The Classroom of the Supremacy of the Mediocre's Strength Chapter 4

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's flat, emotionless voice deftly dodged Horikita Suzune's verbal assault.

Hoshino En: "..." Had he stumbled into some kind of love battlefield? Better just quietly go buy some snacks.

Pat— Just as Hoshino En tried to slip away, a hand grabbed his wrist. He turned around and found himself locking eyes with Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who had seized him.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka: "..." Help me, friend. From his expressionless face, Hoshino En read that message loud and clear.

Hoshino En: "..." "I memorized the seating chart. Her name's Horikita Suzune. That's all I know." "I'm hungry. Let me go buy food, Kiyotaka."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka: ...!! So calling by first name is the way to go... I see. That's what friends do. But recalling how the other guy had been just as invisible in the classroom earlier, Ayanokoji figured he might be just as socially inept as himself. He shelved the idea of using him for now. He let go of Hoshino En's wrist, pulled a bread roll from his own bag, and placed it in Hoshino En's hand. "This is thanks, En."

Hoshino En: ...Tch. Didn't expect him to call me by name right back. That sounds weird as hell. Still, a free bread roll was a fair trade.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka went off to befriend Horikita Suzune, while Hoshino En started eating right at the convenience store entrance. Even though a single bread roll wouldn't fill him up and was dry as hell, he planned to finish it outside before going in to buy more stuff—just to avoid being mistaken for a shoplifter by the clerk. Yeah, that was the plan, anyway.

"Don't you look down on me!" Suddenly, a sharp voice pierced through the convenience store's glass door, nearly making Hoshino En—who was leaning against it while eating his bread—choke. Thankfully, a convenience store clerk promptly handed him a bottle of mineral water, and he managed to recover. "Cough, cough... Thanks. How much for the water? I'll scan and pay you." "No need, no need. The water's free. But more importantly, outside—" The clerk gestured toward the door, clearly itching to go out and watch the drama, but stuck behind the counter, forced to observe through the glass. Hoshino En was curious about the "free mineral water" news, but he was even more interested in the commotion outside. So, he joined Ayanokoji Kiyotaka—who had just finished shopping with Horikita Suzune—at the store entrance to watch the show.

The one being provoked by upperclassmen outside was Sudo Ken. He was the guy who'd been woken up and pissed off during Hirata Yosuke's self-introduction, leaving a bad impression on the class. He was also Hoshino En's left-hand desk mate. "He seems to be in our class. Shouldn't we go out and check?" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka offered a well-meaning suggestion. "Getting involved with him would lower my standards." / "He's clearly riled up right now. If we barge out, we'll get caught in the crossfire." Horikita Suzune and Hoshino En voiced their equally selfish opinions at the same time. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka: "..." So he stayed put too, peeking from the store entrance.

"We'll let you off today. Bullying you pathetic 'defectives' any more would just be too pitiful." The argument outside seemed to be winding down. Three upperclassmen were already preparing to leave. "You planning to run away with your tails between your legs?!" Sudo Ken was furious, teetering on the edge of throwing a punch, but he held himself back from charging. Otherwise, with his build, taking on three slightly chubby high schoolers would be a piece of cake. "Bark all you want. You'll see hell soon enough." The three upperclassmen dropped that line and quickly walked away. Mocked and fuming, Sudo Ken knew he couldn't just start a fight, so he took his anger out on a trash can by the roadside. "What the hell, you bastards!" He kicked the can over beside the convenience store, then left on his own.

Watching from the sidelines, Hoshino En & Ayanokoji Kiyotaka: "..."

The two of them glanced at Sudo Ken's retreating figure, then simultaneously looked toward the convenience store's surveillance camera, and finally, because of their synchronized actions, turned to look at each other.

Hoshino En & Ayanokoji Kiyotaka: "..."

Though nothing was said, everything seemed to go without words.

Together, they righted the fallen trash can and borrowed cleaning tools from the convenience store clerk to tidy up the mess on the ground.

"I'm going to check out some daily necessities in the convenience store. What about you?"

Having finished the cleanup, Hoshino En looked at Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

"...I'll head back to the dorm."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's reply was very much in line with a member of the Going-Home Club.

"Alright, then... oh, right, let's add each other as friends."

Hoshino En held out his student ID terminal, signaling Ayanokoji Kiyotaka to scan it.

Once friends were added on the school's terminal, they could not only call each other but also chat directly using the school's dedicated social app—very convenient.

