Classroom of the Elite: Alter - Solace

August 22nd, 11:30 AM.

I was currently walking out of the dorm building while writing out a very long message. After pressing the send button, the voice of a female classmate called out to me.

"Hey, Kiyotaka-kun!"

"Ryuuko?" I turned around and saw her wearing our school uniform like me.

"Are you on your way to school now? It's still pretty early, you know?"

"Yeah, I didn't have anything better to do inside my room, anyway," I replied. "How about you?"

"I'm heading there now, as well."

Eh? But why did you sound surprised about my decision if you're doing the same thing...?

"Then let's just go together."

"Mn," she nodded.

Students who had business inside the school building were required to wear their uniforms. That said, there are times when fashionistas like Karuizawa or Satou refuse to wear their blazers even during normal school days. Fortunately, it wasn't strictly against the rules, however.

"It's rare for you to not wear your blazer. But given this heat, I guess it would make sense."

Seeing her get-up made me remove my blazer, too. I folded it properly as we walked and put it inside my bag. I also rolled my sleeves up so my forearm didn't get too sweaty.

"Some girls might want to endure, but I don't sweat easily, so I'll be fine."

"Endure? I thought you'd be enduring more if you wear it."

Ryuuko smiled bitterly like she was looking at an innocent child. At that moment, I knew I missed something.

"Summer in Japan will indiscriminately make us sweat no matter what we wear. As a girl, do you think it's better to sweat while covered by a dark-colored blazer, or a thin, white blouse?"

Airi was worried about the same thing when Haruka convinced her to swim in the river. She said that it's embarrassing because the clothing will become transparent, showing her undergarments.

"I see... I get it now."

"Yep." 

Before I could shift my gaze forward, Ryuuko drew closer and softly called out to me. She lightly grabbed my right sleeve, looking at me with her violet eyes. 

"I'm an exception, see? Despite the heat, I won't start sweating unless the surroundings become humid. This breeze certainly helps a lot."

The summer breeze surely helped keep our sweat glands in control for now. But once the day reaches its peak, I'm sure even Ryuuko wouldn't be able to resist the heat. It's probably the reason why she opted to head there early.

"Good for you, I guess. I don't have that power."

"Fufun~. It's quite amazing, isn't it?" Ryuuko's smile turned stiff. "But the cold is a different thing, though... It's my weakness. I even tend to get sick whenever the season shifts."

"So your power comes with a weakness, huh? I personally don't have a problem with the cold. It's the perk of being in the neutral zone." 

The two of us talked like usual as we walked in the main school building's direction.

Now, why would we go to school at this time? Wasn't it summer vacation? I wasn't a member of any club and neither was Ryuuko. Chabashira-sensei didn't call for us, either.

Well, you see, it all happened two days ago when the class finally started talking about dividing the rewards.

(20:25) [I understand.]

(20:25) [We'll have the meeting the day after tomorrow, on the 22nd.]

(20:25) [Is that alright with everyone?] (Hirata)

(20:25) [I'm with Hirata-kun.] (Kushida)

(20:26) [Let's do it!] (Karuizawa)

The class voiced their agreement right after.

(20:33) [Everyone just needs to come.]

(20:34) [We've already taken care of the required formalities.]

(20:34) [Just please be sure to wear your uniforms.] (Horikita)

(20:34) [Horikita-san will be overseeing the meeting with me.]

(20:34) [We've already gotten permission from Chabashira-sensei to use the classroom.] (Hirata)

(20:34) [Of course.]

(20:34) [We'll talk about everything in detail by that time.] (Horikita)

The class group chat was awfully convenient. All hail technology.

Before I could close my phone, I suddenly received a message from Horikita.

(20:34) [Are you coming?]

(20:34) [Probably.]

(20:34) [I understand.]

(20:34) [Way to go, leader.]

After staring at my phone for a solid minute, I've concluded that Horikita will not be replying anymore. I'll never forget the trauma of getting completely ghosted after sending a light-hearted message.

"Ah, Kiyotaka-kun, Ryuuko-chan, you came!" yelled Kikyou.

When Ryuuko and I got to the classroom, there were already a bunch of people inside. It wasn't even the usual early birds that we saw. Ike, Yamauchi, Hondou, and Miyamoto, members of the "barely-made-it-in-time" group, were already inside the room.

Kikyou ran up to me with a bitter smile. Her facial expression told me that she was running away.

"Oh, Ayanokouji! Hey there! Nishimura, too!" waved Ike.

The other three followed suit. After responding to them, I turned my attention towards Kikyou. I suddenly grabbed her shoulders and drew my face close.

"Eh...? Kiyotaka-kun?" Kikyou called bashfully.

