Classroom of the Elite [Year 2, Volume 5]

．part three

For about 2 weeks after that, our school life went on as usual.

Preparations for the cultural festival and sports festival occurred simultaneously, while also refining our academics. I can safely say that every day was valuable time spent, no different from a regular school. Surprisingly, our relationship didn’t seem to spread from Sudou, and there was no sign of any new people knowing about this.

Then in mid-September, after school on the Wednesday of the 3rd week. Sitting in the back row, I caught sight of an unexpected someone who approached Horikita, who was sitting in the center of the front row.

“Hey, Horikita-san. Can I take up some of your time later, if you’re available?”

That person who just spoke to Horikita with a little hesitation was Satou. One of those girls who hadn’t really crossed paths with her.

“I have to go to the student council in an hour, but as long as I don’t miss that, it’s alright. What’s wrong?”

Although she didn’t show any surprise, I didn’t think that Satou had initiated many conversations with Horikita. After getting a surprise reply, Satou’s voice lowered a little, and she continued to speak.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about events for the cultural festival… You said that we can tell you if we’ve got any ideas, right?”

“Yes. I’d very much welcome any suggestions…”

“Well, let me explain. I have an idea for an event that will allow us to win this cultural festival.”

Although Satou appeared confident, Horikita wasn’t easily impressed.

This was natural; after all, in these past 10 days, many students have already approached Horikita with suggestions. 

If your ideas were adopted, you would be rewarded. As such, both male and female students have repeatedly approached Horikita with suggestions. 

The suggestions ranged from the typical, to some novel ones. However, the common denominator was that Horikita did not accept event suggestions that were merely just a name. On the day she made it clear that the proposers would be rewarded, Hondou immediately suggested selling fried chicken as they were delicious. But Horikita rejected it, on the grounds that it needed an actual plan, so she did not consider the plan at all. Hondou didn’t give up, and the next day, submitted a plan for making fried chicken, but it was only a recipe from the internet on how to make it, and a lot of talk about how well it would sell, and how delicious it would be.

After reading that low-quality plan, Horikita once again emphasized the importance of the plan proposal. If you wanted to set up a fried chicken store, you needed to consider the location, the manpower required, the prices, the number of potential customers and the justification for it. Horikita said that she would only accept proposals that addressed all those areas.

After that, I thought that the number of people who would make hasty proposals to Horikita would decrease. To my surprise, even more came with increasingly sophisticated plans to present. 

A few proposals even made it onto Horikita’s shortlist for further discussion. 

However, those proposals all lacked something conclusive, so they weren’t ready to be officially adopted. 

“So, have you prepared a proposal?”

“Ah, yeah. ‘Course I’m prepared… But it’s a little inconvenient here. Can you give me a little time later, if that’s okay?”

“Really? So be it then. Where shall we meet?”

“Let’s see, let’s meet at the empty classroom in the special building in 30 minutes. I’ve already gotten permission from the teacher.”

“Empty classroom?”

Satou whispered “thanks, see you then” to Horikita, who was a bit surprised, and then turned around, meeting my watchful eyes, and quickly came over. 

“Hey, Ayanokouji-kun. Do you have time later as well?”

“Me? I’ve got nothing special going on.”

“You heard what I just said, right? Can you come with Horikita-san in 30 minutes as well?”

“Why do I have to come too?”

“It’s a secret for now. You’ll find out when you come over.”

Satou’s face was just as confident as her tone towards Horikita earlier. 

“Then I’ll be waiting for you two!”

Satou, who had taken out her phone to check the time, rushed out of the classroom.

“What’s up with her? She looks confident, though.”

“Maybe she did come up with a big idea for an event.”

“Even so, did she need to call us out like this?”

I didn’t know what her real intentions were, but that would be revealed in 30 minutes. 

Horikita and I spent some time in the classroom, and then left for the special building.