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

After a short wait, a teacher wearing glasses who didn't look like a particularly good person walked past Asakusa Toru, turned, and stepped into the Class C classroom.

In other words, this man was the homeroom teacher for Class C, Sakagami Kazuma.

The bell signaling the official start of the school year rang, and the hallway outside the classroom became empty, leaving only Asakusa Toru behind.

Calculating the time, it was just about right.

Then, let's begin.

Eavesdropping.

Chapter 8: First Meeting

First-Year Class B.

"It seems everyone is here..." Lazily walking into the classroom, the homeroom teacher for First-Year Class B, Hoshinomiya Chie, had intended to use her customary opening remarks to introduce herself and provide information regarding Advanced Nurturing.

But her words stopped halfway.

Because a spirited girl with beautiful long pink-gold hair and a curvaceous figure had raised her hand high.

"Teacher... Asakusa Toru-kun hasn't arrived yet," she said.

"Eh? To think a student would be late on the very first day of school?" Hoshinomiya Chie was quite surprised. "But it can't be helped. I'll have to trouble everyone to relay the information to the late student later."

After all, the entrance ceremony was in about an hour, and considering the time needed for the subsequent Q&A session, she truly couldn't make everyone wait for one tardy student.

"Anyway, let's get started~"

Hoshinomiya Chie clapped her hands together and revealed an incredibly sweet smile.

"This school doesn't change classes every year, which means for the next three years, little Chie will be spending time with all of you."

"Unless there are special circumstances, the school prohibits any outside contact, and leaving school grounds without permission is also a prohibited act~"

"Everyone should have received their terminals, right? You can check your personal points inside. Basically, within the school, 1 point equals 1 yen. Points will be deposited promptly on the 1st of every month. Everyone should have received 100,000 points by now, right?"

"Inside the school, there is nothing that cannot be bought with points. As long as it is something possessed within the school grounds, you can buy anything~"

Hoshinomiya Chie used her own unique style to reintroduce the information that was and wasn't in the materials distributed before enrollment.

"Alright, is there anything else you want to ask me?" she said with a beaming smile, her gaze sweeping across everyone in Class B.

Everyone seems so normal.

I hope it can stay this normal forever.

"Um, Teacher..." The first to raise her hand was, once again, the girl with the pink-gold hair.

If Hoshinomiya Chie remembered correctly, this child's name was Ichinose Honami.

"If, if Asakusa-kun doesn't come today..." An unexpected situation occurred.

She was asking a question related to the absent student.

Without beating around the bush, Hoshinomiya Chie answered cleanly and decisively: "Then the school will consider it a withdrawal from enrollment."

"My, but that really is surprising." She leaned her body against the podium, resting her pretty face on one hand, and said, "In all these years, this is the first time I've seen a student absent on the very first day of school."

"I didn't expect someone would actually give up their enrollment."

You have to understand, although only Class A can enjoy the 100% employment and advancement rate, students shouldn't know that before enrolling. Logically speaking, in this country, no one should be able to refuse such treatment.

But the fact was, it had happened.

A Class B student, absent on the very first day of school.

"Withdrawal from enrollment..." Ichinose Honami lowered her raised hand, her eyes filled with an indiscernible emotion.

Eh, are they acquaintances?

Seeing Ichinose Honami's reaction, a trace of surprise welled up in Hoshinomiya Chie's heart.

Or perhaps, was she just feeling sad about losing a classmate right after school started?

"Are there no other questions?" Putting aside unnecessary conjectures, Hoshinomiya Chie straightened up. "If there are no other questions, we'll end it here."

"I wish you all a wonderful school life ahead~"

The students of First-Year Class B received their homeroom teacher's blessings, while the only student among them who was absent—the one the teacher assumed had withdrawn—Asakusa Toru was currently eavesdropping.

Actually, the soundproofing of the Advanced Nurturing classrooms wasn't bad; at the very least, not every word would casually leak out of the classroom.

But unfortunately, the recording quality of the Voice Recorder in Asakusa Toru's hand was simply too good. Even though Ryuen Kakeru had closed the front and back doors of the classroom in advance, the recorder could still clearly capture every sound from inside.

Violence, intimidation, and domination.

Under the witness of homeroom teacher Sakagami Kazuma, Ryuen Kakeru had cleanly and decisively taken control of First-Year Class C.

Uh, perhaps it wasn't that clean.

But in any case, except for a few who couldn't be easily beaten into submission in a short time and needed to be tamed, everyone else had chosen to submit to Ryuen Kakeru.

As for why he chose to launch a reign of terror on the very first day of school...

There were reasons aplenty.

Perhaps it was because he had keenly sensed the hidden issues within the rules introduced by the homeroom teacher, or perhaps his experiences in middle school led him to choose to rule the class within this completely enclosed school.

Regardless, Ryuen Kakeru did exactly that.

Not only did he do it, but he also quite bluntly ordered others around.

"Hey, Ishizaki, go and invite our 'guest' outside in." Inside the classroom of First-Year Class C, such a voice rang out.

"Huh? Why should I listen to you?" A very dissatisfied voice followed; the man Ryuen Kakeru called Ishizaki was not so easily tamed.

"I said go, so you go." An unquestionable voice sounded, and under the slight pressure and the gazes of everyone else in the class, even though Ishizaki was very reluctant, he had no choice but to walk out the door of Class C and appear before Asakusa Toru.

Shifting his gaze left and right, he almost immediately spotted Asakusa Toru, who had no intention of walking away.

"Whoa, there really is someone here." Ishizaki Daichi clicked his tongue.

