"Even the slightest modification can turn a defective weapon into a high-quality one." - Horikita [Classroom of the Elite]

"You forget a thousand things every day, make sure this is one of them." -Michael de Santa [GTA 5]

"Sooner will a camel pass through the eye of a needle, than a great man be found by an election." – A.H.

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3rd August

It's Monday finally, and thus, the last week of summer break arrived. However, I have other plans than to stick around with my friends.

Today something I had foreseen to happen sooner or later.

"You arrived early." His gentle, yet alerting voice said.

Manabu Horikita. Class 3-A. Probably the greatest student this school has yet seen. He is the perfect example of a product of this school.

He excels in all possible ways. Just one thing, that I wanted to make sure of, Manabu seems like the one.

"Pardon my intrusion. I didn't mean to cut into your free time, I should come back later."

I tried to leave the student council office, but just as expected, he didn't let me. It's the president after all. He would never let it slide to lose such a huge opportunity.

"You are allowed to stay. What made you come here?"

"I wanted to talk with you, Manabu."

"Cough Cough" The secretary choked on her tea, it was Tachibana Akane.

Her purple-black hair was tied into two bumps left and right. She surely looked adorable for her age, eighteen years of age and she looks much younger than the others.

"Excuse me?"

"President. I have Suzune Horikita in my class."

As I brought up his sister, Manabu's eyes sharpened. This was the very first talk I had with him, but he was fully aware of who I was.

He noticed that he needed to adjust himself and his surroundings to a white-room student. And well, judging by his hands, he was nervous.

I would be as well, knowing there are no cameras, and you are alone with a guy who has trained his entire life in all regards. From combat to strategy to academics.

The danger of escalation is always high when in this area. After all, he even made sure to enter his office during summer break, just to talk with me in a safe environment.

"...So?"

"I assume that she is your sister, am I right? She did great work recently. In the exam approved by the student council, she went on to claim the top five with the former Class D. Pushing us to rise two rankings."

Even though what wasn't all true was what I said, he knew where I was pushing this conversation.

I assume that he was unsure, he was a little cautious about the words he chose to spit out.

"Suzune is indeed my sister, yes. Is there a reason you brought that up?"

"I heard that you two weren't on good terms some time ago. I don't like that, why?"

"What do you mean, Suou?"

His voice cracked a little in nervousness. The room was constantly cooled by the air conditioner, and it surely felt great to sit in such a cool room at such hot outside temperatures.

"I wanted to ask you personally, what is up between the two of you? Your little relationship as siblings is a pain to our class."

"How come?"

"You seriously never considered the option of scouting out her current personality? Recently, she has been fed up with everything and everyone. Advancing to Class A is nearly impossible."

With such individuals like her and Koenji, we would have a hard time uniting this class into a great striking power. Currently, everything is going according to plan.

But this operation could be crucial to the coming special exams. We may even close the gap to Class A even more. Resulting in a higher rate of us graduating as noble students.

"So? Where is the part of that being my problem? You are wasting my time."

"Fix that relationship between her and yourself. It will help you a lot, her and our class as well. If not, I could do it myself."

"Who are you to interfere in the matters of my family?"

Who I am? Well?

Why are you asking me? I don't know it myself. Never was I wasting a thought on this, it was a clear and direct answer.

I have no right to exist. Yet here I am.

"You know perfectly well who I am. I need your cooperation, after all, this is also affecting my class. According to the role I was assigned to, I would have needed to directly intercept a threat coming externally at us. Your relationship with a student from our class is actively damaging us, and thus, to fix that problem, I need you to fix it as soon as possible."

He sighed at that. I don't think he misheard me. I knew that he had something entirely different in his mind right now.

"Kiyotaka Suou, wasn't it? Initially, I never held anything high of you. You were placed in the same pathetic class as Kujou and Suzune. Being placed as a Class D student in the beginning, just says that you are the most defective a human can get. However..."

