Classroom of the Elite: Free Will

SS25: Ichinose Honami - Secrets

The new month had begun, and we were officially Class D.

Overall, the mood in class could only be qualified as disheartening. Shinobu-san and Mako-chan tried to cheer us up and engage in conversation with the others, but as soon as classes ended for the day, everyone left.

With a depressed sigh, I took my time to gather my things and place them on my backpack.

Things just couldn't get worse.

Class D.

We were the class at the bottom.

Twice we were on the brink of becoming Class A and twice we failed to do so.

And it was all my fault. After all, I allowed Shiina-san to remain in our camp back on the island; I allowed Karuizawa-san and Matsushita-san to do as they pleased.

I trusted them.

I gave them my trust; I wanted them to feel welcome and this was the result.

I was but a burden to this class. I should have left when I was expelled... And yet, I did not leave.

I had been too weak to maintain my position before Mako-chan and the others who insisted to pay for the revocation of expulsion.

Talk about a leader!

The five pillars of Class B, hah! Ryuji-kun completely retired after the Sports Festival and I was the link everyone aimed to attack our class.

Every single time we fell so easily because of me.

This was supposed to be a new start for me.

A place where I could make lots of friends and memories and enjoy my high school years.

At least in middle school it was only I that ended up destroyed as a consequence of my actions. But here... here... I was destroying the future of thirty-nine friends with my incompetence.

Perhaps Horikita-senpai had been right to refuse me a seat in the student council at the start of the year.

Now, I have to impose my presence in front of the very people whose future I had destroyed.

I wished to create a place where everyone could feel welcome and supported and ended up repeating the same mistakes.

My selfishness truly knows no bounds.

"YOU PROMISED ME CLASS A!!"

At the sudden shout, I snapped out of my thoughts, looking around me.

I was still in my classroom, sitting at my desk, while I was clenching the backpack resting on my lap. In front of the blackboard, surrounding the teacher's desk, Chie-sensei and Karma-kun seemed to be in the middle of a heated discussion.

"Chie—," Karma-kun tried to appease her, but Chie-sensei slammed her fist against the desk.

"I don't want your petty excuses, Karma! I want results! That bitch is at the gates of Class A while I'm stuck with a bunch of defects!"

I couldn't help but let out a scared yelp upon seeing Chie-sensei's face. Instead of looking at Karma-kun with her ever-present playful eyes, she was glaring at him with nothing but hatred, her voice full of venom. The change was so drastic that my only thought was that someone had replaced my silly but kind-hearted teacher.

Her teacher's expression turned to one of stupor.

"Honami-chan? What are you—"