Classroom of the Elite, Kusuo Saiki

"Oh, I invited Horikita to come along."

Chapter 31: With ulterior motives, is this really a high school student?

Currently, Horikita is a very worthwhile tool to cultivate. With her as a puppet to draw attention, I can act more freely in the class, which can also prevent various unexpected situations.

However, before that, it needs to grow.

To become a suitable pawn, Horikita needs to at least become a reasonably good leader in the class, which starts with improving her interpersonal relationships.

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji thought to himself that he brought Suzune Horikita here so that she could improve her relationship with the other students in the class.

He knew very well why Horikita Suzune was assigned to this class—it was because of her aloof personality.

If Horikita Suzune wants to go further, she needs to be 'recognized' by those around her.

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji had no idea that his inner thoughts had been heard by Kusuo Saiki.

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji was undoubtedly an eccentric.

"As Mr. Chabashira said, anyone who fails the midterm exam will be expelled. Horikita doesn't want anyone in our class to leave, so I wanted to take this opportunity to discuss with everyone how to deal with the upcoming exams. However, I haven't had a good chance to express my opinion before."

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji further explained.

"I see."

Ike Kanji, who was standing to the side, nodded in surprise.

I thought Horikita was the type who didn't care about the other classmates at all... I didn't expect her to actually care about them quite a bit.

Your initial idea wasn't wrong.

Kusuo Saiki internally echoed Kanji Ike's inner thoughts.

I don't care what happens to you bunch of drags down the class. If I could, I'd really like you to drop out so you wouldn't hold our class back.

[If it weren't for Ayanokouji's concern that "someone dropping out might affect the class's grades," I wouldn't have come here.]

I'm going to get promoted to Class A, and I absolutely won't allow any of you to hold me back!

At this very moment, Horikita Suzune was talking to herself like this.

Kusuo Saiki felt somewhat helpless; Suzune Horikita's aloof personality was also a problem.

Would Kiyotaka Ayanokoji really think of 'using' such a guy?

However, because of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's words, the others seemed to have softened their attitude towards Horikita Suzune a little.

What are you pretending for? It's disgusting.

Without a doubt, Kusuo Saiki knew that the voice came from Kikyo Kushida.

If their thoughts were directly transmitted to others at this moment, the situation would likely spiral out of control.

Kusuo Saiki didn't want them to cause a ruckus in his room.

[Qi Mu's room was very clean; there was even some trash, as if he hadn't slept there much. Could it be that Qi Mu doesn't actually sleep in his dorm room every day?]

At that moment, Kusuo Saiki caught another whisper and heard these words, which made his heart skip a beat.

The source of the sound was Kiyotaka Ayanokoji.

After entering Saiki Kusuo's room, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka began to observe his surroundings, trying to deduce Saiki Kusuo's identity from the slightest clues.

'This guy... is even more troublesome than I expected; his observation skills are terrifying.'

Kusuo Saiki has begun to think about how to explain this.

[No, the possibility is extremely low. Qi Mu's room is located in a relatively inner part of the dormitory. If he leaves his room at night, students from other classes should be able to see him. And even if he leaves the dormitory, where could he stay? Unless it's someone else's dormitory, which is also very unlikely. If he stays in other places, he will definitely be noticed by others. Besides, there is no special meaning to what he is doing.]

Is it more likely that Qi Mu has obsessive-compulsive disorder related to cleanliness? That would explain why the entire room is spotless, without a single piece of trash.

Kusuo Saiki breathed a sigh of relief. Although he was being labeled as having mysophobia, it was better than the other party finding out the truth.

Although Kiyotaka Ayanokoji has strong observational skills and a very high IQ, superpowers are still beyond his comprehension.

[The snacks Qi Mu brought back were mostly sweet. I'd seen him a few times in the cafeteria before, and he always seemed to buy some sweets. It seems he really likes these kinds of foods. Is it just a matter of personal taste? If a person is doing intense mental work for a long time, they also need to replenish sugar, so it's possible...]

'I just simply enjoy eating.'

There were several mystery novels on the table. Qi Mu seemed to go to the library occasionally, probably to borrow books related to mystery. I don't dislike reading, and mystery novels can improve one's reasoning skills to some extent. So Qi Mu's logical reasoning ability shouldn't be bad. I might deliberately use mystery novels as a topic to get closer to Qi Mu and try to get more information.

'Just say you're just browsing to pass the time.'

[Currently, there's no way to glean more information from Qi Mu. He has a habit of reading mystery novels and enjoys sweets, which more or less suggests he possesses a good mind. However, that's all the information we can gather for now. Is he really someone sent by that man? But anyone who comes from the White House can't possibly defeat me.]

'That white house and that man have nothing to do with me.'

If he could, Kusuo Saiki would like to tell Kiyotaka Ayanokouji directly that he has no connection with any Shirofusa.

But that's impossible.

'First, I need to find a way to dispel Ayanokouji's suspicions about me... Damn it... assigning me to this school, nothing good ever comes of it.'

