Classroom of the Elite: Houtarou Oreki

Because during those days when they had been with Oreki and the others at Nagumo's Milk Tea Shop, she had seen how well the shop was doing.

A monthly profit of two million points was entirely possible.

So even if they spent an extra four million points to buy the right to open a shop from Nagumo, opening one and earning profits still seemed highly promising.

Horikita came out in her uniform again today, but she had brought a vocabulary notebook with her.

She now set the notebook down.

"Opening a shop? There was never any plan to open a shop."

"Kushida, you seem to have misunderstood something."

"Oreki's idea was simply to collect everyone's initial points. The costs and trouble of opening a shop are too great, so we never considered it," Horikita Suzune said.

Oh.

So that was it. She had been tricked.

Huh??

Kikyou Kushida looked at Oreki and Horikita in astonishment.

Kikyou Kushida looked at Oreki and Horikita.

"Oreki—"

She used her weapon.

She cupped the left hand of the still somewhat sleepy-looking Oreki in both hands.

Then she pulled Oreki's left hand toward herself.

Uh.

His palm was held by a girl's soft little hands.

Then she looked at him with hopeful, yearning eyes from below.

On top of that, Kushida was already an exceptionally cute, little-angel-like girl, so this gesture received an added bonus. It possessed an incredibly heart-stirring power.

"Thump, thump—"

Meanwhile, Horikita Suzune turned a blind eye to this behavior and took out her vocabulary notebook to continue reading.

So Oreki could only hear his own heartbeat.

That was why he felt girls were remarkably troublesome creatures.

They were far too good at using their own weapons.

"Actually, Horikita is right." Oreki tried to avert his gaze as he spoke. "My goal really was to obtain points from the first batch of students through investments or loans."

"Like you saw, with Senior Nagumo in front of us, opening a shop and such would encounter obstacles."

"And opening a shop also requires experience, hiring people, and other matters."

"So compared to that, I prefer giving up on opening a shop and collecting the points from before."

Oh.

Upon hearing the name Nagumo, whom she disliked and found troublesome, Kushida's expression restrained itself slightly.

But she continued trying hard to maintain her cute, pleading appearance.

She had already noticed it. Although Oreki was handsome, he did not have much experience with girls.

"Then, was I tricked?" Kushida asked in a pitiful voice.

"Not completely," Oreki said.

"Oh."

So that meant he had still used her.

But Kushida did not lose her temper.

Instead, Oreki continued.

"This is a school where ability comes first, and points can be spent as money. They can even buy all sorts of things."

"So they are extremely important."

"At present, there are fifteen participating students from Class B and thirty-six from Class C."

"I have already obtained a total of 2.55 million points."

"Then, by the first of next month at the latest, the Class B and Class C students will understand this school's rules. As long as they have the desire to climb upward, they will not think an agreement that deducts a large number of points from their class every month is a good thing."

"So they will most likely terminate the agreement. Then each person will pay another ten thousand points as compensation."

"So the total points I will obtain are 3.06 million."

"So, Kushida, you will receive five percent, which is 153,000 points," Oreki said.

Oh.

Put that way, Kushida could receive a decent reward.

More than a week had now passed since school began.

And although everyone knew the school's rules, knowing them was one thing. The students in the class simply could not control themselves.

So points continued being deducted every day.

She did not think highly of how much of the school's one thousand class evaluation points they could save next month.

Rather, it was quite likely that they would have to live in hunger and poverty during the coming school life.

Therefore.

It was much safer to obtain points early as living expenses.

However.

"Since that was the plan from the beginning, then this is just freeloading off everyone's points. Why did you call me over?"

"If I introduced everyone and it ended up like this, everyone would hate me," Kushida said, becoming pitiful again.

"Because Horikita and I are not good at interacting with people."

"And Kushida, you are very approachable."

"Everyone is also willing to trust you," Oreki said.

Oh.

So that was it.

Horikita Suzune really had used her for a purpose.

She had thought Horikita Suzune had changed her personality, but it turned out she had merely been used.

For the first time, Kushida somewhat doubted her life.

She had not even become friends with Horikita Suzune yet, and she was already being used like this.

Then if they really had a chance to become friends, what would she have to give up?

She felt that perhaps this was not a good thing.

"And you do not need to take the blame either." Oreki watched Kushida's expression and continued, "Vice President Nagumo's demand for an additional five million points for the right to open a shop can be used to silence everyone."

"It is not that we did not want to open one. Vice President Nagumo placed obstacles in our way."

"At the same time, if the Class B and Class C students choose to withdraw by next month at the latest, that is also their own responsibility and their own choice."

"Therefore, if the shop ultimately does not open, it has nothing to do with us, and naturally nothing to do with you."

"Rather, the students who participated in opening the shop will feel somewhat regretful that they could not take part after the shop-opening plan fell through."

"So they definitely will not hate you."

Oh.

Hearing Oreki say that, Kushida relaxed a little.

Actually, she had just been thinking that if she had been used and made to bear the blame, she would throw it all onto Vice President Nagumo.

But now, she could barely be considered to have escaped unscathed.

So she should still take the points.

Thus, Kushida rather firmly confirmed the points Oreki transferred to her.

"Then, Oreki, now that this shop-opening plan is over, we are friends, right~?"

Kushida became cute again.

"Of course." Oreki nodded.

He had no special definition of what friends were, but he knew that if he did not agree now, it would be troublesome.

Because a week had already passed, and according to Horikita's feedback, Kushida was still waiting outside her dorm room every day before school.

Persistent to the end.

Therefore.

If he rejected Kushida's proposal to become friends, she might also... persist relentlessly.

Although that possibility was only ten percent, Oreki disliked troublesome things.

So after transferring points to Kushida, he also transferred 306,000 points to Horikita.

Oreki still remembered to give her ten percent as compensation.

At the same time, he returned the two million points he had previously borrowed from Kushida as an act.

So now, the points in Oreki's private account on his Student ID Card belonged entirely to him.

"Then we will disband for today," Oreki said.

He deliberately brought up the system.

[Main Quest—20 Million Points Operation]

[Quest Requirement: Gather 20 million points within three months]

[Time Remaining: 78/90 days]

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

[Current Progress: 3,877,500 points/20 million]

[Note: All points earned by the host may be entrusted to Manabu Horikita, a third-year student about to graduate, and can absolutely be converted into cash.]

The main quest was progressing well.

He had collected nearly one-quarter of the twenty million points.

It looked good.

Moreover, thanks to Senior Nagumo, he had thought of another plan that could gather a large number of points.

That was Nagumo Miyabi's right to open a shop.

The school followed the principle that ability came first, and points came first. Anything could be bought with points.

Therefore.

Even rights that the school prohibited or did not offer could be bought with points.

Then.

That method of obtaining pocket money, which every high school student in Japan knew about, could also be bought.

And its rate of return was very high. The fixed price would probably be around five million points.

But for now, he would first wait for this shop-opening task to conclude.