Classroom of the Elite, Kusuo Saiki

"It's just a coincidence, a coincidence."

'Looks like this has nothing to do with me.'

Kusuo Saiki, who had been observing their conversation, thought to himself that Suzune Horikita seemed to still be having some difficulty accepting this situation, while Kusuo Saiki actually already knew about Kiyotaka Ayanokouji's background.

Now that he had basically confirmed that their conversation was unrelated to him, Kusuo Saiki prepared to stop using his Clairvoyance and leave the restroom.

"And it seems there are people in this class who are even better at controlling grades than you?"

At that moment, when Saiki Kusuo heard Chabashira Sae say this, a bad feeling immediately arose in his heart.

"I deny controlling the scores at first, but judging from what the teacher said, it seems like someone really can control the results of this exam?"

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji asked, his gaze also falling on the entrance exam results sheet on the table of Sae Chabashira.

"Who?"

Horikita Suzune, who was standing nearby, immediately questioned him.

"Are you two familiar with Kusuo Saiki?"

Chabashira Sae immediately asked.

'? ? ? '

Kusuo Saiki frowned instantly; he hadn't expected Sae Chabashira to mention his name.

'So it really was me? But that shouldn't be the case. I shouldn't have given anything away. Why would Chabashira-sensei mention my name?'

Kusuo Saiki was somewhat puzzled. He should have acted very normally, so why was he being targeted by Sae Chabashira?

'No, no, no, knowing Chabashira-sensei's personality, she's probably just saying it to deliberately make others suspect me... I can't use my telepathic abilities right now, so I don't know what she's thinking. What a troublesome person... It's definitely because of that Kousuke guy.'

Kusuo Saiki was well aware that he had not entered the university through the regular channels, but rather through a back door opened by Kusuke Saiki using his network of connections. In a sense, this was no different from Kiyotaka Ayanokouji's way of entering the university, which was why Sae Chabashira suspected him.

Moreover, everyone who comes to this school has at least one outstanding talent in some area. Even someone like Takeru Sudo, who is terrible at studying, has a very high level of skill in basketball. Compared to them, Kusuo Saiki seems a bit too ordinary.

I'm slightly concerned.

Kusuo Saiki muttered to himself that if Saeba Chabashira were to make any further moves, it could cause considerable trouble.

Kusuo Saiki first used his Clairvoyance to check if there were any men's restrooms near the office, and then immediately used his teleportation ability to arrive at a restroom stall near the office.

Each teleportation has a three-minute interval between uses, but that's more than enough time for Kusuo Saiki.

'This is quite a distance from the office; telepathy isn't enough to hear everything clearly.'

As Kusuo Saiki spoke in his mind, he activated his superpowers once again.

Stealth.

The body becomes optically invisible, completely transparent to human vision. The spell takes one minute to cast and lasts for a maximum of ten minutes. However, it will be canceled immediately if touched by someone else. Before the start of the school year, Kusuo Saiki used this ability to avoid the numerous cameras in the school and observe the school environment.

After activating his invisibility ability, Kusuo Saiki quickly headed towards the vicinity of the office.

"Qi Mu?"

Horikita Suzune's tone was full of doubt; she hadn't expected that Chabashira Sae would mention this name.

[Kusuo Saiki, that guy who's practically invisible in class, right? I've only spoken to him a few times. If I remember correctly, his quiz scores were alright—but that's probably because he got the test questions beforehand. His class ranking was only average.]

'It seems the average student didn't notice anything unusual.'

Kusuo Saiki nodded, then turned his gaze to Kiyotaka Ayanokouji beside him.

"Qi Mu? I haven't talked to him that much, but compared to other people, I'd say we're pretty close."

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji replied slowly that, in terms of interpersonal relationships within the class, his situation was not much different from that of Kusuo Saiki.

【Kusuo Saiki? I seem to have really overlooked him before.】

Chapter 26: Kusuo Saiki, who exactly are you?

According to the teacher, Qi Mu's grades in the entrance exam were probably around average, and this test also showed a similar mid-range ranking.

[Theoretically speaking, this kind of performance isn't particularly special. There are indeed high school students who are quite average in all aspects. However, since the teacher specifically mentioned Saiki's name, it means she noticed something special about him. Did the school conduct a prior investigation into Saiki, or is there some other reason?]

[If what Chabashira-sensei said is true, then Saiki might really be a special person. I hadn't been able to detect anything strange about him before. Was he also hiding himself?]

After hearing Chabashira Sae's words, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's mind raced as he recalled the details of his previous interactions with Saiki Kusuo.

'Oh dear, it looks like things might get a bit complicated later.'

Hidden to the side, Saiki Kusuo frowned slightly. Ayanokouji Kiyotaka seemed to be slightly better than the other students in terms of observation and other aspects.

He shifted his gaze to Chabashira Sae, and at the same time, he could hear the other's thoughts.

As things stand, it's still completely unclear whether Saiki Kusuo is hiding his true abilities or not. Neither his usual behavior nor his exam scores seem problematic.

However, we cannot make a judgment so easily. After all, like Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, he was added to the enrollment list at the last minute, and we absolutely cannot ignore him.

[According to the information provided by Chairman Sakayanagi, Ayanokouji is a very special individual. Perhaps we can use him to further probe Saiki Kusuo's background... For me, this year's students are very special. If I want to advance to Class A, this year is the best opportunity, and I absolutely cannot miss it! I must make good use of these guys!]

'What a terrible teacher.'

