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Classroom Of The Elite Volume 1 - Chapter 22
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Horikita had been sullen all morning. It would’ve been nice if she got adorable when she was angry. If she puffed out her reddened cheeks, she’d be cute enough to make any man would swoon. However, she remained expressionless and silent, refusing to acknowledge my existence. If I were to ignore her, though, she’d probably take out her compass. After an especially long day, we finally finished class.
“Have you gathered everyone in the study group?”
Her first words to me included “study group.” She was most definitely implying something.
“Kushida’s bringing them. I wonder if she’ll participate,” I replied.
“Kushida-san, hmm? I thought I specified that she wasn’t allowed to participate…”
Satisfied, Horikita left for the library, and I followed. Kushida gave me a too-cute wink as I left. Together, Horikita and I secured a long table at the far end of the library and waited for the others.
“I’ve brought everyone!”
Kushida came over to where we were seated. Behind her was…
“Kushida-chan told us about this study group. I don’t want to be expelled after only just starting. Thanks!”
Ike, Yamauchi, and Sudou had all shown up. However, they’d brought an unexpected visitor, a boy named Okitani.
“Huh? Okitani, you failed, too?” I asked.
“Oh, n-no. Not exactly. I was just really close to failing, so I was worried… Is it not, er, okay for me to join you? It’s a little difficult to join Hirata’s group…” Okitani looked up at me, puffing out his cute, slightly reddened cheeks. He was slender, with blue hair cut in a short bob. A boy attracted to anything feminine might have shouted “I’m in love!” right away. If Okitani weren’t a man, it would have been dangerous.
“Is it okay if Okitani-kun joins us, too?” Kushida asked Horikita. Okitani had scored thirty-nine on the test, after all. He likely wanted to participate just to be safe.
“As long as you’re worried about failing, I don’t mind. But you need to be serious,” Horikita said.
“Oh, okay.”
Okitani sat down, seemingly happy. Kushida tried to sit next to him, which Horikita certainly noticed.
“Kushida-san, did Ayanokouji-kun not tell you? You—”
“I’m also worried about getting a bad grade,” Kushida said.
“You…didn’t score badly on the small test.”
“Yes, but to tell you the truth, I was lucky. There were lots of multiple-choice questions, you know? So I guessed about half of them. In truth, I just barely passed.”
Kushida giggled adorably, lightly scratching her cheek.
“I think that I’m about on the same level as Okitani-kun, if not slightly worse. So I want to join the study group to avoid getting a bad grade. That’s okay, right?”
I couldn’t hide my surprise at Kushida’s unexpected scheme. She’d first confirmed that Okitani could join the study group, then turned the tables on Horikita. Now Horikita would have to permit her to join.
“Fine,” Horikita growled.
“Thank you.” Kushida smiled, bowed, and took her seat. Bringing Okitani had probably been part of her plan all along. She’d effectively used him to justify joining the group.
“Scoring lower than thirty-two means failing. Do you fail if you get exactly thirty-two points, though?” Sudou asked.
“No, you’re safe if you score at least thirty-two points. Sudou, you can manage that, right?” Ike said.
Even Ike was worried about Sudou. Of course those guys would want to know the exact threshold.
“It doesn’t really matter. My goal is for everyone to score fifty,” Horikita said.
“Gah, isn’t that going to be too tough?”
“Aiming to just skate by is dangerous. The fact that you can’t easily reach that threshold troubles me.”
In the face of Horikita’s sound argument, the failures simply nodded reluctantly.
“I included most of what will be covered on this test. We only have about two weeks left, but I plan to thoroughly walk you through everything. If you don’t understand something, please ask.”
“Hey, I don’t understand the first question.” Sudou glared at Horikita. I tried reading the first problem as well.
“A, B, and C collectively have 2,150 yen. A has 120 yen more than B does. Also, after C gives B two-fifths of his money, B would have 220 yen more than A. How much yen did A originally start with?”
A problem with simultaneous equations, huh? The first test question should have been one that a high school student could easily solve.
“Try thinking about it. If you give up right at the beginning, you won’t get anywhere.”
“Look, I don’t know how to study at all,” Sudou said.
“Everyone got into this school.”
This school didn’t accept people based solely on test scores, though. Sudou had most likely been accepted because of his exceptional physical ability. If you looked at it that way, wouldn’t he likely be expelled because of bad grades?
“Ugh, I don’t get it either.” Ike, equally bewildered, scratched his head.
“Do you understand, Okitani-kun?” Horikita asked.
