COTE: Starting With Love Stock Market System

Morning of June 1st – A New Month Begins

At exactly 6:30 AM, Hikaru's well-trained internal clock woke him up on schedule. His long-term exercise routine had conditioned him to wake up early, but when he checked the time and saw that he still had nearly two hours before class, he decided he could afford to sleep in a little longer.

Last night, he had spent 20,000 system funds to purchase the "30% Discount Voucher", but since this month's Trading Shop refresh hadn't included any Physique stat upgrades, it wasn't immediately useful. Still, it was worth buying—otherwise, it would have disappeared by next month.

As for the other items and skills available, none seemed particularly necessary. This month's refresh was rather lackluster, aside from the discount voucher, which stood out as the only uniquely valuable item.

Now that the Athletic Booster effect had expired, Hikaru planned to take a few days off from training. His schedule had been too strict before—maintaining a relentless day-and-night exercise routine.

With this break, he gained more free time to focus on other priorities.

Whether it was Sakura Airi, Kushida Kikyo, or the ever-present Shiina Hiyori, he now had more opportunities to spend time with them.

As for Ichinose Honami, his classmate, he had already assigned her a more important role.

I'll talk to her once I get to class.

Enjoying the rare luxury of lazing in bed, Hikaru closed his eyes again.

It felt nice to relax for once.

---

An hour later, Hikaru finally got up, freshened up, and left for school.

Today, being the first of June, meant that the updated class rankings and new Private Points distribution would be announced.

Following last month's pattern, Ichinose would likely conduct the second round of Private Point collection. With her Private Points already surpassing five million, another collection today would bring in over two million more—getting them even closer to the twenty-million goal.

As Hikaru stepped into the classroom, he scanned the room. Everyone was present—no surprise.

After all, it was the first of the month, an important day for every student.

"Morning, Hikaru-kun!"

"Good morning, Hikaru-kun."

"Morning, everyone."

Exchanging brief greetings, Hikaru returned to his seat.

Sitting beside him, Ichinose greeted him with a bright smile, her voice warm and cheerful.

"Good morning, Hikaru-kun! Can you believe it? It's already June."

"Good morning, Ichinose-san," Hikaru replied as he set down his bag.

At that moment, a pleasant fragrance drifted toward him from Ichinose direction.

It was different from her usual scent, making him pause for a moment.

Ichinose leaned in slightly, tugging at his sleeve playfully.

"Hikaru-kun, do you notice anything different about me today?"

Hikaru turned to look at her, studying her carefully.

She was wearing the standard crimson blazer and white skirt of their school uniform.

Her makeup-free face had the same natural charm as always—at a glance, there was no obvious change.

But he had already figured it out.

The fragrance.

It wasn't the same as before.

"Did you change your perfume, Ichinose-san? It smells different from before."

Hikaru smiled as he gave his answer.

When a girl asks if you've noticed something different, she's hoping you'll pick up on it immediately—especially when the change is this obvious.

"Correct answer!"

Ichinose's blue eyes sparkled with delight.

She was pleased by his quick response.

After all, as seatmates, the two of them spent a lot of time together daily.

She had been expecting him to notice right away.

"I bought it yesterday when I went shopping with Ando-san and the others. It wasn't expensive, but I wanted to try something new."

The pink-haired girl smiled warmly, explaining her choice.

Then, she playfully extended her soft, fair hands toward Hikaru.

"Hikaru-kun, do you want to smell it again and guess what scent it is?"

Hikaru hesitated for a moment.

"Uh… I'm not really familiar with perfumes..."

He had been about to refuse, but when he saw Ichinose's expectant gaze, he swallowed his words.

"..."

"Alright, I'll give it a try. But if I guess wrong, don't blame me."

With a resigned sigh, Hikaru gently took Ichinose's hands and brought them closer to his face.

He leaned in slightly, trying to identify the scent.

Ichinose, despite feeling a bit shy, was secretly pleased.

She had already made up her mind—she was going to be proactive.

There's nothing wrong with liking someone.

If you don't fight for your own happiness, who will?

Meanwhile, the other A-Class students, upon witnessing this scene, had no particular reaction.

They had long gotten used to it.

Everyone had already assumed that these two were dating, so no one found it unusual.

After a few moments, Hikaru sighed in defeat.

"I give up. I really can't figure it out."

Ichinose giggled, her smile radiant.

"Since you couldn't guess, let's keep it a secret for now. I'll tell you next time."

She lightly squeezed Hikaru's hand, her eyes shining as she gazed at him.

"Alright, I'll be waiting for the answer next time."

Hikaru nodded, smoothly slipping his hand away from hers.

He glanced at the clock and said casually, "Looks like class is about to start. Today, they should be announcing the new class evaluation scores. I'm curious to see how we did."

"Yeah, I wonder if our score increased."

"We'll find out once they reveal the rankings. Let's wait and see."

---

As the morning bell rang, A-Class's homeroom teacher, Hoshinomiya Chie, walked into the classroom with her usual bright smile.

"Good morning, everyone~!"

"Good morning, Sensei!"

"Sensei! What's our class evaluation score? Did it go up?"

"Yeah, don't keep us waiting! Tell us already!"

The students had grown close to Hoshinomiya-sensei over the past two months, so their interactions had become more casual and relaxed.

"Haha, impatient as always, aren't you? Fine, fine, I'll announce it now."

Still smiling, Hoshinomiya-sensei picked up a piece of chalk and began writing the updated class rankings on the board.

A-Class

B-Class

C-Class: 362 points

D-Class: 275 points

*(TL/N - It was left like this in the raw😓)

The moment the new rankings were revealed, the entire classroom erupted with excitement.

"Yes! We're still in first place!"

"And our total score went up too! That means we'll get more Private Points this month!"

"This must be because of our strong performance in the midterms, right?"

"Yeah, but B-Class's score also increased quite a bit..."

Although the students were thrilled, they were also keenly aware that their biggest rival was B-Class.

The gap between the two hadn't widened—in fact, it had narrowed by 5 points compared to last month.

---

After class, Hikaru gathered a small group, including Ichinose, Shirakawa, Himeno, and Shibata, as well as Kanzaki and Ando from previous study sessions.

Seeing Hikaru's serious expression, everyone nodded without hesitation.

"Let's find a quiet place. There's something important we need to discuss about the future of our class."

~~~

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