The next day. Many students were sitting in the classroom, some reading something, some sleeping, some not even bothering to show up... I looked to the Professor's side and saw him fiddling with his tablet. What was he doing with it? Even though it was none of my business, I got a little curious. I looked at the tablet and saw that surprisingly, he was watching anime. Then I saw that he was wearing Bluetooth headphones. Well, I guess I'll leave him alone.
The teacher was talking about the history of Japan the whole time. Thank goodness I was good at history in my previous world, because the history of Japan is quite hard to understand, and otherwise I would be lost here. The lecture was quite interesting, and it just went on like that.
"With that, we'll end the lecture." Said the teacher as she left the classroom.
Many students started packing their things as they got up from their seats. I started packing mine as well.
"Suzuki-dono! Shall we go to HQ?" (HQ - in this situation, it's basically their dorms, I wanted to make Professor speak strangely, so this was the best I could come up with.)
"HQ?" Is he talking about dorms? He was speaking weirdly.
"This guy is right!" Said the Professor.
"Sorry, I have to do something first. Can you stay here for a while?" I asked him. I had something else to do that needed everyone's attention, so I asked him to stay in the classroom.
"Hmm? What shall this guy be talking about?"
"Just stay here for a while, that's all. Can you do that, please?"
"If Suzuki-dono asks, this guy right here shall help him."
"Thanks. It won't take too long." I gathered all my courage and walked to the class podium.
"Guys, I know you won't find this very promising, but can you listen to me for a while?" I asked everyone in the classroom before they left it. Everyone's attention was on me. I had audience anxiety, so speaking in front of an audience of about 40 people wasn't the best thing. I spoke stuttering and was barely able to say a single word. I took a deep breath and somehow managed to calm myself down.
"This school is not what you think it is. You've all been caught in its net from day one."
"Caught in the school's net? What do you mean?" Asked one of the students. It was Horikita. Of course, who else but Horikita would say something since out of everyone here, she wants to raise to Class A the most.
"Keep listening, I'll explain everything to you soon. Keep your questions after the explanation." Everyone looked at each other wondering what I was going to say.
"Everyone, what do you think of the school rules? Don't you guys think they're kind of cool? We have all the freedom we need here, plus we get 100k points every month, doesn't that sound kinda cool?"
"Yeah, yeah!" Shouted one of the students.
"This school is really great!" One of the girls exclaimed.
"We can do anything in class, the teachers don't care either. We will get 100k points every month and the girls here are cute! I love this school!" shouted Ike. Ah man, they really are stupid.
"Then what would you do if you found out it was all a lie? Would you still like this school if they told you that from now on you wouldn't get any points?" I asked them. They looked a little thoughtful at my question.
"What's your point?" asked Horikita. Do you really not understand? Man, I need to explain this much more simply.
"Look, all I'm saying is that this school has lied to you. What they didn't tell you is that not only will you not get points starting next month, but also your behavior during lectures affects your points."
"Huh? Why won't we get any points starting next month?" Asked Shinohara.
"Why? It's a theoretical scenario where you keep your behavior as it is now and spend the points like crazy. The reason you wouldn't get any would be because this school isn't so lenient, it gives you points by merits. In other words, if you don't correct your spending habits and change your behavior in class, this scenario could become real."
"Ah, I can't take this shit anymore. We were told we'd get 100k points every month, so what's your deal? Are you trying to mess with us? I can't listen to this guy's squabble anymore, so I'm going to the club." Sudo said this angrily.
"You can go if you want, but you'll be the one who'll regret it later, not me." I shot that right into Sudo's face. I made a mistake. He walked up to the podium and grabbed me by the collar.
"What's your problem? Are you messing with me? Wanna go one-on-one?" Said Sudo. Damn, I don't want to start a fight, so I have to get out of this somehow.
"No, no, sorry. You can leave if you want, I'm not keeping you here against your will, I was just trying to help you, dude."
"Sudo-kun. Can you please let him out? I know you're angry, but we shouldn't start a fight here because that would get the whole class in trouble." Said Hirata. Thank you, Hirata, you are a lifesaver.
"What's your deal, Hirata? You also wanna fight? Come at me, I'll take you both at once."
"Sudo-kun." This time it was Horikita. All the classmates looked at him with angry faces and he backed down.
"Do what you want, but I'm not going to listen to this shit. I have basketball practice, so I'm going there." Said Sudo and left the classroom. A few classmates followed him. Well, it's their problem, not mine, so little do I care. Then, the remaining ones turned back to me again and started their questions.
