Classroom of the Elite, Oh No, I've Become a Stand-in

The two people inside the infirmary turned at the sound, only to see a man looking like a demon carrying a pale-faced student like a corpse and sprinting toward them.

Their brains went into a state of system failure; before they could even process the situation, the man had already stormed into the infirmary and dumped the corpse onto a hospital bed.

The corpse placed on the bed sat up with a start, clutching its stomach and coughing twice, muttering, "Kito, I didn't die from exhaustion, but I'm about to die from that rock-hard elbow strike of yours..."

Chapter 17: Whose subordinate is this?

Inside the infirmary, a faint scent of disinfectant permeated the air, and various medical instruments glinted with a cold light.

"Your blood sugar is a bit low," the school doctor said, looking at the reading on the glucose meter while observing Mikage Touji's complexion. "Did you skip breakfast or lunch? This won't do; young people need to learn to take care of their bodies."

Mikage Touji felt his eyelid twitch as he listened. He recognized this school doctor: Hoshinomiya Chie.

She was the math teacher for their class, usually appearing in a slightly tipsy, alcohol-scented state during lessons—it was obvious she spent plenty of nights out drinking!

"It's nothing serious, just replenish some sugar and you'll be fine. Be more careful next time," Hoshinomiya Chie said, retracting the glucose meter and wagging her index finger in a cautionary gesture.

Mikage Touji listened, lost in thought. So, after mental energy is exhausted, the body continues to burn blood sugar as a substitute?

"I see," the girl with long, pink-gold hair who had been waiting with Hoshinomiya Chie seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. She patted her ample chest and smiled, "I'm so glad you're okay."

Huh? What is this?

Mikage Touji couldn't help but raise a hand to shield his eyes.

At this moment, it was as if countless rays of soft light were radiating from behind the girl, spreading in all directions and illuminating everything in the world.

A cold glint flashed in Mikage Touji's eyes.

It's you!

You stole my light!

I originally thought General Kushida was invincible, but I didn't expect someone to be even more formidable. Whose subordinate is this?

"Ichinose Honami, you and Mikage haven't even met yet, there's no need for this, is there?"

Hashimoto Masayoshi stepped forward at the right moment, blocking Mikage Touji's view and shrugging his shoulders.

Ichinose Honami?

With Hashimoto Masayoshi's prompt, information about her surfaced in Mikage Touji's mind.

Ichinose Honami, currently the most likely candidate to unite Class B, which stood just behind their Class A.

No! Rather than saying she was the most likely to unite them, it would be more accurate to say she had already united Class B—perhaps even on the very first day.

Relying on her powerful social skills, sweet appearance, and gentle personality, she had conquered everyone in Class B on day one. The only reason she wasn't officially called the leader of Class B was that they hadn't discovered the truth about the S System yet. Once the S System was revealed, she would undoubtedly be the leader of Class B!

Not only that, but her network of connections extended to other classes, which was evident from the fact that many people in their own class already had Ichinose as a friend.

"You can't say that, Hashimoto-kun. We are all students at this school; even if we don't know each other now, we definitely will in the future. Isn't it nice to show concern for future friends in advance?"

A beam of intense light shot into Mikage Touji's inner world, pulling him directly out of his thoughts.

Here it comes again!

With this kind of "saving all sentient beings" speech, Mikage Touji felt that if she turned into Ultraman, she could definitely last longer than three minutes.

"Haha! I can't argue with you; I really can't do anything about people with such strong social skills."

Catching a glimpse of Mikage Touji having gathered his thoughts, Hashimoto Masayoshi decisively stepped aside and spread his hands with a helpless expression.

"Here..."

A gloved hand handed over a cup of warm water mixed with glucose. Kito Hayato, who hadn't spoken until now, had gone to help pour the water.

"Thanks, Kito-kun, and thank you for bringing me here," Mikage Touji said, taking the cup, his eyes flickering.

"..."

Kito Hayato was stunned for a moment before reacting, "You're welcome. It's what classmates should do."

Afterward, Mikage Touji looked at Ichinose Honami, who had been standing to the side waiting for the two to finish, "And thank you too, miss. Thank you for your concern."

"It's nothing, it's what I should do." Ichinose Honami extended her palm toward Mikage Touji with a sweet smile on her face, "Let me reintroduce myself. I'm Ichinose Honami from Class 1-B. Please treat me well in the future."

