Classroom of the Elite, Starting with a Zero, Knowing the Plot I Just Lie Flat!

Chapter 8: Did I Just Randomly Farm Someone's Favorability?

Bang!

The desk went flying.

"W-what are you doing!" Yamauchi jumped in shock, as the desk had nearly crushed him when it toppled over.

"I'm just teaching you a lesson," Nakano said, his expression blank. "Don't you feel like trash, gossiping about girls so casually and even lying just to satisfy your own ego?"

"What the hell!" Yamauchi looked deeply dissatisfied, and at that moment, he noticed the entire class looking over, including Sakura, the very girl he had been lying about.

Whether out of shame or anger, Yamauchi's face flushed red.

"Why are you defending her so much? Do you like her?" Yamauchi retorted, refusing to back down.

"So what if I do?" Nakano Yuu didn't care.

Yamauchi just grumbled and cursed under his breath.

Oh, oh, oh.

Unexpectedly, the girls in the class turned their gazes toward Nakano; his favorability rating with them had probably just gone up by 10 points.

The fact that the boys were ranking the girls by their looks and discussing their breast sizes was something they found repulsive. So, regardless of whether Nakano actually liked Sakura, the fact that he could stop—or even oppose—such behavior made them feel like they had found a breath of fresh air in this trashy class.

After all, even the popular Hirata hadn't stepped in to stop it.

"What are you all doing!" Just then, their homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae, walked in with a stony expression.

She then caught sight of the chaotic classroom.

"Nothing at all."

Noticing the woman had arrived and that her gaze was fixed on him, Nakano Yuu quickly sat back in his seat.

However, the girl sitting next to him took the initiative to speak to him.

It was Horikita Suzune. Even though she had been as cold as ice earlier, refusing to even glance at him when he first arrived in the classroom.

"I'm surprised you'd be so impulsive." Horikita was taken aback by his reaction. She didn't believe for a second that Nakano liked Sakura, given that he was someone who loved money above all else.

This was the man who had swindled her out of 80,000 points yesterday; she was very clear on that point.

And yet, for him to do this, it was likely out of a sense of justice.

But could a person who squeezed his own classmates for living expenses really possess a sense of justice? This left Horikita feeling conflicted.

"Sometimes I just act on impulse," Nakano Yuu said.

He then stood up and addressed Chabashira. "Teacher, I'd like to report these guys. They were just ranking the breast sizes of the girls in this class."

Are you a child?

You're reporting something like this to the teacher?

The boys who had participated in the voting felt their scalps go numb.

Chabashira's expression darkened instantly.

It seemed that the boys' crude behavior had genuinely angered her.

Nakano knew full well that this would likely result in the class being heavily penalized immediately.

That was why Chabashira's face had turned so black.

It was as if she had completely confirmed that Class D was beyond saving.

So, according to his memory, Chabashira Sae usually allowed students to study on their own during homeroom or didn't even show up to the classroom at all—why had she taken the initiative to come in today?

It wasn't even her History class next.

In the end, thanks to Nakano's snitching, the boys involved were forced to stand for the entire morning study session.

Although he might have earned the resentment of these trashy classmates, Nakano felt it was worth it.

First of all, stopping Yamauchi was partly out of a sense of justice, but on the other hand, he did have some ulterior motives.

For instance.

Sakura being put in a difficult position by Yamauchi was one thing, but more importantly, having watched the anime, Nakano knew very well that Sakura was only playing the part of a wallflower. She was actually quite cute—she wouldn't even pale in comparison to the school beauty of Class B, Ichinose Honami.

As a normal high school boy, it would be strange if he didn't have some thoughts.

At the very least, Nakano was certain that he was perfectly normal this morning.

Besides, being a high schooler, even if you aren't dating, isn't it a nice part of school life to spend time with pretty girls?

He also felt a bit of sympathy for her.

Nakano remembered that in the original story, Sakura was expelled by the protagonist, which was truly tragic. She was such a well-behaved girl who hadn't done anything to wrong the class, and she had trusted the protagonist so much, only to be discarded the moment someone needed to be expelled.

How cruel.

Nakano didn't agree with that approach, and fortunately, since Ayanokouji hadn't enrolled yet, Sakura wouldn't have to face such a miserable fate.

Now then, did I manage to farm some favorability?

Chabashira left after leaving us to stand in the hallway with a dark expression, and Nakano suddenly turned toward Horikita.

?

Horikita Suzune looked over.

No, not at you.

Nakano noticed Sakura Airi sitting to Horikita's right. She was holding her book upright, and her gaze was directed toward his direction. It seemed their eyes had suddenly met, and Airi lowered her head in a panic.

But Nakano had only looked over by chance, which meant she had probably been looking this way for a long time.

Oh.

Hey.

Come to think of it, I might have farmed too much favorability.

And so, Nakano realized that for the entire homeroom period, Sakura had been staring at him.

"Nakano-kun."

