Classroom of the Elite, After the Information Refreshes, They Always Want to Conquer Me! 43

He truly couldn't guess the intentions of this unexpected visitor.

However, since she was already standing at the door...

Shimizu Akira hesitated for a moment, then walked over and slowly pulled the door open.

"Shimizu... Wow! You, why aren't you wearing any clothes!" Karuizawa Kei had been silently complaining about how slow he was to open the door, but she hadn't expected to be greeted by the sight of the boy's bare upper body.

His powerful muscles were taut from his recent workout, glowing with a healthy sheen under the lights.

Karuizawa Kei's gaze felt as though it were stuck by a magnet, unable to pull away.

(This physique... isn't it a bit too unfair?)

Shimizu Akira's build was shockingly good, surpassing even the male models Karuizawa Kei had seen in fashion magazines a while back.

(Come to think of it, I even touched him once before.)

She suddenly remembered last week, when she had deliberately grabbed his abdomen in an attempt to get on good terms with him.

She still remembered the sensation clearly—hard and firm, it felt inexplicably good to touch.

This made her involuntarily overlap her current feelings with that memory.

The sound of her own heartbeat echoing in her chest became exceptionally clear.

(Is this what they call... sexual tension?)

That kind of attraction that required no words, stemming purely from biological instinct.

Just like how wild animals are drawn to strong members of their own species.

What's more, she was a girl who was already extremely insecure.

(No, it's not! I'm not some animal in heat!)

She muttered to herself, finally forcing her gaze away from him.

However, Shimizu Akira saw it all clearly.

He wasn't blind; Karuizawa Kei had stared at him for several seconds, so how could he not notice that?

"Karuizawa-san... you're acting very strange. Wasn't one touch last time enough?" Shimizu Akira said, following the train of thought.

A quick glance would have been one thing, but what was the meaning of staring at him for a full eight seconds?

She was really craving his body, wasn't she?

"Ugh... You! Hurry up and put some clothes on! Honestly!" Karuizawa Kei's earlobes turned red instantly. She gave him a light shove and grabbed the short-sleeved shirt off his bed, throwing it at him.

However, after throwing the shirt, she didn't leave; she simply turned around and stood with her back to him.

"..." Shimizu Akira didn't say anything more. Watching her back, he slowly put on the shirt.

"I'm dressed," he called out.

"Anyway, you didn't come all the way here just to smell my sweat, did you?" Shimizu Akira picked up the towel draped over the back of his chair and wiped the light sweat from his neck.

Only then did Karuizawa Kei turn around. The blush on her face hadn't completely faded, but she had already put on her usual slightly haughty expression. "Who came here on purpose! I just happened to be passing by and remembered there was something I wanted to ask you."

"Oh? What is it?"

"You haven't shown your face at the Boxing Club for the past two days! I've been going all by myself."

"The club president told me to avoid going as much as possible, saying I would affect the training of the other freshmen."

"Huh? Affect what? I think that Black guy from Class C has a physique just like yours."

Shimizu Akira raised an eyebrow slightly. "As a manager, don't say things like that to his face, or you might get beaten up. I won't help you if that happens; you'd be asking for it."

He vaguely guessed who she was talking about—likely a first-year student from Class C, though he couldn't recall the specific name at the moment.

Karuizawa Kei's body stiffened at his words. Realizing she had made a slip of the tongue, she quickly coughed twice to cover her embarrassment. "...I know."

After a moment of hesitation, she stammered, "That... the message I sent you last time didn't mean I didn't have enough points... Anyway, I will definitely pay you what I owe, you don't need to worry about that..."

Shimizu Akira watched her slightly stiff movements and couldn't help but shake his head inwardly.

The class fees alone were twenty-five thousand points, not to mention the additional expenses required for the surveillance system to run.

Shimizu Akira calculated in his mind that the balance in her account was likely already bottoming out, or perhaps even deep in the red.

Even now, she was still trying to act tough?

Just then, Karuizawa Kei's phone rang.

She pulled the phone from her pocket, glanced at the caller ID, and pressed the answer button.

"Hello? Chiaki? Why are you calling me at this hour?"

"What? Kushida Kikyou went to the dorm to find you? And it's about the class fees?"

"Anyway, I'm absolutely not paying! You aren't allowed to agree to her either! Didn't the four of us agree to stick together through thick and thin?"

"Eh? You're looking for me again? But I'm not at the dorm right now!"

"...Actually, I'm at... I'm in Shimizu-kun's room! Don't get the wrong idea! We're just discussing club activities!"

After Karuizawa Kei hung up the phone, her fingers began tapping rapidly on the screen again.

Shimizu Akira, standing to the side, heard the contents of the other party's call clearly.

It seemed that the reason the group of gyaru in Class D was dragging their feet on paying the class fees lay entirely with Karuizawa Kei.

However, in Shimizu Akira's estimation, the person involved probably hadn't considered that much at all; it was simply a case of not having enough points to pay the fees.

ps: Dear readers, this book will update all chapters promptly at 7:00 AM.

Let me explain the surveillance issue here.

I thought I had explained the situation regarding the student council president clearly, but it seems some readers still haven't fully grasped it, so I will elaborate further here:

First: Renting the surveillance system can prevent one's own class from having points deducted in the future.

This shouldn't be hard to understand—all classes are now aware of the daily code of conduct; playing on phones or talking in class will result in point deductions. By renting the surveillance, one can delete the relevant data at the end of the month, ensuring a 100% avoidance of deductions.

Second: Deleting previous surveillance data can recover class points.

The violation data from the first two weeks (which other classes are unaware of, as the first week's data was already collected by the school, a fact told to Shimizu Akira privately) can be completely erased. In this way, the four classes could theoretically recover over 900 class points.

