Classroom of the Elite: I Can Issue My Master's Tasks

"May I ask if the two people in this video are you?"

The two of them had been somewhat impatient at first, but the moment they saw the video on Nangong Cheng's phone, they broke out in a cold sweat.

Seriously, bro?!

What the hell is this?!

It was already the first, second, and third day! Why had he come knocking with a video from the first day?

"Junior brother, junior sister, we can discuss this... Can't we talk it over?"

Everyone surfed the internet.

Naturally, no one was unaware of the commotion caused by the first-years. Nangong Cheng coming to them now obviously meant he wanted the points in their hands, didn't it?

"Name your price. We'll see if the two of us can scrape it together, and then this video..."

"You won't be able to scrape it together. Just call someone who can make the decisions."

Nangong Cheng didn't want to waste time.

He was determined to make an outrageous demand.

The reason he had sought out these two was so that he could reasonably summon Miyabi Nagumo and settle things privately. Otherwise, he would have simply asked Horikita Manabu to put Miyabi Nagumo on trial at the Student Council just now.

Oh, right. A trial really would still be necessary.

After all, settling things privately meant that he wouldn't use this against Miyabi Nagumo. It didn't mean Horikita Manabu wouldn't make trouble.

"...Fine. Then wait a moment."

Seeing how firm Nangong Cheng's attitude was, the duo, already guilty and at a disadvantage, naturally didn't dare argue.

They immediately took out their phones and started calling people over.

Ichinose Honami watched the whole process without saying anything... though it seemed she didn't really need to do anything anyway.

"Don't just stand there watching. Hurry up and consult your homeroom teacher, or just call her over directly."

Nangong Cheng reminded her in a lowered voice.

Whether this was necessary or not was debatable.

He had his own plans, of course. It wasn't that he was deliberately giving Chie Hoshinomiya a chance to participate. It was simply that there was no reason not to make this spare move.

What if it came in handy later?

"Oh, okay..."

Ichinose Honami continued to follow the principle of speaking less and doing more. She also took out her phone and messaged her homeroom teacher.

Nangong Cheng, meanwhile, swiftly opened his phone, sent the surveillance footage to Horikita Suzune, and then deleted her from his friends list.

That included the selfie Sakura Airi had sent earlier.

At this point, everything had been taken care of.

Thus, both sides began waiting for their respective people to arrive.

However, the first person to reach the battlefield turned out to be—

"Nangong Cheng, I've caught you."

If You're a Dragon, It's Fine.jpg

Nangong Cheng stared speechlessly at Ryuen Kakeru as he barged into the cafeteria with his lackeys. His aggressive appearance could indeed frighten the timid.

He had expected Ryuen to be able to call him by name. After all, his true identity definitely couldn't remain hidden for long.

A little investigation would reveal that he had previously been impersonating someone else.

"Ryuuen, what do you want?"

"I'm busy here. Don't cause trouble."

Ryuuen grinned, looking rather unnerving.

He swept a glance over Ichinose Honami standing beside Nangong Cheng, then said, "The cafeteria is a public place. I'll come whenever I want. What does that have to do with you?"

"You said you're busy? What a coincidence. Looks like I came at exactly the right time."

As he spoke, Albert and Ishizaki Daichi, standing behind him, moved to either side like two door guardians.

That wasn't all.

Whether it had been Ryuen's idea or the idea of some genius in his class, the three of them pulled banners out from somewhere, each holding one above his head.

They all bore the same words—

[The Despicable, Shameless, Heartless, Treacherous Scoundrel Nangong Cheng]

Volume One: 28, Ryuen: Nangong Cheng, You'll Regret This

"Nangong, what should we do?"

Ichinose Honami had always been the good, obedient girl in everyone's eyes. Where could she possibly have seen a scene like this...

Well, actually, she had.

But the situation before her was still different.

She wasn't so frightened that she couldn't speak, but she couldn't help worrying that things might escalate into a physical confrontation.

"Don't be afraid. Leave it to me."

Nangong Cheng gave her a reassuring look.

He had expected Ryuen to come looking for him, but he hadn't expected it to happen in the cafeteria, much less for Ryuen to pull this stunt with the banners.

But it wasn't a problem.

"Ryuuen, nobody here is stupid. Just say what you want."

"If this is about that two-million-Point transaction, all I can say is that my conscience is clear. The contents of the information were all true. I didn't deceive you."

"If you're provoking me because I made the information public, then all I can say is that your capacity is limited. You have no chance of advancing to Class A."

There were naturally surveillance cameras in the cafeteria as well.

