Classroom of the Elite (Ayanokoji Kiyone)

Volume 5 : Prologue

Sudou Ken POV

To be honest, I'm not a proper human being. 

I don't need someone else to tell me that. 

I decided to become strong and stand for myself when my mother, who worked in the entertainment business, left me. 

The small presence of my father's back. He spent every day living somberly as a mere janitor. I felt sick looking at that sight. 

Being the idiot I am, I gave up on my studies and decided to enter the world of sports. I was into sports like tennis and table tennis at first but they never really clicked with me. I could practice all I wanted, but I could never reach the top ranks in those sports. Then I had my first encounter with basketball.

Normally, I dislike playing with others as a team, but miraculously, I was able to make it work in the case of basketball. That was why my skill with it increased. 

I even got a recommendation for the high school with one of the best basketball teams in the country. But I got entangled in violent activities, and my application was rejected. And that was when I realized it. 

That I am scum born from scummy parents. That is why I chose to enter this school instead. A place where I won't have to pay money for education, and a dream school where even my future could be guaranteed.....

Or so I thought........

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Ayanokoji Kiyone POV

Such a nice weather today....

Hirata : ".......So, the surnames of the students divided up in order of the zodiac animals were the key to figuring out the 'VIP' then"

The location was the table furthest back in the crowded cafe 'Palette'. 

The close of summer vacation. I, along with Hirata-kun, Karuizawa and Horikita, with those bizarre members, surrounded the lunch table. 

The purpose was to review the shipboard special exam that had taken place in the midst of the summer vacation. We were verifying the answer to the search for the 'VIP' that took place in mixed teams divided up into groups of the 12 zodiacs.

Hirata : ".....The rabbit is the 4th in the zodiac, so Ayanokouji-san, Ichinose-san, Ibuki-san and Karuizawa-san. It would continue in that order".

Karuizawa : "I see. If that's the order then I'm the 4th. That's why I was the 'VIP' then".

As though impressed, Karuizawa nods. But even so, the four of us here, at first glance, should have appeared mismatched but through the existence of Hirata, for some reason, the incompatibility between us was erased. It's a mystery.

Karuizawa :  : "But you know, that rule is extremely simple. Almost anyone could understand it. That means the Dragon group Horikita and the others belonged to was the 5th so Kushida would have been the 'VIP', right?"

Karuizawa inserted the straw into the pack and sipped milk from it.

Horikita : "That's right. Certainly, if you know the answer, it's simple. However, to arrive at this answer in the middle of the exam is no easy matter. Just with the three 'VIP' in your own class, you won't be able to find proof of the rules that determine the 'VIP'"

Including oneselves, if the names of all 3 'VIP' for a class were known, it could be said that one would finally begin to see the possibility.

And besides, even if one realizes that the order of the surnames that correspond to the order of the zodiac is how the 'VIP' is determined, there is still no changing the fact that the first time answering is risky regardless. Because, by some chance, if the wrong answer were to be given, one would incur a considerable amount of damage.