I have to raise infatuation in Classroom of the Elite

"What do you think, Ayanokoji-kun? Are people truly equal?"

"I'm not really sure. I haven't thought about it much." Ayanokoji took a short pause before replying, "Seems like the kind of debate to go nowhere."

He wasn't wrong. No matter what conclusion they reached, it wouldn't be a definitive answer. Akira knew he was just playing 'Mr. Ordinary,' but he decided to let him be.

With that, the conversation came to an awkward pause. Horikita continued her shopping. Two new girls entered the convenience store. They went to the grocery section, maybe to purchase something, but were instead more focused on stealing glances at Akira.

One of them even took a picture of him. Attention seekers like Kushida would be on cloud nine if they were in his place, but Akira was now somewhat getting annoyed with the attention he was receiving.

"Hey. What's up with this?"

It was Ayanokoji. He had come across something strange—toiletries and food tucked away in the corner of the convenience store. At first glance, they appeared to be the same as the other items, but there was one big difference.

"Free?"

Horikita picked up one of the items. Daily necessities like toothbrushes and bandages had been stuffed into a clearance bin and labeled "Free." The bin was also marked with the proviso "three items per month." These were obviously different from the store's other goods.

"They must be emergency relief supplies for students who use up their points. This school is so incredibly lenient," Ayanokoji said.

Akira was about to pass a hint when a loud voice drowned out the store's peaceful background music.

"Hey, shut it! Just wait a sec! I'm looking for it right now!"

"Come on, hurry up. You have a line of people waiting on you!"

"Oh yeah? Well, if they have any complaints, they can take it up with me!"

It was Sudo. He had forgotten his student ID and was now foolishly blocking the line for everyone else. He had his hands full of cup noodles.

Ayanokoji walked up to him in an attempt to help. He paid for his items with the promise that he'd pay him back later. After that, Ayanokoji went to the hot water dispenser with Sudo's cup noodle in his hand.

Watching the short exchange, Horikita sighed, clearly unimpressed.

"You're acting like a pushover right from the start. Do you intend to become his servant? Or are you doing this to make friends?" she asked.

"I didn't care about making friends. I just wanted to help. No big deal."

"You don't seem to be afraid."

"Afraid? Why? Because he looks like a delinquent?" I asked.

"A normal person would try to keep someone like him at a distance."

"I guess, but he doesn't seem like a bad person to me. And you don't appear to be scared either, Horikita."

"It's mostly defenseless people who stay away from those types. If he acted violently, I could rebuff him. That's why I don't withdraw."

Akira doubted whether she could actually beat him in a fight. It was a different world, so it might be possible.

"Maybe Ayanokoji's confident in his fighting abilities?" said Akira.

"Not really. I've never even been in a real fight," Ayanokoji replied.

"Let's finish our shopping. We'll be a bother to the other students if we dawdle," Horikita said.

After Ayanokoji and Horikita, Akira presented his student ID card to the machine by the register, and just like that, the transaction was complete.

He got a receipt that showed the price of each item and the remaining amount of points.

Next, he turned on voice recording on his smartphone. There was an incident he could use to extort private points for.

He stepped outside. Horikita and Sudo were quarreling. By the time Akira reached the spot, Horikita had already left.

"What the hell is her deal? Goddamn it!" Sudo shouted.

"There are many different types of people, you know," Ayanokoji said.

"Shut it. I hate those stuffy, too-serious types."

Sudo grabbed his noodle cup, ripped off the cover, and began eating. Akira thought about introducing himself… but he seemed to be in a bad mood. Let's do it later.

"Hey, you guys first-years? This is our spot."

He didn't have to wait long. Three boys came up to them. They were also carrying cup noodles bought from the convenience store.

"Who are you? I was already here. You're in the way. Get lost," Sudo barked.

"You hear this guy? 'Get lost,' he says. What a cocky little first-year punk."

