Classroom of the Elite, but It's a Diary Style

Considering this, after recalling the plot of Classroom of the Elite, Asakusa Toru finally decided to write down that content.

He left himself some leeway, ensuring there were spoilers, but not too many, while simultaneously trying to provoke the readers.

He couldn't be certain exactly who had received the diary, but by testing them one by one in order, someone would surely reveal a flaw.

As long as he grasped their specific identities and hit them with targeted spoilers, he didn't believe they wouldn't show emotional fluctuations.

"Still... Advanced Nurturing, huh." Looking at the text on the diary following the current plot, Asakusa Toru sighed faintly: "It feels unexpectedly predictable."

As mentioned before, this is a world of mixed anime tropes.

This world has the Shinomiya Group, the Koenji Group, the Toyokawa Group, and even the Suzuki Group. Aside from not seeing the Speedwagon Foundation, every conglomerate that should be here seems to be present.

There are girl bands performing live everywhere, the once-in-a-century idol Hoshino Ai, and a shut-in youth who was scared to death by a tractor.

Although he hadn't seen any traces of supernatural phenomena for the time being, characters from various works were all present and accounted for.

The reason Asakusa Toru felt it was predictable was simple.

He had interacted with them.

Whether it was some emotionless masterpiece, a sickly genius girl with a love-brain and white thigh-highs, or a well-loved, kind-hearted, and curvaceous beauty.

He had interacted with all of them.

Although he didn't know if they remembered the existence of someone like him, Asakusa Toru was surprised to find that he wasn't at all shocked that he would be enrolling in Advanced Nurturing, or that his cheat ability was related to them.

"I hope this won't become a flaw that exposes my identity." He shook his head, no longer dwelling on the question.

Things had reached this point, and he had no way to go back in time to change anything. Thinking about it carefully, although keeping one's identity hidden is very important for a diary-style life, as long as he was careful and cautious, even if his cover were to be blown, it would be a long time from now.

"What's important now is..."

It was definitely the settlement.

The first diary settlement.

[Today's entry completed. The evaluation for this entry is 'A'. Drawing rewards now.]

[Draw successful. Congratulations on obtaining the item 'Infinite Voice Recorder'.]

Black and white text floated before his eyes, and a cold voice echoed in his ears at the same time. The voice slowly dissipated, and the text gradually faded away.

Immediately following this, a voice recorder that looked quite ordinary fell out of thin air.

Chapter 3 I am a Voice Recorder Master

"Infinite Voice Recorder?" Hearing this name, a strange expression appeared on Asakusa Toru's face.

The evaluation was an A, so as an item, it shouldn't be too bad, but... a 'voice recorder', is this really not intentional?

According to his knowledge, in the work Classroom of the Elite, the voice recorder is a rather broken item. As long as there are no precautions, it can almost kill everyone upon first encounter.

In a sense, Classroom of the Elite could even be called the Classroom of Voice Recorder Supremacy.

As an aside, there are other nicknames like Classroom of Martial Arts Supremacy and Classroom of Background Supremacy.

Well, at the end of the day, Advanced Nurturing is essentially a vocational school, so such nicknames aren't exactly wrong.

However, having said that, being given a voice recorder right at the start was indeed very subtle.

"...Whatever." Putting aside whether it was intentional or not, since it had already been given to him as a reward, he wouldn't refuse it even if it just sat there gathering dust. Although he had a strong urge to complain about the "Voice Recorder Classroom" aspect, he had no reason to give up on using the device.

"Let's first see why it deserves an A-rank reward."

Grasping the fallen voice recorder, Asakusa Toru carefully examined its appearance.

From the outside, it seemed like just an ordinary voice recorder: a pitch-black metal casing, a large screen, and a few physical buttons. Just from the design, he couldn't see anything special.

So, the effect...

[Name: Infinite Voice Recorder]

[Category: Item]

[Effect: The voice recorder is always in an active state. No matter when or where, you can take the voice recorder out from anywhere. You can freely choose to split recordings from any point in the past and generate a new voice recorder containing the selected range of audio.]

[Note: "Everything you say will be used as evidence in court!"]

The moment the thought arose, the information about the voice recorder in his hand was clearly displayed before his eyes.

"Interesting." His eyebrows arched, and a look of realization appeared on Asakusa Toru's face. "So that's what 'infinite' refers to."

It was a good thing that "infinite" here didn't refer to the brand of the voice recorder.

Although the rewards for completing the diary daily were randomly drawn, it was still an A-rank evaluation. It would be humorous if he had drawn a voice recorder that couldn't be brought into the school before enrollment.

If it were this kind of voice recorder, even if it was a reward drawn before enrollment, it could be used on campus.

As for the issue of its unknown origin... come on, voice recorders are used to threaten others. Surely no one would actually choose to hand it over to the school instead of using the recording for negotiations, right?

As for why he said it couldn't be brought into the school if it weren't like this...

Let him briefly introduce Advanced Nurturing.

This vocational school, as Asakusa Toru called it, was rumored to have government backing and was nominally a training facility for the government to select talent.

Tuition was completely free, and it boasted a nearly 100% rate of advancement to higher education and employment. Regardless of the field of specialization, with the school's support, students could fulfill their wishes.

Well, at least that's the official marketing pitch.

Beyond that, there is also the promise that the school will cover all student expenses for the three-year duration.

However, the price for this is that once enrolled, students are forbidden from leaving campus without permission, and are also prohibited from contacting the outside world via mobile phones or the internet.

Naturally, bringing anything from outside the school onto the premises is also strictly forbidden.

"Of course, that's just the marketing pitch," Asakusa Toru chuckled, whispering to himself.

The guarantee of a 100% advancement and employment rate, supported by the school, certainly doesn't include the students who get expelled.

