Classroom of the Elite: After the Intelligence Update, They All Want to Win Me Over! Chapter 28

His brother's anger pressed down on her like a tangible weight, making it difficult for her even to breathe.

Shimizu Akira put away his phone and had just reached the back of the dormitory when he heard a heated argument.

"...The class assignment system is unfair!"

"You're always making excuses!"

(Are these siblings really arguing without any concern for who might hear?)

(Will this turn into a physical altercation any second now?)

He raised an eyebrow and simply walked over without trying to hide himself.

Horikita Suzune and her brother stood less than two meters apart, facing off—fortunately, the tense atmosphere hadn't yet turned physical.

"Good evening, you two."

Only when Horikita Manabu heard someone speaking nearby did he turn around and carefully examine the man before him. "You're... that first-year from Sato's Boxing Club?"

Genuine surprise appeared on Shimizu Akira's face. "I didn't expect the Student Council President to remember me."

He really was surprised.

But then again, his club president was an elite from Class 3-A, and he'd also given a memorable speech at the opening ceremony. It wasn't that strange for the Student Council President to remember him.

"Hmph." Horikita Manabu pushed up his glasses. "So, you're Suzune's friend? And a student in Class 1-D."

Shimizu Akira shrugged casually. "You could say that..."

"No!" Horikita Suzune interrupted suddenly, her voice unusually hurried. "He's just..."

"Just an unrelated passerby who happened to be here?" Horikita Manabu sneered, his gaze settling on his sister again. "You don't even have the courage to admit you're friends? Is that the best you can do?"

"So, do you have something to say to us siblings? Or are you planning to pretend you're just passing by?" Horikita Manabu continued, looking at Shimizu Akira.

"I'm not a passerby, or I wouldn't have come over. Actually, I could hear you two arguing from the road, and I caught bits and pieces of what you said. Since the Student Council President asked for my opinion, I'll share my thoughts."

Shimizu Akira sighed and looked directly at them both, his tone tinged with helplessness.

"Horikita, you're the one in the wrong here."

Horikita Manabu's eyes suddenly turned cold. "You—"

"Don't get the wrong idea, Mr. Student Council President. I wasn't talking about you." Shimizu Akira raised a hand to interrupt him, then shook his head and pointed at Horikita Suzune. "I wasn't talking about you. I meant your sister. This Horikita is the one who's in the wrong."

"It's obvious that her ideas and what she's been saying are the real problem."

Horikita Suzune's eyes widened. Her expression wavered for a brief moment before turning faintly embarrassed and indignant.

(He just gave me sixteen thousand points! Why is he suddenly badmouthing me?)

049 The problem is, your brother isn't alone, either?

"You're saying... Suzune was wrong?" Horikita Manabu's eyes widened slightly, surprise flickering behind his glasses.

He clearly hadn't expected the first thing out of this boy's mouth to be a direct criticism of his own sister—the boy's classmate.

"Isn't that obvious?" Shimizu Akira folded his arms, his tone edged with helplessness. "Horikita, I told you about the class assignments last Friday. Chabashira-sensei explained it clearly yesterday, too, didn't she? There was every reason for you to be placed in Class D."

"It's been days. Surely you've checked with the School Administration by now. And now even your brother has told you outright that you were placed in Class D because your abilities weren't good enough. How stubborn are you going to be before you accept reality?"

Shimizu Akira shook his head, his gaze moving between the siblings. "Honestly, putting myself in your shoes, if I were the president..." He rubbed his temples. "Just imagining having to deal with this kind of family matter gives me a headache."

He turned his gaze to Horikita Suzune. "There's something else you might not have realized. Your brother, Horikita Manabu, was placed directly into Class A. By questioning whether the class assignment system is fair, you're also questioning the advantage he had from the start."

Shimizu Akira casually stepped between them.

"After all, you're siblings." His gaze shifted between them. "You're bound by blood. Why let things get so strained? Horikita, it's time to face reality..." He glanced at Horikita Manabu. "And you too, President. You're both high school students, not children. Don't try to solve this by hitting each other."

Horikita Suzune's feelings were a tangled mess.

She'd thought Shimizu Akira had appeared to take her side, but he had turned out to be an advocate for her brother.

Honestly, she was starting to regret agreeing to tutor him!

Horikita Manabu raised an eyebrow, remaining composed.

He was, in fact, a little surprised.

He couldn't find a single flaw in the points this first-year had made. Every word was based on purely objective analysis.

As for resorting to violence?

He'd never even considered it.

