Classroom of the Elite, Kusuo Saiki

Page 95

A sense of disappointment welled up inside Sakura Airi's heart.

None of them had particularly good grades in class, which put them in a good position to be paired with Kusuo Saiki. However, in the end, Kusuo Saiki was paired with Kei Karuizawa.

"Kusuo, it looks like we're in the same group again!"

With an incredibly bright smile on her face, Karuizawa waved to Saiki Kusuo, and almost everyone's eyes fell on him at the same time.

"Ah."

Kusuo Saiki didn't like being the center of attention, but he still nodded to Megumi Karuizawa.

Being paired with Kei Karuizawa is a fairly acceptable outcome.

"The current allocation results are basically the same as we expected."

After finalizing the pairings for everyone, Horikita Suzune continued,

"After that, in order to improve the class average score, we will hold reading groups until the final exam. This time, we can also cooperate with Hirata or Kushida, so I think we can set it to twice a day. After school, the first reading group will be from 4 pm to 6 pm for two hours, and the second reading group will be from 8 pm to 10 pm to take into account the participation in club activities. Now we need to decide which meeting we want to attend."

'Ugh, another book club meeting?'

Kusuo Saiki felt somewhat helpless, because the existence of the book club would inevitably reduce his free time, but he couldn't refuse to attend, which was a real hassle.

Everyone was discussing the book club when, at that moment, two people walked up to Horikita Suzune and Hirata Yosuke.

Akito Miyake and Haruka Hasebe were both students who had little contact with Kusuo Saiki.

Neither of them had a particularly strong presence in the class. Kusuo Saiki knew that Akito Miyake seemed to have decent athletic ability, but he didn't know much about Haruka Hasebe.

"Mr. Miyake, is there anything I can help you with?"

Hirata Yosuke immediately turned his attention to the other person. He remembered that Miyake Akito and Hasebe Haruka were a team.

“We will be paired up for the exam, but our strengths and weaknesses overlap in the subjects we are good at and bad at. This is a bit of a headache, so I wanted to ask for your opinions.”

Akito Miyake began to speak.

Although they were successfully paired up, their academic abilities were actually quite similar. Moreover, because their strengths and weaknesses overlapped significantly, they couldn't help each other. If they wanted to improve everyone's grades, their reading group would need to expand the scope of topics covered.

However, expanding the scope of tutoring would greatly increase the workload of the reading group, and due to the larger number of participants, efficiency would certainly be significantly reduced.

"Also, can I not attend the book club?"

At that moment, Hasebe Haruka spoke up.

"I probably won't participate. I don't get along very well with Shihashi and the others."

'Who is Ichihashi? Is there really someone like him in our class?'

Meanwhile, Kusuo Saiki was trying to match the name Ichihashi with someone's face in his mind, but he couldn't do it for a long time.

"Besides, a group of people attending a book club isn't suitable for me."

"But the areas where you two are not good are quite similar. If you take the final exam like this, even if you pass the overall exam, your scores may be lower than the minimum of 60 points required for each subject."

Horikita Suzune, who was standing to the side, immediately spoke with a serious expression.

"That's right, but this method is still not quite suitable for me. Sorry, mistress."

Haruka Hasebe seemed to utter her special nickname for Akito Miyake before leaving.

"I'm sorry, but I won't be able to concentrate on studying if I'm surrounded by girls, so I won't be participating in the book club."

Seeing his partner leave, Akito Miyake also expressed his thoughts to Suzune Horikita and Yosuke Hirata.

'If only the mountain had half your level of awareness.'

[What should we do? If only there were someone else who could teach both of them individually.]

At this moment, Horikita Suzune's mind raced, trying to recall what subjects Miyake Akira and Hasebe Haruka were not good at.

A sudden sense of foreboding washed over Kusuo Saiki, and he quickly turned to leave.

At that moment, Horikita Suzune's gaze shifted to Saiki Kusuo's back.

"Qi Mu, I remember you did pretty well in this subject before."

When organizing the book club last semester, Horikita Suzune prepared test questions for the others herself. Due to various unexpected circumstances, Saiki Kusuo accidentally solved several of the difficult questions, which led Horikita Suzune to believe that he was very good at the relevant subjects.

Unfortunately, these were the subjects that Miyake Akira and Hasebe Haruka were not good at.

'Damn it, I got caught after all!'

Kusuo Saiki grumbled inwardly, then could only turn around again.

"generally."

"I remember you used to be able to solve those extremely difficult problems, so if I were to hand those two over to you, you should be more than capable."

