Houtarou Oreki Classroom of the Elite

"What's wrong, Oreki-kun?" Arisu asked, noticing him spacing out after class.

From her seat beside him, she observed as he repeatedly checked his transaction records.

Houtarou possessed an enormous amount of points — a fact well known among Class A students.

Indeed, it was a staggering sum.

『Houtarou Oreki』

『Student ID: 1008610010』

『Class: First Year, Class A』

『Personal Account: ¤ 2,958,200 Pts』

Today was the first of the month, and as usual, the school's living expenses had been deposited. His points were notably different from others.

However, one expected deposit hadn't arrived yet — the Points from the senior student who was keeping him.

On May 1st, when everyone received their Point deposits, a senior student had taken him under their wing, transferring 1 million Points.

At first, he tried to ignore it, thinking it couldn't be that simple. But then they transferred another 2 million Points, even telling him to spend it freely.

Such enormous Point transfers were highly unusual.

Even the most influential third-year Class A students, with their Class Evaluation Score of 2500+, would need 4 months to accumulate 1 million Points through normal means.

For perspective, faculty members earned salaries comparable to the outside world, making 1 million Points equivalent to several months of their pay.

Yet here it was, transferred so casually — a total of 3 million.

This confirmed, beyond doubt, that Houtarou was being kept.

But what about this month? It was a new month already.

When he checked his account today, there was only the standard school transfer that everyone received — nothing else.

"Has your patron senior not transferred this month's points?" Arisu asked, "Looks like you've fallen out of favor."

"Why would you think that?" Houtarou turned to the silver-haired girl beside him.

"It's a pattern." She said, "When a senior student keeps you, they naturally transfer points at fixed times."

Then, as if to clarify, she added:

"For training."

Training?

Ah. This insight came from her experience with keeping pets.

Houtarou glanced toward the seat behind Arisu, where Masumi sat lost in thought.

But she caught his glance.

Was she being looked at by Houtarou? Was something wrong with her outfit today?

Probably not — she'd checked before leaving.

Arisu continued, "You've probably been abandoned. Even though you're being kept by a senior student, you're still meeting with that beautiful girl from Class D. I suspect your patron senior doesn't want you anymore."

"..."

Could we not bring this up?

Besides, both Kikyō and Suzune were completely disinterested in romance.

True, the little angel's behavior today seemed unusually sweet and giving — even deliberately unbuttoning her shirt's top button. But that was clearly just her way of trying to extract information about Suzune from him.

It was simply the price Kikyō thought necessary to pay. She was nothing if not practical.

Romance would never blossom between him, Kikyō, or Suzune.

With a few minutes remaining until class, Houtarou didn't mind chatting with Arisu.

"Do you really think someone would spend 3 million points only to cut ties over a minor displeasure?" He asked.

"Absolutely." Arisu replied, "I would. Even if I'd spent a fortune on something in the past, once it becomes an eyesore, it needs to go. When something should be discarded, I discard it."

Interesting. Was she someone who refused to dwell on the past?

Or was she simply that decisive?

⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟

Meanwhile, in Class D.

As lunch break drew to a close, students remained clustered in groups, chatting instead of preparing for their next class.

Ken, the notorious failing student, was hugging Yōsuke.

"If there's any sports-related event, I'll definitely participate and earn Class Points!"

Ken's natural athleticism had already earned him a starting position on the basketball team.

His declaration made everyone realize that if there were sports competitions, his abilities could earn them substantial Points.

Suddenly, keeping Ken around seemed valuable.

Regarding Ken's current Points — Yōsuke had borrowed 60,000 Points and combined them with Ken's 40,000 to help him avoid expulsion.

This made Yōsuke something of a patron to Ken.

When Ken faced expulsion, Yōsuke's offer to take his place had moved Ken to tears.

Clearly, Ken could be a powerful asset in class competitions.

But this was Class D, after all...

"Eh... Do we have to take physical tests too?"

"No way... I can't even run 100 meters—"

"I don't want to run 800 meters—"

The less athletic students began to wail.

"..." Rokusuke.

This was quintessential Class D behavior.

Meanwhile, he gazed at his reflection in his small mirror, admiring his artistically sculpted, statue-like beauty.

'I'm so beautiful.' He had drifted into his own world.

{T/N: Light in the loafers.}

Meanwhile, in the girls' group.

"What a relief — our Class Points actually increased like this. Who knew we could directly buy scores with points? Horikita-san is amazing. Because of this, next month's living expenses will increase by 5,000. Though it's not enough, at least it's something." Mei-Yu Wang said.

Mei-Yu was Kikyō's best friend.

A Chinese student with beautiful twin tails, she excelled at English, consistently achieving perfect scores without checking answers.

Yet this cute best friend had a habit of stepping on the little angel's landmines by openly praising Suzune.

"Horikita, huh— Come to think of it, Horikita-san hasn't joined the group chat yet." Said a girl from behind.

This was Kokoro Inogashira, who matched Mei-yu in height.

Their similar stature had brought the three together, forming their small chat group.

