In Classroom of the Elite, but in the Underworld Chapter 13

"I haven't been feeling well mentally these past few days. Every night in my dreams, I keep thinking about what happened that day. To make matters worse, Kikyo has been growing colder toward me lately. Since I'm someone with a bit of a mental complex, I don't like just finding anyone to vent to. So, to make myself give up on women entirely, I came here to get scolded. Please, scold me as hard as you can so I lose all sexual interest in women."

"If I scold you, wouldn't I be falling for your trap?" Suzune asked. "And why should I help you?"

True, why would she help him?

He should have known better than to blurt out his real thoughts; he could have gotten it for free otherwise.

"If you scold me, I'll tell you how to gain your brother's approval."

"What?" Suzune grabbed his clothes. "What exactly do you know?"

"I only know what I know."

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting?"

"You don't need to worry about that. I'm just asking: are you going to scold me or not?"

In all her years, this was the first time Suzune had encountered such a request.

Someone actually wanted her to scold them. Even though she really wanted to berate this pervert, she felt a sense of revulsion at the moment.

Deep down, she rejected this kind of behavior.

But for her brother's sake, she had to—

"No, absolutely not!" Suzune refused flatly. "I never scold people."

"Oh, is that so?" Eito said in a monotone voice.

"Because everything I say is the truth."

"..."

"So, for the sake of my principles, even if it's... my brother, I won't give in. I will find my own way; I don't need you to teach me."

"Oh—" Eito said, expressionless.

This little sister is so cute, I want a dozen of them.

"However," Suzune added, "I can find an opportunity to ask her out. If you two just come clean with each other then, there shouldn't be any more misunderstandings."

"Thanks, but no need. I've already moved past it." Eito smiled.

Suzune was still too naive. If that method actually worked, he would have done it long ago. It was precisely because he knew that even if he asked, he wouldn't get any answers, that he felt so helpless.

Just like how you can never convince someone who is pretending to be stupid.

"Really?" Suzune asked suspiciously. "That fast?"

"Can't help it. I'm the type of person who is in a state of enlightenment at any given moment. Sigh, I really am something else."

"Are you a monk?"

"..."

Just as he said, he really had moved past it.

He might finally understand why he was feeling this way.

It was an emotion called loneliness; to describe it further, it was emptiness.

Yet, the conversation with Suzune had allowed that repressed emotion to be completely released.

What he truly needed was perhaps just someone to listen.

And the person who made him feel this miserable was, without a doubt, Kikyo.

It must be said that Kikyo was truly formidable. She knew how to make others open their hearts to her, knew how to toy with people's emotions, and make them devoted to her alone.

Otherwise, the three idiots wouldn't have ignored all the other beauties in class just to chase after Kikyo.

She didn't need friends; she needed to be the center of everyone's attention, to be someone unique. So-called friends were just her tools. She had no intention of being friends with them; she just wanted to pry open their hearts in that way.

Once the other person spoke their inner thoughts, she had grasped their weakness. Although she wouldn't use that weakness to threaten them, the fact that they shared their inner thoughts with her meant they had already opened up to her, and from then on, they would side with her in everything.

In reality, she had already gained control over that person.

And he had been lucky enough to be chosen as a target. However, that was his own fault, because he had talked to Kikyo too much over these past two weeks, and he sometimes liked to blurt out his inner thoughts, letting Kikyo know some unexpected things.

Come to think of it, he had let Kikyo come clean on the way to the movie that day; she might have realized something then.

He hadn't considered Kikyo a threat before, so he had been a bit relaxed in his speech.

And now, he still didn't consider Kikyo a threat.

Rather, if Kikyo really had the ability to get him expelled from school or make him the target of everyone's hatred, he wouldn't be afraid.

Expulsion was certainly impossible.

On the contrary, he was looking forward to the day he became everyone's enemy.

Just as Suzune said, only the weak needed to huddle together for warmth.

Although this school, like society, required relying on others to survive.

But he no longer belonged to the category of humans, so naturally, he had nothing to fear.

Chapter 17: The Final Carnival

It was near the end of the month.

Third period.

This class belonged to the homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae.

Come to think of it, Chabashira hadn't sought him out since that first day of school, as if she had forgotten about that matter entirely.

And the deal he had proposed still had no answer.

He had only brought it up as an opportunity, not really holding out much hope. After all, under normal circumstances, a teacher wouldn't easily agree to such a thing; letting a student touch her body would be disastrous if discovered, and there was no emotional bond between them anyway.

