Classroom of the Elite: Black Sphere Academia

After class, Sae Chabashira stood at the podium, gathering her scattered lesson plans one sheet at a time.

Her hands looked focused enough. Her thoughts had already drifted.

She didn't particularly care about preserving her youth, but in the spirit of giving it a try, she had in fact been practicing Ripple Breathing.

By Chris and the others' earlier reasoning, the risk of being flagged by the Black Sphere for practicing the technique — and then dragged into an exam because of it — would most likely be spread thin across the people outside Advanced Nurturing High School.

But… Sae Chabashira wasn't stupid.

As someone the Black Sphere had already dumped into an exam twice, she knew exactly how little the presiding god cared about fairness.

Or rather, it only ever bothered to explain itself to that batch of students. For everyone else, a bare notification was the absolute limit of its courtesy.

If she didn't prepare in advance, then one day some monster might come out of nowhere and swat her flat with a single claw — with item points still sitting unspent in her hands.

What a wretched way to end a life.

I need to buy myself another layer of insurance. Chabashira set her teeth.

Still, she was a teacher, a model for her students. Getting on her knees to beg Chris and his crowd for protection — she couldn't make her face do that.

Rather than cheapen herself, better to work her way deeper into the students' operation through a more natural channel.

No more lording it over them as the hands-off manager she'd always been. This time she'd trade in "value."

Mind made up, she scooped up her lesson plans — and for once didn't walk straight out of the classroom.

Instead, heels clicking, she crossed to the three girls murmuring together by the window: Kei Karuizawa, Matsushita Chiaki, and Kushida Kikyo.

Click. Click.

The deliberately slowed footsteps stopped just behind her, and Kei Karuizawa glanced back on reflex.

Finding Sae Chabashira standing there caught her off guard.

"Chabashira-sensei? Is something wrong…?"

Meeting Karuizawa's faintly appraising stare, Chabashira felt a small chill run down her spine.

So it was true. Spend long enough clawing along the line between life and death in the Special Exams and these students really did transform.

That look in her eyes, that guardedness — nothing at all like a high school girl her age.

Chabashira kept her usual cool mask firmly in place, though.

She gave a slight nod. "Hirata's out of commission, and the class has no one at the head of it. Have you found a suitable candidate to serve as acting class representative?"

In truth, she'd raised the subject planning to steer Chris into Hirata Yousuke's old seat.

It would give her a legitimate excuse to cultivate his sense of belonging and responsibility toward the class — and, as homeroom teacher, an entirely natural pretext, "class business," for spending more time around him.

Unfortunately, she'd barely begun running the numbers.

Before Kei Karuizawa could answer, Matsushita Chiaki spoke up beside her, flat and quiet, and shattered the fantasy on the spot.

"Chabashira-sensei, we've already decided that Kushida will take over Hirata-kun's duties. There's no need for you to worry about it."

Matsushita Chiaki looked her homeroom teacher straight in the eye. "We thought it through very carefully."

Blunt words, with a faint edge of refusal underneath them.

To Matsushita Chiaki, the reason wasn't hard to guess. A teacher who normally didn't care whether the class lived or died, suddenly rushing over to take an interest in "class management" now that the Black Sphere crisis had arrived?

The poles had flipped. They held the Black Sphere combat power and the resources now, and the attitude of one so-called homeroom teacher hardly mattered anymore.

Chabashira visibly froze.

She hadn't expected Matsushita Chiaki — the girl who never made waves in class — to be the first to see straight through her, and to shut her down that cleanly.

This year's Class D… really was a den of monsters.

After turning it over for a moment, Chabashira stopped bothering to hide anything.

"Kushida, is it…"

She turned her gaze on the short-haired girl beside them, sweet smile still perfectly in place.

"As one of the first to take part in a Special Exam, her record's solid enough. On paper there's no real problem."

"But with the rest of the class being sheltered first-years who've never seen anything of the world, is putting Kushida in charge really more practical than sending out someone like Kouenji or Chris, who carry absolute deterrent force?"

Matsushita Chiaki didn't explain herself. She simply turned her eyes to Kushida as well.

Honestly, even without her objection, Kei Karuizawa alone could have found a hundred reasons to throw the question back in Chabashira's face.

But in the end, whether this happened at all came down to Kushida Kikyo herself.

If she balked at the responsibility and refused to take it on, nothing anyone else said would matter.

And under the eyes of Matsushita Chiaki and Kei Karuizawa —

this time, Kushida Kikyo didn't do what she always did and shrink back the moment trouble showed up.

Sure, in the current climate the class representative post meant soothing everyone's nerves and possibly becoming a target for blame — a thankless amount of work for very little credit.

But keeping a perfect mask in place takes constant repair and upkeep.

More to the point, this was what Chris wanted.

And she genuinely did want some concrete means of protecting herself.

With zero spare lives to absorb a single mistake, if she got randomly thrown in a few more times…

…she really wouldn't survive it.

