Classroom of the Elite - Seven Years After

A Moment of Respite

The exam concluded with neither a gain nor a loss for Class D. Unfortunately, the two wins that raked in class points, those being the Dragon group and Rabbit group, were quickly overridden by two selfish idiots.

We were back on campus once more with a week left before school started again. However, it was getting difficult to keep my cool while passing those same people laughing as if nothing had even happened. Shikichi and Maruyama were the primary cause of blame in their individual groups. Shikichi's problematic behavior and aggressiveness led to his loss despite his relative intellect, and Maruyama was deceived by something extremely simple as expected. Thanks to them, our efforts were for naught.

It was hot out today, but still, it felt nice to sit on a bench in the park under the shade. I felt much more grounded than I did when engaging in a similar type of behavior on the ship, but that's most likely because I was literally more grounded. I should be studying, but I gave myself a small break in order to recharge for later. I stared up at the leaves gently ruffling in the breeze before closing my eyes and relaxing.

Once the exam concluded and results were revealed, no one managed to figure out who the traitor was due to the anonymity kept in the results. Because of this, Mikuri's secret alliance was actually able to remain a secret, however she did ask those in the class group chat to share their own experiences. Overall, surprisingly, Class B and Class C were the only classes that resulted with a positive increase. Both Class B and Class C had gained 50 class points while Class A remained neutral, similar to us. It was unfortunate that Class C was now gaining a lead from us when they had previously appeared so close.

I opened my eyes again and stared at the pavement in front of me.

The most notable of what I could guess were the Class B winning groups was the Snake group, containing Okane. I can only guess that amidst the other two unremarkables in his group he decided that he shouldn't get too far on the bad side of Satou, putting in some minimal effort to figure out the leader.

"Hey Nakanishi." Just as I was about to go back to my dorm room, a certain person addressed me.

Arakaki remained a bit distant, but greeted me anyway.

"Ahaha, just kidding. I don't want to bother you," she began to walk away with a small smile on her face. This one wasn't overly perfect, it was just a little skewed to one side. An imperfect smile was more charming than a perfect one, at least that's what I believed nowadays; though it's not as if I would be using such a technique. While thinking it was a relief to be alone, I stopped myself. This could be my first chance to reach out to others and it was served to me on a silver platter.

I suddenly stood up, "Wait, Arakaki-san."

She turned around in confusion, "Huh? What is it?"

"May I accompany you? Presumably to the mall if that's where you were planning on heading."

She seemed initially surprised at the invitation, but her eyes suddenly widened, beaming with excitement. "You're serious?" I gave her a slight nod. "Well of course then! I was just going to get food but you're always welcome to join me."

"Thank you," I said, bowing my head to be polite.

She frantically waved her hands at me. "You don't have to bow, seriously. No honorifics too. Keep things casual around me." She seemed a bit uncomfortable when formal manners were used, so I would have to take note of that for future interactions. In elementary school it was similar, but I thought that it might have been different in high school with developed manners being the norm. Perhaps she is just an exception.

We began to walk, but as we walked I didn't have any relevant or topical ideas. As a whole, I lacked the conversational skills necessary in order to make friends. I never needed them, so I had forgotten how to behave.