Classroom of the Elite (LN)

Introduction

On the same day after school, the atmosphere in one of the classrooms was abnormally frozen.

The reason was clear. It was the feeling of intimidation that came from the man sitting at the podium, overlooking Class C.

“Looking back on the exams so far, there are several unnatural things.”

The name of the man who spoke to the class was Ryūen Kakeru. He's the leader of Class C and a dictator. Standing beside him was Albert Yamada, Ishizaki, as well as other students proficient in martial arts. One could feel the silent threat being made… in the event that there was a student who wanted to rebel against Ryūen, they would not hesitate to resort to violence.

“For it to come to this, it couldn’t have been by chance.”

It was like he was talking to himself, but there was a vague feeling as though it was being spoken to someone.

“Based on what happened on the uninhabited island, and at the sports festival, there appears to be a person in Class D who thinks like me.”

“Someone like Ryūen-kun? I don’t think Class D has someone like that…”

Ishizaki couldn’t help but speak, doubting that there could be someone else out there like Ryūen. This is because Ryūen is both respectable and detestable, an amazing and incomprehensible existence. Ryūen smiles and looks at Ishizaki.

“I used to think that too, but I feel like I need to face reality.”

“Is this also related to the results of the uninhabited island exam and the sports festival?”

“That’s it. But rest assured, I have a general idea of how the other side is doing things. Listen you. Moving forward, we'll be looking to launch an all-out attack on Class D. I must take out the person running Class D from the shadows. Class A and Class B will have to be put aside for now.”

Few students had objections to Ryūen’s plans. Even if someone was against it, it would be impossible to speak up because the class has signed a contract with the devil himself.

“Ryūen-san…… Does Class D really have someone working in the background? Someone other than Horikita or Hirata?”

“Yes. And, the people in this class have the key to exposing their identity.”

His eyes moved away from Ishizaki and once again went to Class C.

“What are you trying to say, Ryūen?”

In this heavy atmosphere, Ibuki stood in the classroom with her arms crossed at her chest and threw these words at Ryūen.

“Kuku. Ibuki, can you not even listen quietly?”

“I don’t have that much free time, and you don’t get to keep intimidating your classmates.”

“You’re a big talker for someone who hasn’t asked for permission. Haven’t you already made a fool of yourself?”

“That’s…”

In the face of his remark, Ibuki had no choice but to eat her words. In particular, her failure at the sports festival was embarrassing. Ryūen had changed the students lined up to race against Horikita after Ibuki had requested to compete with her directly. The result was a very narrow defeat. It was a pity, she had almost caught up with Horikita.

However, Ibuki also had the option of rebuttal. She lowered her arms and glared at Ryūen.

“Are you one to talk? At the end of the day, you failed to defeat Horikita at the sports festival. Did you manage to get the private points for the collection? Aren’t you the same as me?”

“The same as you? Don’t make jokes like that. The strategy I set up at the sports festival was perfect.”

“What’s up with that outcome? You don’t even explain anything to us and now you say there's another guy that thinks like you in that class? You want us to just accept that?”

All of the students in the class were trembling due to the rebuttals being made by Ibuki. They all wanted to avoid offending Ryūen. But Ryūen paid them no mind, and showed a constantly slight smile.

“Don’t you think that no matter how perfect a strategy, it will fail if somebody leaks it?”

“……Leak?”

“The mysterious success of Class D is due to the mysterious existence of ‘X’, who dares to draw and manipulate the Class C students at my command. In short, we have spies among us.”

There was a little confusion in the classroom because of his remark. Ibuki’s eyes blew open in surprise.

“Are you serious…?”

“This is a fact. My cohesiveness… no, it seems that authority was not enough. It truly is a pity.”

Ryūen smiled happily at the fact that he will become intertwined with the spy.

A disaster had sprung for everyone in the class, not just those looking to get out of the room and attend club activities.

Everyone present began praying that this would be over soon.

“However, this noisy espionage will end here.”

Ryūen slammed the podium with his palm and silenced the chaos of the room. The scene sank into silence.

“First of all, I will try to asking honestly. The student who betrayed me, raise your hand.”

He did not hesitate to issue a direct declaration. Of course, none of the students raised their hands. Some of the students glanced around at each other, which was responded to with feigned ignorance. There are also those who stayed still and held their breath to avoid attracting attention.

“Oh yeah… if you come forward easily, you won’t have betrayed me at all.”

The presence of a spy may shake Class C, but there was nothing but joy in Ryūen’s heart.

“I knew that the spy would choose to hide. Then, you don’t have to raise your hand. No, rather, don’t raise your hand. Even if you’re now considering it, stay completely hidden.”

Ryūen made an unexpected statement to the spy who would have been found sooner or later.

“What are you saying? Are you really tolerating traitors?”

“You’re annoying, Ibuki. Don’t disturb my pleasure. I’ll kill you if you do that again.”

Ryūen’s smiling face tightened into an expression of anger for a moment and he glared at Ibuki.

His sentence seemed to be a joke, but his message was serious. Ryūen wouldn’t treat anyone differently due to their gender. As long as he judges them to be the enemy and in the way of his plans, then no matter what, he would settle the matter with his fist.

“I’ve been trying not to make a big deal out of it. Others may think I'm lying, but it’s true. To put it simply, I’ve been slacking off.”

‘Bam!’ ‘Bam!’ He struck the podium twice. It was the sound of the upcoming purge.

“However… Maybe that's a bad thing. After all, there is a traitor.”

‘Bam!’ The classroom further resounded with the sound. Every time this happened, timid students began to shake.

“All this means is that I'll have to play some games. It’s nothing. Not a big deal. It’s just a silly game where we find a spy who’s trying to remain hidden. For most of the students present, this should be meaningless, so there’s nothing to be afraid of. It shouldn’t take long, it’ll take less than 30 minutes.”

