Classroom of the Elite, A Hypocritical Gray Life

"Shouldn't you be praising me for being so proactive? I don't really like being called a lunatic."

"Don't you find your own behavior strange?"

"I was just backed into a corner. After all, when the class representative gives an order, it's hard for anyone to refuse, right?"

"I'm not just talking about hauling firewood. You've also been searching for the campsite, weeding, setting up hammocks... isn't all of that abnormal for you?"

"The only reason I chose to search for the campsite is that I thought it would be the easiest task, and as it turns out, we found it quickly. As for the rest... that's all part of my duties, isn't it?"

"...I still feel like something is off." Kanzaki frowned slightly, as if he were about to blurt out the truth at any moment.

"You're looking down on me too much. I've just been doing a little more work right under your nose. Even if you look at my daily activity levels back at school, I shouldn't be belittled to this extent."

"...If that's really the case, then perhaps I'll change my opinion of you."

"See? That's why you need to keep a close eye on me... Oh, right, can you do me a favor?"

"I just finished praising your initiative, and you're already asking others to do your chores?"

"How can you call it a chore? Isn't this just classmates helping each other out?"

"Have you ever helped me with anything? I consider it a mercy that you don't flirt in front of me every single day."

"That's getting more and more excessive..."

"So, what is it?"

"Didn't you just refuse?"

"Maybe you can still help. At the very least, my tasks for today are finished. I can't rush the rest, so I'll have to leave them for tomorrow."

"Fine, let's hear it."

"On the way back, for certain reasons, I split my firewood into two loads, and there's still one pile left. So, could you please go and help me bring it over?"

"...Are you joking? I assume your 'certain reasons' mean you couldn't carry it yourself."

"Ah, the stuff is in that direction; just keep walking straight." I said this as if I were assuming Kanzaki had already agreed.

"I never said I agreed. Come to think of it, no wonder I noticed you were carrying fewer branches than Ichinose."

"Sorry, my energy levels are about to hit their limit for today."

"You guy... I'm taking back what I said about changing my opinion of you." Kanzaki glared at me fiercely.

"So, as a trade-off, can you help me bring the branches over?"

"...Forget it. It's in that direction, right?"

"Yeah, just keep walking straight."

Under my 'well-intentioned advice,' Kanzaki finally set off. I tried to adjust myself in the hammock, but then a commotion broke out on the other side of the class area.

A person with a brown mushroom haircut had intruded into our territory.

Or rather, it would be more accurate to say he was brought back by members of our class.

Is this a surprise assessment? Or perhaps...

Chapter 59: The Dictatorial Methods of Ryuen from Class C

"Shiratori, did something happen?"

Not long after I sent Kanzaki away, the food-searching team led by Yasuda brought back a strange man. If I remember correctly, he should be a student from Class C. There was a very obvious red, swollen mark on his cheek. It was clear at a glance that he had been hit, and quite hard at that. The degree of swelling showed the depth of the pain; local tissue damage had caused the surrounding blood vessels to rupture, and the area was not small.

"Weren't you just listening?"

"Sorry, I was busy with the firewood, so I couldn't pay attention. Who is that..."

"That's a student from Class C."

"Class C... are they here to cause trouble for us again?"

"No, this time it's different. This is an internal dispute within their class. Besides, the Class C members who harassed us before didn't include him." Shiratori suddenly 'hmphed' with a hint of indignation.

"So their internal conflict has finally erupted?"

"Sorry, I lost my cool a bit. Let me compose myself." With that, he took a deep breath.

Such a strong sense of empathy—did the other side do something inhumane? After a moment of silence, Shiratori finally organized the sequence of events and explained it to me.

"You could say that. His name is Kaneda Satoru, an ordinary student from Class C. After the assembly ended today, Ryuen decided to give up on earning points this time and just enjoy the outing, planning to find some excuse to withdraw from the exam on the second night and return to the cruise ship."

"Do they not understand the importance of points?"

"Of course they do. The students in Class C aren't idiots, but they had to agree to his proposal due to Ryuen's use of force. You can guess what happened next: Kaneda expressed his dissatisfaction with Ryuen's approach, an argument broke out, and Ryuen beat him up before kicking him out of the class campsite."

"We found him alone under a tree while we were searching for fruit, and after understanding the situation, we brought him back."

"So their leader really is a tyrant, being able to be so cruel even to his own classmates."

"That's why I'm glad I'm not in the same class as him. If it were me, I'd fight him to the death. It makes you angry just thinking about it, right? I originally thought it was a joke when people said Class C was a dictatorship centered around Ryuen, but it turns out the reality is even more exaggerated than what they said. Doesn't that bastard worry about exhausting all his good karma?"

"It's not surprising he would do something like this, considering he's treated us similarly... Was he the only student who argued with Ryuen?"

When the people are dissatisfied with their emperor, they will inevitably sound the horn of revolution. One person alone would never have the guts for that, especially under a regime that uses violence as its absolute weapon.

"From what he said, there seems to be a girl involved too, but they got separated while running away, and he doesn't know where she went. We're debating whether or not to send people out to look for her."

"If we're going to look, we'll have to wait until tomorrow. It's already too late today." I said, looking at the sky where the sunset had already vanished.

"I suppose that's the only way. It's not exactly convenient to move around at night anyway... By the way, is your hammock set up yet?"

"Yeah, it's done, but I haven't put the tarp up yet. Why?"

"Nothing, just asking. After all, I'm going to be squeezed into a tiny tent with a bunch of grown men tonight."