Usually, they wouldn't talk about Suzune so much, but now her name kept coming up everywhere.

Kikyō maintained her sweet demeanor.

"Eh? Y-yeah." She nodded lightly, "But when I invited her to join the group last time, she refused."

"I'll go ask her." Mei-yu said.

She ran over to where Suzune was sitting.

The lone girl had an intimidating aura that dampened the mood. Simply approaching her made people feel like they were being glared at.

Meanwhile, Kikyō stared at her phone.

She was in the class group chat and still held administrator status.

But then.

『 Suzune Horikita has requested to join the group chat. Accept? 』

A message popped up in the admin interface.

Mei-yu came running back.

"Kushida-san, Horikita applied to join herself — quick, accept it!" The cute girl maintained her cheerful expression, "By the way, I thought she'd scold me, but Horikita isn't actually that hard to approach."

"Is that so?" Kokoro was surprised, "I always felt like she'd bully anyone who got close."

"No, no, no, she didn't bully me at all." Mei-yu defended Suzune.

"..." Kikyō.

What was going on with Suzune now?

Though Kikyō hadn't admitted it, she'd actually enjoyed seeing that girl excluded. She had only pretended to invite her to the group, knowing she'd be refused.

But now — had the lone girl's personality changed? What was happening?

Actually, nothing unusual was happening.

Suzune looked at her phone.

| Houtarou Oreki — Class A Student |

| I suggest you join the group chat since you've earned 20 Class Points for Class D. |

| You're not good at gathering information, but in the group chat, you can access public information. |

| Plus, your success with earning Class Points can be built upon. |

In other words, Houtarou had spotted an opportunity.

As a slave worth 20 million points, Suzune simply followed his arrangement. That's what led to this scene.

But undeniably.

"Using points to buy scores — Horikita is really amazing, isn't she?"

"And since this month's special exam hasn't been announced yet, maybe we should ask Horikita to help us earn more points when it comes?"

"I already owe Kushida 6,000 points and Karuizawa 10,000. They probably can't lend any more."

"When I went food shopping with her, I saw her point balance — nearly 2 million! Can you believe it?"

These conversations were becoming more frequent.

"Kushida?"

In the middle of their discussion, Mei-yu noticed Kikyō's distant expression.

"Oh, yes... I agree." Kikyō said quickly, forcing herself to rejoin the conversation.

She cast a furtive glance at the striking beauty with straight black hair by the window.

Suzune, however, remained absorbed in her textbook for the next class.

"..."

⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟

On the first day of the new month, the atmosphere in each class was far from peaceful.

Houtarou noticed that Class B students had also reacted.

Specifically:

『450,000 Points have been credited to your account!』

『Sender - Honami Ichinose』

『Personal Account: ¤ 3,408,200 Pts』

It seemed that Honami hadn't fully adapted to this school yet.

Moreover, she had collected Points from the fifteen Class B students who participated in his shop lending scheme and transferred them over.

Though Honami understood the school rules and knew Points were paramount, she still couldn't make the decisive cut like Kakeru had. She remained like a frog in slowly heating water.

In other words, this year's Class B lacked that sharp, knife-like attacking power.

However, the Class B students seemed satisfied enough with their recent written special exam reward of 100 Class Points.

That was Houtarou's analysis.

『 Ding! 』

His phone chimed with a new message.

| Honami Ichinose — Class B Student |

| Could you come to the artificial lake from before at 7:30? |

Honami?

She had just transferred Points, and now wanted to meet him? At that artificial lake, no less.

The location reminded him of when her classmate Chihiro had confessed to her there.

Could this be about that previous relationship matter?

| Honami Ichinose — Class B Student |

| About Chihiro from last time, thank you, Oreki-kun. |

She quickly added another message.

So it was indeed about that issue.

Houtarou thought to himself. Then began to reply.

| Then let's meet at 7:30— |

But his typing fingers paused. Because—

"It seems Oreki-kun is quite close with Class B's Ichinose." Arisu suddenly said from next door.

Ah. She could see Honami's name in his phone contacts from where she sat, and there was only one girl with that name in the whole school.

That would be Class B's Honami Ichinose — their class representative. Beautiful, bright, lively, with a strong sense of justice.

Houtarou realized that when Arisu had glanced over, she'd already seen his reply to Honami.

She must have caught both Honami's name and his message about meeting at 7:30.

Though he hadn't yet specified the location.

"Even though Oreki-kun has been getting along so well with Class D's Horikita." Arisu said, "Yet you're still being unfaithful."

"..."

Alright. Best not to continue this topic.

Still, Houtarou was aware of his position as a Class A student.

Why was he constantly in contact with girls from other classes? Especially Class B's representative?

Most likely, the aggressive little T-Rex would make her move after class. Then puppy Masumi would trail after him.

He needed to shake her off.

⍟⍟⍟

T/N: If you want more chapters like this, check out my Patreon! Take a look at my other translations too, you might like them!

For just $1 you can access all the extra content, and descriptive images, costs only $2!

That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)

https://www.patreon.com/mrblackwing