Houtarou Oreki Classroom of the Elite

Honami Ichinose.

A first-year student in Class B with long pink hair that flows past her waist. Her meticulously maintained hair has a beautiful sheen that glistens in the light.

Her features are delicate and exquisitely beautiful, with striking azure blue eyes. Her smile makes hearts flutter. Her skin is snow-white and translucent, though with a slightly sickly pallor — as if she hasn't seen enough sunlight.

Her beauty undoubtedly ranks in the top three of the entire school.

If Houtarou had any artistic talent, he would consider this scene worth painting.

After Suzune, he has encountered another top-tier beauty.

She and Suzune have completely different styles. While Suzune is cool and dignified, Honami is lively, righteous, and spirited, giving off an approachable aura.

As Class B's co-representative, there's something peculiar about her position.

Unlike Kakeru, she doesn't command the class as a typical representative would. Instead, she's extremely popular — Class B's idol figure whom all students adore.

Fifteen of Class B's students participated in Houtarou's money-lending store plan. Now in the second month, remarkably, none have terminated their contracts.

All fifteen have transferred their 30,000 Points for this month.

In this merit-based school, spending Points monthly isn't ideal. Their Class Points this month are only 570.

The school deposited 57,000 Points. After last month's 100,000, enrollment expenses, and Houtarou's initial payment of 50,000, barely anything remains.

This month they received about 50,000 Points. After giving him 30,000, these fifteen classmates must live frugally.

Class B appears naive, not yet fully grasping the school's rules. They lack offensive power.

Just getting by?

Looking at the Class Points:

「Class A: 1230 Points」

「Class B: 570 Points」

「Class C: 390 Points」

「Class D: 0 Points」

The gap between Class B and Class A is substantial.

Yet they shouldn't be underestimated.

The school evaluated all students using the same criteria, placing the highest scorers in Class A before dividing the rest by grades. In this competitive system, while Class D has virtually no hope and Class C struggles with poor fundamentals, only Class B has a real chance of competing with Class A.

This explains why students like Miyabi can advance to second year. It confirms the theory about seeded players, who are typically placed in Class B.

Class D serves as a repository for struggling students. Though some troublemakers show excellence, allowing the entire class to advance would contradict the school's image. Class C faces similar challenges.

In Houtarou's assessment, Classes D and C merely go through the motions. The school's true focus lies on Classes A and B, whose standards aren't vastly different.

Class B must have students with leadership potential to remain competitive.

Honami certainly qualifies, matching Kōhei's caliber.

According to Kikyō, Honami excels at social interactions even more than she does. She has numerous friends, enjoys everyone's trust, and possesses a strong sense of justice.

Houtarou has witnessed this sense of justice firsthand — she immediately intervened when told about a fight.

That's how the current situation unfolded.

Kakeru Ryūen, representing Class C, had initiated a fight with Class D. Given his high tendency for violence, he suggested using Points to avoid Class Point deductions.

This leveraged a key school rule: Students can purchase anything using the Points deposited into their student ID's private accounts.

Therefore, even disciplinary actions could be bypassed with Points.

Following this logic, Kakeru arrived with a stern expression and paid 50,000 Points to the Student Council. He then compensated Ken with 50,000 Points and gave Rokusuke's group 200,000 Points.

However, as Kakeru was transferring the remaining 500,000 Points to Houtarou, Honami came to a realization.

"Oreki-kun, was this fight merely staged?" She asked, her voice tinged with hurt, "Did you bring me here just to witness Ryūen's supposed fight?"

Her wounded expression pierced straight to the heart, as if he had betrayed her trust completely.

Houtarou had to acknowledge his mixed feelings about this school filled with beautiful girls.

Honami's charm exceeded even Kikyō's, rendering his previous experience with the "little angel" ineffective.

Still, her ability to see through the setup showed promising insight.

She demonstrated better perception than many of his own classmates, while maintaining her uniquely approachable nature.

"Ryūen's intention to intimidate Sudō was genuine." Houtarou said, "I simply participated. Aren't you satisfied with the outcome, Ichinose?"

"Satisfied?" Honami asked, puzzled.

"Consider how Ryūen just demonstrated using Points to avoid punishment." He explained, "This was a practical lesson about flexible Point usage — something you seem to lack experience with."

Was this truly educational?

"So when you proposed opening a lending store after enrollment and borrowing Points from everyone — was that to accumulate Points for strategic use?" She quickly deduced.

"..."

Houtarou reconsidered his initial assessment of this cute girl, no longer seeing her as merely Class B's popular idol.

Her quick thinking impressed him. While perhaps not matching Arisu's level, she could likely outmaneuver Kōhei if placed in Class A.

The bald student no longer served as an adequate benchmark.

"That's one way to interpret it." Houtarou said, "But Ichinose-san, consider how dangerous Ryūen is, especially to Class B. Initially, 36 Class C students joined my store plan out of opposition to him. Yet when he seized power, they all withdrew. What does this tell you? Ryūen is dangerous. While he aims for Class A, he's also positioning himself dangerously close to your Class B."

So this was the real lesson. The implications were clear.

Honami reflected deeply.

Earlier at the café, when Miyabi explained the school rules, she had sensed something different about this institution. But lacking concrete evidence, she hadn't shared her concerns, causing Class B to miss an opportunity to act.

Despite Class B's strong unity and shared goal of reaching Class A, Honami had come to a troubling realization.

