Classroom of the Elite, Keima Katsuragi's Love Brain Battle

"Otherwise, why do you think the school equipped us with terminals and computers capable of connecting to the internet? If they truly wanted complete isolation, they could have just used an intranet system. The fact is, we can access a portion of external websites—'they' are permitted by the school."

Suzune Horikita fell silent.

She truly hadn't considered this question.

Upon enrollment, she had simply accepted the "closed management" setting as a matter of course, without ever deeply contemplating where the boundaries of the rules lay.

Suzune Horikita also had to admit, once again, the capability of Keima Katsuragi's mind.

"You are really good at exploiting loopholes in the rules."

"Don't you think..."

Keima Katsuragi suddenly leaned in a little closer, lowering his voice, "There are too many loopholes in our school's rules? Or perhaps, these loopholes were intentionally set for us to exploit?"

His gaze landed on the surveillance camera in the corner of the classroom, those small black hemispheres rotating silently.

"What?"

"It's just like a game. Some things look like bugs, but in reality, they are mechanics. Only by utilizing them can one better clear the game."

After saying this, Keima Katsuragi sat back up straight and turned his attention back to the terminal.

On the screen, the walkthrough page posted last night had refreshed with several new comments:

[User Anonymous] Such an amazing walkthrough! I spent three days trying to trigger that hidden ending in Chapter 7 and couldn't find it. Turns out you have to go to the library three times on a rainy day... I'm bowing down!

[User Walking in the Rain] All the emotional value changes are listed?! Is this something a human can actually do?!

[User Passerby A] Someone is making full walkthroughs for this obscure game? The author must be a god! Tipped 500 points, please accept my kowtow!

Keima Katsuragi nodded with satisfaction, then opened the article he had just finished editing and pressed the publish button.

The title of the new walkthrough appeared on the forum homepage, and almost instantly, the view count began to jump—10, 50, 100...

The follower count of his newly created account was also rising at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In his original world, Keima Katsuragi was a presence revered like a god in the galgame circle.

Although he had to start from scratch in this world, Keima Katsuragi possessed the confidence to forge the same legend.

The only pity was that although the school had internet access, the sites he could visit were quite limited. Keima Katsuragi hadn't found a website dedicated to gaming, so he could only choose to publish his articles on the most commonly used social media, covering various sections like beauty, food, travel, and news.

Keima Katsuragi was curious about who the bloggers with the most followers on this social media were, so he clicked into the blogger ranking list, which was sorted by a combination of follower count and popularity.

"How come there isn't a single blogger in the gaming section on the leaderboard? It seems the God of Conquest needs to step in."

The corners of Keima Katsuragi's mouth curled up slightly, and at this moment, he noticed a blogger's profile picture.

Username: Shizuku.

The follower count was quite staggering.

Keima Katsuragi clicked in, and what met his eyes was a series of photos of a beautiful girl.

Keima Katsuragi wasn't particularly interested in real-world beauties, but at this moment, his brows twitched slightly.

Because those photos were incredibly familiar—they were almost identical to one of the 'character illustrations' on the cards Elsie had given him.

Airi Sakura.

This person, is it Airi Sakura?!

Keima Katsuragi carefully looked at the update date of the other party's latest post; it was the day before they started school, and there hadn't been any updates in the last two days.

Connecting this to the fact that Airi Sakura said she had a hobby of taking photos...

It matches, everything matches!

Airi Sakura, is she actually an internet model?

And one with quite high popularity...

However, whether it was the card illustration or the online photos, there was a significant difference from the usual Airi Sakura.

As expected, she is also the type of girl with a contrast between her inner and outer self.

Forget it, whatever. The most important thing is to play games first.

Keima Katsuragi then picked up his game console again, returning to his daily form.

Just then, a heavy sound of footsteps echoed at the door.

A tall man walked into the classroom.

"My name is Tomoya Mashima. I am the homeroom teacher for Class A, and also your English teacher."

A deep, resonant voice rang out in the classroom.

Volume One: Chapter 20: I Want to Purchase the Right to Play on My Phone During Class

Regarding the appearance of the Class A homeroom teacher, the students didn't feel surprised; after all, it was a very normal phenomenon for the same teacher to be responsible for courses in different classes.

"This teacher looks so strict..."

"This physique, is he a wrestler?"

"He doesn't seem like the type who's easy to talk to."

A few students whispered among themselves.

Tomoya Mashima's gaze, however, bypassed the other students in the classroom and locked firmly onto Keima Katsuragi.

From start to finish, Keima Katsuragi never once lifted his head to look at him.

Tomoya Mashima had previously heard that Class D had a very peculiar student who possessed academic ability that even students in Class A could only look up to, yet he harbored an almost pathological obsession with games.

This must be the guy.

Tomoya Mashima didn't say anything, simply beginning the day's lesson.

His task was merely to teach; Class D was not Tomoya Mashima's class, so he would not interfere with the students in this room.

As the lesson progressed, the students below the podium gradually became somewhat "indulgent."

At first, it was just tentatively closing their eyes to rest, whispering to each other, or secretly playing on their phones, but upon realizing that this teacher wouldn't police classroom discipline, they became increasingly blatant, with some even placing their phones directly on their desks to play.

Tomoya Mashima naturally saw all of this, but he only shook his head slightly.

