Houtarou Oreki Classroom of the Elite

Watching the time on his phone, Houtarou prepared to get up.

Walking out of Arisu's room, he glanced at the elevator, then at the stairwell.

All first-year students live in the same building. Boys are on floors 1-3, while girls are on the higher floors. They aren't divided by class, so if he takes the elevator and encounters other girls, it wouldn't be good.

Kei and Maya are also here. If it's Kei, she might wonder why he's visiting. And if it's Maya... meeting her would be rather awkward.

Then there's also Suzune... Oh. No need to worry about her. He knew she was quite dense.

However, from the information obtained through the student ID on his phone, her birthday is in October, so he should prepare something for her then.

With these thoughts in mind, Houtarou decided to take the stairs down.

"Ah..."

Yet as soon as he reached the stairwell, he unexpectedly found a tall girl with long purple hair looking at her phone. Her distinguishing feature was three hairpins in her bangs.

This was everyone's acquaintance, Masumi.

"You can go back now." Houtarou said, "If nothing unexpected happens, I probably won't be back until noon."

"..." Masumi said, "Understood."

She then climbed the stairs, brushing past him and heading toward Arisu's room.

Houtarou: "..."

Speaking of which, why did Arisu want to send Masumi away when he was just petting the cat? Or rather, what was she thinking?

She must feel it's better not to have Masumi present. But if she were there, she could make tea or help out — wouldn't that be more convenient?

Thinking this, Houtarou headed to the first floor of the dormitory.

In the lobby, he encountered a nervous-looking girl with glasses who had tied her beautiful pink hair into loose twin tails in a somewhat unrefined way — Airi Sakura.

"O-Oreki-kun…" Airi immediately waved to him.

Houtarou also noticed that there was a companion beside her.

She was an exceptionally beautiful girl. With long blue hair, delicate features, and a slightly prominent forehead that wasn't unattractive — rather, she was quite good-looking. She had a beauty mark under the corner of her eye. This was also a sign of beauty.

And like Airi, she was also well-endowed.

During the Sports Festival, Airi had mentioned that she'd made a friend named Haruka Hasebe. Houtarou had seen Haruka several times at school, but he had never directly interacted with her.

"Hello," Houtarou said.

"Hello, Oreki-kun~ I'm Airi's friend, Haruka Hasebe." She introduced herself.

While she appeared to be a composed beauty from a distance, up close she seemed quite friendly. Her personality was also very lively, quite different from the shy Airi.

"Do you have time during summer vacation? We're already in summer vacation... And when I say 'have time' I mean—"

Houtarou wasn't like Suzune. His emotional intelligence wasn't low. He took out his phone and opened the transfer section of his student ID, where a fresh 1 million Point monthly "allowance" from his wealthy senior patron had arrived today.

"Oh…" Haruka nodded, "So it's just as Satō-san said, keeping Oreki-kun as a sugar baby is expensive. How nice, 1 million per month—"

It seemed this wasn't an expression of interest in him. Rather, she must be quite close with Maya normally.

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The three of them headed to the shopping district together.

The school required students to live in dormitories, not allowing them to leave campus for three years except during exams. But they also used Points to motivate students to perform well, and if these Points couldn't be spent freely, they would have no allure.

The shopping district offered many services — from ordinary food establishments to recreational facilities like roller skating and ice skating rinks, billiards, fitness centers, and karaoke. They had also set up movie theaters, bathhouses, and more.

Although somewhat remote, there was also a photo studio that Airi wanted to use.

Since he had promised her from the beginning, Houtarou didn't go back on his word.

Glancing to the side, he noticed she had deliberately brought a camera different from the one she had on the ship last time.

Hmm… So she's really into this. Well, as long as she's happy.

On their way, they passed by the first-year classroom building. On the bulletin board on the first floor, student council members had already updated the data.

「Class A: 2051 Points」 [50⇧]

「Class B: 920 Points」 [50⇧]

「Class C: 540 Points」 {Kakeru} [50⇧]

「Class D: 530 Points」 {Suzune} [50⇩]

"It's a bit unfortunate." Haruka said, "Our class ranking has dropped again."

Class rankings were based on Class Points.

Previously, their Class C had scored higher than Kakeru's class, so they had moved up.

But now, they had dropped down in this paired exam.

"No one failed in this exam, right?" Houtarou asked.

"Mm…" Haruka nodded, "But because of this, we won't get living expenses starting this month."

Is that so?

It is. The evaluation Points in the class don't belong to them, and the resource agreement with Class A has also fallen through.

"Then do you need me to lend you some?" Houtarou offered.

"Hmm?" Haruka blinked lightly.

"50,000 Points per month." Houtarou said, "But sometimes I hope you can cooperate with Class A's exams."

As a Class A student, he occasionally had to make efforts for the class. Acquiring spies from other classes was part of the job.

"Oh, I see... But wouldn't that be cultivating a spy in our class? Although it's tempting, I... can't do such a thing." Haruka refused.

It seems her character is quite good. So Houtarou didn't press the matter further.

"What's wrong, Sakura?" Houtarou noticed that she was staring somewhat blankly at the scores.

"Is there an error in the Class Points? Because in the previous exam, both Ryūen's class and Class B seem to have gained 50 Points."

Hmm. She's observed this?

Then Class A declared war on Class C. Class B and Class D confronted each other. The reward Points for this time were very low, with the winning side gaining 50 Points from the losing side.

And Houtarou's Class A declared war on Class C, with the final result being that his class had a higher total score, so they took 50 Points from Class C.

But the Points for Class B and Class D both increased by 50 Points each. This was unusual.

"When my class first enrolled." Houtarou explained, "Everyone initially grasped the school's rules and maintained them. The board of directors decided to reward our class with 200 Class Points. So the school leadership's thinking pattern might be more lenient — giving preferential treatment to those who show promise and providing encouragement. That is to say, if there's no mistake in the Class Points for Class B and Class D, then their classes received commendations. They were awarded special rewards by the school. And to achieve this, it means that all students in both classes scored 100 Points in all eight subjects — all perfect scores — so there was absolutely no need for a tiebreaker."

"Huh." Airi looked surprised.

Haruka slightly furrowed her brow, seeming to struggle internally, then made a gesture of resignation.

"Then the students in other classes really are impressive..."

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