Classroom of the Elite (LN)

Mii-chan arrived almost exactly at the time we’d scheduled. I’d actually wanted to send Kei back to her room a bit earlier, but, even with that, this was still quite abrupt. I feel I should’ve been given a few more minutes grace, but there was no helping it, as I had to be careful not to let Mii-chan change her mind.

“Feel free to come in.”

“Pardon the intrusion…!”

Mii-chan couldn’t hide her nervousness, but she showed no sign whatsoever of trying to turn back. Just from this small interaction, I could tell that she was earnestly working hard to get back on her feet. Unlike Kushida and Haruka, she didn’t want to stay holed up in her room.

“Want a drink?”

“No, I am all right. Thank you very much for your concern.”

She refused politely and sat on the carpet in a reserved manner. I sat opposite her and got the conversation started.

“You came here because of what Kushida exposed about you and Yousuke, right?”

Mii-chan’s shoulders jolted upon hearing that name before nodding quietly.

“I would also like to know how the class is doing. At least for those who are hurting much more than I am, like Shinohara-san, Matsushita-san, and Hasebe-san. And also you, Ayanokouji-kun.”

I didn’t think she would bring up my name here, but I guess it wasn’t that unexpected. To an outside observer, it seemed like I’d made the difficult decision of discarding a member of my own friend circle.

“There must be a lot of people trying to get in touch with you?”

“… Thankfully, there are many people who are worried about me. But I just can’t look. Because if I do, I will have to reply to them.”

She was saying that she couldn’t bring herself to just read their messages and not send a reply. That being the case, the only thing she could do was not read them in the first place.

“Okay then. There’s no need to put too much thought into it, but if there’s anything you want to ask me, feel free.”

The two of us seldom spoke alone together like this. The conversation didn’t need to be smooth, but if she was too reserved, something that we should have been able to find a solution to might remain unsolved. It would be better if we could open up to each other, even if only a little.

“Then, uh, I’ll feel free… Ah, but before that… Just checking, but were you the one who bought and left all that stuff in front of my room?”

Seeing that I had no idea what she was talking about, Mii-chan continued. Ever since she started skipping school, someone had been delivering food to her once a day. The supplies came with a piece of paper that had only Mii-chan’s room number written on it, and nothing else that could be used to identify whoever the sender was.

I thought of Yousuke for a moment, but I hadn’t heard of anything like that with Kushida or Haruka. If he—who treated all of his classmates equally—was sending supplies to Mii-chan, he would’ve also done so for the others, and he would’ve let me know during one of the few times that we’d met since the exam.

“Sorry, but it wasn’t me, and I don’t know who’s doing it either.”

“Is that so… That person has been so very helpful… I would like to thank them.”

“Whoever it is, it means there are students who are worried about your absence.”

Those sending her messages, those calling her, the one bringing her food. And even if they didn’t contact her, there were plenty of other students around her who were concerned.

After happily nodding just a little, Mii-chan asked me a question.

“You’re still going to school… right?”

If she hadn’t been in contact with anyone outside, it was understandable that she didn’t even know for sure whether I was attending properly. Of course, she wouldn’t expect that the person offering to give her advice would be spending their days moping in bed.

“I went to school this past week as usual.”

“… Didn’t you find it difficult? No, of course it was difficult, but weren’t you reluctant to go to school?”

“You’re asking me generally, right? I’ve never tried to be a leader to my classmates up to now, so anyone would be surprised by how I cornered Kushida or expelled a friend.”

“… Yes. You were different from the Ayanokouji-kun that I knew. It was a bit scary.”

She was straightforward and honest, and candidly expressed her feelings. There was no point talking about friends or the relative merits of our classmates or the order of priorities here. I’d explained all of those during the special exam, and we shouldn’t dig them back up at this point.

“I forced myself to, lying to myself that I’d be a coward if I didn’t. It’s just that nobody noticed it since I was never any good at expressing my emotions in the first place. I think the reason that I can go to school and I’m not skipping is because I feel like it would be uncool to do so.”

“That is something I also thought about a little. I didn’t want everyone to think that—since I was skipping school—I was hurt because what Kushida said was right on the money. Even on Monday morning, I changed into my uniform and went as far as the front door. But I couldn’t take the next step. After taking that first day off, the door gradually got heavier and further away… I mean, it’s all my fault, but…”

Then, as if just remembering, Mii-chan lowered her head.

“I am very sorry for missing a week because of something like this.”

“I wasn’t thinking anything like that. Even coming here must have taken a fair amount of courage. Besides, you haven’t completely given up on going to school, have you?”

