Chapter 3

"So what did you do at the Club Interest Meeting, Oreki-san?" Sakayanagi asked, watching Oreki pick up two different cuts of meat.

'These prices are so much less than at the grocery store I frequent, I guess it is the government for you,' Oreki thought, before responding to Sakayanagi.

"I just looked around, and asked the Student Council President some things that I had questions about."

"What questions?"

"Nothing important in particular," Oreki deflected, before choosing the pork belly, planning to make some Kimchi Nabe.

"I am pretty sure that's not what I asked, Oreki-kun~"

'Why is this woman so insistent on hanging with me,' Oreki thought, sighing inside due to the predicament he was in.

"I just asked how many points President Horikita had gained in a month," Oreki said, picking up some premade Anchovy Broth.

Picking up some green onions on her side, Sakayanagi hummed in response.

"So what did he say?"

"212,300 Points,"

"So what do you think about that, Oreki-kun?" Sakayanagi asked, probing Oreki.

"Nothing,"

"Are you sure?"

"Yep." Oreki finished, getting all of his ingredients for his Kimchi Nabe and a 20-bag of White Rice which should last him a solid 2 weeks if he was conservative.

"Is that so, Oreki-kun, by the way, has Katsuragi talked to you yet?" Sakayanagi asked, changing the conversation.

'So she's seeing where my alliances lie, huh?'

"No, I was planning to be neutral regarding factions,"

"Why is that?" Sakayanagi asked, disapproving of Oreki's stance.

"Dunno, I just want a peaceful high school life."

"Yet you came to Advanced Nurturing High School for a "Peaceful High School" life, hmm?" Sakayanagi asked, confused.

"It was free. I can also go to University or get a Job for free after. Also, there's no way that ANHS will be so competitive, it's just a High School anyway." Oreki reasoned, going to the checkout counter.

'How naive. But that isn't bad either.' Sakayanagi thought.

"Are you also done with your groceries?"

"Yes, let us head back to the Dormitories."

"I can carry your groceries for you," Oreki said, ignoring the 20-kilogram rice bag on his shoulder.

"... Are you sure?" Sakayanagi asked, glancing at the rice bag.

"It's not that heavy. Besides, my sister told me it was good to be polite to ladies."

"Your sister seems like a lovely person."

Taking Sakayanagi's plastic bag, he thought back to his sister.

"Yeah... a lovely person."

Walking back in another comfortable silence, they went into the first-year dorms, with Oreki following Sakayanagi to the elevator before going to the 9th floor.

"Here you go, Sakayanagi-san, have a good rest of your day,"

"Thank you for accompanying me, Oreki-kun. I will see you tomorrow,"

Parting ways, Oreki made his way to the fifth floor, before going inside, and getting the already provided pots and pans out before starting to cook his food.

After he finished his Kimchi Nabe, he put it in the refrigerator, not before taking some out and eating it with the rice that he had pot-cooked, not bothering to spend money on a rice cooker.

'I've cooked enough to last me around 10 meals, so I should be relatively set on meals for the next few days,' as Oreki had the habit of not eating breakfast, with the exception being today as he had woken up earlier than normal.

Opening his bag, he saw that there was no Homework, which he was thankful for, as it seemed that the School didn't normally assign homework.

The School, prioritizing time for networking amongst students, didn't provide students with homework, instead determining their academic ability through Midterms and Term Exams.

While there were quizzes throughout some units, Oreki didn't particularly care, as academic standing at this school didn't particularly matter to him, only placing priority on exams that determined class points, as Points = More Freedom.

Of course, Oreki knew that he had his share of disadvantages, as while he did exercise to stay still without having any of his body fall asleep on him, he had horrible stamina, disliking anything to do with cardio, not that he couldn't go fast, but he could keep top speed for only 5 seconds before stopping.

Looking at his phone, looking at it was 6:12 Oreki thought he had enough time to order a bed for him that would be delivered the next day, so he wore his uniform again before leaving the building.

Walking outside, he saw a familiar face walking in, Katsuragi, with another person at his side, recognized him as Totsuka Yahiko.

Initially trying to walk past him before Katsuragi could start a conversation, he passed him, before a word stopped him.

"Wait."

Sighing and walking back, he saw the duo look at him.

"Are you Oreki Houtarou from our class?"

"Umm, yes?"

"Would you like to join my faction?"

'How blunt,' Oreki disapproved at the forwardness of Katsuragi.

"No, I am planning to stay neutral regarding our class," Oreki responded, before walking away before Katsuragi could say anything.

