Classroom of the Elite: 真のエリート (Shin no erīto)

chapter 7

That night, under Kushida's orders, everyone except for Sudou gathered in my room, again, why is it my room!?. Apparently, Kushida had even invited Horikita, but it seemed she didn't want to join us.

"So Has there been any progress, Kushida-chan?"

"There has been progress, yes, but I've also noticed something incredible. Kamiyama-kun, can I borrow your computer for a minute?"

"Sure," I answered, after all, I don't have anything to hide. Kushida went to my desktop computer, booted it up, and opened the Internet browser.

"Okay. Have a look at this!"

Kushida accessed what appeared to be somebody's blog. It was rather elaborate, too. Unlike some normal person's website, it had the sheen and polish of a fully-fledged business.

"Wait, is that a picture of Shizuku?" Who?

"Shizuku?"

"She's a gravure idol. She was just featured in a young men's magazine." There were many pictures of her. I certainly couldn't complain about her looks or proportions but why do I feel like I have seen her before?

"Do you recognize her?" Kushida asked.

"Am I supposed to recognize her?"

"Look closely."

Kushida clicked on a picture of Shizuku's face. Ike took a long hard look at her, and then...

"She's cute." *sigh*

"No, not that! This is Sakura-san, isn't it?"

"Kushida-chan, who are you talking about?"

"Sakura-san, from our class."

"Huh? No way, no way. Sakura-san? No, no, no, there's no way that's true." Ike laughed, but Yamauchi's expression stiffened.

"Hey, Ike... You know, when I actually get a good look at her, I...think she probably does look a little like Sakura."

"But she's not wearing glasses, right? And her hair is different."

"Those are simplistic ways to identify somebody..."

That's why it felt like I had seen her somewhere before, it did take some time to realize that the idol was definitely Sakura. It seemed like Ike still couldn't believe it, though. He was still scrambling in confusion while looking at the screen.

"So Sakura is Shizuku? That's a lie, right? I mean, sure, there's a slight resemblance, but they're different people. I mean, look how crazy bright and happy Shizuku is. Right? Come on, Kamiyama." why are you asking me.

All of the pictures she'd uploaded were cute, it seemed she was accustomed to taking selfies. However, I glimpsed one piece of incontrovertible evidence that proved Sakura and the idol Shizuku were the same.

"No, Kushida is definitely right. That's Sakura. Here."

I pointed to one of the pictures.

"You can barely see it, but the door to her dorm room is in this picture."

"It looks like the same as the doors in our dorm."

In other words, it was likely she'd taken that picture at school.

"Okay, so Sakura is Shizuku after all... I still don't understand the point."

"Good job noticing this, Kushida." I meant it. Even though there was a clear resemblance, I wouldn't have noticed without Kushida drawing our attention to it, well that's mostly because I don't know any idols or actors, I do know authors and characters.