Classroom of the Elite: Free Will

V4: Chapter 13 - The Snake in the Grass

Hashimoto Masayoshi POV

"No! no! no! no!"

I took out my VR headset to find Nishikawa smirking at me.

"Why did you do that?! We lost!"

She chuckled.

"I'm sorry, it's just... it was so funny seeing you struggle with all those zombies."

I gave back the headset to the staff lady and walked away.

"Yeah, I'm glad you found amusement in my suffering."

She quickly caught up to me as I left the VR store. We had been playing for the past hour a game called Arizona Sunshine where Nishikawa and I were a team and we had to kill zombies in waves. We had been doing great until the wave 19 where the number of zombies on my side was enormous. Meanwhile, on Nishikawa's side there was barely any zombies.

And she didn't help me at all. She just remained there, laughing.

"No need to be so cold, Hashimoto-kun. We arrived at the 19th wave, so it isn't bad at all," she said cheerfully.

"I wanted the record."

"The record is the 51st wave, we wouldn't have gotten there anyway."

It annoyed me but that was true. According to the staff lady the record had been established a few days ago by some guys called Yamauchi and Hondo. I had no idea who they were, but they must have spent quite a long time to get to that wave.

"Say, Hashimoto-kun," Nishikawa spoke in a serious tone after walking in silence for a bit. "Did Nao tell you something?"

I eyed her suspiciously. Usually, I was the one bringing up the subject to find more information.

"Just that my guess wasn't the correct one."

She nodded to herself looking thoughtful.

"Why the question?" I inquired.

"... Our last group discussion will begin soon. I thought she would have told you something by now."

"Well, she didn't," I paused for a second. "She did give me back my phone, though."

She looked at me, surprise showing in her face for a moment.

"Really?"

"Yeah," I showed her my phone to prove my words. "Do you know something?"

A smug smile appeared on her face.

"Well. I suppose there's no harm in telling you a bit about it..."

"KEMPS!"

Yamada pronounced those words once again.

Shiina showed her cards revealing four sevens.

"Yes," she celebrated. "Well done, Albert-kun. We won!"

"YOU TOO, SHIINA," he replied in his strong Japanese accent.

"Agghhhh!! Masumi! You missed her sign again!" Nishikawa protested.