'He's going to lose against Sakayanagi eventually,' Oreki thought, thinking back about Katsuragi's conservative mentality.

'Although his natural Charisma is perfectly fine, it isn't going to stand a chance against Sakayanagi's thought process,' Oreki finished, going on his way to the mall to see if he could buy a bed.

Arriving at the general department store, we walked over to the bed section, looking for a large, comfortable bed that he could lay down on, all premade.

The amount of king-size beds was few and far between, but it seemed that because it was the beginning of the school year, they were on sale.

Jumping on multiple mattresses, he decided on a relatively cheap one compared to the other King Size Beds, which cost a solid 98,000 Points, with a 30% discount.

It was cheap, on sale, and it was comfortable to boot.

Getting a store clerk over and asking them if they could replace the bed during classes tomorrow, because no one needed to know that he had spent that much money in one day, the clerk nodded, before making a call to the delivery team.

Thanking the clerk and paying for his mattress, Oreki looked around for his bed cover and pillows, as one pillow just wasn't enough for him.

After unusually finding a set of bed covers and pillows on a set for around 52,000 Points with another 30% discount, Oreki was questing the coincidences, before ultimately just deciding to go with the flow and not question things, he was already tired enough from his Chess games earlier along with just talking to Sakayanagi.

'I should go to the Chess Club tomorrow after school to get some more money before heading home, maybe drop by the Library to get something to read while I'm at it.' Oreki thought.

Asking the clerk to set up the bed for an additional 10,000 points, he left the building very satisfied with the purchases he had made, even treating himself to some juice from the nearest convenience store.

Walking home, it was relatively dark, with the sun already set.

As it was still April, nights were still chilly, causing Oreki to attempt to warm himself up by rubbing his forearms with his hands, using the heat from the friction to warm himself up.

Arriving at the Dorms, he quickly arrived at his room, before getting ready to go to bed by showering and brushing his teeth, before jumping on the bed.

Looking at his phone, he saw that it was 8:57 PM.

'Time to sleep...'

Closing his eyes, Oreki again prayed that tomorrow would be the day that Sakayanagi would leave him alone. After all, he just expressed his unwillingness to join her faction.

'Please God.'

Oreki closed his eyes, his eyelashes fluttering shut.

---Scene Break---

Slowly opening his eyes, he quickly looked at his phone for the time, feeling that he slept too deeply.

Thankfully, he had woken up at 7:20.

Slowly getting out of bed to get ready, he looked at himself in the mirror with a bit of a bedhead, patting it down, not bothering to buy a comb.

Wearing his Uniform which he had put out to hang outside, he made his way outside, walking to the school silently, glancing at the other students who were also walking to class around this time.

Arriving at his classroom, he was thankful to God for listening to his prayers, before walking in 10 minutes before homeroom started at 8:20.

He had different classes today, with the only class that he had again being Math, which was teaching him about the Quadratic Equation.

Math to him wasn't particularly difficult, especially if you knew which formula to use for which, along with the steps taken to solve it. Word Problems were more annoying as they required more brain power to start the problem, and even after you get the answer you have to solve the 'Problem', not give a number.

Oreki had already known about this topic, not to brag but anything, but Oreki used to have the hobby of reading books ranging from multiple different topics before he enrolled, as there were no storybooks back at his home.

'How bored was I back then for me to read books about school topics,' Oreki thought, remembering when he read the book 'Calculus for Dummies' because his sister had told him it was a good book.

'Lovely Sister my ass...' Oreki thought, not even including his sister's other book recommendations.

'At this point, I'm chilling in terms of education even after I graduate.' Oreki thought, as the bell rang, signifying that it was time for Lunch.

Taking out his packed Kimchi Nabe and a container of Rice, he started his meal, watching the rest of the students leave to go get their lunch from the cafeteria.

'Hah, imagine walking to the Cafeteria every day. Couldn't be me.' Oreki thought.

"Hello Oreki-kun."

'Has God abandoned me?' Oreki thought, looking up to see Sakayanagi smiling at him, holding up a bento.

"Would you mind if I ate with you?" Sakayanagi asked, getting the attention of his classmates.

Whispers of "Are they dating already?" "Lucky Bastard," was heard, causing Oreki to sigh.

"No, feel free. I'm going to eat here so you can sit across from me." Oreki responded, watching as Sakayanagi put her bento down on her desk before getting a chair from the table in front of him and turning it toward him.

"Thank you."

"Yeah... No problem," Oreki said, looking at Sakayanagi's bento.