"I'm Mikage Touji," Mikage Touji placed the cup on the cabinet next to him and reached out to shake her hand, his tone overflowing with enthusiasm, "I've heard so much about you, Ichinose-san. I've long heard of your reputation in Class B; our classmates all say you're a very outstanding person."

"That's not true at all, the students in Class A are too kind with their praise," Ichinose Honami said, scratching her fair cheek in embarrassment.

"Then... although it's a bit hard to say, could you tell me?"

Mikage Touji's expression suddenly turned serious, his previously joking face cooling down as if he were about to make a major decision.

"Eh? Tell you what?"

"Which hypnosis app do you use? If it's convenient, could you share it with me?" As he spoke, he pulled out his phone, "I can pay points."

"..."

"Ahahaha," Ichinose Honami gave an embarrassed, dry laugh, "Mikage-kun, there's no such thing."

"..." Mikage Touji was shocked, "There isn't? For real?"

"It would be strange if there were such a thing, wouldn't it?" Hashimoto Masayoshi interjected from the side.

"I... I see..." Mikage Touji looked somewhat dejected.

"Alright, stop acting like clowns." Hoshinomiya Chie walked over with the medical report. "There's nothing wrong. Aside from low blood sugar, you're in perfect health. I haven't seen such a standard report in a long time. Observe for another 20 minutes, and if there are no issues, you can leave."

"See, I told you there was nothing wrong." Mikage Touji took a sip of grape water; the warm, sugary liquid slid down his throat, bringing a hint of comfort.

For the next twenty minutes, Mikage Touji chatted with Ichinose Honami for quite a while. During this time, Hashimoto Masayoshi chimed in occasionally, while Kito stood by the door frame with his arms crossed, listening quietly to their conversation.

Through subtle probing, Mikage Touji managed to gather quite a bit of information from Ichinose Honami. At the same time, he couldn't help but marvel at the terrifying social skills of this girl; talking to her never made one feel pressured, but rather provided the comfort of a spring breeze sweeping across the land.

Mikage Touji felt that if the school hadn't strictly forbidden anyone from proactively telling first-years about the S System, Ichinose Honami would likely have been the first among them to discover the truth about the exams.

"Well... Ichinose-san, let's chat again next time." Feeling that he had mostly recovered, Mikage Touji was the first to excuse himself.

After adding Ichinose as a friend, Mikage Touji put his phone back in his pocket and waved goodbye to her.

"Yeah, I also feel like chatting with Mikage-kun is a novel experience..."

Ichinose Honami nodded, watching them leave with a perfect smile.

It wasn't until the three of them disappeared around the corner that Ichinose Honami lowered her waving hand and furrowed her brows slightly.

"Oh my, what's wrong, little Honami? This is the first time Teacher has seen you make a face like that." Hoshinomiya Chie asked curiously from the side.

"Hmm..." Ichinose Honami shook her head, but she seemed hesitant. "I don't know, I just feel like something is strange, but I can't quite put my finger on it..."

"That, perhaps it's because of that Mikage-kun. I heard he's called a weirdo by his classmates in Class A."

"Eh? Is that so?"

"If you feel there's a problem, why not go check it out? Use your charm and win him over beautifully."

"Teacher, please don't always say things like that."

"Haha, just kidding, just kidding. But Teacher is serious, you know. If you feel something is off, it's best to get to the bottom of it."

"Is that so..."

Meanwhile, the three of them, having moved far away from the infirmary, began to talk.

"So, what do you think of that Ichinose Honami?" Hashimoto Masayoshi asked.

"Well..."

Mikage Touji slowed his pace, organizing his thoughts.

"She's a good person." After a long pause, Mikage Touji managed to squeeze out this sentence. "Hmm... a capable, good person," he added.

"Doesn't everyone who knows her say that?" Hashimoto Masayoshi rolled his eyes.

"Hashimoto-san, besides Ichinose, is there anyone else in Class B worth noting?" Mikage Touji lowered his gaze, rubbing his chin, and suddenly asked.

"I heard there's someone named Kanzaki Ryuji, but it seems he's already completely fallen under Ichinose's skirt." Hashimoto Masayoshi looked like he was just there to watch the chaos.

"That's strange then..."

"What's strange?"

Too perfect...

Ichinose Honami...

In the words of Orochimaru, this is—Subarashii!

