Houtarou Oreki Classroom of the Elite

The Nurturing High School operates on a Points-first principle. The school distributes Points uniformly, giving them to students and faculty members as salaries.

Additionally, they conduct special exams, offering outstanding students opportunities to earn private Points. Thus, both faculty and students are potential sources of Points.

For ordinary students, it's nearly impossible to accumulate 20 million Points by waiting for school-arranged special exams. Consequently, the only feasible way to gather such an amount seems to be treating fellow students as ATMs.

Houtarou, being relatively gentle, is targeting first-year freshmen. With Class A having already depleted their funds and Class D being a lost cause, students from Classes B and C remain unaware of the school's rules.

This lack of knowledge presents an opportunity for an information war.

If students from Classes B and C understood the importance of Points and the extreme nature of school rules, they might hesitate to invest their Points.

However, at present, they remain oblivious to these facts.

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Upon learning that nine unsuspecting students from Class C had arrived, Houtarou decided to take charge. After all, this was his scheme, so he was responsible for the explanation.

Suzune's role was simple: stand silently to the side, enhancing the atmosphere. Before setting the trap, some window dressing was necessary.

The setup he devised was convenient. He'd directly approached the lone girl, requiring nothing from her but her usual demeanor.

Despite her cold indifference to others, Suzune's striking looks couldn't be ignored. Even without speaking, her presence in the background conveyed an unmistakable message: "Wow, she's stunning!" This, in turn, implied, "This guy must be impressive to have such a beautiful girlfriend.".

Of course, Houtarou wasn't dating Suzune. She was merely part of the facade, lending credibility to his side. After all, why else would such a beautiful girl stand with him?

This was a necessary measure. The students of Classes B and C were still unaware of the school rules and the significance of Class A. Consequently, Houtarou's Class A status alone couldn't bolster his credibility. He had no choice but to use her as his backdrop.

Ideally, they would have enlisted a wealthy, talented student with grand visions of opening stores and amassing Points — that would have been truly convincing.

However, neither Houtarou, Suzune, nor Kikyō came from such privileged backgrounds, forcing them to abandon this idea.

Instead, they arranged for Kikyō to bring people over, with Suzune acting as a silent facade behind Houtarou. Then, he would execute his scam — er, set the trap.

"Allow me to introduce myself." He began, "I'm Houtarou Oreki from Class A, and this is Suzune Horikita from Class D. As for Kushida, you all know her already."

Suzune remains by his side, silent yet striking. Her cold demeanor and top-tier beauty speak volumes. Meanwhile, Kikyō leads the Class C students over.

To bring them here, she had done some groundwork. She explained that Houtarou wants to open a store but lacks sufficient Points, so he's seeking loans from fellow students.

"Several Class B students have already joined the store-opening plan — and not just them." Houtarou continued, "You see, opening a store isn't cheap. Here's how many points I've gathered so far."

He displayed his student ID.

『Houtarou Oreki』

『Student ID: 1008610010』

『Class: First Year, Class A』

『Personal Account: ¤ 4,353,400 Pts』

The nine students gasped at the sight of his private Points balance. Such a hefty sum...

According to the store-opening agreement, each participant contributes 50,000 Points for the first month. These 4.35 million Points suggest nearly 90 people have joined the plan.

Could it be that most of Class A and D students have already participated, with Class B starting to join in? There are only four freshman classes — A, B, C, and D — and now three have joined. Is Class C the only one left out?

Alarmed, the nine students exchange worried glances.

Though unfamiliar with the school rules, they understand that Points function as currency. They haven't considered whether such large sums will be deposited again next month, but they're already feeling the pressure of potentially falling behind students from other classes.

The lead boy speaks up.

"Why should we trust you? The agreement says you'll borrow Points from us and start paying 15% interest from the third month. Isn't that rate excessive?"

"What's your name?" Houtarou asked, eyeing him.

The boy was somewhat sturdy, with a few differences in his attire. He left the top two buttons of his shirt undone and rolled up his sleeves — habits that hinted at a delinquent past.

"Daichi Ishizaki." The boy introduced himself, "I think the return for us is too high."

"Too high?" Houtarou's expression remained unchanged, as this response was within his expectations, "I don't think it's too high."

He then shifted his position slightly, allowing everyone to see inside the milk tea shop.

With that, he began his demonstration.

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