In Classroom of the Elite, Ichinose You Will Regret This

As for not attending classes, that is technically one of the privileges of the student council. While it is used a bit excessively, strictly speaking, it is not a violation of the rules.

"There is one more thing. There should still be some empty classrooms near our class, right? Grant me one; I want to start a club."

Sakayanagi Narimori asked curiously, "Isn't that something that should be handled by your student council? You should be able to get it done with internal signatures."

Uesugi Gen spread his hands helplessly and said, "That's impossible. That stubborn guy, President Horikita, would never allow such a waste of school resources. Even if I submitted the application and approved it myself, he would eventually notice something amiss when auditing the school's financial flows."

Indeed, ever since Uesugi Gen saw the expenditure reports for the various clubs at Advanced Nurturing, he had been heartbroken. How could they waste taxpayer money like this? This was his money—his money—being squandered by these clubs for nothing.

Therefore, after some deliberation, Uesugi Gen decisively decided to join in. As long as he spent these funds in advance, the money wouldn't be wasted.

"Since that's the case, why not just go all the way? Bypass the student council and use this classroom in the name of the school. That way, even if that rigid guy, President Horikita, wants to interfere, he won't be able to do anything about it."

Sakayanagi Narimori pondered for a moment, then opened his eyes.

"A classroom isn't a big deal. The school can agree to that."

"As for the equipment you need for the classroom, just fill out the application form yourself. Once it's submitted, it will be stamped and approved by the school. As the vice president of the student council, you should know this process well."

No, no, no. Uesugi Gen's face twitched slightly. He couldn't exactly tell him that, as the vice president of the student council, he had only been to the student council office twice since the start of the term.

"In any case, let's leave it at that. I will do my best to accommodate your proposal for the club."

"As expected of the chairman of Advanced Nurturing, you are truly magnanimous. You are completely different from that childish guy, Horikita Manabu."

Uesugi Gen skillfully buttered up Sakayanagi Sumimori.

"There is one more thing, Chairman. Don't you think the existence of past exam papers is inherently unreasonable?"

Uesugi Gen changed the subject and steered the conversation toward the upcoming special exam.

In any case, the students in his Class B would definitely not look at past exam papers. Since his own class wouldn't use them, Uesugi Gen wouldn't let other classes use them either.

So, rather than letting other classes discover the existence of past papers and use them to pass this special exam, it would be better to destroy them entirely. If he was lucky, maybe one or two students would even be expelled.

If they failed the exam this time, they couldn't exactly blame him, could they?

"I would have done so even without you saying it. This special exam does indeed have significant loopholes."

"So, I will have the question-setting committee rewrite the test questions for this special exam shortly. From now on, there will be no such thing as past exam papers for the midterms and finals."

"Then, that is all I wanted to say. The chairman is truly the chairman. It is our good fortune to have you at Kōiku."

Having achieved his goal, Uesugi Gen, having mastered the essence of Teacher Hoshinomiya's flattery, walked out of the chairman's office while continuing to heap praise upon him.

"Well then, Chairman, see you next time."

Uesugi Gen waved goodbye to Sakayanagi Narimori with a smile and walked away feeling refreshed.

No, don't ever let me see you again!

Watching Uesugi Gen's peasant-like grin, Sakayanagi Narimori felt a headache coming on from the sheer frustration.

He prepared to pour a cup of tea to calm his nerves, then skillfully reached toward the corner of his desk.

...And grabbed nothing but air.

Hmm, where is the tea I just put here?

He seemed to remember that when Uesugi Gen arrived earlier, he had said a polite pleasantry:

"If you like it, take some home with you."

Sakayanagi Narimori was silent for a moment, then suddenly pulled out his phone.

"Notify the question-setting committee that the personnel responsible for drafting the first-year special exam questions in the past are to be fired."

After saying this, Sakayanagi Narimori hung up the phone feeling refreshed.

If I can't handle the students, can't I at least handle you?

Chapter 28: Ichinose, being this naive will get you bullied to tears

Uesugi Gen was currently in the midst of a major crisis.

He had been cornered.

Yes, the way of heaven is a cycle; who has the heavens ever spared? After he finished causing trouble for the school, it was his turn to have trouble brought to him.

Ichinose Honami.

The girl who had shamelessly exposed his grand plan in class just moments ago was currently standing outside his room.

Trouble!

Uesugi Gen stood at the corner of the stairwell, covering his forehead with one hand.

It was fortunate he hadn't taken the elevator directly up, or he would have run straight into Ichinose.

To be honest, Uesugi Gen had not figured out how to face the girl before him.

He hadn't even figured out how to respond to what she had said during class.

Thinking about it now, it was truly embarrassing; to think that he, the dignified Uesugi Gen, had actually been driven off by the wicked Ichinose.

Logically speaking, there were still classes in the afternoon, so he only needed to wait another half hour before he would have to leave anyway.

But doing that didn't quite fit Uesugi Gen's style; it would make it seem like he was afraid of her.

