Classroom of the Elite: Free Will

V5: Chapter 4 - Everyone's Calculations

We reached the main entrance and retrieved our shoes from the rack. Walking outside, we continued our conversation.

The hallways had been strangely empty. Perhaps everyone had remained in their respective classrooms to talk about the festival.

"In any case, I told Ayanokouji-kun that Tomori-san and I discovered Kushida-san's secret."

"Tomori-san?" Horikita inquired. "You didn't tell me about her."

Matsushita laughed coyly.

"Yeah, I suppose I omitted that part. Excuse me."

"It's okay. Now, why do you bring up that subject again? Do you think Kushida-san's doing something to expel us?"

"Well, not to expel us but she works for Tomori-san. That's where I'm getting at. I believe. No. I'm certain Kushida-san has been leaking information about our class and our classmates to Tomori-san for a while now."

So that was the connection between those four. Nao and Matsushita had discovered something about Kushida, and Matsushita had informed Horikita about it, at least to some extent.

"And what is this secret?" I inquired.

It had to be something big for Nao to be able to blackmail Kushida and Kushida to want to expel both Horikita and Matsushita. Of course, it should be safe to assume that Kushida also wanted to expel Nao.

Once again, Matsushita looked everywhere to make sure no one was eavesdropping. It was useless though. Considering where we were, even if someone was following us and hiding behind a tree or a bush it would be impossible for that person to hear what we were saying.

"Well, I don't know if she still does it, but when I discovered it, Kushida-san went to the rooftop of the dorms and ranted about everything she didn't like. Tomori-san arrived earlier than me and recorded the whole rant. It was... something, to say the least."

"So, she just doesn't want people to know she rants about the things she hates?" I queried.

It seemed something superfluous to me, people would normally speak about the things they didn't like. Unless of course some of the things Kushida said while ranting could compromise her position in class and her relationship with her friends.

"It's not just the things she said," Matsushita replied. "You could say that her joyful and friendly personality is a façade. Although I'm not exactly sure of what her true personality is... In any case I think we should do something about her. We cannot just allow to have a traitor in our class."

"But she's a traitor because Tomori-san is blackmailing her, right?" Horikita said. "You said Tomori-san had a video of the rant, if we get our hands on the video, Kushida-san shouldn't be a problem anymore."

"I don't think that's true, Horikita-san," Matsushita replied instantly. "Kushida-san hates us because we know about her other side and you were on the same middle school as her—"

"Wait, you were on the same middle school as Kushida?" I asked Horikita.

"Yes," Horikita nodded. "We attended the same middle school. But don't get any ideas. We weren't friends, nor even classmates."

"But she hates you for a reason. At the beginning of the year, she was very insistent in befriending you. Did something happen back then?"