Classroom of the Elite: Alter - Solace

It was 6:00 PM on the 26th of August. My phone silently vibrated with strength. This kind of vibration could only be triggered by the school, much like the loud ringtone that they used for extremely important instructions.

I tapped the notification and read the message.

[Due to an emergency repair work, the Water Department will be temporarily disabling all water systems in the school dormitories.

Because of this, the school will be providing enough water supply for the students, giving out 2-5 liters of drinking water in the cafeteria. Please be warned that the cafeteria will be extremely crowded because of this. The convenience stores are also temporarily unavailable due to overlapping maintenance work, but Keyaki Mall will provide free drinking water. However, bottling the water and taking it back to the dormitories is prohibited.

Regarding sanitation, please be reminded that the current water supply inside the water tank would only allow for a single flush in each room.

We sincerely apologize to our dear students for this untimely inconvenience.]

It sounds like the repair work wouldn't finish until early morning. I turned the faucet to confirm said message, and as expected, nothing came out.

Personally, I won't have much trouble with this sudden development. The remaining tea in my fridge should be enough for a single cup. If I save it for dinner, one cup could get me through the day. Speaking of dinner, I just have to make something that doesn't require any water. My only real problem would be the toilet since we can only flush once.

"Alright, let's go with fried rice," I thought.

While I was prepping everything, my phone suddenly rang. This time, it was a call from someone. I washed my hands to answer the call, but the ringing already stopped before I had the chance to do it.

"Horikita?" I reflexively read the name of the caller.

If it was anything important, then it would be rude if I didn't call back. Contrary to my expectations, however, she didn't answer at all. After calling a bunch of times, I decided to give up. It was weird that she didn't answer back given that she was the one who called first.

I simply went back to making my dinner. The rice was all ready and finally added the egg. After that was settled, all I needed to do was put some finishing touches to it.

*Ring*

And that's when my phone rang again. I turned off the burner to answer the call, but the ringing already stopped by the time I managed to grab my phone.

As expected, it was Horikita who called me again. This was starting to become a questionable situation. Did she start getting busy right after trying to make a call? Is that why she didn't answer my return calls? That shouldn't be the case given her personality. Horikita was the type of person who called when she was calm. Even if something happened, ending the call twice in a row and not picking up afterward was strange, to say the least.

"Yeah, right..." I muttered.

I internally scoffed at myself for thinking too deeply into Horikita's calls. Before finishing up my cooking, I decided to send her a message instead.

(18:37) [Hey, looks like you tried calling me twice.]

(18:37) [Did something happen?]

I can see that the message was instantly received, and then it was labeled as read right after. However, after waiting for a bit, it didn't seem like Horikita was planning to give me a reply.

(18:38) [I'm cooking right now, so I might not respond right away.]

(18:38) [Just text me, and I'll get back to you.] 

The same thing happened— Horikita did receive and read the message, but she didn't reply. Seeing this, I decided to go back to making my dinner.

"Hmm..." 

I've already finished eating, but I still haven't heard from Horikita. After gulping the last of my barley tea, ominous feelings started welling up inside my chest.

"She couldn't be... She's not really in danger, is she?"

(19:04) [Are you okay?]

I tried to send in another text, but she didn't even receive it this time.

Did she collapse somewhere? That would be really strange— it's Horikita we're talking about here. Did she turn her phone off? Did her battery run out?

What other possibilities existed, though? Why did she call me in the first place? That's what I'm quite concerned about. And the fact that she hadn't said anything was also very strange. What's going on?

Let's think about this logically. Horikita might've had some business with me but was interrupted by something else. Someone— a teacher or a classmate might've called for her. The teacher theory was quite weak because even if Horikita was the class representative of Class A, we were still on summer vacation. They wouldn't really have to call her, especially around this time. She did have the contact of most of our classmates, so getting interrupted by any of them would make much more sense...

But the point still stands. It's fine if she didn't respond to my calls, but not saying anything even in messages was bizarre. Did she fall asleep and forget to call me back?

"I wouldn't be talking about Horikita if that was the case."

She was a student of intellect and focus. Forgetting something as easy as replying to a message doesn't really fit her image.

"I'm starting to get kind of worried..."

I can't really do much right now, but I was too bothered to just let things be. For the time being, I tried calling Horikita again. I dialed her number repeatedly, and on the fourth try, I finally managed to get an answer.

"Hello?" Horikita didn't seem surprised. If anything, she actually sounded tired.

"Hey, sorry for calling a bunch of times. I was worried since you tried calling me. Were you sleeping?" I asked.

"No, I wasn't. I'm sorry for not replying."

There were no hints of panic in her voice. It didn't seem like any sort of accident happened.

"I'm kind of in the middle of something right now," she continued.

I guess she was just busy, after all. I felt relieved... and then curious— because that's when I heard a metallic thunk over the phone.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Nothing to worry about. Goodbye."

