Classroom of the Elite: Standing Firm in Class A — Chapter 103

Chapter 103: Not Becoming Someone Else

Horikita Suzune’s slender fingers tapped lightly against the surface of the coffee table. Tap. Tap. Tap. The faint, rhythmic sound echoed in the quiet room, betraying the restless anxiety churning beneath her usually composed exterior. Her gaze drifted away from the boy sitting across from her, fixing instead on the window. Beyond the glass, the azure sea glittered brilliantly under the afternoon sun, a stark contrast to the heavy, feverish fog clouding her mind.

“If there were a person in this world…” Her voice was uncharacteristically soft, carrying a tentative, almost fragile edge that she usually kept locked away. “Let us say she has an extremely outstanding relative. And that person… she hopes to catch up to her relative’s pace, to prove her own abilities.”

She paused, her breathing slightly uneven.

“But as a result, she is only getting further and further away. Now, she has no idea what to do.” Her voice dropped to a whisper, as if the admission itself was a physical burden. “What do you think… such a person should do?”

Kaedehara Tetsu leaned back against the plush cushions of the sofa, his arms casually crossed over his chest. His dark eyes locked onto her pale profile.

“Isn’t that just you?”

Suzune flinched. “Exposing someone’s hidden inferiority complex so directly is not a very polite behavior.”

There was a weak flicker of her usual dissatisfaction in her tone, but it was entirely overshadowed by a deep sense of helplessness. She hated being seen through so effortlessly.

“I don’t see you looking very inferior,” Tetsu replied, his voice smooth and unhurried. His gaze lingered on her face, carefully tracking the subtle shifts in her expression—the slight tremor of her eyelashes, the flush of fever high on her cheeks. “After all, someone who can still sit here maintaining her posture while her class is actively falling apart doesn’t look like they would be easily crushed by an inferiority complex.”

“Not necessarily.” Suzune’s lips curled into a bitter, self-deprecating smile. “People always use various methods to hide their weaknesses, don’t they? Excessive self-confidence is sometimes just another mask for inferiority.”

She turned her head, finally meeting Tetsu’s gaze. Her striking eyes, usually so sharp and uncompromising, now carried a quiet plea for guidance.

“But that’s not the point right now. What I want to know is… what should someone like that do?”

Tetsu held her gaze, letting the silence stretch for a fraction of a second to let the tension settle. “Suzune, you have always wanted to prove that you can reach Class A. But have you ever stopped to think about whose standards you are using to measure yourself?”

“What do you mean?” Her brows knitted together. Her instincts warned her that whatever he was about to say was going to tear down a wall she wasn’t ready to lose.

“You are always measuring your worth with the yardstick of being ‘Horikita Manabu’s younger sister’.”

Her breathing hitched. She opened her mouth to snap a sharp refutation, to defend her pride, but the words died in her throat.

Tetsu didn’t let up, his tone calm but surgically precise. “He likes long hair, so you grow your hair long. He is accustomed to acting arbitrarily, so you also become arbitrary and isolate yourself. He pursues absolute perfectionism, so you swallow it all and force yourself to do the same.”

“I… I didn’t…” she stammered, the denial crumbling halfway through. The fever made it harder to maintain her ironclad defenses, but deep down, she realized the terrifying truth in his words.

“These superficial traits are not the real problem,” Tetsu continued, leaning forward slightly. The sudden closing of the physical distance made the air between them feel denser, more intimate. “The problem is why you are doing this. Are you trying to ascend to Class A to achieve your own goal as Horikita Suzune? Or are you just doing it to have him finally turn around and recognize you as a ‘qualified younger sister’?”

The question struck her like a physical blow. It plunged her into a suffocating, drawn-out silence. The rhythmic tapping of her fingers had long since stopped.

“I… I don’t know,” she finally whispered, the admission tearing from her chest. “I always thought that as long as I could catch up to his pace, as long as I could prove that I am not worse than him, I would be able to…”

“Be able to what?” Tetsu prompted quietly.

“Be able to gain his recognition… and prove that I am also a child the family can be proud of.”

“There is no inherent problem with wanting to make your family proud,” Tetsu said, his voice dropping its habitual layer of teasing, replaced by a grounded, magnetic sincerity. “But the problem lies in your execution. The method you chose is to erase yourself and become a second Horikita Manabu, rather than becoming the one and only Horikita Suzune.”

“Then what should I do?” she asked, her voice trembling slightly. “I really don’t know what else to do besides chasing after his footsteps.”

“True strength is never found in becoming a carbon copy of someone else. Even if that person is the older brother you admire most in this world.”

“But he is more outstanding than me, isn’t he?” Her voice spiked with a stubborn, desperate persistence. She raised a trembling hand to gently stroke her forehead, trying in vain to soothe the throbbing heat of her fever. The gesture made her look incredibly fragile. “If I don’t do things his way, how could I possibly ever catch up to him?”

