Classroom of the Elite: Houtarou Oreki

Meanwhile.

Masumi Kamuro continued her surveillance.

At the same time, she began reporting information to Classmate Sakayanagi.

"I haven't been able to reach you since earlier." Kamuro complained as well.

Back when she was acting like Oreki's dog, he had ignored her too.

And now that she had changed masters, Sakayanagi Arisu was ignoring her as well.

She pondered the similarities between the two.

"I was discussing something for a while," Sakayanagi Arisu said. "But it's already finished."

"And is Oreki's plan to open a shop?"

"Yes. He has already taken Horikita Suzune to the Shopping District to inspect the milk tea shop opened by the second-years," Kamuro reported. "He seems quite interested in it."

"..." Sakayanagi Arisu.

"I see," Arisu Sakayanagi said. "I should have partnered with him earlier. It would have been free money."

Was she talking about opening a shop together?

But Class A's students had no money right now.

Kamuro thought to herself.

Oreki and Horikita Suzune had already arrived at the Shopping District.

Inviting Kushida to Join Them! Part Two!

There were only two milk tea shops in the entire Shopping District. After asking around about the newly opened one, the two quickly arrived at Nagumo Miyabi's shop.

It was called Yayunju.

The name was quite elegant, and the shop was fairly full as well.

Quite a few students in uniform could be seen entering and leaving.

There were also students in casual clothes coming by to show their support.

Since the Shopping District was located within the school, the only people there were students, faculty, and Shopping District employees.

"So."

Horikita Suzune sat across from Oreki.

The two had found a relatively quiet corner.

Oreki and Horikita each ordered a milk tea.

Since Oreki had noticed at lunchtime that Horikita was quite frugal, he paid for her drink.

However, the server brought her coffee.

According to Horikita Suzune, compared with milk tea, what she needed was coffee. She studied ten hours a day, and that was the only way she could feel at ease.

Oreki neither approved nor disapproved.

He did not dislike hardworking people.

It was just that...

This also suggested that Horikita probably did not use her time efficiently.

"So, what do you think about opening a shop?" Horikita Suzune asked the question she had wanted to ask at school once more.

"Not much."

But Oreki shook his head.

"Opening a shop requires capital, and the cost isn't just a few million. It starts at ten million."

"What we need is to gather Points, not spend them."

"And that is only one issue."

"Also."

"Do you think someone capable of opening a shop without being allowed to work part-time would fail to make preparations against others following suit?"

"And even if he relents, he may still demand an outrageous price," Oreki said.

"Uh..."

Horikita Suzune fell silent.

After around ten seconds, she continued, "Then how are we supposed to collect Points?"

"Do you have another plan?"

"Yes," Oreki said. "We'll still open a shop."

Seeing that Horikita seemed about to speak again, Oreki continued. "Don't rush."

"When I say open a shop, it's only a pretext."

"It doesn't mean we actually have to open one."

"The key is collecting Points."

"We can use the excuse that we need Points to open a shop and collect Points from some freshmen."

"I think they'll be more than happy to get involved."

"My Class A students became collectively poor because they bought the school rules."

"But the students of Class B and Class C are still quite wealthy."

"Freshmen do have expenses when they first enroll, but it's only the beginning of the month. Spending thirty or fifty thousand Points each shouldn't be difficult, right?" Oreki said. "I'll borrow Points from them and open the shop together with them."

"Then I'll keep those Points."

Horikita Suzune already understood.

Since Oreki said opening a shop would be difficult, or perhaps impossible altogether.

Then... if he was still talking about borrowing Points from others... the real purpose was... to scam them for free.

"This is fraud," she said.

"Don't make it sound so ugly. You could also call it borrowing, or tuition for stupidity."

"You know this is a school where ability reigns supreme."

"Points come first."

"I'll write up contract terms," Oreki said. "So it's entirely voluntary."

Oreki brought up his main mission.

[Main Mission - 20 Million Points Operation]

[Mission Requirement: Gather 20 million Points within three months]

[Time Remaining: 119/120 days]

[Mission Reward: Supernatural Physique (Major Physical Transformation)]

[Current Progress: 1,740,500 Points / 20,000,000]

[Note: All Points earned by the host may be entrusted to Manabu Horikita, a third-year about to graduate, who can absolutely guarantee their conversion into cash.]

The current Points included the fifty thousand Points transferred by Karuizawa.

Those had originally been lent to him.

But the system counted them among the Points he had acquired.

So even if the plan failed and he could only open a shop with others, the Points borrowed from other freshmen would still count as completing the system mission as long as they were in his possession.

Of course, from that perspective, he could also ask the Student Council President to lend him Points.

The Student Council President possessed forty-five million Points, enough for Oreki to complete the system mission immediately.

But that was the last resort, and Oreki did not want to choose it.

Because.

After learning about Nagumo Miyabi today, the Student Council President who had been making empty promises to him would likely demand that he join the Student Council.

And what Manabu Horikita wanted was someone to support him against Nagumo.

Then.

Oreki would need to fight Nagumo Miyabi, or even the entire second-year cohort. That was hardly something to be taken lightly.

Besides.

Since Points could be exchanged for cash, naturally... he wanted to obtain something that became his own, not borrow money.

So he took out his phone and began drafting the terms directly.

"Borrowing money from these students to open a shop. Borrow three or fifty thousand Points every month, then repay the full amount in the twelfth month, with fifteen percent interest."

"If they abide by the agreement, I'll pay them the Points."

"They won't lose out."

"But if they refuse or terminate the contract midway, the Points already collected will not be returned."

"And those who can see through this scheme are very likely the outstanding students of Class B or Class C."

"If they call it off, that means their class has already produced a reliable representative."

"Class A needs to keep an eye on them."

Oh.

So he was also using this to test the representatives of Class B and Class C?

"Then why not include Class D... uh."

Horikita Suzune had barely spoken before she stopped herself.

She had wanted to say that if he was testing the representatives of the other classes, why not test Class D as well?

But Oreki had already sold information to Class D, and only eleven students remained in the end.

That was the test.

Class D... was beyond saving.

Although Horikita Suzune did not want to admit that she was useless, and believed she had ability.

Still.

The exams where she could prove useful had not appeared yet.

If she had not met Oreki, her brother might have directly demanded that she withdraw from school.

So Little Sister Horikita was not quite so stubborn.

At the same time.

She had her own considerations.

This was only the first month's Behavioral Standards Exam.

And based on what she had observed during the day, her classmates clearly knew the school rules, yet were still losing points during class.

She did not believe there would be much class evaluation Points left by the end of the month.

Nor was she certain that her own ability could truly be put to use in the class.

So perhaps following Oreki down the path of collecting twenty million Points was the proper course.

"You should know that if you can gather twenty million Points, your brother will see you in a different light."

"Don't you want to earn his recognition?" Oreki deployed his weapon against Horikita Suzune.

"..." Horikita Suzune.