It's Over-They're All Weirdos

Classroom of the Elite Isn't About the Weak Being Preyed Upon—It's About Me Reigning Supreme!

Author: Ye Dudu

Synopsis:

Kijima Tsukur came to a world devoted to the survival of the fittest and became a new student at Advanced Nurturing High School.

Sakayanagi Arisu: "So I'm not a true genius after all..."

Ichinose Honami: "I've always admired the idea of becoming someone like him."

Horikita Suzune: "Please, could you turn around and look at me..."

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji: "I... really am weak..."

Kijima Tsukur: "My enemies will submit at my feet, and women will fall for me. This isn't a fantasy. Just as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, everyone will graduate from Class A, and this year's class will become legendary! All of it... is Tenmei!"

What survival of the fittest? I'm the one who reigns supreme!

It's Over, They're All Weirdos

April.

Cherry blossoms danced in the air.

On a bus bound for Advanced Nurturing High School.

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji sat by the window, his expression blank as he glanced to the side.

The girl beside him was beautiful. She wore Advanced Nurturing's standard burgundy uniform, with a white pleated skirt.

Her expression was cool and distant. Her long black hair reached her waist, and a thin braid hung on the left side of her head, tied with a white ribbon into a bow.

Of course, Kiyotaka wasn't looking at the girl. He was watching someone across the aisle.

A boy in the same uniform sat with his legs crossed. His left hand propped up his chin, elbow resting on his leg, as he stared straight ahead without blinking.

What caught the eye was his right hand: he was casually turning a Rubik's Cube with one hand.

His fingers moved at incredible speed. In less than two seconds, he solved the cube, scrambled it again, and solved it once more, repeating the process over and over.

It was as if he had a blueprint in his mind. No matter how the cube was scrambled, he could solve it again in the shortest time possible.

Apart from the girl beside him, who was reading a book,

and the blond man in the priority seat, who was casually touching up his appearance,

everyone on the bus was drawn to the boy playing with the cube.

"Had enough?"

The girl beside him, still reading, spoke in a cool voice:

"I know you're watching him play with the cube, but sitting between you two makes me feel like I'm being stared at. It's honestly disgusting. He's obviously just scrambling it and solving it in a set sequence. It's nothing special. If you want to keep watching, why not go sit over there?"

"Uh... sorry... I got caught up watching without realizing it."

Kiyotaka quickly looked away, sounding a little apologetic.

The girl did have a point. Scrambling it in a set sequence would let someone solve it quickly, and it would be a good way to show off.

Still, he didn't agree with her.

He'd been watching for several minutes. From what he could tell, the boy solved the cube every two to five seconds, and the sequence was different each time.

If he had decided on each scramble in advance and then solved it, he'd have needed to memorize a hundred or more sequences. That seemed unlikely.

The girl beside him probably hadn't noticed that, or hadn't kept track of the sequences the boy used. That must have been why she'd come to that conclusion.

Come to think of it,

hadn't she just said his staring was disgusting?

That was harsh!

And she'd been so blunt about pointing out someone's flaws, accusing him of cheating to show off with the Rubik's Cube.

Wasn't she worried she'd make him angry?

He glanced over again.

The boy playing with the cube still stared blankly ahead, as if he hadn't heard anything being said around him.

Is this school really all right?

Kiyotaka was starting to feel uneasy.

Advanced Nurturing High School.

A prestigious school backed by the government, one of the best in Japan.

It was completely closed off from the outside world.

Students weren't allowed to leave campus or contact the outside world for three years.

In exchange, the school had all kinds of facilities, including karaoke, a movie theater, a shopping mall, and a hospital.

At the same time, tuition and room and board were completely free.

Its college admission and employment rate was a full one hundred percent. Graduates were guaranteed well-paying jobs, so ordinary people naturally had nothing to complain about.

And yet.

The guy who only cared about playing with a Rubik's Cube...

The sharp-tongued girl who spoke without a care...

The narcissist who looked completely absorbed in himself...

They all seemed like a bunch of weirdos. Was this school really all right?

Just then,

the bus pulled over to the side of the road,

and the doors opened.

An elderly woman with silver hair and a cane stepped onto the bus.

She glanced at the packed carriage, then walked reluctantly toward an empty spot in the middle. Her withered hand gripped the nearby handrail, and her frail frame was enough to make anyone feel sorry for her.

Yet the people around her acted as if they hadn't seen a thing.

Finally, someone couldn't stand it anymore. A girl with short blond hair stepped forward.