He considered himself a conscientious and responsible teacher; if this were his own class, Tomoya Mashima would never allow such things to happen.

But this was not his class, and to them, Tomoya Mashima was just an ordinary instructor; he would not overly interfere with the students' choices.

Furthermore, the S-System, which influenced the acquisition of points within the school, was something no teacher would ever proactively mention.

Every move a student made would affect the class's overall points, thereby dictating the acquisition of personal points.

The school did not deliberately hide this, but they wouldn't volunteer the information either, all to see if the students could discover the rules of this school on their own.

To make them understand that in this school, ability is supreme.

It seems the students of this year's Class D are the same.

Tomoya Mashima muttered to himself in his heart.

The class designations A, B, C, and D were, in reality, the school's initial evaluation of incoming students, and the students in Class D were those with the lowest comprehensive quality.

He himself had once been a student at this school, a contemporary of Sae Chabashira and the others, and the gap between Class D and Class A back then had not been this massive.

But today, that gap was constantly widening; since becoming a teacher, he had seen many Class Ds eventually spiral into decadence.

The current Class D was no different, and one could even say it was the worst among all the previous iterations of Class D.

They haven't realized anything regarding the S-System, while in our Class A, there is already a student who has gradually grasped the general idea in just a few days. It's a pity; there are clearly good seeds in this class, but since all students are in the same environment and subject to the same rules, with fairness as the premise, it is expected that there will be discrepancies in growth.

Tomoya Mashima's gaze locked onto Keima Katsuragi.

A+ academic ability, judgment, and intelligence—this was extremely rare in the entire history of the school since its founding.

Perhaps he had serious flaws in other areas, which was why he was assigned to Class D. As the saying goes, one takes on the attributes of those one associates with; if he were in Class A, perhaps he would have walked a different path.

However, even a teacher did not have the authority to transfer a student.

Only by spending 20 million points could one transfer classes.

The students of Class D could never achieve that.

A vicious cycle.

"Answer this question."

Tomoya Mashima walked up to Keima Katsuragi and tapped lightly on the desk.

Suzune Horikita, sitting beside him, turned her head slightly to look at Keima Katsuragi.

The teacher had walked directly up to him this time; perhaps he would restrain himself a little.

Keima Katsuragi did not stand up, remaining fully focused on playing his game, yet the answer came directly from his mouth.

Tomoya Mashima's eyebrows twitched slightly.

His attention had been on Keima Katsuragi the whole time; the other party had clearly been playing a game the entire time, yet the answer provided was correct.

Tomoya Mashima became somewhat curious and posed an even more difficult question.

Yet, Keima Katsuragi still provided the correct answer.

"Teacher, are there any other questions? Please wait until I save my game..."

Keima Katsuragi's gaze remained fixed on the screen as he said this to Tomoya Mashima, seemingly feeling that the other party was bothering him.

Tomoya Mashima sighed slightly; he was indeed a good seed, but that was all there was to it.

"Although you do indeed possess great talent, I hope you will seriously consider your choices."

Tomoya Mashima could only offer advice to this extent.

"Mashima-sensei, the choice you're referring to—is it the fact that I'm playing games during class? If so, I have no regrets, because for me, the game world is the most important thing."

Keima Katsuragi's expression did not change, but his tone was very firm.

Tomoya Mashima looked at the boy in front of him; he truly did not realize the severity of the situation. What playing games in class affected was not just—

"If you are referring to the fact that this behavior might affect the points we receive later, then I also have a question I would like to ask you, Teacher."

"What is it?"

Tomoya Mashima was stunned for a moment; he even thought he had misheard.

The boy in front of him had actually stated the rules of the S-System so nonchalantly?

He glanced around, but most of the students in Class D were completely immersed in their own worlds, and not many had even noticed the content of Keima Katsuragi's recent conversation.

Tomoya Mashima shifted his attention back to Keima Katsuragi and swallowed hard, his confusion regarding this student growing even deeper.

If he knew the rules, why would he still do something that would negatively affect himself?

"Go ahead and ask."

Tomoya Mashima was curious about what kind of question Keima Katsuragi would pose.

"Chabashira-sensei said that in this school, one can buy anything with points. So, may I ask if I can use points to purchase the right to play games during class?"

Keima Katsuragi put down his handheld console and looked at Tomoya Mashima.

Tomoya Mashima narrowed his eyes slightly, looking back at the boy in front of him with a gaze of intense seriousness behind his glasses.

Meanwhile, Suzune Horikita, who had been listening to their conversation, wore an expression of utter shock on her face.

What on earth is this guy talking about?

Volume One: Chapter Twenty-One: Yosuke Hirata's Shock

In all the years Tomoya Mashima had been teaching, he had never encountered a student who asked such a question.

To clearly know the school's rules and yet still make such a choice?

He was actually willing to spend points just to play games in class?

However, Tomoya Mashima did not hesitate for long; after a brief moment of thought, he spoke:

"Twenty thousand points a month."

"It seems that a student's behavior really does affect the acquisition of points. However, twenty thousand points is far too expensive. We don't just have English class; there's math, physics, chemistry... If every subject required the same amount of points, even if we maintained an income of one hundred thousand points a month, it wouldn't be nearly enough."

Keima Katsuragi said, and Tomoya Mashima's words had already indirectly confirmed that his hypothesis was not wrong.