“What do you think Manabu actually hopes to see?” Tetsu countered, his eyes locking onto hers, refusing to let her look away. “Is it a Horikita Suzune who perfectly replicates all of his own traits? Or is it a truly independent younger sister who can stand on her own two feet?”

He let the question hang in the air before delivering the final strike. “Do you know, sometimes when I look at you, I feel it’s a deep pity. Because even though you clearly possess your own unique, brilliant strengths, you constantly suffocate them by trying to cram yourself into a mold made for someone else.”

“Unique strengths…” she echoed, a deep confusion swirling in her fever-bright eyes. “I always thought that only by becoming as flawless as my brother could I prove my value.”

“Perhaps Manabu doesn’t want to see a Suzune who is guaranteed to win everything flawlessly.”

“What do you mean?”

“What he likely wants to see is a younger sister who can truly evolve. Someone who no longer just cowers in her brother’s shadow, but a Horikita Suzune who possesses her own thoughts, her own methods, and her own goals.”

“But… if I don’t do things his way, how can I prove that I am not inferior to him?” Her voice was barely a breath now, almost as if she were pleading with herself. The sickly pallor of her skin made her look especially vulnerable, stirring a rare, quiet need to protect within the room’s heavy atmosphere.

“Even Manabu cannot be perfect in every conceivable aspect. Everyone has their own strengths and fatal weaknesses.”

Suzune pressed her fingertips against her temples, trying to massage away the blinding headache. “Then… are you saying that I should just give up on chasing him?”

“Not giving up. Changing the method.” Tetsu shook his head slowly. “Instead of killing yourself to become the second Horikita Manabu, why not become the first Horikita Suzune?”

“The first… Horikita Suzune…” she murmured, tasting the words.

“Do you know, sometimes the bravest choice a person can make is to admit that they don’t need to be a copy of anyone else.”

“If I walk my own path… but ultimately fail to prove myself, what should I do then?”

“Then look at reality. What do you think Class D has proven right now?” Tetsu’s tone sharpened, cutting through her hesitation. “Using Manabu’s dictatorial methods resulted in your class fracturing, and all your desperate efforts went down the drain. Isn’t this disaster an answer in itself?”

She flinched, the truth of the island exam’s failure stinging her pride.

“The failure in this exam is indeed severe, but the failure itself is not the core issue. The issue is what you actually learned from that failure.” Tetsu’s expression grew entirely serious, his dark eyes glinting with a calculated light. “Besides, who ever decreed that you must stay in Class D?”

Tetsu observed the microscopic shifts in her expression, practically feeling the intense psychological struggle tearing at her heart. This proud, solitary girl, who usually maintained an impenetrable wall of distance from the rest of the world, was now truly treating him as a confidant. She was entirely exposed to him.

“How about starting by changing your environment?” Tetsu spoke suddenly, his voice dropping to a smooth, tempting register. “Suzune… do you want to come to Class A?”

The question hit her like a physical shockwave. Her eyes widened in sheer disbelief. Her lips parted, instinctively forming the syllables of a harsh refusal, but the words died before they could be spoken.

“I…” she started, her voice catching in her throat. She stopped.

Unlike her decisive, icy rejection back in the cafeteria, this time, she didn’t immediately shoot him down. Her gaze wavered, lost in a storm of conflicting emotions and sudden, terrifying possibilities.

“In Class A, you wouldn’t need to bear the suffocating burden of being the sole pillar and leader,” Tetsu murmured, weaving the net tighter. “You would have the time and the breathing room to actually figure out what you truly want. You could strive purely for yourself, rather than burning yourself out trying to reach an impossible standard set by someone else.”

Suzune bit her lower lip, her brows knitting tightly together in distress. “But… wouldn’t doing that be equivalent to admitting my utter defeat in Class D?”

“Failure and learning are two entirely different concepts.” Tetsu shook his head, his tone reassuring yet firm. “The brutal lessons you learned in Class D, regardless of whether they ended in success or ruin, are experiences that belong solely to you. And now, you have the opportunity to take those experiences and explore new possibilities in a far superior environment.”

She stared at the coffee table, the silence stretching for a long, heavy minute. Finally, she let out a shaky breath. “Your proposal… I need time to consider it. This is not a decision that can be made easily.”

“Of course.” Tetsu nodded, a faint, satisfied smile touching the corners of his lips. The seed was planted. “I just want you to know that you have this choice., whatever you eventually decide, it must be based entirely on your own will, rather than the heavy expectations of anyone else.”

“If I really go to Class A…” she looked up at him, her eyes searching his face. “Do you think I can find my own path?”

“I don’t know,” Tetsu replied honestly, his calm demeanor unwavering. “But if you continue to rot in your current environment, it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever get the chance to try. You have already seen the pathetic reality of Class D’s current situation.”

Suzune closed her eyes, the tension slowly bleeding out of her shoulders. “Thank you… for saying these things to me today. I need time to think.”

“You’re always welcome.”