Third: The concern that Shimizu Akira might sell the surveillance access to others is actually the issue Class A and Class B care about most.

Although the school explicitly told Shimizu Akira that he cannot sell surveillance access to other classes, this does not mean the other classes know about this rule.

This creates an information gap—even if Class A and Class B haven't been deducted many points for violations, the surveillance data for these two weeks exists in reality. Every word spoken by the leaders of Class A and Class B, and every action taken by their members, has been fully recorded during these two weeks. Once this content is leaked to their rivals in other classes, it is equivalent to the opponent turning on "wallhacks," allowing them to study their movements in advance.

This is what Class A and Class B value most.

Fourth: Psychological pressure. The feeling of being watched is, after all, not a pleasant one.

075 A Sudden Visit from Matsushita Chiaki

The reason Karuizawa Kei gave for refusing to pay the class fees was, on the surface, financial hardship—she truly didn't have any spare points.

But in reality, there was a deeper reason.

Because she needed to play the role of a "gyaru," an image of someone indifferent to class affairs and dismissive of the demands made by class representatives.

Just like the girls who bullied her in middle school, they had also used the same attitude, contemptuously ignoring the class monitor's urging, even wearing mocking smiles.

Ironically, she now seemed to be gradually living as the person she once hated most, wearing the smile she once loathed and striking the poses she once despised.

However, Karuizawa Kei's "gyaru" image was, after all, just a facade.

Although she deliberately acted tough and willful, she never truly crossed that line—she didn't deliberately ostracize the girls in class like her past tormentors, nor did she form cliques or create countless small group chats to isolate others, and she certainly never laid a hand on female classmates in the girls' restroom.

At the beginning of the school year, she had indeed considered such things.

Perhaps for self-protection, or perhaps to avoid becoming a target of bullying again, she had even considered whether she should treat others with the same methods as her former abusers.

But in the end, she stopped before that line.

—Isn't this a tragic cycle? A former victim, now imitating the posture of an abuser, yet ultimately unable to become a true abuser.

On the first day of school, she had quickly hit it off with Sato Maya, Matsushita Chiaki, and Mori Nene.

This wasn't just about making friends.

In her shrewd calculations, building a friendship with these three meant she could construct a small circle of her own within the class—this was the first defensive wall she had built for herself in an unfamiliar environment.

Among them, Sato Maya was the person she cared about most.

This girl, who exuded the typical gyaru aura in every gesture, was in a sense an authentic, cheerful gyaru.

The other girl's perfectly timed body language and energetic way of speaking were all subjects she needed to study and learn.

After all, in this school where the weak are prey to the strong, she would do anything to avoid repeating the past.

At this moment, she was typing intently in their four-person group chat.

Karuizawa Kei: Absolutely not! I firmly disagree! Since we already know the content of the information, why should we still pay those 25,000 points!

After sending this message, she quietly apologized to that mysterious person in her heart.

(I'm sorry... even though this information is indeed worth that price... but to maintain my persona... well! Mostly it's because I really don't have any points left!)

Sato Maya:? Kei, why are you being so serious about class fees these days? It's so weird!

Sato Maya: What's wrong with you?

Mori Nene: Yeah, really! It feels like Kei is being especially stubborn this time!

Karuizawa Kei's fingers froze instantly.

(Oh no... is my reaction not "gyaru" enough? Aren't gyaru supposed to be this casual and willful?)

But since even a real gyaru said so... it seems she really was acting too deliberately. Had she overdone it?

(But... this is my first time being a gyaru...)

(I have absolutely no experience in being a gyaru! I can only copy what I see! But I really can't bring myself to bully others!)

Could she be exposed just because of this one sentence? And then be kicked out of the small group? And then, just like before, be cornered by them in the restroom...

She already lacked a sense of security, and those unbearable memories seemed to surface before her eyes again, making her phone screen tremble slightly.

However, she quickly steadied her mind.

Perhaps it was that old habit acting up again—always over-interpreting the casual words of others.

The students were just complaining casually; there was no need to take it so seriously.

When her peripheral vision caught the figure of Shimizu Akira, she felt as if she had grabbed onto a lifeline, and her taut nerves instantly relaxed.

At the very least, Shimizu Akira was still here.

She had made a deal with him.

He would protect her well.

With him around, she would never repeat the mistakes of middle school.

This time, the ending would definitely be different.

On the other side, Shimizu Akira was completely unaware of her thoughts.

He keenly noticed that her complexion had suddenly taken a turn for the worse, but the moment their eyes met, it was as if some kind of power had been injected into them, and her previously wavering gaze instantly became firm.

(I can buff other people now? How come I didn't know that?)

Her transformation had come far too abruptly.

Before he could ponder it further, a soft knock on the door broke the silence of the room.

"Shimizu-kun, it's Matsushita Chiaki..." A strange female voice came from outside, her tone carrying a hint of hesitation. "I heard from Karuizawa-san earlier that she was coming to visit you. Is she there with you?"

Shimizu Akira raised an eyebrow slightly.

Matsushita Chiaki's self-introduction was concise and clear—identity, purpose, request—explaining everything in a single sentence, leaving no room for error.

A typical logical personality; it matched his impression of this girl.

"She's looking for you." Shimizu Akira tilted his chin toward Karuizawa Kei. "Should we just go out and talk?"

"..." Karuizawa Kei gave a light cough. "How about... letting her come in?"

Shimizu Akira shot her a meaningful glance. "Although I don't know what you're worried about, it's most likely a wasted effort."

He turned and walked toward the door. "I'll go open the Gate of Opening."