Classroom of the Elite: Surviving with the Intel System — Chapter 85

Chapter 85: Now Everyone in Class D Owes Me Points

Shimizu Akira rubbed his stomach, a quiet breath escaping him. The meal had been heavier than he anticipated, but Horikita Suzune’s grilling technique left absolutely no room for complaint. Every cut of meat she handled retained a perfect, tender elasticity, seared just enough to lock in the flavor without turning tough.

Glancing at the grill, he realized that aside from the first chaotic plate he had managed to scorch, Horikita had quietly taken over the entire operation.

His gaze drifted across the bustling restaurant. At nearly every other table, eager boys were bending over backward to serve their female companions, flipping meat and pouring drinks in desperate bids for affection. His table was a glaring anomaly. Here, the girl was managing the grill with surgical precision.

More concerning, however, was her empty plate. She had spent the entire time cooking, barely lifting her own chopsticks to eat.

“Let me take over. You need to eat something too.” Akira extended his hand across the table.

Horikita’s movements hitched. Her slender fingers tightened around the metal tongs for a fraction of a second before slowly relaxing. She relinquished her grip.

“…Alright.”

Before she looked away, Akira caught a fleeting, unmistakable flash of reluctance in her sharp eyes.

The realization sparked a quiet amusement in him. Could the notoriously aloof Horikita Suzune actually possess a hidden domestic streak? Did she genuinely feel reluctant to give up control over such a trivial task?

‘As expected…’

A dry smile touched his lips. His initial read on her remained flawless. She wore a mask of icy arrogance, but beneath that prickly exterior, she was surprisingly attentive to anyone she actually acknowledged. It was a rather charming contradiction.

“Speaking of which…” Akira flipped a marbled slice of beef onto the grate, the fat sizzling instantly. “Can I just call you Horikita from now on?”

He had maintained polite honorifics over the past few days, but the distance between them had clearly narrowed.

Horikita paused mid-bite. She lowered her chopsticks, her dark eyes studying him as if weighing the tactical implications of a dropped honorific.

“…I agree.”

The bill came out to nearly eight thousand Private Points.

Standing at the register, Horikita cast a sharp, inquisitive look his way. The sheer casualness of his spending clearly caught her off guard. Eight thousand was a massive sum for a single dinner, especially this early in the semester.

Akira ignored her scrutiny, tapping his student ID against the terminal to finalize the transaction. He didn’t even blink at the deduction.

His indifference stemmed entirely from the device buzzing quietly in his pocket. Throughout the meal, his phone screen had been lighting up with a steady stream of critical updates.

The first was a formal notification from Student Council President Horikita Manabu. Classes A, B, and C had officially signed the monitoring system rental agreements with the Student Council.

The attached transfer receipt was a beautiful sight. After the council’s five percent handling fee, the transaction deposited a staggering 8.55 million Private Points into his account. That figure included his initial 1.2 million point principal.

Combined with his existing balance, his total net worth now sat at an absurd 8.71 million Private Points.

Wealth was no longer a concern.

This massive, effortless windfall was the direct result of exploiting the School Administration’s own surveillance infrastructure. Akira knew perfectly well how narrow this window of opportunity was. If this weren’t the very first month of enrollment—a time when every class was desperate to secure their initial standing—extracting this much capital would have been impossible.

His phone vibrated three more times in rapid succession.

[Ryuuen Kakeru: Why are all the monitoring records for the first week blank?]

[Ichinose Honami: Permission confirmation received.]

[Sakayanagi Arisu: The first week’s data was completely cleared. What exactly did you do?]

Akira’s thumb hovered over the glowing screen. A faint, cynical smirk crossed his face before he tapped the menu and logged completely out of the burner account.

Let the three of them agonize over the missing data. The transaction was finalized, the points were secured, and he certainly wasn’t running a charity. He had never promised post-purchase customer support.

A new message pushed through, this one directly from the elder Horikita. The text was strictly business.

[Horikita Manabu: First-year Class D’s Kushida Kikyo has applied to pay the 3 million points through a school loan. What are your thoughts?]

Akira narrowed his eyes, his fingers flying across the digital keyboard.

[Shimizu Akira: President, could you explain the specific loan policy?]

The reply arrived almost instantly.

[Horikita Manabu: The Student Council evaluates Class Points based on previous class performance to formulate loan limits. Borrowed amounts are forcibly deducted from individual student points the following month. This policy was originally established to help the purchase of expensive goods like mobile phones and cameras. The School Administration deemed it a valuable lesson in financial responsibility, incorporating it into the official system.]

Akira digested the information, searching for the catch.

[Shimizu Akira: Does Class D actually meet the conditions for a loan of that size?]

[Horikita Manabu: All classes possess basic loan qualifications. Historically, the average first-month performance for Class D yields around 350 Class Points, allowing a maximum loan of 1.4 million Private Points. However, given the unique circumstance of renting monitoring equipment to secure their standing, the Student Council has temporarily raised their assessment benchmark to 500 Class Points. Under this calculation, Class D’s maximum eligible loan is 2 million points. Each student will face a 50,000 point deduction next month.]

The math didn’t add up to his asking price.

[Shimizu Akira: But my price is 3 million.]

[Horikita Manabu: The remainder will roll over to the subsequent month. If the initial deduction is insufficient, the system will continue to garnish their accounts, applying an additional five percent interest each month.]

Akira leaned against the wall outside the restaurant, the cool evening air brushing past him.

[Shimizu Akira: What happens if that class’s Class Points drop to absolute zero?]

Manabu’s response carried a heavy, unspoken implication.

[Horikita Manabu: Do not worry. No class in the history of this institution has ever scored zero for three consecutive years.]

Akira understood immediately. The School Administration had a hidden safety net woven into the S-System. The Advanced Nurturing High School was designed to filter and forge elite members of society, not to force teenagers into three years of absolute destitution. A total, inescapable collapse was artificially prevented.

[Horikita Manabu: You also have the option to reject their loan application and sell the monitors directly to the school at a recycling rate of 400,000 points per unit.]

“I accept the loan,” Akira muttered, typing out his confirmation without a second thought.

It was the logical choice. Class D wouldn’t hit zero. Even though their first-week infractions were already locked in, possessing the monitoring equipment and gaining early awareness of the S-System’s hidden rules gave them a massive advantage. Conservatively, he estimated they would secure at least 400 Class Points for their first month.

If they somehow failed to reach even that low bar, then his classmates were truly beyond saving.

Manabu forwarded the finalized installment contract.

[Horikita Manabu: The repayment plan is structured as follows:

Second month: Class D repays 1.8 million (An automatic deduction of 45,000 Private Points per student).

Third month: Class D repays 1.2 million + 60,000 in interest (An automatic deduction of 31,500 Private Points per student).]

Akira locked his phone and slipped it into his pocket, a dark amusement settling in his chest.

“Everyone in the class owes me points now. How interesting. I just became the sole creditor to thirty-nine people.”

As he began the walk back to the dormitories, a sudden realization struck him. He was technically a normal student enrolled in Class D. That meant the system would treat him exactly like the rest of his peers.

He was going to be forced to pay 75,000 Private Points to cover his own debt to himself.

A quiet laugh escaped him in the empty street. Losing 75,000 points was a technical annoyance, but compared to the mountain of eight million sitting in his account, it was nothing more than a drop in the ocean.