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

With the amplification of the megaphone, the students of Class A quickly gathered together, raising their hands and calling out as soon as their names were read.

After confirming everyone was present, he vanished again without saying a word.

"I should head back." Aoyama patted Yamamura on the head.

After Kamuro finished the roll call, she had disappeared somewhere, leaving only Yamamura sitting with him on a large rock in the corner.

They sat together for a while, and seeing that the time was right, he planned to return to the cabin.

Staying alone in a silent, dim cabin was quite terrifying for a girl, and the fear would only grow as time passed.

"Please, be very careful on your way back."

During their small talk, Yamamura had learned where Aoyama was staying for the night, so she wasn't worried about him having nowhere to sleep.

"I know, I'll be careful. See you tomorrow."

Checking his surroundings to ensure no one was watching, Aoyama quickly pecked Yamamura on the cheek before leaving under her shy gaze.

Under a cloudless sky and an August moon nearing its full phase, he didn't even need to turn on his flashlight while walking along the main path.

By the time he returned to the cabin, the flashlight had been on for very little time in total.

"Knock, knock—"

To test Karuizawa's ability to react, Aoyama deliberately stayed silent and simply knocked on the door.

The moment the knocking sounded, a faint noise came from inside the cabin, as if something had been bumped.

"Is anyone there?"

After a moment's thought, Aoyama used Voice Mimicry to imitate the voice of Katsuragi.

After waiting ten seconds with no response, he placed his hand on the door and began to push with force.

Based on the resistance from the door, Karuizawa had locked it from the inside.

"It's me, Karuizawa. I'm back."

He tried threatening her again using Katsuragi's voice, but finding that Karuizawa remained silent and refused to open the door, Aoyama satisfiedly switched back to his own voice.

This time, the wooden door was opened quickly.

Under the moonlight, a girl with long, golden hair draped over her shoulders and two tear tracks on her cute face appeared before him.

Looking at him in silence, glistening, silvery crystals welled up in the corners of Karuizawa's eyes.

Did I go a bit too far?

Being scared like that in a strange, pitch-black environment would likely terrify any adult, let alone a girl.

"Sorry." Suddenly feeling guilty, Aoyama scratched the back of his head and lowered his gaze.

He had been so focused on testing Karuizawa's capabilities that he had overlooked how frightened she must have been; every second she spent in there must have been an ordeal.

He truly hadn't intended to make Karuizawa cry; after all, he didn't have any strange sadistic tendencies.

Besides, he wasn't good at dealing with crying girls, especially when he was the one who had caused it.

"Do you want the electric fan tonight, too?"

Seeing Karuizawa return to the room without a word, Aoyama turned on the portable fan and placed it at the head of the lower bunk where she was curled up.

"That was just to test your emergency response. I'm very satisfied with the result; you are much more capable than the average person your age."

"It's my fault. Get some sleep."

After offering a word of praise, Aoyama took the candle from the table into the bathroom to wash up.

When he came out, Karuizawa, who had been sitting on the lower bunk, was already lying in the innermost part of the bed, covered completely by the sheet.

"Good night."

He sighed and whispered to himself before climbing into the upper bunk.

The night passed in silence.

Chapter 76: The Angry Kushida

The next morning.

Because it was summer, the sun was already shining brightly through the curtains into the cabin, even though it was just past six o'clock.

Carefully climbing down from the upper bunk, Aoyama noticed that Karuizawa hadn't woken up yet. Her cute face, eyes closed, looked peaceful, showing no signs of last night's sorrow.

Sorry about that.

Thinking that Karuizawa was working for him and he had still made her cry, Aoyama felt a twinge of guilt.

Taking care not to make any loud noises while washing up, he shouldered his backpack and headed out.

He locked the wooden door, making sure the latch rested against an uneven protrusion on the frame, and checked to ensure the glass windows were secured.

Only after doing all this did Aoyama leave the Base he had unofficially occupied.

Due to time constraints, he had only scouted half of the island's landing area yesterday; he planned to explore the other half today.

But before that, he needed to gather some dry branches to boil water and heat up some canned food for breakfast.

Although cold food can be eaten, eating something warm is better for the body and tastes better, too.

Class C Base.

Horikita Suzune, who had been woken up midway while Aoyama was out in the woods gathering branches for firewood and had been sleeping poorly, stepped out of the tent filled with people.

Without greeting any of the Class C students, she quietly left the Class C Base.

"I have something to discuss with Kushida-san. Could you please call her for me?"

Enduring her hunger, Horikita Suzune had walked quite a distance to reach the Class A Base. Upon seeing a girl step out of a tent near the stone cave, she immediately stopped her to ask.

"Kushida-san? I believe she hasn't woken up yet."

"Then wake her up."

"...Alright." Faced with Horikita's assertive demeanor, Yano Koharu nodded hesitantly in agreement.

Before long, Kushida Kikyo—forced to "clock in" early in the morning, smiling on the outside while fuming on the inside—arrived in front of the hands-on-hips Horikita.

