Classroom of the Elite: Houtarou Oreki — Chapter 42

The information about the school rules that Senior Nagumo revealed today was indeed important. Her class had not obtained it yet.

And now, it seemed... the other classes already knew.

That meant Class B was a step behind.

But opening a shop...

"I'm grateful for the information Senior Nagumo gave us today."

"However, our Class B cannot participate in the matter of opening a shop." Honami Ichinose chose to refuse.

??

"Why?" Nagumo found it strange.

He did not think this junior was the sort of person who made such decisive choices.

"Actually..."

Ichinose felt she was already being quite tactful.

She took out her phone.

And opened the school forum.

The school controlled the signal network, so they could only use things like message boards and forums.

Since they could not contact the outside world, the forum, which faculty and students alike could participate in, was where many students and staff who could not leave the school gathered.

And now, one post on the forum had suddenly... blown up.

The information in it read:

[Breaking!]

[Freshmen from Class 1-C pooled their funds to join an shop-opening plan and break free of their constraints, only to be forced to stop after the shop-opening rights were bought out.]

[Nagumo Miyabi of Class 2-A, who possesses the right to open shops, is demanding an exorbitant 5 million Points as a shop-opening rights fee!]

[Nagumo, don't be so ruthless. Give the freshmen a way to survive!] by ID: Houtarou Oreki of Class 1-A.

It seemed to be a post made by Houtarou Oreki.

"..." Nagumo.

???

Damn it.

It was true, but could this kind of thing be posted on the forum?

Junior Oreki!

At the same time.

Nagumo thought of something even worse.

Had Honami Ichinose come to meet him only after seeing this post?

Because of that post, she had become wary of him.

Then his initiative in revealing school information would not earn him any goodwill at all.

On the contrary, his offer to support them in opening a shop would instead make her wonder whether he was trying to screw them over.

So his image was already completely ruined?

Serious Horikita Sure Was Useful!

Nagumo realized that his image had become a complete mess.

He did not want Honami Ichinose, the stunningly beautiful junior he had just noticed, to slip away as well.

So he tried to turn things around.

He said,

"This is probably just someone slandering me."

"And that account might just be an alt account or something. You can't trust what an alt account says."

"No." Junior Ichinose shook her head.

"This is Class A's Oreki's verified real-name account."

That was right.

The forum was filled with all sorts of people—students as well as staff.

And to verify certain information, real-name verification was required.

After verification, the user's information would be displayed beside their ID.

And the account behind this trending post was real-name verified.

So.

Houtarou Oreki had actually used his real identity to accuse him?

Damn it.

What happened to their bet?

When Nagumo had invited Honami Ichinose over, he had worked hard to maintain the image of an outstanding senior who had everything under control.

So even if he wanted to badmouth Oreki, he first needed to build some goodwill.

But now, he had no choice but to say it.

"If it's Houtarou Oreki, then there is indeed some friction between us."

"He collected Points from Class C students and students in your class, while I bought out the shop-opening rights from the beginning."

"He thought the price was too high and did not buy them."

"But he is portraying it as me deliberately stopping him. That is truly too much."

"So I think he deliberately said that because he wants to swallow the Points other students have already paid."

"He wants everyone to think the shop-opening plan has fallen through, then terminate their contracts and so on," Nagumo said.

But Honami Ichinose's beautiful brows furrowed slightly.

"So Senior Nagumo knew from the beginning about Class A's Oreki's plan to collect Points and open a shop?"

"Yes." Nagumo nodded. "I was at the shop then, and I saw students from Class B and Class C."

"At the time, Oreki was using the shop I opened as a signboard to fool other students."

"Then why didn't Senior Nagumo give everyone in Class B any warning at the time?" Junior Ichinose looked at Nagumo Miyabi in surprise.

"..." Nagumo.

Uh.

Was that how it was?

It was.

At first, he had shown Honami Ichinose affection and goodwill.

He had even been willing to offer experience in opening a shop and ways to reduce costs.

It looked like he was helping.

He had even told Ichinose about the rules.

All of that had shown goodwill.

It had been positive.

But.

Now Ichinose was looking at him in surprise.

That was right.

If he truly was such an upright senior, then why had he not stopped the Class 1-B students from foolishly joining Oreki's shop-opening plan when he first discovered it?

So.

That was a contradiction.

It did not make sense.

The only explanation was that he had deliberately watched Class B's students fall into a dead end, then stepped in to save them?

Wouldn't that make him an absolutely terrible person?

Damn it.

Nagumo felt that his image in his junior's eyes had fallen to rock bottom.

"All I can say is that although I am a senior, I am also Class A's representative."

"So many of my actions have to prioritize my class's interests."

"My class did indeed buy out the shop-opening rights, so it is only natural that Oreki and the others must pay me Points if they want to open a shop."

Oh.

Then Senior Nagumo demanding 5 million for the shop-opening rights was entirely genuine.

Ichinose also knew that some students in her class had joined the shop-opening plan proposed by Class A's Oreki.

She had not participated.

But she had not interfered with her classmates' choices.

And only now did she realize that the school's rules put ability first, and Points first.

Then was it really okay for the class to lose some Points every month?

Actually, it was not much of a problem.

Because.

Only fifteen students in the class had joined the plan.

So the loss of Points was not too great.

At the same time, if they did not terminate the plan, they could still recover their Points and the fifteen percent interest within a year.

After all, they were investing, not opening a shop.

So they were not becoming shareholders in the shop. They were simply lending their Points to Oreki.

Thus, what concerned Ichinose more was that they had not learned the school rules in advance. Two weeks had already passed, and everyone might have lost some Points through their Behavioral Standards this month.

That was something they needed to pay attention to.

But.

It was better not to have any further contact with Senior Nagumo.

"Then I'll be leaving first." Ichinose was already preparing to retreat.

"..." Nagumo.

"Wait!"

Nagumo felt that if Junior Ichinose left like this, she would never look at him again.

So he hurriedly said,

"I know the current situation is terrible."

"But I hope Junior Ichinose will slowly observe what kind of person I truly am from now on."

"And the warning I can give you is this: don't get close to Houtarou Oreki."

"He is not someone you can casually associate with. Junior Ichinose, you are very innocent and kind, so don't let him deceive you."

"At noon, he even deliberately provoked me and wanted to make a bet with me."

"The bet is to earn 5 million Points within three days."