Classroom of the Elite: Alter - Self-Test

Nothing strange happened at the entrance ceremony. I took my time, subtly observing the students from other classes. It should be easy enough to take the spotlight, but according to Chabashira-sensei, everyone outside my own class can be considered an enemy. Of course, there's no need for open hostility. At the end of the day, we're still fellow high school students on the same campus. However, I should always remind my classmates to be extra vigilant when needed.

After all, in this school, you can't say things like "You're being too serious about this" or anything along those lines. Their futures are literally on the line.

Well, I say that, but thanks to my purchasing some information, only Class D is aware of how grave the situation is for those who aren't in Class A.

After the entrance ceremony, I have one major criticism for my classmates, especially the likes of Ike and Yamauchi. They were too restless. Should there have been a student who exhibited the same vigilance that I had, they might have noticed my classmates' stiff behavior.

Students dispersed as soon as they got out of the gymnasium. Some went to the mall, called Keyaki Mall, while some went to the dorms. I thought about heading to the dorms to check out my room but...

"Ayanokouji-kun!" Kushida called out to me.

She wasn't alone though. She ran up to me with her friends in tow. Wait a minute... did they increase?

"Kushida, do you need something?" I asked.

"Well, my friends were wondering if they could exchange contact info with you as well..." Kushida asked with a smile.

"K-Kikyou-chan, we told you not to say it like that!" exclaimed a girl with shoulder-length brown hair.

"Ah-haha... I didn't know how else I could phrase it. My bad." Kushida laughed guiltily while scratching her head.

"That's perfect. I was wondering how to get the contact information of my other classmates, so I guess this is a good start," I said, holding out my smartphone.

"Um, my name is Inogashira Kokoro... Nice to meet you, Ayanokouji-kun." So the brown-haired girl is named Inogashira Kokoro.

"I'm Onodera Kayano! Nice to meet you!" An enthusiastic short-haired girl introduced herself right after.

"Um, my name is Wang Mei-Yu, but you can call me Mii-chan. Nice to meet you, Ayanokouji-kun..." The twin-tailed girl with blue hair is named Wang— I mean Mii-chan.

After them, three more followed. They were Azuma Sana, Nishimura Ryuuko, and Ichihashi Ruri.

"Nice to meet you all. I'm looking forward to being in the same class." I bowed slightly.

For some reason, they kept staring at me.

"You're right, Kikyou-chan! Now that I get a closer look at him, Ayanokouji-kun really seems like he's super easy to talk to," said Onodera.

"Huh? What do you mean?" As a hatchling when it comes to social interaction, I have no idea what those words really mean.

"You don't get it, Ayanokouji-kun? Everyone thought you were nothing but a mysterious and quiet person, and then, you showed us a great display of intellect. You even saved the whole class with it. Combine those two and you get a rather-hard-to-approach-super-smart classmate," answered Kushida.

"I'm not sure I understand, but I see... Well, it's not like I don't want to talk with people. I'm just not good at it, I guess. And somehow, the look on my face adopted that same feature," I replied.

"Well, your way of speaking may sound monotonous right now, but with enough practice, you'll eventually get out of there!" Onodera gave me a thumbs up.

"Hopefully... I don't want to be mistaken as a robot with no emotions," I responded.

The girls laughed. It was a simple joke, but I'm glad it was received well. I didn't sense any so-called "pity laugh" from them, so I'm satisfied.

"You tried to sacrifice yourself for the class's sake. There's no way you don't have emotions," said Mei.

"Yeah, yeah!" The other girls echoed.

After some more pointless small talks, I successfully got the contact info of my classmates. They were all girls though.

The only guy in my contacts is Hirata, so I need to work on that front, too.

Kushida and her friends invited me for lunch, but I politely refused. It's certainly a rare opportunity, but social interaction and attention really drained me. I've had too much of it in the short span of a few hours.

I decided to swing by the convenience store before making my way to the dormitories. Before I could reach the door, Horikita came out with a plastic bag in hand.

"Ayanokouji-kun..." Horikita uttered my name the moment she saw me.

"Horikita...-san." I hesitated, and now I look like a fool.

"Call me however you like. I don't mind," she said coolly.

"Then... Suzune?" Wow. I'm impressed with myself for having the balls to suggest that.

"Apart from that. I don't let people use my first name easily." Horikita leered at me.

"That was a joke. My bad, Horikita," I apologized.

"Your way of speaking really makes it hard to distinguish," Horikita responded, attacking my weak point. I'm inclined to believe that it wasn't intentional. Hopefully...

"It's just how I am. I can't do anything about it now, can I?" I shrugged my shoulders. "Anyway, how'd your shopping go?"

"I just bought some daily necessities," she replied.

"Well, it's always good to be early on those things. I guess I'll do the same then-" Before I could get the chance to say goodbye, Horikita interrupted me.

"Ayanokouji-kun... About earlier... I want to talk to you about it. Is that alright?" Horikita asked.

"I see. Let me buy a cheap lunch set for a bit. Are you okay with that?" I just assumed that she wanted to talk now. Her body language is crying 'ASAP' all over.

I wonder if it's a mix of panic and desperation.

"Yes. I'll wait for you," nodded Horikita.

She seems like a smart girl. Once I explain everything to the class tomorrow, I might need some extra brain to work with.

I walked in and saw another classmate. It was the red-haired guy who seemed pissed off all the time.

"Excuse me," I called out to him.

"Hah?" Geez, that's one scary expression.

"I'm Ayanokouji, from your class." I tried to sound as amicable as possible.

"Oh, it's you. What do you need?" Like a lightbulb flaring up inside his brain, his attitude turned a little bit gentler.