"If what you said is true, do you have any proof of it?" asked Horikita again. The others seemed to want to know too, so I had to come up with something. What was strange about all of this was that Hirata, who was the class leader and took the initiative every time, was silent this time. He didn't ask any questions, nor did he support anyone. I thought why that was the case.
"As for your question, unfortunately, I don't have any proof. I got this information from one of my friends who recommended this school to me. He's a third-year now and we're best friends, so he told me all about it." I lied. I barely had any friends from my class, so in no way I would have friends from upper years. I couldn't really tell where I got this information, so this lie was the best I could come up with. Many students had already left the classroom and only a handful of them were left. Even the Professor had left, maybe he was bored? Who knows.
"When you think about it all, it does sound logical. But unfortunately, we can't believe what you're saying. You don't even have any proof. Besides, you said that your friend from high school or something told you that, but that was a lie. If you really found out this information from upperclassmen, people would have done the same thing. Besides, if what you're saying is true, then which upperclassman was it, huh?" Ah, Karuizawa, you had to make everything worse, you had to... I heard many girls shouting in favor of Karuizawa.
"Well, I c-can't say it, b-because t-that w-would leak the i-information..." Caught off guard, not knowing what to say, I lamented this. Nice job, me. You were caught lying, really well done.
"Oh, really? Then why did you tell us that in the first place? Don't you understand that you've put your friend in a difficult position? No, since you made up such a believable lie, I don't think you would be stupid enough to cause problems for your friend, which makes the option of lying the most believable. You're the worst, so desperate for attention," Karuizawa retorted.
Desperate for attention? Well, who knows. I just wanted to help my classmates to raise to class A because if we can do that, it's good for me too, because getting promoted means more points for me.
More and more people left until there was the only one left...
"Congratulations, you've become the most hated person in the class," Horikita said as she left the classroom. Well, I totally failed today. Not only that, but I also made it even worse. I grabbed my bag and left the classroom with a headache.
Part 2
Two weeks had passed since the telling thing about school, and everything seemed to settle down a bit. Man, those two weeks really sucked. Everyone now thinks I'm a "weirdo" who just doesn't have any friends and craves attention. Even the Professor is talking to me less. I saw a video on YouTube about how you shouldn't draw too much attention to yourself in Japan because it makes everything worse, and I still managed to break that important rule. Well, but it's too late, what happened, happened, nothing can be changed.
I have given up trying to change these people. They can't be changed that way, I thought. I'll just leave everything to Ayanokouji, I guess. I went into my sleep mode and slept during classes, mostly it was the morning hours, but sometimes the contents of the classroom would get so boring that I would sleep during the daytime hours as well. Once, I slept so long that when I woke up and looked at the clock, an hour had already passed since the end of the lecture.
When the lecture ended, I saw Horikita look at me for several seconds and then look away. For these past two weeks, it felt weird, as if she was keeping an eye on me or something. Is she in love with me? No, she couldn't be. Her look was more like, Well, well, would you look at that. The other day he was like a hero trying to save the classroom, and now he's asleep. What a truly pathetic guy. It was something among those lines. Was it the work of Ayanokouji? Maybe he's trying to keep an eye on me using Horikita? As far as I can remember, he was watching the behavior of his classmates in the first 3 volumes, so maybe that's the case? I couldn't figure it out. Oh well, who cares, this won't go on forever.
The days passed and soon May came. It was the month of truth, the month when all of the people's fears will be realized and will come into the light. Chabashira entered the classroom, her face was a bit stern. I already knew what was going to happen, so I waited patiently for my classmates' reactions.
"Hey, sensei, did you start menopause or something?"
Ike let out this joke. I started to laugh silently, so a few classmates looked at me with disgusted and angry faces. Sorry guys, that was unintentional.
"Alright, your morning homeroom is about to begin. Before we get started, does anyone have any questions? If so, now is the time to speak." Said Chabashira with a calm attitude, completely ignoring Ike's joke.
"Um. I checked my point balance this morning, but I didn't see any deposits. Points are given on the first day of every month, aren't they? I couldn't buy juice this morning."
"Hondou. I already explained this before, didn't I? Points are deposited on the first day of the month. I've confirmed that points were wired this month without any issues."
"Um, but... nothing was deposited into my account, though."
Hondou and Yamauichi exchanged glances with each other. Ike seemed too shocked to notice them looking at each other, and Ayanokouji looked at his phone. It was starting, it was finally starting. I watched the whole spectacle with a wide grin. That's what you guys get for not listening to me, I thought.
"Are you kids really that dumb?" Said Chabashira. She stood firm, her presence was a bit ominous.
"Dumb? What?" Chabashira gave Hondou a sharp glance.