With that in mind, Uesugi Gen slowly poked half his head out to quietly observe Ichinose.

He had to admit, that girl was quite a looker.

Her waist-length hair cascading like a waterfall, her curvaceous figure, her rounded hips, her fair thighs, the bits of white socks visible above her small leather shoes, and her face, slightly flushed from emotional agitation.

It was truly quite a sight for sore eyes.

Ichinose seemed to sense something, and she whipped her head around in a flash.

What followed was their eyes locking onto one another.

Stare!

The air seemed to freeze in that instant.

Like a fish pulling its head back beneath the surface of the water, Uesugi Gen slowly retracted his head.

He turned around awkwardly, preparing to flee.

Anywhere would do—the director's office, Hoshinomiya's infirmary, or even his newly requested activity base.

In any case, he would run first and think later; his intuition told him that being caught would be very troublesome.

Slap!

Having taken only two steps, Uesugi Gen's hand was already grabbed by Ichinose.

Are you The Flash? Even though our physical ability stats are both C, how are you so much faster than me?

Yes, thanks to the private tutoring from Hoshinomiya, Uesugi Gen had read through the enrollment files of almost every student in Class B.

It was absolutely not for any reason like trying to find Ichinose's weaknesses, of course.

"Could we talk for a moment?"

Her voice was soft, and her tone carried a hint of pleading, like willow catkins drifting in a breeze—fickle, yet full of vitality.

Uesugi Gen felt helpless; he could easily handle other girls like balls, so why was it that when it came to her, he had no way of dealing with her at all?

"Let's talk at my dorm."

Uesugi Gen and Ichinose walked one after the other to the door of Room 404.

During this time, Ichinose kept a tight grip on Uesugi Gen's hand, fearing that he might run off the next moment.

Inside Uesugi Gen's dorm, Ichinose sat on Uesugi Gen's bed, hugging her knees and watching him quietly.

"Tea or a drink? I don't have any coffee here."

"Tea is fine."

Neither of them spoke first, just staring at each other like that.

"If you're not going to say anything, I'm leaving."

Looking into Ichinose's sparkling eyes, Uesugi Gen was the first to admit defeat.

Ichinose suddenly became anxious.

"No, you're not allowed to leave."

"Then say it, what is it you want?"

"Uesugi-kun, sit down... closer."

After Uesugi Gen sat closer, Ichinose scooted toward him again until their arms were pressed tightly together.

Uesugi Gen had never been this close to Ichinose before; he could even clearly smell the scent of her hair mixed with her body fragrance.

Ichinose grabbed Uesugi Gen's hand and held it tight, her voice soft yet firm.

"I'm sorry. I've always wanted to say I'm sorry to Uesugi-kun."

"There's nothing to apologize for. This is your own life; if you yourselves give up, there's nothing I can do about it."

"No, actually... what I wanted to say is that a small part of the reason I rejected Uesugi-kun's plan was that I didn't want students from other classes to drop out."

Ichinose gave a self-deprecating smile.

"Disappointed, aren't you? That the leader of Class B is this kind of person."

Uesugi Gen said with an expressionless face, "I know that without you telling me; it's been like that since the first day of school. I would only find it strange if you actually wanted them to be expelled."

"Is that so? As expected of Uesugi-kun."

Ichinose tightened her grip on Uesugi Gen's hand and rested her head gently on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Uesugi-kun. Could you let me lean on you for a little while? Just for a moment."

Afterward, as if reminiscing, Ichinose said, "I come from a single-parent household, living with my mother and my sister, who is two years younger than me."

"Although we weren't wealthy, I never felt that I was unfortunate. On the contrary, I felt very lucky. From elementary school to junior high, I encountered classmates, teachers, elders, and all sorts of kind people whose help allowed me to grow into who I am today."

"Even coming to Advanced Nurturing High School and meeting everyone here was only possible because my homeroom teacher told me that the tuition and enrollment fees for this school would be waived."

"It is precisely because of that that I wanted to be like the kind people who helped me back then, to help everyone as much as I possibly can, even if it's just a little bit."

"However, if Uesugi-kun gets them expelled, it will definitely leave a stain on their permanent records, which would be a huge obstacle for their future education or job hunting."

Listening to Ichinose's words, Uesugi Gen let out a cold snort.

"So, you abandoned your own classmates for the sake of people who have nothing to do with you?"

"No."

Ichinose increased the strength of her grip on Uesugi Gen's hand and answered earnestly, "It's because of you, Uesugi-kun. Because you are here."

"Because from the very beginning, I have believed—believed that no matter what, Uesugi-kun will lead our class to graduate as Class A."

"While it is true that part of it is because I'm afraid that Uesugi-kun might get expelled."

"But in reality, there is another part of me that thinks you probably just wanted to avoid the trouble, Uesugi-kun, and didn't want to waste effort competing with other classes, which is why you came up with this 'once and for all' plan."

"That is why I so selfishly rejected your plan, Uesugi-kun."