Chapter 17

I had to admit, I was also quite surprised by this development. Assuming that our theory about students being sorted into classes A through D based on evaluation was true, that meant that the daughter of this schools highest authority had been put into the highest class. Such a thing would raise eyebrows, to say the least.

"Yes. His name was located in the small print of the acception documents we were sent by the school." Shiro explained.

"You noticed and remembered that?!"

"That's right." she simply responded to Kururugi's exclamation of disbelief.

"Could it be that Arisu Sakayanagi was only placed in Class A due to her father's influence?" Light mused aloud.

"Perhaps. We have no way of knowing until she displays her skill, I guess. It's useful information nevertheless." Sora said, sinking into his chair.

"Ryuzaki, do you have anything to add?" Lelouch joined the conversation.

"Light summarised everything nicely, in fact he even found out more than me. If I had to add anything, I can give you a rundown of the leaders' personalities. Sakayanagi is cunning and intelligent, someone who wouldn't hestitate to use underhanded tactics to gain an advantage. Katsuragi is almost the antithesis for her - although he is also intelligent, he doesn't look like he's near Sakayanagi's level. Instead, he's gained support by virtue of being a reliable leader - he's ever stoic and seems like the type to prioritize defending his own class' position over bringing down his enemies."

It seems that Class A was divided by a clash of ideologies - the smart and cunning Sakayanagi and the stoic and reliable Katsuragi leading the opposition. I wondered if Class E could also end up in a similar position somewhere down the line; for now though, our cohesion was good so there was no reason to worry.

"Wow, you deduced all that just by observing from afar Ryuzaki?" Light asked, to which Ryuzaki simply nodded an affirmative.

"So Class A is having a civil war for power based on two opposite play-styles? That's awesome as heck, dude!" Sora squealed in childlike glee.

Honestly, he reminded me of a kid who was about to meet his favourite celebrity. It seems like he actually does think of everything as a game, and just finding out about potentially interesting opponents was enough to fire him up. At least he's enjoying himself, I thought to myself.

I felt a sudden weight on my shoulders as a veil of expectation enveloped the room. All of my classmates were looking at me, expecting me to give an insight of similar depth to the one Light and Ryuzaki had just given. I was scared of disappointing them, but at the same time there wasn't really much I could say about Class B.

"Oh, um, it's my turn isn't it." I said weakly.

"Yes." Lelouch said flatly.

Sigh.

"Right, so, uh, Class B is lead by a girl with strawberry-pink colored hair who seems very charismatic. Um, all her classmates seem to trust her a lot and, well, I think she's very popular..."

I failed miserably. I resisted the urge to bury my head in my hands and flickered my gaze between my let-down classmates. A cold feeling now assailed the previously expectant atmosphere, which almost made me shudder.

"Hey Ayanokōji... What are you doing?" Sora said ominously while staring into my eyes.

"I guess I'm just not very good at--" I began but Sora cut me off.

"Not going to answer properly? In that case, I'll change the order of my questions."

Sora stood up and leaned his upper-body over the table, resting his head on his palms and using his elbows to support him. He was a lot closer to me than before, and I felt like his crimson eyes were going to pierce my very soul at any minute.

"Why do you pretend to be an idiot?"

He said that in a low tone that I hadn't heard him use before, narrowing his eyes at me in the process. Even though he was physically weak and didn't look at all intimidating, Sora was the second person whose eyes had ever made me feel uncomfortable. They carried an abnormal amount of darkness and looked as if they were staring right through me. In that moment, I felt like there was nothing I could hide from this person.

No one else in the room spoke, they feared it would snap the tight thread of tension that now dominated the room. I had been trained to deal with all kinds of situations over the course of my life, but the one I had found myself in now was nothing that could've been prepared for. Sora was the kind of person that could read others like open books, which made him terrifying in a different way than those who wielded violence.

I worked my brain into overdrive to try and come up with the best response. Right now, I had no way to tell whether Sora was bluffing or if he actually knew that I was concealing my true intelligence. If I said something like 'I'm not,' and it turned out that he had good justification for thinking that I was smarter than I let on then my classmates would start to view me as someone who couldn't be trusted. I could even end up ostracized in my class.

Conversely, if I responded with something like 'Ah, looks like you caught me!' and he was bluffing then I would essentially be revealing myself and playing right in to his hands. Sora was currently impossible to read which meant that all I could do was weigh up the pros and cons of each kind of response.

My peaceful student life would probably be compromised more if I was distrusted by every member of my class than if I was judged as a superior student by the rest of the students of the school. These six people were the ones that I would inevitably have to spend the most time with and get to know the most - that meant that I couldn't afford to antagonize them all.

