The Defective Products and the Slacking Me

(Note: This story does not focus on class rivalries or exams; every design choice serves the plot. Given that the original rules are quite convoluted, minor discrepancies regarding exam points may be overlooked.)

(As a dedicated successor of socialism, you know how the female leads will be handled.)

(This story prioritizes emotions over plot; dear readers, please decide for yourselves whether to continue.)

(If you truly dislike it, feel free to vent in the comments. If you can't love it, please hurt it.)

(The protagonist wants to slack off, but he actually does what needs to be done. You might find it more comfortable to view him as a tsundere.)

Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School.

Founded by the Japanese government to cultivate the youth who will support the future, this school boasts a legendary one-hundred-percent employment and college acceptance rate. It is said that under thorough state-led guidance, it fully realizes the future you desire.

"So, this is where I'll be spending the next three years..."

A young man wearing a red uniform with a backpack stood at the school gate, staring blankly at the campus before him, muttering in a language others could not understand.

Here, student after student, all around his age and dressed in the same uniform, walked steadily into the campus.

"As expected, seeing it in reality is always different from seeing it on a phone or TV," the boy remarked to himself.

Chiba Yu, a transmigrator.

He had died for some reason in his previous life, and just as he thought he was headed to some sort of hell, fate played a joke on him.

Not only did he not die, but he was reincarnated into the Japan of this world, carrying the memories of his past life.

Because of his previous life, Chiba Yu only wanted to slack off and lie flat in this one. And just as he said, he truly achieved what he wanted—aside from lying flat, he did nothing else.

For some unknown reason, he seemed exceptionally lucky in this life. Although his family wasn't wealthy, they had enough to keep him safe and sound for a lifetime. With this mindset, Chiba Yu always adopted a "let it be" attitude.

His family, however, seemed to see through his nature and kicked him out of the house after he graduated from middle school, ready to start his life of slacking off.

"You can't go on like this, Yu," his father's words echoed in his mind from that day.

"How about this: as long as you successfully graduate from this school, I won't interfere with whatever you want to do afterward." As he spoke, the man handed him a letter containing an application for the school.

"Let me be clear: you don't have the right to refuse."

Just like that, the boy was cast out of his home by his own father.

Recalling the unreadable look in his father's eyes at the time, Chiba Yu felt a wave of irritation.

And when the boy saw the name of the school, his pupils constricted, and a sense of foreboding washed over him.

"So, I didn't just transmigrate into a normal parallel world, but the world of Classroom of the Elite... Seriously, I really just wanted to slack off."

Looking at the application in his hand, the boy sighed helplessly.

Advanced Nurturing High School is promoted to the outside world as a state-key high school with a one-hundred-percent acceptance rate, funded by the government, even advertising that tuition is free for all three years.

In the public consciousness, once you get in, half of your life is essentially a success.

But Chiba Yu, who knew the original work, understood that beneath the school's promotional facade lay cruel class struggles and backstabbing.

Unfortunately, in his previous life, the original Classroom of the Elite hadn't finished, and Chiba Yu had only watched about two episodes of the anime—and he hadn't even finished those!

Not to mention the future plot, he had basically forgotten most of the early story as well.

This caused him to lose the only advantage a transmigrator has: foresight.

What was even more frustrating was that when Chiba Yu looked at his class assignment, he felt as if a heavy stone had smashed into his chest.

Class D.

Anyone who has read the original knows that Class D is called the gathering place for "defective products." Those assigned to this class all have their own flaws to varying degrees, and trying to live a peaceful (slacker) life in this class would be no small feat...

If he could, he would have preferred to be in Class B or Class A, where the atmosphere was more relaxed and better.

"Time to go..."

With the matter settled, Chiba Yu sighed, adjusted his backpack, and headed toward the security scanner at the school gate.

To ensure that students did not bring dangerous items into the school, the administration required every student to pass through security before entering.

"Beep! Beep! Beep!!!"

The moment Chiba Yu walked through the security gate, the machine suddenly began to alarm, and the red warning light flashed incessantly.