"It's better than having nowhere to sleep."

"That's true, but I still want to achieve the freedom to roll over in my sleep as soon as possible."

"Just bear with it for one more day."

"Everyone, come over for dinner. There's plenty of fruit for everyone~"

"Oh ho ho, is it time to eat already?"

"I just caught three fish. If we clean them up a bit, we can have fish soup too."

"That's amazing, we get fish soup? Please fill a whole bowl for me!"

"Everyone come over here and grab a bottle of mineral water. Remember, don't just throw away the empty plastic bottles. Bring them to me to collect; we'll have other uses for them."

"Kaneda, you should come eat something too."

"Is it really okay for me to?"

"Of course. If you don't eat, your body will break down."

"Everyone needs to eat a little. There's a lot to do tomorrow, so you must keep your strength up."

"Understood."

We welcomed dinner time in silence, and my conversation with Shiratori was forced to an end.

"Raku, let's hurry up and eat too."

"Yeah... Oh, Shiratori, which direction did you find Kaneda in?"

"Why are you asking that?" Shiratori first looked at me with a confused expression, but didn't pay it much mind. "I can't really describe the exact location, but as for the direction, it was roughly that way. If you walk from here, you'll run into a massive boulder. We found him under a tree to the right of it."

"Ah, thanks. Let's go eat then. My energy is practically depleted."

"What's with you? So weird. Hehe~ Fish soup, here I come."

"..."

I wasn't asking Shiratori this question without a reason; I had noticed some rather peculiar characteristics about Kaneda. Judging by the faint, moist marks, he had tried to clean himself up, but what had happened would inevitably leave some traces behind.

Even if I couldn't find where the items were hidden, it was still better than doing nothing.

I chewed on the fruit while washing it down with the pure mineral water from the plastic bottle.

"Ah, Kanzaki, you're finally back. Everyone is already eating."

"Has dinner started? Sorry, I was delayed because I discovered something new."

Just then, Kanzaki returned to the camp and immediately shot me a questioning look, to which I tilted my head in confusion.

"Something new?"

"Yes, not far from here—hm, who is this?"

"This is Kaneda from Class C. I'll explain the details to you in a bit. In short, he was kicked out by his class and is staying with us for now."

"...I understand. I found a patch of corn, and it's very close to our base."

"C-corn?"

"Yes. I checked, and the corn is already ripe. There's quite a lot of it, enough to last us three or four days."

"R-really? We have corn to eat?!"

"No time to lose, let's head out now."

"But it's already dark, it's not easy to move around now. Let's wait until tomorrow morning."

"What if someone else gets there first?"

The class instantly erupted into a lively discussion about when to set out.

After a rigorous debate, we decided to wait until tomorrow to take action.

Watching Kaneda Satoru gradually integrate into our class, I recalled a famous line from the Cai Gen Tan: "One must always be on guard against others."

Chapter 60: Since this is an apology, my demands shouldn't be too much, right?

The world is impermanent, and the path is long and arduous.

Everything in the world changes in an instant. Even if we have a clear understanding of the future, we cannot precisely predict what will happen at any given moment.

This necessitates an individual's ability to adapt to changing circumstances.

This ability is not achieved through innate talent, but through acquired contemplation.

Everything has a definitive conclusion.

Precisely because there is no problem that cannot be solved, contemplation has become the foundation of adaptability.

The eight-person tent provided by the school did not come equipped with the package deals often seen from online retailers. This meant that the tents issued by the school were merely shells, lacking any inflatable air mattresses, bed sheets, or similar items.

Have you ever slept in a tent that was nothing more than a shell? Do you know what that feels like?

That feeling is no different from sleeping directly on the earth and kissing the soil. The girls tried to use their clothes to offset the chill coming from the ground, but even then, it lacked the flexibility a mattress should provide; the hardness of the floor made it impossible for them to sleep comfortably.

I once saw a doctor online suggest that modern young people should sleep on hard beds, claiming it prevents hunching, benefits the bones, and improves skin quality. Setting aside whether that is actually true, the structural hardness we were facing now only exacerbated the pain in our spines, keeping our bodies in a state of constant pressure without any relaxation, which could potentially make it impossible for the human body to maintain its natural curvature.

Therefore, even now, the girls were still complaining about the discomfort of the hard-ground tents.

"If you really can't handle it, you can sleep in the hammocks."

Ah, ah, ah, was the hammock I had finally finished building really going to be handed over just like that?

"I think I'll pass on the hammock..."

"I can't really bring myself to use the hammock."

Perhaps because they didn't want others to see their sleeping postures, most of the girls in the class chose to reject this option.

Since that was the mindset of the majority, there was still room to salvage the situation.

I sat on my own hammock, idly playing with the waterproof plastic sheet that the other members had installed for me, while waiting for the results of their discussion.

The waterproof device was made from plastic bags, and since the school provided an unlimited supply, there was no need to worry about the consumption of this item.

Since it was a product made of thin plastic, it naturally inherited that characteristic sound.

"Rustle, crinkle-crackle~" A hoarse, coarse sound like a crow echoed above my head.

This couldn't help but remind me of the noise effect.

Currently, a small portion of our class was in a state of agitation, so there was a certain probability that they wouldn't be able to tolerate sounds they could normally endure, and the sound of plastic bags was particularly annoying.

If you can't understand that, try imagining this: just as you are about to fall asleep, your roommate or a family member keeps fiddling with and rustling a plastic bag right next to you, and they don't stop for a long time.