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

Just as his gaze locked onto Horikita Suzune, who was slumped over her desk, and he prepared to shout, Chabashira Sae slammed her hand against the podium.

"You can continue your argument later. I still have a very regrettable matter to inform you of."

With a thwack, Chabashira Sae plastered a sheet of paper onto the blackboard.

Names, and numbers.

It was the results of the exam.

"How fortunate. If this had been an official test, seven people would have already been expelled just after the start of the school year."

Having just welcomed the 'good news' of zero points, even better news followed immediately on its heels.

'Expulsion'.

With a tone of extreme mockery, Chabashira Sae nonchalantly explained the reason.

This school had a rule: failing even a single subject in the midterm or final exams would result in immediate expulsion.

As for the passing threshold, it wasn't a fixed mark of 60, but rather half of the class average.

The chaotic emotions sent Class D into a tailspin; one piece of good news after another had completely shattered their dreams.

The students wanted to protest, they wanted to struggle.

But as Chabashira Sae's icy gaze swept over them, any student who wanted to step forward shrank back.

"There are three weeks until the midterms. If you want to continue staying at this school, then think carefully about how you will avoid failing and how you will survive the exams."

Leaving behind those words, Chabashira Sae vanished through the doorway.

"..."

"..."

A long, deathly silence spread through Class D.

Immediately following, with uncanny uniformity, almost everyone turned their heads to look at Yamauchi Haruki.

Just like a scene in a horror movie where everyone suddenly turns to stare, icy gazes focused entirely on him.

"Hey, come to think of it, the one who skipped the most classes was Yamauchi-kun, right?"

"And the one who started talking and playing on his phone from the very beginning was also Yamauchi-kun."

"I remember he skipped class to hang out with Ryuen from Class C."

"And didn't he say earlier that Ryuen gave him fifty thousand?"

One by one, the students in the class, for some reason, seemed to reach a consensus and began to draw the same conclusion.

"Why are we living days without a single cent, while Yamauchi gets to live it up with fifty thousand given by another class?"

The gazes of his classmates pierced Yamauchi Haruki like needles, and the air in the classroom fell into a momentary silence following those words.

As if realizing what was about to happen, Yamauchi's face flushed a deep red.

He stood up abruptly, his chair scraping against the floor with a harsh, grating sound.

"Hey! What do you guys mean by this?!" His voice cracked, his fingers pointing wildly in every direction, yet failing to lock onto any single target.

Because everyone was his target at this moment.

"It was everyone's mistake, so why are you only targeting me?!"

"Kanji, didn't Kanji skip classes too?!" Instinctively, he turned to point at his 'good buddy', but seeing the look of disbelief on Ike Kanji's face, he realized something was wrong and immediately shifted his aim to shout at others: "Kikyo, didn't little Kikyo skip classes too?!"

"Hondo! Miyamoto! Sotomura! Don't you guys arrive late all the time too?!"

"Sato and Shinohara, don't think you're off the hook either! Aren't you the ones who love talking in class the most?!"

"Karuizawa too!!! You're always hanging out with Hirata all day, you must be having an impure relationship! That definitely deducts a lot of points, right!!!"

"And shouldn't the biggest problem be Koenji?!"

As if trying to shed all responsibility immediately, Yamauchi Haruki pointed wildly everywhere, attempting to divert the class's fire.

"Because you're the worst one!" Shinohara Satsuki, who had been named, stood up and shouted: "You were the one shouting all day that 'point deductions don't matter'!"

If it weren't for that, they wouldn't have let their guard down so easily.

It was precisely because they held the mindset that since he was already like that, it didn't matter if they joined in, that they had become so lax.

"I, I originally wanted to attend class properly too..." Perhaps feeling that someone was on her side, a girl defended herself with a tearful voice: "But Yamauchi was always making such a ruckus over there, I couldn't focus at all..."

"Ha?" Yamauchi's features twisted: "What do you mean you originally wanted to attend class properly? How could you possibly blame me for that!"

"Isn't it all your own fault?!"

"Even if we don't have a single cent, it's all your own fault!"

"--" This sentence was like lighting a fuse; the emotions of several boys exploded instantly. They stood up abruptly and rushed toward Yamauchi with their hands outstretched: "Hand over the money Ryuen gave you! That should have been money we earned!"

Pushing, shoving, hitting, resisting, screaming.

Chaos reigned.

Sato Maya could only stare blankly at everything unfolding in the classroom, unable to utter a single word.

She should have said something.

She should have told them to stop, to cease their actions, to say that doing this wouldn't change anything.

She should have said it had nothing to do with her, that she hadn't actually done anything, that she was innocent and didn't deserve such an evaluation.

Or perhaps... she should have blamed the students from other classes for not speaking up to warn them, or accused Asakusa Toru of knowing something yet telling her nothing?

