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

Morishita Ran also stood up from her seat, looking as if she intended to follow him.

At this moment, Mikage Touji realized the jig was up. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, adopting a defensive posture, and shouted.

"What do you think you're doing, Morishita Ran!"

"Lord Morishita smells the scent of romance." Morishita Ran shed her previous expressionless mask, her eyes sparkling as she stared at Mikage Touji's pocket. "A maiden's sentiments, budding emotions, a blushing face, and those confession lines rewritten over and over again. Nya-nya, Mikage Touji, please let me see it too, I'm begging you."

Is that really what a begging expression looks like?

That burning gaze seemed as if it would pierce right through Mikage Touji's pocket and strike the love letter inside.

"Actually, I'm quite curious myself."

Shiraishi Asuka, who had already left to go eat, had returned at some point. She appeared quietly behind Mikage Touji, her hands pressed slightly together, her voice as soft as water.

"Nani!" Mikage Touji felt a sense of despair. "How do even you know about this, Shiraishi-san?"

"Because Mikage-kun has been acting very strange today." Sitting on the other side of the classroom, Yamamura Miki kept her legs together and tilted to the side, raising a finger to offer a serious reminder.

"You've been repeatedly adjusting your sitting posture, sliding back and forth and side to side in your chair, shifting your butt frequently and quite noticeably. Lord Morishita could see it all clearly from behind," Morishita Ran added.

"And you shouldn't tap your fingers on the desk in such an irregular, rapid rhythm either. If you do that, anyone can tell at a glance that you have something on your mind," Shiraishi Asuka reminded him with a smile.

"It's because Mikage-kun has had no energy today, just sitting at his desk all day long," Yamamura Miki delivered the final blow.

"..."

Facing the all-encompassing pressure from the three of them, Mikage Touji had nowhere to hide. He could only look up and let out a long sigh, accepting this cruel reality.

At Mikage Touji's desk, four people huddled around, their gazes locked firmly onto a pink envelope.

"Is this the legendary love letter? I can already smell it—the feeling of a girl's heart pounding with excitement." Morishita Ran's enthusiasm was written all over her face.

"Fufu~ Did Mikage-kun find this in his shoe locker?" Shiraishi Asuka rested her chin on her hand, letting out a light, airy laugh.

"Eh?" Yamamura Miki's face turned as red as an apple, and she covered her cheeks. "This... so that's how it is?"

"Actually, this is my first time seeing the real thing, too," Mikage Touji said, bowing his head with a grave expression.

He had originally thought it might be some guy's prank, but then he reconsidered—besides Morishita Ran, no one was bored enough to pull a prank on him, so this love letter was likely genuine.

"Mikage-kun, are you going to open it?"

Yamamura Miki curiously examined the sticker on the envelope.

"I'm more curious about whether Mikage-kun will accept," Shiraishi Asuka said, her eyes narrowing into slits with a playful, ambiguous smile.

Mikage Touji sat in his chair with his arms crossed, deep in thought. In truth, he hadn't decided what to do, or rather, if it really was a love letter, how he should reply to this person.

"Open it, open it! The script of love is knocking at the door of your heart. Open it and walk through the gateway to romance."

Morishita Ran continued to whisper and stir the pot in Mikage Touji's ear, clearly enjoying the chaos.

Mikage Touji turned his head abruptly, staring into Morishita Ran's large eyes, and asked viciously, "Is this really not your prank?"

"It's not."

"Do you want me to open it?"

Within a few seconds, Morishita Ran's excited expression turned as calm as water.

"Suit yourself."

"..."

"Since that's the case..."

Mikage Touji patted his cheeks, took a deep breath, picked up the envelope, and peeled off the seal: "I'm opening it."

Mm-hmm.

The other three nodded solemnly.

"I hope it's not a prank thought up by that guy who has too much time on his hands."

A piece of pink stationery, carefully folded, was revealed before Mikage Touji.

To ease his nervous tension, Mikage Touji specifically took a notebook to cover the letter, pulling it down bit by bit.

First, he had to confirm whether this thing was actually a love letter.

Filled with curiosity, confusion, excitement, and other such feelings, the other three heads silently leaned in over the top of the letter.

Then they saw Mikage Touji's hand covering it.

"Even if it is a love letter written to me, it's not really appropriate for you all to be looking at it like this," Mikage Touji said, narrowing his eyes at the three people who were still standing their ground.

"That's not right!"

Morishita Ran exercised her talent for sophistry, saying with a straight face, "Since she was able to write this and stuff it into your shoe locker, it proves that the ownership of this envelope is already yours. And since she was able to muster the courage to send it, it proves she was already prepared for the possibility that what she wrote would be seen by others."

"Mikage-kun, girls are very good at lying, you know." Shiraishi Asuka's eyes curved into crescents as she held up a finger and shook it gently. "If this was written by a bad girl, I'll help you vet it."

"..."

Mikage Touji turned his head to look at the last one.

Yamamura Miki's face flushed bright red, and she stammered, "I-if Mikage-kun wants to know who wrote it, I... I can help Mikage-kun find her."

"So, you're saying you absolutely have to read this letter?"

"Yes!" the three of them said in unison.

Faced with the trio who had completely abandoned all sense of shame, Mikage Touji had no choice but to give in.

"You are not allowed to tell anyone else about the contents."

"Got it!" x3

"And if it turns out to be a prank letter, you are not allowed to mock me."

"Got it!" x3

After receiving their confirmation, Mikage Touji shifted his focus back to the envelope and slowly pulled his hand away, revealing the first line of text.

[I have been interested in you ever since the entrance ceremony...]

