Mash-Up: Anything for Money

Let's rewind time to this morning—

At Hoshimi Academy, inside the student council office.

A massive table sat in the center of the room, covered with an incredibly detailed map—so detailed that even individual streets and alleys were marked.

A boy and a girl stood on opposite sides of the table, both appearing to be high school students—likely members of the student council.

"Ugh, it's Sunday. Why do we have to work overtime?"

"We got intel from an informant. A new ability user has appeared."

The one speaking was a bespectacled boy with neatly parted hair, dressed in Hoshimi Academy's uniform. 

His name was Takajo Jojiro, a member of the student council.

The girl who responded was Tomori Nao, the student council president. 

She had long ash-gray hair tied into twin high ponytails and wore the same school uniform.

At that moment, Nao was casually flipping through a freshly printed sports weekly magazine.

"Hmm? A genius pitcher? Might as well check it out later."

Just as she finished speaking, the office door burst open.

A long-haired man, completely drenched from head to toe, stepped inside.

He was soaking wet—so much so that water audibly dripped from his clothes with every step.

Just looking at him was enough to make someone uncomfortable.

But neither Jojiro nor Nao reacted much to his sudden entrance. They seemed entirely used to this kind of thing.

The soaked man walked past Jojiro without a word and made his way to the center of the table.

Slowly, he extended his pale index finger.

A single droplet of water slid down his fingertip—

And landed directly on the map.

Something strange happened.

Instead being absorbed into the paper, the droplet rippled—

As if it had fallen onto a still body of water.

"Ability…"

"Super Calculation."

With those words, the drenched man turned and left the student council office.

"Super Calculation? As in, an inhuman level of computational ability?"

"Or maybe something akin to a supercomputer's processing power," Nao mused, setting her magazine aside.

"Huh? A supercomputer? There's no way a human brain can compete with that!"

"I don't know. That's why we need to investigate."

"If…"

"If a person with this ability were to fall into the hands of neuroscientists… they'd go insane over it."

Nao muttered to herself while staring at the wet spot on the map.

"This location… is it Toyosaki Academy?"

…

Hoshimi Academy never took ability-related matters lightly.

Within just ten minutes, they had arrived at the designated location.

Since it was early morning on a weekend, Toyosaki Academy was practically deserted—aside from a few staff members.

"Let's ask around first."

With that, Nao pulled out her handheld camcorder and got to work.

Jojiro, not one to idle around, went from person to person, asking if anything unusual had happened at the school lately.

Because their informant's ability couldn't pinpoint the exact individual, this investigation had been left to the student council.

Even though they had narrowed down the area, finding the specific person was still like searching for a needle in a haystack. 

And since they couldn't make too much of a scene, they had no choice but to rely on old-fashioned detective work.

And just then—

Nao spotted something near the entrance of the school building.

The academic ranking board.

Nao didn't bother searching thoroughly—her gaze went straight to the top of the ranking board.

"Shiratori Hakuto? Is that the name?"

If he possessed a super calculation ability, then being ranked first in academics would be effortless for him.

The top three students on the ranking board each had their photos displayed, and Hakuto was no exception.

"Not bad-looking," she remarked.

With that, Nao raised her camcorder and took a clean shot of Hakuto's portrait.

"You—you're not from this school, are you?"

Just as she was filming, a female teacher in a white lab coat had quietly approached from behind.

It was Hiratsuka Shizuka. As a teacher, staying behind at school on weekends to work was nothing unusual for her.

She had been casually walking around when she spotted Nao acting suspiciously with a camcorder in front of the ranking board.

Initially, Hiratsuka had no intention of interfering. After all, Toyosaki Academy didn't prohibit visitors from coming onto the campus.

However, when she saw that Nao was specifically filming Hakuto's photo, she hesitated.

There were plenty of students she wouldn't bother questioning, but Hakuto was different.

After some hesitation, she decided to step forward—leading to the current situation.

"Huh?"

Hearing her voice, Nao turned around, still holding up her camcorder, and pointed it at Hiratsuka.

She had been through situations like this plenty of times. 

Forget just being questioned by teachers at other schools—she had even stolen a uniform before to sneak into another campus.

So dealing with this was nothing new.

She immediately put on a bright and enthusiastic expression.

"Hello, sensei! I'm a member of Hoshimi Academy's student council. I'm here to document the campus environment and educational approach of your school."

As she spoke, she flashed the emblem on her chest and gave her camcorder a small shake—making her look like she was genuinely here for official business.

Hiratsuka examined her for a moment but didn't see anything suspicious, so she simply waved her hand.

"Do as you please."

"Wait, sensei!" Nao stopped Hiratsuka before she could leave—there was no way she was letting go of this chance to gather intel.

"Hm? What else do you need?"

"Could you tell me a little about your school's top-ranked student?"

At those words, Hiratsuka instinctively glanced at the ranking board in the distance and sighed, thinking to herself that she had really brought trouble upon herself.

Still, she didn't refuse.

"You mean Shiratori Hakuto? What exactly do you want to know?"

Seeing that she had agreed, Nao immediately asked the question in her mind.

"Question: Has Shiratori Hakuto always been this good at academics? Was there ever a point where he struggled before suddenly shooting up to the top—like the story of an underdog?"

Since supernatural abilities only manifested during puberty, and puberty varied from person to person, most ability users first discovered their powers around the ages of 14 or 15.

So in Nao's reasoning, if Shiratori Hakuto possessed super calculation abilities, a sudden and dramatic improvement in his grades would be a normal consequence.

"An underdog? That guy was ranked first in the entrance exams."

"And as far as I know, not just for high school—even in middle school and elementary school, he was always the top student in his grade. No one has ever taken that spot from him."

As soon as Hiratsuka finished speaking, a subtle expression flashed across Nao's face.

If he had been at the top since elementary school, then the possibility of him cheating using supernatural abilities could be ruled out.

"Huh? Since elementary school, huh…"

___

Read 20 Advanced Chapters on p@ tr eon (.) com/HalflingFics

Also, please point out my mistakes in the comment, thank you!

Don't forget to leave a review too~ [5 bonus chapter if we reach 10 reviews]

Check out the other translations too: [Mash-Up: I'm Not A Substitute]

___