Classroom of the Elite, I Also Want to Be a Good Person

"Shameless."

Her eyes narrowing, Horikita glanced at Albert, who was standing behind Ryuen like a bodyguard, staring right at her. Without another word, she turned and stepped away from Ryuen.

Having realized Ryuen's true intentions, she knew that mere words would not be enough to persuade him to compensate her for the missing food.

Arguing further would only be a waste of precious energy.

The correct course of action now was to eat, get some rest, and conserve her strength for tomorrow's activities.

"Waking Horikita-san up once tonight is enough; too much will be counterproductive." After Horikita left, Shiina appeared beside Ryuen. "Horikita-san was quite rational just now."

"If I make her feel that resting at the Class C base is a mistake, the subsequent plan won't be able to proceed."

Staring straight at Horikita's beautiful retreating figure, she offered her suggestion to Ryuen.

According to Ryuen's original plan, he hadn't intended to let Horikita sleep peacefully tonight; he had planned to wake her up at least three or four times.

"You aren't saying that out of sympathy, are you, Shiina?"

"I understand where I stand, Ryuen-kun."

Without flinching from Ryuen's sharp gaze, Shiina replied with a smile before walking away at a leisurely pace.

As a member of Class C, even if she wasn't expected to do much by most of her classmates, she wanted to help Class C reach the level of Class A. It would be best if everyone could happily graduate as Class A.

For that goal, she could accept using less-than-honorable methods.

As long as the severity wasn't too great.

Much like Aoyama, the seemingly soft and fluffy Shiina Hiyori also possessed a flexible moral compass.

Meanwhile, at the Class A base.

Unlike Horikita Suzune, who was eating poorly and about to sleep just as badly, Kushida Kikyo was surrounded by students from Class A, receiving even more food than the students of their own class.

This wasn't because Katsuragi was giving her special treatment, but rather the result of the Class A boys trying to curry favor with her.

"Thank you, Machida-kun."

"Not at all, it was just a small favor."

Beside the burning campfire, accompanied by her female friends, Kushida thanked Machida Koji, who had brought her water on his way back.

"How come I don't see Aoyama-kun? It's already late at night," Kushida said, feigning confusion.

Ever since her true colors were discovered by Aoyama, she had been thinking of ways to counter him at every moment.

Since she had to eat and sleep with the Class A students for the next few days, she intended to learn more about Aoyama to see if she could find any leverage against him.

Even if she couldn't find any, she could still perform subtle actions to stir up the Class A students' hostility toward him.

It would be best if she could suddenly give him a surprise and have Aoyama expelled without him even knowing why.

"Don't mention that traitor; he doesn't even acknowledge that he's a student of Class A," Machida said, his expression somewhat indignant. "He's probably out there somewhere, starving and freezing."

As if to broadcast his dissatisfaction with Aoyama, he didn't lower his voice.

The Class A students were already used to this; whenever Aoyama wasn't around, Machida would put on this act from time to time.

"I'm so hungry. Could you spare me something to eat, Machida?" Carrying his backpack, Aoyama emerged from the darkness into the sight of the Class A students.

Thinking of bringing something good for Yamamura, he had set off a little earlier than planned.

However, just as he arrived at the Class A base, he heard Machida complaining about him.

"You... how did you get here so fast!"

"What, not happy to see me?"

Staring calmly into Machida's eyes, Aoyama walked toward him at a leisurely pace.

Yamamura had told him that Machida would badmouth him from time to time, but he hadn't taken it to heart.

He was self-aware enough regarding his own actions; as long as it wasn't done to his face, he would pretend not to know.

Besides, there was no loss in being cursed at.

"Not happy... so what!" Glancing at Kushida, who was lost in thought, Machida felt a surge of heat in his body.

To say he had no ulterior motives for such a popular and cute girl would be giving him too much credit.

At this very moment, he, Machida Koji, was going to stand up to the Great Demon King Aoyama Shiki and show off his "manly" side.

"It doesn't matter, just..."

Aoyama extended his fist toward Machida's chest, but the speed was incredibly slow—it didn't look like he was trying to hit anyone at all.

And just as Machida was looking at the fist, about to open his mouth to question him, the fist suddenly accelerated, slamming hard into the center of his chest. The force was so great that Machida couldn't help but fall to the ground.

Witness the essence of the fast-and-slow punch, kid.

Taking advantage of Machida's hesitation to strike with a slow-then-fast motion, Aoyama looked down at the panicked boy from above, his expression neither excited nor smug.

Guilt for hitting a classmate? How could such a thing exist?

He wasn't angry at Machida's behavior; he had only acted to maintain his own deterrent power.

"What are you doing, Aoyama?"

Kito, who had witnessed the incident nearby, walked up to Aoyama immediately, taking off his white gloves as he approached.

Under the glow of the campfire, Aoyama saw the hands that Kito always kept covered; the veins bulging on the back of his hands gave them a terrifying appearance.

"It's nothing, just teaching a jumping, prancing clown a lesson."

"Since you were the one who started it, then—"

"Please stop, Kito-kun." Sakayanagi Arisu, supported by Nishikawa Ryoko, walked closer step by step. "Violent behavior will result in our class being disqualified from the exam."

