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

"Ah, sorry, I almost forgot one thing." As she said this, she pulled a voice recorder out of her pocket right in front of Kushida Kikyo.

It was the one she had originally bought from Asakusa Toru.

The tiny screen glowed faintly, and at this moment, the voice recorder was still in perfect recording mode.

Horikita Suzune had come in with the recording already running.

"I suppose I don't need this recording anymore." In front of Kushida Kikyo, she gently pressed the button to stop the recording, and then, she chose to delete it.

"..." Staring at the voice recorder in her hand, Kushida Kikyo, whose expression had stiffened slightly, let out a heavy sigh:

"You really are sick."

Chapter 77 Are We Friends?

Horikita Suzune actually had a very good memory.

For things that needed to be remembered, such as textbook knowledge, key points for exams, and her brother's words, she could recall them with perfect clarity.

For things that had nothing to do with her, such as gossip about others, rumors slandering her, or anything unnecessary, she would simply cast them to the back of her mind.

And clearly, the Advanced Nurturing Survival Rules that had been written in the Diary were very important things that needed to be remembered.

After deciding to keep a good record of her own words and actions and those of others, Horikita Suzune carried the voice recorder with her every day. She would turn it on in the morning and regularly stop and clear it in the evening.

Although she had bought the voice recorder from Asakusa Toru on a whim without much thought, it was surprisingly quite useful.

Even if it recorded for 24 hours straight, it still had plenty of capacity to maintain a long battery life.

Three thousand points was actually a bargain.

...Not to mention, the other party had even provided "after-sales service" yesterday.

If it weren't for the fact that she didn't have much money on hand, she would have even wanted to transfer another sum of private points to Asakusa Toru.

Compared to money, this feeling of owing a favor made her feel even more uncomfortable.

Having stopped and deleted the recording in front of Kushida Kikyo, Horikita Suzune walked to the entryway without paying much attention to the insult Kushida Kikyo had just thrown at her.

She was already somewhat used to being insulted; in fact, it would be strange if Kushida Kikyo didn't insult her.

Although she didn't know what friends were supposed to be like, she figured this kind of relationship where they could insult each other must be it.

After all, Kushida Kikyo understood what a friend was better than she did.

Hooking her heels, she slid her feet, wrapped in black stockings, into her small leather shoes. Having come empty-handed, Horikita Suzune had no intention of taking anything back with her either.

She pulled the door open decisively, and upon seeing the bag quietly placed at the doorway, she suddenly remembered that there were gifts from other classmates visiting as well.

"Ah, that's a gift Xiao Mei brought. Help me bring it in." Without any intention of getting up to see her off, Kushida Kikyo said, "I still have to thank her tomorrow. Although it's probably all useless stuff, I have to take a look."

"...Don't you have hands yourself?" Horikita Suzune was a bit speechless.

But Kushida Kikyo just flashed her that sweet, lovely smile she usually wore in class and asked softly:

"We are friends, right?"

"..." Silently, Horikita Suzune picked up the bag, took off her shoes again, and turned back to deliver it into the room.

When she turned to leave again, Kushida Kikyo finally dropped that incredibly cute expression and shrugged:

"See? This is the correct way to use a friend."

A single "We are friends, right?" was enough to easily push others to do anything.

"I'll remember that." Horikita Suzune didn't look back, but with her back to her, she said softly, "Next time, I won't be fooled by that phrase again."

After saying this, she crossed the threshold and gently closed the door for Kushida Kikyo.

"..." Although the words she left behind sounded quite imposing, Kushida Kikyo just sighed faintly: "...It's not like I can't just phrase it differently."

After a few trivial words, there was the sound of the door gently closing.

"Click."

Under the soft footsteps and the sensor lights that lit up one after another with a clatter, the girl gently pressed the elevator button.

"Ding—" Before long, the elevator arrived, and then slowly closed.

The sensor light in the hallway turned off automatically. In the dormitory stairwell, Asakusa Toru slowly opened his eyes.

"..."

In his hand, he held a voice recorder connected to earphones. He had one earphone in his right ear, and the recorder in his hand was playing back, with perfect clarity, the audio that had been faithfully captured by the recorder in Horikita Suzune's hand inside the room.

"Hate," "Don't understand," "Sick," "Friends"...

The girls' voices played through the earphones, crystal clear.

The corners of Asakusa Toru's mouth, which had been curled up for a long time, didn't drop even now, showing that he was in an exceptionally good mood.

Although he couldn't see their expressions, the information conveyed by their voices was already rich enough.

The hesitant voices, the stalled breathing, the muddled sentences.

He hadn't expected that after Sakayanagi Arisu had put on such a good show for him yesterday, he would be able to see such a brilliant scene the very next day.

He really likes Horikita Suzune far too much.

Innocent, naive, obedient, and easy to deceive.

Although she occasionally has moments of realization, she inevitably turns around and performs various actions that make one burst into laughter.

That is why he says he really likes Horikita Suzune far too much.

One could even say it has reached the level of favoritism.

As for the great angel Ichinose or the library background character, he is not familiar with them, so stay away.

"Buzz—" Suddenly, as if by telepathy, the Personal Terminal on his body vibrated slightly.

It was a message from someone else.

[Shiina Hiyori: Are you hanging out with your classmates again today?]

