Classroom of the elite: Autonomy.

6: Intermediary.

A slight feeling of distress came over Hirata Yousuke as he witnessed the aftermath of the short but impactful altercation with someone he recognized as Ryuuen Kakeru, a notorious member of class C.

The atmosphere was stiff, dulled by the unnecessary addition of malicious elements to a casual Saturday afternoon. There was also the matter of Karuizawa Kei, who had lost all her vibrance after Ryuuen had shut her down effortlessly.

This situation was far from ideal for the peacemaker of class D, so he resolved to smooth out the atmosphere and regain at least a semblance of the calming ambience that was now long gone.

He looked over at the other main contributor to his current dilemma, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. As who he was, he naturally knew who Ayanokouji was in the class, it was his policy after all.

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, according to the girls, is a dull but friendly person. They saw nothing special about him aside from a few who complimented his looks. Despite this, they found no fault with the unassuming but somewhat sociable member of their class.

These opinions they had of him had molded Hirata’s own, he had unavoidably began to see him as just that.

But those perceptions were utterly destroyed now.

He felt Ryuuen’s unshakeable will and malice, and he expected it to crush Ayanokouji without resistance. To his surprise and utmost admiration, Ayanokouji had responded with no difficulty.

He even seemed to overwhelm him.

“Our food has arrived, let’s eat it before it gets cold please.” He said, hoping to at least give Karuizawa something to focus on, distracting her from whatever she was thinking about.

“You’re right.” Ayanokouji was the first to respond, wasting no time in digging into his food.

Karuizawa was a bit slower but her eyes seemed to regain their light as she narrowed them on the completely oblivious boy opposite her.

‘Oh no….’ Already seeing where this was going to end, Hirata grew a little worried.

“Hey Ayanokouji-kun, what was that about?” In typical Karuizawa fashion, she spoke as if she was at the top of the hierarchy, conveniently ignoring what had transpired earlier. Her tone seemed to compel the others to follow her example.

Ayanokouji turned his eyes towards her, not looking the slightest bit intimidated by the tacit threat. “What? Ryuuen? He’s just an acquaintance.”

His voice was flat as usual but Karuizawa seemed to feel he was mocking her, she lightly slammed her cutlery on the table and glared more at the boy.

“Acquaintance? More like enemies, why are you being targeted by some thug? What does he mean when he says his class declares war on us? What girlfriend is he talking about?”

Hirata didn’t like what was happening in front of him right now, but he was just as curious. He fought his urge to let this continue and decided to speak up.

“Karuizawa-san, I think you sho-”
“No, it’s fine. I intended to talk to you people about this anyway.”

Ayanokouji cut him off. He wiped his mouth, deciding to leave his food for when he’s done talking.

“As I talk to both of you, I don’t want any unnecessary interruptions or disruptions…” He looked at the blond gyaru as he said this, making her turn away.

“We get it, so just talk already.” She said in a somewhat annoyed voice.

“The ‘girlfriend’ is actually my seatmate, Horikita Suzune. She realized there were a few things wrong with this school and decided to find out. I lent her a hand. In the course of our investigations we crossed paths with Ryuuen, who seems to have figured some things out at this point.”