Classroom of the Elite: Checkmate

Chapter 4 - Bare King

"Your classmate, Yamauchi Haruki, was expelled. He left the school's premises around an hour ago."

This bombshell was dropped on us during homeroom of the next day. The whole class was immediately silenced because of it. Some of the smarter students already assumed that he might have been expelled after he didn't show up before class started, but this was the final confirmation that the student named Yamauchi Haruki was no more. The most revealing fact was, however, that his desk was gone, which nobody seemed to have processed just yet.

Hirata shook visibly upon hearing those words. His hands clenched into fists and his face would surely look similar to yesterday. Every single student was affected by this news, except for Kouenji, who apparently couldn't care less. As expected of someone who only paid attention to himself, he admired his reflection in the mirror while the rest of the class kept quiet due to the overwhelming nature of this statement.

The lessons passed quickly.

It was the first time that my classmates were silent and listened to Chabashira-sensei and the other instructors during their lectures. At least they seemed as if they were listening. Most of them were still processing that they had just lost one of their companions. My pieces started taking this school more seriously, even if they weren't aware of it yet. Just like they noted that the teachers wouldn't care about phone usage or sleeping during classes, they realized that students will be expelled without mercy if the schools deemed this as proper punishment.

I wondered how long this 'self-reflection' would hold up.

Due to the shock, I'd say about a week until a few students would drift back into their usual behavioral pattern of sleeping and phone usage. This was enough time for most people to suppress this bad memory and realize that it was no use in behaving differently to before, since nothing had changed for them.

The closest friends of Yamauchi, Ike and Sudou were the most affected by this sudden announcement. During class, Sudou seemed in thought, probably reflecting about the way he had acted, the outbursts, and his violent behavior. He might try to change himself, but will without a doubt fail hundreds of times before finding the right path. Ike was as pale as a sheet of paper. 'This could have been me,' was the likeliest thought to twist and turn around in his head, as he was the one who behaved most similar to the classmate we had lost.

As our math lesson ended, I took a quick peek towards my neighbor. She was calm as expected, almost happy even. If I were to ask what cheered her up so much, she'd likely answer something like 'Yamauchi is gone, that makes one useless person less in class, so why wouldn't I be delighted?'

The girls surrounded Hirata and tried to invite him to the cafeteria, but he rejected all of their invitations and told them to leave him alone for a while. He wasn't rude in his wording, but every girl realized that he needed some time to figure things out for himself.

It was a good decision that I told him my thoughts about Yamauchi's punishment yesterday. Even if he had noticed the fact himself, he wasn't brave enough to voice or even think about it. Due to my words, he somehow managed to come to terms with the fact that we'd lose Yamauchi today, which lessened the impact to a considerable degree.

His fan club was understandably saddened, but they soon decided that they would leave him alone for today and cheer him up even more tomorrow. He was and would be an integral part of this class, since he was one of the few people who could ensure that Class D ran smoothly.

Those were some great friends, huh? I wondered if I would have this much luck with my future friends. I had some already, of course, but I didn't plan on stopping with them. I wanted to get to know as many people as I could and become friends with them, if possible.