Classroom of the Elite

Honami is described to be a young teenage girl, who is esteemed to be one of the most alluring and attractive students in high school by her peers and seniors. She is even called beautiful by Kiyotaka Ayanokōji with back-length strawberry-blonde hair and blue eyes. According to Kiyotaka, in the cruise ship, he couldn't look away from Honami's entrancing blue eyes that threatened to always draw him into it when gazing directly his way. Particularly, Honami was described in the books to have long, light pinkish-type hair which travels down in length to her waist or hip. Besides having an average height, she possesses an extremely well-endowed figure that is a source of jealousy for Suzune Horikita . Honami notes that she has experienced considerable growth spurt with her body's bust, continuing to grow a bit bigger over time ever since during her days in the third year of junior high/middle school.
She happened to be often seen wearing the school's standard uniform with a buttoned crimson blazer which is also connected to and covering most of her white blouse. Within the centre of her formal attire, she sometimes uses either a dark red or blue ribbon tie. In addition to that, Honami has on a short-length white sailor striped pleated skirt that all girls from her high school typically wear. More so, she put on black mid-calf socks that are below the skirt. There are different variations in the light novel illustrations of what she wears to school, indicating that she regularly switches between using brown or black shoes before heading to class in the early mornings. Her clothing of choice sometimes varies depending on the context of where she is at, such as when outside of school time or on vacation, Honami was known to be dressed in many casual garments. For instance, at the swimming pool, she once wore a bikini with her top tied in a ribbon knot. During the survival test, she had put on a red tracksuit with a white shirt underneath it.
According to Kiyotaka himself, Honami had the necessary qualities including her own face and figure that a gravure idol was ideally thought to have, similar to Airi who is already in such a position to be infamous across the web and in young men's magazines.

If there was one sentence to describe Honami, it would be that she is genuinely kind-hearted, benevolent, and a pacifist to the core who is against the use of underhanded means and violence. She is extremely engaging and interactive during social interactions with her peers, willing to befriend all sorts of people in and out of her classroom with open arms be it a teacher or student, easily pulling everyone's focus solely on her. One of her main traits is her selfless and supportive personality, combined with her excellent social skills and being naturally people-oriented. Honami is also a charismatic, energetic person with no ulterior motives, and extends her sweet and benign character even to those of the lower classes and levels, unlike many other upper-class students. In the first-year story, this was seen when she went to great length in trying to stop a possible brawl between three Class 1-C students and one of Class 1-D from breaking out, having a sharp-tongue to criticize others for trying to incite violence, especially in the library. Without directly bad mouthing or mocking the offenders disrespectfully, the most she did was being judgmental and prudent in pointing out their rude behavior in a public space, reminding them to be civil and tactful and respect the tranquility of where they were at. For this reason, she can also be seen as being a strict, upright individual who follows the code of conduct, acting according to whichever kind of environment she is in such as the library area, a quiet place that was supposed to be for reading and studying. [1] She has a problem-solver type of mentality, ready to take on challenges with her wits, remaining calm-minded and clear-headed even when one section in her group was acting uncooperative with the other members. Kiyotaka notes that she isn't the kind of person who would speak ill of others without any sort of reason to do so. Additionally, her good-natured disposition is also what allowed her to become close friends with the likes of Kikyō Kushida and Kiyotaka Ayanokōji , despite them both being students of Class 1-D which was looked down on by upper classes and were deemed as defective existences.