But based on his understanding, it was entirely possible that Chabashira might actually agree.

After all, her obsession with reaching Class A was too deep—deep enough that she would stop at nothing. The reason she hadn't made up her mind yet was likely because, in her eyes, his value wasn't high enough to warrant sacrificing her own body.

If Chabashira were truly willing to agree, then he wouldn't mind helping Class D a little. But before that, it was better to remain still. In his view, helping the people in this class didn't hold much significance; he wasn't a saint, and he couldn't possibly help these people correct their flaws one by one.

And this class.

Chabashira: "Quiet down—I need you all to pay a little attention in class today."

In reality, it was the end-of-month quiz.

Upon hearing there was another test, many people panicked.

They had enjoyed a month of ease, and now there was a test; who would be happy about that?

Eito, of course, wasn't happy either.

However, this time he decided to show Chabashira a glimpse of his true strength.

There was a gathering in the afternoon; Yamauchi had told him about it over the phone.

Since that day, Yamauchi had become his mole.

He had sent him to investigate Class C, but he specifically chose to investigate the girls, reporting back a pile of private gossip that even made him blush.

Later, he assigned him to investigate Ryuen, but unexpectedly, he was discovered immediately and beaten up.

What a loser.

So he gave up, telling Yamauchi to just stay in Class D and keep an eye on Ike and that red-haired idiot Sudo.

According to Yamauchi's report just now, the attendees for the gathering included Hirata and his girlfriend Karuizawa, as well as Karuizawa's friends Matsushita, Mori, Kikyo, Ike, and Yamauchi himself.

Speaking of Kikyo, he hadn't bothered to play with her lately, and even when they ran into each other, he just gave a casual greeting.

He didn't know what Kikyo was thinking, but he didn't want to ask either.

He decided to put the matter of Kikyo aside for now.

And just a moment ago, Suzune had actually taken the initiative to speak to him:

"If you're free, go to the school cafe tonight. I'll be waiting for you there."

She left after saying that, cool and collected, without leaving a trace behind.

So cool.

That was his impression, though it felt more like a scene from a spy movie.

Meet at XX time, XX place.

Understood.

So, when night fell, he dressed in all black, wore a black cap, and donned a pair of sunglasses before appearing at the designated spot.

He spotted the elegant, long-haired Suzune at a glance and walked over to sit in the seat opposite her.

"This seat is taken."

"It's me." Eito lifted the brim of his cap.

Suzune squinted and looked at him carefully, followed by half a minute of silence.

Finally, she said:

"Let's talk about business."

"..."

She didn't even tease him; how boring.

Ignoring his resentful gaze, Suzune took a book out of her bag and returned it to him. It was none other than Pride and Prejudice, which he had lent her earlier.

"I've read this book three times, and I think I understand what you meant."

"And what is that?"

Suzune closed her eyes, took a deep breath as if she had made up her mind, and then looked him straight in the eye:

"From now on, I will cast aside all my previous prejudices and look at you without any colored glasses, just as if you were a newborn infant."

"Alright." Although it was slightly different from what he had actually imagined, this was even better.

"However," Suzune's voice paused, "if you are fantasizing that I will fall in love with you because of this, then you are truly overthinking it."

"Oh." I was rejected just like that.

"Then..." Suzune looked over his outfit carefully once more, "Why are you dressed like that?"

Are you only pointing that out now?

"Is there something wrong with it? It's my freedom to wear what I want, I'll wear whatever I please."

"True, but this outfit of yours..." Suzune frowned.

Eito's style was too bizarre and too eye-catching; from the very beginning, many people had been staring at them incessantly.

They might think the two of them were conducting some sort of illicit secret transaction, and given her high level of attractiveness, it was easy for kids with impure thoughts to get the wrong idea.

Although she didn't care about what others thought, being constantly stared at with strange gazes felt very unpleasant.

"Fine, I'll take it off."

Eito took off his black outer garment, revealing a standard school uniform underneath.

"Are you messing with me?"

"No, no, not at all."

What the two of them didn't notice was that several girls walked into the cafe at this moment.

A girl with long golden hair tied into a high ponytail, dressed like a gyaru and with looks that didn't lose out to Suzune, was named Karuizawa Kei.

Accompanying her were two of her friends and Kikyo.

After parting ways with the boys, the group had agreed to go shopping together, and they just happened to arrive here by coincidence.