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ArabicClassroom of the Elite: Standing Firm in Class A — Chapter 21
Chapter 21: Kamuro Masumi’s Choice
When Kaedehara Tetsu finally returned to the first-year dormitory, the corridors had long since surrendered to the quiet of the night. Only the steady, measured rhythm of his footsteps echoed through the empty hallway, bouncing off the pristine walls.
As he approached his designated room, his pace slowed, then stopped entirely.
A slender figure stood leaning against the wall right beside his door. She wore the standard Advanced Nurturing High School uniform, her striking, long purple hair catching the fluorescent overhead lights. Her arms were tightly crossed over her chest, her head bowed as if she were deeply engrossed in studying the tips of her own shoes.
Kamuro Masumi.
Hearing his approach, she slowly lifted her gaze, her eyes locking straight onto his.
“It seems I haven’t kept you waiting too late,” Tetsu remarked, his tone entirely devoid of surprise. He closed the distance to his door, casually fishing his room keycard from his pocket. He spoke with the relaxed cadence of someone greeting an old friend for a scheduled meetup. “Though I am curious. How did you know which room was mine?”
He tapped the card against the electronic sensor. A soft, electronic beep chimed, followed by the mechanical disengagement of the lock.
“Your room number?” Kamuro replied, her voice flat, merely stating a fact. “It was easy enough to find out by asking a Class A student on this floor.”
She pushed herself off the wall. Her movements were noticeably stiff, betraying just how long she had been standing vigil in the cold hallway.
Tetsu pushed the door open, flicking the switch to flood the room with warm light.
“Come in,” he offered, stepping aside to clear the threshold.
Kamuro didn’t hesitate. She brushed past him, carrying with her the faint, clean scent of citrus shampoo mixed with a girl’s natural warmth. She walked straight into the center of the room, refusing to look around, and simply stood like a statue.
Tetsu shut the door. In the heavy silence of the room, the automatic click of the lock engaging sounded exceptionally loud. It was the sound of a trap snapping shut. He shrugged off his uniform jacket, tossing it carelessly over the back of a chair, then leaned back against the wall. He observed the silent girl with dark, predatory interest.
“You’ve got quite the nerve, Kamuro,” Tetsu murmured, a teasing lilt coloring his voice. “Coming alone to the boys’ dormitory floor this late at night, and willingly stepping into a man’s room.” He tilted his head. “Aren’t you afraid… something might happen?”
Kamuro finally reacted. Her eyelids fluttered upward. In her gaze, Tetsu found none of the nervous panic he might have expected from a normal high school girl. Instead, there was a chilling calm, highlighted by a grim, unwavering determination.
“I came here to repay you.”
Her voice held steady, though her knuckles, clenched tightly at her sides, had gone completely white from the strain.
“Repay me?” Tetsu arched an eyebrow in mock amusement. “Oh… you mean those 200,000 Personal Points. How exactly do you plan to handle that? Installments? I don’t charge interest, you know.”
“The points… I will repay them.” Kamuro’s lips barely moved. “But I can’t gather that amount in a short timeframe. Regardless, I won’t short you a single point.”
Tetsu spread his hands. “So, you came all this way just to draw up a promissory note?”
Kamuro didn’t answer.
Instead, she took a deep, shuddering breath, as if summoning every last drop of her willpower. Then, under Tetsu’s unblinking gaze, she raised her trembling hands to her collar.
Her fingers found the top button of her uniform shirt and undid it.
Tetsu’s smile didn’t waver, but the temperature in his dark eyes plummeted, growing heavy and intense.
Her fingers shook, yet she didn’t stop. The second button. The third. As the fastenings gave way one by one, the crisp fabric parted, revealing the swell of her chest and the pure white lace beneath. She continued her silent offering. Once the final button was undone, she gripped the lapels and began to slide the shirt off her shoulders.
Just as the fabric was about to fall away entirely, Tetsu finally spoke.
His voice wasn’t loud, but it cut through the air like a blade, freezing Kamuro’s movements instantly.
She looked up, a fracture of genuine confusion finally breaking through her stoic mask.
