Classroom of the Elite, I Can Add Points Infinitely Chapter 20

Of course, this is only natural.

However, Aragaki Shun felt that this alone revealed the reason why she was assigned to Class D.

What did she mean by, "How could I possibly be assigned to Class D with this bunch of people?"

Her emotional intelligence was far too low; didn't she see that the others in the class were looking at her as if they were about to breathe fire?

"Does Horikita-san feel that she is so strong that she should have been assigned to Class A?" Before Horikita Suzune could respond, Aragaki Shun continued, "Let's assume that's the case, but the school has already issued one thousand class points to all four classes. Everyone is starting from the same baseline."

"Furthermore, since Advanced Nurturing High School encourages competition, the strength of the four classes should, to some extent, be evenly matched. Whether or not that strength can actually be utilized, however, is another matter."

"School has been in session for a week now. We in Class B have already uncovered various hidden information about the school. May I ask what this Horikita-san has done during this past week?"

With just this single question, Horikita Suzune was rendered completely speechless.

What had she done this week?

She listened attentively in class and spent a great deal of time reading after school... In any other school, this would be the template for an excellent student that teachers love most. But at Advanced Nurturing, being an excellent student in the normal sense seemed far from enough.

She wanted to say that she had noticed various oddities about the school on the very first day, but she had indeed done nothing. She had simply viewed them as the unique characteristics that set Advanced Nurturing apart from other schools, and after paying a little attention, she had gone back to immersing herself in her own world, indifferent to everything else.

"It seems Horikita-san has nothing to say either. Then, allow me to offer a friendly hint."

Aragaki Shun thought for a moment and still felt that this group in Class D was far too unreliable. Even if they were given a test, they might end up with a zero-point score by next month, so he decided to boost their morale.

"In the eyes of the school, the four classes A, B, C, and D are meant to compete with one another. Therefore, it is impossible for them to have placed all the best students in Class A and all the trash in Class D. A competition with such a lopsided gap from the very beginning would be meaningless."

"You can look into the current state of the second-year students. Through a year of competition, the rankings of Class A and Class B have already been swapped. By next month, perhaps a similar change will occur here among the first-years."

"Class rankings are never set in stone. Theoretically, the school should have assigned some 'seed' players to each class to lead them forward. Unfortunately, I haven't seen such candidates in Class D. Instead, it has fallen to an outsider like me to shatter your illusions."

Aragaki Shun said this with a hint of regret.

Although he had omitted some premises, he could guarantee that none of these words were false. At the very least, the strength of Koenji Rokusuke was definitely among the best in the entire grade; it was just that this group in Class D had no way to make him take things seriously.

Aside from Koenji Rokusuke, if Kushida Kikyo and Hirata Yosuke didn't implode, they could serve as decent combat power regardless of which class they were in.

As for the others, it was hard to say. After all, he had only been observing for a day, and he didn't have the ability to uncover the bottom line of everyone in Class D.

However, upon hearing this explanation from Aragaki Shun, everyone in Class D breathed a sigh of relief. Many of those who thought highly of themselves even wore smug expressions of "so that's how it is."

They probably all assumed they were the seed players the school had intentionally assigned.

The most obvious example was the cold, long-haired girl in front of him.

After hearing about the "seed players," she confirmed her own status without a shred of doubt. Immediately, she took the stance of a leader of Class D and launched a question at the person she viewed as her greatest rival:

"Since only one class can be the final victor, Class B and Class D are rivals, aren't they? I don't believe you would tell us the school's hidden information simply for five thousand personal points per person per month. Wouldn't it be in the best interest of Class B to let Class D continue to lose points and widen the gap between our two classes?"

No matter how much she regretted her previous inaction, Horikita Suzune had to admit that in this transaction, Class D was the one benefiting.

If she really let that group in her class run wild for a month, let alone a mere five thousand personal points, it wouldn't be impossible for all one hundred thousand personal points to be wiped out by next month.

But precisely because of that, Aragaki Shun had actually given up this opportunity to eliminate a competitor and had handed over such precious information for a mere twenty thousand personal points a month. Was he an idiot?

This thought flashed through her mind for only a moment before Horikita Suzune erased it.

No matter how arrogant she was, she wasn't foolish enough to truly believe that Aragaki Shun, who could collect so much important information, was an idiot.

Therefore, there must be a conspiracy!

"Why help Class D?"

Aragaki Shun curled his lip. Naturally, he couldn't say that he was worried that if this group hit zero points, they would drag all the other classes down with them, so he casually offered an excuse that sounded quite reasonable.

"It's just a simple case of 'befriending the distant and attacking the near.' Our direct rivals in Class B are Class A and Class C. If you in Class D were to be finished off in the first month, we would have to fight a two-front war."

"Besides, you've already lost enough points this week. Giving you some support now allows you to continue attracting the attention of Class C, and you can earn some personal points to recoup the 'information fee.' It's killing several birds with one stone."

Aragaki Shun spoke too dismissively, and anyone could hear the contempt in his voice—he didn't consider Class D a rival at all.