“O-of course not! I really want to go to school right away. I know that what I am doing right now is no good. But… I’m embarrassed, and pathetic…”

Regardless of how many students had already noticed those secret feelings of hers, it was understandable that she would be deeply traumatized when exposed publicly like that.

“I can’t say that I understand your situation, or that I can take your place. But, at the very least, our classmates are worried about you.”

“Yes…”

“And it’s a fact that, right now, you’re causing trouble for the class.”

Feeling as if a blade was suddenly held to her throat, her body went stiff and she gulped. You don’t need to worry. We’ll wait as long as you need. It would be easy to list off kind words that were pleasant to hear, but it would only have the effect of delaying her return. From an outsider’s perspective, this may look heavy handed, but it would allow me to step in and open up her heart.

“However, fortunately, Kushida and Haruka are also skipping school right now, so your absence has taken the back seat. But who knows about next week? What would happen if those two came to school and you were the only one who stayed back? You know, don’t you?”

Imagining a situation where you were left behind was something even an elementary school student could do.

She nodded while her arms trembled slightly, her fear rising. I was going to recalibrate if my prodding was too much for her, but, surprisingly, there were no signs of danger. She was petite and had a timid disposition, but I judged that her core was relatively strong, and she would not fold easily.

“You can just come to school, a nonchalant look on your face. You don’t have to tell Yousuke anything special.”

“But… I, um… sit in front of Hirata-kun… we’ll be so close…”

“Come to think of it, during the seat change, you went for the seat right in front of the unpopular middle seat before anyone else. Was that because you were thinking that Yousuke would take the seat behind it?”

“Ugh…!”

Her reaction was so obvious she didn’t have to tell me I was right.

“As expected. You’ve been observing… I mean, you understand Yousuke very well.”

“Urghh, so embarrassing…”

Hugging her legs, she shook her head from side to side. It seemed that her shame was the bigger problem.

“H-has Hirata-kun… said anything about me…?”

She personally took the first step to find out about the part she’d been most anxious about this whole time. But her face was still hidden behind her knees, and I couldn’t peek at her expression.

“Naturally, he’s worried about you. Much, much more than about Kushida and Haruka.”

“…That’s… because he finds me to be a nuisance after all… isn’t it?”

Since he was directly involved, it was natural that Yousuke would be more concerned about her issue than the others.

“It’s not that he thinks you’re a nuisance. On the contrary, he feels apologetic since he thinks he’s the reason why you’re skipping school.”

“That’s… but Hirata-kun did nothing wrong…!”

“I know that. But I’m sure you know very well that he’s just that kind of guy. From well before I did.”

He was able to rejoice in someone else’s delight as if it were his own. On the other hand, if someone was unhappy, he would empathize with them and also feel unhappy. That was the kind of personality he had. Because Mii-chan was holed up in her room, Yousuke was also suffering. Getting her to understand that was the most effective and important thing to get her to push through her current situation.

Mii-chan slowly looked up, her eyes a little bit red, but she still lowered the knee she was hugging without showing any tears.

“It’s not like I never thought about it. That maybe Hirata-kun was suffering because of me. But I decided I wouldn’t prioritize myself…”

It appeared that there was no need for me to tell her everything from the ground up—just providing a trigger would be enough. Looking at her as a second-year high school student, you could say that Mii-chan was almost complete.

“You look a little different from a moment ago.”

“Thank you very much. I feel much more at ease after talking to you about all this. It is all thanks to you, Ayanokouji-kun.”

“It’s no big deal. I just happened to be there by chance when you got back to your feet, nothing more.”

“That is not true. It is because I thought that if I met you, I would be able to solve my problem.” She answered firmly and followed with a very deep bow. “I—I will definitely go to school properly on Monday.”

“I know. But when you really catch a cold, it’s better to just get some rest.”

“No. Just for Monday, I’ll go even if I have to crawl.”

I felt like that may be a little too much of a pointless endeavor, but it was good that she was that spirited.

“The other thing that I’m concerned about is the person dropping off food for me. I let them buy quite a lot of food for me over those five days… I think the total probably comes close to 10,000 points.”

If it was just one person behind it, it could indeed have been quite expensive.

She tried to repeatedly thank me again on the way out, so I drove her out quickly and sent her home.

“That must be the result of her parents’ education. It’s a bit much, though.”

Even though we were classmates, she was too polite. That was Mii-chan’s strong point, however.

One problem has been solved. I hadn’t been able to finish cleaning my room, so maybe I should do that now. The number of people visiting my room had increased of late, so I couldn’t afford to be complacent. Horikita, Yousuke, or other students could visit at any time.

