CHANGED - Classroom of the Elite

30

March 6th – Saturday:

When Suzune waltzed into the classroom five minutes late the next day, everyone immediately snapped their heads towards her. More specifically, the bandage wrapped around her hand.

"Sorry for being late, Sensei." She apologized. 

"I'll let you off this time considering you've never been late before. Don't let it happen again." Chabashira replied, narrowing her eyes when seeing the bandage. Or rather, the lack of blood stains on it.

"Understood."

She ignored the continued staring of eyes and sat down in her seat, pulling out her phone.

"Suzune..." She looked up to find Airi hovering worriedly by her desk, quickly darting her eyes between her and the bandage. "A-are you o-o-okay?"

"... Yeah? Why wouldn't I be?"

"Maybe because your fucking hand sliced through a whole damn desk?!" Haruka suddenly yelled, stomping over and punching Suzune in the arm (the non-injured one). "You didn't answer any of my texts either! Or my calls! Don't do that again!! You scared us, you dummy..." The last part was briefly muttered to herself, but she heard it loud and clear.

Suzune sighed and pat Haruka three times on the head. "Sorry, dude. I fell asleep early."

Haruka's eyes widened a little before she bit her wobbling lip, holding back tears, torn between whether she should call her an idiot or stay quiet.

"Horikita-san."

Everyone whipped their heads around to find Hirata slowly walking up to her table. Suzune noticed Sudo rising out of his chair to stop him but hesitated when seeing his face. Hirata's face was carefully blank, no emotion present.

Once he reached her desk, he stopped in his tracks. The two of them had a staring contest for what felt like years before he gave a ninety-degree bow.

"I'm sorry."

Suzune stared at him, an eyebrow raised and waited for him to continue.

"I'm sorry." Hirata rose from his position to his full height once more. "There are no excuses that could ever justify my actions towards you. If anything, the class should vote me out today for being such an incompetent leader- "

"Shut up." Hirata snapped his head up at her voice, his eyes showing going from regret to complete confusion. "You're an amazing leader, Hirata Yosuke. Don't let anyone tell you any different. Also, the only reason you attacked me was because of the amount of stress you were under from my actions. If anything, I should be aplogising for putting you under that much pressure. Here."

Suzune suddenly held out a folded up sticky note. He carefully cradled it in his palms. He unfolded it and his eyes widened at what was written on it.

"Is this- "

"I found a few therapy videos for you online related to stress and anxiety disorders. Thought you could benefit from them."

Hirata was frozen in his place, mouth slightly agape as he stared at the note in his hand. When he fully processed her words, his eyes began to water. He bowed again in front of her desk. "Thank you, Horikita- no... Suzune."

"No problem."

---

The exam finished rather quickly, with students keen to get the rest of the day off.

"To start off, I'll announce the three of you who ranked highest with the most praise votes. In third place is... Hirata Yosuke. With 19 praise votes."

He looked devastated to hear his name, but the class looked the complete opposite.