Huh. Is this the power of favors? It seems like even he felt a bit grateful about what I did during homeroom. He didn't act friendly, but at least he wasn't hostile.

"I just wanted to ask if what you bought is the cheapest ramen cup available. Because if it is, I'm also thinking of buying one," I said.

"Oh, this? I think so," he replied, putting on a thinking expression.

"I see. Thanks... uhh..." I tilted my head and slightly squinted my eyes.

"It's Sudou. I'm Sudou Ken." He seems to be looking at me with curiosity. Well, to be honest, that's ten times better than looking at me with killing intent.

"Thanks, Sudou. And nice to meet you." I waved my hand.

"Yeah, sure." He sounded a bit embarrassed.

After buying the said cup ramen, I immediately went out of the store. This is probably not healthy for me, but my boundless curiosity urged me to try this. It's the White Room's fault for not letting me try this sort of food.

"Who are you? I was already here. You're in the way. Get lost," barked Sudou.

When I got out, I saw three guys surrounding Sudou while he was sitting. His ramen wasn't opened yet... Was he waiting for me? Somehow, that made me happy.

"You hear this guy? 'Get lost,' he says. What a cocky little first-year punk." One of the guys mocked Sudou.

The three laughed in Sudou's face. Sudou shot up, throwing his unopened noodle cup to the ground.

"'First-year punk,'? You tryin' to make fun of me, huh?!" Alright. I can conclude that Sudou has an extremely short fuse. He seemed like the type to immediately threaten anyone or anything that crossed him.

Horikita, who was initially watching from the sidelines, immediately tried to take action. When she saw me head out of the store, she quickly approached me. Horikita seemed to have given me the main role and decided to act as the support.

"Sudou, I'm done buying my lunch." I pretended to be oblivious and called out to him.

"Oh, friends of yours?" One of the guys raised an eyebrow seeing me and Horikita approach them.

"Second years...? Uh, are there any problems, senpai?" I asked, innocently.

"Well, this punk was sitting on our spot so we told him to piss off." The guy who answered me shrugged with a smirk.

"Do you think I won't beat you up just because you're an upperclassman?" Sudou was increasingly getting angrier. This could be bad.

"I see," I said, turning to Sudou. "Well, I was supposed to invite you to my room for lunch, so there's no point in staying here."

Sudou became visibly confused by my words.

"Come on, Sudou. Pick up your cup ramen and let's get out of here." I looked straight into his eyes. Please get what I'm trying to say...

"Tch. But-" I repeated my words before he could say anything more.

"Come on, Sudou." I unintentionally increased the intensity of my tone.

That might've been a blunder. With Sudou's aggressive attitude, he might think that I'm picking a fight with him...

The upperclassman squinted their eyes and looked at me weirdly. However, their bodies instinctively stiffened with nervousness.

At the same time, Sudou looked at me with a surprised expression. His face slowly shifted into a frown... Crap.

"Sudou-kun, we'll only be wasting our time if we keep standing here. No one is really trying to pick a fight with you. These upperclassmen are just taunting you, and they won't stop unless you ignore them." Horikita spoke on my behalf.

Sudou seemed to remember what happened during homeroom because of Horikita's words. He finally got what I wanted to get across and clicked his tongue. He picked up his cup ramen and walked to our side.

I really hoped he would've gotten it without Horikita having to spell it out for him, though. I guess I expected too much.

"See you, Senpai(s)." I gave them a side glance.

"I initially thought you three were all Class D students. But apart from that red-headed moron, both of you seemed too composed. Are you from Class C, or perhaps, B?" One of the three guys glared at me.

Knowing what they meant, Sudou seemed just about done and ready to charge back in. It didn't help that they also called him a moron. Seeing the situation take a turn for the worse, I blocked Sudou's torso with my hand and stopped his approach.

"What could you ever mean, Senpai? What does our composure have to do with being placed in a certain class?" I asked.

"Hey, dude, shut your mouth," scolded the other guy.

The guy I asked kept glaring at me in annoyance.

"It means nothing. Tch. My mood is sour now. Let's just get the hell outta here."

And with that, they left without further hitches.

"Well, that was something..." I commented.

"I owe you one, Ayanokouji, and your friend, too... I don't know what would've happened if you two didn't come to help me. I get pissed really easily, you see. Especially with guys like those." Sudou glared toward the direction where the three disappeared.

"It's fine. As I said earlier, class solidarity is important. And it's good that you're self-aware. Since you already know about your own problem, I want to ask you a favor to try and fix it," I said.

"Well... I'll try my best." Sudou scratched his head awkwardly.

He actually agreed. This wouldn't have been possible if I was a nobody. Getting the limelight early on really helps out a lot.

"Thank you. And sorry if I accidentally sounded hostile or demanding earlier," I apologized.

"Oh, that... Well, you've made it clear to me now that you weren't pickin' a fight, so it's fine. I was just surprised, and frankly, a bit spooked..." he said. "Especially..."

Sudou muttered something under his breath.

"I see. Well, with all that's said and done, do you wanna come to my room and eat lunch? I know I only used that story to back you up, but you can accept the offer if you want," I asked.

"Nah. I'll just eat here. It seems like you and this girl have something to talk about." He turned to Horikita.

"I'm Horikita Suzune. Nice to meet you, Sudou-kun." Horikita, who has been silent the entire time, took the chance to introduce herself with a cool, stoic expression.

"I'm Sudou Ken. Pleased to meet'cha." Sudou went ahead and opened his cup ramen, filling it up with hot water from the dispenser outside.

"See you tomorrow then." I waved at him, to which he gently waved back in response.

With that, Horikita and I tread toward the dorm areas.