Classroom of the Elite: Houtarou Oreki

But she thought that if she could join the Student Council, it would be a good thing.

So she felt a little regretful.

And besides.

She had absolutely no idea that Oreki had already come into contact with the Student Council President.

Once they got outside.

Oreki looked at the Side Quest that had appeared again.

Then he added.

"That President Nagumo from earlier isn't a very good person. He gathered up the second-years' Points to open his shop, and also had students in his own class who opposed him expelled."

"Also, he seems very interested in cute girls."

"So I didn't tell him Horikita's full name just now," Oreki said. "I was worried he'd pester her."

Oh.

Kushida was still fairly good at judging people.

After all, she had excellent social skills.

She could also discern some of other people's thoughts. In her eyes, President Nagumo fell into the category of playboy.

But.

???

"Oreki," Kushida said, stopping in her tracks. Then she looked at him with pitiful eyes.

"You clearly knew Senior Nagumo was that kind of person."

"Why didn't you warn me?"

Because she had already told Nagumo Miyabi her full name.

Did that mean she was going to get pestered?

She didn't want that!

"Kushida, you're already on a pirate ship. Haven't you realized it yet?"

"If Senior Nagumo is that kind of person, then what should I do?" Little Angel Kushida spoke up.

Kushida was not in a good mood.

All the regret from almost being recommended for the Student Council, only to be refused by Oreki, had vanished.

All that remained was... a terrible mood.

She wanted to become friends with everyone, yet Horikita had always remained outside her circle of friends. That counted as one of her failures, so she had kept trying.

She wanted to overcome that failure.

And someone who wanted to be friends with everyone would not like being pursued or dating someone.

After all.

If she dated or fell in love, she would not be able to make friends and enjoy her school life.

So an angel like Kushida was actually very resistant to romance.

And being pestered—or rather, being pestered by a senior like Nagumo, who would expel classmates—wasn't that incredibly awful?

Besides, he was the Vice President of the Student Council. Since he could gather so many people's Points to open a shop.

That showed he was outstanding in every respect.

Being... pursued by someone like that... was deadly. Even rejecting him would be troublesome.

Her face seemed to turn a little pale.

"As long as you don't keep interacting with him, it should be fine," Oreki said. "I mentioned before that he has someone he likes, so he'll restrain himself to some extent."

So.

Was she safe, then?

No.

Placing her hopes on Senior Nagumo restraining himself was just as bad, wasn't it?

Or rather, he clearly had someone he liked, yet still liked cute girls. Didn't that mean he was someone who had no self-control at all?

Kushida's mood visibly sank.

Oreki glanced at the system notification.

"Congratulations, host, for triggering a Side Quest."

[Mission Requirement: Ruin Nagumo Miyabi's two-pronged pursuit of Kushida and Horikita Suzune.]

[Mission Deadline: 10 days]

[Mission Reward: Precognitive Dream (can specify a time to have 3 precognitive dreams each week)]

[Mission Penalty: None]

[Mission Progress: 50% + 0%]

The progress that had already appeared was probably from Kushida's side.

Ruining someone's pursuit sounded somewhat complicated.

But there was a solution.

One option was to stop Nagumo Miyabi from making a move.

The other was to ensure that the people he pursued would absolutely never agree to Nagumo.

That would also count as ruining the pursuit.

Oreki chose the latter.

He had considered Horikita's and Kushida's mindsets.

Because he felt that the two girls around him were rather unique. When it came to romance, they basically rejected it.

So as long as he brought it up, perhaps he would get results.

That was why he had deliberately pointed out Nagumo Miyabi's interest in them.

It was like molding Nagumo into the kind of man girls disliked.

Though it did not count as ruining Nagumo Miyabi's image.

Because it was true that Nagumo Miyabi liked associating with cute girls. One could tell from how the 5 million price for opening a shop had become 4 million.

A real businessman would not give someone money just because they were cute.

Though it was also possible that he had only wanted 4 million from the start, deliberately quoted 5 million, then accepted 4 million to raise the other party's favorability. That way, he got both the money and the goodwill.

He was an excessively calculating person.

There was another possibility.

He had quoted that price to make people back off.

Because the market had a saturation point. The entire school shopping center only had two Milk Tea Shops, and another one would take away part of their customer base.

So Nagumo Miyabi had to eliminate competitors for the sake of his own shop.

But no matter which possibility it was, there was no need to have much contact with him.

As for Kushida, without any surprise, she completed it too quickly.

For someone with such strong social skills, the first thing she needed was to remain single.

Just like an idol celebrity—if they got married, they would easily lose fans.

Only by remaining single could they let people approach them.

So Kushida was perhaps the type of person who would reject anyone who pursued her.

That was why the mission immediately reached 50% progress.

Then there was Horikita.

"What do you think about romance, Horikita?" Oreki asked.

"Romance?" Horikita Suzune looked at Oreki strangely. "Does that sort of thing have anything to do with students right now?"

"Right now is the time to study. I don't think romance is a good thing."

So you also think school is a place to study?

That gave Oreki a slight favorable impression of her.

"If Senior Nagumo pursued you—" Oreki said.

"No." Horikita Suzune rejected him instantly.

Ding!

At that moment, Oreki heard the system notification.

"Congratulations, host, for completing the Side Quest—ruin Nagumo Miyabi's two-pronged pursuit of Kushida and Horikita Suzune."

"Congratulations, host, for obtaining Precognitive Dream."

"Note: Precognitive Dream: You may have three specified dreams of the future every week."

Oh.

He had received the reward.

Sure enough, that was how it was. He, Kushida, and Horikita were all a breath of fresh air in this school.

They had no interest in romance.

So they cleared the mission incredibly quickly.

This mission had basically been a freebie.

And now, the Precognitive Dream was in hand.

Dreaming of the future?

He was interested.

Because of that incident with Nagumo, Kushida had some reservations.

So she was rather unwilling to go back to Nagumo's Milk Tea Shop.

Like that.

A week passed.

In the end, Class B only brought in three more students.

Oreki and the other two went to another Milk Tea Shop.

The three of them sat down.

"Then let's start calculating the money now," Oreki said.

Today was the weekend. He had made an effort not to sleep in and had come over from home, but he had only just crawled out of bed, so he still felt somewhat sluggish.

He wanted to settle this quickly, then go back and lie down some more.

"We're calculating the compensation now?" Little Kushida found it somewhat unbelievable. "But hasn't the shop not even opened yet?"

In truth, she also wanted to participate in opening the shop. Things like receiving dividends were quite appealing to her.

The students of Class D could no longer be counted on.

So she had to find herself some Points to spend as well.

After all, as a little angel, her daily expenses were fairly high.

Perfume, body wash, facial cleanser, pretty clothes that made her look cute—all of that cost money.