“Let’s see… A plus B plus C is 2,150 yen. So, A equals B plus 120. Then…” Okitani started writing out a series of equations. Kushida, seated next to him, glanced over her shoulder.
“Yeah, yeah, that looks right. Then what?”
You could certainly call Kushida bold, or even audacious. She’d claimed to have just barely avoided failing, and she was now teaching Okitani.
“Honestly, first- and second-year junior high school students could easily solve this problem. If you stumble here, it’ll be impossible for you to continue,” Horikita said.
“So, what, we’re like elementary school kids?” Sudou growled.
“Like Horikita-san said, it’ll be bad if you get tripped up here. The math problems on the short test were about this difficult, but the last problems were really tough. I didn’t understand how to solve them,” Okitani said.
“Listen up. This can be easily solved using a system of simultaneous equations.” Without hesitation, Horikita picked up her pen and got to work. Unfortunately, it looked like only Kushida and Okitani understood.
“What even are simultaneous equations?” asked Ike.
“Are you seriously asking me that?” said Horikita.
Wow, these guys had really never studied at all, it seemed. Sudou threw his mechanical pencil onto the desk.
“Stop. I’m done. This isn’t going to work.”
Sudou had quit before we could even begin. Horikita quietly seethed at this pitiful display.
“W-wait, everyone. Let’s give it a shot. If you learn how to solve these problems, you can apply what you learn to the questions on the test. Okay? Okay?” Kushida said.
“Well, if Kushida-chan says so, I guess I can try. But if Kushida-chan were teaching, I’d probably try even harder.”
“U-um…” Kushida seemed ready to ask Horikita about that, but Horikita stayed silent. Her refusal to even answer “Yes” or “No” was troubling. However, if she remained silent much longer, the failures might abandon this study group. Kushida made up her mind and grabbed the mechanical pencil.
“Like Horikita-san said, you can solve this problem by using a system of simultaneous equations. So let’s try writing them out.”
Quickly, she wrote down three equations. It looked like the others were trying their best, but it still seemed hopeless. This was more like detention than a study group. They didn’t seem to understand her methods in the slightest.
“So, the answer I got is 710 yen. What did you get?”
Kushida, confident in Sudou’s ability to follow along, flashed him a smile.
“Um, so you used this to get the answer? How?” he asked.
“Uh…” Kushida immediately realized what had happened. None of them understood.
“I’m sorry, you’re far too ignorant and incompetent,” said Horikita, who’d been silent until now. “If you can’t solve this problem, I seriously shiver at the thought of what the future will bring.”
“Shut up. This has nothing to do with you.” Sudou slammed the desk, understandably irritated by Horikita.
“You’re right. This has nothing to do with me. Your suffering won’t influence me at all. I just pity you. You must have spent your whole life running from anything that presented a challenge,” she said.
“Say whatever you want. Academics will be useless in the future, anyway.”
“Academics will be useless in the future? That’s an interesting argument. How do you justify that?”
“I don’t care if I can’t solve this problem. Studying’s useless. Aiming to become a pro basketball player will help me a lot more.”
“Incorrect. Once you learn to solve these kinds of problems, your entire life will change. In other words, studying increases the possibility that you’ll solve the problems you face. It’s the same principle as basketball. I wonder if, so far, you’ve been playing basketball by your own set of rules. When you struggle in basketball, do you run away from it like you do from studying? I doubt you take basketball practice seriously. You’re a natural troublemaker, someone who always causes a disruption. If I were your adviser, I wouldn’t let you on the team.”
“Tch!” Sudou got in close to Horikita and grabbed her by the collar.
“Sudou-kun!” Kushida grabbed Sudou’s arm faster than I could move. Despite Sudou’s intimidations, Horikita didn’t flinch. She simply fixed Sudou with an icy glare.
“You don’t interest me in the slightest, but I can tell what kind of person you are just by looking at you. You want to play professional basketball? Do you honestly believe you can make such a childish dream come true in this world? A simpleton like you who gives up right away could never hope to go pro. Furthermore, even if you managed to become a professional player, I doubt you’d earn an annual income sufficient to live on. You’re a fool to have such unreasonable aspirations.”
“You!”
It was clear that Sudou was on the brink of losing control. If he raised his fist, I’d have to wrestle him down.
“So, you’re just going to immediately give up on studying or on school in general? Then discard your dreams of playing basketball and spend your days toiling away at a pitiful part-time job.”
“Hmph. That’s just fine. I’ll quit, but it’s not because it’s difficult. I took a day off from my club activities for this, and it ended up being a complete waste of time. Later!” Sudou said.