It had a decent variety of side dishes, making him wonder how she could have done so much in one day, be he didn't bother asking questions, preferring to eat in silence.

"I guess you do cook decently, Oreki-kun," Sakayanagi started, causing Oreki to be crestfallen due to the start of another conversation that he didn't want to be in.

"I believe I did mention that yesterday," Oreki responded, crying on the inside.

"I believe you did, I expected you to exaggerate your abilities, as most boys would to impress a girl."

"Do I seem like the person who would do that?" Oreki deadpanned, putting a clump of rice in his mouth.

"I suppose you don't," Sakayanagi chuckled, taking a bite out of her bento.

"Don't you have a faction to attend to?"

"Just because they are a part of my faction doesn't mean I have to follow them around 24/7, Oreki-kun. Why, at this point, it feels like you're purposefully trying to avoid me, why, aren't we friends who even exchanged phone numbers?" Sakayanagi said.

"I-I guess you're right..." Oreki said, giving up.

After some small talk. with the duo finishing their food, they sat in comfortable silence looking outside the window, petal gazing.

'I guess there is an appeal in doing this activity,' Sakayanagi thought, glancing at Oreki to see that he had the look of someone who had nothing in their brain.

'How adorable.' Sakayanagi thought, before looking back to the window.

This continued until the first few people came back from eating their lunch.

"Then I will see you, Oreki-kun," Sakayanagi said, walking back to her seat.

Nodding at her in acknowledgment, Oreki went back to his own devices for the remaining school day.

After school had ended, he quickly left the class, not bothering to look around to get to the Chess Club as fast as possible without being noticed, because no one needed to know why he was so rich.

'It's time to make some money...' Oreki thought, going out into the hallway, and making his way to the Club Building.

'How rude, running off before I can do anything...' Sakayanagi thought, turning around, and seeing the empty desk of Oreki Houtarou.

'I guess I do need some more friends other than him. But everyone else in this class is too uptight and not at all entertaining to talk to. He's the only one who's not particularly afraid of me...' Sakayanagi thought, before walking home early, deciding to rest.

---Scene Break---

"Hello, senpai." Oreki greeted, walking into the Chess Club.

There were 13 other people not including the Chess Club President, who were in the middle of solving chess puzzles online.

"So you've come."

"Oh is this the kid that beat you at Chess at the Club Interest Meeting?"

"Yeah, the kid challenged the boss to a Blitz game and won because the boss lost to time!"

Ignoring the comments, Oreki immediately went down to business.

"How much do you want to bet?" Making the Class quiet down.

"Before you play against me, would you like to play against my club members, it's rare to meet someone else who's good at chess at this school."

Looking at the crowd of 13 people, Oreki came up with a compromise.

"250,000 Point bet for everyone if they want to play."

"What?!"

The club members exclaimed.

'While it is a lot of money, we are seniors in A-Class, so we get that amount of money in a month anyways...' The majority thought, wondering how it could impact them later on, before changing to a carefree stance.

'Doesn't mean we can't beat him, free money if we do,' The seniors thought, before agreeing to his conditions.

'If I lock in, that's a solid 3,500,000 points for me.'

'That means freedom in my book.'

Oreki added multiple different conditions, such as Oreki always playing Black, before starting the 14-game gauntlet.

---Time Skip---

"Hah, Oreki you truly are a genius at this game! Join this Club how about it?" The Chess Club President asked, looking down at the expertly played game, with black having checkmated his King with a Knight and a Rook, with the rest of his pieces out of commission.

"Sorry, I don't want to be tied down to a club in High School."

"Haha, I knew you wouldn't agree. If you want to play some more, just come in next month, and we'll all gladly take the offer again!" The president said, with the nodding agreement of his club members, exhausted from playing such an intense game.

'Boy am I glad that these people are obsessed with Chess...' Oreki thought, sweating from how much brain power he had to waste just trying to get some Points.

'It was 100% worth it. The easiest way to make some points indeed,' Oreki thought, not realizing that almost half of the people in the club were good enough to be considered Chess Grandmasters, and the other half being qualified enough to be an International Master.

So in technicality, if someone else were to attempt this method of making money, it would be impossible, or highly unlikely that they would even win the first chess game.

But for someone who had the intelligence to play the game at a high level, along with incentives to play?

They had awakened a Sleeping Dragon.

(A/N): I am cringing from writing that statement but who cares?

Looking at the time, he realized that 3 hours had passed since school had ended.

'Damn, am I going to be late for dinner?'