"Wow, Nanxiong, you were really that amazing!"

Karuizawa Kei, standing to the side, widened her eyes in surprise.

"I didn't agree to that..."

"Then I'll leave it to you, Qi Mu. Thank you for your hard work."

Horikita Suzune didn't give Saiki Kusuo any chance to refuse before speaking directly.

"It just so happens that the two of them are also good at subjects that you're not so good at, so they can complement each other."

"..."

Kusuo Saiki was somewhat helpless. The knowledge was only for high school students, which posed no difficulty for him at all. He deliberately kept his scores in some subjects relatively low in order to ensure that his total score would be in the middle of the class.

To his utter surprise, he found himself dragged down by this whole affair.

"Really? If it's Saiki-kun, then I'm fine with that too. I'll have to trouble you for a while. I'll let Hasebe-kun know later."

Akito Miyake spoke very seriously to Kusuo Shiki.

'Hey, hey, hey, I never agreed to that from the beginning!'

Kusuo Saiki had already shouted it out in his heart, but it was too late; Akito Miyake had already left the classroom.

"Also, I feel that Miyake and Hasebe are both the type to be alone, which makes me a little worried. And Saiki isn't the type to be good at communicating either."

As Horikita Suzune spoke, she rubbed her chin with her fingers, seemingly deep in thought, before shifting her gaze to Ayanokouji Kiyotaka beside her.

"Ayanokouji, can I ask you to go and help Saiki-kun?"

"assist?"

"You and Saiki are on good terms, so it might be difficult for you to negotiate with Miyake or Hasebe, but if you're in the middle, it should be easier for you to contact us."

Horikita Suzune said very seriously.

'You're serious about asking Ayanokouji to help you make the contact? And how come you still can't escape him?'

Kusuo Saiki glanced at Kiyotaka Ayanokouji out of the corner of his eye, and the latter also glanced at Kusuo Saiki.

"Ah."

......

The next day after school, Kusuo Saiki went to the school's coffee shop as he had arranged with the rest of his group.

Haruka Hasebe, Akito Miyake, and Kiyotaka Ayanokoji had already arrived here ahead of time.

Putting aside Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, who is pretending to be someone he's not, both Haruka Hasebe and Akito Miyake are not very talkative. In fact, they are quite compatible with Kusuo Saiki and won't cause any trouble.

However, the problem doesn't lie with those few individuals.

At this very moment, there were a few other uninvited guests in the coffee shop.

"Kusuo! I ordered your favorite coffee pudding in advance!"

When Karuizawa Megumi saw Saiki Kusuo arrive, she smiled and waved.

"Why are you here?"

Kusuo Saiki looked at Kei Karuizawa with some confusion. There was only one empty seat left next to Kei Karuizawa around the table. It was unclear whether Kei Karuizawa had done it on purpose or whether the others had assumed that Kusuo Saiki would sit there.

As previously agreed, this book club should only consist of him, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, Akito Miyake, and Haruka Hasebe.

'I guess I'll just have to sit there.'

Kusuo Saiki sighed inwardly, his gaze fixed on the pudding, but ultimately he chose to sit next to Megumi Karuizawa.

There were no other seats to choose from. I'm not going to be easily won over by this pudding!

"Hey! We're in the same group, right? And my grades aren't good either, I want to get tutoring!"

Karuizawa Kei smiled and said to Shiki Kusuo.

Somewhat helplessly, Saiki Kusuo could only shift his gaze to the person opposite him—

Maya Sato was sitting there.

Why are you here too?

"Because I'm in the same group as Ayanokouji! Yesterday I heard that Ayanokouji was going to hold a book club with you, Saiki, so as your partner, I naturally had to come too."

Sato Maya immediately smiled and said,

"Please take care of me!"

As Sato Maya said this, her gaze shifted to Karuizawa Megumi.

Karuizawa Kei smiled and looked at the other person.

【Of course I came here for Saiki!】

【Of course I joined the book club for Kusuo!】

The two people's feelings were almost identical.

Kusuo Saiki sighed. He knew that this book fair would be another tumultuous event for him.

Moreover, the people who surprised Kusuo Saiki were not just the two of them.

[Kusuo-kun... is holding a book club...]

[I didn't expect Karuizawa and Sato to be here at today's book club... Did Kusuo invite them...? No... they probably came on their own...]

I want to participate too... but I'm too shy to tell Kusuo-kun directly... so I can only stay on the sidelines...