Classroom of the Mediocre Supremacist

Kamuro Masumi: "..."

This damn "toxic couple"—can they stop stepping on me while they're being lovey-dovey? I don't want this weird sense of participation!!!

Watching their almost-zero-distance interaction, Ichinose Honami, who'd been made an example of, instinctively wanted to speak up again, but yesterday's shadow clung to her. In the end, she just opened her mouth and said nothing.

But Shiranami Chihiro, also made an example of, was different.

She first shot Hoshino En a surprised look, then her gaze flickered between him, Sakayanagi Arisu, and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. Finally, she broke into an excited smile, her eyes sparkling with a bling-bling light. The wariness and anger in her look at Hoshino En were completely gone, replaced by gratitude and encouragement.

It seemed she'd developed some kind of strange misunderstanding.

"So—are you getting off the elevator or not?"

Just as Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was lost in thought, Sakayanagi Arisu's head started steaming, and Hoshino En was congratulating himself on once again being the male lead saving the "world," a cold voice barely suppressing anger rang out from the corner of the elevator.

It was Horikita Suzune.

She'd already closed the book she'd been reading and was glaring angrily at the three standing in the middle of the elevator.

"You've finally gotten into this school, and all you do every day is fool around with love and play friend games... What can people like you ever achieve in the future?"

She scolded the three without hesitation, even taking a jab at Kushida Kikyo, who'd been blocking her door every morning for the past month. Then, with a stylish flick of her hair, she pushed past Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and stepped out of the elevator.

Hearing this, Hoshino En and Sakayanagi Arisu exchanged glances, then looked at the still-thinking Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, then at Horikita's retreating back, a little speechless.

They knew their own situation—if they didn't have the capital to "dominate the masses" academically, how could they dare to slack off like this?

She couldn't even figure that out? That girl must be reading herself into a stupor.

"Kiyotaka, are you still going to be friends with her?"

"Huh? What?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka looked up, his clear eyes fully betraying the fact that he'd been spacing out.

"Forget it. What about you, Kushida?"

Hoshino En turned to Kushida Kikyo, who was chatting with Wang Meiyu to distract herself, and asked.

"Of course, I'm not giving up!!"

That's what she said, but Hoshino En could feel the resentment practically overflowing from her.

Looked like he was in for a rough night again.

"Sakayanagi, Kiyotaka, let's... and Kamuro, let's go."

First letting the still-thinking Ayanokoji Kiyotaka out, Hoshino En then helped Sakayanagi Arisu out of the elevator, and finally had Kamuro Masumi follow.

"At least she got one thing right—the elevator entrance really isn't a good place to argue."

First Semester of First Year:

Chapter 52 – 048: The Result of the Bet

As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, Hoshino En and his group ran right into Ryuen Kakeru and Katsuragi Kohei, who were busy eating popcorn.

"Yo~ Starry Eyes, and the A-Class loli, all lovey-dovey first thing in the morning!"

"Sakayanagi, as a student of Class A, you need to mind your image. You can't act so indiscreetly in public."

One sent a "friendly greeting," while the other admonished Sakayanagi Arisu like a stern older brother.

"Morning, A-Sho. But compared to me and Sakayanagi, I think you and Katsuragi make a weirder pair."

Hoshino En patted Ryuen Kakeru's arm with his free hand, then looked him and Katsuragi Kohei up and down.

"You two standing together and not fighting?"

"We almost did, but that loli yelled so loud. Worried it'd cause a bad scene, Katsuragi had the other Class A students clear out the bystanders."

Ryuen Kakeru jerked his chin toward the Class A students forming a human wall.

Luckily, this building was all first-years, and Class A's attitude was fairly cooperative, so no real commotion broke out.

"Greetings, Katsuragi-kun. But I don't think there's anything wrong with my behavior. I am, after all, a blooming young lady in the prime of adolescence."

On the other side, Sakayanagi Arisu gave Katsuragi Kohei a slight nod, but showed no sign of admitting fault.

"You..."

"And Dragon Boy, I wanted to say this yesterday—I'm not a loli. Don't look down on me because of my figure or height!"

Leaving the speechless Katsuragi Kohei behind, she turned to Ryuen Kakeru and retorted.

"But you look exactly like a loli from the outside! Tsk, looks like Starry Eyes' future kids are in for a rough time."

"You..."

This time it was Sakayanagi Arisu's turn to be speechless.

What Dragon Boy said... Should she counter his discrimination? Or praise his good eye?

"Stop! No more fighting."

Before the conflict could escalate further, Hoshino En cut off the argument.

"Katsuragi, and A-Sho, what are you two actually doing here? You can't seriously just be here for the gossip, right?"

When he brought this up, Ryuen Kakeru broke into a grin, while Katsuragi Kohei silently ushered Ichinose Honami and Shiranami Chihiro, who had just stepped off the elevator, over.

Ichinose Honami & Shiranami Chihiro: ...Meow meow meow?

Kushida Kikyo, ever the drama enthusiast, also dragged Wang Meiyu along to eavesdrop from the sidelines.

Wang Meiyu: No way, Kikyo-chan, I don't want to go over there, they're too scary!!!

"Actually, regarding that bet between you and Sakayanagi, I also made a wager with Katsuragi yesterday—whoever loses has to help the other get the answers for this month's exam."

"Katsuragi naturally sided with that little girl, while I bet on you, Starry Eyes."

"Now that all four classes have people here, it's the perfect time to show our cards."