Our rather complicated situation just spread further. Originally, I planned to cut the relationship between his sister and him or improve it actively, but right now, some things have changed.

"Class D. A class made out of the vastly defective students, achieved the lowest in just one month. However, the energy is about to shift. We dominated the first special examination with no major problems. Moving up two spaces. In my opinion, you, the student council's president have an ignorant side."

"How come? It's just how this school works. There are three years to go, and things can change, it doesn't necessarily mean that you will reach Class A."

"Neither does it mean that I won't. Lately, I've noticed something. Class D in this year's lineup, is the one with the highest potential. The only reason we got positioned in Class D wasn't because of our shortcomings. It was to cancel it out. If our students were placed in Class A from the beginning, the battle about who would graduate from Class B would be far more interesting than who graduates from Class A."

"It's only a pathetic viewpoint of yours, the fact remains that you aren't in Class A. If you don't graduate from Class A, then it doesn't matter if you finish second or dead last. It's all or nothing in this school."

What he is misunderstanding, is that a win for me is at the same time a loss. I have the skill to easily enroll in top universities as a Class D student as well. 

But Yuki can't. If she doesn't end up in Class A, it's a higher loss to me than if I get expelled. Rather would I die than my sister to be unsuccessful?

Alisa also has big ambitions, and ending up with all of us happy is nearly impossible. This school is hell, and there is only one way out.

"Then, if that is the case, you better cut all sort of contact with your sister and leave this school. Or fix your relationship with her. You have enough time if it doesn't change the slightest in the coming months, then I am forced to take immediate action"

"Suou. May I ask you something before I will surrender to that?"

It's good to know that he is okay with surrendering and giving up in this battle of interest. Suzune could be a great ally, and to my knowledge, she is a potential threat to Kushida.

If Kushida goes on to provoke a fight between herself and Horikita, I could use that as a proper reason to remove Kushida.

Other than that, Horikita seems to be useless. But that is going to alter in the future.

"Suou. 50 Points. Every single examination."

"Hmm?"

"You scored 50 in every single exam that you took. Even the entrance exams, all precise 50. And the weirdest thing is, that you didn't answer a single question wrong."

"Nowadays, coincidences surely get freaky."

"I don't think it's a coincidence, perhaps you know the requirements a student should meet to enroll in our school? That is dangerous knowledge. Every teacher gets a blueprint of the enrollment criteria."

What he means by dangerous knowledge, is simple. This is quite horrible for coming generations once I leave the school grounds. They would need to change the whole school system since the criteria for enrollment are confidential information.

Even teachers have restricted knowledge. Just the chairman has full knowledge and a man that I was blood-related to.

My father knew exactly what the requirements were. After all, he had also a long history with the chairman. This is just a reskinned version of the Ayanokouji-Sakayanagi rivalry.

Originally it was the whole government parties, millions in investment, facilities, secret federal institutions...

Now it's just two kids battling each other on a ground that the old generation laid for them.

How the mighty has fallen. But well, this will be a game-changer. Peak white room education, combined with praxis in ANHS. This is truly the best of both worlds. And this at the age of 15.

I have a suspicion about all of this, but that's worth explaining another day.

"I certainly do know. You seem to be fond of it as well. I assume that you figured it out, or bought the information, right?"

"It's not hard to figure it out once you have been here for three years without serious challenges, it gets boring and you start thinking a lot more in a lot shorter time. But I hadn't found it out before I joined this school like you."

"That's something worth explaining, I believe. But before I leave. I need your sister to be on the student council. There is an unknown threat in my class that I need to clear. For that, I need to have as much influence as possible."

"You are dismissed. Suou, we will see each other around. Also, please act according to the rules. In the special exam you in addition to 8 Class C were found unconscious on the island. "

"That is a coincidence."

I then left the room, leaving most of the questions unanswered. Not that these questions were unimportant. But there was a different reason behind that.

I am not obligated to answer anything regarding such topics. After all, the less information he has, the fewer things he can spread about ne.

