Unveiling the Mastermind - Classroom of the Elite Reaction

Sudo's Trial - Time To Get A Chain-Lock

Sudou slid to the floor with a thud.

"Buy some carpet, will ya? My butt hurts," he muttered.

I had no points to waste on interior design. Even though my room had seemingly been designated as our group's meeting spot, we hadn't gotten together once since the party. Even if I went out and bought a carpet, I'd have been the only one sitting on it. Just imagining that was surreal.

"What's this party you are on about?" Sato asked.

"Oh, I can answer that! When Horkita-san...well, Horikita-san and Ayanokoji saved Ken, we had a party in his room to celebrate!" Ike explained.

"And Horikita-san attended this party?" Matsushita asked.

"Yeah, she did. She was the one who saved Sudo, after all," Ike shrugged as if it was obvious.

I recalled that Horikita hadn't been thrilled about the idea, but then again, I hadn't been overjoyed either.

"I didn't think you were the type to go to celebration parties, Suzune," Ryuen said, "Maybe you really are a softie under that icy front,"

"I have no idea what you are referring to," Horikita shut him down, "I was invited and I went, there's nothing more to it,"

As I stood up to make some tea, the doorbell rang. Kushida, the Madonna of Class D, poked her head through the entrance. She looked as cute as ever. She saw Sudou, who was still sitting on my floor.

At the sight of Kushida, the conversation dried up. There were probably thoughts like 'How can he stand being near her' or 'How can he act like nothing happened' going through people's heads.

"Both of them acted like there was nothing going on. Knowing about Kushida's ability to completely change her character, it doesn't surprise me that she could do it. But how was Ayanokoji-kun able to keep calm? Even if says he struggles to show emotion, he should at least be worried, right?" Matsushita thought.

"Senpai, didn't it bother you to have someone like her in your room," Tsubaki yawned, the atmosphere clearly not affecting her.

"I'm not really sure what you mean by 'someone like her', but no, I guess it didn't bother me," I replied.

"Isn't that a little too dismissive even for you? You say that you don't view people as good nor bad, but surely you would become at least a bit cautious of her," Tsubaki continued, "Instead you act like you know nothing about her - even going as far as calling her cute despite the fact you do know of her ugly side,"

You could say she was half-right on both counts. Upon learning of the extent of Kushida's faked personality, I acted no differently from how I usually would. It was probably because the caution that Tsubaki believes I should have shown was my default setting. Because I was already wary around her, there was no need to overdo it when discovering her other side. As for the 'cute' comment...nobody would argue that from an objective point of view.

"As long as I didn't tell anyone, I was safe. There was no need to worry about it since I didn't plan on saying anything," I explained.

"I see you have no intention of giving a real answer,"

"What answer do you want?"

Tsubaki didn't continue her inquest. I wondered what she found so interesting about me. Someone like her wouldn't bother speaking up for any other reason. How much did the first-years connected to Tsukishiro know about me?

"Oh, Sudou-kun's already here," she said.

"Hey, Kushida, I want to ask you something. Do you perhaps have a duplicate key to my room, too?"