Classroom of the Elite: Free Will

V4.5: Chapter 1 - Tomori Nao's Quest at Keyaki Mall

Hashimoto Masayoshi POV

As I was walking out of Keyaki Mall with Hayato and Naoki, a smiling and cheerful Tomori Nao passed next to us entering the mall.

She was wearing a white skirt and a pink sleeveless shirt. She was carrying a bag and as usual, she had her video camera in one of her hands, her phone in the other. Since her attention was on her phone, she didn't notice us and walked directly into the mall.

Considering the fact that she was alone, and it was still quite early in the morning, the first thing that came to my mind was that she was up to something.

Because of this, I quickly separated from Hayato and Naoki under the pretext that I had to attend tennis practice, which was true; I just had never bothered to show up that frequently.

Determined to find out what Tomori was up to I entered Keyaki Mall once again.

The building is a five-story complex that works as a mall as to allow the students to spend their time somewhere since we are forced to live on the school campus. Therefore, it is normal to find the place crowded – specially on weekends, and each time something new cropped up, it naturally became a hot topic among the students. Despite it being the only place on campus where we could go out, or maybe because of that very reason, the place was quite complete with shops, cafés, restaurants, a supermarket, karaoke clubs and there was even a movie theatre and an arcade.

But coming back to what interests me, after a quick search with the GPS function of my phone, I found that Tomori had gone to the supermarket.

Making my way there, I entered and quickly found her going through the corridors, searching for something eagerly and from the way she ignored all the everyday things a person might need, it certainly wasn't a trivial thing.

Jeez, she doesn't even stop on vacations, does she?

She should take a day's rest at least. After the two special exams on the island and the cruise ship everyone was worn out so the number of first years you saw walking around campus wasn't as important as the number of second or third years.

Well, I'm not going to complain, though. If she's working to keep us on Class A then I was more than okay with it.

After a while of Tomori wandering around the supermarket and me moving constantly as to not be spotted, she finally left the place without buying anything.

Now, this is interesting, if what she's looking is not easy to find then perhaps it will be useful for the class on the future.

I left the supermarket a few minutes later trying to contain my excitement.

I'm really on the winning side with Tomori.

Of course, this didn't mean that I would neglect my opportunities to have a ticket to Classes B, C or even D if by any chance they happened to become Class A at the end.

Losing her trail for a moment, I localized her again thanks to the GPS. She was in the Sivcamera store. So, she's searching for something technological. Perhaps a bug camera? Something to do surveillance, maybe? She does that a lot, since she's quite good when it comes to tailing someone and...

Oh...

Did she notice me?

She shouldn't have noticed me, at least not yet. I'm keeping a good distance between us to make sure she doesn't know someone's following her but knowing her, it's better to be cautious.

I retreated a bit and didn't enter to the store this time. Instead, I stood in a corner where the entrance of the store was easily distinguishable the problem is that from here, I cannot see the counter to know if she buys something or not.