Houtarou Oreki Classroom of the Elite

"So..." Hiyori seemed to want to start a conversation, "Houtarou, do you like extracurricular books? Rather than that, when it comes to studying…"

"Studying? I don't like taking textbooks home, and I don't like reviewing teaching materials repeatedly." Houtarou said, "Studying is just a path to the future, mastering it is enough."

Oh. I see.

She also thought, what's so good about textbooks? The sooner you master them, the sooner you can read all kinds of other extracurricular books.

It was from this point that Hiyori realized she might be able to become friends with Houtarou.

So, feeling like they could be friends, Houtarou went to one side to read.

However, after reading for a while, he noticed that Hiyori had also sat nearby.

He first met Hiyori during the incident where Kikyō kicked someone, when she had foolishly come to look up books about fingerprints.

At that time, Houtarou didn't pay much attention. He just thought she was a girl with strong curiosity. Then he reminded Kikyō that her friend was easily curious.

The next time he saw her was at the bookstore a few days ago. Kei had pointed out that Hiyori was staring at him, and he had used a small trick to escape from her gaze.

And now... she seemed to have become cute. Yes, she had become cute.

Holding the book upright, hiding half of her face behind it but still revealing her clear, bright eyes — this posture was quite adorable.

But if you're not going to read the book, then don't position it like that.

Houtarou thought that although Hiyori had the aura of a literature girl, she didn't seem to enjoy reading books much.

While he was thinking, he noticed her walking over to him.

"Oreki." She said, "Can we exchange phone numbers? And add each other as friends."

"..."

When Maya had asked to add him before, Houtarou hadn't refused. That was following the advice of the great angel Honami — even when facing someone who had confessed to you, you could treat them with your usual attitude.

Don't make excessive distinctions. This way, neither party would feel awkward. And his usual attitude was not to casually refuse others' requests, because you might need their help someday, right?

Otherwise, when you needed to contact them, you'd have to go through the trouble of asking others who knew their contact information, which would be quite bothersome.

So the two became friends.

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After Mio was tricked by Houtarou into attending Rokusuke's lecture, Rokusuke discovered her appalling academic abilities and, seeing it as a challenge, began tutoring her.

Her academic performance improved. With this improvement, she ignored Kakeru and refused to continue following Houtarou.

Previously, she had poor academic performance, so she felt she had no chance of getting into her desired school. Her only option was to advance to Class A as a shortcut to her goal.

But with improved academic performance, she could succeed even without aiming for Class A.

After all, in this school, even without advancing to Class A, you could still save on tuition fees and possibly receive living expenses — wasn't that pretty good?

Kakeru was surprised to find someone in his camp showing signs of rebellion.

While the first-year students were studying hard, the date advanced to August 24th.

According to this month's pairing exam rules, on the 1st, the exam rules were announced to students, and within 3 days, classes determined which other classes to declare war against.

Then, on the 24th, they simultaneously submitted test papers to the class they had declared war against. The submission window was from 8 AM to 5 PM.

All they needed to do was submit the prepared papers for eight subjects, with 50 multiple-choice questions per subject, to their homeroom teacher for review.

Today was Saturday. Houtarou was still at school.

This was because Class A and Class C students had signed an agreement, which included betting terms. They had to fulfill it.

Previously, Houtarou and Kōhei had attended together, so naturally, the two appeared together again now. To reassure Class C students, they first met with them.

Since it was a dishonorable matter, they needed to avoid the school's cameras. They went to the artificial lake where Kikyō had once kicked the railing.

Because of this, her angelic demeanor was slightly subdued. Houtarou could feel her staring at him.

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Kōhei was holding two identical sets of test papers for eight subjects. He passed the papers down for the Class C students to check, then took them back.

"You've already examined the test papers." He said, "Since they're identical, we'll leave one set here. I'll submit the other set."

Then, appearing impartial, he let the Class C students choose for themselves.

"Yes." Yōsuke nodded.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, he handed the papers on the left to Kōhei.

This meant Kōhei would accompany him to submit these papers later. Submitting them in person ensured there could be no deception.

Meanwhile, Class C had a bet with Houtarou. If Class C students could obtain these papers and gain 50 Class Points as a reward in this exam, then only half of the contract with Class A would be terminated.

{T/N: For those who didn't understand that, even if they win, they'll still have to "lose" half of the contract, note that Class A is literally handing over the exam on a silver platter, and Class C's only role is to study specifically for this exam. It's already a concession, hence the extra challenge, where if they still lose despite this, the Island contract is done for.}

This also meant that from next month, Class C would still have a guaranteed living allowance.

Currently, Class C had 580 Class Points. If they failed this exam, they would have only 530 Points remaining.

The composition of these 530 Points was quite delicate: Houtarou's 270 Points, Suzune's 50 Points, and Rokusuke's 225 Points, totaling 545 Class Points.

If Class C failed this exam, this portion of Points would be affected, creating a deficit of 15 Class Points — meaning ordinary Class C students would lose their living allowance entirely.

To facilitate the current exchange of test papers, the underachievers in Class C had commissioned Suzune and Kikyō as intermediaries, gathering 3 million Points.

The Points they had obtained in the VIP Exam were now basically depleted. If they failed the bet, they would return to having no living allowance whatsoever.

After Yōsuke made his choice, the Class C students immediately requested to take the other set of papers provided by Kōhei to make copies and quickly memorize them.

As usual, it was quite a mess.

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In the teachers' office.

"The papers have indeed been received."

Kōhei and Yōsuke each handed the papers to their respective homeroom teachers.

The homeroom teachers, following the previous rules, reviewed the papers to check for overly obscure questions. After confirming there were no issues, they notified both sides that the review had passed.

Seeing this, Yōsuke breathed a sigh of relief. He walked out to inform his classmates by phone that the papers had been fully submitted.

Houtarou and the others also left the office and entered the corridor.

The representatives from Class C were Yōsuke and Teruhiko. After confirming everything, they left.

The representatives from Class A who came to submit the papers were Houtarou, Masumi, Kōhei, and Yahiko, who stood by Kōhei's side.

Since it was the weekend, after submitting the papers, all they needed to do was make copies of the Class C papers obtained from Yōsuke for their classmates.

But…

"If Class C students follow the bet and each person memorizes the test papers, then everyone scores 100 Points. Then Class C students not only get 50 Class Points and win the bet, but the agreement on the island will only be half terminated. Don't you think our class isn't gaining an advantage?" Yahiko asked.

But Houtarou's expression remained calm.

Masumi looked around and then took the initiative to speak.

"This is a test. If spending just 50 Points can confirm that Class C students can achieve this, then they'll be opponents we need to guard against in the next exam." She explained, "As for the 400,000 Points we spend each month — our class has a high evaluation score, so don't worry. Rather, keeping this contract can increase our class's credibility. It lets Class B or Class D know that our class honors our contracts."

"I see." Kōhei nodded.

Now Class A's score was very high, so losing 50 Points or so wasn't a concern.

Rather than that, spending 50 Class Points to verify whether Rokusuke and his teachings pose a threat is quite valuable.

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