Classroom of the Elite, A Hypocritical Gray Life

The three people before me didn't answer my question, instead struggling to support each other as they stood up. At the same time, they wiped away the viscous mixture of blood and sweat from their faces.

"Damn it... you wouldn't happen to be a student from Class B, would you?"

"You know me?" I tilted my head, feigning confusion.

"Tch, this is exactly why I hate you disgusting people from Class B. Let me give you a piece of advice: stop sticking your nose where it doesn't belong!"

With that said, the three of them stumbled away right before my eyes.

If my good intentions are treated like donkey lungs, then I suppose I have no heart either... ah, that's right, after all—

--I have never considered myself a good person either.

1

"If the task is investigating a scene, wouldn't it be better to find Kanzaki or Shibata? Why drag a dead weight like me along?"

"Haha, is Raku-kun saying he's only fit to be a container for decorations? How could you talk about yourself so humbly?"

"That's just how it is, isn't it?"

"Not at all. Shibata-kun has to attend soccer club, Kanzaki-kun has some personal business, and Chihiro and the others have their own activities. So, I had no choice but to bring Raku-kun along."

"The way you put that makes me sound like nothing more than an idler..."

"Isn't that the truth? Even if I think about it hard, I can't imagine what else Raku-kun would have to be busy with. Besides, I heard from Kanzaki that you basically just collapse into bed the moment you get back, with absolutely no extracurricular activities. Although I know Raku's physical ability should be quite good, sometimes you still need to exercise."

I don't recall mentioning any of this to Kanzaki; how did he know...

Even though my body was already following Ichinose on the way to the crime scene, I couldn't help but complain about her casually ordering me around. This state of being free yet unable to control that freedom at will is truly agonizing.

Even though I felt the agony, my body moved without hesitation.

Perhaps I have a tendency toward self-abuse, after all.

"So, this is the place, right?"

I scanned the surroundings, and after finding the sign indicating this was the second floor, I voiced my rebuttal to Ichinose.

"We need to go up one more floor."

"Eh, is it the third floor?"

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Ehehe, I remembered wrong."

An "ehehe" like that—it was so cute that my heart felt like it was melting.

Just as my mind was reeling from the adorable sound Ichinose made, a rush of hurried footsteps echoed from the stairwell. Immediately after, that figure collided with Ichinose.

"Woah--"

I hurriedly caught Ichinose's falling body, while simultaneously confirming the other person's face.

It was the other witness who had been present at the time.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. Are you two okay?" The girl steadied herself and quickly apologized to us.

"Please be careful when using the stairs."

"I'm sorry, I was just in a bit of a rush... eh?" When she saw me, the expression on her face froze instantly. Her body, which had been curled up like a hedgehog, stopped trembling.

"At the very least, please slow down in the stairwell... are you alright?"

"No, that... it's nothing... I'm truly very sorry, and also... thank you... I have somewhere to be, I'm really sorry about just now." Having said that, she hurried away.

"Just be more careful next time..." That's what I said, but is it really okay to just let her go like that?

"Um, Raku-kun..."

"What is it?"

"Could you put me down..."

"Ah, sorry, it was a sudden incident and I couldn't react in time."

No wonder Ichinose hadn't made a sound since just now.

"I understand, it's just that I didn't expect Raku-kun to suddenly pick me up... I thought the best-case scenario would be falling onto the floor."

"That's because Ichinose is very light, luckily I was able to react in time."

"My body is light... come to think of it, does Raku know that girl from just now?" Ichinose turned her head away, seemingly unwilling to admit it.

"I might have seen her before, but knowing her is impossible."

"But her expression just now was like she had run into an old friend she hadn't seen in a long time. Also, did I mishear, or did she seem to be thanking Raku?"

"Maybe she was thanking me for preventing a disaster. In any case, there is absolutely no way I know her; I don't even know her name." I immediately distanced myself from her to avoid any misunderstandings on Ichinose's part.

