In this school, there are free meals in the cafeteria and free basic ingredients in the supermarket. I plan to hit the supermarket later to check their stock. I remember reading about it in Year 2, Volume 2. When I first read that detail, I thought it was the absolute greatest hack in the entire series.
Eating only free food and utilizing free supplies will guarantee that I become the richest student in my class by the time the May 1st trap reveals itself. I will not spend a single private point this entire month. While the rest of these idiots drain their accounts to zero, I will maintain my full hundred thousand.
I pick up a pair of cheap wooden chopsticks and snap them apart.
I scoop up a bite of the boiled mountain vegetables and shove it into my mouth.
I chew.
Damn.
This tastes like garbage.
The texture is incredibly stringy, like chewing on wet shoelaces. The flavor is a brutal combination of bitter dirt and unsalted water. It lacks any seasoning whatsoever. The school intentionally designed this meal to be as unpalatable as humanly possible to discourage students from relying on it.
I swallow hard. The dry lump slides painfully down my throat.
Taking another bite, I force myself to chew the awful mixture.
Holy sh... This tastes really bad.
My eyes water slightly from the sheer bitterness. I grip the chopsticks tighter and continue eating. I need to endure it if i won't spend a single point in the entire month. My large console box rests prominently on the table, the bold branding facing outward.
A sudden shift in the background noise catches my attention. The loud laughter from the neighboring table stops.
I hear the scraping of chair legs against the floor. Footsteps approach from my left.
Ike and Yamauchi walk up to my table. They both carry half-empty bottles of expensive fruit juice.
"Hey, aren't you the guy with the strange introduction?" Ike asks, pointing a finger at me. He squints, trying to recall my name. "You're... what's that again? Taru, is it?"
I look up from my plate of bitter weeds. I chew slowly and swallow before speaking.
They fell for it completely.
"Yeah," I answer smoothly. "I'm Tal, but you can just use the Katakana. Call me Taru."
Ike's eyes immediately drift away from my face. They lock onto the big cardboard box resting on the table. His jaw goes slack.
"Whoa," Ike breathes out. He steps closer, pointing directly at the logo. "Isn't that the Valve Steam Deck OLED?"
Yamauchi leans over Ike's shoulder, his eyes wide with shock. "Dude, that looks completely new. In the box and everything."
"Yes, it is," I say casually, setting my chopsticks down. "But it is actually last year's model. I couldn't afford the latest premium bundle because that one costs over a hundred thousand points. So, I just bought last year's standard version instead. Nearly a hundred thousand points."
Ike's face contorts into a mask of pure disbelief. He takes a deep breath, his chest expanding.
"You blew your entire points to buy this game?!" Ike shouts at the top of his lungs.
His voice is incredibly loud. It cuts through the dull roar of the cafeteria like a siren. Dozens of students sitting at the surrounding tables stop talking. They turn their heads and stare directly at our group. The sudden silence spreads outward in a wave.
Jackpot.
If these students see me sitting alone, eating the disgusting free food while knowing I have a hundred thousand points in my account, they will logically conclude that I am incredibly strange. They will label me as a weird, calculating miser. That kind of reputation draws unwanted scrutiny. People watch the weird kid