Classroom of the Elite: I Can Assign Master's Tasks

[Oh my god... That was terrifying!]

[Right? Nangong was always smiling. Even when he charged for information that day, he was never this... vicious.]

[Haruki Yamauchi had it coming. Everyone knows Sakura is under Nangong Cheng's protection. They even spend every lunch break together.]

[Seriously. He's always talking about girls' faces, breasts, and butts in class. It's disgusting.]

[Am I the only one who found that hot?]

[Girl, you... Okay, me too. Nangong was scary just now, but he was also incredibly handsome, right?! A guy like that would make you feel so safe!]

[So you too...]

[Didn't Kei say she wanted a boyfriend? I think Nangong's a better choice than Hirata. Hirata's just too soft.]

[Exactly. I'd pick Nangong for sure. That build, that strength... Ooh, I'm getting worked up again...]

[Stop it, you're making me thirsty.]

Kei saw everything in the group chat, of course, but her finger hovered over her phone screen without pressing down.

Put simply...

Her PTSD had kicked in.

That atmosphere, that scene... How many ordinary high schoolers had ever witnessed something like that? It really was frightening.

Fortunately, Nangong Cheng had acted on the girls' behalf, which made Kei quite happy.

But Haruki Yamauchi had been saying things like that for ages. If Nangong Cheng had only stepped in now, it was probably because of Sakura Airi...

That wiped the smile from her face.

Still, it was fine.

If he had a girlfriend, she only had one person to compete with. If he didn't, she would have to compete with several.

So she typed a message into the group chat.

[That's right. I've decided to go after Nangong. He's exactly my type.]

But someone else spoke up almost immediately—

[But Sakura seems really close to Nangong, doesn't she? And I heard Ichinose from Class B has been spending a lot of time with him lately. There are even rumors on the Campus Forum that they're already dating.]

[Don't forget Kushida. Even that ice queen Horikita hugged Nangong on the first day of school.]

[I also heard Wang Meiyu is from Nangong's hometown, and he asked for her contact info himself.]

[Kei, you've got a lot of competition.]

Reading her friends' messages, Kei felt a little uneasy.

But as the queen bee of the gyaru clique, she couldn't show weakness now. She had to answer with confidence—

[Don't worry. I'll win.]

You Really Only Think About Yourself ### [Didn't you say you weren't going to bother with Class D?]

Horikita Suzune sent Nangong Cheng a message on her phone.

Clearly, her curiosity had struck again.

What a curious little thing.

Nangong Cheng took out his phone and typed a reply.

[When you get married, are you going to ignore your family?]

[?]

Leaving the thoroughly confused Horikita Suzune alone for the moment, Nangong Cheng turned toward Sakura Airi, who was chatting with Haruka Hasebe.

"Sorry, Airi. I should've dealt with this sooner."

"N-no, it's okay..." Sakura Airi waved her hands, her cheeks flushed. Then she laced her fingers together and said, "I was going to tell you about it when you got here..."

"A-and Horikita spoke up for me too. It just... didn't really help..."

Nangong Cheng glanced at Horikita Suzune in surprise. She looked calm, as though she'd done nothing worth mentioning.

"I've seen plenty of boys like him, but I've never met one quite so shameless."

"Honestly, I don't approve of you using violence, but I can't deny it was the most direct and effective solution."

So she'd been fed up with him for a while.

Aside from Kikyo Kushida, who'd declared right away that she wanted to be friends with everyone, the girls in class barely bothered to hide their disgust for that attention-seeking duo.

Nangong Cheng nodded with approval.

"Horikita, you've grown up."

"..."

Horikita Suzune suppressed the urge to stab Nangong Cheng with her compass and changed the subject instead. "So what exactly did that message you sent me mean?"

"You'll know when you get married."

"I don't want to wait that long."

"But I'm not old enough to get married yet."

"?"

Watching Horikita Suzune pull a compass from her desk, Nangong Cheng gave her a look that said, What am I going to do with you? Then he took out his phone and typed a reply—

[If you weren't so determined to bring the whole class along, I would've just shut that idiot up. Why would I bother doing anything extra?]

"..."

Horikita Suzune fell silent for a moment.

She didn't know what to say to that.

[Since your brother told you to learn from me, just watch how I do things. I'll explain what needs explaining.]

[As for the girls, unless something unusual happens, I'm leaving them to you from now on. Handle it as you see fit.]