The three laughed in Sudo's face. Sudo shot up, slamming his noodle cup against the ground. The broth and noodles splashed everywhere.

"'First-year punk,' huh? You tryin' to make fun of me, huh?!"

Akira wondered whether he'd find people like this in his world. Some people do have a short fuse, but Sudo seemed like he had a short circuit.

"You're awfully mouthy, considering we're second-year students. We already put our bags here, see?"

Plop! With those words, the second-year upperclassmen students put down their bags and guffawed loudly.

"See, our stuff's here. Now, beat it," one of them said.

"You got a lot of guts, asshole."

Sudo didn't back down, unfazed by being outnumbered. Akira wondered whether it was brave or stupid… maybe a bit of both?

"Oh wow, scary. What class are you in? Wait, never mind. I think I know. You're in Class D, aren't you?"

"Yeah, so what?" Sudo snapped.

The upperclassmen students exchanged glances and burst out laughing.

"You hear that? He's in Class D! I knew it! It was a dead giveaway!"

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean? Hey!"

As Sudo barked at them, the boys grinned and stepped backward.

"Aw, you poor things. Since you're 'defective,' we'll let you off the hook, just for today. Let's get going, guys."

"Hey, don't run away! Hey!" Sudo shouted.

"Yeah, yeah, keep on yapping. You guys'll be in hell soon enough anyway."

This was it. Akira bade farewell to Ayanokoji before going after the second-years. Ayanokoji stared at his leaving figure before reluctantly cleaning up Sudo's mess.

After a few minutes of walking around, the three second-years found a new spot, but just when they were about to open their noodle cups, they noticed Akira coming up to them.

"Huh?" One of them glanced at him, a smug smile crawling onto his face. "Look guys, it's the pretty-boy from that defective bunch."

"What're you here for? To apologize for that loudmouth freak you're babysitting?"

"Or maybe he's here to polish our shoes, Class D-style?" another jeered.

Akira took a step closer, a gentle smile adorning his face.

"No, Senpai. I came here because of what you said earlier."

That seemed to have caught their attention, although they looked quite confused.

"What we said?"

Akira nodded slowly. "That line. 'You guys'll be in hell soon enough anyway.' You said it like you knew something."

The three of them looked at each other, slightly taken aback. This wasn't something they could just go around mentioning—the school had strictly warned them not to.

"Maybe we do. So what?" yelled the guy sitting in the middle, presumably their leader.

"Nothing, nothing." Akira waved his hand with a smile, trying to calm his agitated senpai. "I just want to know why you said that, nothing else."

"I'm not telling you shit. Now beat it." He stood up abruptly in an attempt to intimidate Akira.

"Not telling me? You already did, didn't you? Back outside the convenience store, you said that Class D students are 'defects' and hell will be upon us soon. I just want you to elaborate on what you said before."

The second-year student's complexion went pale at Akira's words. The other two looked just as perplexed.

"Could it be you're not allowed to say?" Akira noticed that they were at a loss for words. "What do you think will happen if I inform the school of what you did?"

"You—" Their leader wanted to say something but swallowed his words after looking at Akira's calm face.

"What evidence do you have that it was us who told you anything?" said the guy on the right. A noticeable glint appeared in the other two's eyes.

"That's right, I don't remember saying anything to you at all!" the left one added quickly.

"There you go. You got your answer, kiddo?" Their leader sneered at Akira. "Now screw off!"

Akira didn't respond. He simply smiled, reached into his pocket, and pulled out the school-issued smartphone, then started playing the audio he had recorded.

The color on the three students' faces visibly dropped as the recording played. The school had strictly warned them to keep information confidential. If this recording got out, at best, their class would receive a heavy penalty, costing them a bunch of class points. At worst, they would be expelled.

The guy on the left now looked defeated. He was probably wracking his brains, trying to find an escape from this sudden predicament.

After a short period of silence and occasional mumbling, their leader looked straight into Akira's eyes.

"What do you want?"