Classroom of the Elite: Free Will

V10: Chapter 5 - Class Discussion

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka POV

When classes ended for the day, a real discussion was finally poised to begin. Yousuke immediately stood up and got ready to leave, however. He was the only one who did so.

"Hirata-kun!"

"H-Hirata-kun!"

Several of the girls in class all shouted at Hirata in unison, Mii-chan among them. However, Yousuke didn't stop moving. From the outside, it looked like he didn't care what happened to the class anymore. But it also seemed like he didn't want to bother the class, so he was just doing the bare minimum: coming to school, attending class, and then going back to the dorms right away. He was probably going to stay locked in that cycle.

"Wait, Hirata-kun!"

"I think you're the ones who should wait," said Suzune.

Mii-chan and the others were about to chase after Yousuke, but her words stopped them in their tracks.

"We're about to hold a discussion. Or do you plan to make even more people be absent?" said Suzune.

"B-But..."

"There's nothing we can do for him right now. Go on, get back to your seats."

Suzune, having squashed their desire to run after Yousuke, urged everyone to take their seats. Right now, our top priority was to put our heads together and focus on solidifying our plans as a class.

"And yet Kouenji of all people is still here, huh," said Sudou, his voice tinged with surprise, considering how unexpected it was for Kouenji to participate.

"Fu fu fu. I am a member of this class, am I not? It is only natural that I participate," replied Kouenji plainly, as if what he was saying was obvious. "However, I would like for us to settle everything today, making this our first and only discussion. I am quite busy, you see."

"That's a difficult task. It's not like we can make all the decisions necessary for this special exam in a single day. Even if we decide on all of our events today, we'll still need further preparations so make sure we win those events," Suzune, standing at the podium, shot his request down.

Kouenji didn't object. Instead, he wore a wide grin. It seemed that at least for the time being, he was willing to listen.

"In that case, I will only be participating in this particular discussion," he replied, not budging an inch.

Apparently, no matter what strategy the class came up with, the thought of working with everyone never even crossed his mind. Sudou silently stood up, but quickly sat back down after Horikita shot him a look. If people continued to fight here, our discussion would never be able to move forward.

"Well then, I'll just keep doing what I can to get you to participate in the next meeting," said Suzune.

Kouenji listened to Suzune's comeback with a smile, and then crossed his arms and legs. That was his way of signalling to her, please go ahead and start the discussion.

"Heya, um, Horikita. I've got some stuff I wanna ask. Some simple questions about the events we'll participate in and stuff," said Ike, raising his hand.

"What is it, Ike-kun?"

Ike, hand still raised, stood up.

"They're saying that we're competing in seven events in total, right? But I mean, we're not all gonna have a turn, right?" he asked.

"Who do you mean by 'we'? And what exactly are you talking about?" asked Suzune.

"Um, well, puttin' it in simple terms, the students who are kinda, well, awful? I mean, I was just wondering...the students who aren't particularly good at sports and aren't exactly blessed with book smarts aren't really going to take a turn, right? It's not like all seven of these events are gonna be the kind where we need tons of people. If we pick events that only a few skilled people can win at, that means a bunch of us won't be doing anything, right?" said Ike.