Class D's Going to Hit Zero After a Month? Then I'll Just Lie Low! / Ayanokoji Kiyotaka Didn't Enroll?

Classroom of the Elite: Starting at 0 Points, I Know the Plot, So I'm Going to Lie Low! Author: Youyouye

Nakano Yuu had transmigrated into a world where ability was everything, becoming a new student at Advanced Nurturing High School.

The good news: he'd watched the anime, he was a rich second-generation heir, and his ex-girlfriend was named Sakayanagi Arisu.

The bad news: he had five older stepsisters, but his father had raised him on a shoestring and insisted he make something of himself in high school!

He'd been placed in Class D, and the first month was already over. The class's evaluation score had dropped to zero!

There were also a ton of deadweight students in his class.

So why bother trying? He'd just lie low!

He already knew the plot. He'd save up 20 million points and make a run for it!

Except...

Sakayanagi Arisu: Oh my, he's at this school too? Then school life should be something to look forward to after all.

Ichinose Honami: Nakano-kun seems to have forgotten about me, but I'll do my best!

Kushida Kikyou: You're saying I'll be forced to press my handprint by someone named Nakano Yuu? And he'll get me expelled? Impossible! That's absolutely impossible!

Amasawa Ichika: It's true, Kushida-senpai. You'd better accept your fate!

Horikita: How unfair. On the very first day of school, a classmate named Nakano Yuu swindled me out of every last point.

Ryuuen: The guy above, take that back and let me speak. Nakano Yuu, give me back my thirty million! Thirty million!

Chapter 1: Class D's Going to Hit Zero After a Month? Then I'll Just Lie Low!

Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School was famous for its 100% university acceptance rate and 100% employment rate. It was the dream school in every student's eyes.

Not only that, it had no tuition fees. After enrolling, students even received points worth the equivalent of 100,000 yen in cash each month for living expenses. Upon graduation, they could choose to enter the university of their choice for free without taking an exam, or go straight into the job they wanted. It was practically a dream school.

However, while tuition was waived, everything else came with conditions.

The school adopted a system of class competition and shifting class rankings. Only students who graduated as Class A could receive all the rewards the school promised.

Even living expenses were allocated by class, based on each class's evaluation score. If a class's evaluation score dropped to zero, the entire class's living expenses would disappear as well.

In other words, this was a school of liars. Its promises sounded alluring, but the reality was cruel: everything followed the principle that ability was everything.

It seemed that only outstanding students were treated well.

Even so, though students learned what the school was really like, none of them were willing to withdraw of their own accord.

After all, compared with ordinary high schools, this school really did have tremendous advantages.

Its teaching staff was first-rate, its facilities were state-of-the-art, and it waived tuition for all three years. Even the accommodations were excellent: every student got a private dorm room, each one measuring twenty square meters. It was an incredibly luxurious arrangement.

At that moment, in one of the new students' dorm rooms, a student suddenly opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was an unfamiliar ceiling.

He was confused for a moment, but the sight seemed oddly familiar, as if he'd seen an unfamiliar ceiling before.

As he lay there dazed, a flood of fragmented memories poured into his mind.

The good news was that he'd transmigrated, becoming an ordinary rich second-generation heir named Nakano Yuu.

His family background was excellent. His family owned a private hospital, and his father, Nakano Maruo, was a highly skilled director. But a year ago, his father had adopted the five orphaned daughters of his mentor, giving Nakano Yuu five stepsisters who were triplets and twins.

Wait a second...

Wasn't he in the world of Classroom of the Elite? Why was there also a story about the Nakano sisters? Though, given their surname, this sort of thing made sense.

Still, Nakano Yuu sensed that something was off. For instance, the memories he'd received stretched from his earliest impressions of childhood right up to the present, and they were vivid and clear. But he had no memories at all from the past year.

He did, however, remember why he'd come to Advanced Nurturing High School.

According to his father, "You're my son. Ichika, Nino, Miku, Yotsuba, and Itsuki might really be idiots who can't even get into university, but this family needs someone to hold it together. I'll grow old eventually, and we'll need the strength of the younger generation. You'll shoulder that responsibility."

Although this father had only adopted the five Nakano sisters the year before, he'd probably known about their situation for a long time and made plans in advance.

Specifically, he'd given his own son an elite education.

Thanks to an education similar to the kind given to elites like Shinomiya Kaguya, Nakano Yuu discovered that his physical fitness, athletic training, and even academic ability were all outstanding, far beyond those of ordinary students.

That was a pleasant surprise.

He'd come to Advanced Nurturing High School simply because it had a good reputation. Graduating from there would look good on his resume.

But that only counted as an impressive resume if he graduated from Class A.

As a transmigrator, Nakano Yuu had watched the anime Classroom of the Elite. He knew perfectly well that this was a school of liars. Only Class A graduates received all the rewards and prestige.

From the memories in his mind, it was easy to tell that he'd been assigned to Class D, but he was still in his first month at school.

As was customary, the school kept everything secret and let the new students find out for themselves. Only in the second month would it tell them the truth.

The first month consisted of the usual Behavioral Norms Exam. Although the classes had been divided according to ability from the start—with elites in Class A, good students in Class B, society's bottom rung in Class C, and the trash in Class D—the school gave every first-year class the same starting evaluation score.

They all began with 1,000 points.

After that, the school held a Special Exam each month, with points added or deducted based on each class's performance.

A class's evaluation score multiplied by 100 determined each student's living expenses.

The class evaluation score was also what determined the class rankings.

In other words, it was incredibly important.

Being assigned to Class D wasn't hopeless. Anyone who'd watched the anime knew it was the protagonist's class, and in volume 22 of the original story, it even succeeded in moving up to Class A. The bottom rung had managed to make a comeback.

