Classroom of the Elite: After the Intel Refreshed, They All Want to Conquer Me! Chapter 49

"Thanks." Shimizu Akira took a tissue to wipe his mouth, then picked up another piece of freshly grilled meat. "But honestly, your grilling is way better than mine."

Horikita Suzune gave a soft huff, though her hand instinctively placed a few more slices of meat onto the grill with the tongs.

085 Everyone in Class D now owes me points

Shimizu Akira rubbed his rounded belly, feeling like he had eaten a bit too much.

Horikita Suzune's grilling skills were truly beyond reproach.

The meat retained just the right amount of springiness without being too tough to chew.

He only just realized that, aside from the first batch he had fumbled through, Horikita Suzune had been the one handling almost all the cooking.

Shimizu Akira's gaze drifted around the room.

The boys at other tables were all busily catering to their female companions; a pairing like theirs, where the girl did all the grilling, was certainly rare.

What caught his attention even more was that Horikita Suzune seemed so focused on the grilling that she had barely touched her own chopsticks.

"Let me take over; you should eat something too." Shimizu Akira reached out naturally.

Horikita Suzune's movements noticeably faltered. Her fingertips tightened slightly before relaxing, and she handed over the tongs. "...Fine."

Shimizu Akira keenly caught the flash of reluctance in her eyes.

This discovery surprised him—who would have thought that the seemingly cold and aloof Horikita Suzune would be reluctant to part with such a trivial task?

As I thought...

Shimizu Akira chuckled inwardly.

His initial assessment was correct: Horikita Suzune appeared solitary and proud, but she was exceptionally considerate toward those she acknowledged.

This was the charm of a gap moe.

"Speaking of which..." Shimizu Akira flipped the meat slices, speaking as if it were a casual thought. "Can I just call you Horikita from now on?"

He had been using honorifics all this time, but he felt the distance between them had closed significantly.

Horikita Suzune was nibbling on a piece of meat and lifted her gaze upon hearing this.

She paused for a moment, feigning deep thought. "...I agree."

This dinner ended up costing Shimizu Akira nearly eight thousand private points.

When settling the bill at the counter, Horikita Suzune scanned him with a look of slight inquiry, seemingly shocked by his lavish spending.

However, Shimizu Akira completed the payment as if it were nothing, turning a deaf ear to her subtle reaction.

Because throughout the meal, his phone screen had been lighting up repeatedly, receiving a series of important messages.

Student Council President Horikita Manabu had sent a notification: Classes A, B, and C had officially signed the surveillance system rental agreement with the Student Council.

The attached breakdown of class point transfers showed that, after deducting a 5% service fee, the transaction had netted him 8.55 million points—which, of course, included Shimizu Akira's principal of 1.2 million points.

Adding the 160,000 yen he originally had, his current balance stood at 8.71 million points.

Naturally, he wasn't exactly short on points anymore.

However, this seemingly easy windfall was actually built upon the clever utilization of the school's surveillance equipment.

He knew better than anyone that such an opportunity was rare—had it not been the first month of the freshman year, when class points were vital to every class, this deal would never have gone so smoothly.

His phone vibrated again as three messages from the leaders of different classes arrived one after another:

Ryuen Kakeru: Why is the surveillance record for the first week completely blank?

Ichinose Honami: Permission confirmed, received.

Sakayanagi Arisu: The data for the first week was wiped so thoroughly; what exactly did you do?

Shimizu Akira's fingertip hovered over the screen for a moment before he chose to log out of the burner account he had temporarily registered.

Let the three of them wonder.

The deal was done, after all.

He wasn't a customer service representative for an online marketplace; he had never promised to provide after-sales service.

Shimizu Akira glanced at the messages on his phone screen once more.

The message from Student Council President Horikita Manabu was concise and clear:

Horikita Manabu: Kushida Kikyou from Class 1-D has requested to pay the 3 million points via a school loan. What is your take on this?

Shimizu Akira frowned slightly, his fingers tapping rapidly on the screen:

Shimizu Akira: President, could you explain the specific loan policy?

Horikita Manabu's reply popped up quickly:

Horikita Manabu: The Student Council evaluates class points based on the past performance of each class to formulate corresponding loan policies. The loan amount will be forcibly deducted from the students' private points next month. This policy was originally established to promote products like mobile phones and cameras; the school believes it has educational value for social practice and has incorporated it into the official system.

Shimizu Akira pondered for a moment and continued to ask:

Shimizu Akira: Does Class D really meet the requirements?

Horikita Manabu's reply was detailed and professional:

Horikita Manabu: All classes possess the basic qualifications. Referring to the first-month performance of previous Class D cohorts, the average class points are 350, which corresponds to a loanable amount of 1.4 million private points per class. Given the special circumstances regarding the rental of surveillance equipment, the Student Council has raised the assessment benchmark for this instance to 500 class points. Based on this calculation, the total loan amount available to Class D this time is 2 million points (each person will need to repay 50,000 points next month).

Shimizu Akira keenly grasped the critical issue:

Shimizu Akira: But what I need here is 3 million.

Horikita Manabu: There is still next month; if it's not enough, we will continue to deduct it. In any case, there is a five percent interest increase every month.

Shimizu Akira continued to press: "Then what if that class's class points drop to zero?"

Horikita Manabu's reply carried a hint of profound meaning: "Don't worry, there hasn't been a class in the school's history that has managed to score zero for three consecutive years."

Shimizu Akira understood immediately—it seemed the school had secretly set up a safety net mechanism, ensuring a class wouldn't truly collapse completely.

After all, the school existed to select superior talent for society, not to force students to live in poverty for three years.

Horikita Manabu sent another option: "You can also reject the other party's loan transaction and sell the surveillance equipment directly to the school for a recovery price of 400,000 per unit."

