When You Need Money For Your Little Sister, Nothing Is Illegal, Right?

CHAPTER 1 - THE GIRL WHO INVITES TROUBLE

"--––——enty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three"

Right now, there sits a boy in class dedicating his free time to counting the number of leaves falling on the ground. Possessing long black hair and black eyes, he looks like an average school kid. That is because he is an average school kid. Living by avoiding, is his motto. By having a moderate life and always walking the path of small risks and small rewards, he dodges responsibility and hostility. It is simple, really. By giving up fortunes, he loses hardships.
Because of this particular mindset, he never stands out. Like a background character, he blends in with the surroundings, as if he is part of the scenery.

For choosing this way of life, nobody should ever blame him, though. Having average looks, average grades and average abilities, there is nothing more he could do. The first step of enlightenment is to know your limits.

And the second is to know the limits of others. There's no way he could survive like that on his own, after all.
Always staying composed, he analyzes those around him, categorizing them into three types.

The ones he has.
The ones he wants.
The ones he uses.

Humans are creatures that depend on others. But that doesn't mean they have to work with others.
by knowing the surroundings, he gives them their respective roles, and in the end, tricks them into performing. There's no reason for wasting his own energy, if others are more than willing to do so. It's because he has such an attitude towards everybody, that he gets through. Everything is in order for him to live life without leisure.
However, lately the area below his eyes have darkened. For him, a person who always stays the same, that is a big deal.

-

It is the start of a new year. Almost two weeks have passed since Shinji has been admitted into this school. Holding it's place in Tokyo-Ikebukuro, it is famous for being a school with lax rules. To those with bad grades and those with little time, it has been a popular place. With regulations that openly allow the modification of their uniforms, it has earned a lot of controversial discussions. But the success should dissipate any negative criticism. It is a fact that this school has shown undeniable proof, that their implementations work.

The students are allowed to make their own regulations, which bore fruit to the great range of freedom. But only those with good performance where given this privilege. This simple rule is what keeps the stress away. Now some might ask how one thing correlates with the other, but think about it.
Oftentimes, stress is what keeps students from moving forward. Stress from having multiple identities to be exact. In front of teachers, they act like honor students, but in front of their friends they pretend to be the exact opposite. In front of their love interests, they are shy and innocent, in front of their parents, they are demeaning. When in a group, they have a certain personality, when alone, they have another.
In such a confusing state, learning is certainly a hard task. Of course, there are still those who, even though faced with those challenges, will continue walking forward and take a dive into success. However, the majority can't. The education-system, has made it their job, even though unintentionally, to categorize and to separate the two groups. Weeding out those without passion and developing the remaining one percent, it is a system based on "survival of the fittest".

It does not have to be like that, though. That is why this particular school works to relieve the students stress as much as possible. The simplest way would be to merge multiple identities into one. The reasons why such personalities exist in the first place is because of the goals that students have set for themselves. For example, they wish to get high grades, publish a book, win the tournament and still have long lasting friends. The goals begin to contradict each other and puts a strain on the mental capacity, which leads to the creation of more than just one personality.
To battle this problem, the school decided upon this rule. By allowing students to enact their own regulations, it not only helps them to pursue more than just one goal at once, it also gives them a reason to learn, even though their goal might be something entirely different. This simple rule has halved the stress and doubled the success. The only problem would be that the school has become more relaxed. But when compared, the positive effects easily outweigh the negative ones.