Classroom of The Elite : The Marionette

Chapter 40: Special Exam

"So how was yesterday's trial?" Shinji asked me, not long after I sat down in my seat. Iwa and Gilang, who were gathered at his table, also looked at me curiously.

"Smoothly, more or less..." I answered in a lazy tone. Kasai on my left, as usual, completely ignored my presence and was busy playing with her phone while sucking on a lollipop. Last night I called her and she said she'll pay me a visit later.

"So Nanahara won't be expelled?" Gilang asked.

"No, but our class points might be reduced a little..."

"What!?" Iwa almost blurted out and I hurriedly motioned for him to stay quiet. I was stupid for mentioning that without thinking. Luckily it's a common thing for a few students to make a bit of a fuss before a homeroom session so most students wouldn't even be paying attention to us, at least for now.

"Why are you overreacting about that? Not the first time we lose some points."

"You said the trial went smoothly," Iwa protested. "That means Nanahara is innocent, right? Then why are our class points still being deducted?"

"I'll explain later, now calm down."

"Yeah, just relax, Kouki," Shinji chimed in. "At most, it's only a few points. We can get it back any time."

Just like Satonaka, Shinji is the type who always prioritizes his friends over class points so it's only natural that he supports me. If everyone in this class had the same mindset as him, of course, Nanahara would be more easily accepted. Speaking of Nanahara, the girl still hasn't arrived yet. I suspected she was going to skip class but in the end, I decided to stay positive and trust her to come.

"You might be right, but it's still a shame. Man, if only Nanahara could control herself," Iwa was starting to complain. He wouldn't dare speak like that if the person in question was here.

"You talk as if you never make mistakes," Gilang teased in a humorous tone. "I'm sure half of the points we lost in May were because of you, and you still dare complain about other people?"

"What are you talking about? I'm an honor student with a clean history without any blemishes,"

"Oh really? Then what about when you fall asleep in the middle of class? Nakatani even had to wake you up because your snoring was so loud. That one time you were also reprimanded by a P.E. teacher because you got caught staring at girls' cleavages during swimming lessons. Then, you also accidentally spilled fish soup on a girl's skirt in the cafeteria. She had to go back to the dorm in tears because it made her uniform smell bad. The three of us had to accompany you to her class to apologize."

"Okay, stop...how can you still remember all that?"

"Well, how could you forget all that? Especially the last one."

Gilang and Iwa started bantering with each other as usual. At that time Nanahara entered the classroom. As the girl started to walk towards her seat, the atmosphere in the class slowly became quiet as one by one the students began to turn their eyes to her. I could hear some people starting to whisper about it. My friends were also silent when they saw her, but at least Shinji and Gilang still tried to look friendly afterward.

"Good morning, Nanahara, did you sleep soundly?" I took the initiative to greet her. After all that trouble of saving her, it would be bad if she felt unwelcomed in class, so I have to at least show that there are some people on her side. Considering that my fate is now tied to her, I think I should do that.

Nanahara at first just looked at me, but then she returned my greeting briefly while sitting in her chair. "Good morning..."

I don't know why, but it seems I'm getting an uneasy feeling, and the whispers in class seem to be increasing. I looked around and several people hurriedly looked away. It seems that because I was friendly to Nanahara, they started gossiping about me as well.