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

"But isn't that strange? You have your own life to live, don't you?"

"But I feel that if a friend is in trouble, it's perfectly fine to deal with my own affairs later."

"That's not how it works, Ichinose-san. You have to love yourself before you can love others—wait, you're still here?"

Mikage Touji turned his head instantly, only to find Ichinose Honami still following him with a beaming smile, keeping pace with his every step.

"I felt that Mikage-kun might need some help, so I just tagged along," Ichinose Honami said, holding her shopping basket with an open and honest expression.

"Ichinose-san, this isn't exactly a matter of life and death. Besides," Mikage Touji pointed to the basket in her hand, "don't you have your own plans to attend to?"

"A little thing like this won't take much time, and besides, Mikage-kun looked a bit troubled just now, didn't you?"

Mikage Touji stopped in his tracks and looked straight into Ichinose Honami's bright, clear eyes.

Ichinose stared back at him without even blinking.

"Why do you like helping others so much?"

"Why does Mikage-kun insist on refusing help from others?"

"It's not about refusing help, it's just that we aren't that close yet. I don't see the need to take up the time of a new acquaintance over such a trivial matter."

"I believe we'll be close eventually, so there's nothing wrong with helping a friend in advance."

"..."

Mikage Touji looked away and said helplessly, "You're a bit of a strange person."

"Mikage-kun is a bit strange, too."

Seeing how stubborn Ichinose was, Mikage Touji simply gave in. "In that case, if you ever run into trouble next time, feel free to call me. I'll help you out, too."

Ichinose Honami's body stiffened visibly, as if she had been reminded of something.

"What's wrong?" Mikage Touji frowned.

Ichinose shook her head without a word, then said softly, "It's been a long time since I've heard someone say something like that. Won't I be a bother to you, Mikage-kun?"

Mikage Touji tilted his head, a silent question mark hanging over him. "Why is it that you helping me isn't a bother, but me helping you would be?"

"Because we're friends, after all."

"Exactly. Since we're friends, isn't helping each other just the natural thing to do?"

Ichinose Honami, who usually possessed maxed-out social skills and could perfectly handle all sorts of different friends, was left speechless for a moment.

"Let's go."

Seeing Ichinose Honami standing there in a daze, Mikage Touji continued walking toward the kitchenware section. "I hope this won't waste too much of your time."

Ichinose Honami snapped back to reality, her eyes darting to the side as she secretly watched Mikage Touji.

"Is something the matter?"

"No, nothing at all."

With Ichinose Honami's help, Mikage Touji repurchased his exclusive kitchenware, naming them the Eternal Spirit Blade, the Dragon Turning Pot, and the Jade Dragon Pot... he forgot the rest.

Since the supermarket offered delivery, it saved Mikage Touji the trouble of lugging everything back to his room.

After picking up their groceries, the two walked out of the supermarket together.

Just then, a man with long red hair and his hands in his pockets walked past them in a hurry, radiating murderous intent and drawing the attention of passersby.

"Isn't that the pervert from the forum?"

"Ugh, don't look at him. I don't know why the school would recruit someone like that."

"He's looking over here."

"Let's go, let's go."

Two upperclassmen girls hurried away from the spot.

Ryuen Kakeru glared at them viciously, his lips twitching, but in the end, he just clenched his fists and left in a huff.

"It seems Ryuen-kun has had a very difficult few days," Ichinose remarked.

"You even know Ryuen Kakeru?" Mikage Touji asked, suppressing a laugh.

"Because they were fighting for the first few days of school. I tried to intervene, but it had absolutely no effect. Still, he was suspended for a week, so things have been much better these past few days."

"That's going to be a problem then, isn't it? His suspension is almost over, right?"

"Yes, I just hope he can restrain himself a little."

As the elevator doors chimed open, the two parted ways.

"I'll be heading off now. Thanks, Ichinose-san," Mikage Touji said, waving goodbye with one hand while holding his shopping bag with the other. "Don't push yourself too hard. And if you really need something, feel free to ask for my help—though only once."

"Alright, bye-bye."

The elevator doors slowly slid shut, and Ichinose Honami's gentle, smiling face disappeared behind them.

Mikage Touji's hand slowly came to a stop, the smile on his face gradually fading as he let out a breath.

"What a strange girl."

Evening.

High-quality ingredients often only require the simplest cooking methods: green vegetables boiled in a pot, beef sliced thin and stir-fried over high heat, and bonito seared with a pinch of salt and sesame oil until golden brown on both sides.

Master Mikage, having finished a busy day, arrived at the dining table and put the food into his mouth.

"..."

Ten seconds later, a piece of bonito with a strange glint in its eyes lay quietly in the trash can.

At the same time, a rich aroma of food drifted from the balcony into Mikage Touji's room, sneaking in through his nose and stirring his taste buds violently.

Master Mikage expressionlessly pulled out his phone, opened the group chat, and sent a message.

[Hikari, when are you coming back: Morishita, Yamamura, let's go out to eat. My treat!]

Chapter 25: Exploration

On the Monday of the third week after enrollment, Kanzaki Ryuji checked the items needed for class one last time as usual, pushed open the door, and left his room.

The weather was good today, and the temperature had warmed up slightly. After walking for a while, his body warmed up, and combined with the fresh morning air filling his lungs, it was quite invigorating.

Upon arriving at the classroom, Class B's class representative, Ichinose Honami, was already sitting in her seat as usual.

"Good morning, Ichinose-san." Kanzaki Ryuji nodded in greeting as he passed by.

"Good morning, Kanzaki-kun..."

Strangely, Ichinose Honami did not respond with her usual high energy; instead, she was absent-mindedly resting her chin on her hand, looking out the window.