Nangong Cheng wasn't going to get into a physical confrontation with Ryuen in a place like this. Besides, in his opinion, this matter could be settled entirely by moving his lips.

"Heh."

Ryuuen naturally knew that he hadn't been deceived. He had merely been played by Nangong Cheng.

He couldn't swallow this humiliation and pretend nothing had happened. So, if he had a chance to disgust Nangong Cheng, he certainly wouldn't let it pass.

"You didn't deceive us, but after taking our money, you immediately made public the information we paid for. How can you still claim to have a clear conscience?"

"You're Ichinose, right? Does your Class B really have no complaints? Nangong Cheng blatantly burned the bridge after crossing it!"

Ichinose Honami gave an awkward smile.

How should she put it...

What Nangong Cheng had done really wasn't very honorable.

Although he hadn't lied about the terms of the transaction, immediately making the contents public after taking their money was rather...

However, if Nangong Cheng hadn't chosen to make a deal with them, he wouldn't have released the information for free. In that case, Class B would most likely have fallen far behind Class A. So, the two million Points hadn't really been wasted.

That money was destined to be spent anyway.

"Ryuuen, I know you're upset, but if you think about it carefully, you should realize that you're being a little narrow-minded."

"If Nangong hadn't stepped forward, we would have remained in the dark and foolishly waited until the second month to learn everything."

"But by then, we would still have lost a number of Points because of this, perhaps even more than two million. Isn't that right?"

Nangong Cheng glanced at Ichinose Honami in surprise. He hadn't expected her to see things this way.

Was this why she was called the Archangel?

Although it gave him the strange feeling of "the process was entirely wrong, but the answer was correct," he had to admit that she was simply too gentle and kind.

Class B had indeed been caught in the blast radius of his actions this time, yet Ichinose Honami was actually speaking up for him.

She really was... I'm crying.

"Ryuuen, did you hear that?"

"Don't assume everyone is as narrow-minded as you. When you have nothing to do, learn from our Archangel Ichinose's capacity."

Ryuuen Kakeru was so angry that he almost laughed.

This is really a case of 'I brought you all this far, and you still turned against me.'

Where did this saintly busybody come from?

She was played, and she's still speaking for the person who played her?

"Ichinose, you really are invincible."

"Then I hope that when our Class C attacks your Class B later, you'll still be able to explain things for us like this."

Ryuen glared viciously at Nangong Cheng's infuriating smile. He knew perfectly well that he wouldn't be getting those two million Points back.

Apart from possibly disgusting Nangong Cheng and venting some of his anger, he naturally had another motive this time.

So what if you're amazing on your own?

Do you think you can overturn the heavens?

If you want to survive in this world, you need connections and power!

"Nangong Cheng, you'll regret provoking me."

"Ryuen, I'm the one who... No, wait, I almost mixed up my lines—Ryuen, I won't regret it."

Nangong Cheng watched with a smile as Ryuen left the cafeteria with his lackeys.

Then he looked at Ichinose Honami and asked with a hint of teasing, "Mama Ichinose, I'm curious. Did you truly mean what you just said... or were you only saying it to smooth things over with Ryuen?"

"Of course I meant it."

Ichinose Honami cast Nangong Cheng an annoyed look. "You just called me an archangel, and now you're doubting whether I was telling the truth... You're so mean!"

"But I think it's very saintly of you~"

"There you go saying something strange again..."

Nangong Cheng was indeed teasing the girl to cheer her up.

Of course, he knew what kind of girl Ichinose Honami was. He even knew that she might one day become a yandere after turning dark.

But the way she was now was still the best.

One darkened yandere Kushida was enough. If there were another one, the result wouldn't be as simple as one plus one equaling two.

He didn't really want to become "Makoto" for real.

"Right, I almost forgot to talk about the important matter."

Nangong Cheng suddenly patted his forehead.

"Ichinose Mom, could you pretend to be my girlfriend for a while? This is very important to my next plan."

"Huh?!"

Ichinose Honami instinctively covered her small mouth.

At that moment, the familiar panel popped up in her field of vision once again.

[Task Issued: Agree to pretend to be Nangong Cheng's girlfriend, and tacitly permit Nangong Cheng to do anything while you are playing the role of his fake girlfriend]

[Task Reward: 500–2,000 Points, depending on Nangong Cheng's actions]

[Task Failure Punishment: Mass-send a 2,000-word confession essay to the Class Group Chat and the Campus Forum (the content will be written by the system)]

So this was the favor he had mentioned?

How should she put it...

Although it was indeed somewhat unexpected, it shouldn't be too difficult to do... right?

"If it's part of your plan... Phew~ I understand. But how should I cooperate with you, Nangong?"