With Mori Shinra's guidance, Kawasaki Saki quit her job at the bar and focused all her energy on studying.
It had to be said, she had a bit of a ruthless streak in her. Since the beginning of the school year, she had been working until the early hours of the morning almost every day, then going to school. In between, she had at most three hours to catch up on sleep. After school, she would take another short nap at home before starting work again.
Others had fragmented entertainment; she had fragmented sleep. Yet, despite this absurd schedule and workload, her grades hadn't dropped significantly. Her National Language score had even improved a little.
A truly hardcore individual.
"Sign the club application form," Shinra said, slapping a form in front of her during a break between classes.
"Join a club?" Kawasaki Saki was dumbfounded. Join what club?
"The Service Club, of course. Don't worry, no one will care if you're a ghost member. Don't you need activity points for the scholarship? Well, this is for activity points."
Activity points didn't necessarily require joining a club, but joining one made it easier to obtain them. Don't be fooled by the Service Club's seemingly idle daily routine, which resembled a tea party—either drinking tea or reading, and cramming for exams when they came around. Although the school didn't provide activity funds, they were not stingy with the activity points that didn't cost money.
Take Hikigaya, for example, who hadn't completed his activity points in his first year. In less than half a semester, he had not only made up for the missing points but was also close to completing this semester's requirement.
This was the value of being a council member's daughter!
Ahem, just kidding. Activity points themselves weren't hard to get, and the school wouldn't deliberately hold students back because of them. Hikigaya's failure to complete them in his first year was purely his own problem. Shinra was just using this as a pretext to trick her into joining the club first.
He had accepted her Wish Request before, right? A blue-level Wish Request was currently the highest-level one he had on hand.
The request was roughly divided into three stages: scholarship, summer session, and getting into university. For each stage completed, he would be rewarded with an unspecified number of Wish Points. However, he guessed that the specific amount would be strongly correlated with her perception of his efforts in helping her achieve her wish and her gratitude towards him.
Simply put, the more you do, the more you get. Higher affection equals higher rewards.
Originally, Shinra thought that with her competitive spirit, she could complete the request without his help. But with this realization, he couldn't afford to be lazy anymore.
Having tasted the sweetness of the system, he didn't want to miss out on even a single Wish Point due to his own laziness. What if that one missing point was a mysterious and unpredictable superpower?
Don't be fooled by the fact that all his current abilities were mind-based. Who could guarantee that he wouldn't get abilities that could interfere with the material plane later on?
The charm of 'I don't eat beef'—who could understand?
Hearing that it was related to the scholarship, Kawasaki Saki immediately had no more questions and obediently picked up a pen and started filling out the form.
"We've been organizing study sessions recently. You can come and join us. If nothing else, the average grade of our Service Club is probably the highest among all the clubs."
The first and third in the grade were both in the Service Club. Add to that an un-nerfed Mori Shinra, and even with Yuigahama as a pendant, they could still dominate.
Kawasaki Saki had absolutely no way to refuse. She was clearly aware of her current grades. Although they were decent, they were definitely not outstanding. It would probably take a lot of effort for her to catch up by studying on her own. But if she had help, it would definitely shorten the required time and effort.
But this way, it felt like she owed them a lot of favors again...
Don't be fooled by her seemingly unapproachable exterior. In reality, she was surprisingly gentle, a bit like a kitten that only hissed but didn't bite. Like Yukinoshita and Miura, she was the type who was cold on the outside but warm on the inside.
Perhaps because like repels like, the relationship between the three of them was not that good.
"By the way, have you found a part-time job yet?" Shinra asked.
If she hadn't, he could use Uncle Li's connections to help out.
When it came to Wish Points, he wouldn't be foolish enough not to use the resources available to him.
Hearing this, a warmth spread through Kawasaki Saki's heart. She answered honestly, "I've found one. I'm a cashier at a convenience store."
A classic part-time job in Japan.
It was just that because of the work schedule, she couldn't attend club activities about three days a week. When she mentioned this, she was a little embarrassed.
After all, everyone else went to club activities. If she was the only one who didn't go because of work, it felt a little unsociable...
But to her surprise, Shinra waved his hand dismissively. "It's fine. Anyway, when there are no requests, we all do our own thing. No one will care about that."
This was another major feature of the Service Club.
"Eh?" Kawasaki Saki was stunned. She had never expected the club's activities to be like this. She thought a 'jack-of-all-trades' service that could help people's wishes come true would be busy every day.
So it turns out practically no one comes with requests?!
Come to think of it, that didn't seem to be a problem. If the Service Club was really busy, it's unlikely they would have accepted the request from her brother.
And just like that, Kawasaki Saki joined the Service Club, albeit as a ghost member who was absent three out of five days a week.
With her joining, the number of members in the Service Club increased to five, which met the minimum requirement for a club at Sobu High. This meant they could apply for club activity funds.
Hiratsuka Shizuka pulled open the classroom door without knocking. The members of the Service Club were long used to this and couldn't even be bothered to say anything to the carefree female teacher anymore.
"Your club activity funds have been approved!"
As soon as she entered, she announced excitedly. It seemed that getting the funds approved made her happier than getting a raise.
"Oh. Then can you knock next time you come in, Sensei?" Hikigaya yawned, completely unconcerned about things like activity funds.
After all, the Service Club wasn't like the soccer club or the kendo club that needed to purchase sports equipment. For them, a table to put books on, chairs to sit on, and a relatively quiet environment were more than enough.
If there was anything else they needed, it would be a faculty advisor who would knock before entering.
"Hikigaya, what are you talking about! With activity funds, it means we can have a club trip!" Hiratsuka's eyes lit up. This was a great opportunity to create youthful memories!
"A club trip? What's that?" As a transmigrator, Mori Shinra wasn't very familiar with Japanese club culture.
"It's just as the name suggests. It's an outing organized by the club, similar to a school trip," Yukinoshita explained.
"That sounds like a lot of trouble. Can I not go? I say we should save the funds to buy a mini-fridge. It's getting hot soon."
"Hehe... no."