Houtarou Oreki Classroom of the Elite

How dishonorable of Houtarou!

Miyabi burst into profanity.

He deduced that the falling boxes must contain exam papers from either first or third-year students — they couldn't be second-year papers.

Since Houtarou was demanding 5 million Points from him, he wouldn't dare leak the second-year papers directly. This was just a warning using papers from other grades.

In other words, this was blackmail.

"Don't be so tense, I just leaked my first-year papers." Houtarou said calmly.

The papers cascaded down from the mechanism, countless white sheets drifting through the air.

Though this was the physics lab floor with no one expected upstairs, the regular classroom building stood right next door, connected by a wide corridor where students passed through during lunch break.

These papers would be visible to everyone below.

"First-year mid-term physics exam!"

"This is... Could these be the actual test papers?!"

Clamorous voices rose from below.

This was a deliberate public leak — papers scattered where every student would see them.

"Was he trying to corner the first-years?"

"Houtarou Oreki!" Miyabi spun toward him, "You're driving the first-years into a corner!"

But Houtarou's face remained impassive as he held his phone.

"Starting a 30-second countdown now." He said, "If Nagumo-senpai hasn't transferred 5.2 million points after 30 seconds, then the next leak will be the second-year papers."

"Have you made up your mind?" Manabu, who had been standing silently to the side, finally spoke, "You're now the enemy of all first-years."

Enemy of the first-years.

Indeed. The first-year papers were already exposed in plain sight — the school administration couldn't cover this up.

They would have no choice but to rewrite the first-year exams.

And once word spread that Houtarou was behind the leak, he would face the wrath of every first-year student.

Miyabi fell silent.

Then Houtarou continued.

"Isn't it logical for me to leak the first-year papers? As a Class A student, I see Classes C and D memorizing old questions, which gives us no advantage. But if the school fairly rewrites the questions, half of Classes C and D will fail. They won't be able to recover after that. This is a strategic move to permanently weaken Classes C and D in the class competition. I'm simply acting in my class's interests."

"..." Miyabi.

Damn. His reasoning made sense...

When Classes C and D students faced new questions without preparation time, many would certainly fail.

With numerous dropouts from Classes C and D, Houtarou's class would benefit as those classes would have to forfeit exams requiring minimum student numbers. The mass withdrawals might even trigger a chain reaction, causing more students to drop out voluntarily.

Class A's position would be secure.

And this situation — wasn't it actually perfect?

Miyabi saw his chance.

The school used expulsion as punishment but avoided mass expulsions at once. Students were typically eliminated gradually through multiple exams.

But if many first-years were expelled from this single exam, Student Council President Manabu would face consequences. He might even have to resign in disgrace.

This was excellent news for someone like him who coveted the President position.

He knew that under normal circumstances, Manabu would never appoint him as the next Student Council President.

The Student Council President election at Nurturing High School had two requirements:

First, nomination by the current Student Council President.

Second, a schoolwide student vote, with the highest vote-getter winning.

So Miyabi needed Manabu's recommendation to become President.

But if he resigned over this incident, Vice President Ikuto Kiriyama would likely take his place.

And Miyabi held leverage over Ikuto that he could use when needed.

Therefore, if Manabu resigned in disgrace due to mass first-year expulsions...

"Nagumo-senpai, you seem pleased with yourself. If you don't transfer the points, I'll leak the second-year exam papers next. Those questions will need to be rewritten too." Houtarou said.

"Heh—" Miyabi laughed mockingly, "Go ahead if you dare."

"Very well." Houtarou nodded.

He took out his phone and made what appeared to be a call.

The other side connected with a click. No voice came through — only breathing could be heard.

"In one minute, I'll leak the second-year papers. Then in two minutes, I'll leak the third-year papers — no, never mind about the third-year papers." He said.

Then he abruptly ended the call.

At that moment, he displayed a transfer notification.

『5,000,000 Points have been credited to your account!』

『Sender - C024』

"..."

The transfer came from C024 — Miyabi recognized this special code as belonging to the Student Council President.

Looking over, he saw Manabu holding his phone.

"Horikita-senpai..." Miyabi's feelings were mixed.

He had surrendered far too quickly!

"I can't gamble with the third-years' futures." Manabu explained, "They've been through two years of school life. Having them drop out in large numbers because of a sudden exam change wouldn't be fair. I had no choice."

He continued.

"I'll collect 36,000 points from each third-year student as their share. They'll likely agree to pay that amount to avoid potential expulsion."

Ah. By collecting equally from all students, the 5 million Points burden became manageable.

Only then did Miyabi realize he'd been too focused on whether Houtarou wanted his personal savings. The real threat of leaking second-year papers was aimed at all second-years — so why should he alone bear the cost?

Moreover, despite maintaining his composure, Miyabi had come to another realization.