So as groundwork for what came next, stepping forward in her "little angel" persona and claiming the class representative seat right now was an excellent move.

Which meant…

"Please don't worry, Chabashira-sensei!"

Kushida Kikyo lifted her chin, wearing exactly the right amount of resolve.

"I don't have much experience with management, that's true. But nobody has the attention to spare for small things right now anyway. Everyone's focused on the Special Exams and the advance tests."

"I can't make promises about everything else, but when it comes to staying alive, I've got plenty of experience!"

"I'm sure I can help everyone and keep the class steady!"

With that, Kushida Kikyo patted her impressive chest and struck a dependable leave-it-to-me pose.

Chabashira studied her in silence for a moment, then let the matter drop.

With the three of them presenting a united front like this, Chris or Kouenji was certainly behind it.

Forcing the issue now would only backfire on her.

If that road was closed, she'd take the direct one.

Chabashira adjusted her tone slightly.

"In that case, I'll be relying on you, Kushida."

"Though… if you want to buy items, apart from the standard shop built into the Black Sphere Watch, the only places are the presiding god's space and the 'Mystery Merchant' during an exam. Correct?"

Kushida Kikyo tilted her head and blinked at her. "Huh? Yes, that's right. Sensei, what are you getting at…?"

Chabashira let out a long breath, as though setting down some measure of dignity.

"You know I existed as the Mystery Merchant during the midterm exam. Which means I've built up a certain number of item points."

"Unfortunately, the last time I was in an exam, the shop never rolled a single defensive item that suited me."

She paused, and Kushida Kikyo caught on at once.

"Chabashira-sensei, you want to borrow items from us?" Kushida asked softly.

Chabashira admitted it without a flicker of embarrassment.

"The item points I'm holding come out to roughly thirty S Points."

"If I'm selected into an exam again, I'll repay you by purchasing whatever items you need on your behalf."

"Call it a fair trade."

Kushida Kikyo turned, and she, Kei Karuizawa, and Matsushita Chiaki traded looks.

None of them had expected the ever-domineering Sae Chabashira to be angling for something like this.

Though thinking it over, it made perfect sense.

As teachers of Advanced Nurturing High School, they'd never been issued Black Sphere Watches — no link to the shop, no way into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

If they had no item points and no S Points at all, fine.

Having them and being unable to spend them was its own kind of torture.

Which, honestly, had to be chalked up as Amanatsu Kazuha's fault.

If she'd told everyone right away about the hidden rule — that you could spend points at the Mystery Merchant to buy items from past exams —

Chabashira would have emptied her account on the spot for something that could keep her alive.

And she wouldn't have gotten swept up in everything afterward and been unable to find the Clockwork Wraith at all.

Too late for that now. She had to settle for second best and swallow her pride to ask students for help.

Kei Karuizawa and Matsushita Chiaki thought about it and, without a word passing between them, both let their eyes settle on Kushida Kikyo.

Their own equipment was out of the question.

Lend it out, and what were they supposed to use when danger came for them?

Only the [Stone Mask] in Kushida Kikyo's hands was expendable. Since you could exploit the "bloodline stripping" bug inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, it wasn't much use to them anymore. No harm in loaning it out.

And if Chabashira meant what she said, trading one completely idle item for the chance at a brand-new item for free later on…

No matter how you ran the math, they came out ahead.

Kushida Kikyo understood that perfectly well.

She looked up at Chabashira, that gentle, perfectly calibrated smile sliding back onto her face.

"Chabashira-sensei, if it's to keep you safe, then of course it's no problem!"

"Though all I have on hand to lend you is the [Stone Mask], which turns a person into a vampire temporarily, and one [Explosive Tag]… I'm a little worried neither of them will be much use to you?"

Chabashira shook her head at once.

"Lending me anything stronger would be a waste. I couldn't draw out that kind of power in the first place."

"All I need is something you aren't using that gives me the most basic ability to defend myself, in case I'm selected again."

The corner of Kushida Kikyo's mouth curved. She pulled two capsules out of her Black Sphere Watch without the slightest hesitation and handed them over.

Chabashira took them, nodded her thanks, and left the classroom at a brisk walk without lingering a moment longer.

Watching her homeroom teacher's slightly hurried back, Kei Karuizawa had the strangest sensation of looking into a mirror.

It was obvious enough: Chabashira had meant to use the class representative appointment as an opening to get closer to Chris and secure his protection.

That instinct — worship the strong, attach yourself to them — how alike it was to her own.

As a fellow weak person, Kei Karuizawa understood exactly why she'd done it.

But nobody had capacity to spare right now. Who could promise they'd be able to help anyone else?

All she could do was quietly hope Chabashira didn't have the bad luck to become an Intruder again…

Matsushita Chiaki glanced at her and, without saying anything, reached over and gave her shoulder a light pat.

