Houtarou Oreki Classroom of the Elite

After drinking their bubble tea, the Class C students seemed quite cheerful.

Meanwhile, Houtarou's side also received their Points. They adopted a profit-sharing model as shareholders, with students agreeing to pay him 50,000 points monthly for 12 months. For the first month, with 36 participants, this totaled 1,800,000 points.

『1,800,000 Points have been credited to your account!』

After collecting the Points, Kikyō immediately transferred them to Houtarou. He then checked his own account.

However.

"I'm transferring 2 million points to you." He said.

The Points on his student ID card weren't entirely his. Of that sum, 2 million belonged to Kikyō, who had borrowed them herself.

Only he and Suzune knew that his Points were sponsored by her brother. Now his sister was also unwittingly being led along. Their real plan was to start the game by confiscating the enrollment Points from the students of Classes B and C.

They were the ones behind the scenes. Kikyō's side was somewhat deceived about the information. Looking at Houtarou's student ID alone, she thought that the students in his class had also participated in opening the store.

She felt at ease, thinking that if anything happened, the students in his class would surely be dissatisfied.

She understood why they didn't invite Class D students to participate. Next month, everyone's Points would likely be quite low, making it impossible to gather the 30,000 Points required for the second month of Houtarou's store-opening plan.

Thus, Class D was essentially excluded from opening the store.

However, the key point was to collect Points from the students of Classes B and C. Packaging it properly was crucial. Therefore, Kikyō used her influence to borrow Points from her classmates, disguising Houtarou's plan and pretending that Class D students were also involved.

"Well." She smiled cutely, "There's no need to rush."

"Then let's call it a day." Houtarou replied, "We can contact the students from Class B again. But if we can't reach them, we won't force it. The deadline is within this week."

In other words, they were only collecting Points from members until this week? Wasn't this too rushed? Shouldn't they try to gather more participants?

In the current situation. A total of 12 students from Class B participated in the store-opening plan, while 36 students from Class C participated. They obtained a total of 50,000 x (12 + 36) = 2,400,000.

This total of Points had already met his expectations.

Each new student only had 100,000 Points, and by the second month, they would likely discover the truth about the school. At that point, the information asymmetry tactic would no longer be effective.

Moreover, in the second month, their Class Points would change drastically. One could only imagine what would become of the 1,000 Class Points initially provided by the school.

Consequently, it was uncertain whether these students could continue to serve as reliable sources of Points in the coming months.

Houtarou, therefore, decided to quit while he was ahead. He set the deadline for this week, willing to accept any contributions from Class B students.

The logic was straightforward.

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Houtarou checked his phone. It was 21:23 — getting late.

He knew the girls would need time to shower and dry their hair after returning to the dormitory, so he decided to pay the bill.

However, the golden-haired boy who had been in the store since eight o'clock suddenly spoke up.

"Your bill is on the house."

"On the house?" Kikyō, now at Houtarou's side, echoed in surprise.

"Yes. You've brought good business to my store these past two days, so I've benefited too. Allow me to introduce myself." The golden-haired boy stood up, "I'm Miyabi Nagumo, second-year Class A representative and student council vice president."

"I came to check the accounts today, but I found you quite interesting." Miyabi continued, "The idea of opening a store occurred to me four months ago. For you to have such an idea as new students is intriguing. Plan A — borrowing money from classmates at high interest — is clever. You'll own your store after a year, essentially getting something for nothing. Very good. Plan B — turning lenders into shareholders — instantly reduces risk. Since you lack experience, sharing consequences is wise. Also excellent. Now, I think you'll need to contact me next."

"Contact you?" Kikyō asked, confused.

Miyabi glanced at her, then at Suzune, who was studying her vocabulary book behind Houtarou.

"What's your name?" He asked, looking at Kikyō, who resembled a cute little angel.

"Kikyō Kushida."

Having paid 10,000 Points for the school rules, she understood the significance of the student council vice president's position.

"Mm, what a cute name. And this one?" Miyabi turned his attention to Suzune.

While Kikyō resembled a cute little angel, Suzune was a top-tier beauty — the kind who'd be considered the school belle no matter where she enrolled.

"…"Suzune remained silent, seemingly averse to being flirted with. Yet, when asked for her name, she would typically respond.

However—

"Her name is Suzune." Houtarou interjected, preventing her from revealing her surname, "And I'm Houtarou Oreki."

"I see." Miyabi nodded slightly, "Then I'll get straight to the point. Your ideas are quite innovative. I conceived the store-opening concept after learning we can't work part-time at this school. The school approved my proposal. Upon enrollment, your teacher should have informed you that the private points on your student ID function as currency, allowing you to purchase anything."

"Therefore…" He continued, "If you wish to open a store, you'll need to pay me a transfer fee of 5 million points. I acquired the store-opening rights from the school for 2 million points, then spent another 1 million to secure exclusive rights. Any student wishing to open a store here requires my authorization."

As soon as Miyabi finished speaking, Suzune shot a glance at Houtarou.

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