Classroom of the Elite: Alter - Self-Test

The next few days of our study sessions went smoothly. We even had joint sessions with Horikita and the others. Their progress was fairly similar to ours. Hirata was especially glad that everything was going well.

Before we knew it, it was already Friday. Miyake was supposed to be absent to attend his club, but I managed to slip in a suggestion.

"How about this? Miyake and Sudou can go attend their club activities. We'll move the schedule from 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM. It's alright if you're a bit late. We'll have the meeting in my room if that's alright with you guys?" I asked.

"Oh, seriously? Alright!" Sudou exclaimed in joy.

"That's fine with me! I'll be there as soon as possible. C'mon, Sudou, let's bolt," replied Miyake.

"Bye-bye~!" Hasebe enthusiastically gave her farewell.

"Alright, I'll see you two later. I live in Room 401, so just knock when you get there," I said.

"Oho~? Didn't you send them away so you can have some alone time with us girls?" teased Hasebe.

As she said those words, memories came back to me... Hasebe Haruka and Sakura Airi; the two girls in Class B who were said to have the biggest... breasts.

"Not really. You can do whatever you want for the time being," I replied.

"U-Uhm, I want to hang out with Ayanokouji-kun!" Sakura looked like it took everything she had just to say that.

"Oh, you're surprisingly forward, aren't you, Sakura-chan~?" Hasebe turned to target Sakura this time.

"I-It's not like that, Hasebe-san... I don't really have anything else to do right now... So maybe we can do some extra studying?" Sakura's flustered expression probably looked adorable to Hasebe so she started clinging onto her.

"Hmm... You know what, I'll come with you. I'm worried that Ayanokouji-kun might do something bad." Hasebe smirked at me with a dubious look.

I'm really glad they got closer to each other. It's probably a great thing for Sakura to have a female friend as soon as now. I'm getting slandered, though.

"I won't..." I sighed in debility.

"I... I don't think Ayanokouji-kun is that kind of person..." Sakura spoke up to defend me. I'm thankful.

"Ahaha~, I'll still come along. At this point, let's just go have a study session. It'll help my competition with Sudou-kun, too." Hasebe chuckled deviously.

"Okay, let's go then," I said.

When we got to my room, Hasebe instantly jumped on my bed. I'm a bit flustered by her actions, but I'm happy that she's getting comfortable around a guy like me. Sakura looked around with a slightly baffled expression.

"Woah, are you sure this wasn't a vacant room? You haven't touched anything at all!" scolded Hasebe.

"I don't really need any decorations for my room or anything. I'd rather save my points," I replied, earning a weird look that said "What the heck?" from Hasebe.

I started gathering the study materials for them. I moved the small coffee table near my bed so we could begin our session. Using cushions, the three of us sat and got ready.

"Wait!" Hasebe raised her hand out of nowhere.

"Is there a problem?" I asked.

"Isn't this weird? Instead of studying, why aren't we using this time to get to know each other better?" Hasebe suggested. "Don't you agree, Sakura-chan?"

You're the one who suggested a study session, though...

"Uhm... Well, I think... that's also a nice idea," said Sakura.

"I thought you wanted to get ahead against Sudou?" I asked.

"W-Well, I guess I'll cut him some slack." She crossed her arms with a half-confident expression.

We've been studying properly for the past week. If they wanted to take a break by doing this, then I guess I'll allow it.

"Sigh... Fine, I'll indulge you on this. Is there anything you guys want to talk about?" I started the discussion.

Hasebe instantly looked interested. Meanwhile, I saw Sakura's expression brighten up a little.

"Hmm, why don't we start from the top? I'll go first. My first impression of Ayanokouji-kun was a quiet genius— intellectually, that is. And I almost hit the mark... until he whipped out his ridiculous athletic abilities." narrated Hasebe. "For Sakura-chan, I always thought you were the kind of girl who would curl up when talking to people, and I was kinda right, I guess."

