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Classroom Of The Elite Volume 1 - Chapter 25
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I couldn’t get to sleep, so I got up and left. I bought some juice from the lobby’s vending machine and headed back for the elevator.
“Hmm?”
I could see that the elevator had stopped on the seventh floor. Curious, I decided to check out the CCTV, which showed what was happening inside the elevator car. I saw Horikita, still dressed in her school uniform.
“Well, I don’t really need to hide, but…”
Seeing her might be awkward right now, so I hid behind the vending machine. Horikita arrived at the first floor.
Looking wary of her surroundings, she exited the building. After she’d vanished into the night, I decided to follow after her. However, I instinctively hid again after I turned the corner.
Horikita stopped in her tracks. I sensed another person was with her.
“Suzune. I didn’t think you’d follow me this far,” he said. Had she left in the dead of night to rendezvous with some guy?
“Hmph. I’m far different from the useless girl you once knew, niisan. I came here to catch you.”
“Catch me, hmm?”
Niisan? In the dark, I couldn’t see the person she was talking to. Was she meeting her older brother?
“I heard you were placed in Class D. I suppose nothing has really changed in the last three years. You’ve always been fixated on following me, and as a result you don’t notice your own flaws. Choosing to come to this school was a mistake.”
“That’s… You’re wrong about that. I’ll show you. I’ll reach Class A right away, then—”
“It’s pointless. You will never reach Class A. In fact, your class will fall apart soon enough. Things at this school aren’t as simple as you think.”
“I will definitely, definitely reach—”
“I told you, it’s pointless. You really are a disobedient little sister.”
Horikita’s brother stepped closer to her. From my hiding spot, I could see him plainly.
It was Student Council President Horikita. He displayed no hint of emotion. It was like he was staring at an uninteresting object. He grabbed his younger sister by the wrist—she offered no resistance—and pushed her against the wall.
“No matter how I try to avoid you, the fact remains that you’re my little sister. If people around here learned the truth, I would be humiliated. Leave this school immediately.”
“I-I can’t do that… I will definitely reach Class A. I’ll show you!”
“How incredibly stupid. Do you want to relive the pain of the past?”
“Niisan, I…”
“You possess neither the abilities nor the qualities needed to reach Class A. Get that through your head.”
He moved forward, as if about to act. The situation looked fraught with danger. Resigned to facing Horikita’s anger, I leapt out from my hiding space and went after her brother.
Before he knew I was there, I grabbed his right arm, which he was using to pin his sister.
“What? You…” He stared at his arm and slowly turned to me with a sharp gleam in his eye.
“A-Ayanokouji-kun?!” Horikita cried.
“You were about to throw your sister to the ground, weren’t you? You do realize the floor here is concrete, right? You might be siblings, but you should know the difference between right and wrong.”
“Eavesdropping is not an admirable quality,” he said.
“Fine. Then let go.”
“That’s my line.”
We glared at each other in complete silence.
“Stop it, Ayanokouji-kun,” said Horikita, her voice strained. I’d never heard her voice like that before.
Reluctantly, I released her brother. Instantly, he tried to backhand me in the face. I instinctively took a step back to avoid it. For such a lightly built guy, he was a nasty attacker. He then aimed a sharp kick at my unguarded spot.
“Watch it!”
He had enough power to knock me out with one blow. Looking slightly confused, he exhaled deeply, extended his right arm, and opened his hand.
If I grabbed his hand, he’d probably throw me to the ground. Instead, I slapped his hand away.
*It’s funny how Ayano involved in many issues so fast in sequence lol
“Good reflexes. I didn’t imagine you could evade all of my blows so quickly. Also, you seemed to understand quite well what I was trying to do. Have you been taught?”
After the attacks stopped, the questions began.
“Yes, I was taught piano and calligraphy. Also, when I was in elementary school, I won a national music competition,” I said.
“You’re in Class D, too, aren’t you? What a unique boy, Suzune.”
After he let go of his younger sister, he turned to face me.
“No. Unlike Horikita, I’m pretty incompetent.”
“Suzune, is this boy your friend? I’m honestly surprised.”
“He’s…not my friend. Just my classmate.” Horikita faced her brother fully, as if denying him.
“You continue to confuse independence with solitude. And you, Ayanokouji. With you around, things might get interesting.”
He walked past me and disappeared into the night. So, that was the distinguished student council president. His presence explained some of Horikita’s weird behavior.
“I’m going to drag myself up to Class A even if it kills me,” she said.
With her brother gone, the night was silent once more. Horikita sat up against the wall, her head hanging low. Maybe I’d made things worse by getting involved. I was about to return to the dorms when Horikita called out to me.
“Did you hear everything? Or was it just a coincidence?”