Even if I did brandish my talents openly, I may not even be singled out anyway. There was Sora, Shiro, Ryuzaki and Lelouch in my class who could all, as well as me, play a full game of Monopoly with nothing but their minds.

Contrary to his appearance, Ryuzaki was an observer who could learn even the most intricate details just by watching from a distance. He hadn't shown much yet, but I was sure that there was much more to him than what we'd currently seen.

Lelouch seemed to be a master strategist, who was able to recognize both Shiro's overwhelming strength as well as her one weakness just by playing one chess game against her. He was also able to come up with a strategy on the spot and manipulate the game with little sacrifices in order to set up a trap to exploit that one weakness. I was certain that his trap would've worked too, had he been playing against Shiro only.

Shiro was at first glance just an ordinary girl, the only noticeable thing about her being her short and underdeveloped figure. However, she possessed calculation and memory abilities that put even computers to shame - she was at a level that could very well be considered anomalous by human standard. There would probably never be another person like her, even in the distant future.

Sora was a person who could deduce almost everything that could possibly be deduced at a glance - he never missed a single detail no matter how complex or simple the situation may be. In addition, it seems that he also possessed unrivaled knowledge about human nature; he could read people's thoughts and intentions just by watching them with those eyes of his, which were filled with an intoxicating darkness.

Among these people, I might be able to find a likeminded closeness or, at the very least, I don't think that I would be singled out among them. Even if the rest of the school treats our class as outcasts, these six would remain by my side as they too would have nowhere else to go. This much I was certain of.

In that case, my answer is obvious.

"I just... didn't want to stand out." I told the honest truth.

"Newsflash dumbass, come next month when Class E is revealed you're going to stand out whether you like it or not! You'd might as well choose to do it now on your own terms than desperately cling to the vanishing hope of staying unnoticed forever!" Sora reprimanded me, sounding frustrated.

To him, my behaviour probably looked idiotic. No matter what I did, my identity would inexorably become known to all students of this school once the 'experimental class' was made public next month, so why even bother trying to blend in? I had come to this school for the chance to experience the things I previously could not and I'd thought that if I showed my true self I would be unable to do that. Maybe though, I would still be able to experience satisfying freedom even if I did use my true abilities.

"I see... What tipped you off?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Are you kidding? Obviously, it was that Monopoly game we just played! And don't think that I didn't catch your reaction to Lelouch's trap during our first day chess game either; you saw the crushing response Knight to a4 instantly just like I did, right?"

I merely nodded my head in reply. Really, this guy didn't miss anything, did he?

"So, ordinary-student-kun, could you kindly drop the act?" Lelouch interjected in a slightly mocking voice, leaning back in his chair.

I sighed in exasperation. Two days in and my cover was already blown. I had thought I was doing a good job of blending in, but it seems that I had underestimated my classmates. Realistically, there was no way they wouldn't be suspicious of a supposedly ordinary student being placed in Class E. Also, perhaps I overstepped a bit during that Monopoly game - I got caught up in the flow of things and accidently ended up letting on more than I'd meant to.

"At least let me cling to mediocrity in public until May 1st. That is my only condition." I decided that I'd still like to interact with normal students in a normal way, even if it was only for one month.

"That's fine. No one here will do anything to expose you, right guys?" Kururugi said.

I'm extremely grateful for Kururugi's presence. He looks like he always has people's best interests in mind and will help anyone without question. This made him very dependable, but at the same time could end up being his achilles' heel - such indiscriminate kindness also tends to be accompanied by naivety.

"Yes,"

"Sure,"

"Yeah,"

"Alright,"

"Mhm,"

Affirmatives spread around the room in response. It seemed that everyone had unanimously agreed to let me carry on playing ordinary for as long as I could before I was forcibly exposed. I was glad to have such understanding classmates.

"So, getting back on track: Class B has a very trusted and charismatic girl as their one and only leader, who we'll dub 'Strawberry-chan' for now. Is that all you were able to find out?" Ryuzaki brought the discussion back to its original focus.

"Yeah. Sorry." I apologized.

"It'll do for now, I guess. You'd better take responsibility and learn some more about Class B in the future, Ayanokōji." Sora said, relaxing back into his seat once more.

His eyes returned to their normal, somewhat smug signature red gradient. All traces of the darkness within Sora had vanished. What happened to him for him to carry such darkness? I couldn't help but ask myself.

"I'll do my best,"

"Right. Now we get to learn about Class C. It was Lelouch and Kururugi that went there, wasn't it?" Light nudged the conversation forward in his trademark calm voice