Classroom of the Elite: Free Will

V9: Prologue - I Heard a Rumour

"Did you hear? Did you hear?"

"...Hear? hear what?"

"I heard a rumour that—"

"A rumour?"

"Shh—Don't interrupt."

"Sorry, sorry."

"Whatever, listen. Apparently, that first year girl likes to steal!"

"Who?"

"The first-year girl! The one that was expelled in the training camp."

"Oh! Ichinose-san?!"

"That one! That one!"

"Those must be lies then! She's too kind, I cannot imagine her stealing or doing anything like that."

"That's the rumour?! Ha! Blatant lies! Just like the ones in December."

"The ones regarding Karma, you mean?"

"Precisely."

"Hmm... so, you're saying someone's spreading lies to attack that class again?"

"My very thoughts."

"But, can we be sure, though?"

"What do you mean?"

"Honami-chan could be faking her personality, right?"

"Oi, oi, be careful with your words!"

"But everyone knew the rumours regarding Karma were lies because he's always true to himself. We hate him or love him, but we know what are his principles. How can we be sure Honami-chan is real? What do you think, Nazuna?"

"..."

"Nazuna?"

"...I don't really know... I don't want to doubt her, but..."

"Her case is completely different to Nao's, Nazuna! You cannot compare them."

"Right? Honami-chan was betrayed as well by those other girls."

"But we have a precedent of someone that was really nice and ended up being someone completely despiteful."

"You mean that girl Kushida?"

"Yes! We all thought she was an angel but we all saw that video and how she's been acting since it was put on the forum! That girl's a devil!"

"I don't want to think Honami-chan is like that, though."

"Who knows? Maybe those girls that betrayed her in the training camp discovered something."

"Where does that come from anyway?"

"Yeah. It's just the first years messing around again."

"Jeez, they never stop, do they?"

"Hey! I asked a question!"

"Eh? It wasn't rhetorical?"

"Of course not, you idiot!"

"Well, I couldn't know, I just overheard some first years talking about it."

"And who were those first years?"

"I don't know, I didn't pay attention to them."

"I heard it from a friend in the football club that confronted Shibata about it."

"And what happened?"

"Shibata got angry because of the parallels with that other girl—ehm...what was her name again? Kusada... Kusaki..."

"Kushida?"

"Yeah! That one! Because Kushida and Shibata's classmates were so similar at first, Shibata got angry at the comparison and he was going to hit the guy, but the captain stopped him."

"Hmm, now that you mention it, something similar happened in my club. Now that Ikari-senpai was expelled there's a strange atmosphere and two of our best players are in that class."

"So?"

"So, someone slandered their leader, then they fell to Class D and now this... one of the girls asked them about it and they acted nice, but as we continued training, it was clear their minds weren't on it. After someone reprimanded Kozue for one of her mistakes, she snapped and began shouting that it was our fault for not being able to keep up with her and whatnot. Then, she left training with Sayo-chan trailing behind her, apologising, and bowing non-stop."

"Well, they sure are going through a lot."

"Yeah... that person spreading the information certainly has no mercy."

"They're rumours. We cannot know if they're true or not."

"Hmm... I don't know, after what happened with their Class A... I'm inclined to believe the rumours have some truth."

"Shit, what happened now?"

"Didn't you hear?"

"No."

"Yeah, dude. The whole school is talking about that Ichinose girl. What the hell happened in that other class?"

"Well, I was leaving the student council yesterday after my meeting with Nagumo and heard Nao complaining to her boyfriend about her class being full of ungrateful revolutionary idiots or something. So, it's safe to assume that something bad happened there as well. I'm paraphrasing, though."

"Didn't they see you?"

"Of course they did! They stopped talking as soon as they noticed me."

"Well, I sure am grateful I'm not in that mess of a year."

"Even though we're back in Class B?"

"That's only temporary. Nagumo will correct Asahina's idiocy on the next exam."

"Besides, you have to admit that those kouhais are massacring each other. Their Class A has, like, 800 class points or something!"

"And you can be sure they're gonna continue to massacre each other with that new special exam they have."

"New exam? Holy—"

"Yeah. Miyake, a first-year, from the archery club told me about it. Apparently, they have to vote to expel a classmate just because."

"What?"

"What do you mean 'just because'? There's gotta be some kind of criteria."

"I don't know, I don't have all the details. But to me, it just looks like they'll vote for whoever in their class they hate the most and that person will be expelled. Some kind of popularity contest if you will."

"That's ridiculous, why would the school organise an exam like that?"

"Who knows? That's way beyond my understanding."

"Well, one thing's for certain, the first years are something else."

"For sure. Those guys only clean a mess to start another."

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Just some random conversations. I wanted to do something different for the beginning of the volume.