In Classroom of the Elite, but in the Underworld Chapter 10

Eito could already feel the murderous glares from the boys.

After the whistle blew, he dove into the water.

Sudo and Koenji beside him shot out like cannonballs, and to avoid falling behind, he pushed himself to catch up.

In the end, the first place went to Koenji with a time of 23.22 seconds, and second place went to Sudo with 25 seconds.

As for him, he took third place with 26 seconds.

Ayanokoji did not show his true strength, finishing in the thirty-second range.

As for Yamauchi, he was already well past forty seconds.

After climbing out, Yamauchi lay on the ground panting like a dog, and upon seeing Eito already on the shore, he pounded the floor in frustration.

"Takeda-kun, dry yourself off." Kikyo walked toward him, holding a towel in her hand.

"Thanks."

"Takeda-kun is really amazing, your time is even better than Hirata-kun's. Have you trained before..." Kikyo stared at his body with curiosity, "Can I touch it a little?"

"...Go ahead."

Kikyo actually reached out and touched him; her cool, jade-like hands made contact with his body, moving slowly across his skin.

Sometimes, she would even give a firm squeeze.

The distance between the two was very close, and he could even feel the breath from Kikyo's mouth becoming increasingly scorching.

The gazes gathering on them grew more numerous, so he hurriedly reminded her:

"Kushida, if this continues, I'm going to be killed by someone."

"Ah-- I'm sorry."

Chapter 12 Pride and Prejudice

This day.

"Horikita."

"Don't call me by my name."

"Then... Suzune."

"..."

Even without looking, Eito knew that this classmate Suzune was on the verge of losing it.

Eito offered a tentative explanation:

"Look, isn't that how it's written in manga? Close friends eventually call each other by their first names. Since you didn't let me call you Horikita just now, wasn't that a hint that I should use your first name?"

"I was telling you not to talk to me."

"So, can I call you Suzune now?"

"...Why are you so annoying?"

"I just happen to like my own persistent personality."

"Nobody asked you." Suzune sighed, then looked straight at him, "Speak, what exactly do you want to ask me?"

"Actually, I went to the library a few days ago and borrowed a book. I thought it would be quite suitable for you, so I wanted to lend it to you."

"You actually read books?" Suzune looked at him with suspicion, "Aren't people like you supposed to be at home playing games and browsing porn sites all day?"

"Eh?"

"Don't look around, I'm talking about you."

"Oh."

Eito replied, feeling somewhat speechless.

He then took out the book he had already finished reading and handed it to Suzune.

"Pride and Prejudice?" Suzune stared blankly for two seconds, then questioned him, "What do you mean by this?"

"What do you mean, what do I mean?"

"You know perfectly well. Giving me this book, are you trying to imply something about me?"

"No, no, no. I just think this book would be very helpful to you. You haven't even looked at the content, yet you immediately accuse me of implying something—isn't that exactly a form of prejudice?"

"...Fine, I'll take it back and read it."

Suzune put the book away.

Then she noticed Eito was still looking at her:

"What are you still looking at?"

"So, can I call you Suzune now?"

"No."

"Sigh..."

"Sighing won't help. Once I acknowledge you in the future... I'll consider it."

"Then it's a deal."

Seeing Ayanokoji walk into the classroom, he stood up and returned to his seat.

The morning classes were as boring as ever.

Though it didn't seem to matter whether he attended or not; he was just playing on his phone during class anyway.

Everyone else was playing on their phones, too.

There was something truly satisfying about slacking off together.

However, there was a difference: he actually understood the material, while those playing on their phones alongside him did not.

This was the ease of a top student.

More than a week had passed since the last swimming lesson.

The changes over this week were neither big nor small.

He had grown a bit closer to Sato, and his relationship with Kikyo had improved to the point where he could call her by her first name to her face.

For Kikyo, the barrier to being called by her first name was relatively low.

It was different for everyone else.

In Japan, for a man and a woman to address each other by their first names requires a very intimate relationship, sometimes even limited to couples.

If you just started calling people that, others would mistake you for a couple, and explaining that away would be a hassle.

Additionally, through his connection with Kikyo, he had successfully become friends with Wang Meiyu and even exchanged contact information.

Perhaps because of her affection for Kikyo, Wang Meiyu's defenses toward him were very low, allowing their relationship to progress quite smoothly.

They didn't talk much in person, mostly chatting over their phones.