As the homeroom period ended and a short break began, Nakano Yuu was stopped by someone—the popular boy in class, Hirata Yousuke.

He had short, light green hair and a handsome face; his personality, physical ability, and academic performance were all top-tier.

He had always acted as a mediator for the students in class, and some even called him "Mama Hirata."

"Nakano-kun, you have a very strong sense of justice," Hirata said. "I really like that about you. Regarding Yamauchi and the others, I will go and coordinate with them. Don't worry, I won't let them cause you any trouble."

"..."

No, no, no. In truth, he really wasn't afraid of trouble from the likes of Yamauchi.

As for the favorability of boys, he didn't want to collect any.

Perhaps due to Hirata's mediation, for the next two days, the boys from the ranking list indeed did not come to provoke Nakano Yuu.

And Nakano was happy to enjoy the peace and quiet.

He took out his phone, which already had Horikita Manabu added as a contact.

Once he had added him, Nakano immediately used the GPS function, checking the other's location several times. He was either in the third-year school building or the Student Council office.

It was clear that the number Chabashira gave was indeed genuine.

And the "sucker" Nakano had specifically contacted, Ryuuen, had indeed made some moves.

When he arrived at the classroom in the morning, he heard the girls in his class discussing the problems the students in Class A were facing.

It seemed that someone had been sending them spam messages during class, and they had been receiving harassing phone calls since the afternoon before yesterday.

During the same class period, several students' phones rang simultaneously, creating a very unpleasant atmosphere.

Then, during the break, they were followed by some students from Class C. Although the Class C students didn't do anything to them, being followed constantly left them physically and mentally exhausted.

And yesterday afternoon, a student from Class A finally couldn't take it anymore and lashed out at Ryuuen from Class C.

Once a fight broke out, there was no way it would end peacefully.

By the end of the first month, I'm afraid the class evaluation points remaining for Class A will be lower than in the original story.

It seems that even in the excellent Class A, there are still some "hidden dragons and crouching tigers."

Thinking this, I mused.

"It ends tomorrow, doesn't it?" As school let out this afternoon, the black-haired girl sitting next to me suddenly spoke up.

Nakano understood that she meant that tomorrow, the Behavioral Norms Exam for the first month of school would end, and the school would inform all the freshmen of the true nature of this institution.

And Nakano's "expiring news" would soon become "expired news," turning into common knowledge known to everyone.

"I suppose so," Nakano Yuu said. "In the history class that ended this morning, Chabashira-sensei's attitude seemed even more perfunctory."

"...Yeah." Horikita Suzune nodded.

Horikita's feeling was that Chabashira-sensei seemed to have completely given up.

And this "giving up" was likely because she had lost all hope for the class.

She knew the specific reason; if everything was truly as Nakano Yuu had said, then tomorrow, the class evaluation points would drop from the initial 1000 to 0.

This was something that surely had never happened in the history of this school.

As the homeroom teacher of such a class, there would be no glory to be found.

"I'm looking forward to tomorrow," Nakano Yuu said.

He was looking forward to the Student Council President reaching out to him once the common knowledge was made public tomorrow.

After all, his living expenses were sufficient, but still not nearly enough.

And so.

"How about we go shopping together tomorrow night?" Nakano invited Horikita Suzune.

"Shopping?" Horikita frowned slightly.

"You know that I'm saving up my living expenses, and when I go shopping, I end up carrying quite a few bags myself. Sometimes, I really wish there was someone there to help me carry them."

In other words, he's lacking someone to carry bags, so he needs a helper?

"Of course, I will pay for the service," Nakano Yuu said.

So, it's not that he needs a favor, but that he wants to hire someone?

Horikita was just about to say that she wouldn't accept charity, but then she remembered that if the class evaluation points announced tomorrow really turned out to be zero, she wouldn't have any living expenses for next month, or even the month after that.

Although the school provided humanitarian aid, there were still some things that had to be bought with points.

And the less than 2,000 points she had in her possession certainly wouldn't be enough to last.

"Understood," Horikita Suzune said, her tone stiff.

Nakano didn't mind her attitude, because what he wanted wasn't her attitude, but the fact that she would be acting alongside him tomorrow night.

Thinking this.

Nakano Yuu suddenly looked in Horikita Suzune's direction as if he had remembered something, but Horikita's expression remained unchanged.

Because she had probably realized that when Nakano Yuu looked over, he wasn't looking at her, but at Sakura Airi, who sat next to her.

Although it was after school, Sakura hadn't left yet; she had opened a book and was reading it. It looked like she was reading, but if one looked closely, they would notice her ears twitching slightly, as if she were eavesdropping.

Of course, the reason she thought that was because the book was upside down, so it was clear that her heart wasn't in the reading at all.

Good grief, was she listening to his conversation with Horikita?

And perhaps realizing that the two of them had stopped talking, Sakura looked over instinctively, and when she noticed Nakano's gaze sweeping toward her, her body instantly stiffened.