A beautiful appearance, invincible social skills, and exceptionally outstanding observation skills—otherwise, Mikage Touji wouldn't have needed to use a "hypnosis app" to divert her attention earlier. He had also heard that her academic ability was among the best.

Such a perfect student... why isn't she in Class A?

Setting aside Mikage Touji, who got in through the back door thanks to the system.

Even Morishita Ran, who was full of chuunibyou, childish, vengeful, and fond of pranks, and Yamamura Miki, who had a low presence, were assigned to Class A, which meant that minor, harmless issues were acceptable in the eyes of the school.

Yet Ichinose was in Class B...

It is known that Class D is called the "defective" class, and the acting leader of Class C is a violent individual.

So what about Class B?

Chapter 18: Behind every unreasonable school rule...

After several days of classes, the freshmen welcomed their first weekend at Kouiku.

The morning sun hit the white bedsheets, and tiny dust motes in the light beams swirled in the air...

The wall clock ticked methodically until it reached exactly eight o'clock. The person sleeping on the bed opened his eyes right on time, following his internal biological clock.

He sat up expressionlessly, put on his glasses, got out of bed, folded his quilt, and put on his school uniform. His entire routine was as precise as a clock.

This was the current student council president—Horikita Manabu.

After finishing everything, Horikita Manabu opened his phone screen to check if there were any emergencies at school.

As usual, he ignored the challenge request sent by Nagumo Miyabi. Horikita Manabu's finger paused on the message sent by "Little Sister," but in the end, he acted as if he hadn't seen it and cleared the red dot from the notification.

Horikita Manabu walked to the sink, and accompanied by the sound of running water, he opened the internal Kouiku campus forum.

This was set up by the school specifically for student discussion. Usually, the school and the student council would also post notices on the forum.

Students cannot contact their families for three years, and sending messages to the outside world is not allowed. It is inevitable that some negative emotions will brew, and venting anonymously on the forum is generally ignored by the school, provided it doesn't involve criminal statements.

The school and the student council also periodically monitor the students' emotional states on the forum. Once the mood becomes too low, they notify the exam committee to fine-tune the content of the next special exam.

Horikita Manabu popped a Shimizu into his mouth and skillfully tapped to sort the topics by popularity.

The next second.

"Pfft--!"

[Advanced Nurturing High School Campus Forum Topic Rankings.]

[1. This is the boss of our first-year Class C. Can you guys do something like this?!]

[2. Ranking of the first-year students most wanted as a boyfriend/girlfriend.]

[3. First-year gloominess ranking.]

[I Really Am Not Anonymous 6457: Recently, a century-defining battle that will shock the Japanese student world took place in the restroom on the east side of the first-year building. Please forgive me for being unable to describe the details in words; please watch the content below for details.]

[I Really Am Not Anonymous 6457: Can you guys do something like this?!.MP4]

[Dreaming of Becoming a Soccer Star: Let me see what this is about... Alright, I can't do it, OP, you win. Where did this King of Red History come from?]

[It Must Be the Work of the Duck Neck Person: My eyes, they aren't clean anymore... But I will immediately create fan art so that everyone in the school can use the same eyes as me.]

[The Beautiful Me: Exactly! To actually make me see such unbearable things, it is truly not beautiful. And that red-haired boy, you are not allowed in front of me from now on.]

[Big Brother Katsuragi is the Strongest: Pffthahaha, is this the boss of Class C? He looks just like a dog.]

[Resisting Ryuen's Tyranny: Don't troll, this kind of trashy thug doesn't deserve to be the boss of our Class C. He's trash who couldn't even win against Albert in a sneak attack.]

[The Smartest Guy in Class C: He has brought nothing but shame to Class C.]

[Student Council President Horikita Manabu: Setting aside Ryuen Kakeru's intentional damage to the restroom, this... um, indecent behavior truly damages the school spirit of Kouiku. Please come to the student council this afternoon to provide a report in person. @Ryuen Kakeru]

[Student Council Vice President Nagumo Miyabi: Oh my, someone just reported the damage to the restroom, and the culprit has already been found. @Horikita Manabu, senior, I'll leave it to you to handle. I can't deal with this type of underclassman.]

[Genius All-Rounder (Recruiting Girlfriend): A small-time punk like this, if it were me, I could take him down in one move. You should know that back in middle school, I was scouted by the Japanese national taekwondo team...]