Oreki decided to postpone his plans on going to the Library today, deciding to just go to the Library tomorrow, as he had nothing to do.

Thanking his seniors for the games he had played, he made his way to the dorms, looking around in paranoia of the person who was strangely attached to him, even if they had only met for 2 days.

'Am I finally free?' Oreki thought, arriving at his dorm with no detours and no one to talk to him. Opening the door, heaven greeted him.

A king-size bed, suited up with the bed coverings he chose along with 4 pillows, Oreki didn't have any other wishes than just jumping on the bed and falling asleep.

Alas, he didn't particularly desire messing up his bed so early.

After changing his clothing and taking a shower, he jumped onto his bed, almost becoming one with the bed. Taking a long sigh, Oreki fell asleep.

---Time Skip---

The next day, Oreki had woken up, looking at his phone before sitting up in his bed as fast as he could.

8:13 AM

'Dammit I'm going to be late...' Oreki thought lamenting about his position, before reasoning that the bed was just too comfortable to be left, spending another 10 minutes in bed before getting up to get ready for school.

'If I'm going to be late anyways, no reason not to be late longer,' Oreki reasoned, leaving the Dormitory and walking around, no one in sight as the school had already started.

Arriving at the door, Oreki opened the door to see the Chemistry teacher, who just looked at him plainly with no ounce of reprimand on his lips.

'I guess the teachers aren't supposed to care, thank god.'

Ignoring the glares of his classmates, he apologized inside his mind.

'While I am sorry for taking your precious monthly points, I have too much money for me to worry about it. 3900000 million is having 100000 points monthly for the rest of my school year.' Oreki thought, putting his bag in his locker and listening to the teacher.

After class ended, Oreki was about to make his way out, before getting reprimanded by his classmates, especially Totsuka and Katsuragi's group.

Responding to their complaints, he half-heartedly apologized, before ignoring them, further earning their ire.

After the rest of the school day had passed with no issues, Oreki had made up his mind to make his way over to the Library, wanting to check out books to entertain himself when he was in bed, as he didn't particularly see the appeal of digital entertainment.

Why ruin your attention span and eyesight?

Making his way to the Library, he decided to start reading from one section of the library and continue reading it from that one section before moving on to the next.

Sluggishly moving his way to the nearest section, he browsed the books before realizing that he was in the mystery section.

After choosing the first 5 books, he made his way to the checkout.

Checking out the books, he started putting them into his school bag before deciding to walk out, stopping in his tracks as he saw that it was raining outside.

Raining was a kind word. It was pouring outside, and he could barely see anything.

'I didn't bring an umbrella... Rather I haven't even bought one yet...' Oreki thought, looking over at his phone to see the weather app for the app to say that it would last until 6.

'3 hours? Must be one of those sudden showers,' Oreki thought, resigning himself to be in the Library for 3 hours before it was safe to go out.

Walking around the library to look for a place where reading would be comfortable, he saw an elevated flat ground, where the 3 sides except the opening he was looking in were surrounded by cushioned walls, probably for soundproofing.

It was relatively spacious, and it was a large square with cushioning all around the around 4 tatami mat-sized reading area. There was a space in the middle where there wasn't any cushioning, but Oreki assumed that was a hard ground for people who wanted to study in this spot, so they had a place to write on.

Deciding that this was a perfect place to read in, Oreki put down his bag and crawled his way to the inner portion of the place, as the corner spot had never failed him.

Taking out one of his books, it turned out to be Crime and Punishment. Oreki had heard about this book before from his sister, but never had the time and effort to read it.

Ignoring the influx of people who were coming inside the Library to seek refuge from the elements, Oreki started the novel, zoning out.

After a few minutes of uninterrupted reading, he heard a voice before looking up to see the source, revealing a girl that had long silver hair, and very memorable purple eyes.

"Hmm?" Oreki asked, putting his book down.

"Oh, u-umm, the Library is kind of filled, so I was wondering if I could read here..." Shiina nervously asked, as from her perspective, she saw someone with hair covering his eyes staring at her.

'There's a lot of people here? What a pain, I'd rather let her read here before some loud bimbo comes here. Seems like the quiet type,' Oreki thought, before nodding as a sign for her to come in.

Changing her expression to one of a little happiness, Shiina made her way to the other corner, placing down her bag and opening up a book.

'How lonely is she if she's that happy after me saying yes? Or it could just be that she's happy that she found a decent spot.' Oreki thought, before getting his hair out of his eyes and starting to continue reading his book.