Shaking his head, he beckoned: "Come in."

And so, under the watchful eyes of everyone in First-Year Class C, Asakusa Toru walked into the classroom of First-Year Class C once again.

Almost the moment he stepped through the door, a dark shadow, like a hidden weapon, was thrown from the hand of Ryuen Kakeru not far away.

"Don't go stuffing your own things into other people's lockers."

Catching the Voice Recorder thrown by Ryuen Kakeru with pinpoint accuracy, Asakusa Toru glanced down at the device, which appeared to have its records completely wiped, smiled, and then tossed it back toward Ryuen Kakeru with a backhand motion.

"It's yours now," he said.

"You can treat it as my welcoming gift; keep it, or throw it away."

"Anyway, nice to meet you. I'm Asakusa Toru from First-Year Class B."

Watching Ryuen Kakeru, who gripped the caught Voice Recorder tightly with a gloomy look in his eyes, the curve of Asakusa Toru's already upturned lips grew a bit higher.

Chapter 9 Where does this guy get so many voice recorders?

"There's no one else around." After inviting Asakusa Toru into the Class C classroom, Ishizaki Daichi did not follow him in immediately; instead, he searched outside for a while before slowly walking into the classroom and closing the door.

Watching Asakusa Toru, who showed no sign of fear even when facing the entire class, Ishizaki Daichi couldn't help but click his tongue again:

"This guy really dares to come in alone."

"You've been watching from outside for a while now, so you should know what coming in here means, right?" No longer playing the game of tossing the Voice Recorder, Ryuen Kakeru put it away and walked step by step toward Asakusa Toru, then reached out both hands, seemingly intending to grab him by the throat.

"No one will cry for justice on your behalf."

Just as he said, under his violent rule of the class, there was no one who would stand up with a righteous heart to act as a witness.

And the only thing that might have served as evidence, the surveillance cameras installed in every classroom, had long since been covered up when he took control of the class.

Even if Asakusa Toru had other voice recorders on him to keep recording, it was impossible for him to protect such 'evidence' against so many people.

So, honestly, Ryuen Kakeru couldn't fathom for the life of him why he would stand out alone.

"Oh, Sakagami-sensei, is that what the students in your class are saying?" Stepping back to avoid Ryuen's hands, Asakusa Toru smilingly moved behind Sakagami Kazuma, using Sakagami Kazuma's body as a shield as he looked at Ryuen Kakeru: "Should I apologize immediately and kneel down to beg for mercy?"

"Huh?" Watching his actions, Ryuen Kakeru completely lost his composure.

You, seeking help from our homeroom teacher?

Ha, then you really picked the wrong person.

You have to know, the one who hinted that he would be fine as long as he covered the cameras, the one who watched with his own eyes as he inflicted violence on his classmates, was none other than the Sakagami Kazuma standing right there.

Sakagami Kazuma had absolutely no reason to protect this guy, right?

It seems I was wrong; this guy is just a fool who doesn't know his own weight!

That was what Ryuen Kakeru thought, and that was exactly what he intended to do.

Make Sakagami Kazuma step aside, make Asakusa Toru understand that no one could protect him, and let Asakusa Toru know what the consequences of provoking him would be.

He had intended to do just that.

"Ryuen." But unexpectedly, Sakagami Kazuma, who had remained unmoved until now, spoke up and called his name.

He didn't say anything, but the meaning behind his words couldn't have been clearer.

'Stop.'

"You're not joking, are you? Sakagami?" Ryuen raised an eyebrow, his tone quite impolite: "Are you telling me now that you're going to protect him?"

Even when facing his own homeroom teacher, he didn't feel the slightest need to maintain any respect.

"I'm not joking." Sakagami Kazuma shook his head, though his expression wasn't very good: "The issues within the class and this situation are different."

He was a teacher.

Although as the homeroom teacher of Class C, he could turn a blind eye to Ryuen's behavior of consolidating the class through violence, that was ultimately to ensure that First-Year Class C had a leader.

But if it involved students from other classes, he couldn't do that.

He had to, and could only, stop it.

"Is that so?" Following Sakagami Kazuma's words, Asakusa Toru poked his head out from behind him, revealing a smile.

"..." Glancing down at Asakusa Toru beside him, Sakagami Kazuma took a deep breath: "But if you choose to continue provoking me, I will have to treat this as a conflict between students."

This guy seemed to have seen through the essence of this school earlier and more clearly than anyone else.

For the freshmen, the only time they had to explore and understand this school was the few short hours between the opening of the school gates and the ringing of the bell.

So, did he really see through everything in just that amount of time?

First-Year Class B...

It looks like Hoshinomiya drew a Joker.

"Yes, yes~" Nodding casually, Asakusa Toru put away his smile: "Anyway, back to the main point, let's make a deal, Ryuen."

"Of course, just between you and me."

That Sakagami Kazuma would protect him was within his expectations; matters within the class belonged to the class, while matters outside the class were naturally a different story.

Although this might not be absolute, if Sakagami Kazuma chose to be extremely biased, he probably wouldn't be able to avoid a beating.

He certainly wouldn't die, but he would probably get beaten up pretty badly.

But if that were to happen...

Then he could just wait, hole up in his class writing his diary, and after drawing enough rewards, kill them all one by one.

...Not good, that seems a bit too extreme.

Rule of law, rule of law.

"Why should I listen to you?" Regardless of whether he would agree or not, even if he were interested in hearing this so-called deal, Ryuen Kakeru didn't think agreeing readily was a good decision.

What's more, he was currently under the gaze of everyone in the class.