classroom of the elite version1 power

[These New First-Years are

Nothing But Troublemakers]

THERE WERE DOZENS of first- and second-year students gathered in the

gym. Most of the people there weren't second-years, but first-years. I

supposed that many students saw this meet-and-greet as an important

opportunity.

Since I didn't know who the first-years were at a glance right now

anyway, I decided to start by finding out which second-year students were

participating in this event.

The leader of Class A, Sakayanagi, was nowhere to be scen. And while

I didn't know ifI could exactly call him a stand-in for her, I did sce

Hashimoto Masayoshi. Sakayanagi had a disability affecting her legs, so her

range of movement was limited, making her slow. Hashimoto played an

important part in covering her to make up for that.

As far as I could tell, he was the only person from Class A here.

Furthermore, it didnt seen

seem like he was making attempt t to t

talk to anyone

in particular. He was probably scouting around to see who got in touch with

whom at this meet-and-greet.

As the organizer for this event, about halfof the people from Class B

attendance,

ce, both guys and girls, lchinose included. Kanzaki was there

were in

too, by lchinose's side, supporting her. However, I didn't get the impression

that the students in attendance from Class B were those that were either very

good students or those who were concerned about their academic prowess. It

seemed Class B had simply chosen to send the more sociable members of

their class.

On the other hand, after briefly looking around, I saw no sign of

anyone from Class C around. It was almost as if they considered this meet-and-greet to be totally optional, right from the very beginning. Through this

one event alone, you could somehow see the motives of each of the second-

year classes.

However, it wasn't the second-year students who were important to Horikita today. She was focused on the first-years the people we hardly

knew at all. I was sure that the first-year students, who had only just st

here, had no clue as to what was going on yet. Many of them were probably

struggling to wrap their heads around the situation with second-year students

suddenly asking to pair up with them. They shrank back from everyone else

at the event, clinging to their classmates-which is to say, the students that

they were already close with.

Upon seeing that, Ichinose tried her best to expand their circle by

making self-introductions and casual chit-chat, without really mentioning the

special exam. Of course, it wasn't like people were about to immediately

open up or anything. Knowing this, she didn't rush things, but instead

approached people slowly, looking at them with a gentle smile on her face.

Then their hardened hearts, which seemed to have been frozen like ice, began

to thaw.

After only a few minutes of observation at this meet-and-greet, I had a

general idea of how things were going to go from here.

"Rather than prioritizing the special exam, she's going about building

relationships based on mutual trust, first. That is certainlya very lchinose-

san-like way of doing things. An admirable tactic, and one not everyone can

pull off," said Horikita, giving her first impression of the meet-and-greet.

It was unknown just how much Class B was going to make use of this

strategy, but it was especially important, nonetheless. What Ichinose was

doing could only benefit both the first- and second-year students. Horikita

called Ichinose "admirable" for putting such a plan into action. Looking at

Horikita's side profile, I could guess at the strategy she must have been

thinking of herself.

"Are you thinking of a similar strategy yourself?" I asked.

"...Yes. A strategy based on using Private Points is too much for Class

D to handle. That's why I thought it would be important for us to build

relationships based on trust with the first-years. However, we're no match for

Ichinose-san in that regard at all. Or rather, I should say, that kind of strategy

is her specialty." said Horikita.

If you wanted someone to accept you as their partner, you needed to

offer them something. That something could be a lot of different things, like

points, trust, friendship, or a debt of gratitude.

"Ichinose Honami-san from Class 2-B is already quite well-known

among many of the first-years. They know her name and face. I'm sure

anxious students will flock to her, and she'll live up to their expectations,"

added Horikita.

"Yeah, I think so too," I replied.

They weren't going to bother coming up to us, Class 2-D, people they

didn't know at all.

"But even if we can't duplicate her admirable methods, there are things

we can do," said Horikita.

Apparently, Horikita had gotten some

lof idea from this event. The

crux of that idea probably had something to do with how she was constantly

looking at the first-ycars with the OAA app open. She gave no sign of

wanting to leave yet, continuing to observe the first-years.

I wasn't the only one standing beside her, watching, either. A large

figure moved by us

"But, y'know, all of 'em look like total wimps. Every last one of 'em," gruffed Sudou, standing beside Horikita, sharing what he thought about the

first-years.

Sudou had originally planned to head straight for his club activities

right after class today. But because lchinose's request to hold this meet-and-

greet event was accepted, and it was thus suddenly decided that the gym

would be in use until five o'clock, he offered to accompany Horikita here.

Horikita had flatly turned him down, telling him it wasn't necessary for him

to come, but I guess it must have been fine in the end, since he was going to

the gym anyway.

"Don't glare at them for no reason. There's nothing to gain by scaring them," said Horikita.

"I ain't really glarin' or anything. This is just the way my face looks.

Anyway, is it really okay for us to hang back and chill like this? Won't the

brainy kids get snatched up by Ichinose? What's the harm in just talkin' to

'em?" said Sudou impatiently, suggesting to Horikita that they ought to go

and talk to the students sooner rather than later.

Even if a student from our grade level that wasn't in Class B went to make a move on one of the first-years, Ichinose wouldn't get upset about it. If

anything, I was sure she'd welcome that happily.

"What are you gonna do?" I asked Horikita, since I'd been wondering

about that myself.

"Do you really think we can outdo Class 2-B in a place like this, when

it comes to socializing?" asked Horikita.

Right now, Ichinose seemed to be emphasizing providing relief for the

Brom the looks

first-years over trying to make sure her own class would win. From 1

of things, not a single one of the students from Class B had left yet, and they

seemed to be trying to get to know the first-years better, to deepen their

friendships. I bet the first-years had noticed their enthusiasm, too.

"Yeah, I can't really imagine that we could," I replied.

If Yousuke or Kushida were here, we could've stood a chance at

schmoozing. Maybe. But Horikita, Sudou, and I most definitely lacked the

ability to hold our own, socially. I was sure Horikita was well aware of that

fact when she came here.

Just as the discussion was about to begin in earnest, Horikita took

action.

"..Let's go," she said.

Instead of participating in the meet-and-greet, we were retreating.

Which meant Horikita had had no intention of trying to bring any of the first-

years over to our side at this event all along.

"You sure that's okay, Suzune?" asked Sudou.

"More than half of the students who were invited didn't come to this

mect-and-greet. Those are the students I'm going to negotiate with," said

Horikita.

In other words, she was going

t. At the same time, however, the

hadn't bothered to listen to

fact that those students ignored Ichinose's offer proved it would be difficult

to win them over. They might think they could find a partner by themselves,

based on their own abilities, without accepting a helping hand. Or perhaps

they lacked the courage to come out to this meet-and-greet. They might even

already have a strategy in mind. Whatever the case might be, we could