Early in the morning I felt a burning smell...I quickly woke up and checked around me, I was relieved that nothing had happened, but then I saw my laptop which was on, I broke out in a cold sweat seeing the condition of my laptop...
"Oh god...oh my god!"
The screen turned blue and the steam coming out of the keyboard was most likely caused by excessive overclocking of the hardware, I know my laptop is several generations behind but transferring data all day can still be handled... then I looked at my mini laptop which showed a notification that the transfer had been stopped and The process has run to 20%... I quickly turn off my laptop
"Damn, that was sucks"
'It was noted as a lesson not to let old generation laptops transfer data haphazardly...' I remembered with a sigh
This is a bad morning...I also need to prepare my school well, I will finish these things later now school is much more important...then I start my morning activities by taking a shower and having breakfast by starting to cook the soup packet I bought yesterday
It was 6 am and I had to leave quickly before I was really late
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"Okay, another tiring day," I said to encourage myself
I noticed the elevator doors were starting to close but another student prevented that... making me rush in,
"To be honest I don't mind walking with stairs but thanks for that, buddy!" I said and only got a nod in response... he was a little taller than me and had a fairly slim body with short brown hair
'He doesn't seem interested in interacting...that's good' I thought
A few moments later we arrived on the 1st floor and started going to school because it was a little awkward for me to be around him, this made my walking pace a little faster and I slowly left him.
On the way I thought back to what I did last night...I haven't even had time to check more about the list and now my mini laptop's storage is full and my laptop can't be used which means hacking hardware becomes more troublesome, working on a program code without a device and supporting software is much more tiring...I sighed and had to accept what I could get even though the losses were far beyond my imagination
I suspect that the reason my laptop was damaged was because there was a virus in the various data which detected that my laptop was not included in the school system because unlike the mini laptop, I forgot to change the IP on my laptop... this was my negligence.
On the way I also met other students and a girl with strawberry blonde hair whose name I forgot was walking with 2 other girls, I walked past them hoping that they didn't notice me
"Huh?, Uesugi-kun good morning..." The blonde haired girl seemed to remember me 'Uhh' forcing me to turn to her
"Eeuh, well, morning for you too...um, Ichigo-san?" while raising my hand as if to say hello which got a confused reaction between us which was broken by the laughter of one of the other girls with ponytail hair and I slowed down my steps
"I don't believe anyone could forget you Ichinose-san!" said the other girl who looked shy causing my cheeks to burn with embarrassment at what I said
"That's Ichinose Honami, you know...Uesugi-kun" with an innocent smile while tilting his head
"Is that so sorry, Well I have a bit of mild memory problems especially to someone’s name" while chuckling and looking at the other 2 girls
"Well if you don't remember someone like Ichinose then you might as well forget the others...Mako Amikura" said the ponytailed girl seeming to notice me
"Chihiro Shiranami" and said another girl who looked shy
"Ahh...I'll make sure to remember that" touching my neck while giving my best smile getting nods from both of them
"By the way, Uesugi-kun, I didn't see you at the gathering yesterday," said Ichinose who started the topic with his eyebrows raised, apparently remembering something.
"Well, I was quite tired and went straight home to sleep, I even forgot to buy some daily necessities," I said with a sigh
"Are you okay?!" Ichinose said in a worried tone
"No need to worry...I woke up right before dinner time to buy some of it" I said in a reassuring tone
"Then...thank goodness," he said in a relieved tone
'Somehow that reminds me of my parents' I thought
"Nee...tell us what your relationship is with Kurayama-san," said Amikura while smiling at me which made me subconsciously glance at her and think quickly about my reply.
"Well, we're just friends from middle school" I said with an awkward smile
"Ehh, is that true? I remember she said that you two were friends since childhood?" she said making my eyes widen hearing that...it also made Ichinose and Chihiro seem interested
"she said what?..." I said in a slightly higher tone
"Well...well Amikura-san it's not good to interfere with someone's relationship" Ichinose interrupted making my mind go blank she implied that we had a relationship
"Huh?!"
