Lilac Petals (Classroom of the Elite)

Chapter 7

In the climax of a horror movie, the emotion known as 'fear' would be at its peak. A surge of adrenaline would course through your veins, while your heart rate accelerates—a natural impulse that your body gives way to.

We were currently at the part of the movie where the main protagonist was face to face with Komrade, the antagonist. Despite that, I wasn't feeling fear. I looked at the scene from a rational and logical perspective, thinking about what I'd do in that situation.  You could say it was my way of relishing the horror genre.

Everyone in the theater seemed to be too focused on the movie. Luckily, that meant that we were safe from prying eyes... for now, at least.

Wait, never mind.

Someone was staring at us.

I slowly reached for my phone which was in my pocket, and discreetly turned on its camera and flipped it. In the top corner of the theater, it looked like Matsushita had spotted us. She was fixated on the movie, but occasionally kept sending glances our way.

Beside me, Arisu tried to keep a composed expression while watching the movie, but her slight trembling gave away her true feelings. It was so subtle that you probably wouldn't be able to notice it unless you were up close like me.

Now, what was I supposed to do in this situation?

It was rather clear that she was going through an emotional rollercoaster because of the movie we were watching right now. I decided that offering a supportive presence was the best course of action right now.

I brought up my right hand to her armrest, and brushed it against her hand. It seemed like she subconsciously understood this signal, as she slowly intertwined her fingers with mine, enveloping it in warmth. I couldn't offer her empty words of comfort, so instead, I continued to watch the movie.

I...

My heart... it was starting to beat faster...?

And at the same time, something welled up within me. It was the same sensation I felt from when I hugged her a few days back. Almost instinctively, I gently tightened my hold on her hand, causing this unknown feeling to intensify.

It wasn't a bad feeling. What really worried me was that I didn't know what it was. Was it because of her touch? I felt like I was venturing into unknown depths.

I was confident in my ability to go out of my comfort zone and adapt. It had helped me soar great heights in the White Room, allowing me to reach my father's interpretation of the so-called 'perfect human.'

Whenever I was faced with an unfamiliar equation, I never backed away. I dissected it, allowing me to understand its elements and the relationships between them. And this way of thinking wasn't limited to just academics. The same applied to things like social scenarios, negotiations, physical challenges.

However, they all had one thing in common. There was always a sense of logic behind them, which made it easy for me to navigate through them. For the first time in my life, I had been faced with something that defies logic.

This new feeling...

I couldn't place my finger on it.

What was it?

===

Matsushita Chiaki

It was definitely nagging at me.

Ever since the Event Selection exam, there was this suspicion that had continued to well up within me. And it was something about my classmate, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. I couldn't get him off my head lately. I'm sure that if I told anyone else that, they'd probably tease me saying I was lovestruck or something.

But that wasn't it. I knew that for a fact.

Look, I don't mean to brag, but if I really applied myself to it, I could easily end up in the top ten percent of our grade. Meaning, this entire time, I'd been holding back. I didn't like standing out. I didn't want others to rely on me. It was as simple as that.

Even if I'd started to take things seriously, nothing would've changed at all. There were some capable people in our class, like Kushida, Horikita-san, and Hirata-kun. And yet, as Class D, we still fell to the bottom.

I wanted an easy route in life that led to a stable future. That was why, personally, I wanted to graduate from Class A. Yet, I needed everyone to work hard. Right now, most of our class were just leeching off the efforts of our leading figures. So, I kind of gave up.

Well, I did, until someone caught my eye—Ayanokouji-kun. He seemed like he couldn't care less about his class placement, whether it was Class A or D. Anyway, I had my eye on him for a while now, because of some... 'signs.' No, evidence was a better way to put it.

Karuizawa-san had occasionally been stealing glances at Ayanokouji-kun. Maybe saying that she was attracted to him was a bit of a far fetch, but the signs were still there. On top of that, he'd always been close to Horikita-san, who was our class leader.

To put it simply, Ayanokouji-kun was probably the same type of person as me—he was holding back as well, for some reason. And that was just a guess on my part.

Yeah, a guess, until today.

Today, at the cinemas, I saw him accompanying the leader of Class A—Sakayanagi Arisu. I first saw them together in the lobby. Many questions arose in my mind after that: What were they doing together? What kind of connection did they have? I didn't think he was going to betray the class... at least not in a similar way to Yamauchi-kun. He definitely wasn't a careless person.

In the theaters, during the most climatic part of the movie, they were sitting right next to each other. However, my suspicion meter shot up to one hundred when Ayanokouji-kun suddenly moved his hand toward her. I couldn't see what they were doing since it was too dark, but there was definitely something going on.

So, I had decided to discreetly follow them after the movie.

"Wow, that was like, really scary!" remarked Karuizawa-san, placing her hand over her chest. "Like, my heart's still racing from that one scene!"

"You mean the time when the killer suddenly appeared behind him? Oh yeah, I almost jumped out of my chair!" replied Satou-san. "I wonder if I'll be able to sleep tonight..."

"By the way, I wonder why Shinohara-san couldn't come?" I suddenly posed a question, cutting into the conversation. "She's usually enthusiastic about these types of things."

"Oh yeah. I dunno, maybe a secret date?" Karuizawa-san looked up, while stroking her chin. "We should totally tease her about that later!"

Anyway, if I wanted to tail Ayanokouji-kun and Sakayanagi-san, I needed to do that alone. I had to separate myself from these two somehow. I was on a time limit, too.

===

Author's Note

hi guys im alive