Classroom of the Elite: Checkmate

Chapter 19 - Adjournment

"You seem tired. Are you sleeping well, Kiyotaka?"

Chiaki leaned to the side and examined my face closer.

I shouldn't have looked any different from how I usually did, but her tone carried genuine worry for my well-being. She was likely still anxious about Sakura, who was a no-show at school. Since she had a convincing reason, there weren't any point deductions, but everyone knew what happened and kept fretting about her.

People seriously talked too much...

"Not notably good or bad. Is it that awful?"

"No..." She caressed over my cheek with her free hand before we proceeded on our way. "Maybe I'm just overly worried due to everything that has happened in the past weeks."

It was correct that a lot had happened, but none of the bad things affected me personally. She seemed to have been projecting her worries onto me, which would explain her current overprotective nature.

We walked through the busy mall hand in hand as I caught sight of some posters which had been plastered on the front of multiple stores, advertising a huge fluffy panda with a height of about fifty centimeters. On the right of the poster was a big, golden star with bold letters inside, spelling out 'Limited Edition' in all caps.

"Wow, I didn't know they'd get those here!"

The advertisement seemed to have caught my girlfriend's attention as well, as she began to examine the poster in front of us. She pulled out her phone and took a picture before typing out a message.

It looked like these soft toys were rather popular among the female students, according to the people that stopped to investigate the poster. Chiaki was probably messaging one of her friends in our class about their availability as well.

I was, of course, completely out of the loop on such things.

"What are 'those'? I've never seen them before."

Chiaki put her phone away and turned towards me with an unsurprised expression.

"This brand sells a lot of those special stuffed animal toys. They are always released in five to six versions in a limited quantity and never re-released once sold out. Meaning, those specific cuddly toys will be the only ones that they'll ever produce before moving to another animal."

"That's pretty smart."

Once the brand established themselves as a reputable company with good quality, people would do anything in their power to get one of these cute stuffed animals for their children, loved ones, or themselves. From the poster itself, it also looked like they were being shipped out in packaging, so collectors could keep them in factory new condition and sell them off for profits later.

I wouldn't be surprised if one of the first few animals they had produced was worth a small fortune due to their brand being unknown back then. The company probably turned a huge profit with their pricing policy.

"Do you have one of them?"

"No, but a friend of mine back in middle-school was crazy about their products. She stood in line half the night together with her brother in order to buy one every single time a new animal was released. Mii-chan also likes the brand, but not to such a degree, so I just informed her that they'd be selling them in case she was interested."

This was their evil plan all along, huh?

Not bad company...

"Let's go there!"

Chiaki tugged my sleeve and pointed towards the clothing shop we had visited together with the others. This place harbored fond memories for both of us, because she had suggested calling each other by our first names here.