Living in a Class-Based World

“How rude! This is why you cannot put any faith into common citizens!”

An angry roar filled a classroom located in Toukyou’s junior high zone school on School Day. Or to be precise, the class room of Yuuji, a third year male student.

Yuuji was an elite D-Rank male who usually had a gentle countenance, which made him extremely popular among female students. Because of that, thirty female students had gathered in his classroom today.

The one on the receiving end of that shouting while drawing piercingly harsh looks on her by all other girls was…Moe.

“U-Umm…”

“Be quiet! Do you not realize just how shameless your whole demeanor has been!?”

The eyes of the girl, who had been attacking Moe, shifted from Moe, who couldn’t even muster an objection, to Aoi…and eventually to Manami who stood behind Moe.

“Manami-san, what is the meaning of this?”

“What do you mean? Why are you so angry, Yuuko-san?”

“W-What was that!?!?!” Yuuko became speechless by Manami’s completely unexpected answer. “The foolish common citizen over there made a request to Yuuji-sama, despite knowing how rude it is!”

“…And? Why would you be angry about it? Moe-san simply made a request to Yuuji-sama. That is a very common thing to do during School Day, isn’t it?”

“As if! What kind of usefulness would a plain commoner girl bring to Yuuji-sama that would qualify her to request his help!?”

“It’s Yuuji-sama’s decision, not yours, whether Moe-san has any usefulness to him, is it not?”

“H-How dare you speak to me like that!!”

Manami and Yuuko were squaring off against each other with Moe stuck between both. As Yuuko’s face was bright red because she was seething with so much anger that anyone would think she’d start a fistfight at any moment, Moe stood stock still, unable to do anything.

Because of me…

All the girls around her were high family daughters. Some among them came from families who had been continuing their status as high families for several generations.

Although she felt deeply grateful towards Manami for boldly standing up to them, even while being showered by reproachful scowls by the other girls, her own inability to do anything about this whole situation almost made her cry.

Yuuji sat in the center of the classroom, merely staring at the uproar among the girls without saying anything.

What’s the idea here?

It didn’t show on his face, but deep down he felt pissed about this disturbance. As far as he was concerned, he wanted to kick that extremely rude commoner girl called Moe out of his classroom right away, but Aoi having been the one who brought Moe here was a problem.

Aoi, the next family head of the Yoshiwaras, one of Toukyou’s two great families, had visited Yuuji’s class room several times during School Days. Because it didn’t happen every time, he didn’t believe that Aoi had narrowed down her aim on him, but Aoi was one of the women he definitely wanted to win over. And for this very reason, he couldn’t make up his mind how to deal with Moe who had been brought along by her.

Yuuji was one of the elites among the third-year boys of Toukyou’s junior high zone school. Many of the elite boys created cliques with other boys. They’d invite boys, who didn’t manage to become elites, into their cliques to reign over them as leaders.

Yet, Yuuji was one of the rare cases who wouldn’t form their own clique despite being elites. Compared to cliques, where girls had to also pay attention to the underlings for the sake of buttering up to the elite boy, Yuuji allowed for a direct contact without any go-betweens, making him quite demanded as an elite boy. Moreover, Yuuji enjoyed the high evaluation of being a kind boy who would always gently smile while treating girls kindly.

“Stop it,” Yuuji stopped Manami who continued to calmly answer Yuuko’s angry shouting. “Moe-san.”

“Y-Yes!”

“You have asked me to accept a Sick Visit Service for your Grandmother, but…what can you do for me if I were to accept it?”

“I will most definitely give you an A-Rating!” Moe answered without so much as a sliver of hesitation.

If this had been Yuuta, he’d have probably wondered whether it’s a violation of rules to promise a high rating before the actual Service. And his doubts would have been justified for regular Services.

But, this was a negotiation occurring during School Day. And it was common sense that deals would be made during negotiations with men. Rather, School Day was such a precious occasion because you could make deals with men, turning the boys of their class and age into very precious existences for the girls.

This was one of the major reasons why Yuuta, who hadn’t attended school while refusing all Service Activities, was hated as shut-in trash by his female classmates.

“Isn’t that natural!? How dumb do you have to be to make a request with something so obvious as compensation!?”

Men, and especially elite men, often bought high ratings from women during deals. At that point, a B-Rating was already a foregone conclusion, and any high family with a bit of financial leeway would naturally provide an A-Rating.

