Welcome to the Classroom of Talent Supremacy

Volume 1 - Ch. 4 Called by the King

"Hey, Kamukura Izuru, Ryuen is calling for you. He wants you to come with him."

Ibuki-san says that.

"Do I really have to go?"

"You're free anyway, so come."

"I don't want to."

"Don't be so stubborn. Just come with me."

Ibuki-san pulls me along, and I reluctantly go with her.

She's as forceful as ever. She really lacks any sense of modesty.

We arrive at a karaoke party room, where Ibuki-san has brought me.

The room is surprisingly spacious, to the point where one could question why it was made so big. It could easily accommodate 15 people.

...So, this is a karaoke room. It has a distinct smell, and it's equipped with soundproofing systems so that even if you sing loudly, it won't be heard in the neighboring rooms.

I see. This place, without surveillance cameras, is an ideal space in the current situation.

And for me, it's unfamiliar territory.

Do people really sing various songs loudly in a place like this? It doesn't seem particularly enjoyable to me.

I'm not familiar with recent songs at all. In fact, I only know a few popular ones.

The only modern song I might know is the mysterious one that Enoshima Junko sang before. That's probably it.

This might be a good opportunity to listen to some popular music and see if any emotions arise.

"Kukuku, no greeting?!"

As I contemplate, I feel a challenging gaze upon me. It's the same gaze I felt before.

I turn my gaze towards it and, as expected, the "king" is there.

He is sitting on a cushion, elegantly sipping a drink.

Standing around him are the same two bodyguards as before, Yamada-kun and Ishizaki-kun.

"The guy who ranks first in the gloomy guy ranking and the guy who looks scary ranking. Kukuku, you're quite popular in this school."

What an ignominious ranking. There's nothing more refreshing than hearing such unabashed criticism. And who took the statistics anyway?

Well, it doesn't really matter.

Let's just wrap up this conversation and go home. I can already predict what he wants to say to me...

Rather than that tiresome topic, music is more important to me.

"You know, I'm not interested in such a meaningless ranking. So, what do you want from me? You just want to bring me under your wing, don't you?"

"...What?"

"What?!"

"You! Consider Ryuen's offer!"

"Shut up, Ishizaki. It's predictable. He won't give in easily."

He stops Ishizaki-kun, who was about to get rowdy, with just his voice. His posture remains unchanged as he continues to assess me with his gaze.

"You have the ability to see through the points, as I heard from Ibuki. That alone is quite impressive. And there's something I want to ask you, coming from someone like you... At what point did you realize it?"

"...I had doubts about the points from the first day, just like you. From there, with the explanation from Mr. Sakagami and my own speculations, I had some accurate assumptions."