Classroom of the Elite, but It's a Diary Style

Even if you want money, you shouldn't trade it in a way like this!

"Relax." Perhaps noticing her nervousness, Asakusa Toru smiled and pulled the banknotes back from in front of her. "I don't intend to make you call me 'daddy', nor do I need you to do anything unnecessary."

"All I want is your time."

He gently pulled one note from the stack, put the rest away, and then grabbed Ichinose Honami's hand, pressing the bill into her palm.

"This is a cheap job with an hourly wage of 416 yen, nothing more."

There was no need to abandon her bottom line, nor was there any need to sacrifice anything; it was merely an impulsive invitation. Just as Asakusa Toru said, this was nothing more than a part-time job.

A part-time job so cheap that the hourly wage was only 416 yen.

"How about it? Interested?"

"..." Ichinose Honami was stunned.

The sensation of the Fukuzawa Yukichi held in her hand made her reluctant to let go. The weight of the 10,000 yen note seemed light, but in her heart, it felt unexpectedly heavy.

As long as she had this 10,000 yen, Mom wouldn't have to apologize.

As long as she had this 10,000 yen, her younger sister wouldn't have to be disappointed.

--As long as she had this 10,000 yen.

"I, can I trust you?" she couldn't help but ask aloud.

If it were anyone else, she would never have said such a thing; she might not have even hesitated, simply returning the money to the other person with reluctance.

But the person before her was Asakusa Toru, the man who had just resonated with her inner voice.

...No, calling him a man might not be accurate. After calming down and observing Asakusa Toru carefully, one could see that he was unexpectedly young.

So young that he might even be a student... her age?

Eh? If he were a student, then this money...

No, no, she couldn't think like that; it wasn't right.

Besides, he didn't look like that kind of person.

"Whether you trust me or not is your freedom. You just need to tell me your choice," Asakusa Toru waved his hand. "Are you going to accept it, or are you going to return it to me?"

He didn't need to provide any guarantees.

After hesitating for a moment, with the images of her mother and sister from a short while ago flashing in her mind, Ichinose Honami made up her mind.

"Then... can I ask for the reason?" But in the end, she still wanted to confirm one thing.

"Self-satisfaction, I suppose?" Asakusa Toru tilted his head. "Meaningless self-satisfaction."

"The things I want you to do with me next are also just meaningless self-satisfaction."

"So, don't take it to heart. 10,000 yen seems like a lot, but for a part-time job, it's actually quite cheap."

After staring at Ichinose Honami for a while, Asakusa Toru didn't hesitate any longer and turned to walk away.

As he walked, he raised his hand. "Follow me."

Looking at his back, which seemed completely free of hesitation, and feeling the weight of the banknote in her hand, Ichinose Honami gritted her teeth and took a step forward.

"Can, can you tell me your name?" Ichinose Honami caught up to him.

He stated his name without looking back:

"Asakusa Toru."

Thinking back on it carefully, what he did at the time was quite like kidnapping.

Deliberately loitering in a hospital near a girl who was clearly in some kind of trouble, then saying ambiguous things to gain her trust, and once he had their trust and led them away from the scene, he could do this or that...

Cough, anyway, it was fortunate that he was a good person. Other than leading Ichinose Honami around to tear down missing person posters others had put up, and incidentally running straight to the homes of the people involved to get scolded, he didn't do anything else.

Uh, it wasn't that he was tearing down posters aimlessly. Every poster he tore down was looking for the same person.

A guy in a tracksuit, black hair, 172cm, 66kg, named Natsuki Subaru.

The reason he got scolded was because he didn't just tear down the posters, he also ran to people's houses and told them that this guy had actually been dragged to another world to be a simp, and probably wouldn't be coming back.

Although Asakusa Toru felt that everything he said was the truth, his skill in rhetoric wasn't high enough. Not only did he fail to make the families believe him, but he also got a good scolding for his trouble.

However, even now, he felt that the 10,000 yen was truly well spent.

After all, Ichinose Honami had stood in front of him to take the scolding for him at the time.

With a beautiful girl standing in front of him, the firepower he received was reduced by more than just a little bit.

So, just as he said earlier, Ichinose Honami really had no reason to feel any burden, nor was there any need to take this matter to heart.

This wasn't to say that there was something wrong with his sexual orientation, or that he was so awkward that he refused to accept a return.

It was just unnecessary.

What kind of return could Ichinose Honami give him? Transfer him an equivalent 10,000 Private Points now?

Not to mention whether he was short on that bit of money, Ichinose Honami herself would never accept such a reward.

Go straight to the point and offer herself?

Are you crazy? Thinking you can get a beautiful girl to offer herself for ten thousand yen—who do you think you are?

Even as innocent as Chu Nan is, he wouldn't harbor such a fantasy, right?

"..."

Soon, the third period of the morning ended, followed immediately by the students' lunch break.

Ichinose Honami had wanted to continue chatting with Asakusa Toru for a while longer, but after thinking for a long time, she still raised her hand.