Kusuo Saiki raised an eyebrow. As things stand, he hadn't revealed any flaws. Sae Chabashira was merely suspicious of him and hadn't obtained any substantial evidence.

Just as Saiki Kusuo had feared, Chabashira Sae wanted to use his students to find his weaknesses.

Kusuo Saiki was well aware that all of this was related to Kusuke Saiki, and perhaps even deliberately orchestrated by him. He had used his special connections to get Kusuke enrolled and assigned him to Class D, forcing the teachers to focus their attention on him.

After all, his older brother, the super genius Saiki Kusuke, was not in a very normal mental state to begin with.

However, while Chabashira Sae might be curious about Saiki Kusuo's identity and guess that he might be somewhat different, she would never have imagined that Saiki Kusuo might be a superpowered individual.

"That's right, it's Kusuo Saiki. He gets average grades in every subject, with no weak areas. In a way, he's similar to you, Ayanokouji."

Chabashira Sae wore a meaningful smile, as if she knew everything about the entire school's students.

"I didn't notice anything special about Kusuo Saiki; he seemed too ordinary."

Horikita Suzune shook her head. If it weren't for Kushida Kikyo's previous actions, she probably wouldn't have had any interaction with Saiki Kusuo.

"I was just saying it casually, but if you want to move up to Class A, this might be a very important tip."

Chabashira Sae waved her hand.

"The faculty and staff will be having a meeting soon, so all offices here need to be locked. You can leave now."

Seemingly having achieved his goal, Chabashira Sae waved his hand, signaling the two of them to leave.

[Leaving aside Saiki Kusuo's true strength for now, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka should be a very important asset. However, for the time being, let's observe his true strength and see just how far he can go.]

Chabazusa thought to herself.

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji and Suzune Horikita then came out of the office, while Kusuo Saiki quickly hid to the side to avoid accidentally bumping into each other.

[Does Ayanokouji score 50 in every subject? Is he hiding his true abilities?]

He doesn't seem very serious every day.

[Besides him, what exactly is Saiki Kusuo's situation? Why did Chabashira-sensei specifically mention his name? Is there anything special about him? He's average in every exam; if he wanted to deliberately maintain his ranking, it wouldn't be as simple as just controlling his score. He would also need to know everyone else's exam results. How is that possible?]

After leaving the office, Horikita Suzune was in a state of turmoil, partly because she had been assigned to Class D from the beginning, and partly because she had not been able to fully understand the meaning behind Chabashira Sae's words.

"Ayanokouji, you get exactly 50 points on every exam?"

Horikita Suzune inquired.

“I’ve said it before, coincidence is a terrible thing. I have neither the will nor the ability to fight.”

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji simply replied casually.

Similar to Horikita Suzune, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was also pondering matters concerning Saiki Kusuo at this very moment.

[Judging from Chabashira-sensei's words, she probably wants to use us to investigate Saiki Kusuo.]

[Could Kusuo Saiki really be so well-hidden that even I couldn't see through him? Using previously obtained test questions to predict the class's average score and thus achieve a mid-range score—even I might not be able to do that, since I don't currently know the exact academic abilities of the others. If this is true, then Kusuo Saiki is definitely someone who cannot be ignored... Could he have been sent by that man? The White House Project should have been stopped, but given that man's personality, it will probably be restarted soon. Placing other White House students in the school is also his style.]

[While I don't want to draw too much attention at this stage, I need to first determine if Saiki Kusuo is truly hiding his true nature as the teacher said.]

The two of them walked and chatted.

They never expected that Kusuo Saiki was actually within five meters of them at that moment.

"I want to confirm whether my placement in Class D was a genuine decision by the school. If it was, I will make moving up to Class A my goal."

Horikita Suzune said very seriously.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Wait, are you serious?

"You have an unusual obsession with getting promoted to Class A."

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji glanced at Suzune Horikita out of the corner of his eye, his gaze seemingly devoid of any other emotion.

"Don't you want to change anything with your own hands?"

Before Horikita Suzune could finish speaking, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka gave an absolutely affirmative answer.

However, Horikita Suzune completely ignored Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's words:

"It seems you're willing to help. If we want to move up to Class A, we need to work hard to improve the class situation. There can be no early departures or late arrivals, and no one can fail the midterm exam. If anyone drops out, our class points might be deducted."

"There should be a way, after all, Kushida previously discovered that the exam questions could be purchased from the previous year's students."

As Kiyotaka Ayanokouji spoke, he began to recall the matter of purchasing last year's exam questions.

Although Kusuo Saiki went to interact with the upperclassmen with Kikyo Kushida, it was Kikyo Kushida who invited Kusuo Saiki to participate.

It seems that Kikyo Kushida also discovered by chance that test questions for older students could be purchased.

[Theoretically speaking, upperclassmen shouldn't proactively reveal school rules to freshmen. Kushida claims he overheard a conversation among upperclassmen and learned about these things, which seems too coincidental.]

Could all of this have been done by Kusuo Saiki?

If it was Saiki Kusuo who did it, what methods did he use? How could he guide Kushida's actions? That would require superpowers.

'Hey hey hey......'

Kusuo Saiki, who had been following them, felt a slight pang of heartache.

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji would never have imagined that a random thought that came to him was actually incredibly close to the truth.

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji's observation and reasoning abilities seem to surpass those of the other students, and Kusuo Saiki believes he needs to be more careful to avoid leaving any clues in front of him.