Classroom of the Elite: The New Elite

Chapter 24

I met up with Horikita the next day to brief her on how the study session went, and she informed me that I'll be tutoring Sakura as well. While I'm happy I only got assigned one additional student, considering it's Sakura, she probably won't want to be taught alongside the others. In other words, I'll have to dedicate some time to tutor her one-on-one.

Before that, though, I hope she even accepts having me as her tutor. Back when I was trying to get some information from her regarding Sudou's case, it didn't go very well.

The bell rang, announcing the end of classes for today. I got up from my seat and made my way to Sakura once she had exited the classroom. It's probably best if I talk to her in a less crowded area.

"Hi, Sakura. Do you have a minute to talk? It's about the study group. I'm guessing Horikita already clued you in."

"Y-Yes, she did. I'd rather study alone, but because of my grades, I wasn't given much of a choice."

Sakura placed in the bottom ten of our class's rankings, so it's only natural that Horikita didn't want to take any chances.

"Yeah, I figured. Still, I don't want you to be uncomfortable, so how about this? I can tutor you alone. That way, you won't have to deal with a big group or anything. You can even choose where we study if you'd like. It might not be the answer you were hoping for, but it's the best I can do as a compromise."

If that doesn't persuade her, then I'll just have to report back to Horikita and see if she can assign another student to me.

"Umm... In that case, that sounds all right. I-If it's okay with you, could we book a karaoke room for the study sessions?"

While that would guarantee that we won't have to deal with other people, and it's a lot less weird than studying in my room or hers, I didn't expect her to choose the karaoke place as our study location of all things.

"Sure."

I expected her to put up some resistance, but she surprisingly came to terms with the situation fairly quickly. That works in my favor, so I'm not complaining.

____________________

Ring Ring

I don't think I have anything new to discuss with Horikita, so I wonder why she's calling me out of the blue. What's more is that it looks to be a group call with Ayanokouji as well.

"Hello?"

"Let's place a bet, Kushida."

"A bet?"

Although the voices were muffled, I could tell this was a conversation between Horikita and Kushida. Was she letting us listen in in secret?

"If you score higher than me in the upcoming exam, I'll drop out of school. To make things fair, you're free to choose any of the subjects as the one we'll be competing in. However, if I win, then you'll have to forget about having me drop out."

It's come down to this, then? Horikita's scores are superior to Kushida's, but if Kushida's free to choose the subject they'll be competing in, then Horikita's advantage will be diminished. Plus, the exchange feels pretty lopsided, one person would have to drop out while the other simply has to carry on with their life. Still, Kushida probably wouldn't agree to the terms of the bet otherwise.

"How do I know you won't just back out of the bet if you lose?"

"Don't worry, I called a reliable witness. Niisan."

"Huh?"

So, the former student council president will act as the witness, then. After some more talking, an agreement was made and Horikita-senpai took his leave. I'm surprised that Kushida accepted him as the witness given his relation to Horikita, but I guess Kushida believes he'll be impartial despite that. I was ready to hang up the call when...