"Um, everyone, please hold on for a moment. I have something I'd like to tell you all." She announced loudly:

"Yes, it's about the school."

First-Year Class C.

"Listen up, all of you! Do whatever you want after class, but when you're in class, keep your behavior strictly in line!"

"Yes, sir!!!"

Having learned the truth about this school from Asakusa Toru, and especially after understanding the exam currently underway during the first month, Ryuen Kakeru certainly had no intention of keeping it a secret.

Are you kidding? Not use information that cost two million points? He wasn't an idiot.

But how to use it was a new problem.

Using violence to force the students in his class—who were of uneven quality—to watch their words and actions and act like obedient students for the first month was the first step.

Since he already knew it was a point-deduction game, he had to ensure as much as possible that they wouldn't lose any more points, and only then could he discuss subsequent actions.

Of course, the quality of the students in Class C was what it was; since they were assigned to Class C, there was naturally a reason for it.

Although Ryuen Kakeru didn't recognize the school's so-called evaluation at all, he had to admit that getting them to maintain the habits of good students for a long time was a difficult task.

Fortunately, the Behavioral Norms Exam only lasted for the first month, so ruling by violence was barely enough to keep them under control.

However, he couldn't count on just this bit of Class Points to get by.

The privilege to transfer classes that cost twenty million?

If that was the case, the significance of Private Points would become very important.

To get the entire class to rise to Class A, it would require... 800 million Private Points.

Heh, what an astronomical figure.

"..." Shaking his head, Ryuen Kakeru temporarily put aside thoughts of transferring classes and recalled the final piece of information Asakusa Toru had left him.

The limit for point deductions in 'this' exam is 'zero'.

In other words, could there be negative points in future exams?

However, even if that were the case, no class would be stupid enough to lose all one thousand points in a single month... right?

Ryuen Kakeru had actually considered simply letting Class C give up on the first month's class exam, dragging everyone down and letting all the classes' Class Points hit zero.

But the problem was that, in that case, the Private Points they would receive next month would also be zero.

If he hadn't handed over those two million, it would be fine; ten thousand would be enough if he lived frugally.

But since he had already spent the two million, he couldn't do that.

His control over the class wasn't enough to make everyone obediently follow orders while holding the resolve to go empty-handed for several months.

So, Ryuen Kakeru had to abandon the incredibly tempting idea of dragging everyone down with him and instead turn his thoughts in other directions.

Soon, the rough outline of a plan began to take shape in his mind.

"..."

Under the intimidation of Ryuen Kakeru's gaze, First-Year Class C successfully passed a well-behaved morning.

Of course, only the morning.

When noon arrived, a battle broke out in a corner of the Advanced Nurturing High School rarely covered by security cameras.

"Thud--"

No, rather than a battle, it was more of a one-sided, incredibly vicious ambush.

"Ryuen--"

Caught off guard and dragged into the alleyway, Ishizaki Daichi, who had been slammed against the wall, wore a ferocious expression.

"You've gone too far!"

"--There's even worse to come!" Seizing his opening, Ryuen suddenly drove his knee upward, the heavy impact traveling from his lower abdomen through Ishizaki Daichi's entire body.

He lost his strength almost instantly and collapsed to the ground.

"I told you, no matter where you go, I will find a way to make you submit." Looking down at Ishizaki Daichi, who was clutching his stomach with a twisted expression, Ryuen said every word clearly.

Chapter 23: Ichinose Honami's Self-Talk

Although Ishizaki Daichi had outwardly displayed a posture of submission to Ryuen Kakeru yesterday, that was only because their homeroom teacher had been standing right beside them; he had been forced to choose compliance due to a variety of reasons.

While it was true that he had obediently paid the money to acquire the information, and he did indeed feel that the intelligence he received was worth the price.

However, upon thinking it over carefully, he quickly realized something was wrong.

The reason the homeroom teacher supported Ryuen was not because she acknowledged him as the class leader, but because she believed that unifying the class to purchase the information was advantageous.

He had absolutely no reason to submit to Ryuen.

Therefore, immediately after school yesterday, he had simply expressed his defiance.

And what that defiance brought about was the declaration Ryuen was making at this very moment.

Whether it was a sneak attack from the shadows or playing dirty tricks, no matter how underhanded or base the act, he would do it again and again, over and over, without ever growing tired of it.

--Until he submitted.

"...If, if you've got the guts, go fight Yamada!" Curled up on the ground and catching his breath for a long moment, Ishizaki Daichi couldn't help but roar: "You, you despicable guy!"

If it were a head-on fight, Ryuen Kakeru would absolutely be no match for him!

And if it were Yamada, even with a sneak attack like this, there would be no chance of success!

"Are you saying that if Yamada submits, then you will submit too?" Pressing his weight onto Ishizaki Daichi's body to keep him from getting up, Ryuen Kakeru asked with interest.

"Guh--!"

Pinned beneath him, the breath he had barely managed to hold onto leaked out once again.

Ishizaki Daichi gritted his teeth, squeezed his eyes shut, and shouted:

"So what if I am! Anyway, there's no way you could be a match for that guy!"