Classroom of the Mediocre Supremacist

Of course, he didn't train every afternoon without fail. Occasionally, Shiina Hiyori would drag him to the library to read.

Come evening, Kushida Kikyo would show up every few days to vent her stress—ever since Hoshino En had detonated that [flirtation] group in class, the pressure on her had inexplicably skyrocketed. She pinned all the blame on Hoshino En, and each time she cursed him, the frequency and duration grew considerably longer. Truly unreasonable.

But since he'd agreed to help her, Hoshino En wasn't about to turn her away. Besides, listening to her point out his less-than-ideal behavior toward girls was something he actually appreciated.

After Kushida Kikyo left, he'd still drag Ayanokoji Kiyotaka from next door—[Yiweiqin]—into a chat, then pull him along for a late-night snack.

Thanks to this, the cost of his midnight ingredients had been fully handed over to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

Sure, he still had to switch up the dishes, but overall, he was freeloading—and freeloading always tasted the best.

Beyond the daily variety, his morning exercise routine never skipped a beat. Every day, he'd cross paths with Horikita-senpai, who also trained in the morning, and occasionally bump into Karuizawa Kei, who'd inexplicably started morning workouts too.

Wait, not occasionally—ever since the first time he'd run into Karuizawa Kei on the field, he'd met her in the elevator every single day.

Seriously, where did this girl get his wake-up time?

Sure, his schedule was regular, healthy, and easy to figure out, but it was private. Aside from the people he met during morning exercise, not many should know!

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, [Yiweiqin's Good Son] from next door: "En, no need to thank me. It's the least I could do."

And Karuizawa Kei—maybe she'd been triggered by what happened that day. Even though she'd chosen to [coincidentally] run into him, she hadn't said a single word to Hoshino En on her own.

As long as no one familiar was around, she'd stare straight at him with her sparkling purple eyes, like she was observing some cute little animal.

Hoshino En: "..."

Sis, what's your deal?

"Is there something you need?"

Finally, one day in mid-April, he couldn't hold back and spoke to her first.

"Hoshino-kun, I love you."

And she just confessed, right there in the elevator with only the two of them.

"I told you, I don't believe it. Besides, once you get used to hearing that kind of thing, the person being confessed to doesn't feel any surprise or excitement. The effect loses its punch."

"Also, do you even know what love is? It's not the same as [like], which is just built on [good feelings]."

"Of course I know, and I'm very sure of my feelings. I've already prepared to support you for the rest of your life if you fail in the future."

"And thanks for the advice. I'll keep it in mind."

With that, she didn't change her posture at all. Her beautiful golden high ponytail bobbed behind her head, and her eyes sparkled as she gazed at Hoshino En.

Hoshino En: "..."

What's the difference from before?

"So what exactly do you want? It can't be just to ambush me every day over some trivial nonsense?"

Hearing this, Karuizawa Kei looked surprised.

"So that's what you wanted to ask!"

What else did you think I was asking?

Looking at her expression, Hoshino En couldn't help but grumble internally.

"Actually, I mainly wanted to see you. You know, we barely interact in class—I don't even have a proper excuse to get close to you."

"As for the secondary reason... I want to learn [Fighting]. Can you teach me?"

Fighting? Was this girl finally going to become a real delinquent?

"I'm not going to bully my classmates! I just suddenly realized: some people don't like it when I reason with them, so I need to make them [willingly] listen to reason."

Hey now, did this kid have mind-reading powers?

But since she brought it up, that meant—

"You ran into the real gyaru from Class C?"

"Not me. I'm not the type to cause you trouble."

Karuizawa Kei waved her hand.

"It's Sato. Sato Maya—the girl I hang out with a lot. She's a real gyaru. A few days ago, she got into a conflict with the gyaru group from Class C while queuing up."

"We all sided with Sato at the time, but it turns out she unknowingly cut in front of some Class C girls. So I'm worried they might try to get back at her later."

He wanted to quip about what she meant by [causing him trouble], but since she'd explained it so clearly, Hoshino En understood.

"So you want to learn [Fighting] from me to help your [friend] and stop them from pulling something shady on her?"

"No, no, I'm not that generous—if Sato and the others don't come asking me for help, I won't step in."

"What I'm worried about is them coming after me privately. I look like the group's leader, so they might target me directly."

"So, help me out, Hoshino-kun!"

As she spoke, she stepped closer to him, took his right hand in both of hers, pressed it against her chest, and tilted her face up from below. Her sparkling eyes locked onto his, her moist eyelids giving him a very familiar feeling.

Where did this girl learn that move?

"You don't actually think doing this will make me help you, do you?"

"Huh? But every time I see Class C's Shiina look at you with those eyes, you happily agree to her requests!"

Hoshino En: "..."

How the hell did this girl, who spends all her time with her [Empress] clique, even know about that?

"And Kushida—whenever she grabs a guy's arm like this, they all happily agree to whatever she asks."

"Is it because mine aren't big enough that you're not moved?"

"But if you want to do something more extreme, we'd need to go somewhere more private. There are cameras here..."

