After all.
Ryuuen was using violence to make people submit to him.
And most people were unhappy about it.
After all, the students assigned to Class C were, in some ways... a gathering of similar types.
And those similar types included delinquents, poor students, and people with certain flaws.
What these people hated most was being controlled.
So Ishizaki and the others, who had once been delinquents, felt they could not tolerate it. Even if Albert Yamada was about to be won over by Ryuuen, they still felt they had to resist.
"Anyway, I've already given you the conditions," Oreki said. "If you're interested in cooperating, contact me again."
"We need to discuss it," Ishizaki said, glancing at Manabe.
Because, in his view, Manabe looked like she was about to sign the contract immediately.
But then he thought of an effective solution.
Ryuuen's side was awful, and if Albert Yamada was won over, he would be at a disadvantage if he led people against Ryuuen.
So did that mean they had to submit to Ryuuen?
He did not want to.
But Oreki's shop-opening plan could be put to use.
If they gathered enough people to open a shop together and had a store in the future, they would definitely gain some say.
They could gather even more people to go against Ryuuen.
So.
Having roughly formed an idea, Ishizaki hurried off with the Class C students.
"How many Class C students do you think will join?"
Kikyou Kushida, who had been serving as little more than background scenery, suddenly spoke up.
She had seen Oreki use this pitch many times over the past two days.
So she only needed to wait by the side.
Now it was simply a matter of seeing how many people would participate.
Oreki was giving her 5% of the Points she collected as payment, so the more students participated, the more she would earn.
The three of them sat down.
But they did not order any milk tea.
They had ordered quite a lot of milk tea over the past two days while promoting the shop, and they were practically sick of drinking it.
Still.
"I'd like a coffee." Horikita Suzune still had the habit of studying every day.
So she needed coffee to stay alert.
Perhaps because he was surrounded by two cute, beautiful girls.
Even the booth area seemed fragrant.
"Probably more than half the class," Oreki said. "Everyone in Class C seems to hate Ryuuen, so they might unite because of that."
"Is that so?" Kikyou Kushida blinked lightly.
After all, how could so many people hate one person and then all go do the same thing?
Then, at nine that night, Kikyou Kushida was proven wrong.
At the milk tea shop run by the second-years, aside from a blond-haired boy still lingering in the shop, a large group of students suddenly flooded in.
They were members of first-year Class C.
There were both boys and girls.
A full thirty-six students.
"Have you made up your minds?"
Since Ishizaki and the others had openly shown their dislike for Ryuuen, Oreki had not immediately returned to the dormitory and used Teleportation to go home.
After all.
There was campus internet at the school.
And there were signal jammers as well.
If he took his phone out of the school, the school might notice that it could no longer receive signals from him and start paying attention to him.
That would not be a good thing.
But if he left his phone in the dormitory, he would not be able to receive information right away.
So he stayed longer today, and Ishizaki and the others did not disappoint his wait.
They had brought over a whole group of Class C students.
"We've decided," Ishizaki said. "We'll sign the second profit-sharing plan."
Oreki looked at the other Class C students.
The students had no objections.
So he arranged for Kikyou Kushida to get busy.
Having her prepare thirty contracts earlier had been too conservative.
There were now six additional students, so he had to trouble her with another trip.
At the same time, Oreki was quite generous and treated every Class C student to milk tea.
"I didn't expect thirty-six of you to come." Since the contracts had been signed and Kikyou Kushida had begun collecting the Class C students' Points.
Oreki had time to speak to Manabe, the girl who had blushed at him earlier.
"Because everyone hates Ryuuen."
"Of course, aside from Ryuuen and Albert Yamada, two others didn't join."
"Those two couldn't be persuaded," Manabe said. "One is Ibuki. She says she doesn't believe anything that good could happen."
"As for Shiina Hiyori, she seems to dislike hanging around with us, but I informed her."
"But she didn't want to join. She also seemed to want me not to join. But after learning that everyone had participated, she gave up."
"Um..."
"Oreki, could I exchange phone numbers with you?" Manabe seemed a little embarrassed after saying that.
That was the usual behavior of an ordinary girl facing a handsome guy and wanting to get his contact information.
In other words, Manabe had approached him after all because of his appearance.
Oreki's feelings were becoming a little complicated.
Because.
One of the major tasks tied to his twenty million Points was that, as punishment, two girls would confess to him every week for three years.
And now.
It seemed that even if he did not fail the task, he would still face trouble with women.
He was not being narcissistic, but he felt that this girl asking for his number might confess to him.
Still, Manabe had also provided information about Class C.
Ibuki from Class C was an honest person.
She did not believe that pie would fall from the sky.
And Shiina Hiyori was probably the intelligent one in Class C.
Because she had seen through the fact that this shop-opening scheme was merely a scam.
So not only did she refuse to participate herself, she had also tried to stop Manabe. Then, after discovering that everyone had joined, she chose to remain silent.
She did not want to provoke public anger.
So she was smart and knew how to protect herself.
Nagumo Miyabi Appears, Thank You, Oreki!
After the Class C students finished their milk tea, they looked quite pleased.
Oreki also received their Points.
Although they were using the profit-sharing shareholder model, they still had to pay Oreki Points every month, for a total of twelve months.
And the first month's payment was fifty thousand Points.
5 × 36 = 1.8 million.
"1.8 million Points have been deposited into your account."
After collecting the Points, Kikyou Kushida immediately transferred them to Oreki.
Oreki also looked at his account.
However.
"I'll transfer two million Points to you," Houtarou Oreki said.
The Points displayed on his Student ID Card were not entirely real.
Two million of them belonged to Kikyou Kushida. More precisely, they were Points she had borrowed herself.
Because.
Only he and Horikita Suzune knew that the composition of his Points included sponsorship from Horikita's Brother.
And Little Sister Horikita was now pitifully being led along as well.
What the two of them were doing was, from the very beginning, collecting the portion of enrollment Points held by the Class B and Class C students.
So they were the ones operating behind the scenes.
Kikyou Kushida, meanwhile, had been kept in the dark about part of the information.
Just by looking at Oreki's Student ID Card, she thought the students in Oreki's class had also participated in opening the shop.
Then, if anything happened, the students in Oreki's class would definitely be dissatisfied.
So she felt reassured as well.
As for why they did not bring the Class D students in, she understood.
Everyone would probably have very few Points left next month, so they would not even be able to gather the thirty thousand Points required for the second month of Oreki's shop-opening plan.
So Class D had basically been excluded from opening the shop.
Still.
The important part was being able to collect Points from the Class B and Class C students.
So putting on a convincing front was important too.
Therefore.
Using her influence, Kikyou Kushida borrowed Points from her classmates and gave them to Oreki, disguising it as though the Class D students had also participated.
"Well." Kikyou Kushida smiled sweetly. "There's no need to rush."
"Then we'll call it a day," Oreki said without refusing. "You can try contacting the Class B students again."
"But don't force it if you can't reach them."
"As long as it's done sometime this week, that's fine."
Before you continue