COTE: Starting With Love Stock Market System

At 9 PM, Hikaru opened the door to his dorm room.

Today had been another busy day. Despite a few setbacks along the way, he had successfully reclaimed one million Private Points from Class D. With Ichinose already holding over two million, once Class C was taken care of, this phase of the plan would finally be complete.

Even though it had only been eight days since the school year started, Hikaru felt as though time had dragged on endlessly. He wasn't the only one—Ichinose Honami, who had been working alongside him, must have felt the same.

Under normal circumstances, the first month after enrollment should be a time for freshmen to familiarize themselves with the school and their classmates. But this school was different. The moment they set foot here, the competition between classes had already begun.

"And as expected, the biggest problem is still Nagumo…"

Leaning back in his chair, Hikaru replayed his earlier conversation in his mind. As the leader of 2nd-year Class A and the Vice President of the Student Council, Nagumo Miyabi had already consolidated his hold over the entire second year.

If Manabu's information was accurate, then Nagumo possessed a terrifying amount of resources—enough to manipulate student behavior with ease. After all, no one could afford to ignore Private Points.

Hikaru absentmindedly tapped his fingers against the edge of his desk, deep in thought.

At the same time, Manabu's attitude earlier today had caught him off guard. From their two brief encounters, Hikaru had expected him to be someone profoundly shrewd, a man with an unfathomable depth to his schemes.

For someone like that, it made little sense to reveal critical information so openly to a first-year—and yet, not only had Manabu done so, but he had also agreed to let Hikaru involve himself in the Student Council.

"Because of Horikita Suzune?"

Hikaru stroked his chin thoughtfully. It was obvious that Manabu cared about his younger sister—after all, he had asked Hikaru to help her grow. That alone spoke volumes.

But then why did he treat Suzune so coldly?

If Hikaru hadn't intervened yesterday, would Manabu really have slapped her?

That part was difficult to understand. However, now that their deal was set, Hikaru wasn't particularly concerned. Beyond Suzune, the real priority was still Nagumo.

He picked up his phone, his screen displaying Manabu's number. A faint smile crossed Hikaru's lips—he had more or less pieced together Manabu's underlying intentions.

Manabu's objectives could be broken down into two key parts.

One: He was warning Hikaru in advance about Nagumo's future actions, giving him time to prepare.

Two: He wanted his sister to develop into someone capable of standing on her own.

"Helping Horikita Suzune grow doesn't really matter to me. She'll figure out soon enough that Class D has no chance of rising. But through this, I can access Horikita Manabu's intelligence network."

If Hikaru wanted to take on Nagumo, the Student Council was essential. That was the significance of those two vacant seats.

And conveniently, Suzune had already been added to the Love Stock Market System. While her initial stock price was only 100 points, as long as Hikaru could earn more from elsewhere, buying in wouldn't be a problem.

Speaking of which—he had just secured Kushida's stock, hadn't he?

Considering the complicated relationship between those two, using profits from Kushida to buy Suzune's stock… would she be angry if she found out?

As for the inter class competition, Hikaru suspected that the rankings might shift once the first month ended, given the Private Point transactions he had orchestrated.

Currently, Class B had received a 100-point bonus from the school, boosting their overall Class Points. As long as they maintained order, there was a chance the rankings would reset on May 1st.

"In any case, I need to settle things with Class C tomorrow. Once I retrieve the last batch of Private Points, I'll shift my focus toward unifying Class B and leading them toward Class A."

Opening his system interface, Hikaru glanced at his current stock listings.

There were four active stocks:

[Ichinose Honami Stock]

[Chabashira Sae Stock]

[Horikita Suzune Stock]

[Kushida Kikyo Stock]

Meanwhile, in his portfolio, he only held two stocks:

[Ichinose Honami Stock]

[Kushida Kikyo Stock] (Current Price: 10 points, Shares: ???)

"I still need to increase my favorability with Kushida and build trust."

Besides, hadn't Kushida invited him to dinner? That was the perfect opportunity.

After spending some time organizing his thoughts, Hikaru jotted everything down in a notebook. He believed that writing things out was more effective than relying on memory—the more notes he took, the better he could review and refine his strategies.

Before heading to bed, he sent Ichinose a message, telling her to be ready for tomorrow's Class C transaction.

It had been a while since he last saw Ibuki—he wondered how things were going in Class C.

---

The Next Morning

After completing his morning workout routine, Hikaru stepped into Class B's classroom.

Last night, the class group chat had been lively until nearly 2 AM.

On one hand, everyone had been celebrating Hikaru's success in securing another batch of Private Points, bringing Class B's total assets even higher.

On the other hand, they had been discussing whether to host a class-wide gathering after all three transactions were complete—a reward for their recent efforts.

Ichinose had immediately agreed in the chat, saying that spending time together as a class was important.

But soon after, everyone in the group chat began spamming Hikaru's name, waiting for his response.

By now, Class B collectively recognized Ichinose as their leader. However, when it came to actual decision-making, nobody felt reassured unless Hikaru gave his approval.

This was an unspoken consensus among his classmates.

"Good morning, Hikaru-kun!"

"Morning, Hikaru-kun!"

The moment he walked in, his classmates greeted him enthusiastically.

Without realizing it, he had become the cornerstone of the class—trusted by both the boys and the girls.

"Good morning, everyone."

Returning their greetings with a smile, Hikaru made his way to his seat.

Seated nearby, a girl with long pink hair had already arrived. However, she looked a little tired, faint dark circles visible beneath her eyes.

"Ichinose-san, did you stay up late?" Hikaru asked gently.

"Not really… I was just having too much fun chatting with everyone and lost track of time…"

Ichinose gave a sheepish smile, clearly embarrassed. Seeing everyone praise Hikaru in the group chat last night had made her happy, so she had kept replying to their messages non-stop.

"Make sure you don't overdo it," Hikaru said, his tone carrying a hint of admonition. "Otherwise, I might have to ban late-night messages in the group chat."

"Got it, I'll be careful next time."

Ichinose nodded, feeling warmth from his concern. She quickly took out her notebook containing the rule explanations and handed it to him.

"When we go to Class C today, we can just hand them this notebook after collecting the points. That way, you won't have to explain everything yourself."

"That works."

Hikaru had no objections—less work for him. Take the money, drop the notebook, and leave.

"I'll contact Ibuki first," Ichinose said, gripping her phone. "I'm curious about Class C's current situation."

"True. With Ryuen and the others suspended, their class lost three major enforcers."

Pulling out his textbook, Hikaru's lips curled into a subtle smile.

"Class C must have chosen a new leader by now… We'll find out soon enough."

~~~

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