Classroom of the Mediocre Supremacist

"En, want to grab lunch together?"

He glanced at the two people blocking the back door and asked Hoshino En.

Friends inviting each other to eat—that's normal, right?

"I'd love to, but I'm stuck with a bad woman from another class right now, so I can't go with you."

Hoshino En pointed at Sakayanagi Arisu standing nearby, looking helpless.

"I see. I'll go on my own, then."

"Sure."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka came quietly and left quietly, like a white bird soaring into the sky, gaining freedom.

"Alright, Lady Sakayanagi, let's go eat too. Kamuro's getting impatient."

Hoshino En extended his hand to Sakayanagi Arisu, but this time she didn't take it. Instead, she silently turned and walked away.

Seeing this, Kamuro Masumi exchanged a glance with Hoshino En and quickly followed.

"What's wrong? Really jealous?"

On the way to the cafeteria, Hoshino En stuck close to Sakayanagi Arisu, pestering her.

"I'm not..."

She refuted, but her usual confident tone was tinged with a hint of confusion.

"Haha, see? She's totally jealous!"

Hoshino En said to Kamuro Masumi, who was behind Sakayanagi Arisu, a blatant smile on his face.

Hearing that and seeing Sakayanagi Arisu's reaction, Kamuro Masumi couldn't help but curl the corners of her mouth.

But noticing Sakayanagi Arisu turning her head, she quickly pressed her lips back down.

"Hoshino-kun, your behavior right now is very rude, and besides..."

"You want to destroy Ayanokoji Kiyotaka?"

At that, Sakayanagi Arisu fell silent. She stared straight at Hoshino En, her face unreadable.

"You saw it clearly yesterday, so why were you so careless today?"

Hoshino En extended his right hand to her.

"If you want to hear the [story], let's fill our stomachs at the cafeteria first. I'm really hungry."

Sakayanagi Arisu said nothing, but her left hand obediently complied.

Just like yesterday, Hoshino En supported Sakayanagi Arisu as they walked to the cafeteria, with a [sneaky] Kamuro Masumi trailing behind them.

Chapter 18: Kamuro Masumi: So Scary, So Scary!

Arriving at the cafeteria, Hoshino En and Sakayanagi Arisu found seats, while Kamuro Masumi was sent off to buy food.

"Can't you two get your own food? I need to eat too!!"

Despite her verbal complaints, her body obediently moved.

This guy is definitely a masochist, a perfect match for Sakayanagi the sadist.

Hoshino En silently remarked in his mind.

He led Sakayanagi Arisu to a four-person booth and sat across from her.

Neither spoke, and a long silence swept over this already quiet corner.

"Sorry, that was rude just now."

Finally, Sakayanagi Arisu, having composed herself, spoke first.

Even after yesterday's events, she'd still let her emotions lead her, and he saw right through her—what a failure!

"So, tell me, how exactly did you reach that conclusion?"

But more than that, she now wanted to know his reasoning.

"Don't rush. Let's wait for Kamuro to bring the food and fill our stomachs first."

Her eagerness didn't affect Hoshino En in the slightest. He just wanted to eat now, and besides—watching Sakayanagi Arisu lose her composure again felt pretty good... no, it felt amazing!

Hearing this, Sakayanagi Arisu didn't get angry. A loser accepts their punishment—that was only natural.

After Kamuro Masumi bought the food, they finished eating, and then Sakayanagi Arisu once again fixed him with a sharp gaze, as if she were about to utter that classic line.

"How exactly did you figure out that I want to destroy Ayanokoji Kiyotaka?"

"I'm curious."

Ah, she said it. She actually said it.

"I replayed our earlier conversation. My reaction was the same as when I faced you yesterday—at most, it looked like I wanted to defeat him. Why would you think I want to destroy him?"

"True. But what about your reaction afterward?"

Hoshino En kindly explained, guessing that the other party might not understand just how obvious the openings in her own loss of composure were.

"Your reaction before I chatted with Ayanokoji did match the situation you described. I thought the same thing at the time: Ayanokoji Kiyotaka should be a 'genius' you recognize, just like me. But for some reason, you couldn't defeat him—no, you didn't even clash with him. So you were frustrated, and that's why you made that face when you saw him."

"But the problem is your reaction afterward. When you saw me getting along with him, even calling each other by name, you got angry. You were angry that I was on good terms with him. That contradicts my initial analysis of you—because you wouldn't get angry over two opponents you recognize joining forces; you'd only get more excited. So I judged that my earlier conclusion was flawed."

"But how can you be sure your analysis of me is correct?"

Sakayanagi Arisu tried to resist, unwilling to admit she'd been seen through.

To this, Hoshino En replied, "You're a smart person, and a very arrogant, very confident one at that. People like you are the easiest to analyze. On the other hand, pure, untainted airheads, or those ultimate idiots whose thought processes bounce between people and objects—those are the tough ones."

Sakayanagi Arisu: "..."

Though she didn't want to admit it, she couldn't lie about her own personality, nor did she want to acknowledge she was one of the latter two types Hoshino En found hard to handle.

Completely seen through.

"Anyway, back to the main point. Since I found a flaw in my earlier reasoning, I overturned the hypothesis that 'Ayanokoji Kiyotaka is a genius you recognize, just like me.' But if he's not a genius, ordinary people wouldn't catch your eye. So there's only one explanation for his existence: though he reaches the level of a 'genius' in every aspect, it's not innate—it's the result of training."

