NOVEL NEXT Chapter 8: Food Trap
(Ayanokoji's PoV)
"Ayanakoji-san, want to make some money?"
The beautiful girl who sat next to me, Horikita Suzune, called me at 1am in the morning, offering a ridiculous proposal.
On the first day of this prestigious school, I failed at my objective to make friends, and ended up fumbling at my introduction.
Horikita probably took pity on me, and exchanged numbers with me and her other neighbours.
I expected this to be a formality, but she unexpectedly called me.
My heart went doki doki.
"Y-yes Horikita."
I stumbled upon my words a little, but managed to stop embarassing myself further.
Well, not that I want to earn money, since 100,000 points are enough, but if a beautiful girl like Horikita has a job for me, then I don't mind.
I will be able to interact with her a little more.
"Tomorrow, can we exchange seats? I will give you 10K."
Exchanging seats for money?
If she wanted, I could have done this for free. We will still be neighbours afterall.
"Alright. You don't need to pay-"
"Hear me out fully first.
Do you realise the importance that your seat holds?"
My seat is important?
"I will tell you. It's the seat beside a beauty like me.
Tomorrow, I want to auction off your seat for the highest price. I will take care of it for you. And after you get the buyer's seat, I will buy your seat for 10K. And keep the points that came from auction.
So, do you want to earn the free money?"
The offer is actually worth thinking about. I will practically get 10,000 points for doing nothing. And she will take care of the auction too.
But, this will mean that I will not be able to sit beside her if one of our neighbours didn't win the bid.
I should decli-
"I will make you a special tea and bento for you. By my own hands."
"Deal."
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The next day arrived, the second day of the school... well technically the first day of classes.
It seems that the students have already formed their own groups.
Hirata was surrounded by a lot of girls, and is it jealousy that I felt?
I also want to become his friend. But amidst this group of predators, I will probably be killed if I approached him carelessly.
Another big group was formed around Kushida, and they were talking about Horikita.
"Did you see Horikita-san? She declined coming with us, and was shopping with her boyfriend."
"No! That's actually her brother!"
"Huh? Really? Then I should ask her to introduce me to him."
Girls really change their minds swiftly.
"He must be a Senpai then. It's understandable that she went to shopping with him after not seeing him for a long time."
"But she should have atleast told us. In the end, she was shopping for clothes with girls of other class."
It seems that Horikita's reputation is taking a hit.
Her brother is in this school? An upperclassman? That's interesting.
The bell was about to ring, when Horikita came to the class, looking dignified.
Did she get a little taller?
She looked at the clock, and sighed in relief. There were still some seconds left before the classes start.
It looks like she ran all the way here.
"Hori-"
Kushida called out to Horikita, but Chabashira-sensei entered the classroom.
Horikita nodded at Kushida, and sat on her seat.
"You woke up late?"
"Yes."
I didn't take her for a tardy one.
The classes started, where Chabashira explained more rules.
Then, when she was about to start her history lessons, Horikita raised her hand.
"Yes Horikita?"
"We can sell and buy anything with points in this school, right? If both parties consent to it?"
Chabashira-sensei had an unusual smile as Horikita asked that.
"Yes."
"Then, there is something I want to sell right now in an auction. Can you be the witness?"
"Alright. Do as you wish."
Murmurs spread as there was suddenly an auction.
"Then, I am going to auction the protagonist's seat. And the auction will include points and the seat of the winner. So, you will get the seat of the one who buys your seat.
Is that alright for you?"
"Yes."
"No way! I can actually buy the protagonist's seat!?"
Sotomura exclaimed and started making gestures as if he already won the auction.
And what is protagonist's seat?
"Then, the auction will start at 20,000 points."
"50,000!"
Yamauchi confidently bid directly at 50,000, 2.5 times the initial value.
Is my seat this valuable?
Many bids were made. The competition was fierce, especially between Yamauchi, Ike and Sudo.
Strangely enough, Sotomura didn't bid even once.
"75,000 one!
"75,000 two!"
"90,000."
Sotomura finally declared his bid, of a massive 90,000 points. Now, he will be left with only 10,000 points for this month, if he didn't spend some points already.
His declaration made everyone quiet, no one was able to bid higher.
"100,000 points."
Surprisingly, someone actually bid the full monthly allowance.
And it was someone I least expected.
Koenji Ryosuke.
"He actually bid 100,000!?"
Everyone was shocked. Even Horikita.
But, after containing her shock, she was going to seal the deal.
"100,000 one!"
"100,000 two!"
"100,000 three!"
"Koenji Ryosuke has won the auction. The protagonist's seat belongs to him."
Everyone clapped for him, and he just kept admiring his face in the hand mirror.
Horikita went to his seat, collected the 100,000 points, and he started coming towards my seat with his bag.
I picked up my bag, and went to his seat, as she had instructed me via message.
Then, she said,
"Now, you will get 10,000 as the owner of the seat, and I will get the rest as the manager of the auction as we previously agreed upon. But, I will feel bad about it. So, let's keep it 50-50, alright?"
"Huh?"
Horikita is being generous?
My heart went doki doki at her kindness.
She sent me 50,000 points, and my total balance became 147,000.
"Now, you will sell me your seat for 1 point. As we previously agreed upon."
I did as I was instructed in the really long message, and nodded.
Koenji raised an eyebrow, and everyone started murmuring.
I received my 1 point, and my new seat was sold to Horikita.
I went to Horikita's seat, and passed her her bag.
"Fufu~ you are really interesting, Horikita-girl."
Koenji chuckled at being scammed. He probably wanted to sit next to her, like many people. Her sitting by the 'protagonist's seat' definitely raised its value.
"Horikita-san, isn't this a bit unfair?"
Kushida raised the thought that many people had in mind. Koenji didn't seem to mind that he was scammed, but if one of the other bidders, like Sotomura, paid majority of their monthly allowance to sit next to her and she just moved away, they would have definitely felt cheated.
She shook her head at Kushida's words.
"Koenji-san, you probably realised what I wanted, right?"
Where is her confidence in the oddball coming from?
"Fufu~ of course."
He is probably trying to save face.
"Moreover, It wasn't my idea. I just followed the instructions of someone who wanted to test his thoughts."
Now, everyone's eyes were on me, since I was collaborating with her.
"It wasn't me."
I said, but nobody really seemed to believe in me.
And I realised something.
Not just Koenji, my new neighbour, I was scammed too.
I determined in my heart, that I will never fall for the food trap again.