Tokyo Soft Rice King.

"I see. No wonder the News Club always knows the Arts Club's moves in advance and tries to interfere. It's because you, Nishimura-senpai, are providing the News Club with the 'latest news from school'."

Nishimura Ryuya clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Tsk... I overestimated you guys. Turns out I let it slip... How incredibly stupid..."

"Although I had a vague suspicion that someone was providing information to the News Department, I never expected that this person was the head of the Computer Department, right here in front of us... Nishimura-senpai, have you been monitoring everyone in the school?"

Nishimura Ryu simply rolled his eyes and retorted at Anri Hitomi's guess.

"Why would I be monitoring you bunch of kids? Do I look like I have nothing better to do?"

Since he had already let it slip, he simply revealed his source of information.

"It's just that I have access to the school's public cameras, and I manage the group messages and forums in the school because I have the highest level of access to the school's LAN. It's not that I know your privacy, it's that you kids have no concept of protecting privacy at all. You post everything in the groups and forums, so I just casually forward these messages to the news department and earn some extra money on the side."

Tatsuya Nishimura is a name few people know about, not only because he is a super repeat student, but also because he has erased almost all information about himself from the school, making his existence one of the school's seven mysteries: the "blonde vengeful spirit in the club building".

Actually, it was just because he lived in the club building that students who stayed late at school happened to catch a glimpse of Nishimura Ryuya coming out to use the restroom.

After he took over the school's local area network, he made comprehensive optimizations and upgrades, and added class chat groups and private chat functions. The campus network, which was originally despised by students, became a commonly used communication method for some students because of its practicality.

So he wasn't actually the primary source of information, but as the architect and manager of the school's information channels, he was the fastest 'information recipient,' always able to obtain relevant information in the first instance. Therefore, it was as if 'there was nothing that happened in this school that he didn't know about.'

What the news club needs most is the 'fastest news', so after he sells the news to the news club, the people in the news club will write it on the news wall and spread it to most students' ears. Since everyone is unaware of Nishimura Tatsuya's existence, they think that the news club, which can get 'exclusive news', is really amazing and can always get the latest information at the first time.

In fact, the principal and some teachers knew that Nishimura Ryu was also doing this kind of thing, but they did not stop him because he had 'privileges' at this high school.

The school left him alone and was even willing to let him repeat three years because the benefits of keeping him in the school far outweighed the drawbacks.

A computer expert optimized the school's local area network for free, and all he and his computer department members did was pay for the regular student club activities. It was an incredible bargain.

Of course, the more crucial reason is that his status is quite special; he is a student specially taken in by the principal.

To put it bluntly, he has connections, so nobody dares to touch him.

Anyway, Nishimura Ryu never goes to class, and he is assigned to a class every year. It is assumed that he is present. The homeroom teacher may not see him even once a year, and only knows that there is indeed such a 'ghost student' in the school.

Akira Kuroba was very surprised to hear that Tatsuya Nishimura was also making money in this way.

He's a version ahead of everyone else; he's already living in the information age, and he's the one who controls information!

Especially in this day and age, those who have prior access to information often reap great rewards. This is the case in the stock market and economics, where the main strategy is to make money by exploiting information asymmetry.

Moreover, this guy is very similar to me; he's a complete egoist.

Unlike Takanashi Mirai, he is not someone you can confide in.

Kuroba Akira can chat with Mirai Kotori using game-related topics, but he probably has nothing in common with Ryu Nishimura.

Because he certainly wouldn't think much of someone like himself, a 'mediocre talent'.

Nishimura Ryūya has the kind of personality that thinks he's the only one who matters, and he won't even glance at people or things that don't interest him.

Kuroba Akira can only deal with this kind of person, but he can't become friends with him.

But they don't need to be friends. As long as they can communicate and are 'tradeable objects', that's enough.

Since he started this topic himself, it proves that he wants to "get more benefits" from the Literature and Art Department, which is why he mentioned "bidding" earlier.

To put it bluntly, he wanted to see the Literature and Art Department and the News Department fight to the death so that he could profit from the conflict.

This cross-dresser is quite cunning...

Anri Hitomi was also deep in thought. She had only come along because of Kuroba Akira, but she didn't expect that this matter would also involve the Literature and Art Club... If the News Club could lose its exclusive news, it would indeed be a significant blow to the News Club.

The seniors in the Literature and Art Department used to hate the News Department. If they could see the News Department get humiliated before they graduated, they would feel better. After all, they had been targeted by the News Department for three years of high school, which must have been very frustrating.

However, firsthand information is not very valuable to the Literature and Art Department, since the department no longer produces school newspapers or magazines, and by the time such things are done, the information is usually outdated.

In this era where everyone has a mobile phone, print media has indeed fallen behind. At least in schools, where everyone is young, school newspapers and magazines are definitely meaningless. Evidence of this is that even the news department no longer produces school newspapers, but simply posts news on the news wall.

In the end, Hitomi Anri still felt that it was not worth spending a lot of money just to make the news department suffer a loss.

After all, the Literature and Art Club itself doesn't have much funding. If she wants to bribe Nishimura Tatsuya, she will definitely have to use her own savings, which is the 'future dowry' she just received from her mother.

Although it would probably cost less than a fraction of the money to buy it, Hitomi Anri still felt that she shouldn't use that money for this purpose.

This money was an important fund she used to 'invest' in a wise ruler and 'buy' the people she wanted.