But the facts were there. Even the self-important Horikita Suzune could only accept this explanation. In the end, she could only grit her teeth and glare at the calm and composed Aragaki Shun, throwing out a harsh parting shot: "Once we defeat Class C, you'll regret this!"

"Whatever makes you happy." Having casually brushed off Horikita Suzune, Aragaki Shun ignored her increasingly icy expression. Instead, to everyone's surprise, he turned his gaze toward the trio of idiots in Class D.

"Yamauchi-kun and Ike-kun, your talents have amazed me. How about we make a deal? I'll give you one hundred thousand personal points each."

"Huh?!!" XN.

The vast majority of Class D let out sounds of shock at this moment; Aragaki Shun's statement was simply too abstract.

Even Yamauchi Haruki and Ike Kanji looked left and right, and after confirming that he was indeed talking to them, they both wore smug, triumphant expressions.

"Hahaha~ Finally, someone can see the talent of this genius?"

"Another one hundred thousand personal points coming in! The latest game console, here I come."

Aragaki Shun revealed a meaningful smile.

Sometimes, even trash has its uses, provided it is placed in the right spot.

41. Better to overestimate the intelligence of a fool

"Hahaha~"

After walking out of Class D, Chie Hoshinomiya finally couldn't hold it in anymore, clutching her chest and laughing hysterically.

"Little Aragaki, you're too vicious. To think you'd actually have those two clowns from Class D go and stir up trouble in Class A and Class C."

She had been teaching at Kodo Ikusei Senior High School for several years, but she had to admit that students like Yamauchi Haruki and Ike Kanji were, even among all the Class D students she had seen in previous years, absolutely top-tier oddities.

It was truly Sae Chabashira's good fortune to have the privilege of teaching such students!

She could perfectly imagine how spectacular the expressions on the faces of the Class A and Class C homeroom teachers would be tomorrow when they discovered that each of their classes had gained such a "crouching tiger, hidden dragon" of a student.

Meanwhile, Aragaki Shun was looking at the new notifications appearing on his system panel, unhurriedly.

[Achievement Completed: Disclosed school rules to first-year Class D in advance, Source Power +2.]

[Achievement Completed: Transferred one student each to first-year Class A and Class C, Source Power +2.]

[Source Power: 10→14 (Current efficiency: 3→4 units per month)]

The Source Power within this group of Class D students seemed a bit too abundant; if there were opportunities in the future, he could afford to mess with them a bit more.

Source Power was meant to be spent once earned, so Aragaki Shun didn't hesitate to invest 4 units into [Erudition]—

[Erudition lv.3 (1/4)→Erudition lv.4 (1/5)]

Feeling his brain gradually becoming more agile, Aragaki Shun silently savored the pleasure of growing stronger step by step. If there weren't other people around, he would have wanted to strike a pose of pure ecstasy right then and there.

A level 4 skill had already reached the ceiling of what a normal person could achieve after a lifetime of hard work, yet for him, it was just a few clicks of investment. Truly, cheating was the way to go.

Just then, Aragaki Shun felt his cheek being touched and turned his head in confusion.

He saw Chie Hoshinomiya poking his cheek with her index finger, making a cute, pouting expression. "Little Aragaki is really not cute at all. With a lively and lovely beauty like your teacher by your side, you can actually space out so easily. Are you thinking about some other prettier little girlfriend?"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! How could there be a girl in Kodo Ikusei cuter and prettier than me!"

Aragaki Shun ignored his homeroom teacher's self-indulgent remarks and took out his phone to open his student interface. He had already used two of the nine transfer tickets, and the 200,000 private points he had just collected from Class D were spent on the spot.

Although private points meant little to him compared to Source Power, he had to admit that with limited income sources, spending money like water was indeed a bit troublesome.

Ever since he transmigrated, he didn't know how long it had been since he last worried about money; he just hoped this investment would be worth it.

He just wondered how the leaders of Class A and Class C would view the surprise he had gifted them.

"Lit-tle! A-ra-ga-ki~"

Chie Hoshinomiya's voice had become as mournful as a female ghost. She grabbed Aragaki Shun's arm, half her face seemingly submerged in shadow, as if she were a completely different person.

"Teacher is happy that little Aragaki can help squeeze Class D, but is asking for only five thousand private points per person per month a bit too little? Couldn't you have asked for more?"

This was something Chie Hoshinomiya had wanted to say when she witnessed the contract on behalf of the school, but unfortunately, the school forbade homeroom teachers from directly interfering in the competition between students, and Aragaki Shun had ignored her eye signals.

Now that there was no one else around, this teacher, who held a grudge against the Class D homeroom teacher, couldn't help but demand an explanation from her student.

But the only response Chie Hoshinomiya received was Aragaki Shun's look of "are you an idiot?"

"Do you think that with the caliber of those people in Class D, they have the resolve to cough up more private points in exchange for rules that might not even be useful?"

Even with the school's contract as a guarantee, Aragaki Shun didn't believe those slackers in Class D could weigh the pros and cons. In this world, there were plenty of people who wouldn't shed tears until they saw the coffin.

If the cost really exceeded the psychological expectations of most in Class D, these people would definitely be better at playing dead than anyone else.

