Classroom of the Elite: I Can Issue Master's Tasks

But the lights were off.

Even without taking the Gene-Enhancement Potion, Nangong Cheng could clearly hear the girl's slightly quick, nervous breathing.

And the rustle of fabric.

"Karuizawa..."

Nangong Cheng called her name.

"Nangong..."

Karuizawa Kei answered in a murmur.

Anyone listening might have thought they were about to kiss.

"Have you heard of school bullying?"

"Yeah, I have. So..."

Nangong Cheng answered while thinking.

By rights, Karuizawa Kei could spend Points in the Shop to get the Combat skill, or get a Gene-Enhancement Potion like he had.

She had no need to fall back on the fake-boyfriend-as-protection routine.

He would hear what she had to say first.

"Yeah. That's why..."

Karuizawa Kei gritted her teeth in the darkness, forcing herself to recall the incident that had left her in such pain and cast such a long shadow over her life.

"From the time I started middle school... right up until I graduated... I was bullied for three whole years."

"And the worst time..."

Nangong Cheng narrowed his eyes.

He heard her uniform fall to the floor, and then Karuizawa Kei took his hand.

Once he felt the unmistakable scar, he was certain she had come to ask him to be her fake boyfriend.

No, wait...

It might not be a fake relationship.

"Can you feel it... this scar...?"

Karuizawa Kei had no idea Nangong Cheng had already guessed most of what she was planning. She was still doing her best to make this "confession."

Feeling the warmth of his palm against her skin, she thought her face might be burning up.

"At first, I thought it was going to be the same bullying as always... But then several girls held me down so I couldn't fight back, and another girl pulled out a box cutter..."

Karuizawa Kei shuddered violently. Afterward, her body kept trembling, faintly but without stopping.

"It hurt... Pain was all I could feel..."

"I almost thought I was going to die right there... But whether you'd call it lucky or unlucky... I survived."

"But why... Why did I have to go through that? Why... Why weren't they punished for it...?"

Nangong Cheng did not stay silent.

At a time like this, he felt an embrace would do more for her than any words he could come up with.

"Thank you..."

Karuizawa Kei understood what Nangong Cheng meant through the embrace. She sniffled and held back the rush of emotion in her chest.

She wrapped her arms around his back and pressed her face against his chest, which felt like a safe harbor from the storm.

"When I learned what this school was like... especially when I heard someone in Class C was using violence... I couldn't stop worrying that something like that would happen again..."

"So... Nangong..."

Karuizawa Kei was like a clingy cat seeking affection from its owner. She no longer tried to hide the pleading, ingratiating note in her voice.

"Will you protect me?"

"As... my boyfriend."

Volume One: Author's Note on the Paid Release (Please Read This!)

First, thank you to the 165 readers who have followed the story this far. (That number was from June 9. Maybe I've lost a few more today?)

You've probably read plenty of notes like this. Most of what I have to say is the usual stuff.

As usual, I'm asking you to subscribe when the paid chapters go live, and for recommendation votes, monthly votes, and so on...

When the book was on its trial promotion, I thought that if the numbers were too poor to advance, I'd set up a reward challenge for first-day subscriptions.

But now...

That doesn't seem necessary.

So let's talk about a few issues with this book.

I've kept up with the reviews and paragraph comments. I know people have criticized the system's rules and said the protagonist can't keep his identity as the mastermind hidden.

I thought about those issues repeatedly before I started the book, though, and revised it many times because of them.

Judging by the response, it seems the result still wasn't great. That's on me.

So if you say my writing is bad, I'll accept it. But I really can't stand being accused of using AI.

My daily word counts are right there in the author app—nearly ten thousand Chinese characters a day. I start writing at ten every morning and go until midnight. Then I still have to plan the next day's plot, so I usually don't fall asleep until one or two.

Back to the point.

I know many of you are longtime readers of Classroom of the Elite fanfiction, and you've seen certain plotlines far too often. I'll do my best to find fresh angles and write new stories, but I'll still have to cover some of the established Special Exams.

Then there are certain scenes I know you like.

There haven't been many early on because I needed to build up the relationships with the heroines, and because the protagonist had to hide his identity or avoid trouble. But from here on, they'll gradually... Well, you know.

Lastly, shameless as it may be, I'm asking you to subscribe when the paid chapters go live.

