Classroom of the Elite: Houtarou Oreki

Does Karuizawa Know Me?

"School is a place where strength reigns supreme. The ABCD class assignments represent the students' ability levels. And being placed in Class D is practically being labeled trash."

"At the same time, the ABCD classes are fluid and will fluctuate according to each class's evaluation score."

The eleven students remaining in Class D listened blankly to the recording of Teacher Majima explaining the rules.

Or rather, they were stunned.

How could they not be?

They had just enrolled and were told they were trash? What kind of garbage school was this?

"That's impossible—" Horikita Suzune, who had paid a hundred thousand Points, practically shot to her feet.

"You think your grades or athletic ability are pretty good," Oreki said. "And you're wondering why you were still judged to belong in Class D."

Perhaps because he felt the task was about to be completed.

Oreki was in quite a good mood.

He explained it to Horikita Suzune.

"I think that since the school's class rankings are fluid, if students in all four classes were evenly assigned from the start, there would be no competitiveness. So they should have placed a few seeded players in different classes."

"Oh—" x3

Almost as soon as Oreki said that, several students seemed to relax.

For example, Kikyo Kushida, the girl with short golden hair who looked like a little angel.

In other words, she had good academic ability, decent athletic ability, and was highly sociable.

So why had she been assigned to the trash heap?

That meant she might have been placed here as a seeded player.

But unfortunately, even seeded players would not be thrown in just anywhere. They certainly would not be placed in Class D.

At the very least, they would be placed in Class B.

After all, Class D had so many deadweights. If a seeded player put in the effort, would the school allow one god to carry a bunch of useless students into Class A and make them the school's public face?

It was obviously impossible.

The strong were strong, but dragging a bunch of sewage ditches out to present as products to society? The school would lose all face.

Therefore.

From the school's perspective.

Competitiveness would generally only exist in Class A or B. Class C lacked staying power, while Class D had no right to participate at all. It was only there to make up the numbers.

Thus, Oreki's claim about seeded players in Class D had actually been a well-intentioned lie.

He could not tell them they were all trash. That would provoke public outrage.

So he changed it to: there were still outstanding people among them, but he would not say who they were.

That was the art of language.

At the same time, he had evidence.

The evidence was students like Kamuro, who was weak academically—practically a poor student—yet had still been placed in Class A.

Therefore.

The school would not be excessively harsh over weaknesses in certain areas.

So then.

What did it mean when several people appeared in Class D who had good academics, athletic ability, sociability, and coordination?

There was only one reason.

Those students had flaws, flaws that could not be concealed even by high academic ability, strong sociability, or athletic talent.

Take Horikita Suzune, for example.

Her refusal just now to let Kushida help pay had already revealed that she was probably the type to go it alone and refuse to cooperate with others.

In other words, what she lacked was coordination.

That was fatal in society.

Because while one person's efficiency might surpass that of others, it could not surpass that of a group. Appropriate compromise was also extremely important.

And because of that, the school had judged her fit only for Class D.

By the same logic.

Kushida, you are excellent in every area, yet you were placed in Class D. That means you're incredibly dangerous.

Because even all those positive qualities could not cover up your dark history.

So just how destructive was that dark history of yours?

Oreki thought to himself.

And Hirata was the same.

Hirata was also the type with strong academics, athletic stamina, coordination, and sociability.

Yet he had been assigned to Class D, so his dark history must be pretty intense.

Looking at it this way.

This Class D... was indeed rather extraordinary.

Selling information this time, along with checking out the class, had been quite rewarding.

Once the recording finished playing, Oreki began collecting Points from everyone.

No students tried to welch on the deal. Or rather, having just learned rules that made them question their lives, everyone was still in a daze.

At the same time, they understood why Oreki had said Yamauchi and the others had caused the class to lose seven million Private Points.

Because the first month was the Behavioral Standards Exam, and Yamauchi's group had ranked the girls by breast size under the school's cameras.

So the class might have immediately lost fifty class evaluation points.

But everyone felt... they might lose even more. After all, even students at ordinary schools would not hold such rankings in class.

So their behavior... had been terrible.

And the source of the seven million Points was clear: fifty points times forty students times thirty-five months equaled seven million Private Points.

Now that they had lost fifty class evaluation points, wasn't that equivalent to losing a total of seven million Private Points over three years?

The only fortunate thing was that it was still their first day of school.

Now that they knew their class had also been assigned one thousand class evaluation points, even if points had been deducted today, they could still save up living expenses through good behavior from now on.

That was right.

Although being called trash felt awful, this school waived tuition and even provided living expenses. Outside schools could not hope to compare.

Not to mention, if they got lucky and claimed Class A's position, they could soar.

Therefore.

The students of Class D were not that despairing. Instead, they felt somewhat fortunate.

[100,000 Points have been deposited into your account.]

Oreki had already reached Horikita Suzune while collecting payment.

Horikita Suzune seemed to bite her lip lightly before transferring all her Points to Oreki.

Eleven people had paid a total of two hundred thousand Points.

[Beep!]

Oreki heard the system prompt.

[Congratulations on completing the main quest.]

[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained the special reward: Teleportation.]

[Teleportation: You may travel to places you have visited up to three times per day.]

[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained an additional reward: Set home as a designated base. You may use Teleportation an unlimited number of times each day to return home.]

Hmm~

So the task was complete?

He had gained a superpower?

It was... a little exciting.

That was right.

Even Oreki had done some cringeworthy chuunibyou things when he was young.

And now... perhaps that fantasy had become reality.

However.

He was still here in Class D, beneath the cameras. He did not want to be dissected.

So, standing beside Horikita Suzune, who had just paid the final hundred thousand Points.

He provided her with another piece of information.

"Even though you have no money left, don't panic."

"The school considered that this is a classroom where strength reigns supreme, and there would definitely be students who spent all their Points. So, in order to let those students survive..."

"For example, Class 3-D only has ninety class evaluation points left, so that definitely isn't enough to live on."

"So the school has probably prepared some free daily necessities in the shopping district. You can go pick them up."

"And the cafeteria should also provide free meals, though they probably won't taste very good," Oreki said.

Horikita Suzune seemed to have also categorized herself as a seeded player placed in Class D.

So she did not look too upset.

"...The school even considered things like that?" She propped her chin up with one hand.

"This school has existed for more than a decade. What could possibly happen here that it hasn't seen before?" Oreki said.

No, no, no. You figured out the school rules less than two hours after arriving, then immediately turned around and sold that information for money. This was definitely a sight the school had never seen anywhere before.

Besides.

The teachers had not mentioned free meals or daily necessities.

And things like Class 3-D having only ninety class evaluation points were something you investigated yourself.

Masumi Kamuro, following behind Oreki, thought to herself.

Having completed the task, Oreki naturally left Class D.

"By the way—"

Masumi Kamuro thought that since she had already helped Oreki complete his task of selling information.

She could bring up her request for him to tutor her.

However, at that moment, two girls ran up the stairs from below.

One had short black hair, while the other was quite cute, with long golden hair in a high ponytail. She wore loose socks and had the classic gyaru look.

But she really was very cute.

If the cutest girl in the school were being ranked, Sakayanagi Arisu from Class A could take first place, while this girl could take second.

"Karuizawa, wait for me—"

"I wonder if the classmates have already left—" The black-haired girl seemed somewhat out of breath.

They appeared to be Class D students who had not made it back in time after Hirata's earlier notification.

The golden-haired girl with the single ponytail in front was Karuizawa.

Kamuro followed behind Oreki.