"Kei, when you're saving other people, it doesn't work unless you put your own safety first."

"If both sides can't come out of it alive, then the person you saved wasn't really saved at all."

"You only… delayed the hour of their death."

Kei Karuizawa's lashes lowered, and she sighed.

"Chiaki. Thank you."

…

Once she'd finished passing along over Line every piece of information she thought Akane Tachibana needed to watch for in the next exam,

Ichinose Honami sent the intel document she'd compiled straight into the joint inter-class mutual aid group she'd joined.

Only after all that did she sag back against her chair and let out a long breath.

Beside her, Amikura Mako reached out with a pang of sympathy and kneaded her thin shoulders.

"Ichinose, you really don't have to drive yourself this hard."

"There are only so many people with the nerve to sit the exams and the advance tests to begin with."

"If they've decided to take an exam, they'll go ask the people who've lived through one themselves. And if they can't manage even that much initiative — if they'd rather sit in the back and wait to be spoon-fed…"

Amikura Mako sighed. "We shouldn't be losing sleep over other people's flaws and laziness."

Honami Ichinose shook her head, turning around, and explained gently.

"I know that, Mako. But… what if some other student gets randomly picked and turned into an Intruder?"

"They'd be innocent, and completely unprepared. Even a scrap of extra information might give them one more chance to survive at the critical moment."

She paused, and her voice grew heavier. "And besides…"

"Right now, the people out in the wider world probably have no way to learn the truth about the Black Sphere exams except through us."

Amikura Mako pressed her lips together.

She blanked for a second, then let out a sigh with something like relief in it, her hands going gentler still.

"That's you all over, Ichinose…"

"Though I'll always believe that anyone on the outside with the reach to get hold of a technique that only circulates in our class group chat would find out the inside story with or without your generosity."

"They might even know more than we do."

"But if doing it this way makes things easier on you, then I'll support you unconditionally."

Warmth spread through Honami Ichinose as she looked at Mako's worried face, and she was about to say something.

Then a face wearing a playful grin leaned in close.

"Senpai, are you two finished?"

Amanatsu Kazuha tilted her head, bright eyes flicking between them.

Ichinose put her phone away. "You're back, Amasawa? Thanks for making the trip."

Amanatsu Kazuha waved it off, a small fang flashing in and out of view. "Come on, that was nothing. Just an errand down to the staff room to ask the teachers a few questions. Hardly a big deal."

Amikura Mako pursed her lips and took the opening. "How did it go? What did Hoshinomiya-sensei and Mashima-sensei say?"

Amanatsu Kazuha dragged over a chair, sat down, and lowered her voice to report.

"I asked around. Hoshinomiya Chie-sensei and Chabashira-sensei had both been practicing Ripple on the quiet. Mashima-sensei and Sakagami Kazuma-sensei never touched it."

"And going by the fact that among the faculty, apart from those two, only Director Tsukishiro has been forcibly pulled in as an Intruder…"

"I still can't say with a hundred percent certainty that avoiding the Black Sphere's techniques guarantees you'll never be selected. Our sample size is just far too small."

Ichinose's brow creased slightly at that.

She weighed it in silence for a moment, then sighed. "It's a shame the teachers don't have Black Sphere Watches. They can't get into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber."

"Otherwise we could add a vampire bloodline to them. At least that would be one more layer of insurance inside an exam."

Amanatsu Kazuha snorted a laugh. "You don't have to worry about that one, Madam Class Representative!"

"On my way back just now, I found out Chabashira-sensei had already borrowed two item capsules from Kushida-senpai. If I had to bet, one of them's the [Stone Mask]."

"Except she doesn't have permission to use capsules on school grounds, so for now all she can do is carry them around as a placebo and wait until the next time she gets picked as an Intruder."

Honami Ichinose lowered her eyes, pressed her fingertips to her brow, and worked slowly at the tension gathering there.

"For now… I just hope the people outside this school who've practiced that technique are a small minority."

Amanatsu Kazuha kept her opinion on that to herself.

Privately, she hoped every greedy politician and conglomerate boss out there was practicing it as hard as they possibly could.

That way, when exam time came, the pressure of protecting all those Intruders would spike geometrically, yes.

But look at it from another angle: if you could keep them alive, the survival reward points you could squeeze out of them might be richer than grinding yourself to death against high-difficulty objectives.

Fortune favors the reckless.

Risk and reward had always come as a pair.

Naturally, Amanatsu Kazuha had no intention of airing that cold-blooded calculus in front of a saint like Ichinose.

She furrowed her brow in mock distress and sighed. "There's nothing we can do. It's already past anything we can control."

"The only thing we can do now is strengthen our test personnel as much as possible and keep casualties down."

Then she raised her wrist and checked the time.

"Speaking of which… going by the clock, isn't it almost time for the advance test to open again?"

"This time I'd really like to see whether the Black Sphere still drags the upperclassmen out to clock in once the test window closes."

____

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