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

Mikage Touji opened his mouth to apologize, but a slightly panicked voice beat him to it:

"I'm sorry!"

Mikage Touji: "?"

He opened his eyes to see a girl with her hair tied to the side, frantically picking up her books.

"Um," Mikage Touji crouched down to pick up a book, "Yamamura-san, I think I was the one who bumped into you, right?"

"Hai!" Yamamura Miki, startled by the act of picking up the books, lowered her head and whispered again, "I'm sorry."

"No, no, what I mean is, I was the one not looking where I was going and bumped into you, so why are you apologizing... wait!" Mikage Touji seemed to recall something, his face turning horrified.

"Don't tell me, were you sent by that guy Morishita to distract me, and now you're feeling guilty about it?"

"No, that's not it, I don't even know Morishita-san," Yamamura Miki hurriedly explained.

"Then why are you apologizing? It should be me apologizing to you, right?"

Yamamura Miki's voice dimmed slightly, "Because I... I've always had very little presence, so—"

"So sorry, I bumped into you, it's as simple as that." Mikage Touji shoved the book back into her hands.

"Ah, no, no—" Yamamura Miki covered the book with one hand and waved the other frantically.

"No what? If you don't apologize after bumping into someone, things will get awkward later. That's that. Please take care of me for the next three years. I'm heading off."

With that, Mikage Touji bypassed the stunned Yamamura Miki, walked to his seat, and plopped down.

"Mikage-kun, you're very kind."

Shiraishi Asuka, sitting next to him, put down her pen, closed the notebook she had been writing in, and said with a peaceful smile.

"That girl Yamamura seems to have a bit of a low presence, so she's afraid of causing trouble for others. You forced her to accept it directly so she wouldn't overthink it, didn't you?"

"Is that so?" Mikage Touji replied casually, "I didn't really think about it that way."

His ability primarily affected the mental realm and amplified sensory perception, so he hadn't felt that Yamamura Miki had a low presence at all.

Wait, no!

Mikage Touji had a second thought: the fact that he, with his amplified perception, had still bumped into Yamamura Miki was a problem in itself.

"It's probably true. When she introduced herself yesterday, there didn't seem to be much applause, even though she spoke quite well," Shiraishi Asuka continued.

During yesterday's self-introductions, as long as one wasn't as terrifying as Kito Hayato or as abstract as Mikage Touji, others would give some applause out of courtesy. Yet, Yamamura Miki hadn't received much, so perhaps she really was just not very noticeable.

"Speaking of which, Shiraishi-san, your insight is really good. I didn't even notice."

"Not at all," Shiraishi Asuka said with a smile, covering her mouth, "I just happened to see it."

"Mm-hmm." Mikage Touji responded softly.

His listless reply caught Shiraishi Asuka's attention. She looked curious: "Mikage-kun seems a bit low on energy. Did you not sleep well last night?"

"I suppose so."

Mikage Touji closed his panda-like eyes and said gloomily, "I'm not used to sleeping on the school beds."

"Hehe." Shiraishi Asuka let out a light laugh, "Then... would you like to take a nap now? I'll wake you up when class is about to start."

"Then I'll thank you in advance."

Mikage Touji let out a sound like a mutter, found a comfortable position, pressed his face against the desk, and fell asleep quickly.

Seeing Mikage Touji asleep, Shiraishi Asuka put her notebook back into the drawer and rested her chin on one hand, staring quietly at his face.

The sun had already climbed above the horizon, and the morning sunlight spilled softly through the glass window onto the boy's face, coating him in a thin veil of light. Shiraishi Asuka found herself lost in thought for a moment.

Are you... really him?

Mikage Touji had always believed the classroom was the perfect sanctuary for sleep. Here, no matter how severe the insomnia or how noisy the outside world, he could absolutely fall asleep during the ten-minute break.

As it turned out, Mikage Touji was right.

When Shiraishi Asuka gently touched his arm to wake him, he was already fully recharged.

The students in the class had all arrived, and everyone was taking out their textbooks to preview the day's content.

Mikage Touji's mouth twitched. He now understood why their class was ranked first as Class A among the four classes A, B, C, and D. With such an intense atmosphere of overachievers, if Class A were ranked last, he would eat his own hat.