As for what to do if there were no private points coming in next month? Well, next month hadn't arrived yet!

Five thousand private points per person per month was the limit Aragaki Shun had estimated the contract could reach, pushed by the likes of Kushida Kikyo, Hirata Yosuke, and the few ambitious students in Class D.

Even with the cost being this low, he hadn't been sure at the start that the other side would agree 100%.

He didn't dwell on it; having lived two lives, he had long understood that even family members might not understand each other, let alone trying to consider the thought processes of a bunch of oddballs specifically recruited by the school.

To be honest, he even suspected that if Class D really fell into the hell of zero points, would this group of people even be able to consider a zero-point strategy?

But he wouldn't gamble on that possibility!

Not to mention whether there were hidden experts in Class D, the point was that as long as there was one person in the first year or even the upper years who had such an idea, they could use a zero-point Class D to create a whole mess of trouble.

To give the simplest example, Class A only needed to spend some private points to instruct some Class D students to appear on the path to school for Class B students, delaying their arrival to class under the guise of asking for help with studies, eventually causing everyone to be late.

Whether the school would patch this was uncertain, but even if they could, they would only step in to modify the rules after confirming that the other three classes had suffered a massive drop in points and had no countermeasures.

Otherwise, if the school didn't even care about Nagumo Miyabi leading other classes to openly fleece the exams, why would they care about this alternative means of competition?

At the end of the day, this school was a simulation of society, and zero-point strategies were not rare in society. If you pushed your opponent to the brink and had no countermeasures, wasn't it only natural to be counter-killed?

"...Little Aragaki, you're thinking about this too comprehensively."

Chie Hoshinomiya looked at the student in front of her with a subtle expression. The other party was clearly just a young man who had just started high school, so why did he feel more "worldly" than her, an actual adult?

"I would rather overestimate the intelligence of an idiot and waste some effort than treat everyone as an idiot!"

Aragaki Shun was indifferent to Chie Hoshinomiya's gaze. "You can think I'm projecting my own nature onto others, but regardless, if I discover a hidden danger, I will eliminate it immediately. I won't leave any loopholes for my enemies!"

It was the same when he restricted the Chairman last time, and it was the same now that he was propping up Class D.

He would never gamble his victory on the stupidity of his opponents!

42. The Absurd Situation in Class C

"Little Aragaki..."

Chie Hoshinomiya wanted to say more but stopped, finally commenting, "Teacher feels like you might have some obsessive-compulsive tendencies."

"I don't object to that, but so what?"

Aragaki Shun remained unmoved by his teacher's jab.

His grueling life as a salaryman in his previous life had taught him that he wasn't the type of genius who could adapt to any environment on the fly.

Therefore, even after gaining the ability to cheat in this life, he still preferred to plug every loophole so that everyone would have to clash head-on with their true strength.

Perhaps there were people in this world smarter than him, and weaving schemes and conspiracies wasn't his forte, but he possessed the absolute confidence that he wouldn't lose to anyone in a direct confrontation.

If worse came to worst, he could just pull out the Source Power he had kept in reserve for emergencies!

"Alright, little Aragaki, you have your own rhythm. As long as you can keep Class D under your thumb, I'll naturally go along with whatever you want."

Chie Hoshinomiya acted cute as always, gazing at Aragaki Shun with a beaming smile, as if he were the only person in her eyes.

Even though the boy felt she was quite fake, he had to admit that her face was still quite pleasant to look at.

"If possible, I would prefer it if you spent more energy on the students in our class."

"Instead of just fixating on suppressing Class D, don't you think it would be more interesting to snatch away the Class A spot that Sae Chabashira wants so badly? That would surely make her show a much more amusing expression."

Aragaki Shun remained noncommittal regarding the grudge between Chie Hoshinomiya and Sae Chabashira; as long as she fulfilled her basic duties as a homeroom teacher, that was enough for him. Suppressing Class D was just a convenient byproduct of class competition anyway.

A glint flashed in Chie Hoshinomiya's eyes. Occupying the Class A position before Sae Chabashira?

That would be truly fascinating; she couldn't wait to see that scene unfold!

When that time came, she would be able to tease Sae Chabashira properly from her position as the homeroom teacher of Class A.

"Oh my, no problem at all. Whatever little Aragaki says, I'll do. Just make sure you don't disappoint me."

Seeing that Chie Hoshinomiya's focus had been so easily redirected, Aragaki Shun nodded inwardly. He now had a rough idea of how to handle his class's homeroom teacher.

Regardless, as the homeroom teacher of Class B, it was truly absurd for her to keep staring at Class D, which was ranked at the very bottom, to the point of ignoring the desire of the students in Class B to reach Class A.

In Aragaki Shun's eyes, the ideal situation was for a group of flawed individuals like those in Class D to maintain a high class score, while the personal points each of them received every month remained at a modest level of ten or twenty thousand.

As for the rest, it would naturally be used to thank him for his support of Class D.

Reducing their score to zero served no purpose for Aragaki Shun.

But letting them earn too many personal points every month was equally useless.