"Sure."

Beep—

"Done. See you tomorrow, Kiyotaka."

"See you tomorrow, En."

The two parted ways at the convenience store entrance.

However, Hoshino En, turning back into the convenience store, didn't go buy any so-called daily necessities.

Combining the deliberate provocation and taunting of Sudo Ken by the three upperclassmen earlier, their mention of "hell," the excessive number of surveillance cameras along the way, the fact that first-year class points hadn't been displayed, and...

Hoshino En frowned as he looked at the limited free daily necessities, free ingredients, and free bottled water set out in the convenience store.

Could it be that the first-year freshmen were currently in the middle of an exam?

And not just any exam, but one that only deducted points without any way to add them—a behavioral code exam.

If that were the case, with Sudo Ken's hot temper and the upperclassmen's deliberate provocation, it wasn't impossible for Class 1-D's class points to drop to zero.

Moreover, Chabashira Sae had deliberately encouraged the class to spend, even creating an atmosphere where everyone expected to receive 100,000 points next month.

So when next month came, and everyone received no points while having spent all they had, they'd fall straight into a penniless zero-point life—wasn't that "hell"?

Oh no, oh no, the class's future looked bleak.

And what's more, Hoshino En felt that even if he brought this up, his classmates wouldn't rein in their tempers or be careful, because it was all just his personal speculation with no evidence.

Although Chabashira Sae had said, "Points can buy anything," given how she'd deliberately set the class up to lose points, buying information from her would definitely be a trap, and the price would surely be something one person couldn't afford.

But asking the whole class to pool their points to confirm a piece of information that might not even be accurate? They'd absolutely refuse.

So, getting the class to cooperate in preserving class points and personal points was a dead end.

That left Hoshino En with only one thing he could do.

First Year, First Semester:

Chapter 5: Senpai, Can We Bet Points?

Hoshino En arrived at the Special Building.

This was where various clubs had their assigned rooms, and also where the student council was located.

What was even more surprising was that there weren't many surveillance cameras here, with plenty of invisible blind spots.

If one wanted to pull some underhanded tricks, this seemed like the perfect place.

No, no, he wasn't here today to resort to shady methods.

Having accidentally slipped into his old way of thinking, Hoshino En quickly snapped back to reality.

Today, he was purely here to earn points.

Since the plan to boost class points together seemed unworkable, he'd decided to go solo.

"Excuse me, sorry to intrude."

Walking up to the door of a club room, Hoshino En knocked, then pushed it open.

The sign on the doorframe read in bold characters: "Chess Club."

"I haven't seen you before. Are you a first-year this year?"

Inside the club, an upperclassman who had just finished a match walked over and looked Hoshino En up and down.

"Club recruitment starts tomorrow, junior. For today, you should probably..."

"I'm not here to apply to join."

The other party had clearly misunderstood Hoshino En's purpose, so he quickly cut in to clarify.

Hearing this, the upperclassman's friendly smile vanished, replaced by a stern expression.

If he wasn't here to join, then he must be here with ill intent.

"I came here to ask, senpai—can we bet points?"

Hoshino En pulled out his student ID terminal and waved it in front of him.

His voice wasn't loud, but in the Chess Club room, where only the sound of pieces moving broke the silence, it rang out clearly.

For a moment, all the senior members who were in the middle of their games looked over, sizing up this naive underclassman.

The Chess Club senior: "..."

"Sure, of course. But freshmen only have 100,000 points in their first month, right? Don't you want to be a little more careful with your spending?"

The senior knew about the exams the first-years were currently going through. Perhaps trying to discourage the junior's [bad habit], he spoke in a tone close to intimidation.

"We start at a minimum of 50,000 points here, and there's no refunds for taking back moves. Are you really sure?"

"Of course. But senpai, as my senior, you can't bet less than me, right?"

Hoshino En asked the senior in a tone that was almost mocking.

"I'll bet 95,000 first. So, can we start?"

He opened his phone, which displayed the 100,000 points he hadn't spent yet.

The Chess Club senior: "..."

"Come on."

He had Hoshino En sit in the spot where he'd just finished his own game and set up the pieces. Then the opponent suddenly asked, "Which class are you in as a first-year?"

"Class D."

Hearing his answer, snickers broke out here and there in the Chess Club room.

But the senior across from him didn't let his guard down at all.

"Junior, if you want to back out now, I can pretend this game never happened. You should know—"

"I won't back out."