic.

I guess her imperfections complement each other.

Everyone began to get up from the ground and Erika glanced at me, and then at Sumire.

“So, are you two dating?”

Here’s the usual assumption.

“No,” I replied.

“Oh, I was just wondering because you guys hang out a lot. Are you childhood friends like Fern and I?”

“I suppose you could say that.”

Extrapolating the definition of ‘childhood friends’, we could possibly fit into that category. Anyways, walking at the back of the pack, I opened my phone and looked at what unlocks I could get with my 20 stars.

The elevator was a lot more emptier than usual due to the recent expulsions. Everyone who received one would probably have left by now since it’d been quite a while since the results came out.

Sumire was also looking at her phone.

She walked over to me and whispered.

“…I’d rather the other two not hear. Can you research purely minions and I’ll research abilities.”

I guess that was a good idea.

“Sure.”

Fern and Erika seemed to be happily chatting about something else anyway.

I went through the SHOP app.