"Sit down, Hondou. I'll explain once more," she said.
"S-Sae-chan-sensei?"
Hondou slumped in his seat.
"Points were deposited. That much I know for certain. There is absolutely no chance that we forgot about anyone in this class. To think so is ludicrous. Understood?"
"Well, even if I tell you that we understand, we haven't received any points..."
Hondou began to look more and more dissatisfied. Everybody looked like that. They were probably thinking about what was going on or trying to understand what Chabashira had said.
"Ha ha ha! I see. So, it's like that, teacher? I think I've solved the mystery." Koenji burst into laughing.
He propped his feet up on his desk and smugly pointed toward Hondou.
"It's simple. We're in Class D, so we didn't receive any points."
"Huh? What are you talking about? They said that we'd get 100,000 points every month—"
"I don't remember hearing that, though. Do you?" Koenji pointed at Chabashira.
"While he certainly has an attitude problem, Kouenji is exactly right. For crying out loud, barely anyone seems to have noticed the hint I gave you. How deplorable."
The class has erupted into chaos.
"Sensei, may I please ask you a question? I'm afraid I still don't understand." Hirata raised his hand and asked this on behalf of the classmates.
"Can you please tell us why we didn't receive any points? We won't completely understand otherwise."
And then it started.
"A total of ninety-eight absences and late arrivals. Three hundred ninety-one incidences of talking or using cell phones in class. Thirty-five sleeping cases in the class. That is quite a few infractions over one month. In this school, your class's results are reflected in the points that you receive. As a result, you wasted all of the 100,000 points that you should have received. That's what happened."
"I should have explained this all to you on the day of the entrance ceremony. This school measures its students' true capabilities. This time, you were evaluated as being worth nothing. That's all."
Chabashira said this in a robotic voice. And then I felt it. Those looks. My classmates looked at me. It was horrible. I felt a strange sense of déjà vu. I started shaking, sweat running through my body. I wanted to just get up and leave the classroom, but then the unexpected happened. I did not rise from my seat. For some apparent reason, I burst out laughing. Many people tend to shake when they get too much attention, but for me, it was different.
After a few minutes, I stopped laughing, but the atmosphere was still intense. All eyes were still on me, but this time I was trembling. Then, after a few minutes, when I could barely hold myself up, someone asked Chabashira a question.
"Chabashira-sensei. I do not recall hearing you explain that to us—" Thankfully, the attention was diverted away from me. It almost broke me, like a toy. A few more seconds and I don't know what could have happened. It really was that bad.
That explanation went on and on until I felt much better. Then I heard Chabashira pull a sheet of paper on the board.
"Judging from these, I can see that we've quite a few idiots in this class." As her heels clacked on the floor, she looked at us, but mostly at me. Was I somehow special or what? I thought this looking back at Chabashira, but she continued.
"These are the results of the short test you took a while ago. Your sensei was so happy after your excellent performance. Come on, what in the world did you study when you were in junior high?"
Chabashira said this, mockingly. Many students looked at their results, I also looked at mine too, but then...
"What, 0 points? How is that possible?" Someone asked this loudly.
Everyone looked at me again. I totally messed up. I got 0 points on the test and was in the last place. The worst of the worst.
"What shall I say. Excellent, really excellent. To screw up this test like that and not even get a single point. Just great," Chabashira said, mockingly again. Sudo and the idiot trio looked at me with mocking faces. They were talking to each other. It was something like, "Man, getting 0 points. Talk about pathetic. Even I wouldn't be able to do that." And "Yeah, I know, right." Chabashira then continued.
"I'm so glad. If this test were an actual test, then eight of you would've had to drop out."
"D-drop out? What do you mean?"
"Oh, what, did I not explain that to you? If you fail on a midterm or final exams in this school, then you have to drop out. If we applied that rule to this test, anyone who scored below thirty-two points would be out. Of course, the "zero points" guy would have to drop out either way. You guys really are stupid, aren't you?"
Man, why is it always me? And what with this "zero points" guy? I heard some classmates laugh when they heard this mocking nickname of mine. Ah, shit. I totally failed today.
"W-what?!" wailed Ike. There was a red line drawn on the paper that separated 7 students. But it was different with my name. My name was under the black line. Chabashira looked at me and explained.
"Suzuki. You scored so poorly that if these results were to leak out to the public, our school's reputation would drop quite frankly. This school is quite lenient as you can see. This time the test wasn't real, so you don't have to drop out, but you'll have to rewrite this. If you get the same score on the upcoming midterm, I don't need to tell you what will happen then." I heard a girl from my back quietly call me "zero score boy" and make fun of me.