Even though she politely rejected the romantic feelings of an admirer who was considered to be a close friend of hers, Honami refrained from using any harsh or hurtful words and still honestly hoped to stay as friends with her classmate afterwards. She acts friendly to most of the students whether they're in the same class as her or not without showing bias from her tone of words when conversing with them. As she is popular among the boys and girls from all classes and grade levels, she is a person who has a way with words, pulling and tugging the heartstrings of many like Kiyotaka to feel affection towards her without intending to do so. She is a lively girl who appears to be brightly talkative with friends and adversaries no matter their affiliation or background. [2] Even when the going gets tough, she stays sangfroid and aplomb as long as victory is still within her class's reach. In the light novels, during a girls' talk even with her new friends she made along the way while faced with an exam, Honami could be genuinely viewed by others as an honest, truthful person to a fault without attempting to lie her way out or feign ignorance when being barraged with questions. [3] Honami was eager to actively collaborate with the students of the other classes and reach out to them during the exam where they were put together in the same group, looking to earn their trust and friendship. She even readily came prepared ahead of time to play cards with them. Honami is a curious individual who can come off as appearing interested to whoever caught her attention like Kiyotaka, believing there is still plenty more to find out about the true extent of his abilities. This curiosity of hers motivates her enough to go as far as to seek out Kiyotaka and attempt to engage in a conversation with him about his past life, wishing to investigate the latter and getting to know the man better as a fellow student. Suffice to say, she is the lynchpin holding her class together and stalwart towards her classmates, attracting even the attention and praise from other class leaders like Arisu, Ryuuen, Kiyotaka and Nagumo.
What's more, she is described to be a person of principle and conviction who has her own moral values to stand by and follow accordingly as it is a matter of virtue to her. Honami is resolute and steadfast in keeping her word, as after Kiyotaka helped her, she acknowledged that she owed him a favour for his help. She dislikes the mere thought of going up against people from opposing classes who she has a deep liking to during a competition as it feels like she betrayed them, particularly Kiyotaka. Before Suzune shot down her appeal, she would try her utmost best to no avail in extending the duration of the class alliance with Kiyotaka's class for as long as possible until the former herself is mentally prepared to see her former ally as an enemy to do battle against. While offering him support, she reminded him how this debt was something the former ought to seriously pay back as thanks. When she fell in love with somebody for the first time in her life and sought to buy that person a gift, Honami would be in self-denial about her feelings for the latter, telling herself that the gift was her way of conveying gratitude and debt to her saviour contrary to what the expression shown on her face is indicating to others. [4] She continued to assist and cooperate with him by gathering evidence to prove Ken Sudō 's innocence. Honami even assisted Kiyotaka in rescuing Airi Sakura though she was under no obligation to do so, showing her generosity. This generous nature can be seen further when she was willing to use up some of her own private points to aid in carrying out Class D's strategy secretly made by Kiyotaka in Suzune's name against Kakeru's class to corner Ken's provocateurs. When her classmates had to partner up with an enemy class, she appeared vocal and unyielding about getting everyone to cooperate in overcoming the exam without any intention of giving up until it ended. Additionally, this can be attributed to her outspoken nature of calling others out like Kakeru in the presence of many students for not willing to work with her classmates during an exam where the two classes have to cooperate. She admits to herself that if Kiyotaka had been in her class, she wouldn't have had to worry about going all out or holding back and knew he would be an indispensable ally. She laments at the fact that this illusion wasn’t the reality she was living in.
More so, Honami is rather humble and modest to anyone be it her enemy or ally as in spite of her great talents and popular beauty known across school, she is not at all boastful about them but remains levelheaded and speaks respectfully to all her peers, even those in the lower classes. As a class leader who stands up and speaks on behalf of her whole class, that aspect of Honami is what attributes her to being a rational individual who can be reasoned with logically. She shows signs of being compassionate, caring and worrisome in nature about people even outside her class, apart from her classmates, voicing her meaningless worries for the others' well-being if they were in a dangerous situation. [5] Nonetheless, she prioritises the safety of her classmates first above all others, which matters to her the most in protecting, [6] with a rare exception if it involves the chances of Kiyotaka being expelled in later volumes. On the other hand, she also has a trusting side, considering the fact that she went as far as asking Kiyotaka, who she had just recently met, if he would pretend to be her boyfriend as a way to help her solve the relationship issue she had with her friend. This trust she has with anyone, like Kiyotaka regardless of their class affiliation, was seen again when she allowed him to borrow the use of her phone when he asked for it. She wouldn't go so far to persistently keep on questioning their action, particularly what Kiyotaka is doing in the Event Selection Exam as long as it proves reasonable and explainable to her which the former won't pursue further. However, Honami's trusting personality towards both Arisu and Miyabi can end up putting her in a terrible predicament and state of mind once they betrayed her that wasn't easy for her to recover or overcome without Kiyotaka intervening. Her most powerful idiosyncratic quirk can also be her most damaging blemish, as it has been used against her time and time again, to which she had to be repeatedly saved by Kiyotaka.
