Unveiling the Mastermind - Classroom of the Elite Reaction

Interlude - Kushida Returns

"Thank you for that, Kiyotaka," Yosuke smiled at me, clearly appreciative of my answer.

I still had doubts as to whether any of this held any meaning. After all, the key part to this was what Kushida herself would decide to do. All Yosuke could do was give her the freedom to make that choice.

Again he addressed the class.

"I'm not going to force anything on anyone. You are all free to make your own judgements. That's really all I wanted to say, I'm sorry for interrupting, Horikita-san."

"No that's fine. In fact, Ayanokoji-kun practically answered the question I had for him already," Horikita shrugged.

"You are really okay with letting her off, Ayanokoji-kun?" Sato asked with a look of worry.

"Yes, I am," I nodded, "But as Yosuke says, if any of you feel differently, then I'm not going to try and change your minds,"

It would be up to the class to accept Kushida. Any role I had toward that end had already been played.

"I guess I'm fine with it," Mori shrugged, "She better not try and act like nothing is wrong though,"

"I can try, I think," Inogashira added feebly.

More unenthusiastic voices of agreement spoke up to give Kushida her second chance. Their acceptance was half-hearted but honestly, the results of Horikita and Yosuke's pleas were far better than I'd imagined. The fact they only knew a minimal part of Kushida's other side was probably crucial to their decision. If their cooperation was to continue, Kushida would need to prove to them she could be trusted. To be frank, I thought that the outcome everybody wanted would be close to impossible.

"Then it's decided. We'll give Kushida-san a second chance." Horikita announced. She was obviously relieved by this.

Suddenly the noise volume started to decrease gradually until it eventually came to a complete stop. As for the reason for this, I saw Kushida had just walked back through the hall's doors.

She had an unreadable expression displayed on her face. It wasn't her usual angelic persona but it also wasn't as spiteful as when she donned her real personality. Somehow, it was in between those two extremes.

For a few moments, she stood still in front of the doors. With so many eyes on her, it was impressive that she could look so unaffected by the attention. Although, I guess she had more experience with it than me.

After a while, she began the walk back to her seat. It was almost like watching a catwalk, except the usual happiness and envy of the audience was replaced with unease. Without so much as a single word or any recognition of the looks toward her, she sat down in her seat. Her neighbours clearly showed signs of being extremely nervous.

The moment stagnated. No words were spoken. I hadn't assumed she'd offer an apology and I hadn't expected others to welcome her back with open arms but something would have to give eventually. If Kushida continued with this behaviour, then there was no way back for her.

This was the problem with Kushida's act. She had pushed it to the extreme. A large part of the Kushida everyone knew was a fallacy, a construction made up of her own designs. This deviation from what everyone knew caused them to hesitate. They realised that they didn't know how to interact with her anymore. The cheery "Hey Kushida-san!" as she entered the classroom wouldn't feel right, but neither would completely ignoring her after the time they'd spent together.

It was like meeting a new person but having memories of moments you'd had with one another. A completely unprecedented reality for almost everyone here.

"How are you, Kushida-san?"

The silence was broken. Kei had asked a simple question and shattered the suffocating atmosphere. Well, I doubt such a question would be particularly simple for Kushida to answer given the circumstances.

"...I'm fine,"

In utter contradiction to her usual self, Kushida struggled to get the words out. This situation wasn't completely new to her. I couldn't help but worry that she would approach the problem the same way she'd done in the past, by exposing the secrets of those around her. However, she showed no intention of doing so - at the moment anyway.

Before her class had attacked her to the point that it could have been considered bullying. In contrast, our class had let her off the hook. Whether that would change later on was another matter. That possibility is probably what kept Kushida on edge as well.

As the only one with the confidence to speak, Kei followed up.

"Just talk to us at your own pace, okay, Kushida-san?"

When a topic is too hard to talk about, everyone inevitably avoids doing so. This happens more when the point of conflict is fresh on the mind. If everyone was truly going to reconcile with Kushida, it would be better for it to happen naturally, when both parties were in the state of mind to have the discussion they'd been avoiding.

Kushida merely nodded in response.

Would the Kushida who relied on and relished the love and respect of others be able to adapt to her new reality or would she self-destruct, leaving numerous casualties in her wake? This is the risk that Horikita and Yosuke's benevolence held. Wiping my hands of any involvement after this point would leave the outcome to chance. If I suspected that the worst was about to come, should I intervene? It wasn't a trivial decision. Kushida held the detonator to the equivalent of a nuclear bomb for Class C. If I allowed her to press the button, the class' hopes of achieving success at this school would all but disappear, along with many relationships they'd built up in the past year. This risk Horikita was taking could bear cataclysmic results.

Oh, I do wonder what reactions you all had to that!

Everyone's attention shot to the screen. There was a renewed sense of anxiety, similar to that of when we began these videos. The thought that a student as high-profile as Kushida could be brought to this by the content of these videos was cause for concern for many of the students watching. Would they be next?

Anyway, I'm sure you were all given enough time to process by your teachers so let's move on now.

Don't worry, I won't be exposing anyone else.

Some pressure lifted and I heard many relieved sighs.

Yet.

And with that one word, the collective anxiety was returned in greater amounts. Whereas it had once been a possibility, it was now a certainty.

But you don't have to worry about that for a while. I guess you all need something a little more light-hearted as a pick-me-up.

And the next video began.

(A/N - Usually, I would upload these interludes alongside the next reaction part, but seeing as this one is closely related to the last chapter, I thought I'd post it now instead of when the next chapter is ready.

Most seemed to prefer having these interludes to show what consequences the reactions had on the students so I'll continue doing them whenever they seem necessary, I'm not sure how much development I should give the characters seeing as this is really just a reaction fic rather than anything more.

Would you all prefer that I showed character development or simply have them react based on their current characters at the end of Y2 V4.5? I don't mind either way so I'll go with whatever the majority decides on.

I'll try and get the next part out soon, but I'm not giving any exact specification because I'm sure there are those that know how inconsistent my updates are at this point.)