After parting ways with Shiina, Shirogane headed straight to the electronics store.
It was clear how much the school supported its students—there were **three** electronics stores just within this shopping district alone.
Shirogane assumed these stores were run by the school.
If there were 160 students per grade, that meant a total of only 480 students across all three years. Including faculty, staff, and store employees, the entire school community probably had around 2,000 people.
From a business perspective, the stores definitely wouldn't be profitable.
While store employees had salaries and could spend money, not all students had money to spare.
After all, many upperclassmen in Class C and D lived in poverty-like conditions. If that weren't the case, those two seniors Ryuen targeted wouldn't have needed to rely on free basic supplies like charity handouts.
Simply put, students didn't have much spending power.
They didn't have many points.
So how were these stores even making money?
Most of the school's stores were designed to serve students, but they couldn't just force employees to spend money. And there's no way the school would operate under some system where it earns money just to spend it again, with nothing left over.
That meant the school must have been covering the costs of these stores.
And they weren't even trying to limit what the stores sold.
Because, really…
Running bathhouses, movie theaters, and even an art gallery in a place with only 2,000 people? That made no sense.
Movie theaters had high operational costs, and with so few people, they could never fill all the seats.
"..."
Thinking about it this way, getting a part-time job seemed impossible too.
Yeah.
As a regular high school student, Shirogane had been prepared to work a part-time job.
But now, it seemed like neither the school nor the actual situation would allow it.
If stores were already running at a loss, hiring workers was out of the question. And from what he already knew, the school wanted students to compete as classes—and where there's competition, there are rewards.
One of them was that Class A graduates would receive a major school-issued reward.
Another was that students' monthly allowances depended on their class's ranking, with points calculated as class score × 100 and deposited into their personal accounts.
At the same time, Shirogane also understood why each new student received 100,000 points upon entering the school. Since every class started with 1,000 points, and multiplying that by 100 gave exactly 100,000 points, it all made sense.
With that in mind, it was likely that the school didn't support students earning points in other ways.
Thinking about this, Shirogane headed to the nearest electronics store.
Inside, there was only one employee—a short man wearing a red uniform. He had a bit of facial hair, dark skin, and small eyes, the kind of face that didn't exactly leave a good impression at first glance.
If anything, he looked… untrustworthy.
But that was just a first impression.
As Shirogane stood at the entrance, the store clerk quickly approached him, full of enthusiasm.
"Can I help you? Are you looking for a camera or a laptop?"
"You must be a new student. Many new students choose to buy a laptop. If you're looking for the best value, our store recommends..."
Business at the electronics store didn't seem great, but the shelves were well-stocked with a variety of products.
The prices were also reasonable.
There were laptops priced at just over 30,000 points, and cameras ranging from 20,000 to 40,000 points.
With 100,000 points in hand, Shirogane could afford to buy some electronic devices.
However, whether a new student really needed a laptop was still up for debate.
After all, the main reason Shirogane came here was just to buy a USB drive and save a backup of the video showing Ryuen using violence.
But transferring a video from a phone to a USB drive wasn't possible without a computer.
That meant he needed a laptop as an intermediary.
Borrowing a computer from the store or someone else wasn't a safe option—it could lead to a data leak.
So, the best solution was probably to buy a laptop as a backup.
That would make his expenses shoot up all at once.
Shirogane felt a bit reluctant to spend his points, but he was also decisive.
If something needed to be bought, then it had to be bought.
Just as he was about to speak, he heard a noise near the entrance—two girls had just walked in.
One tall, one short.
The taller girl had purple hair and bangs, though she used two hair clips to keep them in place. She had a beautiful face but gave off a cold and distant vibe, as if she were in a bad mood.
The shorter girl had short black-blue hair with a hair clip as well, but she wasn't nearly as pretty as the taller one.
However, the short-haired girl was straightforward.
"Hey, I want to see a hair dryer," she said loudly.
"A hair dryer, huh—" The store clerk glanced at Shirogane with an awkward expression.
"Go ahead and help them. I'll just browse on my own," Shirogane said.
The clerk nodded but didn't immediately go to the short-haired girl. Instead, he walked over to the nearby checkout counter and casually adjusted one of the display cameras before heading toward her.
Meanwhile, Shirogane continued browsing the laptops.
The cheapest one was 28,888 points, while the most expensive model in the store was 99,999 points.
As for USB drives, they were sold separately, priced between 2,000 and 7,000 points.
The prices were fairly reasonable.
But Shirogane noticed something surprising—this store actually sold voice recorders. And the price was ridiculously high.
100,000 points.
"..."
Did a regular voice recorder really need to cost 100,000 points? Was it even more expensive than a laptop?
Why?
*Knock knock—*
Just then, Shirogane noticed that one of the two girls who had just entered—a tall girl with purple hair—picked up a USB drive from the counter and walked toward the checkout.
It was an ordinary checkout counter, but there was a sample camera placed on top of it.
The girl stood in front of the counter, leaned forward slightly, and rested her left hand on the desk. She made a quick motion, almost too fast to catch.
As she did this, she suddenly turned and glared at Shirogane.
"..." Shirogane.
"…Forget it." The purple-haired girl muttered before turning around and putting the USB drive back on the shelf. Then, without another word, she left the store.
That was… strange.
"This place is way too expensive. I'll check out the supermarket instead." The short-haired girl who had been looking at a hairdryer also decided not to buy anything and left as well.
"Excuse me, sir—"
After losing two customers in a row, the store clerk turned to Shirogane.
"I'll take a laptop and a USB drive."
Shirogane wasn't the type to waste time picking things out. Instead of spending too long choosing, he'd rather save time for studying.
So, he finished shopping in just five minutes.
"Thank you for your purchase. Please come again."
Shirogane glanced at his account balance—61,233 private points remaining. His feelings were mixed.
With the clerk's farewell still in his ears, he stepped out of the store—almost bumping into someone in front of him.
"Are you okay?" Shirogane asked.
"I-I'm fine! No, no, you didn't bump into me. S-Shirogane?"
The voice belonged to a girl with a timid demeanor. She had an old-fashioned look—her back slightly hunched, long, fluffy twin tails, and glasses resting on her nose.
She seemed used to apologizing, speaking in a nervous, hesitant way. But when she looked up at him, she seemed a little surprised.
"Have we met before?" Shirogane asked.
"N-No, we haven't."
The girl quickly shook her head, then, as if startled, hurried into the store.
Was he really that scary?
[You feel like you've seen this girl before, but you can't quite remember. However, she has definitely seen you more than once.]
Just then, the familiar voice in his head spoke again.
Shirogane recalled how, back at the school gate, the narration had mentioned that a girl had seen him and gotten scared.
So… it was her?
Shirogane felt like his time with Shiina today had gone smoothly. But between the purple-haired girl earlier and this glasses-wearing girl now, he couldn't help but think—girls were really hard to understand.
Beep beep!
Just then, Shirogane felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.
[Shirogane, I'm back at the supermarket. Someone started talking to me, so I took a little longer, but our shopping cart hasn't been moved. I pushed it over to the service counter, so when you get back, you can grab it from there and check out. There's too much stuff, so I need to take care of my own shopping first.] —Shiina Hiyori
Oh!
Shiina was really a kind person.
Shirogane felt a little warmth in his heart.
Huh?
Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly felt like he had stepped on something. He looked down and saw a small, hard, black object lying on the ground.
Squatting down, he picked it up and realized it was an SD card.
Judging by its size, it seemed to be for a camera.