Classroom of the Elite, Starting with a Zero, I'm Just Going to Lay Flat Since I Know the Plot

Katsuragi and Arisu Sakayanagi from Class A happened to be passing by.

Watching the backs of Nakano Yuu and Horikita as they walked away, Katsuragi suddenly spoke up.

"That is Nakano Yuu from Class D," Katsuragi Kohei said to the silver-haired girl beside him.

Sakayanagi had a weak heart, so she walked very slowly, but Katsuragi waited for her like a gentleman.

Upon seeing Nakano Yuu, Katsuragi's gaze immediately sharpened. He felt conflicted about the fact that the boy had sold him the student council secretary position, but he still decided it was necessary to warn Sakayanagi.

"The students in Class D took an academic test this morning, and that boy named Nakano Yuu scored over 95 in every subject. The black-haired girl beside him, Horikita Suzune, also scored 90 in every subject," Katsuragi said.

Although they were students of Class A, a month had passed, and Katsuragi's faction had basically taken shape, with the students in his class already beginning to take action.

Some had proactively approached Class D students and obtained some information.

For instance, Class D had actually tested that morning and published their scores in their class group chat.

Since Katsuragi's secretary position had been bought from Nakano Yuu of Class D, and Nakano had obtained it from the president, it meant the boy had earned the president's approval. Therefore, even if he didn't care about Class D, Katsuragi felt it was necessary to keep an eye on him.

As it turned out, once he paid attention, he discovered that the boy's academic ability was surprisingly high—a level that would be considered top-tier even in Class A.

"Never mind. I'll be going now."

But Arisu Sakayanagi picked up her cane, looking completely uninterested.

"But I wanted to say—" Katsuragi started to press the issue, then shook his head.

Forget it.

Katsuragi had wanted to warn Sakayanagi that she must be careful of that guy, but if Sakayanagi wasn't interested, there was no point in trying to persuade her.

Still, Nakano Yuu was quite good-looking, so why did he have such a lack of presence?

Katsuragi wondered to himself.

On the other side, Nakano didn't delay. After returning from the shopping district with Horikita, he went straight to the dorms.

However, it wasn't his dorm, but Horikita's.

This was the first time Nakano had entered a girl's room since enrolling. The layout was the same as his: a twenty-square-meter studio apartment with one room and a living area.

It had to be said that Horikita was quite good at managing her life. Although she didn't spend much money, stepping inside gave one a sense of... warmth.

It was as if the room was proof that its owner was a woman who knew how to live well.

The downside was that she hadn't considered the possibility of guests at all, so there weren't even any guest slippers. But since it was the first time, Nakano decided to forgive her.

"You mean you want me to fill in all the answers?" The owner, who was good at managing her life, was currently wearing a completely stiff expression.

"After all, the people who need this paper must be those with poor academic skills. If you don't give them the answers, how are they supposed to fill it out? It won't sell that way," Nakano Yuu said.

As he spoke, he was checking the past exam papers for the second-year students that he had purchased as an extra from a senior student.

This midterm exam was the same for both second-years and first-years: a written test. The second-years had assumed they would be tested on old questions, so they had been prepared, and he had managed to acquire them at a low price from the senior for an extra 20,000 points.

However, the senior had likely pooled money with her class to buy them from the upperclassmen and then mass-distributed them to all the students, so she was just making some extra pocket money now.

Uh.

Horikita Suzune had nothing to say.

Actually, one could still get a decent score by taking this test directly, but because of the advanced material, no one's score would be very high.

It would also increase the risk of failing.

However, 70% of the content on the paper aligned with the curriculum, so as long as one studied hard, they could pass this exam.

But it would be basically impossible to get much of a reward in class evaluation points.

Horikita felt like she was getting to the core of this exam.

"Even if I fill in the answers, I'll probably need some time for the parts that go beyond the curriculum—"

The subjects for this midterm were math, physics, chemistry, biology, and English—a total of five subjects. Horikita studied for over 10 hours a day, and her academic ability wasn't bad, so she could quickly fill in that 70%.

But she couldn't do the parts that went beyond the curriculum.

After all, they hadn't been taught that yet.

"Just do what you can, and leave the rest blank," Nakano Yuu said. "I'll fill in the rest myself later."

"..." Horikita.

Hearing him say that, Horikita felt slightly relieved, but then she suddenly noticed something strange.

"If you say that, does it mean you can do all the questions?"

"Then why make me do most of the work?" Horikita Suzune asked.

"Because I'm lazy, of course," Nakano Yuu said. "I learned from the senior that only their second-year group and ours are having written exams this time; the third-years aren't."

"So the value of this paper has suddenly dropped. It's not worth me putting in the extra effort," Nakano Yuu said.

That sounded perfectly logical, and Horikita Suzune found she couldn't refute it.

However.

"So, the second-year students' cheat sheet plan was also obtained from their upperclassmen."

"But that's not the case for the third-years, which means they are the most senior students in this school. They have no upperclassmen to get the papers from, unless they made preparations back when they were in the lower grades," Horikita Suzune speculated.

"Not quite," Nakano Yuu said, holding the back of the only chair in Horikita's room as he turned to face her. "It's because the third-years are already in their final year and about to graduate, so they no longer fall into these 'welfare' cycles."

"The first-years are tested this way because the school wants them to grasp the rules of this institution and learn to be flexible rather than rigid."