Although it was just a calm inquiry in text, for some reason, Asakusa Toru vaguely felt a trace of chill creeping up his back.

...But he was leaning against a wall right now!

Damn it, he was caught bad-mouthing someone behind their back as a background character.

Forget it, he wouldn't listen to it now; he would listen when he got back later.

In any case, the Plot Index was terrible today, so he would save this good material to write in his Diary and report to everyone later.

The reason he followed them here was actually quite coincidental.

He didn't know if it was because he had consumed too much energy while wearing the headband, or if he had spent too much time in the White Room, or perhaps his stamina had been squeezed too dry. After coming out and sweeping up some 'breakfast' to replenish his energy, even though his body was rapidly increasing in strength in a short period, he still felt a bit dazed.

Although he usually didn't listen much in class anyway, just pretending to listen, today's sense of daze was particularly severe.

So, after school in the afternoon, he thought about going back to the dormitory to lie down and just sleep it off.

Who would have thought that upon returning, he would see Horikita Suzune enter the dormitory elevator alone, and the elevator floor number stopped very steadily at the ninth floor.

Who was on the ninth floor?

Following this question, only one name surfaced in his mind.

Kushida Kikyo.

The two of them meeting up...

Holy crap, that had to be a hell of a show.

The daze vanished in a flash, and his head instantly cleared up quite a bit. Asakusa Toru climbed up the stairs to the ninth floor, thump, thump, thump.

No one knew he was standing here, and no one knew that the Voice Recorder in his hand could copy the audio.

Therefore, even if he waved his hand and wrote with abandon in his Diary, there would be no risk whatsoever.

This was, a perfect crime.

Chapter 78: After all, were you guys always these kinds of characters before?

"Rustle."

"Rustle."

The library at Advanced Nurturing is actually not very quiet, especially after the homeroom teachers announced to the first-year students that failing important exams would lead to expulsion.

In order to survive the ordeal of the exams, students swarmed into the library, which is widely recognized as having a strong atmosphere for studying, chattering away about things either related or unrelated to their studies.

When the noise shattered the barrier of tranquility, it became difficult for the library to return to its usual peace.

However, even so, Asakusa Toru arrived on time today, just as promised...

He sat on the other side.

Shiina Hiyori was flipping through a book over there, while Asakusa Toru opened his textbooks and supplementary materials on this side.

"Where did Ichinose leave off yesterday?" he asked Shiranami Chihiro, who was beside him, in a low voice.

"...Right here." Opening to the page in her memory, Shiranami Chihiro extended her finger.

"The content below has already been covered in class... but regardless of whether you understand it or not, let's just do the problems first." Glancing at it casually, Asakusa Toru picked up his pen and circled several problems in the workbook.

The best way to test whether knowledge has been mastered is naturally by doing problems.

The tactic of drowning in problems was a skill he was already familiar with. The knowledge for the first year of high school was actually surprisingly easy; if he paid a little attention, his brain would involuntarily recall the corresponding information.

...After all, it was basically all stuff he had learned before.

Although he had forgotten most of it after graduation, as long as he entered the right state, he could recall it quickly.

Probably?

Just as they had discussed, the purpose of Asakusa Toru's trip to the library was to provide tutoring to Shiranami Chihiro and Shibata Hayate.

The reason it turned into a situation that looked like a private rendezvous between the two of them was because the others who were supposed to be there had their own reasons for being absent or late.

Shibata Hayate had activities with the Soccer Club, and his daily training schedule was actually quite packed. As a newcomer in the strictly hierarchical Soccer Club, it was not easy for him to frequently miss training.

Ichinose, on the other hand, was not in any club, so logically, she should have had free time.

But she had chosen to be late on purpose.

As for the noble young master Kanzaki... honestly, Asakusa Toru had never quite understood how his brain worked.

He had no club activities, nor did he socialize with other friends; he simply maintained a relationship where he could nod amicably at every classmate, and then... worked very hard at being Ichinose's lackey.

Whatever Ichinose did, he did; whatever Ichinose said, he supported.

So, when Ichinose consciously chose to be late, Kanzaki Ryuji naturally slowed his pace in arriving at the library as well.

As for this, Asakusa Toru didn't have any objections.

After all, he was truly free.

Even if he weren't here tutoring Shiranami Chihiro, he would spend the vast majority of his time turning in daily quests to the library NPC who, while not sitting at the same table, coincidentally sat right behind him, back-to-back.

Asakusa Toru didn't dislike reading; it was precisely because he loved to read that he was able to recognize the vast majority of characters in this world, and was able to remember most of the stories behind them.

Although he had already spent over a dozen years here, he still hadn't managed to finish all the interesting books in this world.

However, there was no rush.

"..."

Black ink and red ink circled back and forth across the pages as Shiranami Chihiro, looking incredibly well-behaved, racked her brain under his gaze to write out the answers to one question after another that he had designated.

Only to have them ruthlessly corrected and graded with the red pen.

In this cycle of repetition, unexpectedly, the nervousness she had initially felt about being alone with him simply vanished.

And so, Miss Shiranami Chihiro began to immerse herself in knowledge.

Unfortunately, this immersion didn't seem to last very long.

"If I just memorize it before the exam, there's bound to be a way, so why did we have to come to the library..."