But, for Moe, a commoner girl, an A-Rating was already the height of her sincerity.

Of course, the male side would also be required to sincerely invest effort to receive such a deal. No woman would accommodate a guy with an A-Rating or other conveniences without any ideas of her own.

The girls had been observing the boys in regards to how they treated women and how they tackled their Services since year one at school, and only those boys, who were recognized to bring benefits to themselves and the women, were regarded as valuable enough to offer deals.

“Yuuko-san, don’t get so upset.”

“Y-Yes! Forgive me.”

“Don’t worry about it. It makes me happy since I know that you did it for my sake.”

“Hauu…Yuuji-sama.”

Being praised by Yuuji, Yuuko’s angry frown vanished as if it had never existed to being with, immediately replaced by a broad smile that clearly showed her great delight.

“An A-Rating, huh…? I’m well aware that this might be your best effort to show your sincerity as a common citizen, Moe-san. It shows me just how serious this issue is for you.”

“T-Thank you very much.”

“But, an A-Rating, huh…? Hmm…”

Yuuji cast a fleeting glance at Aoi and Manami while deliberating. He wondered whether either one would throw a lifeline for Moe at this point.

As might be expected, even those two should have expected that an elite like me wouldn’t receive the Service request of a common citizen with the only reward being an A-Rating. Because of that, either Manami or Aoi should have planned some sort of accommodation for me.

But, no matter how long he waited, neither Manami nor Aoi mentioned a single word. Yuuji clicked his tongue inside his mind at being let-down like this.

Tsk… What should I do? Should I deliberately go along with Moe’s request to create a debt of gratitude with Manami and Aoi? But…I can’t really grasp their relationship with this girl. Would I actually be able to get Manami and Aoi indebted to me by heeding this girl’s request? If not, it’d result in me working for free…fuck!

Yuuji’s gentle, smiling face didn’t show a single crack, but because he started to get somewhat pissed, a faint hint of a grim expression seeped out. Something that wouldn’t usually happen.

And at that very moment, “Hey, wait a sec, wait a sec, what’s going on here?”

A boy’s voice filled the classroom as soon as the door was opened. Everyone present immediately looked in its direction.

“Quite the lively place you got here, right Yuuji?”

“Man…what are you doing here, Takuya? And what about your own classroom?”

The one entering Yuuji’s classroom was the elite boy Takuya. A huge throng of girls was swarming behind him, but it was the woman standing next to Takuya who answered in his stead.

“Just what is with the uproar over here, Aoi-san?” Yukishiro, the next head of the Minatos, asked.

Although she was still 15 years old, her chest had already grown into a whopping F-Cup. Her natural brown hair, the snow-white, unblemished skin and her pretty face allowed to actually call her a true work of art. Yukishiro, whose body had grown into an incarnation of lewdness as it would be favored by any men, was the personal favorite of Takuya, a boy who had created the biggest and most prominent clique among all elite boys at school.

Yukishiro always tried to compete with Aoi as fellow Eternal vying for supremacy in Toukyou. At the very least, she was confident in her figure winning out by leaps and bounds.

Aoi also had a beautiful skin that wouldn’t lose out to Yukishiro’s, but her chest was E-Cup. Of course, seeing how Manami and Yuuko were D-Cups, and Moe a C-Cup, her own E-Cup was already plentifully big for her age of fifteen. Moreover, with her straight, glossy, black hair and her lovely face, Aoi was naturally popular among the boys as a neat and proper girl who was enveloped by a somewhat transient sensuality.

But, there was a clear difference in evaluation between Aoi and Yukishiro among the guys.

The boys rated Yukishiro much higher. The authority held by her as one of Toukyou’s Eternals was very attractive to men, and although the same applied to Aoi, Yukishiro was skilled at tempting, courting, and praising guys.

In contrast to her, Aoi always dealt with guys indifferently without actively approaching any of them while keeping them at large. You could even describe her behavior towards men as passive. And this was also the reason why it was completely unclear who Aoi was aiming for, even now that she was on the verge of graduating junior high.

Starting with high school, the boys would draw up their own 「Classes」. The boys’ classrooms up until junior high could actually be called as biased on women taking the initiative since any girl, who got permission to attend the zone school, could visit any boy’s classroom.

But, the classes at high school were different. A girl would need the permission of the boy to belong to his class. Because of that, the girls would strive to obtain a firm promise that they’d be allowed to join a boy’s class in high school during the exchanges at junior high.