After a comfortable silence, which seemed to be a trend, Oreki started zoning out, reading his novel, not noticing Shiina's glances at Oreki.

'So his eyes are green... they look like emeralds. How memorable.' Shiina thought.

'Does he have a hobby of reading like I do?' Shiina thought looking at his focused face at the novel.

'It's even Crime and Punishment...' Shiina thought, caught between her wishes of striking up a conversation and distracting him from reading again.

After a few more minutes of contemplation, Shiina made up her mind.

"Umm..." Shiina started trying to get his attention.

"Hmm?" Oreki responded, looking over to see Shiina look at him.

"I was wondering what book you were reading..." Shiina started, deciding on that to be the conversation starter.

"Oh," Oreki thought, before flipping the novel and reading it out loud.

"Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky," Oreki said, abruptly ending the flow of the conversation.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Shiina started the conversation again.

"Do you like those types of novels?"

'Oh, so she wanted to start a conversation. I feel kind of bad now. I'm also kind of getting tired of reading, might as well follow her lead,' Oreki thought.

"Sometimes, they can be a bit 50/50 occasionally, what about you?" Oreki responded, satisfied with his response.

"Oh! I also think the same, they do kind of get repetitive, don't they?" Shiina excitedly asked, happy at finding someone who had similar hobbies.

"I agree, it's why I take a break sometimes. So what novel are you reading, Miss?" Oreki asked.

'Nothing wrong with making acquaintances with a sorta calm person like her,' Oreki thought.

Realizing the connoation of Oreki asking 'Miss?' Shiina got out of her stupor.

"Oh I forgot to introduce myself, Shiina Hiyori, from Class 1-C, nice to meet you." Shiina introduced, calming down.

"Oreki Houtarou, Class A of the same year, it's nice to meet you too," Oreki said, smiling.

Blushing, Shiina restarted their conversation.

They conversed about their favorite novels and genres, and their favored titles from each for a long time. It turned out, that Shiina had read much more books than Oreki, but it made sense, as Oreki never had the habit of constantly going to the library until now.

After getting some recommendations that Oreki had kept a mental note about, Oreki looked at the time on his phone.

"It looks like it's getting a little late, Shiina-san," Oreki said, showing Shiina the time, which was 6:30, dinner time.

"O-oh I guess you're right. I had so much fun that time passed by so fast..."

"I agree, Shiina-san," Oreki said, getting up.

"Well, I guess I will be seeing you, I had a great time," Oreki said, about to leave.

"W-wait, Oreki-kun!" Shiina whisper-yelled, causing him to turn back to see Shiina hold up her phone at him.

"Could I get your phone number? J-just in case I can't see you again and other stuff!"

Listening to her nervously rambling, Oreki smiled a little before taking out his phone.

"Yeah sure, Shiina-san," Oreki said, exchanging contacts.

Looking at Shiina hug her phone as if it was a precious treasure, Oreki thought, 'How lonely she must have been if she's that happy over my phone number.'

"Then I'll see you, Shiina-san," Oreki greeted, doing a half-wave.

"Yes, I'll see you around, Oreki-kun," Shiina waved back, smiling at him.

'Cute,' Oreki thought.

Oreki had thought she looked cute, not in a romantic way, but as if stating a known fact.

After getting home, looking at the blue sky as if the rain had never happened, Oreki arrived home and reheated his Kimchi Nabe for dinner, before making his way to the convenience store to buy a large umbrella for multiple reasons.

If it's too small the chances of his shoes and pants being pelted with rain was high.

Also, having a big umbrella just gives more space and freedom to move around, which is convenient for Oreki.

2 weeks passed, with the occasional encounter and 'Enlightening discussions' with Sakayanagi, and the semi-daily texts and calls with Shiina, discussing their interests.

Overall, even though it was surprisingly packed and not at all what Oreki had anticipated when enrolling into this school, he was comfortable with this arrangement.

He even started getting into the habit of exercising when he arrived home, just to maintain his physique of being able to sleep comfortably, nothing wrong with that.

Walking around the Clubs and Sports area, bored out of his mind as Sakayanagi was doing something with her faction and Shiina had club activities with the Tea Ceremony club, Oreki decided to walk around the school.

After sitting down and looking at the bulletin board, he heard some shouting coming from the side of the second gym.

Getting his attention, he saw 5 students ganging up on a well-athletically built student.

'How annoying,' Oreki thought, before pulling out his phone and started recording, zooming in.

'Might as well report this to the Student Council, ruining the school peace,' Oreki thought, looking at the delinquent behavior from the students that were fighting.