"Do you have any food? If you do, give me some. If not, give me your breakfast."

Without a hint of politeness, Horikita spoke as if it were only natural.

The morning trek had left her so hungry she felt unwell, and her physical capabilities had dropped by more than a notch.

As the Key Card holder capable of capturing bases, she believed that compared to Kushida, she had a greater need to maintain her physical condition.

Huh??!

Then what am I supposed to eat? You wake me up early in the morning just to plunder my breakfast—Horikita Suzune, are you looking for a fight?

And what's with that tone of entitlement? How can someone be this thick-skinned?

"Is Horikita-san joking?" Suppressing the urge to yawn, Kushida smiled sweetly.

"The food Ryuen provides is too little, and I need to maintain my physical stamina. Once I finish this breakfast, you're coming with me. We'll find Onodera and you'll cover me while I swipe the card to capture the base."

Lowering her voice, Horikita laid out her plan.

At 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM, students from Classes A, B, and C all had to wait at their bases for roll call; there was no safer time to capture a base than then.

Missing a student during roll call resulted in a deduction of five exam points, and there were three Class D students remaining on the island.

This meant that for one class to track all three, they would have to dispatch at least three students.

A single gamble would cost fifteen exam points, and Horikita Suzune was confident that the leaders of the other three classes wouldn't act so recklessly.

Having zero exam points also had its advantages.

"Mm, I understand."

To maintain her selfless angel persona, Kushida agreed without a hint of annoyance on her face.

"Hurry up. We still need to go to the Class B Base to find Onodera later."

"Okay."

Turning her back to Horikita, Kushida took a deep breath before forcing a cute smile back onto her face to find Shiraishi Asuka, who was in charge of managing food for Class A, to claim her share of breakfast.

"The boys are already preparing to heat things up. Won't you wait a moment, Kushida-san?" Shiraishi asked gently.

"Thank you for your kindness, Shiraishi-san, but I have an urgent matter. I'm sorry."

Politely declining Shiraishi's offer, Kushida handed the cold, cooked food to Horikita.

Horikita had no complaints about this; she opened the packaging and began eating while she and Kushida hurried toward the Class B Base.

You didn't have to wait until 8:00 PM to act for the 8:00 PM roll call.

It took a significant amount of time to travel from one class's base to another nearby base.

If they timed it well, they could safely capture more bases.

"Kushida went out early this morning, huh."

8:00 AM.

After leaving a steaming hot breakfast for Karuizawa, who was likely still asleep in bed, Aoyama returned to the Class A Base for roll call.

Once roll call was finished, he sought out Yamamura and Kamuro.

"Shiraishi said she left before seven, along with Horikita Suzune," Kamuro said, relaying the information she had gathered.

"Planning to capture more bases for points?"

Hearing that Horikita Suzune was involved, Aoyama thought for a moment and immediately understood her intentions.

Capturing bases at this time was indeed a rare opportunity.

Yesterday, while scouting half the island, he had discovered five bases that could be swiped.

If one were to estimate based on that, there should be about nine or ten bases in total that could be captured.

"Kamuro, go to the Class C Base and take note of who is there right now."

"Yamamura, you go to Class B. Your mission is the same as Kamuro's: record the students remaining at the base."

Seeing Katsuragi leave the base with a group of people, Aoyama issued instructions to Kamuro and Yamamura.

At this point in time, one could use the process of elimination to rule out the possibility of certain students holding the Key Card.

As for why Kamuro was assigned to Class C and Yamamura to Class B, it naturally came down to their personalities.

Given Kamuro's somewhat mature temperament, she could calmly handle being caught and questioned by Class C students.

And even if Yamamura were discovered by Class B students, the good-natured students of Class B would not resort to harsh words.

"What a pain." Muttering with a cold face, Kamuro headed toward the Class C base.

"I will make sure to note everything down."

At the same time, Yamamura nodded with a hint of happiness and set off toward the Class B base.

Once their figures disappeared, Aoyama scanned the students remaining at the Class A base before setting off on his own journey for the day.

Ignoring the bases that had not been occupied during his recent itinerary, he headed toward the other side of the island in a nearly straight line, maintaining a half-run the entire way.

Even when he spotted edible wild fruits or crops along the way, he did not stop his journey to pick them.

His goal was clearly the locations that were likely to be bases when the cruise ship circled the island.

The time neared nine o'clock.

"Kushida, your lack of athletic ability is holding us back."

After checking in at the second base they discovered, the trio of Horikita had not gone far before they heard the sound of someone running on the path behind them.

Realizing that a student was chasing them, the three of them also began to run.

The result was that the sound quickly grew closer, and eventually, Horikita Suzune stopped in her tracks, abandoning the plan to shake off the student behind them.

She and Onodera, who was in a sports club, could run faster, but Kushida could not.

"I'm sorry, it's all my fault." Facing Horikita's merciless accusation, Kushida lowered her head and gritted her teeth.