The second day of school.
After classes.
Once he had confirmed that 100,000 points had been deposited into his account, Kujo went alone to make a deal with Sakagami Kazuma, the teacher of Class C.
The details of the deal were as follows:
At the start of every month, Kujo Makoto would pay Sakagami 80,000 points. In exchange, Kujo wanted to be excused from almost all regular classes, while still sitting exams.
In short, he would regularly pay a hefty sum of points for the privilege of skipping class.
It was a special request no student had ever made since Advanced Nurturing High School was founded.
Sakagami agreed after imposing three strict conditions:
First, Kujo Makoto had to earn Class C at least 300 Class Points within the next year.
Second, while other students were in class, Kujo Makoto could not disrupt the school's regular lessons, nor do anything that might interfere with their studies.
Third, Kujo Makoto could not turn off his phone's location services without permission, and had to ensure that his phone was reachable around the clock.
If Kujo violated even one of these conditions, it would count as a unilateral breach of contract. The agreement would automatically terminate, and the points already paid would not be refunded.
Sakagami also stressed that, under the contract they had signed, he, as the teacher, had the final say in interpreting its terms.
Kujo had no objections.
He simply didn't want to waste time in class.
Rather than go through another tedious student life, Kujo would rather spend more of his free time training his body.
At this school, where might made right, physical strength was the most important asset.
As for Sakagami, he seemed to think rather highly of Kujo.
Though Kujo was an odd student, Sakagami had already decided he was someone special.
The school had no shortage of talented students from influential families. Sakagami had always believed that as long as students made full use of their strengths, it was acceptable for them to bend the rules.
That was his teaching philosophy.
Next, Sakagami introduced Kujo to some of the noteworthy first-years who had enrolled that year.
Each class had a few second- or third-generation heirs from different families.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, the male protagonist of the original story in Kujo's memories from his previous life, was one such student.
However, Sakagami didn't mention Ayanokoji's name among those he introduced.
But Kujo had read the original story in his previous life and knew Ayanokoji was a monster.
He had also confirmed that Ayanokoji was indeed in Class D this year.
In Kujo's view, if Ayanokoji sensed the threat of expulsion, he would inevitably resort to large-scale sabotage in order to survive at this school.
In other words,
without the threat of expulsion hanging over him, Ayanokoji was just someone who wanted to be an ordinary student.
Class C.
After parting ways with Sakagami, Kujo headed straight for the classroom.
Before this, he had already made a deal with one of his classmates, paying him to wait there.
"Eighty thousand points to skip class, and ten thousand to make me wait for you in this dump of a classroom? You're something else."
The person Kujo had made the deal with was Ryuen Kakeru, the leader of Class C in the original story.
If Kujo had to sum it up, the first-year students at Advanced Nurturing High School that year were basically taking part in one huge game of Werewolf.
Under outside pressure, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka of Class D was forced to contribute to his class from behind the scenes.
Meanwhile, Ryuen, standing before him, kept squeezing the other classes' room to maneuver, eventually forcing Ayanokoji to reveal the true self he was trying to hide.
Looking at the entirety of Classroom of the Elite, aside from Horikita Suzune, perhaps only the rebellious Ryuen before him could pique Ayanokoji's interest.
The delinquent sitting with his legs crossed in front of Kujo was a wolfdog that nobody had managed to tame yet.
When his provocation failed to get a reaction, Ryuen turned up the heat.
"Couldn't wait to come pay your respects on the second day of school? Or did you want to spar with me? If you can beat me, maybe I'll give your ten thousand points back."
In Ryuen's eyes, Kujo was just as dangerous as Albert, another student in his class.
He was around six feet tall, with well-defined muscles in his arms. He had clearly trained hard.
Ryuen silently assessed him. If they actually fought, Ryuen wasn't confident he could beat Kujo easily.
What Ryuen didn't know was that Kujo had no interest whatsoever in taking over as Class C's leader.
"Maybe next time. I have something more important to tell you right now."
Kujo then laid out everything about the school's Class Points, the rules for changing classes, and the Special Exams.
He also gave Ryuen information about several teachers and upperclassmen at the school.
Whenever he got to an important detail, he picked up a piece of chalk and marked it on the blackboard.
At first, Ryuen thought Kujo's behavior was ridiculous.
But as he listened, his expression began to change.
