Classroom of the Elite: Houtarou Oreki

In other words, the members collecting points would only receive them through this week?

Wouldn't that be too rushed? Shouldn't they gather the willingness of more people?

Under the current circumstances,

a total of 12 students from Class B had joined the shop-opening plan, while 36 students from Class C had participated.

In total, they had obtained 5 × (12 + 36) = 2.4 million points.

That amount had already reached Oreki's expectations.

After all, every freshman only had 100,000 points. By the second month, each freshman would probably learn the truth about the school.

By then, they would no longer be able to exploit the information gap to squeeze them dry.

At the same time, their class evaluation points would undergo earth-shaking changes in the second month.

One could imagine what would become of the 1,000 class evaluation points granted by the school.

Therefore,

whether these students could continue serving as ATMs over the next few months was questionable.

So Oreki chose to quit while he was ahead.

The deadline was this week. If the Class B students were willing to give their points away for free, then he would take them.

It was a simple matter.

He took out his phone and checked the time.

21:23.

It was a little late.

Oreki knew that after returning to their dorms, girls still needed to bathe, wash their hair, and dry it. It was a rather refined and troublesome process.

So he went to pay the bill.

However—

"Your bill is on the house."

The blond-haired boy, who had arrived at the shop at eight and remained there until now, suddenly spoke.

"On the house?"

Kushida had already come over to Oreki's side.

"Yes."

"Your group has brought quite a few customers to my shop over the past two days, so I've benefited as well."

"Let me introduce myself."

The blond-haired boy stood up.

"I'm Nagumo Miyabi, the class representative of Class 2-A."

"And also the Vice President of the Student Council."

"I originally came to the shop today to check the accounts, but I found you guys rather interesting."

Vice President Nagumo said, "The idea of opening a shop was something I came up with four months ago."

"And the fact that you came up with the same idea right after enrolling is indeed interesting."

"Plan one: simply borrow money from your classmates. Though the interest is high, you can own your own shop after a year. It's essentially getting something for nothing."

"Very good."

"Plan two: turn those who lend money into shareholders. The risks immediately decrease. After all, you have no experience running a shop, so having others bear the consequences with you is a good thing."

"Also excellent."

"And then—"

"I imagine you'll be dealing with me next," Nagumo Miyabi said.

"Dealing with you?"

Kikyo Kushida was puzzled.

But he looked at Kushida, then at Horikita Suzune behind Oreki, who had lowered her head to look at her vocabulary book.

"What's your name?"

He first looked at Kushida, who was as cute as a little angel.

"Kikyo Kushida."

Since she already knew the school's rules and had even paid 10,000 points for that knowledge, Kushida understood the significance of the Student Council's Vice President.

"Mm, what a lovely name. And what about this one?"

Nagumo looked at Horikita Suzune.

If Kikyo Kushida was a cute little angel, then Horikita was a top-tier beauty.

The kind of girl who would be considered the school idol no matter what school she attended.

"..."

Horikita did not seem to enjoy being hit on.

Still, when asked for her name, she would answer.

However—

"Her name is Suzune," Oreki said first, stopping Suzune from automatically revealing her surname. "And I'm Houtarou Oreki."

"Oh." Nagumo Miyabi nodded lightly. "Then I won't beat around the bush."

"Your idea is very creative."

"I thought of opening a shop because I discovered that you can't work part-time at this school."

"And the school accepted my proposal."

"But when you enrolled, your teacher should have told you that the Private Points on your Student ID Cards could be spent like money."

"And that you can buy anything."

"So," Nagumo Miyabi said, "if you want to open a shop, then... pay me a transfer fee of 5 million."

"I bought the right to open a shop from the school for 2 million."

"Then I spent 1 million to buy out the shop-opening rights. If students want to open a shop in this school, they need my authorization."

The moment she heard Nagumo Miyabi say that, Horikita Suzune glanced at Oreki.

Because—

Kikyo: Damn it, Oreki, can't you protect me? Go!

Horikita Suzune glanced toward Oreki.

Because opening a shop was only a scam. The real core of the matter was the 50,000 points collected from each of the first batch of participating freshmen, as well as the 10,000-point compensation each person would have to pay if they unilaterally terminated the agreement.

Oreki's explanation had been that this school had existed for many years, and they were the first people to think of opening a shop and gather enough points.

Did you really think others wouldn't have prepared a backup plan?

And now, it seemed...

Nagumo Miyabi's buyout of the shop-opening rights was that backup plan.

Want to open a shop?

Fine.

Then get his approval, and the price of that approval was 5 million points.

So this was not some irresistible prize.

"W-Why is there such a thing?"

Yet there was one little angel at the scene who had been kept in the dark and truly believed that Oreki and Horikita wanted to open a shop.

The little angel Kushida looked at Nagumo Miyabi in surprise.

It was as though this was the first time she had heard of such a thing.

That astonished look pleased Nagumo greatly.

He was handsome and sunny in appearance, highly gifted at sports, and academically excellent.

Then last year, he had achieved a remarkable feat.

He had led everyone in Class B to the position of Class A.

Then, in one go, he had opened a shop and started a business.

At the same time, he had brought the entire grade under his wing.

In other words,

he was the representative of the current second-year Class A, as well as the one in control of the second years.

Because he understood the cruelty of this school's rules, he knew the importance of submitting to him and following his instructions.

Under his control, the special exams at this school had changed in nature.

In every exam, the representatives of the four classes could discuss matters and cooperate with one another, then choose the plan that could squeeze the most points out of the school.

That was right.

Squeeze the school dry.

Because the second-years had joined forces, the school had become their ATM.

But despite all those remarkable achievements... Nagumo Miyabi also had a weakness.

And that weakness was probably something all ordinary boys had: a young man's attraction to beautiful girls.

As a handsome man, he naturally liked cute girls.

Though there was already his childhood friend Asahina in his class, Asahina was the conservative type—the type who would not allow her other half to cheat.

That was a rather high demand for Nagumo.

So he could only keep her hanging.

Because he knew that once he became Student Council President, even Asahina would be unable to refuse him.

Because he would hold the highest position in this school.

And now, he had not expected the first-years to be this outstanding as well.

Mm.

That was right.

In his view, girls only needed to be pretty. Of course, it would be even better if they possessed insight, vision, or talent.

If they did not, he could accept that too.

And these two junior girls before him—

were truly each impressive in her own way.

Kushida—Kikyo Kushida—looked cute, like a little angel.

And the other, Suzune, was a cold and gorgeous girl with long straight black hair, making his heart stir.

So after becoming Student Council President, he would invite both of them into the Student Council.

"And Oreki, you're a Class A student, right?" Though he was already feeling a little excited inside, Nagumo maintained a gentle expression.

"I'm the Vice President of the Student Council," Nagumo said. "Your ability to express yourself is quite good. I'll recommend that you join the Student Council."

"The Student Council at our school is very different."

"I hope you'll consider it."