Classroom of the Elite: Surviving with the Intel System — Chapter 53

Chapter 53: Without His Protection…You're reading this on the wrong site. This chapter was translated by Elysian Reads and posted for free at elysianreads.com — if you're seeing it anywhere else, it was copied without permission. Read it at the source so the people who actually did the work get the credit.

The revelation that next month’s Private Points would be calculated by multiplying their remaining Class Points by one hundred hit Karuizawa Kei harder than anyone else in the room.

‘Wait! So it isn’t a guaranteed hundred thousand points every month?!’Just last Friday, she had secured a clandestine agreement with Shimizu Akira. The price for his absolute protection within the class hierarchy? Eighty thousand points a month. It was supposed to be a flawless transaction. Yet, a mere handful of days later, the terrifying reality of bankruptcy loomed over her.’It’s all because of that limited-edition makeup palette! And that ridiculously expensive lunch at the cafe last weekend…’

She sneaked a glance at her phone screen under the desk. The digital balance glared back at her: 2,500. Her stomach twisted into a painful, suffocating knot. Right now, she couldn’t even scrape together three thousand points, let alone the eighty thousand she owed him.

“Kei, what’s wrong? You look a little pale,” Matsushita Chiaki whispered, leaning over with genuine concern.

“N-Nothing at all~!” Kei forced out her signature, sugary-sweet smile. Beneath the desk, her knuckles were white, her fingers gripping her phone case so tightly the plastic groaned. This was the heavy toll of maintaining her status as the class’s top gyaru. She had to project an aura of flawless glamour, projecting strength even when her wallet was completely hollowed out.

But her empty bank account wasn’t the true source of her terror.

‘If I don’t have Shimizu-kun’s protection…’Kei was fundamentally different from the solitary Horikita Suzune. She knew her own nature perfectly. She was a parasite, a fragile vine that needed a strong host to survive. Without someone shielding her, she wouldn’t even be able to sleep at night in this cutthroat academy.’Eighty thousand points… I need at least eighty thousand…’Her thumb unconsciously drifted to her abdomen, tracing the phantom ache of an ugly, hidden scar through her uniform. She ran the desperate calculations again and again. Every class started with a baseline of one hundred thousand points, but she herself had been caught playing on her phone during lectures dozens of times over the past two weeks. And that didn’t even factor in the class idiots, Yamauchi and Ike Kanji. God only knew how many points their constant sleeping and truancy had already bled from the class total.’I’ll be lucky if we even keep six hundred Class Points… No, let’s be realistic, half of that would be a miracle! I’m not being greedy!’

Five hundred Class Points meant her allowance next month would cap at fifty thousand. That left her a staggering thirty thousand points short of her contract. The sheer mathematical impossibility made her stomach spasm violently. Her old injury flared with a sympathetic, phantom ache.

“You really do look pale…” Matsushita murmured.

“I’m totally fine~ I probably just stayed up way too late binge-watching a drama last night.” Kei flashed another practiced, empty smile.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Akira’s dark, calculating gaze resting on her. She flinched, instinctively clutching her phone to her chest. Only after she moved did she realize how incredibly guilty she looked.

‘I’m dead… He definitely figured it out…’Cold sweat traced a slow path down her spine.’If I can’t pay him next month, he won’t just throw me away, right?’The agonizing tightrope walk of her daily life made her temples throb. Even drawing a breath felt like inhaling glass.’She’s completely broke, but she’s still trying to keep up that brave facade.’Akira watched her subtle tremors from his seat.’She’s terrified I’ll find out her balance has hit rock bottom.’

He let his gaze slide away, staring blankly at the chalkboard. Out of the initial one hundred thousand points distributed on the first day, she had immediately transferred eighty thousand to him. Factor in her lavish spending habits over the weekend to maintain her social standing, and her account was undoubtedly running on fumes.

He had zero intention of intervening. His arrangement with the gyaru was strictly business; they were nowhere near close enough for him to offer charity. She wasn’t his desk-mate.

He shifted his attention to the girl sitting beside him. Horikita Suzune possessed a notoriously difficult, abrasive personality, but she was ruthlessly efficient and surprisingly trustworthy when it came to mutual benefit. Every point he invested in her, she paid back exactly as promised. The eighty thousand points from their previous transaction proved it. The sixteen thousand points for her upcoming Japanese tutoring sessions proved it again.

“…Friday after school, at 5:30 PM. We will meet at the library. I will tutor you in Japanese.”and support the real translator.Read at elysianreads.com This is a stolen translation. You're reading this on the wrong site. This chapter was translated by Elysian Reads and posted for free at elysianreads.com — if you're seeing it anywhere else, it was copied without permission. Read it at the source so the people who actually did the work get the credit.

Speak of the devil. Horikita turned her head toward him, her voice carrying a faint, uncharacteristic hoarseness.

Akira studied her profile. Heavy, dark circles shadowed the skin beneath her striking eyes, a clear indicator that she hadn’t slept a wink. Yet, despite her exhaustion, she hadn’t forgotten her contractual obligation.

“Let’s put the tutoring aside for a second,” Akira said, his tone casual but laced with a sharp edge. “What are your thoughts on being placed in Class D?”

Horikita’s gaze snapped toward him, the exhaustion momentarily vanishing behind a wall of sharp intensity. Silence stretched between them for a long moment before she finally spoke.

“…While it is incredibly frustrating, it seems the school’s placement system is, in fact, entirely fair and reasonable.”

The memory of her agonizing, sleepless night flashed through her mind. Akira’s previous words—’Your brother isn’t alone either’—had sliced through her years of ingrained stubbornness like a surgical blade. Driven to the edge, she had done the unthinkable: she sent a message to Horikita Manabu to verify the claim.

Her older brother’s curt reply was still burned into her memory: [Tachibana Akane is indeed an indispensable asset to me in the Student Council.]

She realized then that neither her brother nor the boy sitting beside her wasted their breath on lies. After wrestling with her pride until dawn, Suzune had finally accepted three harsh truths.

First, she belonged in Class D. Her capacity for teamwork was practically nonexistent, and her social skills were arguably worse. She was no different from the eccentric Kouenji Rokusuke—undeniably talented, yet deliberately isolated and shunned by the collective. She wasn’t blind to the whispers and sideways glances in the classroom. She felt the underlying rejection and disgust from her peers more acutely than anyone.

‘If I let this continue…’

Not only would her brother completely disown her, but even Shimizu Akira might deem her useless. The mere thought caused her teeth to bite down hard on her lower lip. But she would take that vulnerability to her grave before letting Akira see it. It was a secret she guarded with absolute stubbornness.

Second, she would use Class D as her foundation. If the school deemed her defective and threw her to the bottom, she would personally drag this motley crew of failures up the ranks. She would accumulate Class Points by force if necessary, climbing the hierarchy step by brutal step until they reached Class A. It was a silent vow to her brother, and a necessity for her own pride., Class A guaranteed a massive influx of Private Points; languishing in Class D would make even basic survival a struggle. Reaching the top was no longer just a desire—it was an absolute essential.

Third, she needed a trustworthy pawn. A helper. Her brother understood the necessity of using the strengths of others to achieve his goals. She no longer needed to cling to the foolish, arrogant belief that she had to conquer every obstacle alone. What Horikita Manabu could do, she would do as well. The childish ideology of absolute self-reliance was dead and buried.

When the sun rose, she had left yesterday behind. Horikita Suzune was finally ready to change.You're reading this on the wrong site. This chapter was translated by Elysian Reads and posted for free at elysianreads.com — if you're seeing it anywhere else, it was copied without permission. Read it at the source so the people who actually did the work get the credit.