Classroom of the Elite: I Can Gain Points Without Limit

"You really are full of yourself." Aragaki Shun didn't even know how to describe the other man's personality.

Still, it didn't matter.

After taking the menu and casually ordering a few dishes, Aragaki Shun got straight to the point while they waited for the food.

"Let's get down to business, Koenji Rokusuke. I'm going to petition the Advanced Nurturing High School Council to restrict Chairman Sakayanagi's authority to evaluate first-year students. Could I ask you to co-sign the petition?"

"Oh? Why?" Koenji Rokusuke asked with some curiosity. "Why go out of your way to do something that won't win you any favors? Making an enemy of the Board Chairman at Kodo Ikusei Senior High School isn't exactly fun."

The Koenji Conglomerate was a powerful capital group with enormous influence throughout Sakurajima, capable of monopolizing certain areas of finance.

To ordinary people, it was a behemoth that could send them to heaven or hell with the slightest movement of a finger.

On one hand, though, Koenji Rokusuke was only qualified to inherit the conglomerate; he didn't actually control it yet. The resources he could bring to bear were ultimately limited.

On the other hand, although Kodo Ikusei Senior High School was just a school and seemed unremarkable, the network of connections it had accumulated over the years could reasonably be called the Advanced Nurturing School Clique.

Every year, the forty students who graduated from Class A could choose any prestigious school or company with the government's support. After more than a decade, Kodo Ikusei's graduates had already spread across every industry.

What's more, its graduates included plenty of people with powerful backgrounds like Aragaki Shun, Kanzaki Ryuji, and Koenji Rokusuke. The second-year daughter of the Kiryuuin Family was one such example.

This enormous network of connections was absolutely no weaker than the financial power of the Koenji Conglomerate.

And if you also counted the political backing behind Kodo Ikusei—the people who supported the school as a political achievement—then a young man who hadn't yet inherited a conglomerate might not be important enough for the Board Chairman to pay special attention to.

The school had casually dumped Koenji Rokusuke into Class D's trash heap, after all. That alone showed that the people responsible for assigning students to classes hadn't given the slightest thought to how he would feel.

"It really is thankless. If I had a choice, I wouldn't want to make an enemy of the Board Chairman for no reason either."

Aragaki Shun nodded. He actually just wanted to attend school in peace. "But I can't help it. The Board Chairman made the first move for his daughter. We can't just let him arrange everything as he pleases, can we?"

As Koenji Rokusuke looked on in confusion, Aragaki Shun briefly explained the hidden rules involving Class Points, Private Points, and the competition for Class A, as well as the information about Sakayanagi Arisu of Class 1-A.

Given Koenji Rokusuke's status, there was no way this kind of information could be kept from him for long. And since he'd acted as if no one else mattered earlier, he didn't seem likely to care about his classmates in Class 1-D, so there was no harm in telling him directly.

Just as expected, Koenji Rokusuke spent the whole time looking thoughtful. He wasn't surprised by Aragaki Shun's explanation of the school's true nature.

"The Board Chairman's actions really aren't beautiful. He failed to recognize my beauty and threw me into a filthy garbage heap. He certainly deserves a response."

Koenji Rokusuke was somewhat displeased!

He didn't care whether he was assigned to Class A or Class D. The future promised by the school held no appeal for an heir to a conglomerate, and the interviewer's evaluation meant nothing to him.

But placing him in a cesspool full of fools was an insult to his beauty. If he had the chance, he wouldn't mind returning the favor for the Board Chairman's arrangement.

"I looked through the Class 1-C student roster earlier, hoping I might find a surprise or two. Unfortunately, I didn't recognize any of the names or family names."

Aragaki Shun sounded a little disappointed.

If Class C had anyone with a background like theirs, Aragaki Shun could understand the school's arrangements. It would simply mean splitting the privileged kids up so each could occupy their own territory, and no one could use their status to pressure the others.

But that wasn't the case!

So he could only suspect that Chairman Sakayanagi was secretly favoring his own daughter.

It wasn't as if the three of them had bigger flaws than Sakayanagi Arisu, was it?

22. Why Koenji Was Assigned to Class D

To protect his sickly daughter's physical and mental health, the Board Chairman had specifically placed Sakayanagi Arisu in the best first-year class, Class A.

And because he was worried that the other young people with exceptional backgrounds might not show his daughter any deference, he'd banished Aragaki Shun, Kanzaki Ryuji, and Koenji Rokusuke to other classes.

That was Aragaki Shun's private guess about Chairman Sakayanagi's motives.

It sounded a bit conspiratorial, but he'd never had much faith in the character of people in positions of power.

Besides, he'd heard that a second-year student had a personality and background similar to Koenji Rokusuke's. Her name was Kiryuuin Fuuka, and when she'd enrolled the previous year, she'd been assigned to Class A.

They were in much the same situation, yet one had been placed in Class A and the other in Class D. He couldn't help suspecting that the difference was the Board Chairman's daughter in Class 1-A.