Tetsu pushed off the wall and closed the distance between them with slow, deliberate steps. He stopped only when he was close enough that their breaths mingled. He didn’t spare a single glance at her exposed skin. Instead, his gaze bored violently into her eyes, pinning her in place.
“I’ll ask you a question, Kamuro.” The teasing lilt had vanished, replaced by a suffocating seriousness. “Are you doing this right now simply because you want to ‘repay’me for covering up your little shoplifting incident? Are you treating your body as a mere transaction to clear a debt? Or is it because… you truly harbor feelings for me that go beyond simple’gratitude’?”
Kamuro’s breath hitched, a violent tremor wracking her slender frame.
The question was a scalpel, slicing right through the armor of cold utilitarianism she had wrapped around her heart.
A transaction? Or feelings?
She couldn’t even lie to herself anymore. She only knew that when this terrifying man had pulled her back from the edge of expulsion—when he had looked at her and promised, Your secret is safe with me—something dark and irreversible had taken root inside her. It was a twisted cocktail of relief, absolute dependency, and a budding, pathological obsession.
She stared into Tetsu’s dark eyes. He wasn’t playing a game right now; he genuinely demanded her truth.
“…Both.”
The single word was scraped from the very bottom of her throat after a suffocating silence. It was fragile, barely a whisper, yet exceptionally clear in the quiet room.
“The Personal Points… I will repay them. But that takes time.” She lowered her gaze to her open shirt, a bitter, self-mocking edge bleeding into her tone. “And right now, the only thing I can offer immediately that might hold any value to you… is this. It is the fastest, most effective way to settle my debt.”
Her words dripped with cold, calculating logic. But that initial confession—Both—had already exposed the raw, obvious submission bleeding beneath her excuses.
Tetsu fell silent, letting her words hang in the air.
Then, the corners of his mouth curled upward.
It was a genuine smile, thrumming with dark pleasure and absolute satisfaction. This was the exact answer he had been waiting for. A completely conquered soul was infinitely more valuable—and far more entertaining—than a hollow body offered up on the altar of a transaction.
He didn’t waste another word. Raising a hand, he hooked a single finger under Kamuro’s chin, tilting her head up and forcing her to meet his dominant gaze.
“Since that’s the case…” he murmured, his voice dropping to a husky whisper. “Let me see exactly how much sincerity is packed into your ‘repayment’.”
Before she could process the command, he lowered his head and captured her cold lips.
Kamuro’s body went rigid. Having never experienced such intimate contact with a man, her mind instantly short-circuited into a blinding white static.
Tetsu tasted faintly of bitter coffee. There was absolutely nothing gentle about his kiss; it was an aggressive, unapologetic invasion. He forced her lips apart, his tongue sweeping past her teeth to plunder the soft warmth within, claiming every inch of her mouth with ruthless authority.
A muffled whimper tore from Kamuro’s throat. Instinct screamed at her to retreat, but as she stepped back, her shoulders hit the solid wood of the door panel. She was trapped. At some point, Tetsu’s arm had snaked around her narrow waist, hauling her flush against his chest, crushing any remaining space between them.
The kiss dragged on, deep and punishing, lasting until Kamuro felt the very last ounce of oxygen burn out of her lungs. Only when her knees threatened to buckle did Tetsu finally pull back, his dark eyes still gleaming with an unsatisfied hunger.
A thin, glistening thread of saliva stretched between their parted lips, catching the overhead light before snapping.
Kamuro gasped desperately for air, a deep, unnatural flush burning across her usually pale cheeks. Her chest heaved against her open shirt.
“It’s not too late to regret it,” his voice brushed against her ear, a velvet threat.
Kamuro didn’t speak. She simply closed her eyes, letting the last remnants of her resistance die in the dark.
When she opened them again, the coldness was gone, replaced by a heavy, intoxicating surrender. She lifted her trembling hands, sliding them up to wrap tightly around Tetsu’s neck, answering his challenge with her body.
From tonight onward, Kamuro Masumi belonged to Kaedehara Tetsu alone.