Classroom of the Elite: Wishing Well

Chapter 4: As It Was

"Are you accusing old little Fūka of something heinous?" Fūka drew back, a faux hurt expression on her face and a palm on her chest, "What a shame. And here I thought you were an innocent little Kōhai-kun."

"I am."

"Ordinary Fifty-percent-kōhai-kun. So awfully suspicious. Tsun, tsun," she grinned, nudging me on the tip of my nose with her index finger.

After we finished breakfast, Fūka finally left my room, making sure not to be seen as she did so. I left for the gym.

-o-o-o-

[9:21:23 AM] [Unknown] Meet me outside Class 1-D's classroom.

The sender was unknown. How strange.

I had been heading back from my workout at the gym when I received this message. Well, I suppose I had nothing to do, so might as well show up to this meeting.

I was planning to watch some anime recommended by Okitani and Sotomura, and maybe read some recommendations Hiyori had made to me until lunch.

As I strolled, I reminisced about my first week of freedom at this school. I had yet to encounter any individuals who stirred wishes within me. But hopefully, I would soon.

But until that came to fruition, I would enjoy ordinary life as it was.

I soon arrived at Class 1-D's classroom door. There, I saw a blond-haired boy and a chocolate brown-haired girl. There were my mysterious messengers, but they both seemed to be senpais. There was no one there to witness anything, so I felt comfortable approaching them.

"You are Ayanokōji Kiyotaka?"

I nodded. "And you are?"

"Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Nagumo Miyabi, Class 2-A, Vice President of the Student Council, and this is my secretary, Asahina Nazuna.

"It's very nice to meet you," the brown-haired girl said.

"Likewise." I nodded. "Why did you call me here today, Nagumo-senpai?"

"You are no ordinary student."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb. Scoring all 50s on your exams, demonstrating incredible physical prowess, figuring out the S System on the first day, creating contracts, and using points in deals... these are just some of the actions you have taken in the first week of joining this school."

My actions clearly hadn't gone unnoticed by the student council.

"Ayanokōji, what is your opinion on the concept of equality?"

I chose to humor him.

"Equality is a social construct." At Nagumo's nod, I continued.

"It is an unattainable ideal that modern society perpetuates and attempts to strive towards. Equality of opportunity, and equality of status, all mere constructs. From the moment a human is born to the moment they die, they are never precisely equal. In genetics, in ability, in talent. Fundamentally, we are unequal."

"Then, is it right to at least strive for equality? Is meritocracy equality?" Nagumo questioned me.

"Meritocracy based on an objective system is a good way of striving towards equality," I answered carefully, "However, a bad system can perpetuate inequality."

"Let me ask you this again. Is meritocracy between groups of individuals equality? Or is an individual meritocracy in the spirit of equality?"

Indeed, this was a difficult question.