"Koenji, did you offend the Board Chairman? He sent you straight to Class D, while Kanzaki and I at least managed to stay in Class B."

Aragaki Shun watched the blond man, who considered himself stunningly beautiful, with amusement. He really was curious about why Koenji had been assigned to Class D.

An heir to a conglomerate had to have at least a basic level of competence.

Otherwise, even if he were the conglomerate head's only son, he probably wouldn't be recognized as the heir.

After all, a conglomerate was a monopolistic capital group built around a powerful family and brought together through its extended family and close relatives.

And in a powerful family, the head's branch was never the only one. If the head's only son really was useless, they could simply choose a more suitable family member instead.

Even if the entire family had few heirs, they could still choose a suitable, capable executive of an appropriate age from the company's most promising senior managers and bring him into the family as a son-in-law and adopted son.

After all, plenty of companies in Sakurajima believed that it was better to pass an inheritance to an outsider than to a biological son who lacked ability.

Some conglomerate heads had even publicly said that they'd rather have daughters than sons.

With a daughter, they could choose the son they wanted.

"That really isn't a beautiful question."

Koenji Rokusuke was clearly annoyed by Aragaki Shun's teasing, but even so, he didn't ignore the boy's question. Instead, he forced himself to think back.

Although he always did as he pleased in public, he was willing to show a little courtesy when dealing with people on his level.

"I don't think I ever offended the Board Chairman. If nothing unexpected happened, the person who assigned me to Class D was probably the interviewer from back then."

Koenji simply didn't care what the outside world thought, but he could easily tell how other people felt about him.

That interviewer's displeasure had been especially obvious.

"What kind of interviewer could possibly have that much confidence?"

Aragaki Shun's curiosity had only grown stronger.

He'd asked Chie Hoshinomiya before, and she'd told him that Kodo Ikusei Senior High School had never had a Class D student graduate as a member of Class A.

As for the other route—earning Twenty Million Personal Points through individual ability and using them to change classes—that had only ever existed in theory.

In other words, based on past experience, the interviewer must have been certain that Koenji Rokusuke would languish in Class D and never graduate from Class A.

After making an enemy of a conglomerate heir like that, wasn't he afraid Koenji Rokusuke would come after him three years later?

"..."

This time, Koenji didn't respond to Aragaki Shun. He simply gazed at himself in the mirror.

Well, it looked like the interviewer was either a government official sent to Kodo Ikusei as a representative of the higher-ups or a close relative of Chairman Sakayanagi.

Since Koenji Rokusuke didn't want to say, Aragaki Shun couldn't force him. He changed the subject instead.

"Once the council reaches a decision, Kanzaki will speak with Chairman Sakayanagi. Should we ask him to secure some reasonable compensation for you?"

Aragaki Shun gestured toward Kanzaki Ryuji beside them, hinting that his family's company had deep ties with the Sakayanagi Family and that he could speak to Chairman Sakayanagi first about compensation.

Koenji Rokusuke flicked his shoulder-length blond hair. He'd initially meant to refuse, but after thinking it over, he nodded and accepted the suggestion.

It wasn't necessary, but owing a small favor to the adopted son of the Aragaki Family and the heir to Kanzaki Heavy Industries was a reasonable way to build connections.

After all, although the Koenji Conglomerate wielded considerable influence in Sakurajima, it was far from invincible.

There were plenty of conglomerates in this country, with more than a dozen well-known ones.

And when you added in the many political parties, local elites, education-sector cliques, feudal holdovers, representatives of other powerful nations, and so on, the Koenji Conglomerate could hardly claim a secure place at the top of high society.

Of the two boys in front of him, Kanzaki Ryuji was no great concern. In the realm of financial capital, the Koenji Conglomerate was far stronger than Kanzaki Heavy Industries.

But the political influence of the Aragaki Family, which Aragaki Shun represented, was beyond the Koenji Conglomerate's reach.

In that regard, they were even weaker than the Sakayanagi Family, which controlled Kodo Ikusei.

One way or another, if a conglomerate wanted to expand its influence and turn its immense wealth into corresponding power, it had to form an alliance with political forces.

Otherwise, for a government agency with a monopoly on violence, a rich conglomerate was nothing more than a fat lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

It couldn't hurt to build a relationship with the Aragaki heir now.

"Then make sure the Board Chairman knows. The upperclassmen—ladies and gentlemen—may be willing to spend some points to admire my beauty."

After learning the truth about this school, Koenji Rokusuke had lost interest in the so-called class competition.

Partly because experiencing Class D firsthand over the past two days had shown him just how awful it was, putting an end to his idea of leading the class for fun.

But it was also because, before coming to school, he'd posted his information on his family company's website.

That meant all he had to do was make a few promises to the third-years who were about to graduate, and he could easily trade with them for a huge amount of Private Points.

If he wanted, he could gather Twenty Million Personal Points in just a few days and clear the school outright. There was no challenge to it at all.