I quickly resumed my cleaning, but shortly after that the doorbell rang once again. I quickly checked my phone, but there were no notifications from Kei or any other friends messaging me.

An unannounced visitor, huh… What unpleasant timing. I’ll try to be silent for a while. Depending on the situation, I had the option of pretending to be out…

However, after 30 seconds or so, the doorbell rang again. It was evening, and after turning the light in my room off, I opened the peephole and looked into the hallway while hiding my presence. Standing there now was—in a sense—the last person I wanted to see; first-year student Amasawa Ichika.

Come to think of it, something similar happened a while back. I thought back to that day—I had a visitor at a bad time, when I least wanted someone to show up. Seeing that she was wearing her uniform even though it was Saturday, I wondered if she’d been by the school. Should I think of the visit as purposeful, or her simply dropping by? Given what happened last time, I couldn’t help but suspect something contrived this time as well.

It was obvious that she’d called on me after already inferring that I was inside. In the meantime, the doorbell rang for the third time.

“Hiya Senpaaii. I came to hang out!” Amasawa called out in a sweet voice when I still refused to respond.

“Sorry, but I’m busy right now. Can we do this tomorrow?”

“That won’t do~! I heard you brought a girl home and were doing something naughty, Senpai, so I’ve come to investigate. If you don’t open up, we’ll have a problem!”

Speaking in a voice so loud that it echoed down the hallway, she tried to force me to open the door. If I let her keep yelling unchecked like this, my neighbors would eventually hear the commotion. Left with no other choice, I decided to open the door and face Amasawa.

“Where did you hear that I brought a girl home?”

“The source of the information is me~!”

“What an utterly unreliable source.”

“That isn’t true! You brought both Karuizawa-senpai and Wang-senpai home today, didn’t you?”

It wasn’t mere intuition. She didn’t hesitate to name both visitors. Even if she could reasonably guess that Kei had come by, that wasn’t the case with Mii-chan. It was clear that she was aware of my movements.

“Ah, I will say it first, but I haven’t set up any bugs in your room anything, ’kay? And it seems like the school is thorough with its inspections.”

Certainly, it wouldn’t be possible to purchase such a dangerous thing by mail order or the like. But there was a method to obtain them available only to Amasawa.

“If it’s you, with your connection to Tsukishiro, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if you had one or two, though.”

Even after I pointed that out, she continued scouring my room, her wide grin never breaking.

“For now, could you let me in? Excuse me~”

Amasawa kicked off her shoes and energetically stepped into my room before I could give permission. Then—without restraint—she started energetically looking around the room..

“What are you doing?”

“Eh? Nothing c’mon, I’m just checking a bit.”

I’d like to get an answer as to why she needed to check my room. Amasawa, who continued rummaging without hesitation, turned her attention towards the bed and approached it.

“You’re wondering how I knew about Wang-senpai, aren’t you? Did I just happen to see her leave by chance? Or did I know about it through some other method?”

“Did you come over just to brag about your information network?”

She immediately agreed without even attempting to deny it, and then she reached out to the bed. While fixing the wrinkles in the sheets, her fingertips covered every nook and cranny, searching for something. I sat down on the carpet and observed Amasawa, who I was sure would continue her examination until she was satisfied.

“Your girlfriend has long hair, doesn’t she? That means you like girls with long hair, right? That’s why I’m also growing mine out little by little.”

She kept her hands and eyes moving while she talked about her hair situation that I never asked about. I couldn’t force her to stop, so I was reluctantly watching over her when she suddenly stopped moving. She then pinched something from the vicinity of the pillow between her index finger and thumb and lifted it up.

“What’s this~?”

She triumphantly held up a single strand of sparkling, golden hair.

“It must be Kei’s. She comes to hang out often these days.”

“I’m sure that’s true, but what does it mean for it to be by the pillow?”

“I can think of various reasons, but do I have to list them one by one?”

“No, no. You don’t really have to, but~”

She then got down on her hands and knees, turned her eyes to the floor, and started searching for something like a forensic scientist. I don’t know what she’s looking for, but I doubt she’ll be able to find it.

“Did the White Room also teach you how to ransack people’s rooms?”

When I asked a question about the White Room, Amasawa stopped where she was.

“Don’t you have any doubts, Senpai? About why we—who were sent to this school to get you expelled—haven’t laid a hand on you and just integrated ourselves into daily life, even though it’s the second semester now?”

“At the very least, it seems like you have been expelled from the White Room’s team, and branded as unnecessary.”