"I accept the loan." Shimizu Akira made his decision with almost no hesitation.

He calculated to himself: Given the current situation, there was no way Class D would fall to the point of zero.

Although the points deducted in the first week were irrecoverable, with the addition of the surveillance equipment and having figured out the rules in advance, a conservative estimate was that they would get at least 400 class points this month.

If they couldn't even get 400 class points, then a few people in Class D would truly be defying the heavens.

Shimizu Akira carefully read the installment repayment contract sent by Horikita Manabu:

Horikita Manabu: The repayment plan is as follows:

Second month: Class D repays 1.8 million (45,000 private points automatically deducted from each person per month)

Third month: Class D repays 1.2 million + 60,000 (5% interest) (31,500 private points automatically deducted from each person per month)

"Does everyone in the class owe me points? Interesting, I've actually become the creditor for 39 people."

Looking at this repayment plan, Shimizu Akira suddenly realized one problem—as an "ordinary student" of Class D, he also needed to share the repayment like everyone else.

He had to contribute 75,000 private points as class fees.

However, those 75,000 private points were a drop in the bucket compared to his eight million-plus points.

086 Hello classmate, I am Shiina Hiyori from Class C of the first year

Just as Horikita Suzune was about to start discussing tutoring with Shimizu Akira, both of their phones vibrated at the same time.

"Kushida-san is notifying the whole class to gather in the classroom..." Horikita read the content of the notification in a low voice.

"Let's go, I guess there's some important news again." Shimizu Akira gave her a look, and the two walked quickly toward the classroom.

The cafeteria was not far from the Class D classroom, and they returned to the class in less than five minutes.

The classroom was gradually filling up with people.

Kushida Kikyou put on her signature sweet smile and clapped her hands.

"Everyone, I have already negotiated with the Student Council on how to resolve the 3 million point issue. The Student Council provided a special loan service, and based on the projection of our class's points for next month, we have successfully passed the audit."

The whispers in the classroom gradually quieted down, and everyone listened intently to Kushida's explanation.

"Simply put, we can advance next month's private points to pay for this expense." She looked around the classroom, her tone light, "So, every student needs to pay 45,000 private points in May, and 31,500 in June, of which 1,500 is the additional interest."

"This plan is acceptable."

"According to our class's performance, we should be able to get seven or eight hundred class points next month, right? As long as we pay half, we can pay it off in two months, no problem at all!"

The vast majority of students in the class readily expressed their agreement.

Kushida Kikyou added with a sweet smile on her face: "However, every student needs to sign and confirm it in person, otherwise the Student Council will not approve this loan."

Saying this, she took the Student Council's contract documents and began to walk around the classroom one by one.

Every student cooperated and signed their name.

When she reached Shimizu Akira, she leaned over slightly and handed over the document and pen: "Shimizu-kun, you're the only one left~"

Shimizu Akira took the document, his gaze inadvertently sweeping across the paper—because his seat was in the back, the paper was already densely packed with the signatures of his classmates.

(These are the classmates who are about to owe me money...)

(Now that I have to sign my own name, doesn't that mean I'm becoming a debtor to myself?)

(The debt of gratitude to Shimizu Akira is truly impossible to pay off.)

This amusing thought made him shake his head involuntarily.

He signed his name neatly and returned the document to Kushida.

Carrying the signatures of everyone in the class, Kushida Kikyou slowly left the classroom.

Shimizu Akira and Horikita Suzune walked into the library side by side.

They walked slowly along the aisle between the bookshelves and finally found a quiet study area deep in the library.

Rows of wooden tables were arranged neatly, with small signs tacked to the corners: "Discussion Area - Please keep your voices low."

"Shimizu-kun, why don't you go find a junior high school Japanese textbook first?" Horikita Suzune said softly, pulling a brand-new hardcover book from her bag as she sat at one of the tables.

Shimizu Akira caught a glimpse of the English title on the cover: And Then There Were None.

He raised an eyebrow slightly—wasn't this Agatha Christie's classic work, And Then There Were None?

He remembered that groundbreaking piece, where ten people were trapped on an isolated island and died one after another in bizarre ways... As the progenitor of the "locked-room mystery" trope, it had inspired countless works that followed.

From Detective Conan to The Kindaichi Case Files, and even Ryukishi07's Umineko When They Cry, the shadow of this classic could be seen everywhere.

Shimizu Akira noticed that at some point, she had changed her address for him from the stiff "Shimizu-san" to the more intimate "Shimizu-kun."

This subtle change stirred his heart, but looking at her cold, unapproachable demeanor, he decided to pretend he hadn't noticed.

If he were to point it out, given Horikita's personality, she would likely revert to that distant attitude immediately, and the tutoring session would be ruined.

His gaze swept across the spacious library once more.

The design here was truly unique—in addition to the traditional reading area, several semi-open study zones had been specifically partitioned off.

Not far away, a few upperclassmen were huddled together, discussing a project in low voices.

The library of this fully enclosed school was truly massive.

All kinds of books were arranged by category, ranging from basic textbooks to professional treatises.

It made sense; in this campus that was almost entirely isolated from the outside world, the library naturally became the most important source of knowledge.

Shimizu Akira walked to the service desk and asked the librarian who was organizing the catalog: "Excuse me, could you tell me which area the junior high Japanese textbooks are in?"

The female librarian wearing round-rimmed glasses looked up and kindly pointed toward the southeast corner: "Section D, third bookshelf, categorized by grade and subject."

"Thank you." Shimizu Akira walked through several rows of tall bookshelves.

He stopped in front of a shelf labeled "Junior High Textbooks."

Modern Japanese Fundamentals, Introduction to Japanese, Grammar Intensive... various textbooks were arranged neatly.