"Trade cash directly for Private Points and go it alone? Now I'm curious how unusual your Class D really is."

Aragaki Shun understood what Koenji was planning. He just couldn't understand what was so terrible about Class 1-D that Koenji had no interest in it whatsoever.

There was no need to worry about whether the Board Chairman would approve Koenji's plan.

Normally, Kodo Ikusei never lacked privileged students among its incoming classes. This obvious loophole should have been closed long ago; otherwise, surely some student would have changed classes using Twenty Million Personal Points by now.

But in this unusual situation, where the Board Chairman might be showing favoritism and had assigned a conglomerate head's only son to Class D—a class that had never won the competition before—the school's leadership would probably allow Koenji to exploit the loophole.

Surely they wouldn't really leave the Koenji Conglomerate's heir trapped in Class D's quagmire?

23. The Haul of a Million Points

Koenji Rokusuke naturally didn't care about the benefits of graduating from Class A.

After all, most students who graduated from Class A, even with Kodo Ikusei Senior High School's help, would probably end up as highly paid employees under conglomerates and major companies.

Graduating from Class A might mean nothing to him, but not graduating from Class A was even less beautiful.

It wouldn't just tarnish his personal aesthetic; it might also affect how his elders judged him.

After all, it would be embarrassing if the heir to a mighty conglomerate couldn't beat a bunch of ordinary students in a high school competition...

And if something else went wrong and he ended up expelled and shamefully sent home, the situation would be even more explosive.

Power had never been something you naturally possessed just because you sat in a position of authority.

Even emperors of old, who called themselves the Son of Heaven and claimed a divine right to rule, could be sidelined by powerful ministers—or even deposed.

To issue orders, you first needed people who would obey them, and your second- and third-in-command couldn't be deliberately working against you.

So when Aragaki Shun parted ways with Koenji, he hadn't made any further deals with him, but he had at least learned that Koenji was somewhat interested in Class A.

There was no chance of getting Koenji Rokusuke to spend a lot of effort on the class competition, but if he could easily amass a large number of Private Points, he wouldn't mind making a little effort.

There was one final line he wouldn't cross: he refused to be dragged down by the defective products in Class D and expelled. That would become the most humiliating black mark of his life.

But the same was true for Aragaki Shun.

Graduating from Class A wouldn't earn him any extra credit, but failing to graduate from Class A would count against him. And if he got expelled, it would cause a huge stir among the people he knew. Plenty of them wouldn't say anything openly, but they'd certainly have their doubts.

"Is there anything else we need to do now?"

Watching Koenji leave from the restaurant entrance, Kanzaki Ryuji asked Aragaki Shun uncertainly.

Aragaki Shun and Koenji Rokusuke had both called their contacts on the High School Council just now. He was the only one who hadn't done anything.

"If you have something to do, go do it. If not, we should head back to the dorm and rest."

Aragaki Shun spoke casually. "The council needs to discuss this with Chairman Sakayanagi, so it'll take some time. You should speak with the Board Chairman after they reach a decision."

The boy patted Kanzaki on the shoulder. Since there was still some time after dinner, he went to the library to brush up on his knowledge. His Golden Finger required him to understand how more things worked in order to conserve Source Power.

And so the second day of school came to an end.

Starting on the third day of school, the school's usual lax management continued. Teachers never ran over their allotted time, and to students in Classes C and D who didn't know the truth, the place seemed like nothing less than a paradise of their dreams.

It looked as if, apart from the Behavioral Standards Exam, the school wouldn't have any other special activities during the first month.

So Aragaki Shun didn't make any more waves for the time being. After leaving class discipline in the hands of Kanzaki Ryuji and Ichinose Honami, the boy's school life gradually settled into a routine.

Every day began with an early-morning run, followed by a full day of behaving himself in class. Once school let out at three in the afternoon, he'd grab a few available classmates to bulk up his numbers, then head to the club building to challenge each of the clubs.

The baseball club, soccer club, tennis club, judo club, Archery Club... If a club was suited to competitive wagers, and its upperclassmen had already earned a reputation, the boy wouldn't mind going over to test their mettle.

As Aragaki Shun challenged more clubs and won every time, the clubs he visited later began to hear about him: Class 1-B had a cocky first-year student who was genuinely skilled, and there was a very good chance anyone who challenged him would lose in their specialty.

But even though they'd heard this from classmates they knew, there were always students who refused to believe it. They felt they had to teach the arrogant underclassman a lesson. Otherwise, if they didn't dare accept a challenge when someone came to their club, their seniors' authority would be reduced to nothing.

The result was obvious. The upperclassmen weren't especially strong, but they'd built up a decent amount of Private Points over the past year or two.

In particular, there was one confident blond guy who wanted to stand up for his underclassmen. On the track, he had wagered a whopping Three Million Personal Points, hoping to win back in one go all the points he'd lost to the second-year upperclassmen.