Classroom of the Elite: Alter - Solace

Vol. 7: Chapter 6.2 - Treasuring Connections

"Eh? Really? Finally?!" Ichihashi's excited voice betrayed her usual coolness.

"R-Ruri, you're getting too worked up!" Mori tried to calm her down with a red face.

"That's really nice, isn't it?" Ryuuko said with a gentle smile. "And Christmas is coming too. I'm sure you'll have lots of fun together."

"How dreamy. The two of you have been close friends ever since the first semester, right?" asked Azuma.

"Well, yes..."

"Everyone thought it was just a matter of time, to be honest. I'm glad the two of you are finally together."

"Thanks, Ryuuko..."

"Ahaha, I feel bad for that one Class D girl who has a big crush on Kikuchi-kun though," said Azuma.

"E-Eh?" Mori looked surprised.

"I didn't know that! Who is it?" asked Ichihashi.

"Hmmm... I actually can't recall her name, but she wears glasses..." Azuma poked her chin.

"There are only two girls with glasses in Class D, I think. If I remember correctly, it's Mineshima-san and Wada-san." Ryuuko lowered her voice.

"Uhh, maybe it's Wada-san?"

"Now, now, it doesn't matter at this point. Let's just celebrate Nene's victory!" Ichihashi clapped her hands twice and veered the topic back.

Azuma took a long sip from her frappuccino before asking an outrageous question.

"So? Did you kiss?"

"W-Wait, Sana, you shouldn't ask that so suddenly!" Mori hectically waved her hands in a panic.

"She didn't deny it! Kyahh~!"

The girls continued being giddy about their conversation.

"They do realize that we can hear them, right?" grumbled Eita.

Our group sat in the outer area of Pallette. Voices usually scatter in an open place like this, especially in a bustling location near the mall, so it wasn't as risky to talk normally compared to being inside. That said, Eita and I were still in their proximity, even if we sat at different tables.

"They don't, but that's probably my fault. They were gauging my reactions to see if we could hear them, but I don't think my face would change no matter what they said."

Eita was in front of me, which meant that they could only see his back. If our positions were reversed, they would've seen his slightly flushed face.

"Well, it's not all bad. It's nice to hear my girlfriend being all bashful while talking about me."

"Are you bragging?"

"I am," he smirked.

We were originally seated together, but the girls wanted to have some girl talk, so they shooed us away for a bit-- not that it made a difference.

"If you were good at sports, you would've embodied the normie that every rom-com protagonist hated," I said.

"Man, I wish I was good at sports though. I've never been athletic since I was a kid."

"You had a good run during PE, remember?"

"That was thanks to my daily jogging and workout! Oh, that's right. You haven't been jogging lately, Kiyotaka."

Eita improved a lot in a couple of months. He's probably just a tiny bit less athletic than Makida now. (1)

"I switched to just working out in my room because of the cold, but I'll probably go back at it once the new year comes."