Classroom of the Elite: Alter - Self-Test

Vol. 1: Chapter 4.3 - Uncovering

"Excuse me." I knocked before opening the door. "Is Chabashira-sensei in here?"

No, I can't see her anywhere.

"Ara? Who's this, who's this? Oh, there are two of you. Are you Sae-chan's students? Oh, dear me. Where are my manners? I'm Hoshinomiya Chie, in charge of Class B." The teacher who responded to us had wavy, shoulder-length hair that made her appear very mature. On the contrary, however, she was extremely talkative and gives the impression of a happy-go-lucky person.

Horikita noticed that I'm not having the best time dealing with her and decided to take the reins.

"Hoshinomiya-sensei, my name is Horikita Suzune, and this is Ayanokouji Kiyotaka-kun. Both of us are from Chabashira-sensei's class, Class D. Do you know where she is? If you do, can you please tell us? We happen to have some questions about clubs and stuff." Horikita was perfect for the job. She didn't cut any corners in asking what we want.

"Oh, I see. Horikita-san and Ayanokouji-kun, huh? Well, Sae-chan's most likely on her favorite smoking spot; the rooftop. It should be closed for students around this hour, but..." Hoshinomiya-sensei leaned closer to us. "I think you'll be fine if you have Sae-chan with you up there."

Horikita and I nodded to each other.

"If that's the case, then we'll go ahead now. Thank you very much, Hoshinomiya-sensei." Horikita and I bowed.

"Take care now. Tell Sae-chan I said hi!" she said towards our fading figure.

It was currently around six in the evening. When we arrived at the rooftop, we saw Chabashira-sensei's figure gazing towards the lit-up streets around the school building. She didn't stop smoking even as we got closer.

"What are you two doing here? It's way past school hours, you know?" Chabashira-sensei asked as we opened the door, which didn't produce even the slightest of sounds.

Chabashira-sensei didn't seem particularly surprised to see Horikita and me, giving the two of us nothing but a side glance.

"I just wanted to clear up a few things, Sensei," I started. "When you said 'As expected' yesterday, what did you mean by it? Do you know anything about me?"

"Heh...? You're asking me with Horikita on your side? Are you fine with that, Ayanokouji?" smirked Chabashira-sensei.

"I'm confident that you don't know anything important, that's why I'm fine with Horikita listening right now. I just wanted to know what you know," I said.

"Hahaha! Truly a bizarre kid! Very well, Ayanokouji. I shouldn't make this hard for you since it's something personal. You're right. I don't know anything important. The only reason why I kept my eye on you from the start was that Chairman Sakayanagi asked me to 'take care of you'." Chabashira-sensei answered in a heartbeat.

"Are you sure you can just drop names like that?" I asked.

"Oh, sure, why not? I'm fairly certain that he'll try to meet you soon, anyway," replied Chabashira-sensei. "So? Anything else?"

Chairman Sakayanagi, huh?

"I've seen a lot of students in the club fair earlier. Are you sure you're not keeping something important from us, Sensei?" I continued.

"You noticed that, too? Hm, alright. All of the other classes were indeed informed apart from you guys. Anyone who joins the club may have the chance to gain benefits-- specifically private points-- if they do well." Chabashira-sensei responded with a grin.

"Wouldn't it be better for Class D students to know that? I think having more sources of income apart from class points is a good thing in general," asked Horikita.

"Knowing your class, I'd advise you to let them continue their ignorance on the matter. What use would they be for the club if they go in with nothing but private points in mind?" answered Chabashira-sensei.

"That's just the second purpose, isn't it, Sensei? After all, you even stressed the words; 'if they do well'. Horikita, imagine if one of our classmates join a club just for points. If he or she doesn't take it seriously, what would they do if there are repercussions? For example; if they quit or get removed before a certain amount of time inside the club, their private points, or worse, their class points, may take a hit," I elaborated.

"I see. It only makes sense since you get rewarded if you do well. The Concept of Reward and Punishment, huh?" Horikita says while thinking to herself.

I can see Chabashira-sensei smiling at our conversation.

"Another thing, Sensei. I'm curious about the investigation on you, and why you were so confident." I pressed on.

"Oh? Now we're going there? Very well." Chabashira-sensei's smile didn't waver.

"The security cameras wouldn't really help in the investigation, wouldn't it? At the end of the day, visual evidence is useless because they can't hear us. Security cameras with built-in microphones and hidden audio bugs for teachers or students are still forbidden by the law. The former may have been an option if this was a private school, but unfortunately, it isn't." I continued talking with Horikita and Chabashira-sensei's gazes focused on me. "If I were to make a guess, I'd think that they would have no choice but to check on your past records. Well, it's a given that they've already done that before hiring you here, but double-checking, triple-checking, or even digging deeper is still a necessity."

"Don't beat around the bush Ayanokouji. Horikita's getting restless, you know?" Chabashira-sensei teased.

"I'm saying that if your records are clean, then it all comes down to your motives. At first, you acted incredibly indifferent and distant towards Class D, but the moment I acted to save them, the word 'excitement' was written all over your face," I answered. "You even went so far as to lie about the midterms and final exams just to have the "I didn't even tell them everything" alibi. But of course, it didn't help you, did it? After all, you already told us about the 'special exams'. Those might have been the main reason why they started this investigation in the first place."

"I told you before, right? No one has ever done what you've done. Of course, they'd conduct an investigation--"

"I won't buy it, Sensei. Sure, the novelty argument is strong, but the school had this system for a long time now. There's no way it can be caught off-guard by a random student buying out the information from a teacher. I'm still inclined to think it's the special exams you told us about yesterday. Preparing for that months before it can actually happen is too much of an advantage." Sensei's expression was a bit dark, but her smile was still noticeable. "So, Sensei, please correct me if I'm wrong."

"Sigh... You really are different, Ayanokouji. Fine, you win. You're right on all fronts. Really now, you didn't even have much information to work with, but you still managed to deduce everything this far." Chabashira-sensei knows that I'm wasn't done, so she asks. "But Ayanokouji, what's your point? What's the deal with this exposé fiasco?"

"I just wanted to ask one simple question from you, Sensei. Horikita, based on what you've heard, what do you think is my question?" I turned to Horikita, who was carefully digesting everything.

"I'm not sure... However, if my guess is correct, it should be; "Do you want us to overtake Class A?", right?" Horikita asks for my confirmation.

"You're a bit off, Horikita." I stopped to look at Chabashira-sensei before continuing.

"It's "Just how obsessed are you with Class A?", right, Chabashira Sae-sensei?"