Classroom of the Elite: Houtarou Oreki

She felt that Kikyou Kushida had not sincerely wanted to be friends with her, which was why she had kept refusing. And Kikyou Kushida's feelings toward her were indeed not sincere either—they were an obsession.

She had some reason why she absolutely had to get along with her.

And Kikyou Kushida's persistence was powerful as well.

On the third day, she brought several Class B students.

Then—

Without wasting much breath, those Class B students signed the contract.

At the same time.

Oreki noticed that these Class B students shared a trait. They seemed exceptionally trusting. Even though they were signing a contract concerning their point income for the coming months, or even the entire year, they all felt there was no problem.

What they said was—

Everyone was classmates, and since it was something that could earn them points, they could participate together. That made them feel at ease.

At the same time, they were full of confidence in opening the store, seemingly hoping to come support it once it opened.

They were like angels.

But.

Being that naive was not well suited to this school.

Oreki thought.

After seeing off the Class B students, Kikyou Kushida quickly arranged to meet students from Class C.

Six boys and three girls.

Compared to the Class B students, Kikyou Kushida had managed to bring in quite a few more Class C students at once.

"The atmosphere in Class C is rather strange."

Before going to invite the Class C students out, Kikyou Kushida had also provided some information.

"It seems someone has been using violence to force everyone to obey him."

"And that violence-prone student is named Kakeru Ryuuen."

"I heard he was a delinquent in middle school," Kikyou Kushida said. "But shortly after he began using violence, he was defeated by a two-meter-tall guy from Class C named Albert Yamada. Then he started harassing Albert Yamada instead."

"The latest news is that Albert Yamada can't take it anymore and wants to surrender."

Oh.

Oreki nodded.

So, he had Horikita Suzune add a new clause to the contract.

A clause specifically added for Class C students.

Class C students participating in the store-opening agreement had to keep it secret from Kakeru Ryuuen.

Because.

If his guess was correct, Kakeru Ryuuen of Class C was using his own methods to unite Class C.

Then he would probably soon discover that this store-opening agreement would cause Class C to continuously lose points.

This was a school where ability reigned supreme, where points reigned supreme.

And Class C was stuck in the middle. With an agreement that deducted points from the class every month, even if they could get those points back a year later—

He could not wait that long.

Because if special exams were held every month, points would become extremely important.

Therefore.

He had to move before Kakeru Ryuuen integrated Class C.

He had to harvest as many of Class C's chives as possible.

Then he had to put on a show.

Oreki sent a message to Hashimoto, a student from Class A.

Hashimoto was somewhat similar to Kamuro. Both were the sort who could get things done.

However, Kamuro was the quiet, hardworking type.

Hashimoto was more interesting.

He was in Katsuragi's group.

Yet he would occasionally follow behind Sakayanagi Arisu.

Like a lackey.

But he had also messaged Oreki, saying he was willing to serve him.

In other words.

As long as he could maintain his Class A status, he did not care who the boss was.

He was the type to bet on everyone.

As Oreki thought that—

"Everyone, it's over there—"

He heard Kikyou Kushida's sweet voice.

Then Class C's chives had arrived.

Angels of Class B and Wise Men of Class C! Part 1

High School of Advanced Education operated under the principle that points reigned supreme.

The school was the unified source that distributed points.

On one hand, the school gave students points. On the other, it also paid faculty and staff in points as wages.

At the same time, it held special exams that gave outstanding students opportunities to obtain Private Points.

Therefore, whether faculty, staff, or students, they were all... people who could provide points.

Simply waiting for the school to arrange special exams and then accumulating something like twenty million points was practically impossible.

So, to gather that many points, the only option was to treat the school's students like ATMs.

Oreki was comparatively kind. For now, he had chosen the first-year freshmen.

Aside from Class A, which had already spent its money and become poor, and the hopeless Class D, the students of Classes B and C still did not know the school's rules.

And that could be used for an information war.

Because.

If the students of Classes B and C knew how important points were and how absurd the school rules were, they might not dare take out the points in their hands to "invest."

But they did not know yet.

After seeing the nine Class C chives arrive, Oreki decided to seize the initiative.

After all, it was a scam, so he would be responsible for explaining things.

Horikita would only need to stand to the side as a backdrop to add some presence.

Yes.

Before setting a trap, you had to package it properly.

The packaging Oreki had thought of was quite convenient. He only needed to find Horikita Suzune. She did not need to say anything; she only needed to maintain her usual demeanor.

Though she was aloof and ignored people, one should not forget that she was exceptionally beautiful.

So even without saying a word, merely standing behind him gave off the feeling of, Holy crap, what an unbelievably gorgeous girl.

Then—

This guy was incredible, having such a beautiful girlfriend and all that.

Of course.

Oreki was not dating Horikita.

He was merely using her to decorate the storefront.

To make people think that Oreki's side was impressive enough.

Otherwise, such a beautiful girl would not stand by his side, would she?

This was also a helpless measure.

Because the students of Classes B and C still did not know the school's rules, and they did not know the value of Class A.

Thus, Oreki's Class A status could not strengthen his credibility.

So he could only arrange for Horikita to serve as his backdrop for now.

Actually, the ideal situation would have been to bring in a rich second-generation heir. A wealthy heir with talent and insight, gathering points to open a store and so on, would have been highly convincing.

But neither Oreki, Horikita, nor Kikyou Kushida came from wealthy second-generation families, so they had no choice but to abandon that proposal.

Then Kikyou Kushida would bring the people over, Horikita would stand behind Oreki as the face of the operation, and Oreki would carry out the scam... no, set the trap.

"First, let me introduce myself. I'm Houtarou Oreki from Class A."

"And this is Horikita Suzune from Class D."

"You should all know Kikyou Kushida already."

Oreki spoke.

Horikita stood beside him. Though she did not say anything, everyone understood that she was an aloof, top-tier beauty.

And now Kikyou Kushida had brought over these Class C students.

Since she had managed to bring them here, Kikyou Kushida had already explained a few things.

She had said that Oreki wanted to open a store, but did not have enough points, so he hoped to borrow some from everyone.

"Some Class B students have already joined the store-opening plan."

"Not just Class B students," Oreki said. "You all know that opening a store is expensive."

"And this is how many points I currently have."

He opened his Student ID Card.

[Name: Houtarou Oreki

Student ID: 1008610010

Class: Class 1-A

Private Points: 4,353,400.]

The moment they saw the Private Points field, the nine students could not help drawing in a sharp breath.

And with so many points...

According to the store-opening agreement, everyone would hand over fifty thousand points in the first month. That meant these 4.35 million points represented nearly ninety people participating in the plan.

So.

Could it be that more than half the students of Class A and Class D had already joined, while Class B had begun participating as well?

There were only four freshman classes—A, B, C, and D. Now that students from three classes had joined, did that mean only Class C had yet to join?

That would not do.

The nine students exchanged glances.

They felt a trace of anxiety.

They still did not know the school's rules, but they did know that points could be spent as money.

Though they had not yet considered whether so many points would be deposited again next month.