After all, this boy had not only spoken in his favor, but was also a club junior and a classmate of his sister.

"I'm Horikita Manabu, a third-year in Class A and the Student Council President." He nodded slightly. "And your name is?"

"I'm Shimizu Akira, a first-year in Class D." Shimizu Akira gave a suitably polite answer. "I've heard a lot about you, President."

"If you want to make it to Class A, you should learn how to deal with people from Shimizu." As soon as he finished speaking, Horikita Manabu turned and walked away.

"He sure left in a hurry... So he really did just come to see his sister? He's not very interested in anyone else." Shimizu Akira watched his tall figure retreat and rubbed his chin with some regret.

He'd wanted to use the opportunity to ask about the vice president, but Horikita Manabu hadn't even given him a chance to speak.

A subtle silence settled over the air.

Horikita Suzune stood there for a long while. At last, she raised her chin slightly, her voice wavering almost imperceptibly. "Was the main reason I was placed in Class D... my lack of social skills?"

Shimizu Akira's tone was calm. "You're finally realizing that?" After a brief pause, he continued, "There's more to it than that. Your high-and-mighty attitude, and the way you deliberately keep people at a distance—those were probably reasons you were placed in Class D, too."

"...That's not a very pleasant assessment. You can't even understand the lessons in Japanese class."

"I like telling the truth. And your Japanese grades have nothing to do with how well you can talk to people."

"I don't need to rely on anyone, and I can't trust anyone!"

"...You'll realize how ridiculous that sounds in a few years."

Shimizu Akira suddenly changed the subject. "By the way, you want to become Student Council President, don't you? As far as I know, Tachibana Akane from the Student Council often works with your brother. She's his right-hand woman. So your brother hasn't always been alone."

He was genuinely curious about this. If she was trying to follow in her brother's footsteps, why hadn't she learned everything from him?

"...How did you find that out?" Horikita Suzune's expression darkened at once.

"...Ask any third-year and they'll tell you. Seriously, how long has it been since you had a proper conversation with anyone?" Shimizu Akira sighed in exasperation. "You don't even know how to gather the most basic information, and you still want to make it into Class A? If your brother isn't scolding you, do you really expect him to praise you?"

Those two sentences struck Horikita like a pair of arrows, piercing her heart.

How could that be?

She'd always thought... her brother had been walking alone all this time.

She hadn't realized that he'd already gained a capable assistant who was always by his side!

Then what had all her years of persistence amounted to?

Shimizu Akira saw her abruptly lower her head, her lips bitten pale, her whole body trembling with disbelief.

He hadn't expected one simple remark to make her crumble so completely.

But then again, wasn't it only natural?

He was the Student Council President. How could he have stood firm in an election all by himself, without anyone supporting him?

"You really didn't think things through just now. You were too stubborn, so it's only natural your brother got angry. Anyway, give it some thought."

After saying that, Shimizu Akira turned and left without offering any unnecessary comfort or insincere pleasantries.

Horikita Suzune wasn't stupid, and she had her pride.

He'd said everything that needed saying. With her intelligence, she'd be able to understand once she'd calmed down and thought it over.

After Shimizu Akira returned to his dorm room, he sprawled out on his bed.

He reread the messages Chabashira Sae had sent him.

A more important thought suddenly occurred to him.

"If Miyabi Nagumo deliberately sealed off the information..." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Then I'm probably the only one who knows the truth besides Sakayanagi Arisu in Class A. Classes B and C must still be in the dark..."

This was practically a gift from heaven—a perfect window of opportunity to sell information.

"Looks like it's time to expand the business."

He'd never intended to keep his information network within Class D, and he'd never promised anyone "exclusive rights," either.

After all, in this school, where strength was everything, information was the greatest bargaining chip—and the more people competed for it, the more valuable it became.

But there was another question buried in the back of his mind.

If the information had been deliberately sealed off, where had Sakayanagi Arisu in Class A learned about it?

050 If I punched her, she'd probably cry for a long time.

Wednesday, lunchtime. The school cafeteria was filled with the aroma of food.

A boy from Class 2-D nervously rubbed his hands together, his eyes darting around. "Um... Ryuen, I'm really grateful you treated us to lunch... But..." His voice grew quieter. "I really don't have anything to tell you..."

Ryuen Kakeru leaned back in his chair, tapping his long fingers lightly on the table as he watched the boy impassively.

Before he could say anything, Ishizaki Daichi, a broad-shouldered man sitting beside him, slammed his palm on the table and stood up.

"Hey!" Ishizaki grabbed the boy by the collar, the muscles in his arm bulging with tension. "You planning to freeload?"

