After doing my best to navigate through the unfamiliar campus, I managed to reach the cafeteria without any problems. There, I found Ichinose and the girls already waiting, and she waved at me with a smile once she noticed my arrival.
"Kokonoe-kun, over here!" She shouted as I nodded, quickly walking in their direction, joining them.
"Sorry, did I make you guys wait?"
"It's okay, we just arrived and we're still expecting people." Ichinose replied, making me breathe a sigh of relief that I wasn't the last person to arrive. I then noticed some bags at their feet, filled with various objects.
"You girls sure went all out, did it cost a lot?" I asked and it was Amikura who answered me, shrugging her shoulders.
"Not really. The store's prices seemed pretty reasonable, so Hoshinomiya-sensei didn't really lie about how one point was really equal to one yen. That said, we noticed that there were items that were sold for free." Her words made me blink in surprise at the mention of free items.
"Oh, what kind?"
"They were daily necessities like toothbrushes, shampoo, and bandages, even though they seemed of lower quality than the paid products." This time, Kobashi Yume answered my question with a small smile on her face. "Also, we're only allowed to take three of them a month."
"They must be emergency relief supplies for students who use up all of their points during the month. Still, I didn't expect the school to be that lenient."
I guess it's a proper punishment for students who can't manage their own points, or for those whose class isn't performing as well as others, resulting in a lower mensual salary. Well, as long as our class wins, I won't end up in that situation.
"What about you, Kokonoe-kun, did you discover something interesting on the way here?" Ichinose asked me while I nodded.
"I was visiting the dorm when you messaged me and I must say, the room was up to my taste, aside from one small defect... Oh." I said before noticing Kanzaki walking in our direction, accompanied by a boy and a girl by his side.
"Oh, it's Kanzaki-kun, Shibata-kun and Ando-chan."
"Sorry, I hope we aren't too late." The guy named Shibata asked, scratching his head with an awkward chuckle while Ichinose shook her head, smiling kindly.
"It's fine, we didn't wait that long. So, now that we're gathered, shall we go in?"
We all nodded at her suggestion and walked inside the cafeteria, which was filled with teenagers, both freshmen but also upperclassmen, judging by how many of them weren't wearing their uniforms.
"It's pretty lively..." Shiranami said shyly as I nodded, uncomfortable with the bustle and noise of the place.
"I wonder what I should command..." Shibata muttered, glancing at the various dishes displayed on a vending machine, all at different prices.
"Hey, look. There's a free meal." Kobashi said as she pointed to one of the displayed meal at the bottom corner, the vegetable set meal, having no price but the label [Free] to it.
"I wonder why it's the only set that is free..." Ando muttered as we all stared at the set, with the exception of Kanzaki who was observing the other students and their meal.
"It seems that there are quite a few people who took that set." He said, prompting me to follow his gaze and see teenagers, mostly high school seniors, eating their meals with reluctant expressions.
"I guess they don't have the points or they're trying to save them up. That said, it must taste awful if they're eating with a grimace."
"Perhaps, just like with the price of products at the store, the more expensive it is, the better the menu." Ichinose murmured as I nodded, as she might be right.
Out of curiosity, I decided to take the free set, much to the surprise of my classmates.
"Don't mind me, I'm just a bit curious." I said as I took up the ticket from the vending machine.
After that, we headed to the queue once the others had chosen their own set, none of them taking the free one like me, and talked about various things, like their hobbies and their expectations for the next three years. Well, it was mostly the others talking while I stood there, listening to their conversations. That said, it's great that none of them discussed what we learned in our classroom today. I could only hope that nobody from our class, aside from the people already present, would try to share the information with the other classes. It'd be bad for us if we already had traitors among us when the year hadn't officially started yet.
Soon enough, we quickly received our respective meal and managed to find a spot with enough open seats for all of us in the cafeteria, sitting down and ready to chow down our meal.
I looked down at the mountain of vegetables sitting on my plate before my eyes with a frown and let out a sigh, taking out a bite of it before I frowned at the bitter taste, silently wishing I could spit out the garbage in my mouth.
"So... how is it?" I heard Shibata ask me with everybody looking at me, as if observing my reaction, all being curious. Seeing this, I let out a smile as I swallowed what I had in my mouth and tilted my plate in his direction.
"I'm not that fond of vegetables, but it's pretty edible. You should try it."
"Sure... If you don't mind," Shibata said, a bit hesitant. However, he took some vegetables from my plate with his fork and ate them, and when I saw him wince, I smirked.
"Bitter, isn't it?" I said as I saw him chewing with a difficult expression, while Ichinose and the others were staring at me with empty eyes.
"Kokonoe-kun, it's a bad thing to trick people, you know?"
"I believe it's better to let him try than telling him." I told Ichinose before I shrugged my shoulders at her. "And I didn't really lie, you know. If you think of it like medicine, it's quite edible. Do you want to try too?"
"I... think I'll refrain."
"I... think I'll abstain." Ichinose muttered, looking at my plate unenthusiastically. The other girls shook their heads vigorously when I looked at them, refusing to taste the bitterness of nature, much to my disappointment. But then, to our surprise, Kanzaki silently took a vegetable from my plate and ate it, his expression not changing one bit at the taste.
"He's right, it's edible, but I won't give a good comment about the taste."
"You're kind of incredible, Kanzaki-kun..." Akimura muttered with Kobashi nodding beside her as they stared at the unresponsive boy, drinking water in silence.
In the end, we agreed that the free menu wasn't worth it, even though it was free.
"Is your tongue alright, Kokonoe-kun?"
"Not really… Ugh, I can still taste the bitterness..." Just like life. That said, I have to admit that today was quite an eventful day. I can't help but worry that the next three years will be filled with troublesome events.
Ahh... I really hope I can live a peaceful school life.