Before enrolling in high school, Kusuo Saiki never imagined that his high school life would be so difficult.

I need to dispel other people's doubts about me as soon as possible, otherwise the next three years will be fraught with trouble...

"Now that everyone's here, let's get started! I brought lots of snacks for everyone!"

Although she was cursing Horikita Suzune in her heart, Kushida Kikyo did not show any emotion on her face. Instead, she looked very happy.

"Okay, let's begin!"

Chapter 32: Qi Mu, you should join the book club too!

......

Soon, everyone started eating snacks and chatting. Although it was called a celebration, it was really just a group of people chatting together.

However, almost everyone had ulterior motives and their ideas differed.

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji wanted to test Kusuo Saiki and find out his background, while also hoping to use this opportunity to help Suzune Horikita get closer to the other students.

Horikita Suzune's mind was entirely focused on the next exam. She desperately wanted to upgrade Class C to Class A, so she wanted to improve the grades of Sudo Ken and the others as soon as possible. She absolutely couldn't let them hold her back. At the same time, she also wanted Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Saiki Kusuo to help her accomplish this.

Kikyo Kushida was constantly thinking about how to isolate Suzune Horikita and then make her drop out of school.

Meanwhile, Kusuo Saiki has to figure out how to deal with these guys. On the one hand, he should try his best to avoid becoming the focus of attention, and on the other hand, he should completely hide his superpowers. At the same time, he also has to be wary of whether the trio of idiots will rub their fingers, which they just ate potato chips on, on the sheets.

As for the others, their minds were as pure as blank sheets of paper. They were only thinking about trivial things like "this snack is delicious" and "how to chat with Kushida later," and they didn't even care about the midterm exams that followed.

During the conversation, Kikyo Kushida mainly led the topic, the three idiots almost instantly chimed in, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji occasionally joined in, and Suzune Horikita, although she was in the room, mostly just ate by herself and didn't participate in their conversation.

A thought lingered in her mind:

[Midterm exams are next month, but these people seem completely unconcerned, still discussing these pointless topics and wasting their time.]

I completely agree with that.

Kusuo Saiki thought to himself.

He didn't participate much in the conversation, but his mouth and hands never stopped; he kept eating snacks.

It's time to get Horikita involved in this discussion.

Just then, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji glanced at Suzune Horikita out of the corner of his eye, and then spoke:

"Although we passed this exam, what about the next midterm? Chabashira-sensei said that those who fail will be expelled. He can't be joking, right? Horikita, what are your thoughts?"

"I want the whole class to get better grades so that we can have a chance to surpass Class A."

Horikita Suzune answered, her expression gradually becoming serious as she turned her gaze to Sudo Ken and the others.

"...How about we follow Hirata's idea and organize a book club? I'll tutor you guys. Right now, you guys are the ones who are dragging our class down the most, and you're the ones most likely to fail."

"Hey, hey, hey, what do you mean by being a drag on the team?"

Upon hearing Horikita Suzune's words, Sudo Takeru stood up, his displeasure evident.

"Sudo-kun, please calm down. Horikita-kun, please stop saying such things!"

Kikyo Kushida, who was standing nearby, quickly stood up to persuade the two of them, her face showing great concern.

However, in reality, Kikyo Kushida was very happy that things had turned out this way; she desperately wanted Suzune Horikita to be ostracized and ostracized by others.

"Oh dear, so a conflict has broken out after all. It's best if they don't fight in my room, otherwise it'll be a real hassle to clean up."

Meanwhile, Kusuo Saiki sat quietly to the side, putting food into his mouth as if watching a movie.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"Horikita, who can stand talking to you like that...?"

Ike Kanji, standing to the side, also frowned and said...

"And the midterm exam questions should be available for purchase, right? The scores should be..."

"Even with the test questions, your results in this surprise exam were a complete mess, weren't they?"

Horikita Suzune spoke without any mercy, her eyes filled with undisguised contempt.

As she said, even with the test questions in advance, Sudo Ken and others did not perform well on the test. They had not taken the test seriously at all, so they only roughly memorized some of the answers. Moreover, due to their limited academic ability, they could not even understand some of the solution steps.

According to the school's rules, the passing score is half of the class average, so the trio of idiots can be said to have been completely wiped out.

"this....."

Haruki Yamauchi, who was standing to the side, wanted to refute the other party, but couldn't think of any suitable words for the time being.

"Oh dear, I got scolded too."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had barely opened his mouth when Horikita Suzune glared at him fiercely.

"Let's hold a book club meeting as Horikita suggested... Although we can get the test questions, if we can explain the answers to Sudo and the others, we should be able to get a decent score!"

Just as the tension was escalating and the argument was about to escalate further, Kikyo Kushida took the initiative to suggest...

"Our class is a whole; we absolutely cannot allow anyone to drop out!"

Kikyo Kushida's expression was incredibly serious, and it looked very genuine.

Kushida-kun... is truly as kind as an angel.

The same thought simultaneously crossed the minds of Sudo Ken and the others.