Houtarou Oreki Classroom of the Elite

Class D Year 1 had a failing grade.

"Everyone tried hard and the results weren't bad — except for you, Sudō."

Class D's homeroom teacher, Sae, stood at the podium.

She brought an oversized printed grade sheet resembling a calendar and posted it on the blackboard for all to see.

Half the class had scored over 80 Points in five subjects, with many others above 60 Points. The class average had improved significantly.

Then came the Physics subject.

Sae took out a red pen and marked Ken's Physics score: 39 Points.

"Since everyone's scores improved, the class average rose to 40 points. You scored 39 points, Sudō. You've failed. Though regrettable, please sign the withdrawal request form." She said.

"W-what? This can't be—" Ken jumped to his feet, "No! Why should I have to withdraw—"

Though his grades were poor, since coming to this school, he'd been valued for his athletic ability and had immediately become a regular on the basketball team.

"Unfortunately, these are the school's rules." Sae said coldly, "You have 2 hours to pack up. After that, you'll be expelled."

She had seemed more listless and emotionally drained than usual these past few days.

Everyone was used to her demeanor, so no one had commented on it.

But now she was delivering such harsh words with seemingly no emotion.

"Isn't there another way?" Yōsuke, everyone's gentle helper, stood up immediately, "Teacher Chabashira, I can't bear to see a friend expelled like this."

"M-me too!" Kikyō rose from her seat in the front row, also speaking up for Ken.

"The school operates by rules." Sae replied icily, "If we granted unlimited leniency, would the taxpayers providing your points allowance approve? We cannot carelessly waste the taxes everyone pays."

Her words made it clear: there would be no mercy regarding expulsion. Pleading was futile.

Suzune's face remained expressionless — or rather, struck speechless.

After all, someone had failed what was already an open-book exam.

She looked toward Sae, their gazes meeting briefly before breaking away.

Suzune's look seemed to say: you entrusted her to lead the class toward Class B, yet someone still failed an open-book exam.

What kind of person could lead them?

As for Sae, she appeared unwilling to contemplate this, having seemingly given up entirely.

"I-I don't want to be expelled—" Seeing Sae's cold demeanor, Ken turned desperately to the gentle Yōsuke, "Hirata, help me! Aren't we friends?!"

If he weren't still in his seat, he would have rushed to hug the charismatic student.

"Teacher Chabashira — if someone must be expelled—" Yōsuke's response to the plea was unexpected, "Then I volunteer to be expelled in Sudō's place."

"Hirata, you—" Ken stared in shock.

He had never imagined his relationship with Yōsuke ran this deep — that he would actually offer to be expelled in his place.

This, Ken thought as tears welled up, must be true friendship.

"..." Sae remained silent.

As someone who had risen from Class D herself, she suddenly understood Yōsuke's true motivation.

His offer wasn't just for Sudō — he would do this for anyone. He couldn't bear to see any classmate expelled.

This revealed an obsession in his heart.

While some students in this class showed promise, it remained a haven for troubled youth.

Could such a group ever advance?

And then there was Yōsuke, who would sacrifice himself to prevent any expulsion.

Sae realized she had misjudged this class. She had also burdened Suzune with an impossible task — something the man behind her had immediately recognized and rejected.

"I believe Horikita-san might have a solution." A voice suddenly interrupted.

It was Rokusuke Kōenji, the one who always did as he pleased, even brushing his hair with a pocket mirror during lessons.

"Horikita?"

Swoosh!

All eyes turned to Suzune.

After two months, the class had created a group chat, but one person remained conspicuously absent.

This loner kept to herself, isolated from her classmates.

Kikyō had extended an invitation, but Suzune refused, stating she would only join if the school required it.

She was clearly not one for social interaction.

But now — could she have an answer?

She typically spent class time reading and studying. Her academic ability was evident in her entrance exam scores, all above 90 points.

But her recent test scores told a different story.