She had a fantastic figure, a round, pretty face, and skin as white as jade. Her breasts were full and rounded.

The girl glanced around, then settled on the blond man in the priority seat. Her face full of concern, she said:

"Excuse me, this elderly woman looks like she's having a hard time. Could you give up your seat for her?"

"Why should I have to give up my seat? There's no reason for me to do that, is there?"

With a snap, the blond man closed the compact mirror in his hand. He didn't take the girl's words seriously at all.

"I see. Maybe I am butting in where I'm not wanted."

Feeling how firmly he'd refused, the girl glanced at the frail old woman, looking uncertain. But in the end, she plucked up her courage and continued to make her case:

"Um... the law doesn't require people sitting in priority seats to give up their spots, but I think doing so can still be a way to contribute to society."

"I see."

The boy snapped his fingers and chuckled.

"Contributing to society? Giving up your seat for an elderly person is certainly a form of social contribution. But unfortunately, I'm not interested in society."

"Besides, I may be the one sitting in the priority seat and drawing everyone's ire, but is it really right to ignore all those people who pretend not to notice and cling to their seats?"

"If you really respect the elderly, I think whether it's a priority seat or not is a minor detail, isn't it?"

The boy didn't care in the slightest what the people around him thought. His words hit a sore spot for quite a few passengers, and his attitude immediately earned him looks of disgust.

The people sitting beside the old woman looked even more irritated and awkward.

They couldn't just keep sitting there, but standing up now would make them look hypocritical. What would it mean to refuse before and give up their seats now?

"Everyone, could I have a moment? Would anyone be willing to give this elderly woman their seat? Please!"

The girl didn't press the matter any further. Instead, she turned and looked around the bus, her expression earnest.

In the end, a female office worker sitting beside the old woman couldn't bear the awkward atmosphere and gave up her seat.

"Thank you so much~"

The girl smiled and thanked her, then helped the old woman sit down.

She held the handrail and made small talk for a while as she waited for the next stop. Then she noticed the boy in the seat behind her—the one playing with the Rubik's Cube—staring intently at her.

His gaze made the girl feel a little uncomfortable.

She managed to smile at the boy, though she felt a little awkward.

"Um... is there something you need?"

"Your name!"

"Huh?"

"Your name?"

"Oh, nice to meet you. I'm Kikyo Kushida."

Kikyo Kushida hesitated before asking, "Um, you've been staring at me this whole time. Did I do something to upset you?"

"..."

The boy didn't answer.

He stayed in his seat, his left hand pinching his chin and his right hand playing with the Rubik's Cube, as his dark eyes scrutinized the girl in front of him.

"Respecting the elderly and caring for the young is a virtue."

"Ordinary people trying to get a seat for an old woman would usually ask the whole group for help first. That way, they wouldn't risk being rejected by a single person, and they'd avoid conflict."

"Appealing to the whole group also makes it more likely that someone will give up a seat."

"But you chose the person in the priority seat as your target from the start, pressuring him on moral grounds. If he hadn't been there, most people would probably have felt too ashamed to refuse, given up their seats, and gotten off quickly."

"Wait..."

The girl tried to explain, but the boy ignored her and continued on his own:

"Of course, maybe you didn't think that far ahead. You simply saw someone sitting in a priority seat and naturally hoped he'd give it up."

"If that's the case, then you must be a very kind and gentle person!"

"..."

The girl kept smiling, secretly breathing a sigh of relief.

Damn it, what is this guy? We don't even know each other, and he's already analyzing me. It's disgusting.

But she'd barely relaxed when her heart leapt into her throat again.

"However, for you to do that, one thing had to be true: you had to be an extremely righteous person!"

The boy continued to analyze the possibilities in his mind.

"After all, the other person could have lost his temper—or even gotten physical with you. Only someone with an exceptionally strong sense of justice could ignore those risks and challenge the hidden danger, making a man more than thirty centimeters taller than you give way..."

"Yet once he firmly refused, you immediately changed your target to everyone on the bus. You didn't show even the slightest anger or resistance."

"Usually, the person with the greatest responsibility to give up a seat is the one sitting in the priority seat. But you gave up on him so quickly. That means your motive wasn't simple moral decency—or, at least, your sense of justice wasn't all that strong."

"My conclusion might be wrong, but what you've done so far contradicts the persona you're presenting."

The boy had reached his answer.

His dark eyes stared intently at Kikyo Kushida.

"Everything you did just now was for show, wasn't it? That's the only way to explain what didn't add up about your actions."

The moment he said that, ...