In the morning, Mai went through the process of meeting almost every leader in the school. In addition to signing a series of agreements, she also had to deal with faculty advisors who wanted her to join their school clubs.
Although clubs in Japanese schools are typically self-governed by students, this doesn't mean the advisor's opinion is unimportant. When necessary, the advisor's opinion actually carries more weight than the club president's. After all, students are still just students.
The reason for trying to pull her into a club was also simple: she was rich and could bring in donations.
In fact, these clubs didn't need her to donate. They just needed her to be in the club, and then how could the club funds allocated by the school be any less?
Not to mention, she herself was a celebrity, and such a talented one at that. She was bound to become a famous alumna of the school in the future. With her, they could also have a selling point for recruiting new members. It was a situation with a hundred benefits and no harm.
Of course, she herself had no intention of joining any club. After all, she was already a third-year. In another half a year or so, she would graduate and take her university entrance exams. How could she have so much time for a club?
In the end, unable to withstand the enthusiastic hospitality of the school leaders, Sakurajima Mai chose to join the student council, serving as the Honorary Student Council President.
How to put it... when she heard that she had become the Honorary Student Council President, she was a bit dumbfounded. In her three years at Minegahara High, she had never heard of such a position. This was clearly a case of the school leaders creating a position just for her.
And why would they do that?
Because of Mori Shinra.
After a busy morning, she had a general understanding of everything he had done for her.
And it was because of this general understanding that she realized the weight of his words from the night before, when he said he had 'sacrificed a lot for her.'
Just in cash alone, he had given out 300 million yen. Then there were scholarships and various other expenses. Conservatively estimating, he had invested at least four or five hundred million yen for her, which was several times her own acting income from all these years.
And these things weren't something that could be settled with just money. To put it this way, if she had donated the same amount of money, the final effect would have been worlds apart from his donation.
The commotion he had caused so far was far beyond what could be achieved by just donating money. The manpower, material resources, and the network of connections he had displayed were arguably much more valuable than the money he had donated.
Of course, the final effect was also immediate. This could be seen from the moment she had stepped into the school gate and was noticed. Although it was still limited to the school leadership level for now, as the follow-up projects progressed, it was only a matter of time before her problem was solved.
"Now I owe him a lot..." Mai thought, both happy and troubled.
While she was busy, Mori Shinra was not idle either.
As the actual funder, he also received treatment equal to or even surpassing hers. And judging by the attitude of the school leaders accompanying him on the tour, it seemed they also wanted to poach him for their high school.
In their eyes, a student like him who came with his own connections was a top-tier recruit. Not to mention, his grades were also at the top level. To be able to get first place at Sobu High, his score would probably be in a league of its own even at Minegahara.
Although both schools were key high schools, there were still differences between them.
However, he had no intention of transferring. Are you kidding? Setting aside the ongoing Wish Requests at Sobu, he couldn't just give up on Yukinoshita's golden request.
And it wasn't just Yukinoshita Yukino who had a golden request; her sister Haruno also had one, and even came with a bonus purple-level one.
The attraction of the Yukinoshita sisters to him was basically equivalent to two undeveloped gold mines.
To ask him to give them up and come to Minegahara was clearly impossible, not to mention that Mai was graduating this year.
At noon, Mai was still busy, while Shinra politely declined the school leaders' invitation to go out for lunch. He went to the cafeteria alone, planning to have a simple meal.
Because the lunch hour was almost over, there weren't many people left.
After ordering with a teacher's meal card, he carried a bowl of steaming ramen to a random corner and began to enjoy his lunch at a leisurely pace. His gaze seemed to be unfocused, but in reality, he was paying attention to the progress of Sakurajima Mai's request.
Seeing the 'Settling' status displayed on the request log, he knew this one was in the bag. Since it had already entered the settlement stage, the disappearance of her abnormality was only a matter of time.
This also meant that he would soon receive the most generous reward in history—an ability just like hers, her affection, and a certain number of Wish Points.
Unlike her uncontrollable invisibility, the 'One Leaf Obscures the Eye' produced by the system would have no risk of being uncontrollable. The only thing to worry about was perhaps how much Spirit it would require and whether his mana bar was sufficient.
As for the Maiden's Heart, to be honest, before he got it, he couldn't guess what it was for. It couldn't be to lock her affection for him at max value, could it?
What kind of hypnosis system was this?
In addition to the first two rewards, there were also a certain number of Wish Points. Although it just said 'a certain amount,' he estimated it would not be less than 5 points. After all, this was a special Wish Request. Even with the two great rewards preceding it, the number of points given couldn't possibly be less than a blue request, right?
So, including this sum of points, it was equivalent to one quest giving two abilities, since his wishes were about to hit the pity rate anyway.
And the price he had to pay was just some money. It was an absolute steal. As for the family's side, he had already thought of how to handle it.
Moreover, a scholarship like the Sakurajima Mai Scholarship could also be used for Kawasaki Saki. After all, this was a resource he had gone to great lengths to get from his family; he couldn't let it go to waste. He had to maximize its use to be worthy of his efforts.
And since he was already getting resources, he might as well get a little more at once.
In addition to the donation to Minegahara, he also planned to acquire Mai's mother's agency and get involved in her subsequent comeback plan.
This way, he could make money, deepen his connection with Mai, and get on good terms with his future mother-in-law in advance. It was three birds with one stone.
A win!
Just as Shinra was happily counting his gains, a petite girl with glasses and an exceptionally prominent figure was standing at the cafeteria window, at a complete loss.
She had been told that today's student lunch was already sold out, and if she needed something, she could check the vending machine.
But the problem was... she had just come from the vending machine!