「Suzune Horikita」

「Physics: 51 points」 「Math: 51 points」 「Chemistry: 51 points」 「English: 51 points」 「Biology: 51 points」

Her scores were only in the fifties — despite studying hard, weren't her grades surprisingly low? Had she perhaps not memorized the provided exam papers?

When Rokusuke mentioned her name, the other students turned to look at Suzune thoughtfully.

"..." She remained silent.

The blond boy smoothed his neatly combed hair.

"Don't you understand?" Rokusuke said, "Horikita's scores are unique. It shows she knew someone in the class would fail."

"But isn't 51 points quite low?" Kanji asked, who had scored 77 Points on the memorization exam.

Kanji and Haruki had recently become friends and got along well.

But he found Suzune too cold.

When Haruki tried to talk to her, she met him with an icy stare, as if unwilling to spare even a minute.

Though she was beautiful, being completely ignored like that felt terrible.

"..." Rokusuke paused.

"Could it be that Horikita-san deliberately scored 51 points?" Yōsuke said, who had earlier offered to take Ken's place.

He had figured it out.

"Since the passing score is half of everyone's average, Horikita-san intentionally scored low." His eyes showed understanding.

"So this is who Horikita-san really is?"

"She cares so much about her classmates—"

The girls in class were moved by Hirata's words.

"She really values class friendship." Said a girl with golden hair in a ponytail.

She was the cutest girl in class.

Despite her beauty, she wasn't popular with the boys because of her temper — she would yell at them if even an eraser landed near her desk.

That's why the boys avoided her.

She dressed in gyaru style with a delinquent flair. This was Karuizawa Kei.

Among the girls, however, she was quite popular. The other gyaru girls gravitated toward her, and she became their leader.

She also seemed to have extra points, with the other gyaru girls now in her debt.

"Horikita-san, you planned this in advance." Kikyō said, who had also pleaded for Ken earlier, "Is there a way to prevent Sudō-kun's expulsion?"

"The school has provided one option: 20 million points can exempt a student from expulsion." Sae said from the podium.

Twenty million — an impossible sum for Class D students who had 0 Points last month and only 1,000 Points this month (10×100). They could barely afford five bottles of water with those Points.

The class's enthusiasm immediately deflated.

"20 million..." Yōsuke mused.

"It's impossible." Rokusuke declared, "Even with 100 years of schooling, you couldn't accumulate 20 million."

"Kōenji!" The class directed their anger at him.

His test scores only added to their irritation. According to Sae's posted results, he had achieved perfect 100s across all subjects, showing complete disregard for his struggling classmates.

"How troublesome." Suzune interjected, "Chabashira-sensei, what about the upcoming special exam?"

"This month's special exam hasn't been finalized." Sae replied, "We need to check the weather. It's been quite poor lately."

This meant the special exam was delayed due to weather conditions.

Yet the past week had been sunny at school. This suggested the exam might take place off-campus.

The class, however, failed to notice this subtle hint.

Kiyotaka observed silently from his seat.

Since the class was in disarray and Sae hadn't prompted him to intervene, he decided to maintain his role as an ordinary student.

"How long until Sudō's grade becomes final?" Suzune asked.

"Hmm?" Sae turned to her.

"If Sudō passes, what would our Class Points be?"

Earlier that morning in the dorm, Suzune had received the school's point transfer — 1,000 Points, equivalent to 10 Class Points for the month. This had tipped her off that someone had failed the open-book exam.

"About 80 Points." Sae replied, "If everyone passes, you'll receive 80 Class Points."

"80 points? That's 8,000 points!"

"Sudō! If only you'd scored one point higher!"

Despite discussing Ken's potential expulsion, his classmates were already lamenting their lost Points.

"...(╹▽╹)"

Rokusuke sat back, grooming his perfectly styled hair.

This exemplified why he preferred working alone. Though Ken excelled in sports, any class truly focused on unity would fight harder to prevent a member's expulsion.