Meanwhile in the anime, Honami comes off as a bit playful in nature, teasing others to her own amusement as shown when she teasingly mentions Airi's close relationship and her obvious romantic affections for Kiyotaka. Though it was shown to be all in good fun between the two girls, as after her own friendly relationship with Kiyotaka was mentioned by Kikyō, Honami simply gave a slight smile in response about the growing friendship she had made with him after the two met and befriended each other. Honami rarely gets annoyed, although when the situation calls for it, she adopts a serious side to herself which was shown when she reprimanded Kakeru Ryūen and students of Class 1-C for their bullying of Ken and they complied without protest. This side of her was seen again when she helped Kiyotaka apprehend a man who was attempting to assault Airi and told the man to be silent after he protested and gave him a look of disgust for his actions. During the Sports Festival, she is open and helpful to working with unreasonable people like Kakeru if they happen to pair up together, putting aside her feelings for now to achieve victory on an exam for the sake of her class. [7] Honami is strong-willed enough to step in front of two powerful male students fearlessly without batting an eye, ready to make verbal threats like warning the school about them if they don't stop escalating the dispute. Honami dislikes allowing trouble to go unnoticed in front of her, making Honami seem like an interventionist in nature. This was due to the frequent times where Honami often found herself sticking her nose in other people's business which was not her place to get involved until it detrimentally affected her and her class during an exam.
Usually, Honami is the type who goes with the flow or the mood whenever she talks with her friends. [8] Yet, for situations that involve herself lacking in knowledge about topics that revolved around romance, confessions, and so on, Honami is seemingly oblivious on what to do next and how to answer it while in front of her friends. Let alone that, Honami becomes somewhat shy and needy for advice as she goes out of her way to ask for Kiyotaka's assistance involving a friend's confession to her. After getting a love letter from her friend Chihiro Shiranami , she is unsure on how to go about it, thinking of not being honest about her true feelings towards the girl and to lie and pretend that she is with Kiyotaka as his fake girlfriend as the best way to get out of such situation. Honami even admitted to Kiyotaka that she had no idea of what it meant to be a couple with someone or how to turn a person down without hurting them and her friendship. [9] When taking into consideration Miyabi's deal of borrowing points by going out with him, it is revealed that Honami had no experience on love or any romantic relations whatsoever with the opposite gender before and does not know how to confront them properly until she later confesses to Kiyotaka during their second year in school. Her shyness was seen again when Honami hesitated in talking about the growth of her bust size to Suzune Horikita after she asked about her chest development. On the other hand, Honami seems rather secretive about herself and her class, as she was quick to take action in reclaiming her phone back without haste when Kiyotaka noticed the massive number of private points she possessed.
In that sense, she is protective of the class dealings between herself and her fellow classmates as these details are promisingly kept confidential among them. This was seen again as only in the anime that before Honami spoke to Ryūji Kanzaki about twenty million private points, she would make sure to hide her phone from him though she was very vague in her query. Due to this, she appears to understand why others hide their own secrets as shown where she recognized the true intelligence of Kiyotaka and saw that he was someone who shouldn't belong in Class D. Even so, Honami expressed enough consideration for his privacy that she didn't push the issue any further when he didn't seem to like talking about it. That being said, she still maintained a sense of curiosity about him, as seen in a conversation with her homeroom teacher on the cruise. Honami doesn't appreciate receiving praise from others like Kiyotaka and Suzune if it doesn't feel warranted or justified due to her own past mistakes. Honami happens not to think very highly of herself such as when being called a good person, thinking that she is not a wonderful human being as Suzune makes her out to be. It was to the point where Honami uncomfortably refuses to look at Suzune in the face anymore in a conversation after getting called that, choosing to avoid locking direct eye contact with her altogether as she doesn't want to be given too much credit by the latter as a goody two shoes. [10] Prior to her romantic feelings for Kiyotaka taking root, she was presumably thought to be overly idealistic and hopeful in achieving a future where all her classmates are saved, won't drop out of school and graduating with them from Class A as a whole, not looking to lose any one of them due to expulsion. As she set her mind and goal on rising to Class A and graduating together with every single one of her precious classmates intact, Kiyotaka advises Honami to continue placing her trust on her class and move forward with her classmates without looking back no matter what happens.