After recording for a few minutes, watching as 2 people held the one guy down, and the guy who seemed like the leader of the delinquents approached the red-haired guy, before putting his finger right above his eye.

'Now this is just threatening the guy. I wonder how many monthly points one would lose if I reported this,' Oreki thought, before getting tapped on the shoulder.

Turning around, Oreki saw what looked to be one of the more attractive members of the student body, with a popularity so vast that even he knew who it was.

With her strawberry blond hair along with her blue eyes, it was obvious who the person was.

Ichinose Honami.

The type of person Oreki wanted nothing to do with.

"What?" Oreki asked. No reason to be rude and earn a majority of the student body's ire.

"I was wondering from what point you started recording," Ichinose asked.

'So she saw.'

"From basically the beginning," Oreki responded.

"Oh, that's great! Would you like to come with me to stop the fighting?" Ichinose asked, having her hand out.

'How noble. Why not, at least they'll go away afterward.' Oreki thought, before nodding and following Ichinose.

Continuing to record despite walking closer, Oreki watched as the two men let the red hair go before the purple-haired guy started talking down to him.

Watching as the red hair was about to start swinging, Ichinose decided that it was the perfect time to intervene.

"Stop right there!"

As if she had some mystical power, everyone stopped, looking at Ichinose, and the person who had a phone pointed at them.

"I don't know what's happening, but I won't tolerate any fighting between classes!" Ichinose said, hands on her hips.

"I don't know what you are talking about Ichinose, Sudo over here tried to attack me so we stopped him," Ryuen said, shifting the blame over to Sudo, causing Sudo to become more pissed, about to swing again.

'How stupid is this guy to get riled up at that,' Oreki thought, letting Ichinose handle the situation.

"Stop, don't lie Ryuen, we have the proof right here," Ichinose said, showing Oreki, who had his phone open showing the entire interaction.

"So what? Are you going to report us?" Ryuen asked, glaring at Oreki and Ichinose.

'What did I do?' Oreki thought.

"I don't want anyone in trouble. It's a school, just follow school rules and don't fight and we don't need to report you," Ichinose said.

"Tsk, Let's go," Ryuen said, before backing off and walking away.

"You coward! Fight me!" Sudo said, about to run at him before being stopped by Ayanokoji.

'This is a new guy,' Oreki thought, looking at the straight face of the person.

'It looks as if that guy was here the entire time. If he helped Sudo, then he's probably part of the same class, so why didn't he help earlier,' Oreki thought, before deciding against it.

Watching Sudo get dragged away, Ichinose turned to Oreki.

"Thanks so much for helping, you want compensation?" Ichinose said, pulling up her phone.

"Compensation for what?" Oreki asked.

"Ryuen isn't the type to lay down and do nothing, and his methods are pretty violent. I could have just brought his attention to you," Ichinose sheepishly said.

'Brother what? He was that kind of person, who would have known?' Oreki sarcastically thought.

Sighing, Oreki pulled out his phone, before switching contacts to get some compensation.

"Here's 50,000 Points for your trouble, Houtarou-kun!" Ichinose said.

'How can she afford to just give me 50,000 Points, that's already half her points for the month. Unless they have a completely different system,' Oreki thought, before moving it out of his mind.

"No problem, Ichinose-san," Oreki said, before parting ways.

The rest of the month was relaxing, other than the sudden confrontation between Class D and Class C.

It reached the end of the month, with just 1 day before the new month started.

Getting to homeroom, Mashima-sensei entered with a pile of papers.

"We will have a pop quiz."

There were little groans, but the academically smart A-Class just dealt with it.

"No need to worry. This test is not graded but is more of a benchmark. Cheating is still not allowed, and getting caught will lead to immediate expulsion."

'Not graded, but immediate expulsion? That in itself is suspicious.' Oreki thought.

'Maybe I should aim to get the average before taking a nap.' Oreki thought, getting a test paper

'That way, before the midterm exam, people won't see me as someone who needs to be tutored, and won't see me as someone who would need to tutor other people.' Oreki thought, solving the questions to his best ability.

Looking at the questions, Oreki was confused, as the test was mostly filled with information that even Junior High Students could have been able to solve.

'So if I get these wrong I'll seem too much like an idiot. Change of plans.' Oreki thought, deciding to solve all of the easy problems, making his way toward the last 3 questions before looking at it.

'There is no way they expect us to get these problems correct, regardless of whether we studied for it or not. They aren't particularly difficult, but the 3 questions get exponentially harder.' Oreki thought looking at the last 2 questions.