As long as they expel every student who doesn't meet the standards before graduation, isn't that a 100% success rate in talent cultivation?

"Good thing whether it's a scam or not has nothing to do with me."

After all, for Asakusa Toru, even the so-called support of the government isn't worth a single hair on the Diary he possesses.

Since he has a cheat, he should obviously go all-in on developing it.

Who would actually play along with their vocational school battle royale?

"I just need to observe at close range to find out who holds the copy of the Diary, and then deliver targeted spoilers." Straightening his back, Asakusa Toru stretched slightly, then gently raised his hand and, quite casually, tossed the Voice Recorder he was holding toward the bed behind him.

A perfect parabola traced through the air, and the Voice Recorder bounced lightly on the bed before coming to a rest.

Without going over to retrieve the device, Asakusa Toru reached into his pocket.

As the thought of a 'Voice Recorder' surfaced in his mind, a new sensation quietly appeared in his palm.

He raised his hand, and there, exactly the same as the one he had just thrown, was another Voice Recorder in his hand.

Meanwhile, the one he had just tossed onto the bed remained resting there perfectly fine.

Seeing this, the corners of Asakusa Toru's mouth curled up slightly:

"What a Voice Recorder Treasury."

To be honest, the Voice Recorder has a bit of weight to it. As a projectile, as long as the technique is right, even without a particularly sharp or pointed casing, its sheer weight alone could cause considerable damage.

Very well, it's decided. Until he draws a reward that strengthens his combat ability from the Diary, he'll just practice throwing Voice Recorders.

They say one can injure others by plucking flowers or throwing leaves, but what if I have an endless supply of Voice Recorders?

"Pfft." At the mere thought of that image, Asakusa Toru couldn't help but want to laugh.

Others fight with knives or fists, while he whips out ten Voice Recorders from his pant leg.

What a bizarre style.

"Then, besides the infinite nature... does it also have a split-recording effect?" Rubbing his fingertips over the Voice Recorder, Asakusa Toru pondered, pressed the stop button, and then hit play.

The single recording replayed every sound from the past few minutes—from the volume of his own self-talk to the tiny sound of the device hitting the bed—all clearly captured within the Voice Recorder.

"Eh, even if it's not the same physical unit, the recording logs are shared?" A strange glint appeared in his eyes. His fingertips moved, scrolling across the small screen of the device: "As for the splitting..."

As the thought crossed his mind, an option that didn't seem to be in the program before quietly appeared on the screen. He didn't even need to touch it; it seemed he could select any time frame from the present moment backward just by using his intent, and split the recording accordingly.

Moreover, the split recording would appear as a complete, seamless file from the very beginning.

"Forcing me to become the Voice Recorder King, are you..." Looking at the device in his hand, Asakusa Toru smiled: "But, I don't hate it."

Who would complain about having too many cheats?

Chapter 4: Kushida Kikyo Wants a Fresh Start

April, the first day of school.

Today, Advanced Nurturing High School welcomes a new beginning. The first-year students will head to the school in their own ways, ready to embrace the next three years of fully enclosed school life.

The shadows of middle school, the dark history of middle school, the persona maintained in middle school—everything will be wiped clean at this moment, allowing these boys and girls to have a completely fresh start.

Whether it was a past of being bullied or a true nature they didn't want others to see, as long as they changed to a new environment, they could start over.

That was what Kushida Kikyo had originally thought.

--Before she saw that Diary.

It said this school was a vocational school.

It said it had kidnapped the past, present, and future of every reader.

It said it was going to drop spoilers.

It said this school had more than one Two-Faced Person.

Honestly, even arriving here, Kushida Kikyo's emotions hadn't fluctuated in the slightest.

Anyone can talk big; it's easy to coax others by writing down some ambiguous words.

It's just like those horoscope readings—as long as you use vague, equivocal statements that seem to apply to anyone, you can easily make the reader project themselves onto it and create the illusion of, "Ah, they understand me so well."

A Two-Faced Person? Heh, everyone has a surface and an interior, a true heart they don't want others to know, a real face they don't want others to see. If you broaden the definition of a Two-Faced Person just a little, Kushida Kikyo would dare to say that everyone could be called a so-called 'Two-Faced Person'.

She knew far too many people's true faces behind their backs.

Therefore, Kushida Kikyo remained dismissive.

Until the following text appeared.

'Harboring intense inferiority, craving supreme superiority, suppressing evil intentions deep within, a flawed product that is painful, tormented, and struggling.'

She wavered.

Her hand gripping the pages of the Diary tightened instinctively, her gaze locked firmly onto the words 'inferiority' and 'superiority'.

It was talking about her.

Without a shred of doubt, the moment she saw these words, Kushida Kikyo understood that this person was not lying.

They clearly knew her true nature, and had even seen through to the very core of her heart beneath that nature.

That's right, it was exactly inferiority and superiority.

Her innate appearance once made her believe she was talented, and abilities that were above average in every aspect allowed her to surpass everyone around her during her youth.

But as she grew older, and as the screening process of advancing through school levels brought true 'geniuses' before her, easily crushing the pride she possessed.

A sense of inferiority welled up.

Kushida Kikyo was the type of person whose emotions would be significantly shaken whenever she lost to someone around her.

But if one were to compare every single thing against everyone else, no matter who it was, they would likely end up defeated.

She wanted something that would never lose to anyone, she wanted to be respected and envied.

But she couldn't do it with academics, and she couldn't do it with sports.

She couldn't win.

There would always be people born with talent who could easily shatter her efforts and leave her far behind.

Therefore, she chose 'trust'.

As long as she could gain the trust of others more than anyone else, she could use that to obtain a sense of 'superiority'.