It matters a lot to an author.

I won't make promises like "I'll never abandon this book." Given my track record, you all know how much that would be worth.

But good numbers bring more positive feedback. They'd give this worn-out author more motivation to write, and maybe even better ideas.

After the paid release, the normal schedule would be a steady four thousand Chinese characters a day. But I want to make another push for the long-form recommendation at three hundred thousand characters. So unless I hit writer's block or need to build enough of a backlog to qualify for the attendance bonus, I'll generally post eight thousand a day—two updates of four thousand each.

So I'm genuinely begging the readers who've followed this far, and those who've been saving chapters, to help this worn-out author fulfill his dream.

Below are screenshots of my writing stats.

One day, writer's block really brought me to a halt. I also revised the last few chapters before the paid release several times before they were ready.

Image: "Author App Writing Stats for May," location: "Images/1781236150-100483937-114939798.jpg"

Image: "Author App Writing Stats from June Through Today," location: "Images/1781236178-100483937-114939798.jpg"

Volume One: Fingerprint 2.0 / The Mining Sisters' Unspoken Understanding (Please Subscribe!)

After a brief silence, Nangong Cheng let out a meaningful sigh.

He could simply have agreed. He could even have taken advantage of her vulnerability as she recounted her painful past.

He believed Karuizawa Kei would have been willing to give herself to him.

But there was something Nangong Cheng needed to confirm.

"Karuizawa..."

"Have you never thought about protecting yourself?"

Now that Karuizawa Kei had the system, did she want a boyfriend so she could trigger tasks and earn Points more efficiently? Or was she still stuck in her old habit of depending on someone else?

Nangong Cheng had to find out.

He wanted a Karuizawa Kei who could rise from the pain of her past, face it, leave it behind, and welcome a new future.

Not one who had the means to save herself after getting the system but still couldn't stop relying on someone else.

Otherwise, what was the point of getting the system?

"...Of course I've thought about it."

When Nangong Cheng did not reject her at once, Karuizawa Kei felt a wave of relief.

That brief silence had nearly scared her to death.

"Of course I fought back. I tried confronting them, reporting them to the teachers, asking classmates and my parents for help..."

"But nothing ever changed."

"Some people even said, 'Why do they bully you and not anyone else?'"

"So what was I supposed to use to protect myself?"

Karuizawa Kei gave a bitter smile, her voice full of despair and self-mockery.

She wasn't acting. Every bit of it was real.

Those three years had been a daily hell and a nightmare for her. More than once, she had wanted to stop going to school, or even transfer.

But in the end... heh.

"What about now?"

"If you were given another chance—and hope that fighting back could work—would you have the courage?"

"You know what this school is like. Another incident that draws blood probably won't happen, but other kinds of bullying still could."

"Usually, I can protect you. But what if a Special Exam forces us apart?"

"Would you become a weakness the class could be attacked through?"

Karuizawa Kei's grip tightened instinctively.

She realized her answer to that question would all but decide Nangong Cheng's answer to her confession.

But words alone seemed too flimsy now.

So—

"Nangong, please listen to my heartbeat."

"I know it's selfish of me to want you to protect me as my boyfriend. But... my feelings for you are real."

"Even if you turn me down, I've shown you everything I've been hiding. I think I've found the courage and determination to protect myself again."

"Don't worry. I won't hold the class back... and I certainly won't hold you back, Nangong."

Nangong Cheng fell silent. Karuizawa Kei, did you learn that hand-pressing move from Kikyo Kushida?

Come on, tell me. Did you go and practice it?

But things had gone this far...

"Karuizawa, I understand how you feel and what you're thinking. It's time I gave you an answer."

Karuizawa Kei pressed his palm even harder without thinking.

She could no longer spare a thought for how strange it felt or how embarrassed she was. Right now, she was more afraid of hearing him say no.

She had prepared herself for rejection, but after coming this far, who would truly want to hear it?

"Thank you for your feelings, Karuizawa. I'm willing to protect you too. But—"

"For personal reasons, I'm sorry. I can't be a boyfriend who belongs only to you."

The light faded from her eyes.

So... he rejected me.

But she had expected it.

Even setting aside Ichinose from Class B, she wasn't confident she could compare to Kikyo Kushida in her own class. It was only natural that Nangong Cheng would reject her, wasn't it?