While leaked first-year papers meant little to him as a second-year — even if only Classes A and B survived — leaked second-year papers would be disastrous.

He currently collected 400,000 in monthly tribute from each of the four second-year classes. Such a major incident would not only cause numerous dropouts but would severely damage his authority.

His position as ruler of the second-year students would crumble.

He could already hear their voices:

"Nagumo, how could you be so careless?" "Nagumo, you took our money—aren't you supposed to protect us?" "Nagumo, return the money you collected!"

In that scenario, he'd lose his monthly income of 1.6 million Points from the second-year classes. That would be a massive financial loss.

In the ensuing chaos, someone might even try to overthrow him.

Five million Points to maintain peace wasn't too expensive, especially since he could collect it back from all the second-year students. Looking at it that way, the plan made perfect sense.

However, the first-year exam leak was already done. With such an obvious breach, the school would have to issue new first-year exam papers. Once they did, many first-years would fail and drop out.

Manabu would have to take responsibility.

The Student Council President position — the one he thought he'd have to wait months for, until his senpai's graduation and resignation in third year — could be his much sooner.

Thump thump!

Miyabi's heart pounded in his chest.

This was his chance! With 5 million Points, he could seize this opportunity to become Student Council President.

Better yet, he could collect the money back from the second-years later, so he wouldn't lose anything.

Thump thump!

His heart kept racing.

"Then 30 seconds, 29, 28, 10, 9, 8 seconds—" Houtarou had already started counting down.

"Wait! Why is the countdown so fast? Isn't it enough that I'm paying?" Miyabi hurriedly tried to stop him.

Manabu had already paid for safety, but he hadn't yet.

"Wait until this evening." He said, "I need to collect it from the second-years first."

"That won't do." Houtarou shook his head, "Knowing you, Nagumo-senpai, you'd likely default on payment and expose my leaking of the first-year exam papers."

"Hehe, am I that kind of person?" Miyabi gave a small laugh.

"Yes, you are." Houtarou said.

"..."

Indeed, he had been planning exactly that.

If he could delay, he'd expose the exam leak, and Houtarou would be surrounded by angry first-years. At that point, he would find it difficult to leak more papers.

If this kōhai tried leaking again, he'd likely face school punishment. This way, Miyabi could save his 5 million Points.

With the first-year papers already leaked, Classes C and D would be finished. Manabu would have to resign in disgrace.

It would have been perfect.

But now that seemed impossible.

Ding!

Houtarou checked his phone.

『5,000,000 Points have been credited to your account!』

『Sender - B1356』

"Senpai Nagumo, you're still 200,000 short." Houtarou reminded him.

"..." Miyabi frowned, "Didn't Horikita-senpai only pay 5 million?"

"That's different. I want 5.2 million from the second-years. It's the 14th today — Valentine's Day — so there's a surcharge." Houtarou said.

Valentine's Day? In May? Was this guy crazy?

And he wanted to use his money for Valentine's Day?

Still, things were moving in the direction he wanted, even if the Points came from his personal savings. He could collect from the students later and spread rumors about this guy too.

Miyabi's mind raced.

Listen up, you second-year bitches — open your eyes and see that Houtarou Oreki is definitely not some pure, kind, cute kōhai!

『200,000 Points have been credited to your account!』

『Sender - B1356』

Houtarou looked down at his phone.

"Thank you for your generosity, Nagumo-senpai." He said.

He quickly pulled up the system.

〖 Main Task: 20 Million Points Big Mission! 〗

〖 Task Requirement: Gather 20 million Points within three months! 〗

〖 Task Duration: 46/90 Days 〗

〖 Task Reward: Superhuman Physique — Major Physical Enhancement 〗

〖 Task Progress: 26,090,900 Pts / 20,000,000 Pts 〗

〖 Note: All Points earned by the host can be entrusted to Manabu Horikita, who is about to graduate from the third year, and can be guaranteed to be exchanged for cash! 〗

〖 Congratulations on exceeding the Main Task! 〗

〖 Congratulations on receiving Task Reward - Superhuman Physique! 〗

〖 Would you like to begin enhancement now? 〗

No! He'd deal with that when he got home!

The last thing he wanted was to experience superpowers in public.

⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟

"Hmph!" Miyabi looked at the private account balance on his student ID.

『Personal Account: ¤ 16,000 Pts』

It looked pitiful for a Class A student.

To end up with barely over 10,000 Points? No matter — he had only advanced the payment for now. He could collect it back from his classmates later while spreading word about Houtarou's actions.

Then he just had to wait for school officials to arrive, summon Manabu, force new exams to be made, watch the first-years drop out, and finally see Manabu resign.

However...

"Something's strange." Miyabi said as they walked downstairs together.

They saw students gathering at the exam leak site, only to quickly disperse.

