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

"What if Yamamura Miki actually gets spirit-awayed?"

Morishita Ran wagged her index finger, speaking with conviction, "It's spring, it's the twilight hour—the time when demons emerge and the yin and yang intersect—and we're in a small grove. Add in Yamamura Miki's peculiar lack of presence, and the three elements of heaven, earth, and man are all gathered. It's time to open the door to the supernatural world."

"If it actually opens, what good does it do to have me here? Did you drag me over because you think I'm not dying fast enough?" the true esper shouted back.

"Of course I brought you along so we could go die together; that way, I won't be lonely on the other side," Morishita Ran blinked, replying with righteous indignation.

"..." Do I have a grudge against you? You're dragging me along even to your death?

"No, there's no such thing. I'm just naturally unnoticeable," the most peculiar one, Yamamura Miki, was the one who believed in science the most at this moment.

"Then, I shall read the rules of the game." Without waiting for the other two to react, Morishita Ran began to speak on her own.

She pulled a yellowed book from somewhere—Japanese Yokai Folklore Records.

Mikage Touji's mouth twitched as he watched, "Which corner of the world did you dig this thing out of?"

"This? I borrowed it from the school library at noon. And," Morishita Ran glared at Mikage Touji, "please don't interrupt me."

Kouiku's library actually has this kind of stuff? Isn't that just a pure waste of taxpayer money?

After a pause, Morishita Ran opened the pages, her flat, emotionless voice echoing through the quiet grove.

"Summer, the fifteenth year of Taisho. Cicadas chirped like a torrential rain. Kenta, Kazuhiko, and Koume were playing 'blindfolded hide-and-seek' in the woods outside the village. Kazuhiko was blindfolded, counting 'One! Two!', but when he opened his eyes, only the empty, desolate chirping of cicadas remained in the woods. The handkerchief tied to Koume's hand drifted onto the branch of an ancient cedar. As the wind stirred the withered leaves, the intermittent sound of a child saying 'Three...' drifted over, as if completely swallowed by the deep, dark shadows of the trees."

A gust of wind blew, and the leaves in the grove rustled.

"Eek!"

Yamamura Miki, who hadn't been afraid at all, felt her heart tremble suddenly at Morishita Ran's words. She looked back into the depths of the small grove, as if something were about to lunge out at any moment.

"That's about it," Morishita Ran snapped the book shut.

"However, to prevent Yamamura Miki from actually being taken away, whether we are the ones seeking or the ones being sought, we must call out our numbers at regular intervals. I am one, Mikage Touji is two, and Yamamura Miki is three. That is decided."

"Doesn't that make it even more terrifying?" Mikage Touji said, speechless.

This small grove wasn't large, but there were only three of them. Whether it was the seeker or the one hiding, being all alone in some patch of grass calling out numbers—that dark, quiet, and eerie feeling made it seem like it would actually summon something unclean.

"Can I not play?" Yamamura Miki was already curled into a ball under the bushes.

"Then, the Twilight Spirit-Away Game officially begins," ignoring Yamamura Miki's protest, Morishita Ran decisively announced the start of the game.

"Next, rock-paper-scissors to decide who is 'it'."

"..."

Mikage Touji refused to participate in such childish behavior.

"Hurry up," Morishita Ran urged, "If you don't come, you're 'it'."

A second later, Mikage Touji chose to join.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" ×3

"You are absolutely forbidden from running out of the grove, Mikage Touji, do you hear me?" Morishita Ran folded her hands over a tree trunk, eyes closed, shouting at Mikage Touji with her back turned.

Mikage Touji rolled his eyes, "You're the only one who would actually do that, you know?"

He then turned to look at the trembling Yamamura Miki, "Yamamura, let's go."

"Hai!" Yamamura Miki let out a long sigh of relief, a look of gratitude on her face.

"I heard that!" Morishita Ran's voice drifted over eerily.

There were quite a few hiding spots in the small grove, but the two of them didn't really try to hide.

