Houtarou Oreki Classroom of the Elite

At that moment, Kakeru's group noticed Houtarou and Suzune.

"Oh, if it isn't Houtarou Oreki!" Kakeru's gaze locked onto him.

He strode up from the stairs by the vending machine.

Behind him was Daichi, whom they had met at the bubble tea shop.

Next to him stood a 2-meter-tall dark-skinned mixed-race student. Intelligence had revealed this was Albert, who despite being stronger than Kakeru in combat, had succumbed to his harassment.

Houtarou glanced at Daichi, who met his gaze briefly before turning away uncomfortably.

This revealed something interesting — despite Kakeru's violent methods, his control over others wasn't absolute.

Daichi clearly still harbored regret over the store plan's termination.

Evidently, Miyabi had shouldered the blame well. No one viewed Houtarou as the villain.

However.

"Are you scared, Houtarou Oreki?" Kakeru challenged.

The memory of his failed classroom invasion — thwarted by mere mention of security cameras — still burned fresh in his mind. He had worked tirelessly to unite his class through force, only to watch Houtarou harvest their Class Points. The fury was plain on his face.

"There are security cameras here too." Houtarou said, nodding toward one, "Ryūen, aren't you bringing shame to your class?"

"Heh." Kakeru glanced at the camera with a sneer, "There's no behavioral assessment this month. Point deductions mean nothing."

"But fighting will still cost you." Houtarou replied calmly, "Ryūen, your class has only 390 Class Points left. Without earning more, your classmates will grow restless. If you lose points fighting and provoke Class A's wrath now... You might survive this exam, but what about the next? Class C isn't far from hitting zero Points."

"..."

The words hit their mark.

For this exam, nearly every class had purchased the test papers. But Class C, filled with struggling students like himself, faced a harsh reality — even with memorized answers, perfect scores weren't guaranteed.

This meant they'd likely average only 70-80 Points each, falling short of the full 100-Point reward for this special exam. Their point gains would be minimal.

Class C's current 390 Points were dire. Even with the school's x100 multiplier, it barely reached 40,000 Private Points — barely covering monthly living expenses, let alone the 20,000 they owed him.

Another month like this would spark discontent. His leadership had led them into poverty, and no one enjoyed that.

Losing more Points in a fight now might trigger a revolt.

"Tch!" Kakeru clicked his tongue, "You got lucky!"

"So tell me, Class C's tyrant." Houtarou asked, "How many points have you collected now? I'm curious."

"..."

A few seconds passed before Kakeru spoke again amid the silence.

"What are you trying to do?"

"You're not allowed to be curious."

"So cautious you won't even reveal your points?" Houtarou said. "I can show you the points on my student ID."

"Why should I show you!" Kakeru snapped.

Looking at Houtarou's seemingly frail appearance, Kakeru wanted to resort to violence. But suddenly, he felt uneasy.

Coming from a delinquent background, he had been in countless fights during middle school and had often been chased by others. Back then, he could avoid dangerous situations by relying on his sixth sense.

But now... something felt different. A strange anxiety crept over him.

"Then let's say it's 1 million." Houtarou said, "I'll take those 1 million points."

"..." Kakeru hesitated, "I only have 800,000 now."

Something about Houtarou made him wary, forcing him to be more cautious than usual.

Since Houtarou had named an amount exceeding what he had, Kakeru worried that if he got scammed, he might need to gather another 200,000. Better to state an amount he could actually produce.

"Thank you for your honesty, Ryūen." Houtarou said.

Then, as if his goal had been achieved, he walked down the stairs.

Suzune followed silently, leaving Kakeru's group behind.

"Ryūen, what is Houtarou Oreki trying to do? Did he find some way to make money?" Daichi asked eagerly, "We don't have many points now, if it's a good project with immediate returns—"

"..." Kakeru cut him off, "You idiot, he asked about my points because he wants to take them. There's no money-making scheme. He just wants to scam me!"

But he quickly smiled.

"I'm on high alert now. No matter what sweet talk or investment schemes he tries, I won't agree. So I'd like to see how he plans to take these 800,000 points from me."

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Meanwhile, Houtarou headed down the stairs with Suzune.

"Ryūen is the points reserve I mentioned earlier." He said, "Our plan is still to extract points from students. Since he leads Class C, we can collect their points through him directly instead of approaching individuals. Though his collection seems rather low—Class C must not be doing well."

No, Suzune thought. Class C's unity was already quite impressive.

Unlike Class D... She had no authority there, and those who did — like Kikyō or Yōsuke — showed little interest in class competition. They maintained a casual, "this is fine" attitude.

And such thinking left no room for hope.

"Still, Ryūen seems quite different from Ishizaki and the others." Suzune observed, "He can lead Class C and control himself. And given how Ishizaki and others joined our store plan before its termination, Ryūen won't participate in other projects anymore."

But Houtarou shook his head.

"Don't assume I rely only on sweet talk. Luring Ryūen with attractive projects would require convincing him — that's troublesome, and I hate trouble. Having the points in his possession is enough. Earlier, he wanted to avoid violence, but I deliberately provoked him and drew his attention to the security cameras. Why do you think I did that? Ryūen controls his class through force and has a short temper. After my provocation, what do you think he'll do?"

"You mean—" Suzune looked at him sharply.

"Ryūen isn't one to endure insults. He'll seek someone vulnerable to bully. I mentioned point deductions for fighting under cameras, so he'll likely seek places without surveillance to vent his anger."

"And for his target... he won't risk his own classmates, so he'll choose Class D students, whom he sees as beneath him. At that point, handing over the points won't be his choice anymore — he'll have to comply."

Suzune listened, dumbfounded.

In other words, a class battle had just played out before her eyes. Class C's representative had been masterfully manipulated by Class A's Houtarou.

Was this the gap between Class A and C?

She suddenly realized that Sae probably didn't fully grasp Class D's situation. Those orders about leading Class D up to Class B... she had already lost without even knowing it.

So...

"I should probably see a psychiatrist after all." Suzune said.

Eh? Are you withdrawing into yourself again?

Houtarou realized he truly didn't understand girls' hearts.

However, since Kakeru's points were insufficient, consulting Kikyō — who understood female psychology — would mean splitting the Points again.

So he simply asked Kikyō to recommend two strong fighters from Class D before proceeding with his plan.

As luck would have it, one of them was already planning to pursue the 20 million point solo venture. When he learned of Houtarou's proposal, he agreed immediately.

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