Classroom of the Elite: Houtarou Oreki

Although Nagumo was a Student Council member, he had no way of obtaining the most crucial information.

So he was most likely coming to show off.

In other words, he might bring a girl along or something.

He was not very good at dealing with girls, so bringing along a Tool Person to put on a show of strength would work.

Although Horikita was suitable as background decoration, her identity was special—she was Manabu Horikita's younger sister.

If that became known, she might be targeted.

No matter how he looked at it, Kushida was the most suitable choice. She was cute, easy enough to control, and had little connection to everyone else.

"Hm?"

Kushida noticed Oreki looking at her.

So she put on her cutest expression.

"It's nothing." But Oreki headed toward his classroom.

Then—

During Lunch Break, the two of them headed to the Shopping District together.

P.S. Damn it, suddenly, messing with and fooling Kushida seemed pretty interesting.

Young People's First Ten Million!

Lunch Break could be used for eating or resting. For food, students could make their own lunchboxes or go to the cafeteria, convenience store, or the not-too-distant Shopping District.

The Shopping District had a huge number of stores and plenty of lunch options.

However, Houtarou Oreki and Kikyou Kushida chose coffee with sweet desserts and cake.

Mainly because that shop only had those things.

Because it was a Milk Tea Shop—more precisely, Nagumo Miyabi's Yayunju.

Nagumo had asked Oreki to come here, but when the appointed time arrived, Nagumo Miyabi had yet to show up.

So Oreki ordered lunch on the spot.

It was not until twenty minutes after the agreed time that the café door was pushed open.

"Welcome—Boss."

The waitress spoke.

However, her tone seemed noticeably more respectful.

Nagumo had bought the right to open a shop, but since it was impossible to have students working there, he had applied to the school to hire waiters and other staff.

Nagumo Miyabi seemed quite pleased by that tone.

And just as Oreki had expected, Nagumo Miyabi had indeed brought a female companion.

The girl he had brought was very pretty.

She had long orange hair, with a sunflower hairpin clipped to her bangs.

Nagumo Miyabi's behavior after entering the shop was somewhat strange.

He seemed to glance around as if searching for something, then spoke to the girl beside him as though dismissing everything with contempt.

Unfortunately, though Nagumo kept talking, his companion seemed uninterested.

Because she was Nagumo Miyabi's childhood friend, Nazuna Asahina.

Perhaps finding Nagumo annoying, she glanced around.

She quickly spotted Oreki sitting in a corner with Kushida.

"Isn't this Junior Oreki?"

Asahina walked directly over.

"..." Nagumo.

Nagumo had actually spotted Oreki the moment he entered the shop. Or rather, he had come here specifically to find him.

He had deliberately left Oreki waiting.

However—

He wanted to laugh.

He had intentionally arrived twenty minutes late, yet this Junior Oreki had not left at all.

He was still stupidly waiting to settle their bet.

That was right.

Stupidly.

In Nagumo's eyes, Junior Oreki had finally met the day he would fall flat on his face.

Granted.

Oreki's job-permit scheme yesterday had greatly shocked him. He had even felt that he was about to lose everything.

Not only would he lose the younger girls, but his control over the second-years would also collapse.

Because if everyone could work part-time, they would no longer need to follow his orders.

Nagumo knew that while some students were his fanatical supporters, even more were dissatisfied with him.

Since those people had no way to bring him down, they could only lie low.

Passively accepting his commands.

But then...

Now that the job permits had appeared—

Damn it.

He had gone to investigate. Out of the remaining 134 second-years, a hundred of them wanted to send Houtarou Oreki money to buy job permits.

And choosing to work part-time practically meant they wanted to escape his control and earn Points for themselves.

So, after realizing that his greatest support was about to be broken, Nagumo tried his best.

As a result—

He persuaded sixty out of the hundred students who wanted to pay for job permits to stop.

Only forty successfully transferred money to Houtarou Oreki.

And each transfer was worth 100,000 Points.

That meant Houtarou Oreki had already siphoned off 4 million Points from the second-years alone.

And that was after second-years had been persuaded not to buy them.

First-years might not have money, but third-years certainly did.

And working part-time was a trick students commonly used.

So not to mention Class 3-A or Class B—even students from Class C and Class D, who had no Points, would scrape together or borrow Points to buy a job permit first.

Therefore—

The number of third-years buying them might exceed eighty.

Would Oreki make another 8 million Points?

So it was not just the first-years. The second-years' and third-years' money was this easy to swindle too?

It was hard to believe, but it had truly happened, making Nagumo Miyabi somewhat jealous.

Yes.

Jealous.

He knew very well that Oreki's job-permit idea had evolved from the work permit Nagumo had already obtained.

In other words—

If he had thought a little further ahead, he would have been the one obtaining all those Points.

Damn it.

But fortunately for him—

Just when Nagumo felt he was about to lose, Manabu Horikita informed him.

Oreki's transfer of job permits had sparked enthusiastic participation among the students, and after consideration, the school had ultimately decided... to put a stop to it.

Therefore—

Houtarou Oreki would have to return every single Point he had received.

That put Nagumo in an excellent mood.

And now this Junior Oreki still thought he had earned 5 million Points and could dig 300,000 Points out of him?

That ignorance was a little cute.

Nagumo was in high spirits.

"Well, if it isn't Junior Oreki?"

"You're still here at this hour?" Nagumo Miyabi greeted him.

He noticed that the cute first-year girl, Kikyou Kushida, was here too.

Unfortunately, Suzune had not come.

But it was better that way.

Because—

Today, they were not his target.

He had specifically brought his childhood friend to ridicule Houtarou Oreki.

The girls in his class were too bitchy, and even his childhood friend mentioned Houtarou Oreki.

Indeed.

Nagumo Miyabi's plan to make Honami Ichinose from Class B his backup had fallen through.

So he had thought it over and decided to soothe Asahina first.

Since Asahina was interested in that troublesome junior, Houtarou Oreki, he would first ruin Oreki's image in front of her.

That was why he had deliberately brought Asahina to watch Junior Oreki fail.

He just had not expected Kikyou Kushida to be here as well.

Now both girls could witness the moment Houtarou Oreki failed.

However—

"I've been waiting for you for a long time, Senior Nagumo." Houtarou Oreki stood up with his phone in hand. "Although you're a senior, I don't think using that status to make someone wait for so long is polite."

"Also, I don't want to talk to you right now, but please transfer the 300,000 Points you lost to me."

As he spoke, Houtarou Oreki displayed the payment QR code on his phone.

"I earned 5 million Points within three days. Less than one day has passed, and I've already completed the task."

"And Senior Nagumo, you need to honor the result as well," Oreki said.

"..." Nagumo.

After Oreki spoke, both girls looked at him.

Nagumo found it hard to keep face, but he maintained his elegance.

"Hehe... You still don't know, do you? Your job permits failed."

"I'm a Student Council member, so I can find out in advance."