"I feel the same way, it's just... never mind, let's continue with what we came here to do."

"Yeah."

After a small interlude, we got back on track and headed to the third floor. As it turned out, with only five steps left to go, we ran into other students once again.

This time, they were students I was quite familiar with: Ayanokoji and Horikita, the younger sister of the student council president.

"Am I really such a sinful man?"

Looking at Ayanokoji before me, I truly don't know why the heavens have seen fit to rain down such a detestable punishment upon me.

"Is it really that serious... well, actually, I suppose I do think it's a major problem."

"...What kind of strange topic are you two discussing?" Horikita looked at me and Ayanokoji with confusion, and Ichinose, standing beside me, wore the exact same expression.

"It's not really a topic worth recounting..."

Chapter 24: The Crisis Lurking in the Shadows and the Beginning of Cooperation

The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire is a personality theory proposed by British psychologist H.J. Eysenck, primarily consisting of a hierarchical structure of personality and a three-dimensional personality type theory. Based on this, he created the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ). He collected a vast amount of non-cognitive characteristics and, through factor analysis, summarized three orthogonal dimensions, thereby proposing the three basic factors that determine personality, one of which includes introversion-extroversion.

The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire describes the typical introverted personality as: quiet, unsociable, dislikes interacting with others, conservative, and keeps a certain distance from people (except for close friends).

The reasons for the development of an introverted personality can be summarized into two points. The first is life experience, which includes one's upbringing; the second is personal ability, and a constitution that is overly sensitive internally is also categorized here.

The reason I am singling out introversion is not to say that it is inherently bad. In fact, introverted people are better at resisting temptation, enduring loneliness, and can devote more energy to internal contemplation, thereby ensuring the thoroughness of their plans.

However, precisely because they think too much, we can easily judge their every next step and move. This forces them to jump out of their own logical circles, making things unpredictable and causing them to lose control.

In this way, introverted people are forced to rely on external forces.

0

As mentioned before, the Special Building gathers many pieces of equipment that are not frequently used, so the building can be labeled as rarely visited. If one were to resolve a conflict through violent means, the Special Building could be considered an excellent location.

However, in this dirty little society filled with modern technology, surveillance cameras are everywhere, and nothing can escape the watchful eyes of machines.

Of course, surveillance technology is not without its own flaws. For instance, the clarity of video surveillance can never be compared to the recognition level of the human eye; the same goes for wide dynamic range, white balance, and anti-flicker functions. The service life and power requirements of electronic products are even more so, and they cannot withstand destruction.

Even setting aside the points above, it has a fatal flaw. It is undeniable that a surveillance camera can only capture the immediate frame; it cannot account for the reality outside the frame, the background, the cause of the event, the verbal arguments, and so on. It cannot play a direct role in those aspects.

Take this incident, for example: based solely on the surveillance footage, we can only confirm the fact that Sudo and the three students from Class C came here. We cannot know why they came here, nor do we know why the fight broke out, what the process was, or what the result was.

Furthermore, this Special Building lacks the characteristic of frequent use, and the number of surveillance cameras is not as "abundant" as in other school buildings.

Although there are sockets near the ceiling, there is no sign of them being used.

The hallway has no blind spots; if there were surveillance cameras, one would surely be able to quickly determine the beginning and end of the incident.

If you're going to monitor, then be thorough about it.

If there were surveillance footage, there would be no need to treat the question of who threw the first punch as the main issue in this dispute. However, even if a conclusion were reached regarding who started it, the punishment would still be dealt. As long as the people from Class C insist on their story about the other side's filthy insults, they could at least achieve a result where both sides lose. Doing so might be a slight loss for Class C, but at least they would achieve their goal of victory.

To truly resolve this dispute, the only way is to have the Class C students drop the charges or to distort the facts to achieve an absolute victory. The former is troublesome, but it is several times simpler than the latter.