After finding a random spot to hunker down, Mikage Touji sat leaning against a tree trunk and struck up a conversation with Yamamura Miki.

"Speaking of which, why did you go along with that nonsense from Morishita? You could have just ignored her, and she would have found somewhere to kill time on her own," Mikage Touji asked, lowering his voice.

"Because... Morishita-san... is the only person so far who has taken the initiative to come and talk to me. That day... I was eating in the cafeteria, and she suddenly ran out from behind me."

Yamamura Miki touched her chest, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth as she spoke, as if reminiscing.

"I've been unnoticeable since I was a child. In kindergarten, when playing with toys, I was always by the pile of blocks in the corner, watching the other children laughing and playing together. When the teacher handed out snacks, she would sometimes skip over my raised hand. During group activities in elementary school, I was often the one left over. No one fought over me, no one grabbed me, and it didn't matter which group the teacher put me in..."

"By middle school, I tried to fit in. At first, everyone was very welcoming, but the next day, they were still talking about those topics I didn't understand. That was when I knew that place didn't belong to me, and whether I was there or not, they would just keep going on..."

"Later, I got used to it. Not being liked, but not being hated either, just... always alone..."

"But!"

Yamamura Miki's eyes suddenly lit up.

"One day, Morishita-san suddenly called my name from behind. Not the kind where they get the name wrong, but my full name!"

Mikage Touji listened and smiled silently. Who knew that Morishita Ran's habit of calling people by their full names all day would actually have such a benefit.

"That was when I knew Morishita-san was different from the others. She remembers my name, she takes the initiative to be friends with me, and she thanks me in all seriousness."

"So, I don't want to stay there anymore. I want to try doing things that I absolutely couldn't do alone before!"

"Even if this thing itself is quite terrifying?" Mikage Touji added teasingly.

"Eek!"

Yamamura Miki, who had just puffed herself up, reflexively shrank back. She looked left and right, then squeezed her eyes shut and said with a hint of a sob, "Mikage-kun, please stop scaring me!"

"Alright, alright, I won't scare you anymore."

Mikage Touji raised his hands with a smile, "I surrender, I surrender..."

It was truly hard to resist the urge to tease a girl whose personality made her jump at the slightest poke.

After calming her nerves slightly, Yamamura Miki voiced her own question:

"What about you, Mikage-kun?"

"Me?"

Yamamura Miki snuck a glance at Mikage Touji before quickly averting her eyes, muttering, "You're just the same, tagging along with Morishita-san's nonsense..."

Mikage Touji was nothing like someone with no presence like her; in fact, to a certain extent, he was the most eye-catching person in Class A.

"Now that you mention it, you're right," Mikage Touji said, lowering his head to pinch his chin as he pondered on the spot. "That's true... why am I here tagging along with that girl Morishita's nonsense?"

"Naturally, it is because Morishita-sama is very cute."

A voice devoid of emotion, as cold and biting as an Arctic wind, drifted from behind the pair.

The two who were still chatting shuddered in unison, their breathing instantly hitching as they turned around stiffly.

They suddenly realized one thing: they had been so engrossed in their conversation that they seemed to have forgotten a certain task they were supposed to be doing.

"Heh."

Morishita Ran rustled through the weeds and dead branches nearby, laughing without a trace of expression.

"Do you know the horror of Morishita-sama shouting 'one' in a dark, lightless forest, only for no one to respond?"

"The only thing left in the whole forest to answer me was a blackbird—oh, and the crows by the school building going 'caw~ caw~'."

"At dusk, in a silent little forest, the sound of crows... it turns out that of the three of us, only one remained..."

The voice, lacking any emotional fluctuation, echoed through the woods. Paired with that icy face, it was enough to max out the sense of dread.

"I told you not to take it so seriously, and now look, you've scared yourself," Mikage Touji retorted in a low voice.

"Mikage-kun, please don't say any more." Yamamura Miki reached out to tug at the corner of Mikage Touji's shirt.