"But he just hit Machida." Kito's expression was filled with anger.

"But it ended quickly, and Mashima-sensei can pretend not to see it."

Breaking away from Nishikawa's support, Sakayanagi stepped between Aoyama and Kito, looking up at the calm-faced Aoyama from a close distance.

"If Kito-kun were to make a move, I imagine Aoyama-kun wouldn't just stand there and take it, would he?"

"I don't have the habit of only taking hits without fighting back."

Answering indifferently, Aoyama stepped back twice so that Sakayanagi wouldn't have to tilt her head so high.

Sakayanagi was right; if Kito had attacked, it would have been impossible for him not to retaliate.

Once the commotion became loud enough, Mashima, who was responsible for monitoring the students near the Base, would find it impossible to pretend he didn't see anything.

This was also the reason he had used his methods to take down Machida in one go.

"Hmph!"

Thinking of the unacceptable consequences Sakayanagi had pointed out, Kito could only silently put his gloves back on and walk away, choosing to look elsewhere to avoid the sight.

Under the nervous gaze of the nearby Class A students, the farce that looked like it was about to escalate was peacefully quelled by Sakayanagi.

Chapter 75: The Crying Karuizawa

Good grief, why can't things just be quiet for a single day?

But I finally caught you, you bastard Aoyama!

Sneaking up behind Aoyama with Yamamura, Kamuro jumped up and locked him in a chokehold.

"Let's see how you run now, you jerk."

With his large backpack in the way, Kamuro hung off Aoyama's back.

"You aren't still mad about that, are you, Kamuro?" Hearing the voice by his ear, Aoyama immediately abandoned the thought of using a Mamba Elbow Strike.

He had thought someone was truly out of their mind, intending to play a 1v1 "real man's duel" with him right here.

"I'm just that petty. Why don't you let me punch you too?"

"How could that be? You're my dearest friend, Kamuro."

With a bitter smile, Aoyama crouched down to let Kamuro back onto the ground.

Her messy purple hair draped in front of him, and his nose was filled with the faint, unique scent of Kamuro.

This was the first time Kamuro had been this close to him; even with the backpack in the way, he could feel the softness of her body.

It would be better if there were no backpack.

However, without the backpack in the way, Kamuro probably wouldn't have made such a bold move.

With that softness against his back, Aoyama's thoughts began to drift.

"Yamamura, bring that over."

"Is it really okay to do that?" Yamamura's voice sounded hesitant.

"Just bring it here, hurry up."

What did she mean by "that"? Kamuro should have some sense of propriety, right?

With his body controlled, Aoyama couldn't see what was happening behind him, and he felt a little panicked for a moment.

"Open your mouth."

"Is she going to force a kiss? Should I close my eyes now?"

Even though he knew it probably wasn't anything good, Aoyama couldn't help but tease Kamuro.

It would be even better if he could see the shy anger on her face.

"Who would force a kiss on you, you bastard!" Kamuro's voice was hurried, and the arm locked around his neck tightened.

"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts—"

"Who cares! Just open your mouth, quickly."

Kamuro's tone was tough, but Aoyama could feel the arm around his neck loosen significantly.

Noticing that more and more Class A students were watching, he thought for a moment and opened his mouth.

Judging by Kamuro's demeanor, she wouldn't give up until she achieved her goal.

"Feel the pain."

Amidst Kamuro's delighted voice, a wild sour jujube, the size of a fingertip and green all over with a broken skin, was tossed into Aoyama's mouth.

In an instant, a sourness as intense as biting into a raw lime forced Aoyama to put on a mask of agony.

"At least what I fed you was ripe."

After Kamuro let go with a satisfied expression, Aoyama decisively straightened his back and spat the foreign object out of his mouth.

Seeing that the sour jujube was entirely green without a hint of yellow, he looked helplessly at the smug Kamuro.

"My life motto is that if someone treats me poorly, I return it twofold."

"That sounds like you just made it up on the spot, even though I brought snacks for you and Yamamura." Grumbling, Aoyama pulled his backpack to his front, opened it, and took out two bags of marshmallows to hand to them respectively.

Sugar is always humanity's best companion.

"Consider this compensation."

"Thank you."

Unlike Kamuro, who took hers casually with one hand, Yamamura accepted hers with both hands, her small face flushed with shyness.

Noticing the gazes of the surrounding classmates, she lowered her head even further.

Knowing that Yamamura was uncomfortable being the center of attention, Aoyama led the two of them toward a deserted corner.

Which one is the real him?

Having witnessed everything from Aoyama beating someone up to being forced into a feeding game by Kamuro, Kushida couldn't help but feel a surge of jealousy toward Kamuro.

As for whether she liked or disliked Aoyama more, she could clearly state that it was dislike.

But even if she disliked him more, she didn't want to be treated so obviously differently by Aoyama.

Why could he be all smiles when facing Kamuro, yet cold and overbearing when facing her?

She didn't feel inferior to Kamuro in any aspect; she should be the most popular girl!

"Class A students, assemble. Prepare for roll call."

As soon as it hit eight o'clock, Mashima appeared at the Class A Base with a stern face.