“Oh. Uh, it was half coincidence, I’d say. I saw you when I bought some juice from the vending machine. I was kind of curious, so I followed you. However, I really didn’t mean to meddle in your business.”
Horikita fell silent once again.
“Your older brother is really strong. He doesn’t lack ferocity.”
“He’s ranked fifth dan in karate and fourth dan in aikido.”
Whew, he was really strong. If I hadn’t pulled away, it would’ve ended badly for me.
“You also practice martial arts, don’t you, Ayanokouji-kun? You must hold a dan rank.”
“I told you, didn’t I? Just piano and tea ceremony.”
“You said calligraphy before.”
“I…did calligraphy in addition to those, yes.”
“You purposefully get lower test scores, and you say that you studied piano and calligraphy. I really don’t understand you.”
“My scores were a coincidence. I really did do piano, tea ceremony, and calligraphy.” If there were a piano here, I could at least have performed “Für Elise.”
“You saw a strange side of me.”
“On the contrary, I always thought of you as a normal girl. Well, not really.”
Horikita glared at me.
“Let’s go back. If anyone saw us out here, they’d probably get ideas.”
She was certainly right about that. Rumors about a boy and a girl hanging out alone in the dark would be bound to circulate. Not to mention the fact that our relationship seemed to be intensifying.
Horikita got up slowly and walked toward the dorm.
“Hey. Were you really okay with how the study group went?” I asked.
If I didn’t broach the subject now, I’d likely never get the chance again.
“Why are you asking me? I was the one who proposed holding the study group in the first place. Besides, I got the feeling that you considered it a hassle. Am I wrong?”
“It just left a bad taste in my mouth. Look, I think things are going to get worse with the others.”
“I don’t care. I’m used to it. Besides, Hirata-kun picked up most of the failing students. He knows how to study, he seems to get along with others, and, unlike me, he’ll be a good tutor. At the very least, they should all pass. It was pointless to try teaching the failing students myself. We would go through this same scenario for every test until graduation. It would be pointless to try making up for their failure every single time.”
“Sudou and the others don’t much like Hirata. I doubt they’ll participate in his study group.”
“That’s their decision, which has nothing to do with me. Besides, if they’re facing expulsion, they shouldn’t grumble about trivial nonsense. If they don’t get closer to Hirata-kun, then they’ll be expelled. Of course, my goal is to have Class D reach Class A status. However, that’s for my own sake and no one else’s. I don’t care about anyone else. Really, if we dump the failures on this next midterm, then the better students will be left. That’s what I need, correct? In that case, attaining a higher rank will be simple. Everything will work out perfectly.”
She wasn’t wrong about that. Our conversation continued; Horikita was strangely talkative tonight.
“Horikita, isn’t that way of thinking flawed?”
“Flawed? What’s flawed? You’re not going to give me some gibberish about how there’s no future for someone who would abandon her classmates, are you?
“Relax. I understand you well enough to know that you don’t really understand me.”
“Then what is it? There’s no strategic advantage to helping failures.”
“There are probably very few advantages, certainly. However, it does help prevent a setback.”
“Demerit?”
“Do you really think that the school hasn’t considered this?They’ve deducted points for students arriving late or playing around during class time. Let’s say these students are expelled because no one helped them. How many points do you think they’ll deduct from us then?”
“That’s—” she began.
“Of course, we don’t have any proof that’s how it works. However, isn’t it possible? 100 points? 1,000 points? They might even deduct 10,000 or 100,000 points. If that happens, it’ll be very difficult for you to reach Class A.”
“We’ve gone down to zero points because of our infractions. We can’t go any lower. If we’re currently at zero, don’t you think it’s best to eliminate the dead weight? That would be the same as taking no damage.”
“There’s no guarantee that’d be the case. There could be penalties we just don’t see yet. Do you really think it’s okay to take such a dangerous risk? Well. I’m sure that someone as smart as you must have thought about that already. Otherwise, you would never have suggested creating a study group in the first place. You would’ve just abandoned the failures from the very beginning.”
I was starting to sound worked up, or perhaps I was actually feeling worked up. Maybe because I’d started to, rather selfishly, consider her a friend. I didn’t want Horikita to come to regret her decision.
“Even if there are potential unknown negatives, it’s better for the future of our class to abandon the failing students. Wouldn’t you regret not abandoning them when we do finally increase our points? Right now, it’s a risk that we should take.”
“Do you really think so?” I asked.
“Yes. Really. I’m at a complete loss as to why you’re so desperate to save them.”
As Horikita was about to board the elevator, I grabbed her wrist.
“What? Do you have a rebuttal?” she said. “The problem’s bigger than the two of us. In the end, the school has all the answers. All we can do is argue back and forth. I’m free to interpret the situation as I see fit, and you may do the same. That’s all there is to it, right?”
“You’re quite talkative. I never thought you’d be so loquacious.”