"Mikage Touji, are you implying that it is Morishita Ran's fault?"

"Cough, cough, not at all. It was indeed my fault for not following the rules of the game..."

As he spoke, Mikage Touji's expression began to look off.

"Then, have you prepared yourselves—"

"Um... excuse me," Mikage Touji swallowed hard, interrupting Morishita Ran's words, "did you guys hear a strange sound?"

"Trying to scare Morishita-sama at a time like this?"

"No, no, Morishita-san... I think I heard it too." Yamamura Miki's voice began to tremble, and her body leaned toward Mikage Touji involuntarily.

"How is that possible? Who else would be here at this hour besides us?"

Morishita Ran looked suspicious, crossing her arms and standing in place, pricking up her ears.

In the silent forest, the fluttering of birds, their calls, the continuous "rustling" of the breeze through the leaves, and the occasional "drip-drop" of residual rainwater falling and hitting the ground...

"Do you hear it... there it is, right?"

"It seems there really is something."

"Yes, there is indeed."

The three stood in place, beginning to chime in one after another.

"What was it saying again? Four? Does it want to play hide-and-seek or a game of spirit-away too?"

"Idiot, it's clearly saying 'death'."

"Um... it sounds like it's saying 'go die'..."

"..."

A gust of wind blew, and the little forest was left in dead silence...

"What did I tell you? I told you not to court death, and now you've encountered the real thing. Great, now all three of us are going to be killed because of you!"

"How could something like this be real?! Let's go, let's go check it out!"

"Sigh, do... do we have to go?"

"So now you believe in science? Also, Morishita-san, could you please stop hiding behind me and pushing me?"

"I brought you here for exactly this moment, go! Mikage Touji, I will cheer for you!"

"Actually... we could just... choose to leave right now..."

The two, one in front and one behind, turned back simultaneously: "No! We've come this far, how could we be satisfied without taking a look!"

Chapter 23: Must eat! But didn't get to eat!

Kushida Kikyou had been feeling very irritable lately!

She had finally received her acceptance letter to the Advanced Nurturing High School, thinking she could bid farewell to her past and start a brand new life in a place where no one knew her.

To her utter disbelief, Horikita Suzune—who had attended the same school as her since middle school, whose style of conduct she found completely insufferable, and who might even know about her dark history—had also come to this school.

And to make matters worse, they were in the same class!

Annoyed! Irritated! A headache!

All sorts of negative emotions surged into her heart one after another.

However, Kushida Kikyou still had to greet Horikita Suzune with a friendly smile every day; otherwise, not only would the persona she had painstakingly built in class collapse.

Horikita Suzune might also stop paying attention to her, causing her to lose the chance to become friends with her.

Yes, even though she was annoyed by Horikita Suzune's deadpan face, couldn't stand her self-righteous personality, and mocked her naivety in thinking she could do anything without knowing the height of the sky or the depth of the earth, Kushida Kikyou still wanted to become friends with Horikita Suzune. She wanted her to open her heart, confide her troubles, unhappiness, and everything else to her as a good friend...

And then, she could gleefully expose the ugly side of this person in front of everyone!

Yet, no matter how hard she tried, this beautiful fantasy always remained just that—a fantasy.

"I don't want to know you, goodbye."

"Don't appear in front of me, you annoy me."

"I don't need friends; I can do everything on my own."

Time and time again, time and time again, she was mercilessly rejected by that woman.

The group of horny boars in class, telling their stupid jokes, bragging about their laughable grades, and those lecherous gazes staring at her chest during swimming class...

Men, they really are all trash!

Sakayanagi Arisu, stop acting so cute to win the sympathy of those guys in class; I saw through your self-righteous personality a long time ago, I'm just too lazy to expose you.

Karuizawa Kei, throwing herself at Hirata Yousuke, acting all loud and bossy every day, ordering her to do this and that under the guise of "helping a friend."