Classroom of the Elite: Free Will

V8: Chapter 14 - Midnight

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka POV

Since it was the final day before the exam, things had changed dramatically. The mood in the cafeteria remained unchanged, but you could clearly tell who was laughing and who was depressed. In short, there was a clear distinction between those whose groups were doing well and those whose groups were not.

As I stepped out into the hallway, and walked into a corner of the school building, I followed a certain person that seemed to want to grab some alone time.

Solitude was a limited resource at this camp. There was the middle of the night, sure, but others would notice if you were gone from your shared room for a long period of time. Your best option was to make use of the time when everyone was gathered in the cafeteria.

As I followed the person in question, she sat down on the floor, against the wall, and let out a sigh of relief. Then, having noticed my presence, she raised her head and looked at me, a smirk on her face.

"My, my, what does my dear kouhai needs from me?"

Instead of answering immediately, I sat by her side.

"You seem pretty exhausted."

She sighed. "Yeah. Asahina is not that easy to deal with. She can be pretty stubborn, you know?"

"I didn't know that," I said. "We haven't talked all that much. But I'll notify Karma."

"Oh, he knows. I tell him each dinner."

"I see."

Kiryuuin and Karma had been eating together this past week.

"So?" she raised an eyebrow. "Why did you contact me?"

"I want to confirm everything's okay."

"Of course it is," she laughed. "Those girls you were eating with didn't give you a report or something?"

"They told me a few things," I shrugged.

"So, you want my version as well?" she snickered. "You and Karma aren't that different in that regard, you know?"

"What do you mean?" I cocked my head, not understanding her affirmation.

"You ask for reports from all around. Even if the information is pretty much the same," she answered with a shrug.

"Do you think it's a waste of time?"

She shook her head. "No, I think it's good to seek information from everywhere. It's important to contrast it," she said. "Now, what would you like to know?"

"Everything you can tell me."

"You sure? We don't have that much time," she said, a smirk on her face. I looked at her blankly to which she chuckled and gave a small apology. "Okay, then. Among the first-year group's, I'd say the Class B ones are the only ones struggling, although the other day there was an incident where Nao got lost on the forest or something—"

I raised an eyebrow at that information. Nao didn't tell me anything about that, so there was the possibility that it wasn't important, but maybe I should ask her, just to be sure it wasn't anything.

Kiryuuin continued her explanation. The group that Sakayanagi, Mikoto and Suzune shared was expected to end up at the top and the other ones were getting along just fine, which was on par with the information I had been receiving these past few days. Among the second years, they were as united as one would think, but Kiryuuin kept complaining about how Asahina wanted her to clean and run more than 1.2 kilometres and whatnot. For the third years, nothing had really changed, the group that consisted of mostly girls from third-year Class A were basically excelling, while the group that consisted of mostly girls from third-year Class B didn't seem to be able to get out of trouble.