And now Suzune had deliberately scored 51 Points in each subject.

Did she want to unite the class?

"80 points." Suzune said, looking at the whole class, "If Sudō doesn't get expelled, we can get another 70 Class Points. I have a suggestion that can prevent Sudō's expulsion, but I want 50 points for myself. That means when the school transfers points each month, you all need to transfer the points from 50 Class Points to me."

"W-why should we? 50 class points means 5,000 points of living expenses — you want each person to give you 5,000 points?"

"And every month too — why don't you just rob us!"

The students instantly became upset.

Yōsuke shouted out.

"Everyone, please calm down!" He quickly said, "Horikita-san, do you really have a way to prevent Sudō-kun's expulsion?"

Following Sae's requirement of gathering 20 million to exempt Ken from expulsion was impossible. Even Yōsuke himself only had 3700 points left.

This month he'd have to eat the mountain vegetable set meal too. There was no way everyone could gather enough together.

But if they could prevent the expulsion at this cost, he was willing to listen.

"There is a way." Suzune said, "Since Sudō failed by just one point, we can use points to buy that point. When Sudō gets that one point, he avoids failing, and because everyone passes, the school has to give us the 80 Class Points for all passing."

"Is that so?" Yōsuke seemed stunned for a moment.

He quickly looked at Sae.

"Chabashira-sensei, is this possible?"

"100,000 points for 1 test point." She said seriously.

This meant Suzune's proposal was correct, valid, and feasible.

Instead of using 20 million, they could just spend 100,000 points to buy 1 point to prevent Ken's expulsion.

"O-one hundred thousand points!"

The classmates were shocked, having never expected test scores would be so expensive.

"I want it!" Ken immediately said, "I have 40,000 points here. Kōenji, lend me 60,000! Or can anyone lend me points? I'll pay you back next month from my 20 Class Points!"

What 20 Class Points?

The surrounding classmates were stunned.

Then they realized.

So Ken was saying that if he passed and the Class Points became 80 — after deducting the 10 Points everyone already got and the 50 Points Suzune would take — he was treating the remaining 20 Points as his own?

It's because of you that we didn't get 80 Points, and now you're treating the Points we'd get after you pass as your own achievement?

Class D erupted in chaos.

"Everyone, calm down — Don't fight — I think Horikita-san's proposal is effective. If this can prevent Sudō from being expelled, I think it's acceptable." Yōsuke said quickly.

"Yes, yes, it's best not to lose any classmates." Kikyō added, trying to calm the students.

She glanced quickly at Suzune.

After explaining the rules, the lone girl quietly sat down with a completely calm expression, as if everything happening now had nothing to do with her.

When her classmates looked at her, their expressions mixed fear with admiration.

Suzune's popularity, it seemed, had increased.

⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟

During lunch break, Houtarou met again with Suzune and Kikyō.

Today too, the little angel had asked him to invite the lone girl along.

Suzune, having moved past the Sae incident, was looking at her vocabulary book. She seemed to have returned to her usual state.

Then Kikyō told him about Class D's situation.

"What was the final result?" Houtarou asked.

"Sudō's 1 point was bought back with 100,000 points. No one in Class D failed, and the Class Points returned to 80. The school also supplemented everyone's private accounts with 7,000 points."

"As for Horikita-san's proposal to save Sudō, everyone agreed to give her 20 Class Points monthly as a reward. Hirata-kun worked hard to arrange this. After the school's monthly point transfer, he'll collect 2,000 points from each student and transfer them to Horikita-san's account himself."

Oh. I see.

"If there's nothing else today, I'll leave first." Suzune said, checking the time on her phone. She planned to return to class to prepare for afternoon lessons.

Neither Houtarou nor Kikyō stopped her.

Because he felt that the little angel's meeting today probably wasn't about ways to earn Points.

But rather...

"Oreki-kun."

As expected, after Suzune left, Kikyō made her move.

⍟⍟⍟

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