Of course, there were still some exceptions, such as Morishita Ran, who was resting her chin on her hand with white clouds drifting in her blue-purple eyes, and Mikage Touji, who was snoring away as if no one else existed...

Ahem, that's not the point!

Mikage Touji patted his cheeks to wake himself up and turned his gaze toward the camera in the classroom.

The main event was about to begin.

The school's evaluation of student value was, in the end, just a guess without any evidence.

And finding proof was actually quite simple: just prove that one of the school's evaluations of student value was true.

Academic ability could be measured through exams.

Physical ability could be measured through competitions.

But for other aspects, if they were truly as he imagined, he would have to use the cameras to achieve his goal.

Furthermore, during this process, the teacher cannot provide any reminders, otherwise, the students' true level cannot be tested.

So, under what circumstances would it be the students' true level?

Mikage Touji thought of the answer last night.

Under circumstances where students have a high degree of freedom; in other words, when school discipline is highly relaxed.

Therefore...

One only needs to observe the teacher's attitude toward the students' classroom performance. If they completely ignore it, then it is clearly the school trying to use the cameras to test the students' various indicators.

Thinking to this point, Mikage Touji, feeling quite motivated, took out his textbook and stood it up on his desk. With his face hidden behind the book, he calmly observed the situation in the classroom.

Come on, let me see the true face of this school.

Half an hour later...

Mikage Touji let out his third yawn, staring blankly at the classroom.

No, is there some mistake? In a massive Class A with 40 people, everyone is actually listening to the lecture seriously, looking like they've been infected with a "study addiction." Shouldn't there be a fixed NPC like a Back-row War God?

Mikage Touji yawned again, then, as if remembering something, he "slapped" his book down.

No... speaking of a Back-row War God, there seems to be one!

Mikage Touji cast his gaze toward the podium, where Mashima Tomoya was lecturing while holding his textbook in one hand.

"The Earth provides us with air, water, and..."

"Ahem!"

Mikage Touji coughed twice, and the entire class's attention was immediately drawn to him.

Mashima Tomoya paused slightly, then continued lecturing with his hands behind his back.

"It gives us forests full of life and oceans so wide..."

Is that so...

Seeing this, Mikage Touji's expression turned brazen.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Mikage Touji tilted his chair back, rested his head on Morishita Ran's desk, and ignoring her increasingly cold gaze, he pressed his advantage by lifting his legs and "clattering" them onto his own desk.

"We must protect our beautiful planet..."

Mashima Tomoya still didn't react, continuing to lecture from the textbook stiffly, though in a corner no one could see, the corners of his mouth had already curled into a faint arc.

Regarding this strange scene and this eerie atmosphere, without needing to be told, the students in the class had already sensed that something was nine, or even ten parts wrong.

Finally, Mikage Touji simply stood up and walked out of the classroom, ignoring the gaze of the entire class.

During this time, Mashima Tomoya had no intention of stopping him at all, continuing to recite the lesson throughout.

Five minutes later, Mikage Touji walked back into the classroom swaggeringly, holding a bottle of free mineral water.

Some students seemed to have realized something from Teacher Mashima's reaction, staring intently in Mikage Touji's direction.

Mashima Tomoya, however, kept up a professional appearance, lecturing meticulously as if the scene before him had never happened at all.

Not long after, the bell for the end of class rang right on time. Mashima Tomoya packed up his lesson plans and walked out of the classroom without a word.

The next moment, the entire class's attention converged on the back-left corner of the classroom, and students led by Katsuragi Kōhei and Hashimoto Masayoshi quickly gathered around.

"Yo! Mikage-san," Hashimoto Masayoshi initiated the greeting, saying in a rather enthusiastic tone, "Your actions just now were to test the school's rules, right? Would you mind sharing?"

"I am of the same mind." Katsuragi Kōhei crossed his arms and said in a deep voice, "Just now, Mikage-kun clearly knew that Teacher Mashima would not react before taking such action. The information you possess must be far beyond ours. If Mikage-kun is willing to share, that would be for the best."