"Are?...my bad" she said
"No problem," I answered, trying to think hard to try to bring up another topic so they could focus on something else
'Think of something....Think of something else'
"Nee...Do you think the schools with a pleasure will spend millions of yen on prospective citizens who may not necessarily contribute to the country?!" I said a little hastily which made the three of them look thoughtful
"Realistically, I don't think so... I know Japan is quite advanced in the Asian region but I'm not sure they will be that easy to make risky expenses," said Ichinose
"Hmm... it's true that if you calculate it, the entire class alone will get at least 36 million yen in 3 years, not to mention the other classes and they continue to do this from year to year," said Chihiro with her hand on her chin realizing subconsciously that she was raising her voice, he turned his face away again
"If I remember correctly...I noticed there were some freebies in the shop yesterday, do you think there are students who really spend 100 thousand yen in a month?" said Amikura
"Well...it could be, the confusing thing is the availability of free stuff...even if someone ran out of money I think they would still have self-awareness or is the school actually baiting us into spending the entire allowance?!" the three glanced at me in surprise
"You might be right Uesugi-kun, whatever it is we have to investigate further, sensei's explanation alone isn't enough...I have a bad feeling about this, especially since it's only the second day of school, telling people to save money without any real reason obviously it will only make the whole class rowdy, so for now it's better to find out more information about this school...it seems like there's something being hidden from us," said Ichinose who expressed her thoughts.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
"Well if that's what Ichinose said then I will believe it" said Amikura
"Me too," said Chihiro supporting him
"Euhh...Thank you!" Ichinose answered with a smile
I was relieved that I managed to divert the conversation, the three of them continued talking about other things...while I walked behind them trying to keep my distance as much as possible and not disturb them.
After a while we finally arrived at the class... Akari who saw me enter the class immediately greeted me so I also responded and sat in my seat... but it seemed like she was approaching me
"Nee...we need to discuss how you are in the same class as me, of the various students from our school, only you and I can enter and we coincidentally get to be in the same class?, I'm not sure about that" said Akari with a slight frown in her tone. down so people wouldn't hear them
"Huh?!" I looked at him while yawning, "Yes...I will explain later, this topic is too deep and complicated...if you want to know and this has something to do with my job" I continued
"That's your job?" she said, rolling his eyes as if surprised, "Who is the person who gave you the job of stalking people?" she added
"Don't call it that! You make it sound like I committed a crime!" I exclaimed with furrowed eyebrows
"Crime? What are you discussing? You wouldn't be planning to do anything crazy in the first week of school, would you?" said a teenage boy with short bluish purple hair while narrowing his eyes as if he had concluded something too quickly
'Wait I remember this person...hmm'
"Whoa...don't jump to conclusions too quickly, buddy!" I replied in surprise and raised my hands to signal him to stop being prejudiced
"Sorry about that, Uesugi" he said
"No problem, buddy!" I said 'I forgot his name...'
"Kanzaki-kun, do you need anything?" Akari asked, 'oh yes that's his name..."
"Am I bothering you too?"
Akari and I glanced at each other and looked back at Kanzaki
"No!" We said it together
"Said it Kanzaki, if you need anything!"
"Ichinose told me that you seemed to be aware of something about this school...so she advised me to talk to you about this school" he said...making Akari narrow her eyes at me
"Ehh...Well this is just my guess that this school seems to be hiding a lot of things from us" I said which seemed to not only make the two of them think about that but several people in the class also seemed to be paying attention to our discussion
'Well, I knew that...even before school started, about the existence of a strange hierarchy between classes, but how do I convey this without making them put all their suspicions on me?'
"Well... you know I don't think our country will easily give millions of yen every year to a school without the risk of an economic downturn, especially for prospective citizens who I think won't necessarily contribute to the state.”
"Well, that makes sense...I remember what you said about the school asking for demand about the luxuries provided, but it seems like the school didn't discuss any of that or maybe Sensei didn't tell us on purpose? Maybe she or the teachers were tricked into giving us comfort to adapt?" he said
"Huh!?, well that's an amazing leap of logic...though there's no harm in asking Chie- I mean Hoshinomiya-sensei about that, maybe she'll give you an answer especially since she has first period today for Social Studies" Akari said chuckling with suspicion Kanzaki got a nod from him
"Akari is right, and your guess might be right...hmm" I said before thinking hard touching my chin trying to remember something
I remember that the number of second year students seems to have decreased from 160...was there an expulsion?, what caused them to decrease? did they resign? from such a luxurious school? Impossible, this makes me break out in a cold sweat about what will happen this school year...putting together the various pieces of the puzzle...unwritten hierarchies?, student expenses?, monthly allowances?, and available freebies?, Points? , thinking about this gave me goosebumps like we were in a competition, which made me subconsciously swore and clench my fists
"Damn..." I swore while touching my chin
"You look pale, Ken-chan," said Akari who noticed me and I was shocked by that
"Why? did you realize something?" Kanzaki asked
"Its fine, and yes I did notice something but I'm not sure about my thoughts because there's nothing that can be confirmed about it...even so it seems like we need to be more careful in our actions maybe the school is judging us"
"Judging us? in terms of what? actions and behavior...?" he asked while furrowing his eyebrows touching his chin thinking carefully about what I said
"I'm not sure about that..." I said before being cut off by the arrival of a teacher who looked weak or drunk?...and before he even spoke Kanzaki and Akari even all the people who were paying attention to our discussion had sat down.
