A Story Starting from Classroom of the Elite

"Could it be, are you saying..."

"That's right."

Tachibana Akane stopped her work, her fingers turning white as she gripped her terminal.

She bit her lower lip with her canine tooth while thinking, her eyes filled with disbelief.

"Is Nagumo Miyabi insane?

Has he not considered the consequences for himself?

The level of competition those old fogies acknowledge is far more intense than what we have now.

It's even cruel and bloody.

Compared to that, his little tricks are nothing more than children playing house."

Men die for wealth, just as birds die for food.

Marx once said:

If capital has a fifty percent profit margin, it will take risks; if it has a hundred percent profit margin, it will dare to trample on all human laws; if it has a three hundred percent profit margin, it will dare to commit any crime, even at the risk of being hanged.

Therefore, Horikita Manabu easily arrived at the answer.

His bones creaked as he straightened his back, but his hand, pulling files from the cabinet, remained as steady as a machine.

"Presumably, someone has made him a promise, offering him sufficient benefits."

"But his weight alone shouldn't be enough, even with the support of some leaders. The others aren't exactly pushovers, either."

"Hard to say."

Tachibana Akane suddenly blocked his line of sight with her terminal.

Her cheeks were puffed up like a steamed bun.

You guy.

Don't keep your partner in suspense at a time like this.

"Then what should we do?"

"We can only trust in the wisdom of our juniors."

Horikita Manabu suddenly tugged at the corners of his mouth; this expression, bordering on a smile, sent a chill down Tachibana Akane's spine.

It seems the underclassmen will have to rely on their own strength to protect themselves.

The third-years are going to graduate, after all.

"Are we not going to pay attention to the sender and the student who made the deal with Ichinose?"

"One is a first-year. The other is likely one as well."

It is the President's principle to insist on not interfering with the affairs of other grades.

But both of them are?

That's right.

Silver hair, about 1.8 meters tall, handsome features, and an outstanding aura.

There are no students in the second or third year who fit that description.

This year's first-year class is truly full of talent.

Tachibana Akane sighed in admiration.

After the karaoke session ended, it was almost time for dinner.

The other girls left tactfully.

Tanaka Yukishin took Karuizawa Kei and Koenji Rokusuke to the third floor of the cafeteria.

With everyone intentionally trying to get along, the meal was quite pleasant, and they ate with great satisfaction.

Returning to the dormitory, Tanaka Yukishin could finally hold back no longer.

He swept Karuizawa Kei up in a bridal carry and tossed her onto the bed.

As Karuizawa Kei sank into the down duvet, her hair scattered into countless silver-white rays of light in the moonlight.

Tanaka Yukishin's fingertips hovered three centimeters from her ear, the air conditioning breeze swirling as the atmosphere between them heated up and fermented in the cramped space.

"Your eyelashes are trembling," Tanaka Yukishin said in a low, guttural voice, his fingertips grazing over Karuizawa Kei's quivering eyelids as if touching a butterfly spreading its wings.

Kei suddenly grabbed his wrist, her nails pressing crescent-shaped marks into his pulse.

The wind outside the window swept away the words left unsaid; as she tilted her head back, her neck arched into the curve of a swan, and the warm light of the desk lamp pooled into an amber-colored pool in the hollow of her collarbone.

The sound of Tanaka Yukishin's Adam's apple bobbing was clearly audible as he pressed his forehead against her neck, his scorching breath seeping into the collar of her uniform.

"You'll wrinkle the uniform," Kei's voice was muffled against his neck, yet her fingers twisted tightly into the back of his shirt.

Tanaka Yukishin chuckled low, his fingertips hooking and winding around the ends of her hair.

"I'll iron it for you tomorrow."

In the rhythm of the night breeze fluttering the curtains, their overlapping silhouettes swayed against the wall like seaweed.

It wasn't until Kei's thumb unconsciously brushed against his Adam's apple that Yukishin suddenly rolled over to pull her close, burying his face in her hair to inhale deeply.

Moonlight spilled over the unopened strawberry milk on the nightstand as Kei curled her knees against his waist, listening to their heartbeats weaving a dense web in the darkness.

The seventh time Tanaka Yukishin counted her breathing pattern change, the warmth in his arms suddenly pulled away—Kei jumped out of bed barefoot and grabbed the milk, her earlobes red enough to drip blood: "Idiot, you can't drink it if it's expired."

Tanaka Yukishin said nothing.

He simply propped his head up with one hand, lying on his side on the bed.

He watched the young girl quietly.

"Why are you looking at me like that, you... bad guy?"

She didn't realize at all how terrible the excuse for a truce she had come up with in her panic was.

Karuizawa Kei felt strange about her lover's gaze.

Like a hissing kitten, she tried to turn the tables on him.

But it had zero intimidation factor; if anything, it was just a little cute.

...Tanaka Yukishin still said nothing.

He simply reached out both hands to press against the bed and sat up, leaning his back against the headboard to change his posture, sitting with one leg bent.

Then, he extended his right hand and picked up the remaining carton of strawberry milk on the nightstand.

This had been prepared for them to replenish their fluids while resting.

He unhurriedly tore off the plastic seal and inserted the straw into the opening.

He took a gentle sip.

As his index finger tapped repeatedly on the same spot.

Tap... tap...

The sound echoed rhythmically.

At some point, a wicked smirk appeared on Tanaka Yukishin's face, his eyes full of mockery.

Karuizawa Kei vaguely felt that something was wrong.

She followed her lover's fingertip.

At the spot he was tapping, a few numbers were printed on the paper carton of the strawberry milk.

4.01

How could strawberry milk produced on the day of enrollment possibly expire the very next day...

Finally realizing what she had done.

Karuizawa Kei felt her face burning hot.

The flush spread from her earlobes to her entire body.

In a daze, she felt as if steam were rising from the top of her head.

She was going to turn into a steam-girl...

Seeing this, Tanaka Yukishin straightened his expression.

Having learned from Kamuro Masumi that too much of a good thing can be counterproductive.

He chose to quit while he was ahead.

He took a sharp gulp and finished the milk in his hand.

He jumped off the bed and walked quickly behind the girl.

After pulling her into his arms, he cupped her cheeks with one hand.

He easily completed a kiss-kill.

There was no helping it; solving things with words was still too difficult for him.

He decided that actions spoke louder than words.

Mmph... they kissed for a long time.

He only stopped when the person in his arms tapped his thigh.

Panting, Karuizawa Kei turned around, her weak hands trembling as she wrapped them around her lover's waist.

She turned her face and pressed it against his chest and shoulder.

"Yukishin-kun is a bad guy."

"Kei-chan is an idiot."

"I am an idiot, that's why I was tricked by a bad guy the very first day we met."

The two embraced for a long time before Karuizawa Kei looked up.

"Tanaka Yukishin-kun won't abandon me, right?"

"Bad guys are very bad, you know. They have to keep up the lie for a lifetime."

"You just know how to make me happy."

Karuizawa Kei broke into a smile and pressed herself back against his chest and shoulder.

"Why did you suddenly ask that?"

"Because..."

Karuizawa Kei seemed a bit bashful and hesitant.

In the end, she gathered her courage and voiced the worries in her heart.

"When the upperclassman mentioned a harem this morning, Tanaka Yukishin-kun didn't refute it."

Furthermore, back in the private room.

When she was distributing points to the other girls.

She could feel the way the other girls coveted her lover.

...How should he put it?

Tanaka Yukishin felt the girl's heartbeat.

Under the contact of their mental fields, it was surprisingly sincere and earnest.

She seemed to have truly fallen for him.

Heart to heart.

Forget it, the truth it is.