'These questions specifically.'

'So just do the first one and go to bed.' Oreki thought, solving the first one, before putting his paper to the side and deciding to take a nap.

'Tests take so much brain power. It's probably fine to sleep after you finish a test,' Oreki thought.

After waking up and turning in the papers, Oreki took out his food for the week, this time just a container of Miso Soup and some rice, getting approached by Sakayanagi. She always approached him when events like this happened. This time, however, it seemed like she had made a friend.

Kamuro Masumi.

Looking at her, it seemed like Kamuro was following her because Sakayanagi had dirt on her, and then got eased to the role.

"Hello, Oreki-kun."

"Hello, Sakayanagi-san,"

Exchanging greetings, Sakayanagi pulled up a chair, which prompted Kamuro to do the same.

"What did you think about the test, Oreki-kun?" Sakayanagi asked.

'Why is Sakayanagi asking some random loner this?' Kamuro wondered, watching the interaction.

"I don't know, it was just a test that wasn't graded."

"So it's going to be like this again, hmm? Oreki-kun," Sakayanagi smiled, pulling out her bento to eat.

"I guess it is," Oreki said, putting his rice in the Miso Soup.

"How was the final 3 questions on the test?" Sakayanagi asked.

"It was pretty hard, I didn't even know where to start," Oreki lied.

"Hee~ I could tutor you, Oreki-kun,"

"Don't bother, I doubt they are going to be on the Midterms anyways," Oreki said.

'This person doesn't even care about Sakayanagi's status. Who is he?' Kamuro wondered.

"Don't you think the time of this pop quiz was a coincidence, Oreki-kun?"

"So you came here for my thoughts," Oreki concluded, getting a laugh from Sakayanagi.

"This is why I like talking to you, Oreki-kun. How blunt, but yes this is the reason why I came here," Sakayanagi said.

'A genius like Sakayanagi is asking for Oreki's advice?' Kamuro was stupefied, how smart would he be to have to get Sakayanagi of all people to ask for his advice?

"I think, and this is just a hypothesis, doesn't mean it's right, just a disclaimer if I'm wrong," Oreki warned, eating a scoop of rice.

"Yes, yes, I know."

'But you never are, are you?' Sakayanagi thought, smiling.

"It's probably supposed to be 2 things because I can assume that they are revealing the 'Monthly Points' tomorrow, it's probably to help us decide who's leading the study groups for the upcoming midterms," Oreki said, getting the attention of Kamuro.

'Monthly Points?' Kamuro wondered, but looking at Sakayanagi's unfazed face, she assumed that Sakayanagi already asked something similar.

"I see, that would make sense, but what of the second point?" Sakayanagi continued.

"Oh that's kind of irrelevant for us, but it's probably for the homeroom teachers to show to the class when they complain about their monthly points being zero or low." Oreki plainly said.

'That would make sense,' Sakayanagi thought, before smiling.

"That was in line with what I was thinking, Oreki-kun. I knew I should have asked you," Sakayanagi said, eating her food.

"Yeah, yeah."

"But you lied about not knowing the last 2 problems, didn't you?" Sakayanagi said, plainly looking at Oreki.

"No? If the scores come out, I probably didn't get a hundred, those last 3 questions were hard," Oreki explained, taking another spoonful of rice.

"I would assume that you didn't even try, Oreki-kun. Probably to not get chosen as one of the tutors, am I right?" Sakayanagi asked, smiling.

'She's somehow right...' Oreki thought.

"Nope." Oreki plainly said.

"Hee~?," Sakayanagi said, unconvinced with his answer.

"Anymore questions?" Oreki asked.

"Nope."

After that, the 3 continued to eat in silence, before Sakayanagi and Kamuro went back to their respective seats.

After class had ended, Oreki made his way to the Library, sitting down in his usual seat.

Waiting for a few minutes Shiina made her way to her usual seat, although it seemed like she was getting closer with every time he came to the Library.

They read in silence for a few minutes, before talking to each other about their respective books.

After it reached dinner time, they bid each other goodbye, and Oreki made his way home.

Getting home, working out eating dinner, and showering and cleaning up Oreki went to bed, expecting around 90,000-ish points to be added to his account.

Waking up, Oreki checked his phone and saw that 94,000 points had been added to his account.

'I was right. The few points that we lost were probably because of me, not that I care.' Oreki thought, looking at his phone.

3992727 Points.

'I guess today is the day I bet some more money with my seniors,' Oreki thought.