Ryuen Kakeru declared with full confidence, while Katsuragi Kohei wore a grim expression.

It seemed that because of Hoshino En's performance yesterday, they weren't optimistic about Sakayanagi Arisu.

"But you actually trusted my judgment that much? Aren't you afraid I was just tricking you?"

"Even if you're wrong, we don't lose anything."

"...So you're really just here to watch us make fools of ourselves?"

"Enough chatter, are we starting or not?!"

Ryuen Kakeru, his patience worn thin, spoke first.

"I received 49,000 Private Points this morning, which should convert to 490 Class Points."

"Class A has 95,000 points, 950 Class Points."

Katsuragi Kohei followed up.

"Class B has 700 points."

Hearing them all speak, Ichinose Honami answered in turn.

Class A at 950, Class B at 700, Class C at 490—based on their guesses, taking the difference and summing it up, Sakayanagi Arisu was now at a 40-point gap, while Hoshino En was at 60.

Clearly, Sakayanagi Arisu had the advantage now.

Ryuen Kakeru's expression darkened a few shades, while Katsuragi Kohei first showed a look of stunned disbelief, then curled his lips into a smile.

Now only Class D was left.

But Sakayanagi Arisu's judgment was clearly far sharper than Hoshino En's; the gap for the last class probably wouldn't be large, making it hard for Hoshino En to secure victory.

And they all figured that no matter how poor Class D's quality was, an open-book exam shouldn't drop them to zero points.

Hoshino En watched their reactions, and honestly, it looked a bit amusing.

"A-Sho, after today's little show, you need to learn one thing—"

He patted Ryuen Kakeru on the shoulder, lecturing him.

"Never pop the champagne at halftime. That's how you easily overlook important details and end up losing."

Seeing his expression grow even more tense, Hoshino En added another line.

"But luckily, with this kind of private 'bet agreement,' if there's no school teacher to witness it, even if the losing side doesn't follow through, there's no penalty."

Hearing that, Ryuen Kakeru immediately let out a sigh of relief, while Katsuragi Kohei's face changed color.

"Hoshino-kun, stop dragging it out. Just tell us Class D's score."

But Sakayanagi Arisu had a bad feeling. She tightened her grip on Hoshino En's left hand, urging him.

"Alright, alright. To be honest, I haven't even checked my phone today..."

As he said this, he reached for his phone—but it was in his right pants pocket, his left hand couldn't reach it, and his right hand was occupied by Sakayanagi Arisu.

So he decisively gave up checking himself and instead turned his gaze to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who was still deep in thought.

"Kiyotaka, you've checked your phone today, right? How many points did the school send?"

"3,000 points."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka replied without hesitation, still recalling the faces of adults he'd seen before, planning to visit the school administration during lunch to verify.

Though Hoshino En felt that instead of guessing blindly here, he'd be better off just going straight to the school administration member with the surname [Sakayanagi].

3,000 PPT, which meant 30 Class Points.

Combined with their guesses from yesterday, Hoshino En's final result was 22.5, while Sakayanagi Arisu's was 27.5.

The tables had turned completely.

Because the bet was on who had the smaller number, Hoshino En won.

"Hoshino-kun... you really are amazing~"

Sakayanagi Arisu squeezed the right hand she was holding.

Losing the bet made her a little disappointed, but there was far more joy.

Her family background was far above Hoshino-kun's; if his abilities couldn't even match hers... then she really wouldn't know how to convince Father.

Though there was also the option of [hoarding Private Points at school, having Hoshino-kun convert them all into cash, and then dropping out together to elope], she knew her body might not be able to handle such a plan. So if Hoshino-kun could earn Father's approval through normal means, that would be the best outcome.

Ryuen Kakeru had won, yet his expression wasn't as excited as one might imagine; Katsuragi Kohei had lost, but he instead let out a sigh of relief.

"So I told you, never pop the champagne halfway through the sixth inning, because you never know what's going to happen in this world the very next moment."

Hoshino En watched the two men's expressions shift back and forth, and said with a smile.

"And honestly, I didn't see this result coming either—that Class D, in all its sorry state, still managed to end up with 30 points."

First Semester of First Year :

Chapter 53 - Chapter 049: The Truth Exposed, Class D Descends into Chaos

"Kushida-san, did you receive this month's points?"

"Hirata-kun, did you get this month's points?"

When Hoshino En had sent Sakayanagi Arisu to the door of Class A and brought Ayanokoji Kiyotaka to the Class D classroom, what they heard were voices just like these.

Whether boys or girls, no matter how much conflict they usually had with each other, their reactions were strikingly unanimous—they were all asking the people around them whether they had received the points from the school today.

If someone happened to answer [yes], then the following combo would trigger—

"Then how many points did you get?"

"Huh? Also 3000 points... Is the school's system broken?"

"Did the person in charge of sending points mess up and send 10,000 points as 3000?"

"Or is the school targeting us Class D, deliberately sending the wrong points just to make our lives difficult?"

"..."

All kinds of comments were flying around, and even Hoshino En was asked a similar question by Sudo Ken, who sat next to him.

How ugly. The correct answer was so simple, yet not a single person had thought of it.

Or rather, these people didn't dare to think. They refused to admit that this was the amount of points they deserved.

Sitting in the corner nearest the door, Hoshino En had a full view of the class's restlessness, which only made him more irritated—watching a bunch of fools bouncing around in front of him was hardly an enjoyable experience.