Classroom of the Elite: Crimson Usurper (V5-V11.5)

(V7) Chapter 10.1

THAT night, I dreamed about my childhood. About that time I killed a snake. If I'd grabbed it and taught it to feel fear before killing it, would I still have slaughtered it in the end?

"What am I thinking," I sighed.

That line of thought was pointless. You only got one life, and it'll just keep on going. It does not care about you or anyone else.

Some days you won, and some days you lost. Yesterday just happened to be the latter. The number of times I'd been beaten was probably in the triple digits by now. Heck, yesterday hadn't even been the first time I'd lost to Ayanokouji and Shinjiro.

So, what made this different from everything that'd happened so far?

At eight o'clock the next morning, I left the dorms and made my way to the school building. Although this was the first day of our winter vacation, club activities were still being held, so the building had been left open. School rules required uniforms be worn within the building, but I didn't need to pay attention to that particular rule anymore.

The clubs were already engaged in their morning practice, which generally started around seven. Since Keyaki Mall didn't open until ten, I was probably the only student heading toward the school building now.

"Ah..Ah...Achoo!"

"Fucking hell..." I muttered to myself.

Along the way, I encountered a lone student standing by the side of the path, trembling from the cold. I ignored her and kept going, but she called out to me.

"You finally came."

I kept on walking and set my eyes forward.

"Hey, wait a minute!" she said, chasing me in a panic. She, rather forcefully, grabbed my shoulder to halt me.

"Don't touch me like that," I growled.

"I don't exactly want to touch you. You foisted your phone on me, remember? I'm just giving it back," said a red-nosed Ibuki, thrusting the phone at me.

"You could've done this at a better time. How long have you been waiting?"

"Eh, who knows?"

So, she's been waiting for a long time for this stupid thing. Why was she so sensitive when it came to pointless things like this? I didn't take the phone, but Ibuki grabbed my arm when I tried to slip past.

"Hey... are you really going to leave?"

"Didn't you say you're just going to give me my phone back?" I said as I started walking again.

Ibuki glared at me, following me whilst doing so. "Do you remember what you said back when you fought Ishizaki and Albert? You said that the strongest person is not them being physically or intellectually stronger than the other person, but whoever wins in the end. No matter how many times they lost before. That's exactly how it went when you fought them. You made Albert, who is physically stronger than you, submit."

"What are you going about here."

"Are you really going to quit after you lost to Ayanokouji one time?"

"It wasn't really just him, it was also Shinjiro. Even though he was used, he still beat me two times," I said. "I sealed my fate and my future now. Besides, I couldn't care less anymore."

"That's like- super lame... you're super lame."

I didn't care anymore. Guess that guy was a big deal after all, if he could make me feel this way, "I guess I am super lame, huh."

"Don't say that. You were all confident and now you're just self-depreciating. Do you know how much I hate people who self-depreciate?" 

"You wanted me to quit school, didn't you? Isn't this perfect? Your dream came true."

"I cooperated with you because you said you'd get us to Class A. Now you're just going to leave us in the lurch? If you leave, our class is never going to get into a great university or any career they want."