The Supremacy Classroom Backed by Black Technology Chapter 24

And so, this suddenly visiting Ichinose helped Shuichi Kanda and the others shake off that troublesome teacher, Hoshinomiya.

Chabashira watched Hoshinomiya leave. She scratched her head irritably, let out a baffled sigh, then strode toward the guidance office.

Before long, Shuichi Kanda followed Chabashira into the guidance room near the faculty office.

"So... what did you call us here for? I don't recall ever offending you, Chabashira-sensei?" Shuichi Kanda scratched his head too, the motion a perfect mirror of Chabashira's earlier gesture.

"Are you provoking me?"

"Uh, no way."

Shuichi Kanda sheepishly lowered his hand, pretending nothing had happened.

Then, Chabashira opened an inner room adjoining the guidance office. It looked like a tea nook, complete with an electric stove and a kettle on top.

"Just brewing some tea, right? Hojicha okay?" As he spoke, Ayanokouji picked up the teapot and flipped over the cups that had been placed upside down on the tea table.

"Ayanokouji knows how to brew tea? Then I'll take black tea, with sugar and milk."

Hearing Shuichi Kanda's request, Ayanokouji looked utterly speechless.

"I seem to recall you abandoned me at a critical moment. How do you have the nerve to drink tea I brew?"

"That was force majeure. You saw how troublesome Hoshinomiya-sensei was, didn't you?"

The excuse was solid enough—even Ayanokouji found that teacher a handful.

"You two, cut it out and get serious. In short, stay here quietly until I let you out. No noise, understand? Violate it, and you're expelled."

Fake. Definitely fake.

Because in situations where expulsion was actually on the line, Chabashira's tone when saying "expelled" was completely different.

Watching Chabashira close the door and leave, Shuichi Kanda grabbed the teapot Ayanokouji had set back on the table, quickly filled it with water, and placed it on the electric stove, completely ignoring her earlier words.

And water, when boiling, makes a lot of noise. So not long after the kettle was plugged in, Chabashira heard the sound.

Her eyebrow twitched twice. Chabashira took a deep breath and decided not to bother with the two inside.

"Aren't you going too far?" Ayanokouji asked quietly, using the boiling water's noise as cover.

"It's fine. I want to taste your skills too."

"So I said, do you even have the nerve?"

"I told you, force majeure. Cut me some slack."

Thump!

"Quiet!"

Chabashira's voice came from outside, and the two immediately fell silent.

Soon, her voice came again from outside.

"You're here, Horikita. The hot water will be ready soon. Want a cup of black tea?"

Hearing this, Shuichi Kanda immediately looked at Ayanokouji, pulled out his phone, and started typing.

[Brew tea. Four cups.]

Though exasperated, Ayanokouji still prepared four cups, took out tea powder from a container labeled "black tea," and waited for the water to boil.

"Then I'll trouble you."

"Please have a seat over there for now."

Soon, the sound of Horikita and Chabashira talking came from outside, followed by the kettle's water bubbling.

"The water's boiled. Aren't you going to brew the tea, Chabashira-sensei?"

"Horikita, it seems you've never studied the tea ceremony. Water that's just boiled can't be used to brew tea."

Hearing Chabashira's words, Shuichi Kanda understood—so that's why Ayanokouji hadn't moved. He was waiting for the water to cool down.

A few minutes later, the sound of Chabashira's high heels clicking on the floor echoed.

Then the door opened. But due to Chabashira's special instructions, Horikita was sitting on the sofa, her line of sight unable to reach this side.

Chabashira waited until Ayanokouji had brewed the black tea and added milk and sugar, then shot the two a fierce glare.

After that, she placed the two cups of brewed tea on the back of the clipboard she'd brought earlier and carried them out.

Well, if the suit were swapped for a maid outfit and the clipboard for a tray...

Don't think about it, don't think about it. Demons and monsters, get out of my head!

Chapter 42: Makes Sense!

Watching Chabashira actually bring out two cups of black tea from the tea nook, Horikita Suzune felt a bit speechless inside. Are you serious? You're really just drinking tea now?

Still, thinking that, Horikita Suzune picked up the cup of black tea placed before her. From the color, it looked like milk had been added.

And touching the rim of the cup didn't feel hot, so was this drinkable right away?

Right now, she just wanted to ask the question that had been bothering her for days. She was in a hurry, but if she didn't drink, the other party didn't seem inclined to tell her.

Then she took a sip, so Horikita Suzune brought the teacup to her lips and drank.

Delicious!

She wasn't well-versed in the tea ceremony, but she could still tell this tea was exceptional—better than anything she'd had at shops outside.

Still, could this stuff really have been brewed by that nearly-thirty-year-old single teacher? With a skill like this, wouldn't opening a shop outside the school be more profitable than teaching?

"Horikita, that look in your eyes is quite rude."

Chabashira raised her own cup and took a sip, but her inner surprise was no less than Horikita's. What kind of creature was this Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, that he even knew the tea ceremony?

The same disbelief struck Shuichi Kanda in the break room.

To be honest, Kanda wasn't used to Japanese tea—the kind where you grind tea leaves into powder and brew it. It just didn't sit right with him.

So he'd only planned to give it a try, but one sip caught him off guard.

The milk made the brewed black tea smoother, while the sugar balanced out the bitterness.

Though he still preferred the faintly bitter fragrance of jasmine tea he'd had before, he couldn't deny this cup was excellent.