"Stop!"

Before she could say anything even more outrageous, Hoshino En cut her off and pulled his hand back.

"I'm not one of those guys blinded by beauty. I won't give up my interests over something like that."

"If you want my help, then besides this, what else can you bring me?"

That question stumped her. She fell into thought.

Just then, the elevator reached the first floor. Hoshino En stepped out without sparing Karuizawa Kei another glance.

But she quickly caught up.

"You want my help without giving anything in return. What else do you have to say?"

Without waiting for her answer, Hoshino En countered.

"I'm not trying to get something for nothing—especially not from you."

She quickened her pace to walk beside him.

"I was just thinking: the only things I can offer are my body and my looks, and you don't seem to lack anything else."

"But you don't want my looks, so that's a real headache."

"Or... do you want Private Points?"

With that, she pulled out her phone and showed him the screen. It clearly displayed a balance of over 70,000 Private Points.

"If you want them, I'll transfer them to you right now."

And just like that, she transferred the entire 70,000+ Private Points to him.

Feeling his phone vibrate, Hoshino En was stunned.

He pulled out his phone and saw the transfer message on the screen.

[Your account received 74,682 ppt on April XX, 20XX]

Not a single point left!!

Was everything she said before actually true?

"Can you teach me now?"

She looked up at him with sparkling violet eyes, full of anticipation.

Hoshino En: "..."

He transferred her 70,000+ Private Points back, and on top of that, added another 360,000.

The transfer notification popped up on Karuizawa Kei's still-visible phone screen.

[Your account received 434,682 ppt on April XX, 20XX]

"360,000 buys you out. For the next three years, you work for me. No matter how unreasonable the request, you can't refuse. Agree, and I'll teach you how to [Fight]."

"Huh?"

Karuizawa Kei was a little surprised. She'd thought she'd have to pay a monthly tribute to get Hoshino En's help—since that was the only thing she could offer him. But she never expected him to turn around and give her 360,000.

"Is that all it takes? You didn't even have to spend points. If you'd just ordered me, I'd have done it anyway."

"But then I couldn't trust you. Without any benefit, what reason do I have to believe you?"

"Who says there's no benefit! Being able to help you—that's my [benefit]."

Hoshino En fell silent.

He sprinted onto the track and started warming up, showing no sign of answering her further.

He still couldn't understand her way of thinking.

Someone willing to give without any return—he didn't believe her motives were that simple.

Seeing him run off, Karuizawa Kei didn't chase him. Instead, she kept her own pace for Morning Exercise. Her goal for [Morning Exercise] wasn't just to see Hoshino En.

Still, her gaze followed his figure.

After Morning Exercise ended, they walked back toward the dormitory. Only then did Hoshino En speak: "I still don't get it. But if you agree, come to my room at 7 tonight."

"Got it!"

Karuizawa Kei answered excitedly.

Then she added one more thing.

"But regarding your request, I have one thing to say—that is, 'you absolutely must not compromise my chastity.' Of course, if it's you, that's a different story, but you must never use my chastity as a bargaining chip."

Her deliberate emphasis left Hoshino En speechless.

"I might play dirty tricks outside the rules, but I'm not low enough to use tactics like that."

He wouldn't resort to methods he despised; doing so would disgust him before he even took down his opponent.

"Good!"

Karuizawa Kei bounced along beside him, parting ways with him in the elevator.

After that, Hoshino En's last sliver of free time was occupied: from 7 to 10 p.m., he would systematically teach Karuizawa Kei how to "fight" at the shopping mall's gym.

Fortunately, she genuinely wanted to learn some techniques for self-defense rather than using this as an excuse to get close to him, which gave the busy boy a rare moment of relief.

First Semester of First Year:

Chapter 34: The First Meeting of the Silver Fairy and the Silver-Haired Witch

The days flowed on without a ripple, and soon it was April 30th.

This day was not only the last day of April but also the day Hoshino En's bet with Sakayanagi Arisu was set to begin.

Yet Hoshino En felt that Class D had already given up the struggle; no one seemed to care about the possible Behavioral Norms Exam anymore—since even the teachers weren't enforcing it, aside from a few students, everyone else was doing their own thing during and between classes.

Did they really think their rule-breaking was inconspicuous?

They'd definitely have zero points next month.

Thinking this, Hoshino En, having received a message from Shiina Hiyori earlier, finished the day's lessons—though the sudden pop quizzes felt strange, he could ponder them later since he was meeting Sakayanagi Arisu today—then spent two hours sweating at the Swimming Club before heading to the library, where he read books with her, soft and pure white.

Though he'd initially gone along with her to avoid trouble, reading with a natural, untainted airhead gave Hoshino En a sense of being "purified" that he'd never experienced before.

Indeed, even someone like him, who saw through human nature and didn't believe in humanity, a filthy thing from the gutter, still craved the feeling of being enveloped in pure white light.

"Hoshino-kun, do you think I'm a troublesome person?"

Just as they were reading, Shiina Hiyori suddenly asked a strange question out of nowhere.