COTE: Starting With Love Stock Market System

After concluding his strategy meeting with Ibuki, Hikaru returned to his dormitory. Sitting at his desk, his mind couldn't help but replay the scene from earlier.

Ichinose had fixed her deep blue eyes on his face, demanding to know whether he would ever lie to her. The sudden question caught Hikaru off guard, but he quickly composed himself and responded.

"Of course not. Ichinose, you and I will always be close allies. I would never lie to you."

"But even if you did lie, you could do it flawlessly, without any trace of deception, couldn't you?"

"You're overthinking it. I only act this way for the sake of class competition."

"But I suddenly have a feeling… If you ever did lie to me," Ichinose's gaze lingered on him, her tone carrying an inexplicable nuance, "I wouldn't be able to tell."

"..."

"That's just your imagination. If it weren't for Class B, I wouldn't resort to lying. You can think of it as a tactical choice."

"Alright, let's get you back to your dorm. Don't dwell on it too much."

"…Okay."

Ichinose nodded, but there was still a subtle unease on her face. Hikaru didn't offer any further explanation and instead urged her toward the elevator.

"Something feels off. Did I say something wrong?"

Reflecting on his actions throughout the day, Hikaru wasn't sure what had triggered such a reaction from Ichinose. He recalled that the Ichinose Honami Stock had a risk warning, stating that lying to her would cause its value to drop.

"But I didn't lie to her. There's no doubt about that."

Opening the system's interface, Hikaru checked the [Ichinose Honami Stock], which remained at 120 points. This confirmed that today's events hadn't negatively affected her perception of him.

Moreover, if Ichinose were someone who truly never tolerated lies, she wouldn't have covered for him earlier. When it came to class competition, she wasn't the type to blindly adhere to personal principles.

"Could it be… she was testing my attitude?"

His thoughts drifted back to the stock price increase notification:

[Ichinose Honami is deeply moved by your 20-million point plan. She has developed an entirely new level of emotion towards you.]

Ever since acquiring the system, Hikaru had been very clear about his goal—everything he did was to ensure his smooth graduation from this school.

It wasn't as though he disliked Ichinose. In terms of looks and figure, she was undoubtedly top-tier. Her personality was gentle, and she genuinely cared for others. If they were to date, he might just laugh himself awake in his dreams.

But right now, Hikaru had far too many things to accomplish. He needed to help Class B rise through the ranks, train his body, discover more stocks, and utilize the system's power to transform himself. That was the only way to make full use of this second chance at life.

When the system first appeared, his initial plan had been to cash out once the stock price rose, then disappear before dealing with any emotional fallout.

However, after using the Stock Analyzer, he understood that to lower a stock's price, he would have to hurt the person involved.

At this school, where classes weren't reshuffled, he was bound to spend a lot of time with Ichinose. If emotions beyond friendship ever developed between them, would he really be willing to intentionally upset her just to manipulate stock prices?

The answer was clear—no.

Hikaru's stance on emotions was straightforward: if he liked someone, he liked them; if he didn't, he didn't. If he ever truly fell for Ichinose, he would never do anything to hurt her. That was his bottom line as a man.

That being said, it was still too early to dwell on such thoughts. His priority right now was Class B's competition and securing more funds from the system. There was no room for romance in his plans.

"I'll keep it at this level for now. Staying friends is just fine at this stage."

Summing up his reflections, Hikaru shook off his distracting thoughts and refocused on planning the upcoming class competition. That was the real issue that needed his attention.

---

The next morning, after completing his now-routine early morning training, Hikaru grabbed breakfast and headed into Class B's classroom. As always, his classmates greeted him warmly.

"Good morning, Hashima-kun!"

"Morning, Hashima!"

"Yeah, morning, everyone."

As he took his seat, he noticed Ichinose was already there, her head lowered as she diligently took notes in her notebook.

"Morning, Ichinose." Hikaru decided to greet her first.

"Good morning, Hikaru-kun."

The pink-haired girl flashed her usual energetic smile and immediately followed up, "I'm organizing the intelligence everyone gathered on Class C and Class D over the past two days. By Friday, you'll be able to use it right away."

"Thanks, Ichinose. I could've done this myself, though."

"It's no trouble at all. You've been working hard planning strategies for the class. You must be even more exhausted than me." A trace of concern flickered across Ichinose's face as she spoke softly. "Even though I'm the leader of Class B, I've been relying on you a lot."

"Well, since you're so eager, I'll take the opportunity to slack off a bit."

Both of them instinctively avoided mentioning last night's conversation, as if it had never happened. Today, Hikaru and Ichinose remained the leading figures working toward Class B's success.

As for whether that conversation had changed anything—only their hearts truly knew the answer.

---

Around 2:00 PM, while Hikaru was focused on solving a problem, Ichinose suddenly tapped his shoulder. Turning to her, he saw her holding out her phone.

"Ibuki said she's reached an agreement with Ryuen. We're meeting at 4:30 PM, second floor of the Special Building."

"The second floor, huh? Got it."

Pressing against his temples from prolonged concentration, Hikaru recalled that the second floor contained several special-purpose classrooms. If they were planning to secretly record evidence, they'd need access to one of those rooms.

"Just the two of us going? Or should we bring more people?" Ichinose asked.

"Hmm… Let's bring Kanzaki and Shibata. No need to involve other girls."

"Understood."

"Actually, Ichinose, maybe you shouldn't come," Hikaru suggested tentatively. "We're baiting Ryuen into physically attacking someone. We can't predict how he'll react. It could get dangerous."

"That's not an option."

The usually gentle Ichinose immediately shot down his proposal, her expression firm. "Since this plan was devised by the two of us, I need to be there to confirm the results."

"Even if Ryuen completely disregards consequences, Ibuki will be there. I trust she can handle him."

Seeing that Ichinose wouldn't back down, Hikaru had no choice but to nod in resignation. He could only hope the plan went smoothly.

Before the end of the school day, Hikaru borrowed a key to one of the science classrooms from Hoshinomiya, then sent its location to Ibuki.

After confirming the details, he gathered Kanzaki and Shibata, explaining their roles.

"Got it," Shibata grinned. "We'll be hiding nearby, secretly recording evidence of Ryuen making a move."

"Well then," Hikaru said, rising from his seat. "Let's get moving. The operation against Ryuen starts now!"