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, quite the hand!

"So, Horikita, now that you've had your tea, is there something you wanted to see me about?"

Speaking of Horikita, Kanda thought her image was a lot like the heroines from light novels popular a few years ago—long black hair, and an aura that made people keep their distance.

Oh, and by the way, that Ichinose girl he'd met today was very much like the losing heroine in those light novels—the pitiful type who excelled in every way but somehow lost in the most inexplicable circumstances.

"I'll be direct. Why was I assigned to Class D?" Horikita brought up the matter, all trace of her earlier tea-drinking elegance gone, her tone full of defiance. "You said today that excellent students are selected into Class A in order, while Class D is the last bastion for the school's bottom-feeders. But I don't think I'm the same as those people."

Hearing this from the break room, Shuichi Kanda silently set down his cup.

Sorry, light novel heroines, I was wrong. This one's not like you—she's at best a supporting character.

Sorry, Ichinose. This must be my punishment for gossiping about you behind your back. Please forgive me!

But Horikita probably wanted to ask Chabashira these questions last Friday, right? Except Hirata was announcing the solution to their points problem then, and it was Friday, so she held it in for three... no, today's Monday after school, so four days?

Well, that must've been rough. Not even getting to enjoy a pleasant weekend. How pitiful.

Racing through these thoughts, Kanda picked up his less-than-half-full cup of black tea, his expression relaxing.

"Judging by your indignation, you think you're quite excellent."

"Of course I do!" Horikita Suzune's affirmation nearly made Kanda spit out his tea in the break room.

Girl, do you have some misunderstanding about what 'excellent' means?

Wake up. That Horikita—the Student Council President—that's what excellence looks like. You're not that Horikita.

"I'm confident I solved almost all the problems on the entrance exam, and I don't recall any major mistakes in the interview. At the very least, I can't imagine being assigned to Class D."

The girl kept venting her dissatisfaction in front of Chabashira.

"I see. Normally, entrance exam results aren't shown to others, but since you've said that much, I'll make an exception. I happen to have your test paper here."

Liar!

There's no way that's a coincidence. Teacher Chabashira, you're not a good person! And you must have known Horikita would come, right?

That was exactly it. She'd prepared it last Friday, but Horikita didn't show up, so Chabashira had been disappointed for a while.

Sure enough, during this morning's meeting, Horikita messaged Chabashira, saying she had something to discuss and hoped they could make time after school.

"You came well-prepared. Did you anticipate I'd bring up this topic?"

"Well, I am a teacher. I have some understanding of my students' personalities. It's not hard to predict what they'll do next based on that."

More lies. Then how come you didn't predict I'd actually come brew tea?

"Horikita Suzune, on the entrance exam, you placed third among this year's first-years, tied with others, and your score was nearly identical to first and second place. The interview also revealed no particular concerns. All the interviewers gave you very high marks."

So, what's the 'but'?

"Thank you. Then—why?"

Horikita Suzune, you're not following the script!

"Before that, why are you dissatisfied with being in Class D?"

"No one is happy about being misjudged. Besides, in this school, class differences have a huge impact on the future. It's only natural to be dissatisfied."

"Misjudged? Hahaha. You really think highly of yourself."

Hearing Horikita's words, Chabashira seemed to recall something and laughed to herself, as if mocking Horikita's naivety.

In the break room, Shuichi Kanda set down his empty cup and pulled out his phone, starting to type.

[Has Teacher Chabashira dealt with a student like Horikita before? She's got her completely figured out.]

Seeing Kanda's message, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji replied with the same.

[How would I know that?]

Can't you just go along with it? Say something like 'maybe' or 'probably.' You'll never make friends like this, Ayanokoji.

But Horikita's fingers didn't stop; she seemed to be still typing something.

[Maybe she was like this before too?]

Looking at the words Horikita had typed, Shuichi Kanda froze for a moment.

[That makes sense!]

Chapter 43: Horikita Said She Wanted to Drop Out

Shuichi Kanda and Horikita felt they had uncovered a big secret about Chabashira Sae—maybe they could use this opportunity to blackmail her?

If Chabashira-sensei had once been like Horikita Suzune, then that period of her life must be a dark history for her, right?

Chabashira-sensei, you wouldn't want your students in the class to find out about your dark past, would you?

Just as Shuichi Kanda was lost in wild speculation, Chabashira-sensei's voice continued from outside.

"Your academic ability is excellent—I'll admit that much. But who ever said that someone with strong academic skills gets to enter a good class? We've never said anything like that."

"That's—that's common sense in society."

Common sense? Are you living in some ancient feudal society where you become an official through the imperial examination system?

"Common sense? What a laughable notion of common sense. Being good at studying is indeed one kind of ability. But this school's purpose is to cultivate truly outstanding people. If you think that being good at books alone is enough to get you into a high-ranked class, you're sorely mistaken."

"Besides, if you think academic performance determines who's superior, then Kōenji, Yukimura, and Hirata shouldn't be in Class D. And people like Sudo's group probably wouldn't have been admitted to this school at all."

Really laying it on thick, Chabashira-sensei. First she brings up several people whose academic ability is comparable to or even better than hers, making the point that if the class placement really was a mistake, she's not the only one—and none of them complained, so why should she?

Then she brings up Sudo and those other academic dead-lasts to show that the school's admission process isn't as simple as it seems.

"This..."