1

"If this is just a boring topic between you boys, then don't waste time."

"Please wait a moment."

Just as Horikita was about to turn and leave, Ichinose suddenly called out to them. It seems that we in Class B are destined to wade through these muddy waters.

"Is there something else?"

"I'm sorry, calling out to you so suddenly. Could you spare us some time? If you were planning on having a sweet, romantic date, we'll leave immediately."

"That is not the case." Horikita immediately denied it.

"Ahaha, I suppose so. After all, such a hot place is hardly suitable for a date... Actually, the student beside me is a witness to this incident, and I have already heard from him about the dispute between you and Class C."

"...You seem to have disclosed a lot of information to outsiders." After hearing Ichinose's explanation, Horikita turned and questioned Ayanokoji.

"It was Kushida who brought it up."

"Couldn't you have stopped her at the time?"

"Actually, I don't think there's any problem with talking about this. Or rather, perhaps the other party can understand the situation better if the truth is told."

"You really aren't afraid of trouble..." After saying this, Horikita shot a look of extreme ferocity at Ayanokoji.

It feels like she is a completely different type from Ichinose.

"Are you here to conduct an investigation?"

"We just happened to wander here without realizing it."

"Can you two just walk around together even though you aren't a couple?"

"That is not something you need to worry about. If you only intend to engage in this kind of meaningless chatter, then we will take our leave." With that, Horikita turned as if to walk away.

"Wait, actually, our purpose in coming here is the same as yours. I also want to get to the bottom of the truth regarding this matter."

After Ichinose said this, both sides fell into silence.

Although Horikita had been stopped by Ichinose, her back, turned toward us, radiated the pressure of a superior at every moment.

"Um... is it not allowed to take an interest in other classes? I simply want to find the truth."

"I have no intention of indulging other people's interests."

She was coldly rejected.

Well, the other party is also a beautiful girl, so there is no issue with her status.

"But you need help, don't you? As things stand, isn't it very disadvantageous for your Class D? In this violent incident, one side must be lying. If your Class D represents the truth, wouldn't it be a terrible thing to let the people from Class C get their way? It would also be a loss of fairness for this society."

"Absolute fairness does not exist in this society."

That's right. If absolute fairness truly existed in society, humanity would have inevitably reached its peak, and it would be a world without competition or progress.

It is a pity that humanity is currently far from such a state, and is even walking on a path that leads away from it.

"Then we must do our best to strike against unjust forces. The victory of the side that lies will surely lead to major problems, and furthermore, knowing the cause and effect of the matter, I cannot sit idly by."

"Then how can you prove to us that your help isn't driven by ulterior motives? After all, our class positions are different; who knows if Class B is secretly colluding with Class C?"

"That is impossible. Class C is the primary target our class is guarding against. Perhaps you might interpret my actions as hypocrisy—though I don't believe I carry such a heavy burden—but we also have people we need to protect."

"Our Class B has also suffered harassment from Class C many times. Raku is currently involved in this dispute. Although he isn't a main character, the fact is that he has already been threatened by Class C personnel. If we sit idly by, it will only embolden Class C and lead them to do even more excessive things."

"Therefore, no matter which point we start from, we must take action."

"...Is this the witness from Class B?" After listening to Ichinose's speech, Horikita turned around reluctantly while sizing me up.

"Yes, I already reported the details to you yesterday."

"...So, what do you think?"

"How rare, you're actually asking for my opinion. I shouldn't be of much help, though."

"Stop the chatter."

"Well, I think cooperating with the other side is actually a good choice..."

"Right? Aren't you currently looking for witnesses? In this situation, the more people, the better, right?"

"More people aren't necessarily beneficial to us. Besides, we have already found another witness."

"Ahaha, then we can also help collect some other clues."

"I don't think this is a bad proposal." Ayanokoji persuaded Horikita, who was still deep in thought.

"You are quite familiar with this student named Raku, to trust them so much."