'Maybe lower the price so some don't say no.'

Making his way to his Class, when he walked in, it looked like there was a decent amount of people who were confused about the amount of points they got.

Sitting down, Oreki waited.

As Mashima-sensei entered, one of the students raised their hands.

"Excuse me sir, but it seems like we didn't get the entirety of our 100,000 points,"

"That is not a mistake,"

"But weren't we supposed to get 100,000 points every month?"

"That was never clarified."

"1 tardy and a few instances of not paying attention in class has led to the reduction of 60 Class Points."

Oreki noticed a few classmates look back at him, glaring.

Shrugging back, Oreki just listened to what Mashima-sensei had to say.

Writing down on the board, he wrote down the Class Points for each class.

Class A - 940

Class B - 650

Class C - 490

Class D - 0

"In this school, meritocracy is the main belief. For example, if Class B gained 350 Class Points they would be considered the new Class A, and vice versa."

'Basically what I predicted.' Oreki thought.

Taking out a large piece of paper, Mashima-sensei rolled out the paper before putting it on the whiteboard.

"These are the scores for the most recent pop quiz we had," Mashima explained.

Looking at the board, it looked like the class average was surprisingly high, with a majority of the class in the high 80s and 90s, with a few outliers.

Oreki himself had a 92 on the pop quiz.

"The nearest chance of gaining class points is the Midterms, which will be held in a few weeks. The maximum amount of points you can earn from this will be 100 Class Points."

'Does this mean that I have to get a good score? Or just above the average to gain points?' Oreki wondered.

"Starting today, any student that fails to pass the Midterms or Finals will automatically be expelled."

'That shouldn't particularly be the issue in our class except for the outliers,' Oreki thought, looking at Kamuro and Totsuka, who had the lowest scores in her class.

After dropping the bomb on the class, Mashima-sensei left, ending homeroom.

Classes continued as normal, as Oreki had already assumed that a majority of the class had a similar hypothesis or normally focused during class time.

After class had ended, unsurprisingly, the two class leaders of their factions started devising study groups.

Katsuragi's Faction decided to create multiple groups, reaching out to the Neutral people, in which a few joined.

Sakayanagi on the other hand, decided that independent study was fine, with there being full group sessions twice every week.

Sakayanagi and Katsuragi both offered Oreki to join, but Oreki declined, saying that he was just more comfortable studying by himself.

'Not that I would have to study that much anyways,' Oreki thought.

With plans in mind, Oreki left the classroom, walking his way toward the Library to hang out with Shiina.

After arriving at their usual spot, instead of the usual book talk, they started talking about their classes.

"So how did you react to the news, Shiina?" Oreki asked, reading a textbook.

"It was a little predicted, but I didn't think we would lose that much," Shiina said.

"Oh, if you need any help, I can help, I don't mind," Oreki said, causing Shiina to blush.

"I-It's fine, it's not like I'm poor or anything, but thank you for thinking about me," Shiina said.

"I mean, it's what friends do is it not?" Oreki said, causing Shiina to blush further.

After a few minutes of talking, Oreki remembered what he had to do.

"I'll have to leave early today, Shiina, I'll see you around,"

"It's fine, have a good day, Oreki-kun," Shiina said, as Oreki made his way to the Chess Club.

Arriving at the Chess Club and entering, similar to the first time he came, they were excited at the prospect of playing against Oreki.

But after Oreki had lowered the amount of money they were betting, they were even more enthusiastic, everyone trying to go first.

'Let's get some more money,' Oreki thought.

After 3 hours, and the defeat of the entire Chess Club once again, Oreki made his way out.

"It was a fun game, Oreki, let us play once more next month," The Club determinedly said.

"Yes, I'll be looking forward to it." Oreki finished, walking out of the room.

'Now I'm even more rich.' Oreki thought looking at his 6792727 Private Points he had.

'How satisfying.'

Walking back home and into his bed, Oreki fell asleep, unaware of the hectic events that were going to happen in days to come.

A/N This was a long ass chapter. I just wanted to fulfill the 15000 words thing.

This is just a reminder for me to put the sudo fight, pool episode scene next chapter. Maybe some manabu blackmail.

I got school starting after spring break so some chapters might release slower. Also I lose motivation occasionally if I don't know where the fuck the story is supposed to go, which is why i put the stuff in the paragraph above this.

I know the ryuen and sudo interaction was after the reveal of class points but I was too lazy to fix it by then. There's still going to be that interaction at the library anyways.