At first, she was a bit reserved, but as they communicated more, she gradually became bolder.

Recently, she had even started calling him "big brother" in her messages.

Honestly, he hadn't forced her; Wang Meiyu wanted to call him that herself.

When he asked her why, she said it was because she felt scared and wanted to find an older brother figure.

Of course, she wouldn't dare call him that in reality.

As for the others, there was Sakura Airi.

This girl was excessively timid; every time he tried to greet her, she would run away, making him wonder if he looked like a total pervert.

When he asked Suzune about it, she replied with an absolute and certain attitude:

"Is that even a question? You are one."

Finally, regarding his malice points, he currently had 56. Since fewer things had happened lately, they were accumulating slowly.

Setting his own affairs aside, the other major event was that Karuizawa had started "dating" Hirata. However, he knew this was just an excuse Karuizawa used to protect herself; they weren't actually dating.

The rest of it was Kikyo persistently trying to get close to Suzune, while Suzune remained completely unmoved.

He also seemed to have figured out why Kikyo cared so much about him: her goal was genuinely to annoy Suzune.

Clearly, Suzune's attitude had caused her to harbor quite a bit of resentment, so she would always interject whenever he and Suzune were talking, using various methods to make Suzune unhappy.

She succeeded; Suzune had nearly wanted to punch him several times, which also caused their relationship to progress slowly.

To be honest, Eito quite admired Kikyo for being able to talk about being friends with someone while simultaneously doing everything to irritate them.

Of course, this so-called friendship was just a pretext for Kikyo. Eito knew she didn't really want to be friends with Suzune; she just wanted her to drop out of school.

In reality, driving Suzune to drop out through irritation was another method, and it was impossible that Kikyo hadn't considered it.

What Kikyo didn't expect was that he actually had a way to make Suzune drop out voluntarily, but he certainly wouldn't tell her that.

And using such a method to curry favor with Kikyo and win her affection was meaningless.

If someone like Kikyo could truly be conquered through favorability, he wouldn't have to work so hard.

Although she appeared so kind on the surface, her heart was long since frozen. If he tried to pry it open with overly forceful methods, the end result might be a total shattering—or in reality, a complete descent into darkness.

The result would be a repeat of the disaster from middle school.

Although he was more curious about a "darkened" Kikyo than the current one, considering the heavy price, it was better to avoid such things if possible.

Chapter 13: That's Right, It's a Date

After school that day.

Kikyo walked over to Suzune's seat and invited her sincerely:

"Horikita-san, I won two movie tickets for this afternoon in a raffle. Would you like to go with me?"

"I'm busy."

"Eh, what should I do then? That's such a pity."

"Don't you have plenty of friends? If you invited them, there should be a whole line of people waiting to go with you."

"But... I just thought this movie would be perfect for Horikita-san, so..."

"What movie?" Horikita glanced at the title, her brow furrowing slightly. "Sadako 4?"

The long, jet-black hair on the cover caught her eye.

"Ah, I didn't mean that the person on the cover looks like Horikita-san. I just meant that Horikita-san shouldn't be afraid of a movie at this level."

Horikita: "I never thought she looked like me. What exactly are you trying to say?"

"I want to be friends with Horikita-san."

"I've heard that many times before, and my answer remains the same: no. It's nothing personal, but I don't need friends. Only the weak like to huddle together for warmth. To me, friends are not a necessity, and making them is completely meaningless."

Kikyo: "..."

"I've said what I needed to say." Having grown accustomed to Kikyo's pestering, Suzune had become quite adept at handling her. She pointed her pen toward Eito. "You should invite him instead. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to go with you. Besides, he's the one you actually wanted to invite all along, isn't he?"

"Eh? No way—" Kikyo covered her face, acting shy. "Takeda-kun and I are just friends. How could we do something that only couples would do? Horikita-san, don't say such strange things."

Eito didn't know what to say upon hearing that.

Suzune couldn't possibly think Kikyo liked him, could she? Though, it was true that he had been interacting with Kikyo quite a bit lately. It wasn't just Suzune; many others had come to ask if he and Kikyo were dating, only leaving satisfied once he gave them a denial.

He couldn't pretend to be deaf any longer. He packed up his things and walked over to the two of them.

"Do you want to go?"

Suzune looked surprised. "You're being so straightforward this time. Have you been possessed or something?"