Hasebe looked at me, indicating that it was my turn. Well, here goes...

"I guess my first impression of Hasebe-san was a quiet girl, and man was I wrong on that," I said.

Annoyed by my answer, Hasebe lightly punched my arm with a cute glare. 

"I guess most of the people in our class have the same impression of Sakura. You always kept to yourself ever since the start of our year, right?"

"R-Right..." Sakura smiled bitterly.

"But it turns out, you can be also quite talkative," I finished.

"Oh, you're right! We chatted a ton about cosmetics and clothes the other day! Sakura-chan was quite knowledgeable about them." Hasebe excitedly told the story.

"I-It's not that big of a deal..." Sakura became flustered as she tried to deny her knowledge of fashion.

Sakura has been described as "plain" by the likes of Ike and Yamauchi. If she's knowledgeable in fashion, then...

"Well, that aside, it's your turn, Sakura. Let's hear it." I passed the baton onto her.

"Uhm, okay. Well, I always thought of Ayanokouji-kun as a smart person ever since he saved the class on the first day. I was surprised to find out that he wasn't good at talking to people, like me. But, he's a very reliable guy." Sakura spoke with a smile.

"Ohh~? Is your heart racing, Ayanokouji-kun? Even my heart raced a bit." Hasebe tried to tease me as payback. It didn't really work, though.

"A-Ahh... Uhm-!" Sakura panicked after recalling everything that she just said.

"Well, I'm thankful for Sakura's words. It feels nice to be in the same boat as someone," I replied.

That was probably the only way for Sakura's embarrassment to disappear. She'd lose it even more if I acted too affected.

"Well, Sakura-chan? What about me?" Hasebe pointed to herself with eyes of anticipation.

"Uhm, at first, I was a bit intimidated. But I didn't think Hasebe-san was such a friendly person." Sakura continued. "I-It would be nice... if we could be friends-!"

"Eh?" Hasebe uttered with a dumbfounded look.

"Eh?" Sakura parroted.

"Sakura-chan... Aren't we friends already?" Hasebe asked while scratching her cheeks.

"Ehh?!" Sakura gasped in surprise.

"Ahahaha! I wouldn't act this closely if I didn't think so, you know?" Hasebe laughed.

The atmosphere got pretty lively. We proceeded to talk about Sudou and Miyake afterward.

Some time passed and I became Hasebe's target once more.

"Oh! Now that I have the chance to ask, Ayanokouji-kun... Who is it?" Hasebe asked with a suspicious smile.

"Who is what?" I looked visibly confused.

"Huh? I'm obviously asking about the girl you like." Hasebe rolled her eyes.

That question, huh? Even Sakura perked up and paid attention. Well, it wouldn't be girl-talk without love as the topic. It's unfortunate that I was dragged into said girl talk.

"I don't see anyone that way," I replied flatly.

"Eh? Not even a crush? You got Kushida-san, Horikita-san, Matsushita-san, or practically every girl in Class B to choose from excluding Karuizawa-san... Wait, scratch that. If I'm gonna be honest, I think you can even go for her if you want."

She just suggested that I could steal Karuizawa away from Hirata. They're just pretending to be a couple, but wouldn't that be rude if they were truly a couple?

"Even if that's true, I don't really have anyone I like right now. Besides, we're just in the second month of the school year," I rebutted.

"What do you mean?! Not that I support it or anything, but a lot of the students confessed on the first day, you know?! The first day!" Hasebe refuted back.

Well, even I was aware of that. I even saw some students confess their feelings for Kushida at some point. Of course, they got rejected nicely.

"H-Hasebe-san, you're getting too heated about this." Sakura tried to calm her down.

"Sigh... You're right. But it just seemed unrealistic for Ayanokouji-kun to not have a crush on anyone when he's so close to such cute girls," she shrugged.

It does seem suspicious, but I can't really do anything about it now, can I? It would be much more of a problem if I dropped a name.

I don't even know what the concept of love is apart from its textbook definition.