"What, he gets to rewrite this while we don't?"
"So, you want to write this again and make yourself miserable all over again, Ike?"
"W-well, no, but..."
"Then shut up and listen to me." Chabashira was quite angry.
Then I heard her talking about the society stuff. Then she left the class and gave me one last look. This time the look was completely different. This one contained pure confusion and anger. Why was she looking at me like that? I wasn't able to tell. Chabashira closed the door with some force. Perhaps it was to emphasize something or to elicit pity? I wasn't able to understand. After Chabashira left, chaos broke out in the class.
I tried to contact Professor and ask him about his test. He completely ignored me and started talking to the idiot trio. Well, no one wants to be friends with a guy who is not only incredibly stupid but also craves attention.
That's what I thought. I was finished. I'd lost everything here. Screw you, screw this school, screw that guy. I rose from my seat, grabbed my back, and headed back to my dorm. But before I could leave, someone came up behind me.
"Suzuki-kun!" I heard a voice. When I turned around, I saw Horikita. She looked perplexed. Why did she look like that?
"Why?" She asked.
"Why what?" I replied.
"The test. Why did you get a 0?" Did she think I intentionally screwed up the test? Well, even if that were true, I wouldn't tell you this, Horikita.
"What if I did?" That's what I asked her. I didn't want to talk to her, so I tried to keep the conversation as short as possible.
"Why did you do that? You also told us about the school and points system, but you didn't provide any proof. Where did you get that information?"
"I told you that, didn't I? I got it from my friend."
"But you're lying. You don't even have friends in your class. Even if he was an upperclassman, why would he tell you that? I know you are friends, but he wouldn't risk his three years of school life just to tell you that simple fact. That sounds too unrealistic."
Simple fact? Unrealistic? What's your problem, Horikita? It's as clear as day that you're trying to get information out of me. Was Ayanokouji the one pulling the strings behind her? Knowing Horikita, she wasn't that capable at the beginning of school life. Not now, she still has to grow. I'm 90% sure Ayanokouji is the one behind her actions. Is he trying to find out what I know? Nice try Ayanokouji, but since I know how you operate, you'll have to show more of your skills to get what you want from me.
"Are you that desperate to get to Class A?" I asked her.
"You sound as if getting to Class A is a bad thing. I don't see it that way at all, on the contrary, don't you want to reach Class A yourself? Just think of how many benefits it brings. Or do you like being called a '0 point boy' all the time?" She was making fun of me again. What do you even know? Reaching Class A? I couldn't care less about that. The only thing I cared about reaching Class A was the private points, but that plan got messed up. It's too late now. My fate is already determined, so no matter what I do here, the game is already over.
"It's not the worst thing, but it's not the best either. Do you really think the end justifies the means in this situation? No. Whatever you do, I don't think that's true at all. All you get is a better chance at finding work or college and you also get a few more points. I can't find that very motivating." I replied with this. I didn't care about the job opportunities because I wasn't even sure if I could stay here.
"How can you not care about that even a little bit?" She , what a pain in the ass to talk to her. I wanted to get back home as soon as possible.I didn't answer her question, instead, I told her this.
"I am a defect because I choose to be it. You're a defect because you deserve that title." I said. Let me tell you one thing about me, Horikita. I don't care about getting to Class A, I don't care about the class competition or the class itself. All I care about is living my life here as best I can. You want to use me to get to Class A? Okay, I understand. I'll be more than happy to crush your dream.
"Chose to be a defect? What are you talking about?" asked Horikita. She got so angry she almost karate-chopped me. If you can't understand such a simple fact, Horikita, then that just proves my point.
I turned away and walked further into the corridor until my silhouette disappeared.
Author's note
Hey guys, it's me again! Sorry for the delay and I hope your Easter went well. We have a tradition in our family to go to our relatives every year, but this year we couldn't do it because of the coronavirus and stuff. It's a little sad, but I guess nothing can be done about that.
As you can tell by now, this chapter is quite tense. Not only have we learned more about the person Suzuki Tai but also what his future will look like. I wanted to add more stuff to this chapter, but it was already long, so I'll add it in the upcoming chapters.
In the next chapter, you'll see Suzuki in action. You'll see how he'll use the knowledge from the Light Novel to his advantage. I hope you stay tuned for that.
Oh, and I also forgot to mention. Next week I'll be uploading a very short subchapter with the school's evaluation of Suzuki. (The same one the first light novel volumes had). Consider it an apology for the delay.
I do not own Classroom of the elite original story.
All credits go to the original author, Syougo Kinugasa.
Please support the official release.
Words: 4090