Chapter 84

The morning sun spilled onto the campus.

On the long path that students had to take, cherry blossoms were still drifting down from the branches.

Xia Xia Xia Mujun stepped on the fallen cherry blossoms and strolled among them.

While walking, he looked at the gorgeous cherry blossom trees, and his mood was unexpectedly bright.

As long as he worked a little harder today, "The Devotion of Suspect X" would be basically finished, and he could go directly to the publisher to submit it after school on Saturday.

After completing this, he just had to wait for the royalties to arrive next month.

By then, the financial difficulties at home would be improved, and he wouldn't have to be restricted everywhere like now.

But Xia Xia Xia Mujun hoped to earn more money before the house was auctioned, to see if it was possible to buy back his own mansion.

He learned from Saionji Nanase that his house was expected to be auctioned in mid-June.

Now it was early April.

Unless he could earn at least 600 million yen within two months, it would be impossible to redeem his former residence.

If he had a year, Xia Xia Xia Mujun was sure he could definitely earn that amount—in his past life, the sales of "The Devotion of Suspect X" exceeded 1 billion in just one year.

But now the time limit was only two months, and it was quite difficult to earn 600 million yen with just this one book.

In other words, Xia Xia Xia Mujun couldn't rely solely on this book; he had to think of other ways.

Speaking of which, he still had one chance to use the "Boy's Painful Diary".

He could copy another novel he had read in his past life, and use it in tandem with "The Devotion of Suspect X" to raise funds in the short term.

Besides that, there was the "Newcomer Shogi Tournament"—if he could win all the way, he could get about 40 million yen.

Currently, these were the two fastest ways for Xia Xia Xia Mujun to earn big money.

Regarding the shogi tournament, to ensure victory, he sincerely hoped that Senior Yasui Ryoto's relic was "special equipment".

If it was, perhaps it could also improve some of his strength.

But if that were the case... it would also mean that the relic at the Mido family's place was likely also special equipment.

This was a bit awkward.

Xia Xia Xia Mujun recalled carefully and found that even though he had collected more than three pieces of special equipment, no synthesis prompt had ever appeared.

This showed that all the special equipment he had obtained were of different types.

Currently, he didn't quite know how the "types" of special equipment were specifically divided.

But one thing was certain: shogi-related special equipment definitely belonged to the same type.

This was beyond doubt.

Therefore, if what Yasui Ryoto had wasn't special equipment, he would have to specifically look for whether there was any shogi-related special equipment elsewhere to see what the effect would be after synthesis.

Just as Xia Xia Xia Mujun was lost in thought.

Someone behind him gently patted his shoulder, and a playful female voice came:

"Xia Xia Xia Mujun, good morning!"

Xia Xia Xia Mujun turned back immediately.

He saw Akita Sana, who had twin tails and showed cute fangs when she smiled, standing behind him.

He had met this girl yesterday and remembered that she seemed to be Kondo Miki's good friend.

"I remember you are... Akita-san?"

Akita Sana said happily:

"Xia Xia Xia Mujun actually remembers my name, I'm so happy~"

"By the way, are you free after school? Do you want to go out and play with me, Miki, and a few other friends?"

Xia Xia Xia Mujun shook his head:

"No, I have to go to work in the afternoon."

Akita Sana pouted, really feeling that was there any need to do a job with a daily wage of less than 10,000 yen?

You know, when she went out to play, she would spend 10,000 or 20,000 yen casually.

However, she also knew that Xia Xia Xia Mujun's family background was not good, and working was indeed a last resort.

Although she couldn't help with his family's debt, she didn't mind subsidizing him with small amounts of money.

Maybe she could use this to ask him out on a date with her.

Akita Sana's eyes rolled, and a small idea suddenly popped up.

"Speaking of which, where do you work part-time, Xia Xia Xia Mujun?"

Xia Xia Xia Mujun explained:

"A coffee shop."

Akita Sana was a bit surprised:

"A coffee shop... that's a pretty good place to work."

"But with your conditions, Xia Xia Xia Mujun, maybe there are better choices?"

Xia Xia Xia Mujun was aroused with a bit of curiosity:

"Better choices? What are they?"

Akita Sana giggled, showing her cute little fangs, and suggested:

"Isn't there an app called rental boyfriend, rental girlfriend recently?"

"The income from that kind of work for one day might be higher than the monthly salary of a coffee shop."

"You look so handsome, Xia Xia Xia Mujun, I think you are especially suitable for this!"

"If you are willing, there will definitely be many girls booking you every day!"

She calculated in her heart that if Xia Xia Xia Mujun agreed, she would book all his time and let him accompany her on dates every day!

Xia Xia Xia Mujun was silent for a moment, not expecting that this was the kind of work she was suggesting.

The more conspicuous he was, the more trouble he would attract, and sometimes it would even attract particularly crazy girls—he had deeply experienced this since he was a child.

Because of this, Xia Xia Xia Mujun had never liked to be in the spotlight since he was a child.

Not to mention going on dates with girls specifically to make money.

He didn't like to go against his own heart and flatter girls just to make money.

Although this was a matter of mutual consent, he personally didn't like this behavior.

Of course, Xia Xia Xia Mujun wouldn't blame those who chose to do so.

Other people's choices had nothing to do with him, and he didn't have the heart to preach.

Let those who like it do it; anyway, he wasn't interested.

Xia Xia Xia Mujun never thought of himself as a saint or a good person.

But he had his own principles.

Within his principles, he would do things that were opportunistic.

Even if he was scolded as a bad person, as long as it didn't violate his principles, he didn't care; let others say what they wanted.

What's more, Xia Xia Xia Mujun could now earn money by writing novels and participating in shogi tournaments, so why bother earning such petty profits.

Xia Xia Xia Mujun shook his head:

"Sorry, I'm not interested in this kind of work."

"No matter how much money there is, I won't do it."

Akita Sana was stunned, and then hurriedly explained, fearing that he would hate her:

"Ah... I, I just mentioned it casually, don't take it to heart."

"It's just a joke... yes, it's a joke, haha!"

She hurriedly changed the subject and said sheepishly:

"Ah, by the way... the cream puffs you made last time were so delicious, I especially liked them!"

Xia Xia Xia Mujun remembered that he only gave cream puffs to the Kondo family, and asked suspiciously:

"You ate them too?"

Akita Sana's face stiffened again, and she didn't dare to say that Kondo Miki didn't bring those cream puffs home at all, and she ate them all.

If Xia Xia Xia Mujun knew, maybe he would have some opinions about Kondo Miki and her.

The desserts he worked hard to make were given to others, but were transferred to someone else...

At this moment, she really wanted to slap herself.

She didn't understand why she, who was usually eloquent, would become so clumsy in front of Xia Xia Xia Mujun, whom she liked, and make mistakes repeatedly!