"Allright, kids...hmm?" she said, raising her eyebrows, looking at all the students who were sitting well, she smiled, "Let's start with how much you understand about social studies, so we'll do a quick test today to adjust your level of understanding. " she ended by handing us a piece of paper.
"Okay, let's start" said Sensei while clapping her hands signaling us to start
'Yep...let's start my school'
===============================================
"Okay, good job everyone...let's wrap up today, does anyone want to ask first?"
For a while it seemed like none of the students wanted to ask about today's studies...I thought someone would ask about school
"Sensei..." Said Ichinose who seemed to want to ask
"Ohh, Ichinose...Is there something you want to ask?"
"It's not about today's lesson...it's about something else"
"Oh, of course... as a Homeroom Teacher, I will answer as best I can."
"It's about the school...is there something the school is hiding from us?"
I listened to the question carefully. It seemed that the other students were also paying close attention to how Sensei would answer
"Hmm... Oh, secrets have always been one of the things in the school, many schools keep secrets from their students so as not to disrupt their studying... And there are many other things that concern the personal condition of the school that have nothing to do with students, is there anything else?" she said with a smile
To be honest her answers didn't seem very detailed and it seemed like she might have already prepared answers to our questions
"Sensei, I just want to ask about the allowances, will we definitely get 100 thousand yen allowances every month?!" Kanzaki asked
"Hmm...Of course, allowances are basically given to you based on how hard you all are work, Right... Kanzaki-kun?" said Sensei
The answer to having a hole raises another question, is this Sensei's goal?
"Then, what kind of hard work is needed as you mean, Sensei?" said a girl with violet twintail hair
Strangely it wasn't Kanzaki who asked that but a female student standing behind me asked that
"I'm sure that as long as you study hard during these 3 years and get a good job, the 100,000 allowance will definitely be given to you, Right...Himeno-san isnt?" said Sensei who still maintained her innocent smile and tilted her head slightly as if she was playing with us
That made some of us a bit disappointed but at least we had confirmed that the school was indeed hiding something from us
"Uhh, Sensei I want to ask why the school provides some free stuff in the local shop, isn't it a bit excessive for something like that since we probably get that amount of allowance every month...?" said Amikura who seemed to still remember our discussion this morning
"Well...some students in the past seemed to be excessive in their finances, so we provided that for those students's needs, It was originally the idea of the Student Council " said Sensei...as everyone expected she was still hiding something... But the Student Council seem have a relation to the school system
'Hmm...Maybe?' I stood on the bench and raised my hand
"Uhm, Sensei?"
"Oohh, Uesugi-kun, right? Just ask...no need to be shy."
"Sensei, I just wanted to clarify if any unspent allowance from the previous month will carry over to the next month. In other words, if we have any leftover allowance at the end of the month, will it be rolled over to the following month?" I asked, feeling a bit hesitant. Sensei responded with a reassuring smile.
"Yes. it will definitely be saved!" she said that of all the questions, only mine seemed to have a definite answer
This is a bit of a relief for me... obviously everyone in the class understands that, but the atmosphere of worry still hasn't disappeared... what is really behind the previous answers that make people lose confidence...
"Okay, are there any other questions?, like school topics? If there aren't any then you can ask that at Sensei's office... See you later, Oh yes, tomorrow the club parade will start opening... So, those of you who want to join the club can starting to think about that now" she said as she left the classroom and ignored several people who wanted to ask questions
The whole class had a rather gloomy and worrying atmosphere...they seemed to think that they were caught up in something until someone came forward with enthusiasm who I thought was Ichinose she was standing on the class podium
"Anoo...Everyone, it has been confirmed that the school is hiding a lot of things from us and that is a fact...but there is no need to worry we will face any challenges from school together as a class, if you need my help I will be happy to help. ..I don't want anyone in the class to be left behind whether it be academic or technical...after all we will be together for 3 years" Said Ichinose which brought back enthusiasm to everyone which seemed to erase some worries
"Ichinose-san is right, there's no need to worry, after all we haven't lost anything... we just need to learn these things, if the school is hiding it then we as students need to solve it, just think of it as a challenge from the school for us" said Kanzaki who stood up loudly providing support for Ichinose and several others such as the boy with short blue hair who has no less enthusiasm than Ichinose
"Yeah, I'll help too!"
"Okay... for now we just need to be careful in our actions and behavior. It's much better for us to save money if you can... Thanks to Uesugi-kun's question the money we have won't be lost in the first place, so I hope everyone uses it as wisely as possible..." said Ichinose... Making people start to pay attention to me, without realizing I turned my face away
"Allright, let's fight... whatever challenges come from the school, I'm sure we can face them together!" Ichinose cheers bringing the class back to top condition
I sighed at all this... Another class time seemed to be starting soon. All the students seemed to sit back down as soon as the next teacher arrived.