“What an odd thing to say. Studying is difficult.” Horikita took a parting shot at Sudou. If Kushida weren’t there, Sudou probably would have smacked Horikita. He stuffed his textbooks into his bag, not even hiding his irritation.
“Hey, are you okay?”
“I don’t care. It’s pointless to care about someone who lacks any motivation whatsoever. Even though he’s facing expulsion, he has no will to fight.”
“I thought that it was weird for someone like you, who doesn’t have any friends, to put this study group together. You probably just wanted to call us stupid. If you weren’t a girl, I’d smack you.”
“So, you lack the courage to hit me? Don’t use my gender as an excuse,” Horikita said.
The newly assembled study group was already falling apart.
“I’m quitting, too. Partly ’cause I can’t deal with studying, but mostly ’cause I’m annoyed. You might be smart, Horikita-san, but that doesn’t mean you can act like you’re better than us.” Ike, clearly fed up, threw in the towel as well.
“I don’t care if you get expelled. Do what you want,” Horikita shot back.
“Well, I’ll just pull an all-nighter.”
“Interesting. Didn’t you come here because you can’t study?”
“Tch…” Even the typically easygoing Ike stiffened under the sting of Horikita’s barbed comments. Yamauchi started putting his textbook away as well. Finally, the easily influenced Okitani got out of his seat.
“I-Is this really okay, everyone?” he stammered.
“Let’s go, Okitani.”
Ike left the library, trailed by the hesitant Okitani. Now only Kushida, Horikita, and I remained. Soon, even Kushida would probably reach her limit and leave.
“Horikita-san, we’re not going to be able to study with anyone if things continue like this…” Kushida murmured.
“I was certainly mistaken. Even if I’d helped them avoid failure this time, we would’ve faced a similar dilemma soon after. We’d have to go through this irritation all over again. Eventually, they’ll fail. I finally understand how unproductive this was. I don’t have the time for it.”
“Wait, what do you mean?”
“I mean that it’s better to get rid of the dead weight.”
That was Horikita’s ultimate conclusion. If the failing students were expelled, then the class’s average test scores would go up, and we wouldn’t have to expend any extra effort.
“So, that’s… H-hey, Ayanokouji-kun. Can you say something?” Kushida murmured.
“If that’s Horikita’s answer, then isn’t it fine?”
“You think so too, Ayanokouji-kun?”
“Well, I don’t want to toss them to the wolves or anything, but I’m not the tutor. There’s nothing I can do about it.” In the end, I felt similarly to Horikita.
“Okay. I see.” Kushida grabbed her bag and stood up, her expression darkening. “I’m going to do something. Well, I’ll try. I definitely don’t want everything to fall apart so quickly.”
“Kushida-san. Do you really feel that way?”
“Is it wrong? I don’t want to abandon Sudou-kun, Ike-kun, and Yamauchi-kun.”
“Even if that was how you truly felt, I wouldn’t particularly care. But I don’t think that you actually want to save them,” Horikita said.
“What? I don’t understand. Why do you say things like that, Horikita-san? Why do you try to antagonize people? That’s…very sad.”
Kushida hung her head briefly, then looked back up at us. She met our eyes.
“Well then. I’ll see you two tomorrow,” she whispered.
With that, Kushida left. Suddenly, it was just the two of us again. We sat in the complete silence of the library.
“Well, that was painful. The study group’s already over,” I said.
“Looks that way.”
The quiet grew almost oppressive.
“I suppose you were the only one who understood me, Ayanokouji-kun. You’re at least somewhat better than those worthless idiots. If there’s some subject you’re struggling with, I could teach you.”
“I’ll pass, thank you.”
“Are you going back to your dorm?” she asked.
“I’m going to find Sudou and the others and have a chat with them.”
“There’s nothing to be gained from associating with people who’ll likely be expelled soon.”
“I just want to talk to my friends. Do you have a problem with that?”
“How incredibly selfish. You call them your friends, yet you simply stand by and watch as they’re expelled. From my point of view, you’re cruel.”
Well, I certainly couldn’t deny that. Horikita wasn’t wrong. In the end, studying was just the test of an individual’s self-motivation.
“I won’t deny what you’ve said. I can also understand why you’d call someone like Sudou stupid. However, Horikita, shouldn’t you try to understand Sudou’s situation? If he only hoped to become a professional basketball player, then choosing this school in the first place makes little sense. Don’t you think you’d understand him better if you considered his reasons for enrolling?”
“Not interested.” Horikita dismissed me and returned to her textbook. Alone.
…—————-…
…Please don’t report,…
…Wilysha_Purple♡…