His shout drew sidelong glances from students nearby. "And now you're telling me you have no information?"

"I... I never asked you to treat me! You were the ones who invited me!" The second-year student tried to sound defiant, but his eyes kept drifting toward a security camera in the corner of the ceiling. "Let go! There are cameras here! Go ahead and try anything!"

Ishizaki's fist clenched with a crack, poised to swing—

"Calm down, Ishizaki." Ryuen's lazy voice rang out at just the right moment. He stood up unhurriedly and gently placed a hand on Ishizaki's shoulder. "After all... he's our 'senior.'"

He put special emphasis on the word "senior," a smile curling at the corners of his mouth in a way that sent a chill down the spine.

"But..." Ryuen suddenly leaned close to the boy's ear and lowered his voice. "I might be able to stop him once, but that doesn't mean I can stop him every time. Sure, the cafeteria has cameras..." His gaze meaningfully swept toward the empty corridor outside. "But there are always places cameras can't see, right?"

"Exactly!" Ishizaki released the senior's collar with a violent jerk and grinned menacingly. "You think you can just eat and drink for free and get away with it? Even if I get punished, I'm going to teach you a lesson today!"

The senior's face instantly turned deathly pale. "Are you really from Class C? You're worse than Class D... Or is it because your points have been reduced to zero, so you have nothing to fear?"

His voice trembled as he added in a low voice, "It's not that I don't want to tell you... If that person finds out, I'll never get a recommendation for further studies!"

"You bastard—" Ishizaki lunged again, his fist raised halfway into the air.

"Stop, Ishizaki." This time, Ryuen firmly grabbed his wrist, squeezing hard enough to make Ishizaki grimace in pain.

Ryuen turned back to the senior, wearing another horrifyingly gentle smile. "How about this? We'll meet each other halfway. I understand your predicament, senior..."

His voice dropped suddenly, taking on a coaxing tone. "Just tell me who the man you're afraid of is, then give me a few key pieces of information, and I'll transfer you fifty thousand points. That's a fair deal, isn't it?"

The senior's eyes darted around.

After nearly half a minute of silence, he finally spoke. "...Vice President Nagumo. Class A gets the best teachers, and the other classes can only transfer out after graduation in disgrace! All four classes are rivals!" He suddenly realized he'd said too much and clapped a hand over his mouth. "Um, that's all I can say! So... what about my fifty thousand points?!"

Ryuen suddenly gave him a mocking smile and leisurely straightened his cuffs. "Who said I was going to give you fifty thousand points?"

He tilted his head and looked at Ishizaki in feigned confusion. "Ishizaki, did I say anything like that?"

Ishizaki immediately caught on and laughed along. "Hahaha, senior, you must've imagined it!"

"You... you people!" The senior trembled with anger, his finger shaking as he pointed at Ryuen.

Ryuen's smile suddenly vanished, and his gaze turned dangerous. "Get lost while I'm still in a good mood! For a few scraps of information that don't even make sense, I'm already being merciful by not making you throw up the food you just ate."

The senior opened his mouth to argue, but when he saw Ryuen's menacing expression, he shuddered. In the end, he hurried out of the cafeteria in disgrace.

Watching the senior flee in a panic, Ishizaki scratched his head. "Ryuen, didn't some 'good Samaritan' tell us this on the second day of school?"

Ryuen curled his lip disdainfully. "He's a useless student from Class 2-D. Getting this much out of him was already the limit." He tapped the table lightly with his fingers, then suddenly changed the subject. "Any progress on Vice President Nagumo, the one I told you to investigate?"

Ishizaki's expression turned serious. "All I know is that his full name is Miyabi Nagumo. But..." He lowered his voice. "Whenever I ask the second-years about him, they get a really strange look as soon as I mention his name. So other than that, I can't find anything out."

Ryuen narrowed his eyes and gazed thoughtfully out the cafeteria window. "If he can keep the entire second year quiet... he sounds like an interesting opponent. But it's too early to challenge the second-years... Let's figure out the rules and crush the other classes first."

(Just what kind of game is this school hiding?)

In fact, Ryuen had sensed something was wrong from his very first day on campus.

The school rules, which said "points can buy anything," and the meaningful hints from his homeroom teacher, Sakagami Kazuma, had convinced him that the School Administration was deliberately concealing crucial information.

But after days of asking around, all he'd managed to piece together from those timid seniors was a fragmentary truth: the school really did divide students into classes based on ability, and the four classes competed against each other—nothing more.