There are a lot of mysteries regarding my existence in the outstanding person's view. How I survived the Demonic Fourth Generation, who intervened in the white room's operation, and what happened during the special exam with the Class C members.

It's unknown to most of the school, and even the staff got quite confused about what happened during the special exam, leaving the investigations on standby.

Anyway, there was something else happening quite suddenly. Just as I closed the door and turned around a person was waiting. She had light brown hair, her body was quite similar to Alisa's, and well, they somewhat looked similar.

Not on the contrary, but her movements are almost identical. She was sitting on the bench, where students usually wait when having to speak with the student council.

She was reading some papers, perhaps documents that were prepared for the student council, or perhaps she is a classmate of either Tachibana or Manabu.

"The president is free now," I said in a rather quiet voice, I don't know why I did, the entire building was empty except for us.

"Ah, I haven't noticed you. Wait-"

Just before I was leaving, she rushed to my back and grabbed my hand, leaving me frozen on the spot. I never really happen to freeze in such situations.

But somewhat told me that I shared some history with her. But what has it been?

"Huh?"

"I surely know you from somewhere. I never forget faces~ I am Maria Mikhailovna Kujou. Second-Year Class A, a pleasure to meet you, kouhai. What is your name?"

"Kujou? As in Alisa Mikhailovna Kujou...?" I worded my thoughts out loud. And well, I probably misheard something, or my mind was playing games on me.

Either one of those two-

"Yeah! Do you know her? I guess she started to be quite the celebrity. She is the leader of Class D. No, I mean Class B... She is my little sister. Are you her friend?"

"I indeed know her quite well, I must say."

"So are you two friends or not?~"

"I hate to break it to you, but you two rarely meet huh?"

"...How come you know that?"

She let go of my sleeve, staring at me whilst taking a few steps back. A little alert was shown, as she grew a little unsure.

A typical behavior found at Alisa is as well. Perhaps it goes in the family.

"Because if you two met regularly, you would have noticed something. She has a boyfriend."

"...So Alya-chan has a boyfriend and distances herself from you?"

Sometimes people really cannot take obvious hints. Or anything at all. But well, seems like I wasn't clear enough with my wording...

"No, you misunderstood. We two are a-"

"YOU ARE A WHAT?!?!?"

"Don't yell, are you stupid?"

"Isn't she engaged already?!?! She is cheating on her-"

"Sigh....Sometimes I want to hang myself. No, she is not cheating. And you can guess twice who she is engaged with."

Just as I said that she dropped all of the papers that she was holding onto earlier. They spread all around the floor, her face was red and she was probably overwhelmed by the way things were.

Three minutes earlier, she was sitting on that bench and organizing some papers, then she was suddenly introduced to the husband of her little sister.

But what surprised me even more, was that Maria knew, she knew all along that Alya was engaged with somebody, but she hadn't noticed who it was.

"You... I cannot believe this. Honestly. Are you Kiyotaka Ayanokouji? Like THE Kiyotaka Ayanokouji?"

"I once was Kiyotaka Ayanokouji. That was back then, now I am Kiyotaka Suou. You could say that I went through massive changes. But well, you can also call me Ayanokouji."

"Are you the one...I mean the one guy who was from that lab?"

"Straight forward, aren't we? Yes, you could put it like that. Let me re-introduce myself. This was quite the weird type of encounter to begin with. My name's Kiyotaka Suou, formerly known as an Ayanokouji. I am 15 years old and turn 16 on October 20th. Well, you could say that I am a married man, but not officially. Also, I was the sole successor of the white room's fourth generation. I was placed in the original Class D, together with your sister, and guess what?"

"...?"

"I also have a sister in this school, also a little sister. Yuki Suou. Also will turn sixteen, but in April next year. She was originally placed in Class B at the beginning but fell to Class D with the events of the most recent special exam. I guess this comes quite suddenly, but I believe that we will be great allies in the future."