The teacher in charge of the inspection walked over, glanced at Chiba Yu, and asked routinely, "Student, you didn't bring any prohibited items explicitly banned by the school, did you?"

Seeing this, Chiba Yu raised his hands above his head and replied with an expressionless face, "I think it must be the zipper on my uniform. If you don't believe me, feel free to check."

Clearly, the teacher didn't fully trust Chiba Yu's words and proceeded to check his belongings and his person. After confirming everything was in order, he lingered on him with a suspicious gaze for a moment before saying, "Go on in."

Passing through the security gate, Chiba Yu walked toward the campus with his backpack, acting as if nothing had happened. As he walked, he subtly touched the zipper of his uniform.

If someone had looked closely, they would have seen a faint white light flickering on both sides of the zipper, though it lasted only for an instant.

It was a micro-listening device and a micro-surveillance camera. They weren't the common pinhole cameras found on the market, but truly miniature devices, each smaller than a fingernail clipping, impossible to spot without careful inspection.

Chiba Yu had stuck them to the zipper, exploiting a loophole in the search to bring them inside.

As for why he would bring such things to school... isn't it normal for a high school student to carry a listening device? Just like a fruit seller might carry a wrench, it's perfectly normal, right?

"Phew~"

The moment he stepped onto the campus, Chiba Yu knew that a new life had begun.

Taking a deep breath, the scent of the nearby greenery filled his lungs. As the fresh air reached his core, Chiba Yu felt his spirits lift accordingly.

"Alright, so, what's next..."

"It seems we're supposed to gather in the classroom first, right?"

After asking for directions along the way and following the signs, Chiba Yu finally arrived at the classroom door as he had hoped.

Looking inside from the hallway, many students had already arrived. Most were simply sitting at their desks playing on their phones, while a few others were gathered in small groups, exchanging greetings.

This was only natural; school had just begun, and most students were still strangers to one another. Expecting them to mingle like old friends right now was clearly unrealistic.

Each desk in the classroom had a nameplate attached, displaying the occupant's name. Scanning them one by one, Chiba Yu finally located his seat.

It was the last desk in the middle row. Walking over, Chiba Yu set down his bag and surveyed his surroundings.

It was a decent spot. While it wasn't the classic "back row by the window," for an energy-conservationist like him, it was perfectly acceptable.

After all, he had no intention of being a protagonist, nor did he want to get overly involved in class affairs. He just wanted to stay safely in the back and remain a background character.

Yes, it was just slacking off... no, it was energy conservation!

Chiba Yu solidified his resolve in his mind, then cast a sidelong glance at the desks around him.

At that sight, his brow furrowed slightly, as if he had seen something unpleasant.

It was none other than the name written on the desk to his left—the one name he least wanted to see: Horikita Suzune!

"If that's the case..." Chiba Yu sheepishly shifted his gaze to the desk one row past Horikita Suzune.

"As I thought." There, the name Ayanokoji Kiyotaka caught his eye.

Although Chiba Yu was a bit surprised to find himself seated right between the protagonists, his brain gradually cooled down.

"It's fine. As long as I don't do anything out of the ordinary, I shouldn't attract their attention... probably."

"Sigh (￣_￣|||), what an annoying coincidence. At this rate, my energy-conservation lifestyle is going to take a major hit."

With that thought, Chiba Yu shifted his focus to other matters, such as how he would handle the upcoming self-introductions to brush off the trouble without drawing any unwanted attention.

As he pondered, without Chiba Yu even noticing, his desk was tapped a few times.

As his consciousness returned, Chiba Yu slowly opened his eyes.

He saw that almost everyone in the class had arrived. A young woman in a black school uniform stood at the podium with a stern expression, while the surrounding students had their eyes fixed on him.

It seemed he had accidentally fallen asleep. He hadn't expected so much time to pass, but this feeling of being stared at by everyone was truly unpleasant.