By the time Kujo had finished sharing all the information he deemed safe to reveal, the classroom had fallen completely silent.
While they waited.
Kujo picked a seat and sat down, then idly fiddled with the decorations and books on the desk.
All the while, Ryuen kept his eyes fixed on Kujo, trying to find a flaw in his behavior.
But he couldn't find anything.
Kujo's expression remained as gloomy as ever.
He still seemed completely indifferent to everything.
Kujo was exactly the sort of person Ryuen was worst at dealing with.
After a while,
when Kujo even started building with blocks, Ryuen could no longer hold back his irritation.
He asked Kujo:
"What do you want, anyway? To graduate from Class A?"
Ryuen figured Kujo had told him all this either to get points out of him or to form a short-term alliance and make a run for Class A together.
But if Kujo cared about points, he wouldn't have spent ten thousand just to meet with him.
So Ryuen was more inclined to think Kujo wanted an alliance.
But that wasn't it.
Kujo hadn't told Ryuen all this because he wanted his help.
He was certain that once Ryuen learned the truth, he would take the initiative and go after the other classes.
And once Ryuen started attacking the other classes, everyone would see him as a major threat.
With Ryuen drawing so much attention, Kujo wouldn't have to worry about accidentally making enemies of other classes while carrying out his own plans.
At this school, temporary wins and losses didn't matter.
Once they left, everything would be reshuffled.
The gains and losses at this school were of little consequence.
What Kujo needed was goodwill, because it was more valuable than cold, hard points.
After all, whether it was the later expulsion-vote exam or the chaos that would erupt when outside forces arrived and threw the school into turmoil, Kujo didn't want to be one of the unlucky ones caught in the middle.
He was just an ordinary student in Class C. He really couldn't afford to offend the young masters and princesses from all sides.
To get what he wanted, Kujo provoked Ryuen:
"I've given you the information. Do what you want with it. I'm just curious: now that you know what this school is really like, are you only going to threaten your classmates with violence to make them attend class, then mug students from other classes after school?"
As far as Kujo was concerned, either of Ryuen's choices would work in his favor: he could play it safe and hold on to more Class Points, or he could take the initiative and attack the other classes.
If Ryuen played it safe and kept more than 800 Class Points, Kujo would be able to pay Sakagami 80,000 points each month and keep his deal to skip class.
If Ryuen chose to attack the other classes, Kujo would immediately team up with whichever class got targeted and use the opportunity to get more personal points.
No matter what Ryuen chose to do next, Kujo would hold the initiative.
Ryuen could tell Kujo was trying to use him as a scapegoat, so he fired back with a taunt.
"So you told me all this because you want me to be your scapegoat, while you hide behind me like a coward?"
Kujo sighed at that.
In his eyes, Ryuen hadn't even fully consolidated control of his class yet. He clearly wasn't ready to compete with Ayanokoji.
Never mind living up to Kujo's expectations.
So Kujo offered him some advice:
"Here's a piece of advice. If you really want to make trouble for a class, make Class B your first target. This year, Class D is the most dangerous class in the entire school."
Advice? Who did he think he was?
Heh.
Faced with Kujo suddenly putting on a lecturing air, Ryuen sneered.
"You haven't even been with a woman yet, have you? Got your eye on some girl in Class D?"
Kujo didn't bother responding. He turned and left the classroom.
He had never intended to get along with Ryuen in the first place.
Now that he had tested him, Kujo saw no reason to stay in the classroom, much less pay Ryuen any more attention.
In truth, Ryuen didn't completely believe what Kujo had told him.
But he had a way to test whether the information was true.
He would spread all those ridiculous claims around.
If they were rumors, the school would naturally step in to deny them.
But if the information was something the school wanted to keep secret, the administration would stop him from spreading any more.
Ryuen even planned to mix in some misleading information to test the first-years.
Kujo Makoto. What an interesting guy.
The next three years didn't look like they'd be boring.
Ryuen looked forward to it.
The next day.
Hundreds of anonymous posts mysteriously appeared on the student social platform on the school's intranet.
[Only students who graduate from Class A can benefit from the school's employment-placement program]
[If even one student in a class drops out, that class can't move up to Class A]
[Each class at this school has a fixed number of Class Points. Classes A, B, C, and D are ranked according to their Class Points]
Before you continue