Classroom of the Elite F3

The bus was deathly silent, its engine sounding unbearably harsh in the stillness.

Horikita Suzune turned another page of the book in her hands, but her attention remained on what was happening on the bus.

What hypocritical kindness. Forcing someone else to give up their seat just to satisfy your own sense of moral superiority. Just what I'd expect from you, Kikyo Kushida.

Clearly, she knew the short-haired girl.

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji discreetly surveyed the people around him. He was curious about what others would do. This was something the White Room had never taught him.

And our protagonist, Ken Kaneki, watched the spectacle with curiosity. He really hadn't expected this sort of scene to happen in the real world.

He simply stood by and quietly enjoyed the show. Getting him to give up his seat was out of the question, too.

Moral blackmail was meaningless against someone as extremely narcissistic as Koenji. These students who had yet to enter society didn't even know the basics of reading people.

Forget it. This really isn't interesting in the slightest.

Kikyo Kushida bit her lip. Looking around and finding that not a single person paid her any attention, she couldn't help wondering whether her charm had diminished.

Time passed, and the atmosphere grew increasingly strange.

A woman in a black business suit stood up, picked up her briefcase, and walked over to the elderly woman.

"Please take my seat." The woman pointed to the seat she had vacated and spoke close to the elderly woman's ear.

"Thank you so much. Thank you so very much." The elderly woman bowed repeatedly.

Kikyo Kushida also smiled. "Thank you so much, miss."

The woman didn't respond. Clutching her briefcase, she quickly walked to the door at the very front of the bus and held on to a hanging strap.

She only wanted to escape this suffocating space as soon as possible. This farce woven from morality and indifference made her extremely uncomfortable.

The bus pulled up at the stop for Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School.

The doors opened, and the students filed out. Sunlight fell unobstructed onto the asphalt.

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji followed the crowd off the bus. Just as he was about to head toward the school gates, a voice stopped him.

"Wait." The cool voice came from behind him. Horikita Suzune stood two steps away, holding a book.

"You kept looking at me earlier. Did you want something?"

"You've got the wrong idea. I was just looking at the scenery outside." Ayanokoji's face remained impassive, though he did feel a little guilty.

He had indeed been staring at her earlier, but there was no misunderstanding to be had. He had only been curious about what she would do.

And the outcome had matched his prediction: she hadn't given up her seat.

"That had better be true." Horikita Suzune turned around, her long black hair tracing an arc through the air, and headed straight toward the school gates.

Watching her retreating figure, Ayanokoji sighed. This school seemed to have an unusually large number of people with peculiar personalities.

Meanwhile, Ken Kaneki stepped down from the bus.

"Oh~ if it isn't my devastatingly handsome tyrant of a friend!" An exaggerated voice rang out beside him as Rokusuke Koenji strode over, playing with his blond bangs.

He stopped in front of Ken Kaneki, blocking his path. The surrounding students turned to look. Standing together, the two were imposing in both height and build.

"Koenji, I really didn't expect to run into you here again. How's your training been going lately?" Ken Kaneki said with some resignation.

Ken Kaneki knew Koenji. Their first meeting dated back two years.

An internal open-weight fighting tournament had been taking place that day at the top-tier combat gym Ken Kaneki owned. The generous prize money had attracted numerous boxers and professional fighters.

Rokusuke Koenji had pushed open the gym doors. Having heard that the strongest fighters in the area gathered there, he had come specifically to prove the perfection of his physique.

He entered the tournament and crushed one opponent after another with his monstrous body, easily making his way to the finals.

His opponent was Ken Kaneki, the gym owner, who had personally entered the ring.

The bell rang to begin the match. Koenji didn't bother testing his opponent and charged straight in, his right leg whipping up a gust as it hurtled toward Ken Kaneki's neck.

Ken Kaneki didn't dodge. He raised his left arm to block, his forearm muscles instantly tightening. Bone and muscle collided with a dull thud.

When his first strike failed, Koenji used the momentum to turn and drove his left fist straight at Ken Kaneki's face.

Ken Kaneki tilted his head aside, the punch brushing past his cheek. In the same motion, he grabbed Koenji's left wrist and sharply bent it downward.

Pain made Koenji pitch forward involuntarily, but he reacted extremely quickly, driving his right knee toward Ken Kaneki's abdomen as he moved.

Ken Kaneki pressed his right palm down against Koenji's knee and used it to launch himself into the air. His left leg carved a sharp arc through the air, the top of his foot slamming into Koenji's neck.

Koenji lost his balance and toppled sideways.

Ken Kaneki landed, pushed off with his right foot, and closed in. His right fist shot upward, striking Koenji squarely in the abdomen.

Koenji's body instantly curled like a shrimp. His feet left the ground, and he flew backward, crashing heavily into the chain-link fence around the octagon.

The fence shook violently. Koenji slid to the ground, clutching his abdomen, great beads of sweat seeping from his forehead.

"Want to keep going?" Ken Kaneki stood in the center, looking down at him.

Koenji wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth and laughed aloud. "Beautiful! Now this is the ultimate strength worthy of my pursuit!"

From then on, Koenji became a regular at the gym, as well as one of the few friends Ken Kaneki acknowledged.

He was extremely narcissistic, but in the face of absolute strength, he treated Ken Kaneki with respect as an equal.

His thoughts returned to the present.

"I really didn't expect to see you here." Koenji took a small mirror from his pocket and studied his beautiful face.

"With your net worth, you're abandoning that fighting empire in Minato City that rakes in money every day to come play in the mud with these kids?"

Ken Kaneki gave him a dead-eyed look. "You're one to talk. Aren't you here too, heir to the Koenji Conglomerate?"

Koenji put away his mirror and shrugged. "Naturally, I'm here to experience a different kind of beautiful life. This school's rules sound like they might help me pass some boring hours.

"Besides, I have to go to university, don't I? Otherwise, people are bound to laugh at me when I go out into the world."

The two walked side by side toward the school gates. At some point, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji had shaken off Horikita Suzune and slowly caught up with them.

He happened to stand beside them, his gaze passing over Ken Kaneki and Koenji.

"You two know each other?" Kiyotaka Ayanokoji asked curiously.

Looking at that expressionless face, Ken Kaneki's lips curved into a smile. "We just met. I'm Ken Kaneki. You?"

Rokusuke Koenji tossed his hair. "I'm Rokusuke Koenji."

"My name is Kiyotaka Ayanokoji."

"Excellent, Ayanokoji boy. From now on, the three of us are a team." Koenji patted his shoulder.

Ken Kaneki looked at the two before him: one a Beautiful Guy, the other the White Room's greatest masterpiece, who kept his abilities well hidden, plus himself, a fighting champion in his previous life.

And just like that, the Classroom of the Elite F3 had casually assembled on the very first day of school.