The hearts of all four skipped a beat—not just because of the content, but because of the handwriting. It was small and cute, clearly not written by a boy, and if one leaned in close, they could detect a faint, pleasant fragrance mingling with the scent of ink and paper.

"It looks like it was written by a cute girl," Shiraishi Asuka said, her eyes sparkling as she stared at the script.

"Mhm!" Yamamura Miki nodded vigorously in agreement.

"..."

Morishita Ran stared blankly at the envelope on the table for a moment, then suddenly slapped her palm.

"Someone actually wrote a love letter to Mikage Touji?"

Mikage Touji's face darkened. So, until now, you didn't think it was even possible for anyone to like me?

"Hurry, hurry, the bottom, the bottom."

Morishita Ran tapped Mikage Touji's shoulder incessantly.

"I know, I know. Can you be a little gentler?"

"No!"

Mikage Touji took another deep breath and slowly pulled the notebook down further.

The gist of the letter was that she had been drawn to him since the entrance ceremony and that his actions in daily life made her heart flutter. It then listed a series of specific details, and the final paragraph stated that she had recently realized her own feelings and wanted to meet him behind the gymnasium at four o'clock this Friday after school.

Mikage Touji tilted his head in confusion.

No matter how you looked at it, this was a love letter. The emotions were sincere, capturing the naive, nervous feelings of a girl facing someone she liked.

However...

Mikage Touji looked up and saw three pairs of wide, bright eyes.

Shiraishi Asuka: "Does Mikage-kun often go to karaoke with classmates?"

Yamamura Miki: "So Mikage-kun actually cleaned the entire classroom at the start of the term and helped the girl who wrote this letter?"

Morishita Ran: "You actually make bento to share with classmates? Where's my share? Give it back to me right now!"

"How is that possible? Does this sound like something I would do at all?"

Mikage Touji was starting to lose his mind.

Wait!

Mikage Touji pulled the notebook all the way to the bottom in one go, revealing the entire letter.

After re-examining the opened envelope, he narrowed his eyes, silently pulled out his phone, and dialed a number. After three rings, a vibrant, energetic voice came through the line.

"Yahallo! Mikage-kun!"

Holding the phone to his ear, Mikage Touji said with a deadpan expression.

"Ichinose, you left something at my place."

On the school path, the four of them were walking toward the convenience store together. Mikage Touji walked in front with a cold face, while behind him, charming and cheerful laughter erupted from time to time.

"I'm telling you, can you stop laughing? Didn't you promise me you wouldn't?"

Mikage Touji stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the three people walking in a disorganized line behind him.

"Sorry, Mikage-kun." Shiraishi Asuka wiped the tears from her eyes, walked past him, and looked at him quietly, whispering, "But, it's actually a good thing."

"What's a good thing?"

"Because you didn't receive a love letter."

Shiraishi Asuka dropped this bombshell and walked ahead without waiting for a response.

"Um... please... don't be sad," Yamamura Miki said, catching up from behind. She twisted her fingers together nervously and shouted in a voice slightly louder than usual, "Someone will like Mikage-kun! There definitely will be."

After saying that, she trotted off to catch up with the others.

"Hehehe~" Morishita Ran dragged out the end of her sentence. She came up beside Mikage Touji, her usually expressionless face showing a rare spark of joy. "I knew no one would ever like that chuunibyou, delusional Mikage Touji who loves to bully girls."

Having dropped that line, Morishita Ran skipped away like a little rabbit toward the front.

Mikage Touji lagged behind, watching the three figures from afar, and let out a heavy sigh.

Yeah...

A pale blue envelope, also bearing a heart-shaped pattern, was pulled out from his pocket.

Unfolding the paper, only a single sentence was written on it.

[I like you, Mikage Touji.]

Chapter 60 Where is the Mastermind

The afternoon break on the day after the Midterm Exam.

Near the window in the Class A classroom for first-years, several students from Class A gathered together, exchanging information about the Midterm Exam results of each class from yesterday.

"A student from Class D has dropped out."

Katsuragi Kōhei, who was always composed, set down the notebook in his hand and spoke up first, which was unexpected; it seemed he had been rattled by the fact that a student had dropped out.

"A student named Ike Kanji," Hashimoto Masayoshi added, leaning against the window frame, his fingers nimbly spinning his phone as he faced the window.

"Is there any specific information on how they dropped out?" Katsuragi Kōhei frowned and continued to ask.

Yesterday, some Class D students had come to borrow points from Class A students. Given that the amounts were small—only ten or twenty thousand points—Katsuragi Kōhei hadn't paid much attention to it, but he received news that a student had dropped out that very evening.

Furthermore, the timing of the request to borrow points was off. Why would they come to borrow points only during the last period? Most importantly, a student had still ended up dropping out in the end.

This situation made Katsuragi Kōhei feel uneasy.

"None. This time it's very strange. I tried to fish for information from the Class D students for a long time, but they wouldn't say a word. In the past, it would have only taken a few points to pry the information out of them." The phone stopped spinning, and Hashimoto Masayoshi's expression turned a bit more serious.

Kito Hayato, who was leaning in the corner with his arms crossed, reminded them in a low voice, "A student from Class D hasn't come to class since the Midterm Exam, and their seat has been empty since yesterday."

Katsuragi Kōhei's brow furrowed even tighter. After thinking for a moment, he reached a conclusion, "It is necessary to investigate the situation in Class D further."

"I will continue to look into it," Hashimoto Masayoshi said, sliding his phone into his pocket with a smooth motion, nodding in agreement.

Outside the window, the scorching sun hung high in the sky, and the trees lining the school path drooped listlessly.