"As for the second-years, this setup allows them to experience the benefits. Once they know how the exams work, they can pass this round smoothly."

"If only the first-years were tested this way and not the second-years, the second-years might not be willing to sell the papers to the first-years. After all, someone would surely think, 'I had to struggle through it, why should you get to take a shortcut?'"

"So, it's a coordinated arrangement."

"As for why the third-years don't do this, it's simple: they've already enjoyed these benefits in the past. Since they are facing graduation, what they need is for their final year to be a true trial by fire."

"That's why the third-years will proceed to their own special exams," Nakano Yuu explained.

"I still find this school incredibly complicated," Horikita sighed softly.

If she hadn't gone with Nakano to buy the papers and gather information from the upperclassmen, her plan for dealing with this exam would likely have just been to study harder than usual.

And as for obtaining point rewards as a class, she probably wouldn't have been much help there either.

"So, once you fill in all the answers on the paper, you'll distribute them to the students in the class, right?" Horikita asked.

"Not at all," Nakano replied, looking at her. "To be precise, why would you think that?"

"Do you know why we bought these papers in the first place?"

"They're for sale. Do you think the students in Class D have that kind of money?" Nakano Yuu said. "I'm afraid they couldn't even scrape together the cost price of the papers."

Uh.

Horikita was, of course, well aware of the financial situation of her classmates.

And she wasn't exactly a saint.

Or rather, if she had been colder from the start and walked away when Nakano Yuu first approached her, she could have kept her 80,000 points.

But even if these papers were meant to be sold for profit...

"Then who do you intend to sell them to?" Horikita asked.

"To the right people, of course." Nakano Yuu finally revealed his first smile of the day.

PS: Brothers, this is so frustrating. I don't like writing short chapters; I hadn't even written anything and it was already 2,000 words. I prefer writing long chapters.

PS: There's another chapter coming later. Two more tomorrow morning.

Chapter 029: Meeting Sakayanagi Arisu! The Offensive from the Ex-Girlfriend! Part 2!

Since his transmigration, Nakano had sold things five times in total, and one of his victims was right here: Horikita Suzune.

He had taken 80,000 points from her.

Then he got 300,000 points from Ryuuen, followed by 1.5 million from Horikita's brother (with 1 million from Katsuragi still outstanding), and finally, he obtained an IOU for 500,000 points from Kamuro.

You could say he had built up a certain clientele.

And when doing business, it's natural to look for people you've worked with before.

For now, Nakano's primary target was naturally an old customer.

However, Horikita was already a collaborator, so he wouldn't be "fleecing" her for the time being.

As for Horikita Manabu, there was no need to push him further for now; after all, his main event was the forest camping trip from the original story, so it was better to let him be for now.

The paper in his hand was slightly disappointing, as 70% of it was already covered in the syllabus, which wasn't very necessary for the high-achieving students in Class A.

Looking at it this way, the most suitable candidate was definitely Ryuuen from the underperforming Class C.

The current evaluation scores for the four first-year classes were as follows:

Class A: 836 points Class B: 710 points Class C: 503 points Class D: 0 points

Class D was a lost cause, but the students in Class C were receiving 50,000 points per person in living expenses. If one wanted to live luxuriously in this school, 50,000 points could just about cover food and expenses, while 30,000 was enough to maintain a normal life.

Therefore.

Ryuuen must have already collected the "protection money" from his classmates for this month.

If he only collected 10,000 points per person, Ryuuen would have 400,000 points in his hands. If he were more ruthless and took 20,000 points per person, he would have 780,000 points. With his own 50,000, that would be 830,000 points. Even if he kept 30,000 for his own meals, he would still have 800,000 points.

It was only the 2nd of the new month, so he likely hadn't spent those points yet.

Just as he was thinking this.

"Beep! 500,000 private points have been deposited into your account. Sender: Katsuragi Kohei GCH1035013. Current balance: 1,329,980 private points."

Just as Nakano picked up his phone, a notification popped up.

It was a message confirming that the money had been received.

The sender of the transfer was Katsuragi Kohei.

There was also a note attached.

Note: Repaying 500,000 points of the 1 million I owe you; the remainder will be paid in full next month.

It was surprising that a single student could transfer 500,000 points at once, but this was likely the sum of points Katsuragi had gathered from students who trusted and acknowledged him.

In other words, while Ryuen Kakeru of Class C collected protection money, Class A also pooled their students' points—though they didn't call it protection money, but rather a tribute to a big shot in hopes of being carried to success.

How nice that must be.

However, such a thing would be difficult to achieve in Class D, as nobody there had any points to begin with.

How could you collect anything when there is no money?

Therefore, it was better to silently harvest points from the other classes.

Thus, in the second month after enrollment, the first big sucker Nakano Yuu chose as his target was Ryuen Kakeru of Class 1-C.

Yet, rather than meeting with Ryuen, Nakano Yuu encountered someone unexpected.

It was the third day after receiving the test papers.

Nakano came to the cafeteria alone, but unlike his previous lunches, which were always 2,200 or 2,600 point luxury sets, Nakano was being exceptionally frugal today; in other words, he didn't spend a single point on lunch today.

He had opted for the free wild vegetable set.

The wild vegetable set was exactly as the students of Class D had complained: it had no salt, and not even a drop of oil.

Nakano's current balance was 1.292 million points, making him a truly wealthy individual.

So, why was he eating a free meal now?

Was this something he was doing on purpose?

Of course, he was doing it on purpose.