49: Chapter 49: Awkward Sonoko Suzuki

Ring ring!

Once again, the shrill ring of the phone jolted Fujino awake far too early.

"Damn it, why does someone always call me first thing in the morning?" Fujino grumbled, slowly sitting up and shaking his head to clear the sleepiness.

He grabbed his phone. The screen displayed the caller ID: [Shibasaki Mieko].

Seeing the name, half his irritation vanished instantly. Oh, it's a client. Never mind then...

He answered the call.

"Shibasaki-san? Is something wrong?"

"Detective Fujino, are you free right now?" Mieko's voice came through the line.

Fujino glanced at the wall clock, thought for a moment, then replied,

"I have school today. I probably won't be free until after four PM."

"Okay, in that case, I'll come over this evening."

"This evening?"

Fujino raised an eyebrow.

"But Mieko-san, don't you have to prepare for your concert?"

Shibasaki Mieko sighed.

"That was the plan... but Tatsuya seemed to have hurt his back when he went home last night. Today's concert had to be cancelled..."

"Hurt ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his back?"

Fujino's brow furrowed slightly. This sounded... suspicious.

Hurt his back... Don't tell me those two were going at it until the wee hours of the morning?

A knowing, mischievous smile spread across Fujino's face.

Noon, Class 2-B, lunch break.

Sunlight dappled through the leaves outside the window, a gentle breeze rustling them. Time seemed to have rewound slightly, back to autumn.

Fujino sat by the classroom window, resting his chin on his hand, gazing thoughtfully at his system's profession interface:

[Student (Rank: Advanced) | Proficiency: 0/500]

[Class Skills:]

Student Discount (Advanced): 10% discount in system & reality. (Note: Skill progression currently blocked by profession rank cap. Host must increase profession rank to upgrade further.)

Natural Aptitude (Intermediate): +150% Learning Ability.

"Student Discount has hit the cap already?"

Fujino mused silently, studying the interface.

The system's sub-profession ranks seemed to follow a pattern: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Top-Tier. Each rank-up granted one skill point. Reaching Top-Tier would likely yield four points in total. However, most skills capped out at Advanced, requiring three points. Clearly, if a profession had two upgradable skills, four points wouldn't be enough to max both. He'd anticipated hitting this bottleneck with the Student class eventually.

If I'm guessing right, there must be ranks beyond Top-Tier. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠What they were called, he had no idea. Maybe Tier 1, Tier 2? Who knew?

"But still," Fujino muttered, looking at the 500 proficiency points needed to reach Top-Tier, "if it takes 500 points just to go from Advanced to Top-Tier, how many will it take to reach whatever comes after that?"

His proficiency gain from attending school had been diminishing lately. Initially, a full day of classes netted him around 50 points. After getting the Natural Aptitude skill, it jumped to over 100 points per day. But recently, the gains had shrunk significantly. Today, a full day of classes only yielded 50 points... and it would likely decrease further.

"Is it because I've caught up on all the material I missed originally?" Fujino speculated. He sighed. "Looks like I need to prioritize upgrading Natural Aptitude."

Upgrading Natural Aptitude to Intermediate had boosted his learning speed by another 50% compared to Basic. Material that previously took him six hours (with the Basic skill) now only took four and a half hours...

Teitan High started classes around 8 AM, broke for lunch at noon, resumed at 1 PM, and finished around 3 PM. Total class time was roughly eight hours, minus about an hour for breaks. That left less than seven ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hours of actual learning time per day. Improving Natural Aptitude would allow him to absorb more information in that limited time, which, paradoxically, seemed necessary now that learning more was yielding less proficiency gain. More learning meant more proficiency, which meant faster ranking, which meant breaking through this current bottleneck sooner.

"Fujino-senpai!"

A familiar voice snapped Fujino out of his thoughts.

He turned to see Sonoko Suzuki leaning close, her face right next to his.

"Hey hey, Fujino-senpai," Sonoko grinned, asking brightly, "What did you get on the mini-quiz?"

"The quiz score? Haven't really looked," Fujino replied, frowning slightly. He vaguely remembered a math quiz that morning; results came back before lunch, but he'd been too focused on studying to check. He rummaged through his desk drawer, pulled out the paper, and glanced at it.

"Full marks, looks like?"

"Eh?" Sonoko peered closer, her eyes widening. "It really is full marks..."

"How about you, Sonoko? What did you score?" Fujino asked casually.

"Ah... well..." Sonoko stammered awkwardly, clutching her own test paper hidden behind her back, her hand tightening around it. She'd originally come over to commiserate with Fujino, assuming he'd bombed it too. Finding out he'd aced it... made things decidedly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠awkward.

"Why can Fujino-senpai get full marks too?!" Sonoko slumped back into her seat, staring miserably at the numerous red 'X's marking her own paper, ruffling her hair in frustration.

"Sonoko, maybe you should try studying a bit harder?" Ran suggested gently, turning around in her seat with a kind smile.

"If you paid attention in class instead of being 'sick' all the time, your grades wouldn't be so bad."

"Ran!" Sonoko flushed bright red.

"I just don't have the talent for studying! Learning requires natural aptitude, you know..."

She glanced pointedly towards Fujino.

"Like Fujino-senpai! I remember he failed the last big exam, but now he gets a perfect score... See? It must be talent!"