Even Ryuuko was shocked by my actions. However, I needed to do this if I wanted an accurate evaluation.

"Don't mind it. I'm just trying to find something out from their reactions," I whispered.

"I-Is that so...?" Kikyou responded in the same volume.

"Hey, what are you guys whispering about over there?!" Ike asked loudly.

"Engaging in PDA as soon as you get here... Have you no shame?!" followed Yamauchi.

"You're not even dating! Or wait... Are you?" Miyamoto, who wanted to add something, unintentionally confused himself.

I see...

I let go of Kikyou and turned away.

"I'll be talking to Hirata and Horikita. There's still a bit of time before everyone gets here, anyway."

"O-Okay..." Kikyou chuckled awkwardly before looking at Ryuuko. "Why don't we go ahead to wait for Mii-chan and the others?"

"Yeah..." Ryuuko responded with question marks still visible on top of her head.

I approached Horikita who was already looking at me. Her narrowed eyes judged my very presence.

"So you came, after all."

"Did you not want me to?"

"No, why would you think that?"

I actually didn't. I'm already used to her distant and cold tone.

"I'm kidding," I replied, shaking my head.

Hirata stood up from his seat after putting away some documents and greeted me.

"Ayanokouji-kun, I'm glad you came."

"You guys called for the whole class, after all."

"Ahaha, I don't think Kouenji-kun would stop by, though."

"His attendance matters not. He'll probably get the reward money on his own," said Horikita.

Time passed by and the classroom finally started getting packed with the students of Class A. All 39 of us (Kouenji excluded) settled down using our seating arrangement for the first semester. This will probably be the last time that I'll be seated beside Horikita... or not. Her seat was currently empty. She and Hirata were in front of the classroom where all of our attention was directed.

"Good afternoon, everyone. First of all, thank you for taking the time to attend this meeting despite being on vacation." Hirata started off strong with his speech. "Horikita-san and I have called you here to discuss the rewards from the Zodiac Exam."

He ended his turn after glancing at Horikita.

"I've done the math for the division of rewards. If you look at our class group chat, I sent an image containing the amount of private points that each student will be getting," she said.

"Ohh..." Our classmates started observing the simple table that Horikita sent.

"As you can see, the division will inevitably be unequal, but that's just the reality of things given the nature of how the groups were formed." Horikita grabbed a piece of chalk and started writing stuff on the blackboard. "For example, Onodera-san, Wang-san, Miyake-kun, and Yamauchi-kun were all part of the Rooster Group. The reward money; 500,000 private points, will be distributed to four people, yielding them 125,000 private points each. On the other hand, Satou-san, Hondou-kun, and Miyamoto-kun were all part of the Rat Group. Dividing the reward money by three would yield them at least 166,666 private points each."

"W-Wait... This is unfair! I didn't get anything-!" cried Ike.

Before Horikita or Hirata could respond to him, Karuizawa immediately interrupted him.

"Don't even start spouting your bullcrap, Ike-kun," she said.

"Shut up, Karuizawa. You're just opening your mouth because you got some money. That goes for everyone who isn't talking right now, just going with the flow. If most of the class didn't get any money, I'm sure they'd be rallying behind me."

Ike glanced at the silent Yamauchi, Hondou, and Miyamoto, giving them a disgusted and disappointed look.

"And look at how the Rabbit Group's rewards are divided. That shit ain't equal at all! Why are you getting 200,000 private points while Professor and Yukimura are getting 150,000?!" Ike instantly countered her with a logical argument.

The class started murmuring amongst each other. Surely, it was strange that Karuizawa was getting 50,000 more private points compared to her groupmates.

"Huh? The equal distribution of the points was done by default. No one said that it would be the ironclad rule. And besides, why would you even care about the matters within our group? Horikita-san wouldn't even put this detail in if Yukimura-kun and Sotomura-kun didn't agree with it." Karuizawa shook her head in dismay and muttered softly. "Is this guy an idiot?"

"Seriously? Yukimura, Professor, are you guys seriously letting her have the bigger slice of the pie?" He turned to them in disbelief.

"As much as I dislike Karuizawa's attitude, I didn't really have a problem with it. It's not like I'm running low on points," replied Yukimura.

"Of course, I will not reject the notion of getting more private points, but Karuizawa-dono was the VIP of our group, anyway..." followed Professor.

"The Rabbit Group achieving Outcome #3 was part of Horikita's plan with Class C. In exchange for giving up our VIP's name, Class C would hand over the private point rewards back to us. Technically, Karuizawa didn't even have the responsibility to share her points with us, unlike the other groups where Horikita was the one who figured out the VIPs from an enemy class," explained Yukimura. "Objectively speaking, Karuizawa was already being extremely generous to let us even have as much as 150,000 private points when she could've kept them all to herself."

