Classroom of the Elite: Houtarou Oreki

So the school would take action.

Thinking that,

Beep beep.

He received a message from Chairman Sakayanagi asking him to come over.

So,

Houtarou Oreki,

do your best.

He could help stall for a while, but how many points he could ultimately obtain would depend on him.

So, was Oreki busy right now?

Not at all.

Houtarou Oreki was very relaxed at the moment.

First, he made a post and took a shot at Nagumo. On one hand, it was to correct his own image—the closure of his shop was Nagumo Miyabi's fault.

At the same time, it was for real-name verification.

To let everyone know who he was.

Then,

he posted another thread about transferring his work permit.

That way, he would not need to buy traffic. He would naturally draw attention right away.

Then... anyone who discovered they could work would contact him.

So he would become busy.

Was he really busy?

Yes, he really was.

But he had a Tool Person... no, a partner.

Horikita Suzune was flusteredly using three phones by herself, communicating with students interested in buying work permits.

Then she collected the points.

Meanwhile, Oreki sat to one side with his chin propped up in one hand. The window was open, and the breeze blowing in felt very pleasant.

While Horikita remained busy,

she continuously collected points before transferring them into the private account on his Student ID Card.

"Beep!"

At that moment, Oreki heard the system's notification sound.

[Congratulations, host, on completing the Hidden Quest—Protecting Flowers.]

[Protecting Flowers: Protect cute girls from the harassment of pests.]

[Quest requirement: Extinguish Nagumo Miyabi's arrogance and earn 5 million points within three days.]

[Quest progress: Completed.]

"Congratulations, host, you have received the special reward—Invisibility."

In other words, the quest was complete.

Five million in three days.

Yet he had completed it in less than one day.

At the same time, the reward had arrived directly.

However,

Oreki was somewhat puzzled.

Because

he was still making money, while Nagumo had not even begun his attack. Had his arrogance already been dealt a blow?

Kikyo Kushida: Oreki-kun, can't you pay a little more attention to me?

"Use Teleportation?"

Yes!

The next morning, Oreki used Teleportation from home and returned to Room 303, the dorm room assigned to him by the school.

He was a little sleepy, though.

He had had a very long dream last night. He could not remember the details clearly, but it seemed to have been a story from ten years in the future.

He and Horikita had gotten married.

Then they had two daughters.

The girls' names were quite clear. One was called Lingling, and the other Nene.

They were probably named by splitting apart Horikita's name.

In the dream, he had become a shut-in.

But Horikita had become a somewhat famous lawyer.

Because it was so absurd, Oreki had confirmed in the dream that he was dreaming.

Fortunately, though, it was not a Precognitive Dream.

If he wanted to use a Precognitive Dream, he could bring up the system.

Since the system had not prompted him, it meant this was just an ordinary dream.

And what were dreams?

They were continuations of things one had thought about during the day or kept in one's heart.

Therefore,

if he dreamed of Horikita, did that mean he cared about her deeply?

Rather than caring, though, it was probably because she had checked the account information until midnight last night, and he felt a little sorry for her.

Oreki thought to himself.

And in the dream,

he still remembered one scene.

Horikita, who was a lawyer, had needed to go on a business trip and would probably not return home for a week.

Then she gave him a gift.

It was one of those cups specially made for men to use with an airplane or something.

It seemed she had heard about it from Kikyo.

She felt that men found it difficult to stay alone.

So she bought it as a substitute.

But was Horikita really that kind of person?

Rigid and meticulous.

Yet she would consider other aspects as well.

Rather than thoughtful, she was somewhat too honest.

In other words, if he married her, perhaps she would take very good care of him.

So this dream did not seem too bad.

Thinking about all sorts of nonsense, Houtarou Oreki opened the door of his empty dorm room and walked out.

He was on the third floor.

The dorms from the fourth floor upward belonged to the girls.

But the elevators were shared.

He waited by the elevator lobby. Before long, the doors opened with a ding.

However, there were only two students inside.

One was Horikita Suzune, with long black straight hair, delicate features, and clear fox-like eyes.

The other was the little golden-haired angel who appeared at her door every morning.

She had short golden hair, a cute face, wine-red eyes, and looked like a little angel.

This was Kikyo Kushida.

Several days had passed since last week, when he asked Kushida to persuade the students of Class C and Class B to join the shop-opening plan, then settled 153,000 points with her.

And this was their first meeting since then.

However,

"Ah... no wonder the tea stalk stood upright when I was drinking tea this morning. I thought something good would happen."

"And now, I finally get to see Oreki-kun again~" Kushida said in an adorable voice, accompanied by a sweet smile.

Was this what a little angel was like?

It made one's heart flutter at once.

But,

"Kushida, you seem a little tense."

Oreki glanced toward Horikita Suzune. Horikita was lowering her head as she looked at a vocabulary book.

Oreki quickly withdrew his gaze.

This was the downside of dreams.

If dreams were continuations of the things one cared about or paid attention to, and one dreamed about someone of the opposite sex with whom one usually had an ordinary relationship, then meeting that person again while awake might cause some sort of hormonal reaction.

And Oreki did not think he needed romance right now.

So he quickly turned his attention to Kikyo Kushida beside him.

Then he noticed that Kushida's expression seemed faintly unnatural.

She looked a little tense.

"Is that so?" The little angel Kushida blinked lightly. "As for me, I feel fulfilled every day."

"But—"

Kushida seemed to move closer to Oreki.

The light jasmine scent of her favorite perfume drifted over, making him feel very comfortable.

"Oreki-kun, can you help me?"

Kushida once again held Oreki's right hand in both of hers.

Looking up at him from below, she gazed at him with pitiful eyes.

"I really want to become friends with Horikita, but she keeps rejecting me."

She said, "I went to Horikita's door today, and she rejected me again."

So you were still insisting on this.

But,

Horikita Suzune spoke up.

"If you truly think that way, then I do not mind."

"But I do not think friends are all that important."