Classroom of the Elite: Alter - Solace

Vol. 5: Chapter 11.1 - The Curtains Rise

The class started pouring their hearts out during the remaining practice week. The most unathletic ones for the guys would be Professor, Ijuuin, Ueno, and Yukimura who had to double their effort just to keep up with everyone. The same could be said for Airi, Ishikura, Rino, and Inogashira for the girls. However, their hard work won't go unrecognized. Everyone would cheer them up whenever they can, and seeing even the least competent ones in our class try their hardest inspired the rest.

Well, Ueno looked like he didn't want anything to do with this, though. Even then, seeing him finish his quota every time during practice encouraged the entire class since all of us knew how much he hated physical activities. (1)

"I... I'm gonna puke..." he said.

"Oi, oi, Itsuki! Hold it in for now, man! Let's get you to the water station," Onizuka accompanied him with a panicked look.

"I'm beat!"

Meanwhile, Yamauchi, Ike, Hondou, and Miyamoto were lying on the ground, huffing and puffing along with Professor and Ijuuin who looked like they were unable to move any further. They were all working hard, just like everyone else.

"I finally surpassed... my record... I'll definitely sprint past those... Class D bastards in the running competitions," said Yamauchi.

"Say... Say that when you... beat me first," said Hondou.

They were all panting heavily.

"Airi! Good job!" yelled Haruka.

"Ohh, that's a record. Nice going, Airi," followed Akito.

"Yeah. You're doing great," I said.

"T-Thank... goodness... Haahh..." Airi crouched down while gasping for air.

Since Ken was busy coaching others, he didn't have much time to hang out with us. Well, it looked like he was having fun, at the very least. I initially thought it wouldn't end well because of Ken's short temper, but Horikita did a great job in assigning the right guys to him. If Ken coached slow and frail students, then he might lash out at them. Fortunately, his training partners were Makida and Minami (Setsuya) who were fairly athletic alongside Akito. He helps with coaching the likes of Ike or Yamauchi sometimes, and as expected, he does scold them, but Hirata would always diffuse the situation before it can get out of hand.

Later on, I did some running and stopped near Hirata.

"Good work today, Ayanokouji-kun," he greeted.

"Good work. You're still collecting data?" I asked.

"Well, yes. It's unnecessary since we've already submitted our Participation Table, but I think it's a good practice in general."

"I guess so," I looked toward Horikita who was practicing with Matsushita and Onodera. "By the way, how did the recent negotiations go?"

There were two notable events that were addressed by our leader duo. I wasn't really involved, but I asked about their outcomes out of curiosity.

"Ahh, the issue with Ibuki-san and Horikita-san's competition was set before we submitted the table a few days ago. They should be able to compete against each other in one of the events. And for the matter with Ichinose-san and Class C, Horikita-san declined because she didn't want to give them any intel."

Apparently, Ichinose asked Horikita if our classes could practice together. She even went so far as to propose a mock battle with our actual line-ups just to test things out. She argued that there would be no risk since they can't change their order, anyway. And the same goes for the other two classes.