Kakeru from Class C was far more dangerous than they'd anticipated.

Initially, Ryūji, Class B's co-representative, had dismissed Kakeru as merely violent. But now they'd witnessed him deftly using Points to avoid punishment, while also demonstrating his power by terminating his class's participation in Houtarou's store plan — abandoning over a million Points without hesitation.

Such bold moves could only mean one thing: he was plotting to advance. And the next target above Class C was her Class B, separated by a mere 180 Points.

A sudden wave of unease washed over her. They'd all been too complacent, and now she felt the first stirrings of genuine concern.

"I'll take this lesson to heart." Honami said, "Thank you, Oreki-kun~ Class A students are quite fascinating. Say, could we exchange phone numbers? I feel I could learn a lot from you."

She gazed at him expectantly.

Hey hey hey. Was she trying to befriend him, just like Kikyō?

The little angel had mentioned that Honami had many friends — that refusing her was practically impossible.

But still... as a Class B student, what more could she want to learn from him?

Those eager eyes remained fixed on him. Plus, her striking presence at this close distance was... rather overwhelming.

"As long as it doesn't involve class competition." Houtarou said.

"Thank you, Oreki-kun." Honami's hands clasped together delicately as her face lit up with joy.

Houtarou glanced at his phone contacts.

Besides his Class A classmates, his list now featured only exceptionally beautiful or cute girls: Kei, Suzune, Kikyō, and if you counted Arisu — quite the collection.

He'd secured the numbers of four potential school beauties and one angel-like figure. If word got out, he could boast about this for a year.

However.

"Enjoying the show?" Houtarou watched Honami's retreating figure, then suddenly turned to the side.

A tall man with golden hair stood at the corridor's corner, his mere presence radiating an aura of 'I'm beautiful'.

"I wasn't eavesdropping — merely grooming my hair. But Oreki-kun, you're quite fascinating." Rokusuke said.,"I admire you. Your point-gathering speed is impressive. Though with your considerable wealth of Points, why concern yourself with these few hundred thousand from Ryūen today?"

Rokusuke, full name Rokusuke Kōenji.

After investigating Kakeru's Point balance, Houtarou had needed to stage a confrontation. But for that, he required an accomplice.

After consulting Kikyō about potential fighters, Houtarou obtained contact information for both Ken and Rokusuke.

Ken proved quite ordinary — when informed about Kakeru's intentions to cause trouble, he became genuinely angry and ended up getting caught by the other party, making him unsuitable for acting.

Rokusuke, however, was different.

Houtarou assessed him as highly intelligent. When approached about cooperating in the scheme against Kakeru, Rokusuke agreed immediately and performed exceptionally well.

His improvisation of lying down when Honami approached wasn't in the script, yet it proved remarkably effective. Despite hitting Albert, everyone perceived him as the victim.

Ken, unfortunately, struggled with providing convincing testimony.

This difference in performance was reflected in their compensation: Ken received 50,000 Points, while Rokusuke earned 200,000.

The entire operation took just ten minutes of acting and twenty minutes of waiting — a successful outcome for all involved.

After receiving his compensation from Kakeru, Rokusuke lingered nearby, prompting Houtarou's inquiry.

Yet Rokusuke seemed more intrigued by Houtarou himself. Aware of Houtarou's substantial Point balance, he recognized that these few hundred thousand — while significant to most first-years — were merely pocket change to Houtarou.

"I converted the points to cash." Houtarou said, "It's safer that way."

"Oh. That's boring." Rokusuke replied, "If you gather another 20 million points, I can give you a pure 20 million, without worrying about exchange rates. That's all I wanted to convey."

He then casually groomed his hair with a small mirror before departing down the stairs.

According to Kikyō's intelligence, Rokusuke's connections with upperclassmen stemmed from his knowledge that the school would repurchase Points upon graduation.

Despite his wealthy background and placement in Class D, Rokusuke's lone wolf personality prevented him from connecting with his classmates.

This was evident today — Ken showed no gratitude toward his "savior", and Rokusuke remained completely indifferent.

In this way, he and Houtarou shared similarities. Upon witnessing Class D's situation, they reached the same conclusion:

It's hopeless — can't save them, just wait for death…

This explained Rokusuke's initial refusal to spend money learning the school rules. Knowing Class D wouldn't change, he saw no point in caring.

His offer to exchange 20 million Points for cash revealed his awareness of the school's graduation Point collection system — knowledge typically restricted to third-years.

The exchange wasn't one-to-one but based on a ratio, with Houtarou's being 0.8.

For Rokusuke to pursue Points from upperclassmen, he needed both substantial wealth and compelling reasons to amass 20 million Points. Even rich young masters faced their own struggles.

Houtarou sighed and opened his phone.

『Houtarou Oreki』

『Student ID: 1008610010』

『Class: First Year, Class A』

『Personal Account: ¤ 2,825,200 Pts』

The balance in his account looked more reassuring now.

But his partner wasn't present.

Checking GPS, Houtarou located her in the library. She was likely studying there while waiting for his message.

Suzune had been absent throughout the Student Council's arrival, mediation, and Kakeru's payment process — exactly as Houtarou had intended.

After collecting the photos from her, he'd arranged for her early departure. Given that she and Manabu were siblings, it was prudent to minimize their public interactions.

Now all that remained was transferring her share of the payment.

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