She abruptly ended the call. Well, at least I managed to get in touch with her. If she said that everything was fine, then all I could do was believe her and move on with my life. I decided to forget about this for the time being, even though my main question remained unanswered.

Why did Horikita call me?

————————————————————————

*Bzzt*

It was around 9:00 PM. I was lying on my bed, watching TV when my phone lit up after receiving a new message.

(21:02) [Are you awake?]

(21:02) [I'm awake.]

(21:02) [I'd like to talk to you.]

(21:02) [Do you have time?]

It's been roughly two hours since we last talked.

(21:02) [I'll call you.]

Horikita immediately picked up on the first ring.

"So, what's up?" I started.

"There's something I wanted to ask you." Horikita still sounded tired, and she made a quick pause before speaking again. "Let's say there was a turtle..."

"Huh?"

My expectations of what she was going to say were completely blown out of the water.

"It's an extremely smart and talented turtle. If I accidentally hit it and flipped it onto its back, that would be terrible, wouldn't you agree? It couldn't right itself under its own steam."

"I suppose... Though in most cases, turtles can extend their necks and use their legs to flip themselves right back. Giant tortoises and sea turtles are the only ones that are unable to do this," I explained.

"..." Horikita fell silent at my unnecessary explanation. "This would've been easier if you'd just assumed that turtles can't get up on their own and listened to me."

Yeah, that made sense.

"Alright, my bad. They can't get up on their own. What's wrong?"

"In that situation, what would you do?"

"I'd probably flip the turtle over. It's not that much trouble. I'd help an ordinary turtle, so I'd probably be more inclined to help an extremely smart and talented turtle."

While I didn't have any reason to save the turtle, I didn't have any reason to abandon it either. I thought I might as well extend a helping hand. That's probably what most people would do.

That said, what was Horikita getting at? Is the turtle a metaphor for herself? Was she in any sort of trouble, like the turtle who couldn't get up on its own? Judging from Horikita's tone alone, she didn't seem to be in a panicked state. Her usual calm demeanor probably meant that whatever issue she had wasn't too pressing or troublesome.

"So, what's wrong?"

"There's nothing wrong."

"Well, it sure sounds like that's where this is headed."

"I was just talking about a turtle on its back. It has nothing to do with me."

"Okay, then why are we talking about a turtle? Is that your reason for calling me earlier?"

"Yes..." she insisted. "I just... wanted to talk to you about a turtle that flipped over." 

Alright, this is getting weird.

"This isn't like you— is what I wanted to say, but asking for help isn't like you either. I'm sure you called earlier because I'm the only one you could talk to at this point. If that's the case, then don't hesitate to tell me what's wrong. I'm willing to help."

Horikita paused for a moment.

"I'm just having a little trouble."

Finally, we're getting somewhere.

"Where are you right now?"

"I'm in my room."

"Okay. You're friends with Mori and Satou, right? Is it something that they can't help you with?"

"No, absolutely not."

So girls won't be able to help, huh...? Ah-!

"Are there bugs in your room? Like a cockroach? What about Hirata then?"

I heard that she became acquaintances with Okitani and Makida, too. If that was the issue, then I guess I can understand why Horikita didn't want to talk about it. While the dormitories were generally kept clean, a bug infiltrating one's room shouldn't be an impossibility.

"I don't trust him."

What? Why can't you trust Hirata about this? You seriously don't think that he's too kind to kill a cockroach, right?

"Huh...?"

"Don't misunderstand. There are no bugs in my room. That isn't the problem here. I could deal with them myself, anyway."

So that's not it? If bugs weren't the issue, then what is?

"What's the deal then?"

"It's..." I can feel the reluctance in her tone from the other end of the line. "No, it's fine, after all. I'll take care of it myself."

"You say that but it's been three hours since you first called. The fact that we're having this conversation means you haven't done anything about it until now. Am I wrong?" I need to shoot down any of her attempts to pull back. She's been struggling for some time, so I assume that she's tired of dealing with it now.

"Well, I guess... It's true that I'm just about at my physical limit," she sighed. "Alright, I'll tell you everything."

Thank god.

I peeled my ears and got ready to listen. But instead of getting my most awaited explanation, Horikita suddenly made a request.

"Could you come to my room?" Horikita sounded embarrassed and uncomfortable.

"Now? It's already past nine," I protested.

"I know that, but... to deal with this, you need to be here." She spoke with the most frustrated tone ever.

"I might get in trouble for going to the girls' floor at this time of the night, you know?"

"Even I can understand that, but we can't do anything if you're not here yourself." Horikita tersely ended the call.

"This is kinda scary, but backing off after convincing her to take my help wouldn't be any better," I muttered.

I grabbed my phone and key card before scampering out of the room. I should hurry so as to not keep Horikita waiting.