[Consider that one of your assignments too.]

Nangong Cheng stopped teasing Horikita Suzune.

He wasn't afraid of a compass, but there was no need to take their playful banter that far.

Lunch break arrived.

Nangong Cheng couldn't eat with Sakura Airi this time because Sae Chabashira had come looking for him.

Ah, someone ran to the teacher.

"Hasebe, sorry for the trouble, but could you have lunch with Airi?"

"Sure."

Nangong Cheng went to the teachers' office.

He'd expected to find only Sae Chabashira there, but Chie Hoshinomiya, that scheming woman, was there too.

Well, well. Here for the show?

"Chabashira-sensei, you wanted to see me?"

"Nangong, explain what you did in class this morning. I need to give the student you hurt an answer."

Sae Chabashira stubbed out the slim cigarette in her hand and gave Nangong Cheng a meaningful look.

Beside her, Chie Hoshinomiya quietly added fuel to the fire.

"Yes, Nangong. I heard that student from your class come to complain during the break this morning."

"Did you really hit him?"

Nangong Cheng glanced at Chie Hoshinomiya and gave her a polite but awkward smile.

Sae Chabashira, you need to give a student an answer?

Don't make me laugh.

"Chabashira-sensei, there's nothing to explain. Someone with a mouth like his could get beaten to death once he's out in the real world. I hit him first so he'd have a chance to fix that bad habit."

"He ought to thank me."

Sae Chabashira was silent for a moment.

She'd already asked other students what had happened. Haruki Yamauchi had indeed started it by making crude comments about the girls, and it wasn't his first time. He'd angered nearly everyone.

As a woman herself, she had no sympathy for someone like Yamauchi. But as a teacher, she still had to go through the motions.

"Show some restraint next time."

"Okay, got it. Anything else? If not, I'm going back for lunch."

Nangong Cheng made as if to leave.

But Sae Chabashira wasn't about to let such a convenient opportunity to talk to him slip away, even with Chie Hoshinomiya present.

"Nangong, can you tell me what you're really trying to do? You know what I mean."

"Oh? What do you mean, Chabashira-sensei?"

Nangong Cheng played dumb.

He glanced at Chie Hoshinomiya and noticed that the schemer looked eager to jump in.

"First you took Horikita Suzune to sell information to Classes A, B, and C. Then you plotted with Ichinose Honami of Class B against the Student Council vice president in the cafeteria. Now you've openly used violence in class and told the students to follow your lead..."

Sae Chabashira listed everything Nangong Cheng had done over the past week with ease.

Looking straight at his faintly mocking expression, she asked, "The class or yourself—which did you choose?"

"Why do I have to choose?"

Nangong Cheng looked puzzled. "Can't I have both? You're not seeing the bigger picture, Chabashira-sensei."

"Only with enough Private Points can Class D pull off an upset. Otherwise, if a crucial Special Exam requires someone to be expelled in order to pass, wouldn't Class D fall apart?"

Now both Sae Chabashira and Chie Hoshinomiya fell silent.

So that was it...

If they'd had enough points back then to cancel the expulsion, would things have turned out differently?

They might not have won, but at least they would have had a chance to try...

"Of course, if it's someone I hate who gets expelled, I'm not going to go out of my way to save him."

"An expulsion penalty costs a huge number of Class Points..."

"So what?"

Nangong Cheng looked at Sae Chabashira. No wonder she has such a bad reputation.

Even now, there was one thing she still didn't understand—

"Chabashira-sensei, you don't actually think every student in Class D deserves to graduate from Class A, do you?"

"Take Haruki Yamauchi. The only reason he got into Advanced Nurturing was that the school needed a few genuinely rotten students to fill out Class D. With ability like his, could he have gotten into high school otherwise?"

"Whether or not I'm willing to help him graduate from Class A, do you think the school would recommend someone like him to a prestigious university or company and tarnish its own reputation?"

Nangong Cheng laid his cards on the table.

"I'll say it plainly. I'm going to get Haruki Yamauchi expelled."

"..."

While Sae Chabashira remained silent, Chie Hoshinomiya was thoroughly enjoying the show.

Good, good! That's the man my... dear Honami has her eye on! Keep tearing into that bitch Chabashira! Class D will always be Class D!

But Chie Hoshinomiya celebrated too soon.

Even Nangong Cheng couldn't have expected how Sae Chabashira would react after he'd said something so fundamentally at odds with what she wanted—