"...That was quite a long introduction. But I understand. You are a family member of mine, and I guess that you are right about the ally part. I hope we will get along~ Also...Before you leave, Kiyotaka-kun."

She could put it that way. After all, we have quite a relationship already. After all, she is the sister of my woman. This means she will be part of the rest of my life.

"Hm?"

"(Have you two uhm...done it already?)"

"What?"

"(Y-You know? U-Uhm...sex?)"

That's what she meant? Couldn't she say it like a normal person would, or is it a running thing in her family tree to be embarrassed about completely natural things?

"(No. We have been a couple since what? A week? Or one week and a half?)"

Of course, there are indeed some couples out there having sex right after the first two days, or even before they began dating.

That's nothing new in today's standard. Society has fallen off lately, but I think, it will re-establish itself in the future, after all, slowly but surely, we have gotten a little more serious.

Pandemics, wars, politics, and even our environment, all caused a sudden change in everyone and everything.

"(Ah...Sorry for that stupid question. But uhm...have you two kissed already?)"

"(Yeah...is that something bad? I mean, different cultures and stuff...)"

We did kiss once. During the island exam, well twice actually. But we still haven't cuddled at all. Slowly but surely, I am growing to need it. Like a desire.

I slowly begin to sound insanely weird. Almost like Alisa when she is tired.

"(No, not at all)"

As she finished picking up those sheets on the floor with my help, she began to make a lot more eye contact with me, and slowly but surely, I began to realize the identical features of those two.

Even though their eye color is different, she has the same face shape and eye shape. Their figures are almost identical, but her chest is a lot further developed, nothing worth mentioning since Alisa's melons are already quite massive for our age.

Just Alisa's skin was even whiter. I think Maria inherited more of her mother's Japanese features than Alya did.

But they still look quite similar. Maybe it's just me though...

"Maria, I have got to go. We will see each other around, I guess. Also, ask Alisa for my phone number, you may need it sooner or later."

"Sure will! Also, don't forget to invite me as well. I am getting less and less occupied~ Alya wouldn't like this, but I wanted to invite her to go swimming. Wanna come? I mean, you have no choice~"

A day bathing huh?

I don't mind going there, to be honest, I have begun to miss swimming a lot. After all, there were less and less opportunities to do so. We swam almost daily in the white room era.

Nowadays it's just partially the case.

"Sigh. Quick with distributing invitations huh? But well, I hoped to to go swimming sooner or later. I'm in, just don't tell Alisa about this weird conversation, you can cover it up by saying we met in the cafeteria or so, or during a talk with Manabu."

"Eh? Manabu? You two on a first-name basis?"

"No, not at all, but I have his little sister in my class, so it's quite confusing if I call both of those painfully annoying creatures Horikita. That's like calling you and your sister by the name Kujou, even though I could've meant both of you."

"Ah, I understand. But make sure to keep at least a neutral relationship with the SCP. He is a kind guy, just be careful with Nagumo-kun, he is quite the weirdo."

"Alright. See you around."

"See ya!"

Maria then went ahead and entered the student council office after knocking on the door, and left me alone here.

It was surely another "weird" encounter that will get written into my book of weird and meaningful encounters.

Just shortly after, I went on to slowly walk away from where I was left alone earlier. And honestly, the scenery of the empty school building looks lovely.

Not that this school gives me positive flashbacks about my complicated past. Hear me out, the thing I mean is that this place is going to be a nostalgic experience if I ever decide to visit it again in a few years.

To prepare for that, I think I should first give it a look completely alone, during my time being a student of this school.

And well, I can see this either ending beautifully or traumatizing. No in-between. I am a man who lives in the moment and who also lives in the future. And even in the past.

I don't forget my mistakes from the past, I am having fun at the moment, and I will build my future here. There certainly are people who live only in the moment, and never think about the past or the future.

If I can handle this right now, I will be able to deal with what is about to come just