Seeing that Anri Hitomi had been pondering for a while, Nishimura Ryu was not as irritable as when they first met. Instead of urging her to make a decision, he gently guided her.

"It's not necessarily about money... This model of graphics card is a brand under your Anri Group, right? If you can replace every computer here with the latest graphics card, I might consider terminating my cooperation with the news department..."

Kuroba Akira scratched his head. He had come here to find capable people, but somehow he had suddenly entered the revenge storyline of the Literature Club.

Will the class monitor agree? Probably not.

For Anri's family, a few of the latest graphics cards are nothing, but she probably doesn't want to use Anri's family's resources. After all, she handed over her underwear to me because she didn't want to spend her family's money.

"Sure."

However, to Kuroba Akira's surprise, the class president actually agreed with a smile.

What surprised him even more was that the class monitor then smiled and looked at him and said something.

“But I don’t need you, Nishimura-senpai, to terminate your cooperation with the newspaper club. Instead, I want to cooperate with Akira… that is, my club member, Kuroba Akira.”

"Hey?!"

Kuroba Akira was dumbfounded again; the class monitor had passed the ball to him again!

But I didn't come here to avenge the Literature and Art Department... The class monitor probably knows that too...

At that moment, Kuroba Akira saw the class president wink at him with his right eye, as if to say, "As a friend, this is all I can do for you."

Kuroba Akira was deeply moved. As the head of the Literature Club, she should have been more concerned about the club itself, yet she was willing to help her first as a friend…

With such a friend, what more could one ask for!

Squad leader...! Squad leader! You're such a kind person... no, you're practically my angel!

Becoming your friend is the best decision I've ever made in my life (referring to after transmigrating)! No... okay, it's tied for first place with the decision to bring Ziyin home!

Seeing that Hitomi Anri had designated Akira Kuroba as her 'client,' Tatsuya Nishimura raised an eyebrow and asked, "Is this because Hitomi Anri has become much nicer to me?"

"Alright... So what are you here for? What do you want with me? You're not here for a visit, are you? Don't waste my time, just explain yourself."

Kuroba Akira stopped beating around the bush and directly stated his purpose.

"Actually, I'm building a video website and I need the help of professionals."

Upon hearing that it was such a 'trivial matter,' Nishimura Ryu also sighed.

"Huh... What's going on? It's just a small thing like building a video website. Why don't you just ask Dolph to help you?"

"It's not an ordinary video website, it's a danmaku (bullet screen) video website."

"Bullet comments? Video websites?"

At this moment, Nishimura Ryu also showed a strange expression, and then clicked the mouse a few times to ask a question.

"You're not talking about this thing, are you?"

Kuroba Akira leaned closer to him and glanced at him, discovering that he had clicked on the largest bullet screen video website at the moment.

"Yes, that's it! But what we're going to make is an upgraded version of this website."

"How do you upgrade it? This thing is just something I casually created to store Hedgehog Video resources."

"So... huh? What? You're the one who caused this!"

"Yeah, because I was too lazy to scroll through the comments section, I just pasted all the comments onto the video, and I didn't expect it to be so popular."

"...!"

Is it really possible for something to be so coincidental?

Tatsuya Nishimura is actually the inventor of the bullet-screen video website in this world!

This blonde crossdresser is a true genius! The kind of genius who deserves to be recorded in history!

Although it was just a seemingly small change, Kuroba knew that the breakthrough from zero to one was the most difficult. In all those years before, no one had thought of posting comments on the video, but he had come up with it all by himself!

Having him join my startup team would be like adding wings to a tiger; this guy is comparable to the Crouching Dragon!

However, while being amazed by Nishimura Tatsuya's talent, Kuroba Akira also had some reservations.

Is it really okay to use this person?

It's safe to say that problems will definitely arise.

When he gets bored or unhappy, he is very likely to leave.

An extremely unstable genius...

Then, as he was thinking, another page on the computer screen caught Kuroba Akira's eye.

Is this... a BBS?

BBS, or online community, is a forum.

"Yeah, you're not completely clueless, are you? Looks like you do go online, huh?"

"Did you build this too, Nishimura-senpai?"

"Nonsense! If it wasn't me, then it could be a ghost!"

"sharp……"

It's 2ch!

2ch is a very famous forum in Japan, with an influence comparable to traditional media such as radio, television and newspapers.

Its status is similar to Baidu Tieba in China, but in terms of its birth time, it may be closer to Tianya Community.

As one of the largest online forums in Japan, it holds an important position in the anime and manga culture. Events like the Moe Wars originated from 2ch.

The netizens who frequent 2ch include scholars, students, office workers, and eccentrics. All sorts of people gather together, and interesting topics emerge every day. It is the birthplace of many popular internet memes.

At this moment, Fujiyoshi Michio also chimed in.

"Actually, there used to be an even bigger forum, and Nishimura was once an administrator of that forum. But later, a lot of things happened, and Nishimura couldn't stand the atmosphere there, so he left and created his own forum..."

"Tsk, shut up! Dolph, do you want to die?"

"Um... I'm sorry... but! I really support Nishimura-senpai creating a new forum! The old forum was already a complete mess!"

"It's all because that idiot set up anonymity and automatic content deletion, so of course it became a gathering place for bad elements! The whole forum is full of flame wars, slander, rumors, computer viruses, and even selling personal information about people who don't recognize their mothers. There are also guys selling Yin and promoting shady things! It's enough, a bunch of idiots...! What a mess!"