"Is something the matter? Ichinose-san." Kanzaki Ryuji stepped forward to ask.

Setting aside their personal relationship, Ichinose Honami was the current core of their Class B. She handled almost all the class affairs, and if she were to have a problem, the class would struggle to function.

"I'm thinking... whether the four classes of our grade, A, B, C, and D, were divided in order from the very beginning."

Kanzaki Ryuji felt a jolt in his heart and frowned as he asked, "Ichinose, why would you think that? Did you discover something amiss somewhere?"

"Because, these past few days, students from Class D have often told me while chatting that they find the lessons taught by the school a bit difficult to follow."

After saying this, Ichinose took her textbook and showed it to Kanzaki Ryuji. "Because I was afraid that our classmates might also be falling behind, I specifically checked the homework turned in, but the results were all normal and up to standard."

Kanzaki Ryuji took Ichinose Honami's textbook with a serious expression, flipped through it quickly, and muttered, "Indeed, this is standard textbook knowledge, and there is nothing beyond the curriculum."

"Then, I felt a bit strange, so I specifically went to ask some students from Class C," Ichinose Honami said with frustration. "Some of them also said they couldn't understand parts of what the teachers were teaching at all."

"Then Class A—"

Kanzaki Ryuji froze just as he was about to press further. As far as he knew, there were several students in Class A who went to extra tutoring classes even after school.

Ichinose Honami gave a bitter smile. "Not at all. Even for the few students who said it was difficult, it was only for individual subjects."

Being weak in certain subjects was normal; everyone had subjects they were good at and subjects they weren't, just to varying degrees.

"It's possible."

After pondering for a while, Kanzaki Ryuji opened his eyes, his expression grave. "This situation is entirely possible!"

But the next moment, he thought of Sakayanagi Arisu, whom he had known since childhood at family banquets, and his attitude became uncertain again.

"But classes C and D also have students with excellent ability and good grades, right?"

"That is the reason I am troubled right now." Ichinose Honami lowered her head and sighed. "I asked Hoshinomiya-sensei first thing last night, and she said it was a prohibited topic."

"So, Kanzaki-kun, could you accompany me later? I want to go and observe the situation in each class."

A moment later, Ichinose Honami adjusted her emotions and made the request to Kanzaki Ryuji.

"No problem."

Kanzaki Ryuji nodded without hesitation. He then recalled the 100,000 points the school had issued at the start of the semester, as well as the various strange answers Hoshinomiya-sensei had given when he asked about them back then...

"Ichinose, if it turns out your deduction is correct later, don't reveal these things to students from other classes for now," Kanzaki Ryuji warned.

He didn't know the specific reason why the school would do this, but his intuition told him it was definitely not a good thing. Kanzaki Ryuji did not believe the school would really give students 100,000 points every month.

Without knowing the specific problem, only the side that held the information could maintain the initiative.

"I understand." Ichinose Honami nodded in agreement.

Class A classroom.

"Hashimoto-san, how is that Ryuuen from Class C doing? He should be out by now, right? Is he still trying to unify the class?"

In the back left corner of the classroom, Mikage Touji leaned against his desk, took the collected eraser shavings from his drawer, aimed at Morishita Ran's head, and flicked them lightly... a direct hit to the center of her forehead.

The eraser shavings landed silently on Morishita Ran's desk, rolling a few times before coming to a stop.

"I have to say, he is quite persistent." Hashimoto Masayoshi sat at the desk in front of Mikage Touji, sighing helplessly while flipping through the textbook for the next class. "Even after losing so much face and having his authority shattered, he is still preparing to unify Class C."

Morishita Ran slowly looked up, killing intent appearing on her cold face as she took out her own battle-damaged eraser.

That's right, the eraser shavings Mikage Touji collected were all cut from her eraser; it was Morishita Ran who had fired the first shot!

Cutting off a piece, Morishita Ran pulled out a rubber band, wrapped it around her pen, and aimed it at Mikage Touji...

Fire!

"Then how much time do you estimate it will take him to accomplish this?"

Mikage Touji dodged left and right, but realizing he couldn't escape Morishita Ran's aim, he decisively left his desk and hid behind Kito Hayato, who was leaning against the window and listening silently to the lecture.

"To be honest, I really don't know." Hashimoto Masayoshi scratched his head, feeling a headache coming on. "Class C is reacting very intensely right now; they're basically fighting every day. Even though that guy Ryuen clearly can't win, he still charges in to fight them every single day."

"Then we don't need to worry about Class C for now. At the very least, that class won't be able to unify until the S System results are announced. Are you clear on the current situation in Class D?"

Seeing Mikage Touji being so despicable as to use someone as a human shield, Morishita Ran also left her seat and chased after Mikage Touji, firing away.

The two of them began to circle around Kito Hayato.

"Class D..."

Hashimoto Masayoshi revealed an intrigued smile. "Actually, I think even if we don't pay any attention to it, Class D's final score probably won't look very good anyway."

"Is that so..."

In that case, the only ones left that could pose a threat to Class A were Class B.

Mikage Touji pondered a countermeasure while fleeing in a disheveled state.

"Mikage-san..." Kito Hayato, who had remained silent the whole time, suddenly spoke up.

"Hmm... what is it?"

"Class B..."

Kito Hayato cast his gaze in a certain direction and tilted his head to gesture.

"Hm?"

Mikage Touji stopped in his tracks and turned around, and Morishita Ran, firing at full capacity, couldn't brake in time and crashed headlong into Mikage Touji's arms.

The powerful impact instantly gave Mikage Touji internal injuries.