Warmth Of A Genius | Classroom Of The Elite

Move 19 - Plan of Action

"Alright then, let's go over everything before it gets too late, shall we?" Hashimoto suggested as he planted himself on one of the rocks in the cave. That can't be too comfortable, but he doesn't exactly seem to mind.

After asking Shiina some basic questions like why she was here and what happened to her ankle, Katsuragi decided now would be a good time to discuss our first day of the special exam. Considering Shiina's appearance wasn't the only thing we had to cover tonight, it seemed like a smart move. The members present at this meeting were myself, Katsuragi, Hashimoto and Kamuro. Two representatives of each faction of our class.

"As much as Shiina-san should be a priority, there is one person we should deal with right now." Katsuragi said, glancing towards the entrance of the cave and seeing the person in question we had to deal with.

Kamuro sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head lightly. "Katsuragi-kun, I'll be honest here. Right now Totsuka-kun is not only a liability for your own group, but our entire class. If this keeps up, our class will start isolating him even more than they already are."

"So let me recap just to be safe." Hashimoto started, "Totsuka-kun, Yamamura-san, Sanada-kun and Ayanokouji-kun found this cave, and Totsuka-kun tried to scan the card." Hashimoto looked in my direction to confirm the information he was sharing with the group, which I did with a nod.

"Then Sanada-kun and Ayanokouji-kun told him off, and even gave a clear reason as to why he wasn't allowed to take control of the spot at that moment. He then pretends to listen, only to scan the card the second the three of you turn your backs to focus on collecting a net that was in the cave. Is that right, Ayanokouji-kun?"

Again, I nodded and Hashimoto seemed to be having trouble containing his laughter. The only thing this recap of his did was affirm that we were, in fact, sharing a class with an idiot.

"The pool was one thing, and I'll even admit, I went overboard there as well. But this is a lot more important. Class points are on the line here. Class factions or not, Totsuka's desire to 'be useful' is hurting our class." I said.

The only thing Katsuragi's been doing is merely nodding along, seemingly ashamed since Totsuka belonged to his faction, and he was basically attached to Katsuragi at the hip prior to May 1st.

"While I can't defend Totsuka-kun's actions, I do still think that keeping him as the leader is beneficial to us. If our class dislikes him, that will at least make it less likely in other classes' eyes that he'll be chosen as our leader." Katsuragi said.

"It's not like we can change the class leader anyways. Our class agreed at the start of the exam, and that's a choice we have to live with, unfortunately." Kamuro said, looking back at Totsuka. "On a more important note, how will we punish him?"

"Oh? I didn't think you were like that, Masumi-chan. I'm almost surprised." Hashimoto said with a smug smile on his face, clearly proud of himself.

Kamuro sighed, rolling her eyes at Hashimoto. "Take this seriously for once. Totsuka-kun needs to learn that his actions have consequences. He should've been taught that when he was a kid, but it seems like that responsibility falls on us right now."

"That's... well..." Katsuragi tried replying to Kamuro's suggestion, but he was doubting himself. While I do think his opinion of Totsuka has gone down in the past few months, it doesn't change the fact that he's one of his only supporters in our class. Punishing him now may lead to Totsuka giving up on the class battle. And while there isn't much he can do in this fight, losing a person here would be another blow to Katsuragi's reputation in our class.

"While I do agree that Totsuka needs to learn his place and how to actually listen to his peers, punishing him during the exam will only create more problems. Let's wait until after the exam at least. For now, why don't we monitor him closely, so he can't do anything else?" I suggested, trying to take the responsibility off of Katsuragi.