With the arrival of Yukishiro and Takuya, Yuuji’s classroom became pregnant with an air of tension. Some among the female students were even close to fainting. Though, that was mostly limited to Moe.

The one breaking that tense atmosphere was Aoi.

“Moe-san, let us leave. It is a shame, though.”

“Y-Yes! …U-Umm.”

“Everyone, forgive us for the disturbance. Please excuse us now.”

Maintaining a level expression, Aoi left Yuuji’s classroom together with Manami. Moe following the two in panic.

“To cause such trouble to a man…the reputation of the Yoshiwaras sure has fallen,” Yukishiro chirped towards Aoi’s back with a daring smile on her lips.

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“You got no business in here anymore, right? How about you hurry up and get lost?”

“Whoa, man, I just came here because I was worried about you, you know?”

“You worried about me? I’d laugh if it wasn’t so hilarious.”

Yuuji and Takuya began to talk after Aoi’s group left. No girl in the classroom was as silly as to butt into a conversation between men.

“You can count on me whenever there’s something troubling you. I’ll welcome you at any time.”

“And that’s how you put a collar around the other guys’ necks and turn them into your lapdogs, right?”

“Nah, I’d never do anything like that. All of the guys are precious friends.”

“Yeah right, friends…”

Takuya wasn’t only winning over girls. Not to mention the boys who didn’t manage to become elites, he had also taken in many of the elite boys who were close to him. As Takuya was the target of Minato’s Yukishiro, he was regarded as an important person, not only by the other girls but also by many guys.

However, Yuuji had never tried to actively network with Takuya. Rather, he had adopted the stance of a lone wolf among the elite boys.

The two had been talking while being watched by all the female students present, but only when Takuya left Yuuji’s classroom with a relaxed smile, the tension that had accumulated was finally released, allowing the classroom to return to its usual atmosphere.

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“I-I am terribly sorry…. B-Because of me…” Moe apologized to Aoi on the verge of tears while walking behind the other two with her face cast down.

She had relied on Aoi, who was commuting to the same school as her, to cheer up her grandmother who refused to take the operation necessary to cure her illness. Same school in this case meant the school the female students were normally attending.

Aoi and Moe lived in the same ward, and together with Manami, the three were classmates. But, even if they might attend the same school as classmates, it was anything but ordinary for a common citizen to call out to a girl of a high family, not to mention an Eternal, and moreover ask them for help.

The reason why Moe was able to request Aoi’s assistance was grounded in Aoi usually interacting with common citizen students in a friendly manner. Or in short, Aoi was a female student who didn’t fit the usual framework of a high family girl.

“Don’t mind it, Moe-san. I have to also apologize since I couldn’t be of more help to you.”

“A-Absolutely not! Because of me, Aoi-sama and Manami-sama got into trouble…”

“There are other boys attending School Day today, so…want to go ask them?”

“N-No…as I thought, this is asking too much. If I inconvenience you any further than I already have…”

“I see… Then let us go back home for today. I’d like to eat something sweet.”

“Huh?”

“You’re right. I also need my dose of sugar. Especially with Aoi-sama treating.”

“Oh my, how sneaky of you, Manami-san.”

“Hihihi.”

Watching Aoi and Manami, Moe became flabbergasted. Their earlier, dignified atmosphere was completely gone, replaced by teasing and gentle smiles as you’d usually see among common citizen girls who were messing around. Normally one wouldn’t be able to see Aoi act so friendly and unrestrained, even if she was a kind girl to begin with.

“Let’s go with bean jam. Yep, great idea me ♪”

Although her reputation among the boys and high family girls should have definitely plummeted due to today’s events, Aoi showed not a sliver of care, merely rejoicing over the prospect of eating syrup-covered bean jam on their way back home.

“I want vanilla ice cream as a topping!”

Manami made her request, as cheerfully as Aoi. She was fully intent on getting Aoi to treat her.

“Moe-san, you too ♪ Let’s eat sweet bean-jam together ♪”

“O-…Okay…”

Aoi and Manami flanked Moe, gluing their bodies to hers, while happily leaving Toukyou’s junior high zone school together in order to cheer up Moe, whom they suspected to feel dejected. Their destination was their favorite cafe in the Yoshiwara Ward.

Later, while eating her bean jam with vanilla ice cream, Manami said, “Come to think of it, I heard Yuuta-sama is going to hold his Game Stream Service on the day after tomorrow.”

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