“I won’t deny that, but then what do you think about the others?”

“I’m not really interested.”

“Well, I guess that’s right. If you stay vigilant, you won’t do anything careless~”

“I recommend you stop worrying about me, and just enjoy your school life.”

“I agree! I was also thinking I should do that…”

After a slight pause, Amasawa continued her search. With her back to me and her butt sticking out, I caught a glimpse of her underwear due to the short length of her skirt. There was no way she was unaware of it, but she continued to crawl along the floor as if she hadn’t noticed. Slipping her head under the bed, her underwear was exposed even more.

“Staring at my panties like that, how lewd, Senpai!”

“Sorry, but rather than looking at your underwear, I’m more wary of what you will do to me if I let you out of my sight.”

With me keeping my eyes fixed on Amasawa, she pulled her face out from under the bed and looked back at me. Clad in a mature aura that made it hard to believe she was a year younger, Amasawa approached me, still crawling on her knees.

“I think they have started to go off the rails, confusing means with ends. They are more focused on driving you to expulsion than returning to the White Room.”

She murmured at close range, only a few centimeters separating our lips. A sweet scent reached my nostrils.

“What an annoying story.”

“For you, Senpai, yes. So I’ve been thinking these past few days. Wouldn’t it be fine to just tell you who it is, and let you send them to the next world?”

“Don’t get me sent to the next world.”

“Ahahaha, so funny.”

It wasn’t funny at all.

“What will you do? Would you like me to tell you their name?”

Amasawa moved another centimeter closer, and waited for my response.

“I’m grateful for the proposition. But I’ll pass.”

“Is it because you’re not confident you will win after hearing the name?”

“If their identity was revealed unexpectedly, you would be the first to be suspected. How would that end?”

“Of course, they would probably switch targets to me.”

“There’s no need to unsettle your school life just so I can find out their identity.”

If she were to stand in my way as an enemy, I would show no mercy, but Amasawa had shown no sign of that so far.

“You are very kind, aren’t you, Senpai?” Besides, trusting her too much would also be a problem. If they were acting with multiple strategies in hand, I couldn’t completely deny the possibility that Amasawa’s proposal was also a trap. “I’ve been rejected, so I’ll go home.”

“Did you come all the way to my room just to tell me that? Or was the search your main purpose?”

“Now which could it be?”

Laughing like a little devil, Amasawa quickly went to head for the front door when her eyes turned to the hardly filled garbage bag in the kitchen.

“I’ve visited your room a few times already, but I see that you are taking out the trash even though there is a lot less of it today. I thought you were the type to only throw it away after the bag was full to the brim.”

“It’s just that there’s so much food waste from vegetables and fish that I feel reluctant to leave it until next week.”

“If that’s the case, should I take the trash out with me on my way home?”

“Sorry, but taking out the trash before 8 PM is prohibited.”

“You follow all the rules, huh.”

Amasawa’s visit was unexpected, but one mystery had been solved.

“I see part of what you came here to do. You came to visit to make your proposition. And the reason why you searched every inch of my room was because you were on the lookout to see if anyone else was listening in.”

Even her act of trying to search for something private about me was all done as a precaution. Amasawa was vigilant in case the White Room student had already set up a trick.

“Senpai. I’m sure that since it’s you, you’ll be fine, but—nevertheless—if I drop out of school, please know that something even you wouldn’t expect is happening.”

Amasawa left me with those words on her way out of my room. I checked my phone in case there had been any changes and a message came in from Akito.

Haruka will be coming to school from Monday next week.

For the time being, there was some good news. As someone from the same group, he must have succeeded in persuading Haruka. The problem was that this wasn’t sent in the group chat with all the members of the Ayanokouji group. After staring at the screen for a moment, I received a new message.

Could you quietly watch over Haruka for a while?

The text itself was plain, but the emphasis was on the word quietly. She would go to school, but she didn’t want to talk to me. That being the case, if I spoke to her carelessly, there was a risk she would start skipping again—that must be what he meant. His reasoning was simple enough to understand. If she was willing to come back, I had no objections at all.

Got it. I’ll pay close attention.

That helps. I hope we can go back to how we were.

For a little while after that, I received several texts from Akito that were almost encouraging, and when the timing was right, ended our chat.

“That’s one problem solved.”

However, this solution was not a true solution. It was best to just see it as a temporary return for Haruka.

After those hectic few hours came to an end, I felt far more fatigued than usual.

“Let’s go to bed early today.”

But I absolutely shouldn’t forget to take out the trash, though.