The vibe of the murmurs started shifting against Ike instead. Due to his unawareness of what actually happened behind the scenes, he made a hasty judgment and accused Karuizawa's character.

"Hmph..." Luckily, she didn't even need to defend herself.

"Well, Karuizawa probably ain't the right person to shut you up since she's getting some money. Take it from someone who won't get anything instead. We're from the same group, after all." Ken chimed in to reprimand Ike. "If I'm being honest here, Horikita could just take all the private points and no one would even have the right to complain." 

"Sudou's right. She was the one who figured out the pattern, after all. The fact that she and Hirata even bothered arranging this meeting to let everyone know about how they did things was already enough to make me satisfied even though I wouldn't receive any private points by the end of it." Kikuchi joined him seamlessly.

"Listen here, all of ya. 'Part from Horikita, Hirata, Kushida, Kiyotaka, and some other involved people who worked behind the scenes, none of us did shit. So all of you should just listen to them with your mouths shut. Be thankful if you're lucky enough to get some points." Ken finished giving his piece with a huff.

The contempt seen in the eyes of our classmates doused Ike's petty rage. He sat back down with an apologetic yet understandably bitter expression.

"Kanji-kun, please calm down." Kikyou pleaded with a concerned look.

"Kikyou-chan is right, Kanji. We can even share some of our points with you," said Hondou.

His friends followed suit in trying to defuse the situation.

"Sorry..." he muttered. "Damn it, man. I looked like an idiot again."

To be honest, I couldn't even blame Ike's sole loss on this one. If the likes of Yamauchi, Hondou, or Miyamoto didn't get any points, I'm sure they'd complain just as much as Ike, if not louder. As I've discussed with some people before, the main flaws of most students assigned in Class D were their shortsightedness and immaturity. These four along with some other students in our class still have these flaws in particular-- a stark contrast to what could be observed from Ichinose's monolithic class or Katsuragi's orderly class. These unwanted qualities wouldn't just disappear because we're now in Class A.

Horikita, who silently let everything play out, finally spoke.

"Are you done?" Everyone stopped making noises after hearing her cold tone. "Good, allow me to explain further then. There's actually a way to make everyone receive points. The rewards have a grand total of 7,000,000 private points, excluding Kouenji-kun's share, of course. If we divide that by 39, then everyone will receive points."

That's certainly a valid idea. I'm sure some of our classmates have thought of it already.

"Why didn't you do it, then?" Yamauchi asked right after putting his phone away. "That would make everyone happy, right? I think it's a good idea."

A quick calculation would yield around 179,487 points. Yamauchi probably used his phone calculator to know this, and since he'd gain 54,486 more points from what he'd initially had, he went behind the idea, pitching it with boldness.

"Why? Let me ask you this then, Yamauchi-kun. Do you think you deserve it?" Horikita asked coldly.

"That's... Well..."

"Look at Matsushita-san, for example. She played a big role in the initial and final parts of the exam. But because she's a member of the Cow Group, she wouldn't even gain a single private point. If anyone should complain about not getting anything, it should be her."

Everyone looked at Matsushita, making her blush.

"I-I'm alright, really. I'm not running low on points, anyway," she said.

"If any of you has a problem with how we decided to distribute the points, feel free to speak. We're all here to debate anything. If presented with a valid argument, Hirata-kun and I are willing to comply." Horikita glanced towards Ike and Yamauchi before facing everyone in silence.

"I don't think anyone would be willing to run their mouths now. They'd just look pathetic like Ike and Yamauchi." Karuizawa scoffed with a smirk.

"Hey, why was I included?" Yamauchi protested.

"Hah?!" The fed-up Karuizawa turned to Horikita. "Say, Horikita-san. How much would each of us get if you divide the 7,000,000 private points by 39?"

"179,487," she replied.

"See? You just opened your mouth to help suggest that idea because you'd gain a lot more than your supposed 125,000. Try being more subtle next time before hiding your ulterior motives. Frankly speaking, if anyone deserves to gain 0 points in this class, it should be you." 

Karuizawa's tongue was the sharpest when she wanted it to be. She basically murdered Yamauchi in front of the class.

"W-What the hell?! Who are you to even say that?! Stop talking out of spite before singling me out!"

Of course, Yamauchi chose to dig himself a deeper grave.

"Out of spite, huh? You're the number one pervert in the class alongside Ike-kun. You're always dragging down the class average for every written exam. Sure, Sudou-kun or Sakura-san might score even lower than you guys, but that won't last long given their attitude towards studying unlike you. You and Ike-kun even got yourself in trouble back in July."

