Classroom of the Elite: Free Will

V7: Chapter 3 - He'll Stay There

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka POV

After class ended the next day, I headed over the stairs as to avoid the main hallway while my friends went ahead to Keyaki Mall.

I stopped as soon as I was certain I was alone and patiently waited for Chabashira-sensei to join me. She had been starting at me constantly all day. It didn't take long for her to join me. So, it seemed my assumption of Chabashira-sensei having some business with me was correct.

"Do you want something?" I asked bluntly as soon as she stood in front of me.

"Yes. Follow me. We need to talk."

"That's going to be difficult. I'm supposed to join my friends at Keyaki Mall," I answered truthfully.

"As a teacher, I don't want to be careless. But circumstances being what they are, this is necessary," Chabashira-sensei, who was usually inhumanly composed, wore a strangely vulnerable expression.

"I have a bad feeling about this," I mumbled.

"Unfortunately, you can't refuse. This is extremely urgent," she replied.

Resistance was futile. I decided to follow her, and we moved from the student area to an even more private location.

"Why are we headed over here?" I asked. "It's too early to counsel me on my post-high school career, isn't it?"

"You'll understand soon."

I tried to lighten things up with a joke, but it didn't seem like she was going to answer a student's question. However, rather than what was on the other side of the door, what I was worried about right now was Chabashira-sensei. She sounded almost flustered, and that worried me. She was normally so composed. Whoever she was taking me to see—even if it was the person I imagined—this wasn't normal behaviour for her.

She knocked on an office door.

"Principal, I've brought Ayanokouji Kiyotaka-kun."

I heard a gentle voice that carried the dignity of age.

"Enter."

Chabashira-sensei opened the door. A man of about sixty sat on the sofa. He was certainly the school's principal; I'd seen him multiple times before, at the entrance ceremony and during the mid-of-the-semester ceremony. He didn't look calm, either. In fact, sweat trickled down his forehead.

One other person was there, sitting opposite the principal.

I now knew the reason I'd been called here.

"You two may talk now," said the principal. "I trust this is acceptable?"

"Of course."

"Very well. I'll take my leave now. Excuse me," the principal said.

He bowed humbly, despite the fact that the person sitting opposite him was only in his forties.

"I'll excuse myself as well," Chabashira-sensei bowed graciously to the man and left with the principal.

The final look she gave me showed how anxious she felt. As the door closed, the only sound I heard was the heating system's faint whirring.

As I stood completely still and silent, the man spat out his first words.

"How about you take a seat? I came all the way here to meet with you, after all."