So even though he was a Class D student, it was still the first month. As long as he held on to the initial 1,000 points and tried to minimize deductions, his class would be in a better position than it had been in the original story.

With that in mind,

Nakano Yuu picked up the new white-cased phone on his bedside table.

It was a phone provided exclusively to students at this school. They could use it for free, and its Student ID Card contained their living expenses, so it could also be used to pay for things.

He tapped the screen, and it lit up at once.

First, he saw the time: 5:50.

Right, it was morning.

Below it was the date, in smaller text.

Sunday, April 26.

According to the memories of this body, school had started on April 1, and it was now the 26th. He was indeed still in the first month, during the Behavioral Norms Exam period. The rules were simple: students just had to act like well-behaved high schoolers. Those who behaved poorly had points deducted.

But for the students in Class D, even that was difficult. They'd probably already lost a pile of points.

If it had still been the start of the month, or even the middle, there might have been some hope. With his knowledge of the future, he could've warned his classmates about the exam in advance and helped them avoid deductions.

But it was already the end of the month. It seemed like there wasn't much they could do now.

Nakano Yuu could already picture the original outcome: the month would end, and his class's score would drop from 1,000 to zero.

If that happened, there was nothing he could do but let the tallest person take the fall.

In the original story, the protagonist, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, had carried the entire class to victory all by himself. He was a monster.

Today was Sunday, so he didn't have to go to class. Nakano Yuu yawned and prepared to lie back down.

Wait.

Ayanokoji?

Was there anyone in Class D named Ayanokoji? He didn't think so. And his seat in class was right next to Horikita Suzune's.

Back row, by the window—the king's home turf. The protagonist's seat.

No way, man!

Nakano Yuu was suddenly wide awake.

Damn, it seemed that his enrollment had kept the original male protagonist from enrolling! If Ayanokoji hadn't enrolled, how was he supposed to lead the class?

Chapter 2: Ayanokoji Kiyotaka Didn't Enroll?

Sunday, April 26.

It was Sunday, so there were no classes.

But at seven in the morning, Nakano Yuu showed up right on time at the Advanced Nurturing High School cafeteria. For breakfast, he had three pork-and-shiitake shumai, three roasted chestnuts and sweet potatoes, and a bottle of milk.

Looking ahead, he saw plenty of students coming to the cafeteria for food, then carrying their own trays over to the booths.

Once he realized that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, the original protagonist, hadn't enrolled, Nakano Yuu was wide awake.

It was the 26th. If nothing unexpected happened, his class would be just like the one in the original story, with its evaluation score dropping from 1,000 to zero over the course of a month.

The class evaluation score carried through all three years, and everything depended on it. So for the class to hit zero before the school year had even begun was unbelievable. It was hard to tell whether they'd lost all 1,000 points in a month or lost so many that the score had simply bottomed out at zero.

What was a class like that supposed to do? Could it be saved? No chance.

Unless a monster showed up. But if the Ayanokoji monster hadn't enrolled, then what was the point?

Nakano Yuu decided to give up.

Since he knew the plot, he also knew there was another special way to guarantee he could graduate from Class A: collect 20 million points and transfer classes.

As long as he had that amount when he graduated, he could apply to transfer.

At that point, it wouldn't matter which class was Class A. He would still graduate as a Class A student.

It was the safest plan.

However, saving up 20 million points wasn't easy. In the many years since the school had opened, no one had ever managed it.

It was extremely difficult.

But people shouldn't forget that he'd watched the Classroom of the Elite anime. With his knowledge of the plot, he knew a few ways to make money.

For instance, after the Uninhabited Island Exam in the original story, Ryuuen of Class 1-C made a deal with Katsuragi of Class A. As a result, he'd be able to get nearly 30 million points from Class A. So all Nakano Yuu had to do was wait for Ryuuen to pull off that feat, then find a chance to swindle the money from him.

And during the VIP Exam, if the students chose Result 1, the school would have to pay them a total of 80 million points. If he could mediate well—or be ruthless—he could quickly gather the 20 million he needed.

So Nakano Yuu wasn't worried.

The plan was ambitious, but making money took time. And right now, Nakano-kun was nearly out of living expenses.

He pulled out his white-cased phone and opened his Student ID Card information.

[Name: Nakano Yuu

Student Number: ST1045666090

Class: Class 1-D

Gender: Male

Private Account Points: 156.]

The points in a student's private account were the living expenses provided by the school. Every new student received 100,000 points upon enrollment, and one point could be spent like one yen. Nakano-kun had 156 points left.

In other words, if he didn't find somewhere to get more Private Points, he'd be going hungry after this breakfast.

Of course, the school had considered the possibility that students might run out of points.

After all, competition meant that the strong would live better while the weak got poorer. Some students might not have a class evaluation score of zero, but their living expenses would still be inadequate.

Still, the school couldn't exactly let students starve to death.

So it provided humanitarian aid. The cafeteria offered free meals, and the supermarket also provided free daily necessities.

Of course, since they were charity, the free meals weren't good. They were nearly devoid of oil, and they tasted awful—one bite and you'd know they were awful. The free items at the supermarket were either near their expiration date or cheap knockoffs.

And if they went to collect those things, they might have to endure contemptuous looks from the students around them.

The school's message was clear: if they wanted better treatment, they should do well on the monthly Special Exams and raise their class's evaluation score.

But...

That was asking too much of Class D.

If the class started next month with zero points, no one would have any living expenses. To create a competitive atmosphere, the school held a Special Exam every month, and students could earn rewards by doing well. But Nakano-kun didn't have much hope for that plan.