Taking advantage of the moment when everyone looked away, Chiba Yu thanked the girl who had just tapped his desk: "Thanks."

But to his surprise, the girl only responded coldly: "Hmph."

It seemed he was already disliked.

Karuizawa Kei—that was the name Chiba Yu had seen on the seating chart earlier; she was the girl sitting in front of him.

Just as Chiba Yu was lost in thought, the teacher at the front began to speak.

"Since everyone is here, I will begin. I am the homeroom teacher for Class D, Chabashira Sae. This school does not change classes; I will be your homeroom teacher for the next three years until graduation." Chabashira Sae's face remained expressionless, as if she were merely reading off an unimportant notice.

"First, I will distribute the school materials. Pass them back from the front."

With that, the documents were passed down one by one starting from the first row. By the time they reached Chiba Yu, Chabashira Sae spoke up again:

"There are a few things I must emphasize first. This is a boarding school. During your time here, you are restricted from leaving campus and from all outside contact. But do not worry; the school is equipped with various facilities, and you will be able to purchase all daily necessities."

Immediately after, Chabashira Sae pulled out a terminal. "On campus, you must use the points held in your student ID terminal to make purchases. Everything in this school can be bought with points."

As Chabashira Sae explained, Chiba Yu picked up the terminal he had received upon entering the school. He looked at the information appearing on the screen, and at the 100,000 points that had already been deposited into their accounts.

The moment they saw this, everyone in the class was shocked by the sheer insanity of it.

"Is... is this for real?!"

"One hundred thousand! A whole one hundred thousand!"

Even Karuizawa Kei, sitting in front of Chiba Yu, couldn't help but let out an exclamation of "Eh..."

But compared to the surprise and excitement of the others, Chiba Yu began to consider a different problem.

He knew that Chabashira Sae's words had hidden meanings, and while the claim that "everything can be bought with points" was technically true, that was precisely where the difficulty lay.

Although most of the plot had become blurry in Chiba Yu's memory, he still remembered the incident regarding the zeroing out of points next month.

In other words, if he were like the original Ayanokoji Kiyotaka—knowing what was coming but doing nothing—he would have to endure a difficult life without any points coming in once next month arrived.

However, for an energy-conservationist like him, jumping into the fray would inevitably lead to a chain reaction of events, and his peaceful, low-energy life would likely vanish.

"Whatever, I'll just take it one step at a time."

Following this, Chiba Yu began to check his own ability stats and evaluations.

Student Name: Chiba Yu

Class: D

Academic Ability: C Physical Ability: B

Intelligence: C Cooperation: D

Judgment: C

Points Held: 100,000

As expected, not a single evaluation looked good at a glance. Only physical ability was hovering right on the edge of a passing grade; the rest of the data could only be described as abysmal.

Just then, Chiba Yu looked up and caught a glimpse of the terminal belonging to Karuizawa Kei, who was sitting in front of him. Since she wasn't very far away, Chiba Yu easily saw the data displayed on her screen.

Student Name: Karuizawa Kei

Class: D

Academic Ability: D Physical Ability: D

Intelligence: D- Cooperation: E+

Judgment: C

Hmm... how should he put it? It matched the few impressions he had of her in his memory, but the moment he realized he only had a slight edge over Karuizawa Kei in physical ability, Chiba Yu rested his head on the desk in a fit of pique.

"Alright, you have half an hour of free time now. After half an hour, everyone must head to the auditorium for the freshman entrance ceremony. That is all."

After explaining some necessary rules, Chabashira Sae didn't care whether they had any questions or not. She simply gave the instruction and left the classroom with her documents, leaving behind a group of people who continued to stare at their terminals, occasionally marveling at the school's generosity.

Just as Chiba Yu was still dazed while leaning on his desk, a handsome boy with a gentle appearance stood up.

"Everyone, could I have your attention for a moment? From today on, we are all classmates in the same class, so I thought we should all introduce ourselves first. It would help everyone get along as soon as possible, what do you think?"

Sigh~ The most troublesome thing has arrived after all...