Houtarou Oreki Classroom of the Elite

Now that a semester had passed, they should be quite familiar with this school.

At the same time, they felt despair about the class competition and the gaps between Classes A, B, C, and D. Not to mention Class A, even Class B with Honami and others, and then there's Kakeru's class.

For Haruka and her classmates, Kakeru's class was the closest to theirs because they also had a bunch of poor students.

However, it was different from their class. Their class couldn't unite, and no one would listen to anyone in particular, while Kakeru's class gave a feeling of... well, being very orderly.

In this exam, did every student in Kakeru's class get perfect scores in all eight subjects? This level of execution, this ability for everyone to comply... plus the energy consumed and so on...

It was quite frightening. It instantly made one feel the gap.

"But there's no need to be too tense." Houtarou said, "Ryūen and Ichinose's groups probably exchanged test papers around the 10th and then memorized them. So it's quite normal for them to get perfect scores in all subjects."

No, no, no. This isn't normal at all.

In this paired exam, their class only received the test papers from Class A on the afternoon of the 24th and then began frantically memorizing. But even if they had received the test papers on the 10th, it wouldn't have been possible.

This was evident from when Rokusuke started his study group. Most people were unwilling to participate. Only a small portion chose to join.

And Haruka was one of the participants in the class. Her math and physics were terribly poor, but after attending the study group, she improved to a reassuring level.

But overall, their class was now very, very far from Class A. They could hardly even earn Class Points and living expenses.

Thinking this, the three of them had arrived at the shopping district.

"Ca-can we start now?" The introverted Airi seemed to have been injected with new energy.

"…"

Let's begin then. So Houtarou began to repay the favor.

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Just as he had told Masumi in the morning, he didn't return at noon.

Now the three of them had arrived at an outdoor café. Airi was selecting photos.

"Um..." She looked at Houtarou with hesitation, "Um... they look so good — can I share them?"

It seemed Kikyō had asked her about the photos.

"I don't mind." Houtarou said.

His photos had already been circulating around the school. He had made peace with it by now.

"It's somewhat surprising." Haruka said, "I'm a bit surprised that Oreki-kun is such an easy person to get along with."

Is it because he's approachable? Or is it because he's both rich and approachable?Houtarou looked at the notification on his phone.

| Haruka Hasebe |

| After some consideration, is your offer of 50,000 Points per month still valid, Oreki-kun? |

| Please don't give this opportunity to anyone else. |

Calling being a spy an "opportunity". It seems this supposedly virtuous classmate Haruka didn't hesitate to choose becoming an informant in the class.

Anyone would recognize how desperate this is. Although her class has a powerhouse like Rokusuke, he takes a portion of the points for himself. And starting this month, the points deposited by the school have nothing to do with ordinary students like them.

So to earn living expenses without being able to work part-time, they can only... try hard in next month's special exam?

It feels like they won't be able to earn many points.

So rather than that... might as well. Yes, that's it. Save up some money.

As Houtarou was thinking this, he noticed Haruka looking outside. She seemed very focused.

And what was outside? Two familiar faces.

They were at this open-air café on the second floor with a nice view. From their position, they could see out clearly. However, the two people on the street didn't seem to notice they were being secretly watched.

They were quite eye-catching, turning heads on the street because of their high attractiveness.

One was the lively, cheerful, exquisitely featured, approachable and justice-driven Class B leader, Honami Ichinose.

The other was the weak, pitiful yet enchanting leader of her own faction in Class A, Arisu Sakayanagi.

Arisu and Honami were together. The little girl was quite polite as she gently held her cane.

"I'm really sorry for troubling you to accompany me today." Arisu said, "And I walk so slowly, delaying your return to the dormitory."

"Not at all, I'm actually quite happy... haha—" Honami's expression wasn't fabricated. Which means she's truly an angel.

Back in the café.

"Ichinose's popularity is still so high. She doesn't even flinch when interacting with Class A students." Haruka said.

Speaking of which, you're also interacting with him, a Class A student, right now.

"So..." Haruka seemed to have developed some interest, "Oreki, do you think Ichinose is beautiful or Sakayanagi is cute?"

Ugh… What kind of question is this?

Is this something one should choose between? If it's purely based on perception, cute and beautiful are different categories.

But if he chooses wrong, and Arisu finds out in the future, it could be problematic.

After some consideration, Houtarou decided not to deceive himself.

"Actually, I think both of them are outstanding people." He said, "So I can't differentiate."

"Oh… But I think you should choose Sakayanagi." Haruka said.

"W-why do you say that?" Airi, who was selecting photos, joined the conversation.

Houtarou knew that he had told her he helped Kei because they had dated in the past. So Airi, being a good person, although afraid of Kei, still wanted to help "unite them together again".

"Because she seems very cute, and many boys like that type. As for Ichinose…" Haruka paused and then expressed her feeling, "Although she's famous and has many friends, like Kushida, but… I don't really like her. She's good-looking and beautiful, but don't you think she's too perfect? Such people can be approached, but I feel they're untouchable. I kind of wish she would fall from grace a bit."

Oh, You're quite perceptive.

Though this is just a girl's perception, Houtarou knows that Honami has a dark history buried in her heart. So Haruka might be a highly perceptive person for noticing this.

But he doesn't want Honami to fall from grace, because that girl values Class B so highly that if she were to fall, she might choose to drop out of school. Then the school life for three years would lose a true angel.

Houtarou feels this wouldn't be a good thing.

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