“What… That’s just because you were being insistent.”
If she were acting like her normal self, there was no way she would have allowed me to keep talking. Normally, stopping her in this way would earn me a sharp strike. However, her refusal to hit me indicated that Horikita felt the way I did. Of course, she probably didn’t even realize it herself.
“The day we met, do you remember what happened on the bus?”
“You mean when we refused to give up our seats to an
elderly woman?”
“Yeah. Back then, I thought about the meaning behind giving up my seat. Should I give it up or not? Which was the correct answer?”
“I already told you my own answer. I thought it’d be meaningless, so I didn’t give up my seat. No matter what reward it might bring, there was no real merit. It was a waste of time and effort.”
“Merit, huh? I suppose that you think only in terms of gain and loss.”
“Is that bad? People are calculating creatures, for the most part. If you sell goods, you receive money. If you do someone a favor, that debt of gratitude will be repaid. By giving up a seat, you gain the joy of contributing to society. Am I wrong?”
“No, I don’t think you’re wrong. I think the same thing,” I replied.
“So then—”
“If you keep to that belief, you’ll need to maintain a broad perspective on life. You’re so angry and dissatisfied, you can’t see what’s in front of you.”
“Who do you think you are? Do you even have the ability to find fault with me?”
“I don’t know what abilities I have, but I see what you don’t. It’s the one flaw of the seemingly perfect person known as Horikita Suzune.”
Horikita gave an amused snort. It was as if she was saying, “If you think I have a flaw, say it.”
“Your flaw is that you think of everyone else as a burden, and so you detach yourself and never let anyone come close. Isn’t it possible they placed you in Class D because you consider yourself superior to everyone?”
“It’s almost as if you’re saying I’m the same as Sudou-kun and his group,” she muttered.
“Are you saying that you aren’t equal?”
“Yes. It’s obvious if you look at our test scores. That’s proof enough that they’re mere baggage for our class to carry.”
“If we’re talking about studying, then Sudou and the others are certainly two or three steps behind you, Horikita. No matter how hard they worked, they likely couldn’t overtake you. However, we know that this school doesn’t only focus on intelligence. Suppose that the next exam was related to sports. The results would be different then. Am I wrong?”
“That’s—”
“You’re physically capable. From your swimming, I can tell you’re one of the most capable girls in the class. Superior. However, we both know that Sudou’s physical abilities far exceed yours. Ike has better communication skills than you. If the test took the form of a discussion, Ike would certainly be useful. Really, you’d most likely bring the class average down. So, does that make you incompetent? No. Every individual has his or her own strengths and weaknesses. That’s what it means to be human.”
Horikita tried to throw my words back at me, but she looked stuck.
“This is all pure conjecture. It’s nothing more than armchair speculation,” she said.
“Think back on what Chiyabashira-sensei said. When she called us into the guidance room, she said, ‘Who exactly decided that smart people are categorically superior?’ From that, we can draw the conclusion that academic ability doesn’t solely determine the rankings.”
Horikita looked around, as if searching for an escape so she could weasel her way out of the argument. I quickly cut her off before she could get away.
“You said you wouldn’t regret abandoning the students who failed, but you would. You would feel a great deal of regret if Sudou and the others are expelled.”
Horikita looked into my eyes. She still didn’t seem to grasp our current situation. At least, that was the impression I got.
“You’re rather talkative today, too. It’s odd for someone who likes to avoid trouble to talk so much.”
“You’re probably right about that.”
“It’s frustrating, but what you said was basically correct. You’ve persuaded me; I have to concede that point. However, I still don’t understand you. What do you want? What is this school to you? Why did you work so hard to convince me?”
“I see. So that’s what you think.”
“If someone lacks persuasiveness, he or she won’t be able to make others believe in their cunning theories.” She clearly wanted to know why I was so desperate to persuade her that Sudou and the others’ expulsion was bad. “Cut the crap. I want to know the real reason. Is it for points? To rise up, even by one class level? Or is it to save your friends?”
“Because I want to know what a person with true merit looks like. What is equality?”
“Merit, equality…”
“I came to this school to find answers to those questions.” The words freely spilled out of me before I could collect my thoughts.
“Could you let me go?” Horikita asked.
“Oh, sorry.” I released my grip. She turned around and looked directly at me.
“There’s no way that you could fool me into believing you,
Ayanokouji-kun,” she said.
After she said that, Horikita extended her arm.
“I’ll look after Sudou-kun and the others, but for my own sake. I’ll make sure that they don’t get left behind, but only as a strategic means of securing an advantage for our future. Okay?”
“Don’t worry. I didn’t think you’d do it any differently. That’s just like you, Horikita.”
“We’ve come to an arrangement, then.”
I took Horikita’s hand. However, I would soon realize that I’d just made a deal with the devil.
…—————-…
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