Ryūen said this since, other than for the spy, this situation was not relevant to everyone, so there’s no reason for them be afraid.

The room was full of an atmosphere of fear, so it wasn’t so simple. The only one who had remained calm in the face of Ryūen was Ibuki, but even she was beginning to be swallowed by the authority of Ryūen.

“First things first, everyone unlock your phone and place it on your desk. I’ll check it myself. Are there any idiots who don’t have their phone with them? If you don’t, speak up immediately. That person is the culprit.”

Complying with Ryūen’s instructions, the students placed their phones on their desks immediately to avoid suspicion.

“A very sensible decision, it’s very helpful.”

Ishizaki went around the classroom and gathered the phones one by one. As he didn’t know whose phone was whose, he attached a note paper with their name written on it ahead of time.

Ibuki also took out her mobile phone from her pocket. Although she wasn’t convinced, she handed it over to Ishizaki.

“Ryūen-san, everyone’s phone has been collected. Our phones have also been included.”

“Thank you for your hard work. Then, it’s time we conduct a thorough investigation.”

“But where should we look… Call history?”

“As if someone who is trying to stay hidden is going to use the call function! Look at the email history, and of course look at the text messages. Even if it’s a conversation with someone, look at all of it. We can’t rule out the possibility they’re interacting with each other under an alternative name.”

“Wait, wait a minute, there are a lot of very personal messages on my phone!”

A girl shouted. She couldn’t help but scream.

The fear of her personal information being seen had surpassed her fear of being suspected.

“Nishino. You don't want me to look at your phone?”

“Of course! Even if it's you Ryūen-kun, It's unacceptable!"

“Are you joking, Nishino? You gave your phone to Ryūen-kun on the cruise ship, didn’t you? Why are you so concerned now?”

“This, this is different from that time! All he did then was do a confirmation check of my email from the school!”

Ryūen was not surprised at all, and listened to Nishino’s appeal indifferently. During the special exam on the cruise ship, Ryūen collected all of the phones in Class C and confirmed their contents. However, as she had complained, nothing personal was inspected at that time. It was simply a confirmation of the messages received from the school. This was the same type of event, but altogether the situations are different. If it’s private messages, information such as who someone liked or disliked would inevitably be read. Those type of things people would absolutely prefer to remain hidden from others.

“Of course you know that you will be suspected, Nishino.”

“I, I will obey you, Ryūen-kun, but there are some things that cannot be accepted!”

Nishino wasn’t the type who would usually take a strong stance, but she didn’t seem to be willing to back down.

It was as she if was broadcasting that she had something hidden that she didn’t want to be seen.

“Nishino, was it you?”

Students in the class had begun to suspect Nishino.

One of them, Takumi Oda, had voiced their doubt.

“No! I am not the spy!”

“But you’re hiding something and acting so suspicious…”

“I just want to protect my privacy!”

Ryūen didn’t show any interest in the conversation happening in the classroom. He reaches out and grabs one of the phones on the table.

“Your cell phone is this one, isn’t it, Nishino?”

“Hey!”

Nishino expects for him to start to look over the contents and begins to panic. However…

Ryūen hands Nishino’s phone over to Ishizaki and says:

“Give this back to Nishino.”

“Sh-should I? You didn’t confirm the content.”

“I told you to return it to her.”

Ishizaki promptly apologized to Ryūen and returned the phone to Nishino.

In the face of this series of events, Nishino, as well as the other students are shaken.

“It’s not such an incredible thing. I judged you to be innocent, that’s why I returned it to you. That’s it. It’s to be expected right? It wasn’t the traitor’s cell phone. It would be a waste of time and energy to look at it.”

Ryūen disregarded the dumbfounded Nishino and other students, and without any change to his attitude he continued:

“If you find this unacceptable like Nishino has, feel free to raise your hand. However, be prepared to be suspected much more than she was.”

Nishino didn’t have her phone inspected, and was considered ‘innocent’, the second and third people wouldn’t be so lucky. His statement conveys this message: choose between raising Ryūen’s suspicions, or privacy.

In the face of these two options, four girls and two boys raised their hands despite their fears.

“There are actually six people who are defying Ryūen-san… The spy is definitely one of them! And the last one to raise his hand, Nomura, you aren't thinking of saving yourself by jumping on the bandwagon, are you?”

Ryūen showed a gloomy smile in response to Ishizaki’s words.

“No, no! I wasn’t going to do that!”

Nomura denies out of fear of being suspected.

“Gather their phones.”

“Yes.”

Ishizaki collected their six phone and handed them over to Ryūen.

“So, even if you all are suspected, you don’t want us to take a look at anything?”

They all gave different responses, but they all agreed to this statement.

“Nomura, you took quite some time before raising your hand, don't tell me you were waiting for the right opportunity?”

“Eh! No, that…”

“Your eyes are darting around the room in an exaggerated way, and you’re sweating.”

“What!?”

Nomura’s personality was originally weak, and it seemed that he was so distressed that he was on the verge of fainting.

Looking at him in such a state, Ryūen gave out a happy laugh before turning to Ishizaki to give out instructions.

“Ishizaki, these people are all ‘innocent’, give them their phones back.”

He was ordered. This was another shock. Ryūen did not look at the contents and had Ishizaki return all of the phones. None of the students outside of Ryūen could understand the reason behind these actions.

“Will you explain what’s going on?”

“I’ll explain it later.”

Ryūen did not give Ibuki the answer she was hoping for. He ran his hand through his hair and picked up her cell phone.

“As for the rest of the cell phones let’s thoroughly investigate. We’ll start with Ibuki.”

“……Whatever you say.”