Houtarou Oreki Classroom of the Elite

Houtarou was being kept by someone.

Anyone who saw the transfer notification would think that.

He certainly had the qualities for it — he ranked on someone's handsome guy list, and despite his lazy nature, he was both reliable and observant, with a proven ability to take action when needed. His good looks didn't hurt either.

Even the stern-faced Masumi would admit that Houtarou possessed features that girls found attractive. His classmates often noticed upperclassmen girls greeting him.

His popularity with girls was obvious to everyone.

Yet something seemed odd — Houtarou was already wealthy, so why would someone want to spend money to keep him? And to send 1 million Points immediately?

Which upperclassman girl had that kind of money? Could she be from Class 2-A or 3-A?

Everyone was curious.

"Oreki-kun—" The student beside him looked at him.

Houtarou checked the transfer notification again.

A transfer normally shows both source and recipient. A complete transfer record includes the amount, sender, and recipient. Seeing [Unknown] as the sender was unprecedented.

Though Masumi had previously used Points to disable camera flash and shutter sounds on phones, so perhaps someone had used Points to conceal their transfer information. This would explain why the sender's identity was hidden.

'Could it be Katsuragi-kun — I hope not…'

Houtarou looked in Kōhei's direction.

One million Points was no small sum. It matched the price he had set when trying to sell the Student Council secretary position that Manabu had partially given him.

"No, no." The honest bald man shook his head quickly, "I haven't started collecting points yet, so it wasn't from me."

His character seemed trustworthy.

Besides, the school had just distributed 123,000 Points to each student.

Kōhei had 28 supporters, so if they split it evenly, each person would only need to contribute about 30,000 Points to reach 1 million. They could use that to acquire the vacant Student Council secretary position from Houtarou.

But this was merely hypothetical, since everyone's Points had just been credited and hadn't been collected for him yet. An immediate transfer would have been impossible.

Thinking of people he knew with large amounts of Points, Houtarou glanced toward Arisu. Her phone lay untouched on her desk since Tomonari had entered.

"... Sensei, please continue with the announcements." He said to the teacher, who seemed deep in thought, after checking the transfer notification one more time.

"Ahem—Yes."

Tomonari himself was a graduate of this school's Class A and had gone on to success. Now he served as Class A's homeroom teacher.

Could even such an experienced teacher be stunned by this situation?

Indeed he could. This year's Class A students were truly exceptional.

Kōhei, Arisu, and Houtarou stood out as Class A's elite — natural leaders all.

Kōhei had already gathered the most followers in class.

Arisu had proven herself extraordinary during the part-time work rights incident. While everyone knew Houtarou as the ruthless Point-gathering machine, she too had emerged victorious, with her student ID showing transactions of 3 million Points that night. She was definitely someone to watch.

Having these three powerful personalities in one class was a double-edged sword. Tomonari's main concern was whether they could work together — as their infighting could spell disaster for Class A.

This was his sole worry.

And now, despite Houtarou's considerable wealth in Points, someone wanted to support him financially?

This was unprecedented.

"Well, that concludes the points announcement. Now for the regular special exam announcement. As you know from enrollment, the school holds a special exam monthly. It's typically announced on the 1st and scheduled for month-end, giving adequate preparation time."

"For your second month since enrollment, we'll have another regular exam — this time written. It will cover last month's material plus this month's content up to the 15th. The exam is set for the 24th and includes five subjects: Mathematics, English, Chemistry, Biology, and Physics. Due to low Class Evaluation Scores, this exam offers up to 100 Class Points, and failing students face expulsion."

A written exam posed little challenge for Class A.

Arisu's supporters had formed study groups, and the rest were academic stars anyway.

Even Masumi, after a month of tutoring, could now score above 60 points — safely above the failing mark.

The 100-point cap on exam earnings was actually reassuring. With Class A already leading Class B by 660 points, their advantage in the class rankings seemed nearly insurmountable.

So on this first day of the month, Class A remained untroubled.

The other classes, however, faced a much grimmer situation.

⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟

"W-why is it like this—"

This was Class 1-C.

"Our Class Evaluation Score is only 390 Points, and I only received 39,000 private points!"

"Ryūen, why are the points so low? Didn't you figure out the school's rules in less than two weeks?"

Class C was in an uproar — their mindsets were exploding.

"Useless!" Kakeru snapped, "I explained this school's essence early on, yet your actions still resulted in point deductions. That's why we ended up with such a low Class Evaluation Score."

"But Ryūen, you lost plenty of points too!" A male student protested, "Weren't you the one who led people to confront Oreki from Class A?"

Other students turned to look at this exchange.

Before Kakeru had consolidated the class, Daichi had led everyone to participate in Houtarou's store plan from Class A.

But this plan was terminated by Kakeru's bullying. Not only were their paid Points gone, but everyone had to pay an additional 10,000 in compensation.

They had trusted him, and what did they get? A garbage Evaluation Score that couldn't even reach 50,000 points monthly!

"Shut up!" Kakeru shot back, "If I hadn't confronted them, would this month's living expenses be enough?"

This month, Class C students' accounts only received 39,000 Points, and according to their contract with Houtarou, everyone needed to pay 30,000 Points monthly for the next five months.

With 39,000 minus 30,000, that left only 9,000 Points for living expenses — nowhere near enough!

The student fell silent.

Kakeru pressed on, "I didn't lose that many points. If you don't want to acknowledge my leadership, then get out and withdraw voluntarily!"

Only a desk separated him from the student. He kicked it away.

The male student startled.

"Why are you kicking my desk? The cameras are still recording!" The student protested, "You're making us lose points again!"

"Foolish!" Kakeru retorted, "This school operates on ability. Class competition is fluid — they won't create such large gaps deliberately. They want students competing as class units. Behavior regulations only last for one month. Now we won't lose points no matter how we behave! Right, Shiina?!"

He looked toward a silver-haired girl in the third row — Class C's beauty and strategist.

In Kakeru's inner circle, there were three strategists: himself, the glasses-wearing Satoru (Kaneda), and the silver-haired Hiyori.

"I agree." She stood up, "If lower classes kept losing points while upper classes stayed ahead, there would be no competition to produce excellence. The behavior regulation exam was just the school showing their authority to us new students. However, I think we should worry about the upcoming written exam. Failing means expulsion — that's quite pressuring."

Failing means expulsion.

Quite pressuring? No. This was terrifying.

Because Class C, including Kakeru himself, were poor students. Only Kaneda, Hiyori, and two or three others excelled academically.

So not only were their Points insufficient, but they might face expulsion?

The Class C students who had wanted to rebel against Kakeru suddenly calmed down, looking to him expectantly.

He had promised that if they submitted to his tyranny, he would control the class and lead them upward — handling special exams and such.

And so, everyone spontaneously transferred the Points Kakeru had demanded earlier: 20,000 Points each.

His account received 780,000 Points.

"..."

Having a strategist proved invaluable — she had stabilized the situation and secured the Point collection immediately.

Kakeru himself cared little for Class Evaluation Scores, since those only mattered for graduating as Class A in the third year.

No, what he valued now were Points. He needed to amass as many as possible.

⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟

Meanwhile, in Class 1-B.

⍟⍟⍟

T/N: If you want more chapters like this, check out my Patreon! I'm constantly translating and the difference will keep getting bigger!

For just $1 you can access all the extra content, and descriptive images, costs only $2!

That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)

https://www.patreon.com/mrblackwing