In Katsuragi Kōhei's view, Mikage Touji was someone who neither resisted socializing nor actively approached others; if they didn't ask, Mikage Touji might truly not volunteer the information.

Mikage Touji tilted his head back to take a gulp of mineral water and looked at Hashimoto Masayoshi. "Hashimoto-san, did you go ask the upperclassmen yesterday? What were their answers?"

"Regrettably," Hashimoto Masayoshi shrugged, "I have absolutely no clue. I threw away all my pride, pestered them, and even tried to trade points, but they had no intention of sharing. The answers they gave were also quite vague, things like 'just do what you are supposed to do' and the like."

"I do have some guesses on my end, but I have no evidence, so I cannot go any further," Katsuragi Kōhei said.

"Is that so..." Mikage Touji wasn't surprised, saying candidly, "In fact, I am also only at the guessing stage and need to verify it further."

"Do you need me to do anything?" Kito Hayato volunteered.

"If you need support related to points, I believe the students in the class would be willing to contribute," Katsuragi Kōhei said.

"That won't be necessary," Mikage Touji said. "If I need it later, I will bring it up."

"Do you need manpower?" Hashimoto Masayoshi leaned in, "I'd be very happy to help with things like running errands."

"That won't be necessary," Mikage Touji glanced at Hashimoto Masayoshi with a strange look.

Why did he feel like this guy was being overly enthusiastic, almost to the point of fawning?

Every time he saw him, Mikage Touji could hear that slightly sycophantic, strangely accented "Tai-kun~" from the anti-Japanese war dramas of his past life echoing in his ears.

"Alright," Katsuragi Kōhei nodded. "If you need actual help, call me in the class group anytime."

The break time was very short, and as the bell for the next class rang, the crowd around Mikage Touji dispersed.

"You really are showing off, Mikage Touji." A voice devoid of emotional fluctuation drifted eerily from behind.

This time, Mikage Touji did not fall for it again; he leaned back, resting his chair against Morishita Ran's table.

"So, Morishita-san, are you ready to admit defeat?" Mikage Touji lowered his voice to say.

Having failed to trick Mikage Touji, Morishita Ran felt a bit regretful. "That's not necessarily true. My plan is proceeding in an orderly fashion. Such an arrogant posture—truly worthy of a Mikage Touji who possesses powerful darkness, isn't it? But it doesn't matter; usually, guys who pop the champagne at halftime end up losing everything in the end."

"Morishita-san, if I recall correctly, I'm the Ultraman who represents light, right?"

"Hmm? But hasn't your light already run away? An Ultraman without light is just an Alien Empera."

"Tsk..." Mikage Touji was annoyed and embarrassed.

"That is exactly why I hate that scumbag who swindled my light away when I was eight years old!"

Chapter 7: Just Because I Glanced at Your Black Stockings

Palette Cafe, the most popular cafe in the school, a place where girls love to hang out during lunch breaks and after school.

Mikage Touji sat in his seat, calmly eyeing the pairs of fair, tender thighs beneath pleated skirts.

Truly full of vitali--

"You really are an unlovable underclassman, aren't you? With such a beautiful Senior right here, you insist on looking at other girls." A voice tinged with teasing dragged him back to reality.

Mikage Touji turned his head helplessly. A tall Senior with long silver hair was crossing her legs, which were wrapped in black stockings, and sipping her coffee leisurely.

"So, Senior, is there a reason you dragged me over here?"

Kiryūin Fūka raised an eyebrow, resting her left arm on the chair and revealing a wanton smile. "You're the one who came to our second-year territory to scout for information, yet you have the nerve to ask me why I dragged you over."

"Senior, is there any possibility that I was just wandering around?" Mikage Touji picked up his coffee cup, took a sip, and probed cautiously.

"This is the first time I've seen someone 'wandering around' by specifically observing student classrooms," Kiryūin Fūka exposed Mikage Touji's lie without mercy.

I shouldn't have glanced at those black stockings. Mikage Touji wailed in his heart.

The plan had been going so smoothly; Mikage Touji had already finished scouting the third and first years, but when he finally scouted Class B of the second years, he had been captivated by that pair of black-stockinged legs swinging in the air.