"..."

She had no right to demand anything from others, and Asakusa Toru had no obligation to warn her about anything.

They called themselves friends, but their relationship was merely that of "surface-level friends" who could exchange a few casual words.

In a competitive environment where only Class A could graduate, expecting someone from another class to lend a helping hand was a rarity, wasn't it?

So, she did nothing; she simply watched.

Just like the vast majority of people around her.

"--Enough!" Hirata Yosuke's expression was incredibly grim. He shouted in a low, commanding voice, reaching out to press his hand onto the shoulder of the boy grappling with Yamauchi Haruki: "Stop it right now."

The icy tone and the strength in his grip, painful enough to make the shoulder ache, were enough to bring them to their senses; it was like a bucket of cold water poured over their heads, rapidly extinguishing the rage directed at Yamauchi Haruki.

After pulling the boy away, Hirata Yosuke took a deep breath, wiped the dark expression from his face, and forced a smile.

He lowered his head to look at Yamauchi Haruki, who was covered in bruises but still clutching his terminal tightly.

Then, he extended his hand.

"Yamauchi-kun, come." With a voice so gentle it felt out of place in the current atmosphere of Class D, a voice so soft it was more likely to make one's heart skip a beat than the smile on his face, he pulled Yamauchi Haruki up from the floor.

After brushing the dust off him, Hirata Yosuke turned his head.

"From now on, stop all accusations against Yamauchi-kun."

His tone left no room for argument.

"Now, let's think about what we should do next."

For the first time in this high school, a desire to control everything rose within Hirata Yosuke's heart.

"..."

"...Hirata-kun is right, we should calm down..." Wang Meiyu whispered, echoing his words.

Karuizawa Kei also snapped out of her daze and quickly added, "Alright, alright, let's stop the fighting; we should listen to Hirata-kun."

"I believe he'll lead us to a solution, won't he?"

"Besides, arguing now won't help anyway..." a boy, whether it was Miyake or someone else, muttered.

And so, the commotion suddenly ceased.

Everyone seemed to intend to calm down and talk things through properly.

...Except for Yamauchi Haruki, who was deeply dissatisfied despite being protected.

"Horikita! What is Horikita doing!" he shouted from behind Hirata Yosuke: "It's all her fault!"

"She clearly knew everything, didn't she?! She was the one who talked about the special exam, right?! No matter how you look at it, she seems more like the traitor than I do!!!"

Since the morning classes began, Horikita Suzune had been slumped over her desk.

She did nothing, said nothing.

Even though she usually acted like a model student, listening attentively all day, why was she just lying there sleeping today as if she didn't care about anything?

There must be something wrong, there definitely was!

Even if there wasn't, there had to be!

"..." Glancing back at the clamoring Yamauchi, Hirata sighed and walked over to Horikita's desk.

He tapped lightly on her desk: "Horikita-san, you should explain yourself."

"Everyone needs an explanation."

Horikita Suzune: "..."

Explanation, what kind of explanation...

Horikita Suzune lifted her head, feeling utterly drained.

She hadn't fallen asleep at all.

How could she possibly sleep?

Her head was a mess, she had been hearing auditory hallucinations in the morning, and just now, there had been nothing but chaotic, deafening noise.

It was impossible to sleep.

She had been slumped over simply to let her arms wrap around her cheeks, mimicking an ostrich to find a shred of peace of mind.

But as it turned out, even if you bury your head in the ground, someone will eventually drag you out into the light.

Just like this.

Ah, this is truly unbearable.

Why must I be here, drowning alongside them?

For no apparent reason, Horikita Suzune was struck by this thought.

At the same time, she recalled the Diary's assessment of Class D.

The class with the most eccentric individuals; a place where, as long as you declare yourself to be from Class D, whatever you do will be understood as having that specific "value."

The worst, the most rotten... a living hell.

The more she tried to struggle, the more she tried to climb out, the more the people around her would grab her ankles with both hands, making it impossible to climb even a single step higher.

And so, a thought that had once flashed through her mind resurfaced.

Twenty million.

If she only had twenty million private points, she could transfer to Class A.

If she only had twenty million, she wouldn't have to endure this quagmire of an environment anymore.

If she only had twenty million, she could go to the place where she truly belonged.

...If only she had twenty million.

Heh, twenty million.

Forget twenty million; right now, she didn't even have twenty thousand.

To verify the accuracy of the information in the Diary, she had spent thirty-five thousand on Chabashira Sae. Although she had been cutting corners on her daily expenses as much as possible, she had to set aside a sum of money to purchase kitchenware, considering that cooking for herself in the dormitory was the best way to save money in the long run.

Even though she needed to be frugal, eating poorly and lacking proper nutrition would be even worse, so after all the back and forth, she had practically no money left.

Trying to save up twenty million was nothing short of a fantasy.