Over these five months, Suro had been diligently hitting his "lose money" KPI every single month.
And that KPI had been steadily climbing.
From the initial five million, it had ballooned to twenty million a month.
And all of that—in just five months.
Yet the system's extra rewards were still the same old stuff: improvements to his physical fitness, and boosts to his "horse-girl attractiveness."
These days, even though Suro didn't look like he had any outrageous muscles on the surface, in reality he was far stronger than an average person.
And maybe it was because his "horse-girl attractiveness" had been raised too many times, but lately, whenever he was at his shop, Norn Ace's gaze toward him always seemed… kind of weird.
Probably just his imagination.
After all, Oguri Cap always looked at him with the same pure, unchanging eyes.
So—nothing to worry about.
As for the foot-washing place, for some reason, a bunch of horse girls from Tokyo had suddenly started going all the way to Kasamatsu just to try it out. The result was that the place's revenue had shot up—something that had been annoying Suro for quite a while.
I didn't even advertise in Tokyo… where the hell did this organic traffic come from?
Since he had no idea what was causing it, Suro didn't really have any good way to deal with the situation.
But today, he hadn't come to see Tamamo Cross to get to the bottom of that problem.
He had come for something else.
"Tamamo. Come with me to Hokkaido."
"Huh?"
Tamamo Cross, who'd been quietly devouring ramen at the side while Suro behaved for once, froze.
"Why do you suddenly want to go to Hokkaido?"
"Obviously, I want to see the school I invested in," Suro replied, looking at her like the question was ridiculous. "I've already spent nearly twenty million yen on you. And you've basically handed all that money to that academy. Isn't it normal that I'd want to go take a look?"
"Then let's go," Tamamo said briskly. If Suro wanted to go, then they'd go.
Taking two days off from the academy to visit her hometown wasn't a big deal.
Suro's purpose in visiting Nishikino Academy was simple: to confirm whether the money Tamamo had given was actually being used for construction and improvement at the school.
Sure, the money wasn't something he'd earned through effort—after all, it came from the system.
But part of it was prize money Oguri Cap had earned.
And if that money wasn't being used the way he and Tamamo expected—if someone was skimming it for themselves—then that would seriously piss him off.
A parasite like that deserved to taste one of his system-enhanced, fully intentional "demolition punches."
So they went—immediately.
Neither of them was the type to drag their feet. Once they agreed on Hokkaido, they bought plane tickets that very day and headed out.
On the flight, Tamamo Cross showed Suro photos of what Nishikino Academy used to look like.
"The classrooms are that old, and they still use them…"
"This building looks pretty run-down too."
"Whoa… the training grounds are tiny…"
No students, no facilities, no money, no teachers…
Suro flipped through the old photos one by one. Heh—this place looks dead on its feet. No wonder it was about to go bankrupt.
"Well… it mostly came down to poor management," Tamamo said with a gloomy look. "And it's a local branch Tracen academy. It's never produced any especially famous horse girls, so… in the end, bankruptcy was where it was headed."
"If it weren't for your funding, Nishikino would probably have been finished a long time ago."
"Heh. Starting to feel like thanking me now?" Suro teased.
"Yeah," Tamamo answered with disarming honesty. "Even now I can't figure out what's going on inside your head… but I really am grateful."
"…Uh…"
Faced with such a direct, sincere thank-you, Suro suddenly felt guilty and looked away.
Because his original intentions in helping Tamamo Cross weren't exactly noble…
—
"This is…?!"
Tamamo Cross rubbed her eyes. Suro reflexively pulled out his phone, opened the old photo of the shabby school building, then looked up—
"Holy crap…"
Suro couldn't stop himself from blurting it out.
Where was the peeling paint, the broken windows, the crumbling old building from the picture?
In its place stood a brand-new three-story teaching building. The exterior was a modern blend of pale gray and creamy white, with broad glass windows reflecting Hokkaido's blue sky.
The school gate had been replaced with a modest yet refined wrought-iron gate, and beside it hung a gleaming new bronze plaque:
"Nishikino Tracen Academy."
Looking deeper inside, the muddy dirt field had become a neatly laid grass track, and in the center there was even a small fountain.
Along the edge of the training grounds were professional obstacle-training facilities and shaded resting pavilions, surrounded by greenery—the whole place carried the air of an elite sports academy.
"Huh…?" Tamamo Cross's pupils practically quaked. Her voice was full of disbelief.
Where the hell did this take us?
This is still Nishikino?!
Staring at the reborn campus, Suro froze for a moment—then the corners of his mouth rose on their own.
Hands in his pockets, he strolled forward, eyes sweeping over the new teaching building, the professional track, the stylish fountain and pavilions. The more he looked, the more satisfied he became, until he finally let out an amused snort of laughter.
"Not bad, Tamamo. Look at how this money got spent…"
He turned to Tamamo Cross, who was still in a daze, his tone unable to hide his delight.
"Looks like that twenty million really wasn't wasted. Every last yen got poured right into this place."
He'd been worried the funds had been diverted—and had even been ready to swing fists.
But the dramatic transformation in front of them, the way every detail screamed "the money arrived," was the best proof possible.
"This is even better than I imagined," Suro said, stroking his chin with a glint in his eyes.
"Looks like Nishikino Academy… no—this new Nishikino Academy might actually pull something off."
His investment… hadn't just not been thrown into the sea.
It felt more like he'd accidentally slammed money into a hidden growth stock.
And then, an idea popped into his head.
He'd already poured so much into Nishikino Academy—why not just become a shareholder?
Investing in a horse girl was an investment. Investing in an entire academy was also an investment, right?
Oh—!
Isn't that an even more money-burning endeavor?!
It was just a local branch Tracen academy. Even if he invested, how much of a splash could it really make? It would never compare to Central Tracen.
This was practically guaranteed profit!
What, was he supposed to lead a local Tracen and elbow Central Tracen out of the way?
No way things would ever develop like that. Hah… hah…
-------
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