Classroom of the Elite: Houtarou Oreki

Some students thought of... protecting him first.

Of course, there were also people who wanted to improve Oreki's impression of them.

Because...

Class A had now split into two factions: the Sakayanagi Faction and the Katsuragi Faction.

However, everyone had also tacitly acknowledged the existence of an Oreki Faction.

But Oreki's faction was rather unique. He was in Katsuragi's group chat and had never stated whom he supported, yet people had also seen him eating with Sakayanagi's little princess.

So he was probably the type who stood in the middle.

But was being in the middle a bad thing?

No.

Being in the middle was pretty good.

People had first taken notice of him right after enrollment, when he had keenly realized that the school was different from the outside world.

In the end, they had obtained the school's rules ahead of time.

Then many people realized that Oreki was pretty impressive.

Because Sakayanagi's little princess had already begun organizing people for tutoring. Anyone with eyes could tell that next month's special exam might be a written test.

However...

Everyone had noticed that from the day he enrolled until now, Oreki had never brought a single book back to his dorm.

In other words, he absorbed all the material directly in class and did not need review or tutoring afterward.

In other words, he was highly efficient.

Although Class A had many academic elites, this was not something an academic elite could necessarily do.

Meanwhile, the Katsuragi Faction also knew that Oreki had secured a Student Council secretary position.

That showed he had established a connection with the Student Council President.

So no matter how one looked at it, he drew attention.

Of course, this was Classroom of the Elite. Ability came first, and points came first. Some people had already discovered that Oreki had a million points on his Student ID Card.

Therefore...

There were still many people who regarded Oreki as a promising prospect and wanted to improve his impression of them.

And Oreki was also very laid-back. Although they had sent him messages, he had not made use of them.

So they could not even find a chance to curry favor with him.

But wasn't this an opportunity now?

"Kakeru Ryuuen, this is Class A, not a place for you Class C students to run wild."

Hashimoto, a tall and handsome man with his hair slicked high, took the initiative to go to the classroom door and block Ryuuen.

The moment he opened his mouth, he exposed Ryuuen's identity.

A Class C student.

Class A students studied well, and some had accomplishments in sports as well. Of course, no one who made it into Class A was stupid, so many people had been gathering information during this time.

And they had already gathered information on Ryuuen.

A violent man.

"Get lost. I'm looking for Houtarou Oreki!"

"Who's Oreki?"

"Albert!" Ryuuen called out to the towering man behind him.

"..." Hashimoto.

Hashimoto was 175 centimeters tall, while Albert was two meters tall. He immediately felt the pressure.

Seeing that a conflict seemed about to break out, Katsuragi prepared to step forward.

"Ryuuen, right?" But Oreki spoke from his desk. "If you want to do something, look up at the camera."

"I don't think the school would allow you to use violence so openly."

"And..."

"I don't think I know you," Oreki said.

"..." Ryuuen.

Ryuuen took out his phone and snapped a photo in Oreki's direction.

"Heh heh..."

"You're Houtarou Oreki, right? I'll remember you. Wait for my revenge!" Ryuuen said, then turned around and left without hesitation.

He had already bought the school's rules from an upperclassman.

So he knew about class evaluation points.

If he really used violence under the cameras, the few class evaluation points they had left would continue to be deducted.

Therefore...

He could only choose to leave.

Oreki remained seated.

His left hand supported his chin.

Then his phone received a message.

[360,000 points have been deposited into your private account.]

[Transfer sender: Kakeru Ryuuen.]

In other words...

Ryuuen had arrived aggressively, his face full of anger, but before coming, he had obediently transferred the money first.

Ryuuen had transferred money to Oreki.

There were thirty-six Class C members participating in the shop-opening plan, and now 360,000 points had arrived—not one point short.

That meant Class C had terminated the shop-opening plan.

Thus...

Although Ryuuen looked so fierce, as though he wanted to settle matters with violence, he still respected agreements and contracts.

And this also showed from another angle that he had ambitions.

He wanted more, something bigger, so he wanted to follow the rules.

Perhaps he would be a decent opponent.

If it was class competition, then the opponent Class A would face might be someone like Ryuuen.

But the school's initial ABCD class assignments had been based on aptitude and overall ability, so shouldn't Class A's dangerous target be Class B?

So there was no need to pay attention to Class B's students?

There wasn't.

Because...

Ryuuen had already taken action and cut off his own arm to survive, while Class B's students still knew nothing.

Oreki thought to himself.

When Kakeru Ryuuen left, the students in the class reacted as well.

One representative group was the Katsuragi Faction.

Everyone looked curiously toward Oreki.

"Oreki, what did you do?" Katsuragi asked curiously.

"Nothing." Oreki supported his chin with his left hand. "I simply discovered that second-year students had opened a Milk Tea Shop, and I wanted to try it too."

"Then I collected points from Class C students. Everyone who participated could become a shareholder."

"However..."

"Now it seems they have unilaterally rejected my proposal," Oreki said.

Oh.

So that was it.

Opening a shop!?

Wait!

"Second-year students opened a shop?" Katsuragi pressed one hand on the desk and asked eagerly.

He had been thinking about the Student Council position Oreki had offered.

But the price was steep: one million points.

Although everyone supporting him could contribute together, he had always felt that it would be better if there were another way to obtain points.

But when he had gone to the shopping district, he discovered that the school did not allow part-time work.

So he had been somewhat disappointed.

Yet now, there was a sudden turn for the better. They could open a shop?

"Yes." Oreki nodded. "It was because I discovered this that I wanted to imitate them."

"But the plan failed halfway through."

"First, the number of points that needed to be collected was very large."

"Then I encountered second-year Vice President Nagumo Miyabi. He bought out the shop-opening rights and opened with an offer of five million points."

"So the plan was dead," Oreki said.

"I see... It seems the second-year students are quite forceful too." Katsuragi immediately tried to comfort Oreki.

But he actually found it regrettable.

At this school, ability came first, and points had become extremely important.

So it would have been nice if there were an opportunity to steadily collect points.

Then he heard Oreki continue.

"However, the agreement with the Class C students stated that if anyone terminated the shop-opening plan early, the points already collected would not be refunded, and they would also have to compensate me with 10,000 points."

Oh.

So the shop-opening plan had truly been abandoned.

Katsuragi found it regrettable.

Because it was a closed school, the customer base for a shop could be guaranteed. There would be no loss of customers.

So its profitability could be expected.

"Wait.

Then didn't you gather a huge amount of points all at once?" Katsuragi continued.

That was right.

Because Ryuuen's behavior from Class C was precisely proof that Class C's students had terminated the shop-opening plan themselves.

Therefore...