"It was that bastard Ryuuen's-"

"It was your fault, no matter how you look at it. You were idiots who easily believed liars, that's why he targeted you in the first place. If it weren't for Horikita-san and Ayanokouji-kun's help, the two of you might've been suspended for who knows how long."

Ike gasped alongside Yamauchi after hearing their past mistakes recited to the whole class.

"Back at the island, you wouldn't even move unless you were told to. Ike-kun managed to help the class largely, but what about you? Oh, I remember. You were busy harassing the likes of Hasebe-san and Sakura-san with your perverted stares."

"Wha-?!"

"You think I wouldn't notice? Tch, you're really disgusting."

The other students, especially the girls, started looking at Yamauchi with the same revolted eyes. Haruka and Airi also felt extremely uncomfortable after the issue came to light.

"Sorry for mentioning your names, but this guy would probably insist that I'm saying things out of spite again if I didn't." Karuizawa apologized to Haruka and Airi as she justified her words.

"This bastard..." Ken grumbled while glaring at Yamauchi.

Yamauchi grew restless after becoming the center of such negative attention.

"That's not true! I'm not-" His words were cut short after seeing that no one would probably believe him. Despair could be seen in Yamauchi's eyes.

"If I was lying, Hasebe-san or Sakura-san would've defended you already." Karuizawa sighed, reaching the denouement of her long piece. "All of that and you still had the gall to demand more rewards for doing absolutely nothing in the Zodiac Exam...?"

Karuizawa looked at Horikita.

"Hey, Horikita-san. Sorry for taking so much of our time here, but I need to say one last thing." She apologized before continuing. "We're already Class A. I'm not saying that I'm a model student or anything like that. I suck at academics and I'm not exceptionally athletic. I'm sure that goes for a bunch of us in here... But at least, I'm not some excess baggage that enjoys being carried up by others. All three classes will start coming after us soon. Perverts and lazy freeloaders don't have a place in this class, let alone this school. Sorry for being harsh Yamauchi-kun, but I'm sure the majority of us share the same sentiment. I won't call out any more names, but for the students who're as incompetent and immature as you, please get a grip."

Ending in such a manner, Karuizawa seamlessly solidified her position as one of the leaders while shoving Yamauchi's reputation down to the very bottom of the social hierarchy. He couldn't do anything but look down while grinding his teeth, with tears forming around his eyes. Ike equally had it bad considering his initial outburst of having zero profit. Meanwhile, the likes of Hondou, Miyamoto, and Onizuka wore nervous expressions.

"Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Karuizawa-san. As the current representative of the class, I would like to agree with your disposition." Horikita nodded prior to addressing the class. "With all that's said and done, I hope you can keep Karuizawa-san's words in mind. This school is all about merits. Please remember that we haven't proven ourselves worthy of Class A just yet."

The heaviness in the atmosphere slowly started to dissipate, but Horikita's initial momentum didn't fade. She proceeded with the specifics of our initial objective.

"Now then, if you can remember during our briefing before the Zodiac Exam, the recipients from each group were allowed to procure a temporary ID. I've already talked to our class's recipients and have gotten their signatures."

Horikita sent another image to our class group chat. A formal letter requesting the use of one temporary ID to store 5,500,000 private points could be read. Below that was the signature of every student who was supposed to receive a reward.

Their printed names could also be seen behind their handwritten signatures and reward value.

- Kushida, Kikyou - 1,000,000 pr

- Satou, Maya - 500,000 pr

- Horikita, Suzune - 500,000 pr

- Yokoyama, Misaki - 500,000 pr

- Rino, Akari - 500,000 pr

- Wang, Mei-yu - 500,000 pr

- Ayanokouji, Kiyotaka - 500,000 pr

- Ijuuin, Wataru - 500,000 pr

- Hirata, Yousuke - 500,000 pr

- Makida, Susumu - 500,000 pr

These were the members of the Dragon and Dog Groups, alongside the representatives that Horikita chose for triggering Outcome #3 in the Rat, Rooster, and Pig Groups.

"Hirata-kun and I will be overseeing all the transactions to ensure that everyone receives their points rightfully. If any of you is against this method, please feel free to raise your hand and present a better alternative." Horikita scanned the class seeing no signs of response. "If no one disagrees, then it's settled. Thank you for coming all the way here to discuss this with us. You may all go now."

The sound of chairs could immediately be heard as soon as Horikita finished her words. Some of the girls approached her with enthusiastic smiles. The class instantly got divided into cliques and groups before heading out of the classroom.

"Kiyopon, wanna hang out with us?"

Of course, I was also a member of one group.

I approached the four of them with my usual expression, but I was probably smiling in my mind. I don't know what the future would entail, but it seems like the class is in good hands right now.