Houtarou Oreki Classroom of the Elite

"Go find Class B?" Daichi was puzzled by Kakeru's move.

He planned to take 200 of their 300 Base Points to exchange for supplies to sell to Class B.

"If our sale succeeds, you'll all have 20,000 points for living expenses until graduation, regardless of how this exam goes. Plus, we've already created the appearance of discord between me and Ibuki's group, so this plan can proceed smoothly."

"We can continue with the class leader guessing phase too. And since we'll have sold off our Base Points, the remainder won't be enough for the whole class to spend — some students will have to withdraw and return to the ship."

Return to the ship? Continue their vacation?

While everyone else takes the exam, they could enjoy themselves on the ship?

"Ohhh!"

Class C students burst with excitement.

Of course they'd jump at the chance to avoid hardship! Who wouldn't want such an easy life?

Their appreciation for Kakeru grew.

And so the newly popular Tyrant set off to find Class B students.

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Class B students had just finished hearing their homeroom teacher Chie explain the rules.

They were debating who to choose as their leader. Honami and Ryūji were definitely out of the question.

Though the students weren't all familiar with each other yet, everyone knew who the standouts were in each class.

Take Honami Ichinose, for instance — every first-year student knew about her. If they chose her as leader and another class guessed correctly based on her reputation alone, Class B would face severe penalties.

They needed someone less obvious as their leader.

Their discussion was interrupted when someone burst into their basement room.

Due to the ship's limited space for accommodating forty students at once, their homeroom teacher had brought them to this basement area for the rules explanation.

The intruder was none other than Class C's tyrant, the red-haired Kakeru Ryūen.

"Ryūen—"

The two Class B representatives frowned at his arrival.

The current Class Points standings explained their wariness:

「Class A: 1330 Points」

「Class B: 670 Points」

「Class C: 490 Points」

「Class D: 80 Points」

Ignoring Classes A and D, Class C posed the greatest threat to Class B. The point gap was uncomfortably close — one misstep could cost them their position.

In the previous exam, Class B had achieved perfect scores through diligent study and memorization of practice problems — no small feat.

Yet Class C had earned the highest bonus points in that same exam, proving themselves formidable opponents with remarkable determination.

No wonder everyone viewed Kakeru as dangerous. Even these innocent lambs of Class B kept their guard up around Class C.

"Ryūen, why are you here?" Honami stepped forward protectively in front of her classmates, "And what you did earlier was unacceptable!"

She was referring to the incident where Kakeru had thrown Mio across the deck.

For the justice-minded girl, this behavior was extremely distasteful. Though Houtarou had tricked her into being a witness earlier, Kakeru had indeed been trying to bully someone.

"Ibuki..."

"I don't care about that person anymore." Kakeru said, "I'm here to give up."

"Give up?" Honami remained silent, but a purple-haired boy beside her spoke up.

This was Ryūji Kanzaki. He excelled in everything — physical ability, sports, academics, and critical thinking. A natural leader, he had always aimed to support Honami and unite Class B in their pursuit of Class A status.

But he had quickly discovered that Class B's situation was precarious.

With only 180 Points separating them from Class C, they could easily lose their position this month. The possibility of dropping to Class C in this exam loomed over them.

This prospect terrified everyone in Class B. So when Class C's tyrant approached, these innocent students stood on guard.

Kakeru found himself surrounded.

Yet faced with this scene, he smiled.

He knew Class B was wary of him, but they were the perfect target for selling points. Class D was too dim to understand, and dealing with Class A risked drawing Houtarou's attention.

He especially wanted to avoid Houtarou figuring out his true intentions regarding the class leader selection. Better to stay off his radar.

So he approached Class B — the class that couldn't refuse him. While Houtarou required caution after their previous encounter, Class B were mere sheep.

Earlier on the ship, he had let his Class C students roam freely to gather information. They discovered that 15 Class B students were still bound to Houtarou's store agreement, faithfully transferring points each month.

In Kakeru's eyes, wasn't Class B just a collection of generous souls?

They were, without question, the ideal target.

"My goal is Class A." Kakeru said, "I was just a delinquent from a poor background. At my old middle school, I either fought or dodged beatings. I only ended up here because the principal personally scouted and recommended me."

"Then I discovered something interesting about this school — even with poor grades, you could aim high. Get into your dream university or career without entrance exams, all for free. But no one from Class C had ever succeeded before. That challenge drew me in. So I took charge."

Oh.

?? But what was this? A self-introduction?

"Then this goal proved too difficult. With that bastard Oreki around, I decided to focus on gathering points first. He managed to scam nearly 3 million points from me."

Oh. So he got scammed.

"Was it that store agreement?" Asked a Class B student cautiously. This was Chihiro Shiranami.

Though she hadn't joined the agreement herself, her friend had. She used to fear Kakeru, but now he seemed... quite inspiring.

"That's the one. Thirty-six people from my class participated. If we had abundant points it wouldn't matter, but... the Class Points would change. So I terminated the agreement with Oreki. Otherwise, no one in my class would have points to live on this month." Kakeru said, "Since my goal is Class A, I can't keep transferring points to students from other classes — it's like helping the enemy. Better to cut our losses and make a clean break."

Oh. The Class B students who had just found him inspiring now looked at him warily again.

"Ryūen, you don't need to lobby our class." Ryūji glanced at Honami, who seemed to be contemplating Kakeru's true purpose. Being more direct, he asked, "What do you want?"

"It's simple." Kakeru said, "Make an agreement with you. My class will provide supplies for this exam. In return, your class will pay me living expenses until graduation. You can keep your 300 Base Points — it's a good deal, right? Since you'll be living on the island as a whole class, you'll definitely need supplies. This way, you can save those Base Points."

"That's not reasonable." Honami immediately countered, "Base Points are only calculated at the exam's end. Points might be deducted midway, or when guessing the leader incorrectly. Meanwhile, you're just providing supplies but expecting continuous payments afterward. Ryūen, you're trying to transfer your own risk. Isn't this exactly like Oreki-kun's store agreement?"

"..." Kakeru looked at her with surprise.

He had thought Honami was just another innocent angel. But it seemed she had brains too.

Yes. This school revolved around ability and Points. He could steadily extract Points while safely getting through this exam — a profitable arrangement.

But Honami had seen right through it.

Still, he had come with this obvious scheme.

"Think whatever you want. I just want living expenses — my class is getting rowdy. More people are becoming dissatisfied with me. I need points to keep them quiet." Kakeru said.

"That's a problem with your own rule. Or rather, we're all classmates — why even use words like 'rule'?"

As a class of well-meaning students, Class B deeply disapproved of his actions.

"You really are naive." Kakeru said, "This is a transaction. You have one minute to decide. From my class's 300 Base Points, we'll give you 200. After the exam ends, you transfer 800,000 Points to me monthly. Think about it — yes, there's risk for you, but this moves you closer to Class A, doesn't it? Plus, once my class spends our base points, we'll definitely lose that portion in the final calculation."

In other words, Kakeru wasn't just tempting Class B to close the gap with Class A — he was willing to actively widen the distance between his class and Class B first?

Considering this, Ryūji looked toward Honami.

"..." Honami paused, "I can't just accept your one-sided proposal. Right now, Class B and Class C's evaluation scores are too close. Besides, if we need supplies, we could just as easily buy them from Class D."

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