"But someone like that is given the same title as you, a natural-born genius, and that pisses you off. So you want to destroy him, to prove the dignity of a 'genius,' right?"

"...You're right."

"I don't acknowledge any 'artificial genius.' So I will absolutely bury Ayanokoji Kiyotaka!"

When she said this, Sakayanagi Arisu's entire demeanor changed, from 'a pseudo-loli who looks fragile on the outside but is actually a sadistic, perverted pseudo-loli' to 'the final boss of a hot-blooded manga.'

And, 'bury' and all that...

"Is she having a chuunibyou episode?"

Hoshino En looked at Kamuro Masumi, who was sitting guard nearby, and asked seriously.

Kamuro Masumi wanted to retort, but she didn't dare speak, because Sakayanagi Arisu's glare was too sharp.

"I'm serious, Hoshino-kun."

"But I think you'll lose to him."

Hoshino En was serious too.

"Because your speech just now was no different from a final boss in a hot-blooded manga: starting with all that 'bury, bury,' and in the end, you'll get beaten into submission and give the protagonist a line like 'I admit you're a true genius.' You've planted every defeat flag there is."

Sakayanagi Arisu: "..."

"Besides, back in the classroom, even though you recognized him, he clearly didn't recognize you. That means you only know him unilaterally."

"And someone as frail as you, who rarely went out as a child, wouldn't have had many chances to meet ordinary people. But you saw him, so your father must have taken you to meet him. He didn't see you, meaning you saw him when he wasn't looking—there was probably a one-way mirror between you."

"With a one-way mirror, and him being a trained genius, you must have seen him at some institution dedicated to 'turning ordinary people into talents,' right?"

"Given your current personality, if you saw a 'fake genius' like that, you'd definitely challenge him to a match—chess, for example. But you never fought him, which means you were probably still a child when you saw him, before you developed this sadistic, genius-obsessed personality."

"Or rather, he might be the direct reason you became this twisted."

Hoshino En stopped his deduction there.

Sakayanagi Arisu had nothing to say, but she was clearly deflated.

"You really are a genius. You hit the mark on almost everything."

"Indeed. I started playing chess because I saw him beat all his competitors back then. He's the ultimate masterpiece of that artificial genius institution, the 'White Room.' So I thought I'd 'bury' him to prove my point."

"That 'White Room'... Are there many 'artificial geniuses' coming out of it?"

"No. His batch seemed to have only him. Later batches were all deemed inferior to him, so he's the 'ultimate masterpiece.'"

"I see... Then Sakayanagi, doesn't that mean you've already won?"

"...Huh?"

"Yeah. If the school's internal review is correct, you were placed in Class A, while he was thrown into Class D. Doesn't that mean you've beaten him?"

Hoshino En's words left Sakayanagi Arisu stunned for a while, as if she'd never thought of it that way.

"But I want to compete with him fairly and squarely, not rely on this..."

"How is this not a competition?"

Hoshino En rubbed his forehead. He never expected this girl, who seemed so sharp, to be stubbornly fixated on the strangest things.

"Let me ask you, Sakayanagi. What do you want? To crush a fake genius, right?"

Sakayanagi Arisu nodded.

"Ayanokoji Kiyotaka is an artificially created 'genius' from that 'White Room,' yes or no?"

"...Yes."

"He's been placed in Class D, and you're in Class A. Doesn't that count as you winning?"

"No! He's definitely holding back on purpose by ending up in Class D. What I want is to defeat him when he's going all out."

"But if he's holding back in a place like this, that's also a 'masterpiece' of that 'White Room'! They gave him that flaw—why don't you exploit it?"

"Huh? What... what do you mean?"

"What I mean is: this is the flaw of an 'artificial genius.' Why are you insisting on clashing with his strengths instead of targeting his weaknesses? What are you thinking?!"

"If you think that way, then why don't you go compete with him in sports? In a footrace? Can you beat him? You can't even beat Kamuro!!"

Hey! Don't drag me into your argument when you're fighting!

Kamuro Masumi, innocently caught in the crossfire, looked like she was about to cry, but she didn't dare say a word.

One of these two had dirt on her, and the other could see through a person's behavior, personality, and past experiences at a single glance—she was terrified.

First Semester of First Year:

Chapter 19: Head Pat, Bet, Show Me Your Legs

Sakayanagi Arisu was stunned into silence.

Indeed, if it came to a comprehensive showdown in every aspect, she could never surpass Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, this [false genius], in physical strength. But if judged by the school's fair review, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had already lost.

He had chosen to hide his talent, to blend into mediocrity. Being placed in Class D could indeed be considered the result he submitted in this [competition], and he had lost to Sakayanagi Arisu, who had submitted the result of [Class A].

But then, what did her long-standing obsession mean?

"And besides, Sakayanagi—"

As her thoughts were thrown into chaos by this explanation, Hoshino En added another remark.

"If what you want is to defeat him in an area where you excel, then your [genius] showdown will be meaningless. You'd just be bullying others by relying on your own advantages. And from that perspective, you've already beaten Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. If you want to use your weakness to challenge his strength, then as I said before, your body makes it impossible for you to win."

"The same goes for him. His weakness has already been crushed by you, and his strength is something you can never overcome."

"No one is perfect. Even a gifted genius can't win forever. Even an ordinary person can't lose forever. You have to accept that reality."

Hearing this, Sakayanagi Arisu said nothing, but judging by her puffed-up expression, she clearly didn't accept it.

After a long pause, she coldly spat out a sentence.

"Are you saying I'll lose to him?"

"You've already lost in sports."

"That doesn't count!!"