Indeed, students had gathered where the pile of first-year exam papers had landed, but after their initial surprise, they simply walked away.

"Strange?" Houtarou said, "Does Nagumo-senpai think I really leaked the exams?"

"Eh?" Miyabi froze.

???

"See for yourself." Houtarou picked up a paper from the flower bed and handed it to him.

[First Year First Semester, Physics Exam]

The questions looked unfamiliar to Miyabi — he had no recollection of their content.

But didn't the school always use decade-old questions for the second month's entrance exams?

These questions... he had never seen them before??

As he pondered this — Bang!

"Everyone get back!"

"Someone's throwing out trash again!"

Students cried out in alarm as more exam papers rained down from above.

"Throwing trash?" Miyabi's stomach sank at those words.

"Yes, throwing trash. Did Nagumo-senpai really think I was leaking exams? I was just disposing of trash. These aren't leaked exam papers — just random practice questions I found. The first-year exams weren't actually leaked. And now—!"

The boxes on the roof tipped over, and as papers fluttered down like snow, Houtarou grabbed one and held it up.

[Second Year First Semester, English Exam]

What caught his eye was a listening comprehension question about the price of a shirt in pence.

"…"

Though the question looked dated, it wasn't among the exam questions Miyabi had already purchased to pass this test.

In other words...

Damn! These cascading papers weren't exam papers at all — they were just practice questions!

So they really were just practice materials. Calling them trash wasn't wrong after all.

"...You were deceiving me?" Miyabi finally understood.

He had paid up so quickly because he thought the leaked first-year exam questions would force President Manabu to resign and take responsibility.

But... Damn!

If the first-year exams weren't actually leaked, then Manabu wouldn't need to resign!

But wait — hadn't his senpai also paid immediately?

As these thoughts raced through his mind—

Ding!

Manabu's phone vibrated.

Standing next to Miyabi, he could see the screen.

A payment notification appeared:

『5,000,000 Points have been credited to your account!』

『Sender - X1008610010』

That number belonged to Houtarou. He had returned Manabu's 5 million Points.

"??"

Miyabi stood there, bewildered.

"I just conducted a small test. President Horikita, you always put students first — I'm touched. So I'm returning the points I collected." Houtarou said.

Then he turned to Miyabi.

"But since Nagumo-senpai seems to dislike me, I won't be returning this money. Thank you for your generosity."

"..."

"..."

??

"..."

!!

So Houtarou had planned to steal his savings all along?

And Manabu was his accomplice!

It was clear now — Manabu and Houtarou had been working together from the start. That's why the President transferred the money as soon as Houtarou mentioned leaking exam papers.

They had schemed together to swindle his money!

Fuck!

⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟

Watching Miyabi leave in frustration, Manabu pushed up his glasses.

"You've completely angered him now." He said.

"But isn't this what you wanted to see, President Horikita?" Houtarou said, "Nagumo has lost a significant amount of personal points. For a while, he'll have to think twice about his actions."

Then he turned and left.

Manabu stared at his retreating figure for a long time.

"President—"

Hearing about the exam leak, Student Council members Akane and Ikuto rushed to the scene.

Ikuto, despite his tall and large frame, had hurried over as soon as he heard about the first-year exam papers being leaked.

Being a level-headed person, he still found the idea of leaking exam papers before a test absolutely deplorable.

But then...

Wait. These weren't first-year exam papers at all.

It was merely discarded practice materials — the papers bore markings from a question bank. Someone had simply relabeled these practice questions to appear as exam papers.

These had nothing to do with the actual purchased exam papers. This wasn't exam leaking at all.

"Lunch break isn't very long, let's clean this up first." Manabu said.

Student Council members had arrived with brooms and dustpans, and Manabu joined them in cleaning up the scattered papers.

He had to admit — his initial invitation for Houtarou to join the Student Council stemmed from discovering Miyabi's ambitions. It was also a task the school had assigned him.

But the first-year kōhai had declined.

Then, at the start of this month, Houtarou began showing signs of confrontation with Miyabi, making Manabu reconsider.

Last month's third-year special exam had shown peculiar changes in class scores. Class 3-B had clearly received outside help. They alone hadn't lost any Points, instead making remarkable progress.

They had gained 280 Class Points in a single move.

But Manabu knew Class 3-B wasn't capable of such strength on their own. This strongly suggested Miyabi had begun meddling in third-year affairs.

Natural competition among third-years wouldn't have concerned him. However, Miyabi was overstepping by attempting to control the entire second year and meddle in.

It was clear that Miyabi's ultimate goal was the Student Council President position.

His presidency would be catastrophic for the school.

So when Houtarou arranged today's meeting and orchestrated the exam paper incident, Manabu recognized an opportunity to cooperate with his kōhai — one that might prove beneficial.

And indeed, it did.

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