Time goes back a little.
Inside the Royal Pioneer Academy, the principal was alone, holding his head.
"The first educational results presentation in the royal capital is soon! The state of the pioneering can be fudged as much as I like, so that is fine...!"
At a pioneer academy, the state of the pioneering is not released outside for a set period after opening. Only those listed as supporters can know it.
The reason is that it works like an early-access privilege, so they can spot the better students first and invest. At the presentation, the pioneering is only explained with documents, so fabrication is easy.
There was only one problem he could not get around.
"At the presentation, I have to show the Asset Ranking magic board...! Our school is the first to introduce it, so the gathered reporters are sure to ask...!"
He could have just shown it as it was. There was a reason he could not.
"First place on the asset ranking, by a huge margin, is the Special Training Class...! If it gets out that a dropout class is in first, it will be a disaster...!"
The students at the Royal Pioneer Academy are nothing but the sons and daughters of the powerful, thoroughbreds who will carry the country. If it came out that they, who were supposed to be excellent, had fewer assets than a dropout class, even the principal's fitness to lead could be questioned.
"At least, at least... knock them out of first! If another class takes first, I can fudge the rest!"
Even that was a hard problem. First-place Special Training Class held a huge 40 million Ender.
"How do I make another class earn over 40 million before the presentation...!?"
First he wondered if he could invent a reason and award prize money to one class five times. Prize money had supporters who provided it, and handing it out for too flimsy a reason could draw criticism.
Suddenly there was a rough knock on the principal's office door. Irritated, he shouted back. "Quiet! I am thinking!"
From beyond the door came a muffled, still noisy voice.
"Pardon me! A major accident has occurred, and I must report it at once!"
"A major accident!? Honestly...! Do not add any more problems! What happened!?"
"Sir! Just now the yes-man vice principal was struck by the lightning of judgment and carried to the infirmary! It seems he tried to destroy the shrine made for Class 1-S, and divine punishment fell!"
"...The shrine, you say...!?"
The moment that word hit his ear, the principal's head lit up as if he had received a revelation.
"Yes, that is it...! With this, I can surely make them earn 40 million Ender...!"
The principal immediately ordered Nickbacca to arrange something. It was an offertory box.
"In the eastern country, I hear donations are put in this box. Earning 40 million through business is hard, but donations are easy. And with charisma like Kotone-kun's, even more so...!"
Delighted, the principal had the offertory box carried into Kotone's shrine. Kotone herself was flat in her refusal.
"I must decline."
"Why!? It is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to rake it in while you sleep!"
"This is indeed a shrine, but there is no sacred object yet."
"Then make one up!"
"I cannot. This shrine has, unexpectedly, become my first shrine. The sacred object placed in a miko's first shrine is more precious to her than her own child. Deciding that carelessly is out of the question. And besides..."
Kotone had held a firm attitude the whole time, and here her cheeks suddenly flushed. Still sitting properly, she looked away and shyly traced a circle on the floor.
"I wish to receive my first sacred object from my master..."
The girl's innocent feeling for the gods, and her pure feeling for her master, the principal trampled both.
He smoothly lured the girls of Class 1-S out, and while they were gone he set the offertory box in the shrine on his own. Then he called in the students from the other residential districts.
"Come, this is called an offertory box, a box in which you can give gifts to Kotone-kun! And Kotone-kun said she wants slave tickets so badly she cannot stand it! She also said that if you put in lots of tickets, she will come to like you!"
The boys got excited. They had tried to give Kotone slave tickets as thanks, and she had not accepted them.
For them, the offertory box was the tribute box they had been waiting for. Boys swarmed the box and threw in slave tickets, as if offering everything they had.
At the sight, the principal could not stop laughing.
"Bahaha! At this rate, Class 1-S taking the top of the asset ranking is only a matter of time!"
Then the laugh stopped.
If Kotone-kun refused to accept them, it would all come to nothing. Safer to collect the offertory box before Kotone-kun and the others returned. Then the ranking would be secure. He would hold the box until Kotone-kun and the others understood how wonderful the tickets were.
The principal hurriedly added, to the swarming boys,
"Everyone! Do not tell anyone you donated! Especially not the students of Class 1-S! Kotone-kun likes modest boys! Your feelings will reach her well enough through the portraits on the tickets!"
The offertory box had wheels, so taking it away was easy. In the end, Class 1-S was put at the top of the asset ranking in a place they knew nothing about.
When the principal checked the ranking board, the laugh came back.
1st place: Class 1-S, 46,315,300 Ender
2nd place: Special Training Class, 41,200,000 Ender
"Bahaha! I did it, I finally did it! I blew past that trash! Even that trash cannot overturn a gap of over 5 million! The presentation is secure now!"
That smile was not supposed to break until the presentation ended. That it vanished along with a fit hardly needs saying.
The moment the ranking board updated at the presentation hall, the principal lifted a nearby chair with all his strength. He shook off the people trying to stop him and beat the ranking board.
He shrieked, over and over.
"P-Principal Nekodoran has started rampaging!?"
"What happened!?"
"No idea! But this is the scandal of a lifetime! Shoot everything!"
The flashes went off harder. Principal Nekodoran's disgrace took the top of the next morning's paper.