Classroom of the Elite: Free Will

SS21: Amikura Mako - The Big Picture

I failed.

I couldn't see it.

I was blind.

And yet...

It had been in front of me the whole time.

I just...

... didn't see it.

It was so frustrating.

Because of us Honami-chan was expelled in this exam. Thankfully, there was that rule that allowed you to revoke an expulsion so you could stay in the school.

At first, Honami-chan refused to use that option as we would lose 300 class points and 20 million private points. But we didn't care about that and ultimately, managed to convince her to stay.

Honami-chan was one of the pillars of our class, without her... I couldn't even fathom a class without her. Because of her club activities, Shinobu-san wasn't always available so must of us turned towards Honami-chan for help, guidance, we trusted her, we relied on her.

That had been a mistake, though.

Because we relied so much in people like Karma, Honami-chan or Shinobu-san, our class was unable to hold. We were a strong unit. Nevertheless, we were as stable as a house of cards, the gentlest breeze caused everything to fall down.

Now, we would most likely become Class D next month. If we aspired to climb once again and become Class A one day, we would need to start anew, rebuild with stronger foundations.

I was among the last ones to enter the bus. When I did, I immediately searched for Karma, wishing to apologise.

If only I had trusted him a bit more, this could have been avoided. So, as soon as my eyes landed on that reddish hair of his, I walked past my seat that was next to Sayo-chan and went directly towards Karma.

When I arrived, I bowed deeply and apologised for not trusting him more. My words were surely rushed and barely made any sense since I was also embarrassed to have to do this. Nevertheless, this was something I had to do. If there had been a main opposer of Karma's leadership in our classroom, then, it surely had been me.

Perhaps if the loss wasn't so catastrophic, I wouldn't care.

Perhaps, if it wasn't my fault, I wouldn't care.

But that didn't matter right now. It was catastrophic, and it was my fault for trusting more in people from another class than in our leader who had devised a strategy that, if successful, would have made us Class A.

"Ehm... Mako-san... Karma-kun's sleeping," Eiichiro-kun's voice drove me out of my thoughts. I opened my eyes and stood straight immediately to look at Karma.

Indeed, with his head resting on the window and his eyes closed, Karma was sleeping soundly. He looked so calm and innocent that it made me wonder how he could be someone I came to hate so much.

Somehow, it angered me that after such a catastrophe, he could be able to sleep so serenely, but if I stopped to think for a second, I could understand. With all the revelations that came with the announcement of the results, it was clear that a great number of things had happened behind the scenes and under the table. While we were worried, stressed out by the exams or living our normal high school life, people like Karma were attentive to the bigger things, to the deals and alliances being made, to the actions of each leader, second in command and henchman.

For the first time, I thought I understood all the work Karma had been doing for us, so we could enjoy our high school lives.

Because I had failed to understand that, I came to hate him and blame him for each little thing he was involved in. But, in truth, he always worked for the sake of the class, so we could get to the top, graduate as Class A, and achieve our dreams.

We let a spy in during the island exam; our pressure made him step down as the leader in the sports festival; thanks to him, we won the paper shuffle by a landslide and Ryuuen slandered his name to try to get revenge; and now, this exam, where all we had to do to become Class A was keep an eye on Matsushita and Karuizawa...

Yes.

I failed.

I failed to see the big picture.

But now, I understood.

And to climb once again that dreadful ladder, we would have to rebuild. Rebuild alongside him, making ourselves useful, instead of sabotaging ourselves and making Karma's work even harder.

Because at the end, we were one class of forty students.

To succeed we all had to go in the same direction.

Our classmates were the only family we had here, the rest...

well...

they could very well be damned.