Classroom of the Elite: The New Elite

Chapter 14

Thud

Again with the loud noises. This time, however, it was a lot more serious.

"Wait, did the air conditioner just stop working?"

"I'm afraid so."

Considering how hot it is outside, the heat in here could get dangerously high. It hasn't even been a minute since the air conditioner stopped working, and it already feels a lot hotter than it did. Standing's only gonna waste energy, so I sat down on the elevator's floor. I could see that Satou was already starting to feel the strain of the heat.

"Satou, you should probably sit down. We don't know how long it's gonna take for help to get here, and you'll grow tired if you keep on standing."

Hearing my request, Satou nodded and took a seat facing me. Things weren't looking too good. If help doesn't get here within an appropriate amount of time, or if Honami didn't get my message in the first place, we might actually roast to death. Of course, I'm not planning on saying any of that to Satou. I looked in her direction, and she was obviously uncomfortable; her hair seems to be making it a lot harder to ignore the heat.

"Here."

I handed Satou my hair tie.

"What about you?"

"My hair's a lot shorter than yours. Whether I have it on or not won't make much of a difference. You should probably tie your hair up in a bun for it to be most effective."

"I've never really tied my hair in a bun since I like to leave it flowing, so I don't really know how. But yeah, a bun would probably be my best bet."

"I can tie it for you."

She looked at me with a surprised expression.

"You actually know how?"

"Yeah, I've tied Honami's hair plenty of times in the past, and I'd make it into a bun pretty often in the summers."

"Okay, then."

I got up, sat down behind Satou, and started tying up her hair. It was a lot smoother than I expected, so I didn't have any difficulties working with it. Once I was done, she took out a small hand mirror from her pocket and looked at her reflection.

"Thanks. I'm not really used to having my hair like that, but I do feel a little less hot."

Even though she was grateful, something seemed to be bothering her.

"What's up?"

"Well, it's about what that fortune-teller told you."

"You still want to talk about that?"

"N-Not that part. I mean the thing about your past."

"Oh..."

"You looked pretty angry when she brought it up. Is it really that bad? I know you don't like to talk about it and all, but maybe if you opened up about it, you'd feel a little better."

I get where she's coming from. The biggest reason I've kept it hidden up until now is because people here see me as a person rather than a target or a monster, and I'd like to keep it that way. That said, Satou is one of the first friends I've ever had, so is it fair to keep the details hidden from her? Is our friendship even valid if she's unaware of such a big part of my life? Maybe I should just tell her; she deserves to know. If she accepts it, I'll feel more at ease, and if she doesn't... Well, it was fun while it lasted.

"Fine, but you have to promise me that everything I'm about to tell you will stay between the two of us. You can't even tell Matsushita or Shinohara. Please."