Spoiler warning : Plot from light novel beyond official English releases details follow. Click here to show spoilers.
In the light novels, she also maintains a playful side, enjoying the experience of teasing Kiyotaka and flirting with him but it's all done in fun with the bantering as well since they are close associates. [11] She even went to him for aid, after her past of shoplifting was revealed to the school. Though it may seem natural to her, she was said to be frankly straightforward and direct with her words. Since she sincerely possesses a saint-like attitude, Honami was described by Arisu to be a prim and proper person who is filled to the brim with virtue without any traces of falsehood or lies behind showing such outward demeanor. While she is outgoing and open to helping her classmates, she is hesitant in reaching out for their support when dealing with her own problems. She is afraid of troubling and worrying them. [12] Despite the level of secrecy she hides about her past from her friends, she still ended up telling it to her enemy anyway, even if she was manipulated to. Not willing to have her classmates make sacrifices except for herself, she is a selfless, altruistic person who looks to take on all their problems even if it means putting herself at risk of expulsion. This self-sacrificing nature of Honami for her classmates comes into conflict with her increasing selfishness of wanting to save a special someone outside her classroom later down the line too. In a predicament that seems tough to overturn without making a hard choice due to the belief she had for the class as a leader, Honami can come off as both indecisive and weak where it matters most like achieving victory for the benefit of her classmates. Although she is thoughtful in her mind, Honami's thoughts are all over the place when things don't go exactly according to her battle strategy, not anticipating unexpected things to turn up suddenly out of the blue. When Honami last faced off against Kakeru and his class, she becomes utterly stupefied, lost, and incompetent by how to respond to the man's shady tactics, unable to hastily make a comeback or change the situation around until it was too late to do so before losing. Reasonably so, in that type of competition during an exam where she is on the losing end of the spectrum, Honami is left almost somewhat speechless and quiet on what to do or say next but mutter a few words before resuming her silence. Normally, in times of defeat, Honami would do her best to continue acting positively cheerful and enthusiastic in the presence of her classmates, suggesting to them that they host a celebration event together with them after an exam despite not achieving victory. She makes sure everybody including herself is not feeling negative about their class's loss, acting down-to-earth and positive enough that their spirits are lifted. [13] Being who she is, Honami's gullibility had been exploited against the former by her friends and foes alike time and time again. To everyone, especially by her classmates, she can be seen as easily gullible enough to hear out whatever people like Kiyotaka, Arisu or Manabi asked of her, deciding to accept a request for a private talk by someone from a different class without showing a sense of wariness. However, after having suffered consecutive losses at the hands of both Arisu and Kakeru, Kiyotaka states that Honami has lost a lot of confidence in herself as the leader of her class. Throughout her first year in school, Honami was not able to see tremendous growth in the past year with herself unlike with the other class leaders such as Suzune who did as they are becoming stronger than they were before. As she felt like she was losing herself and her self-confidence, Honami also had the impression that the others were leaving her in the dust. Due to that realisation, she feels extremely uneasy and fearful about whatever unknown future that awaited herself and her whole class. Her classmate Ryūji even said that Honami is the type who dislikes getting into extreme conflicts to begin with. He was certain enough that Honami has a big enough heart and is magnanimous to even forgive the people who defame her. Rather than have any sort of hatred towards her enemy like Arisu and Kakeru for humiliating her, Honami never once shows any signs of harbouring grudges about their wrongdoings but let the past be bygones. If anything, the most Honami could do was discreetly express her own wariness and distrust of the two class leaders' suspicious actions and motives. From Kiyotaka's point of view and by her classmates' outlook, Honami tends to be seen as quite reflective on sorting out her own feelings and will keep herself shut in her own room to reflect on them frequently without seeking dialogue from her classmates even when suggested by the latter to reach out to them whenever she needs help. In the case of when she had to ascertain whether a student pose a threat or not, Honami carefully reflects and analyse on what she knows about the person at least in terms of what their outward personality and abilities shows, harbouring doubts if all the achievements made by a class stemmed from their leader and not someone else who may be surreptitiously working behind the scenes. [14] According to her upperclassman Miyabi Nagumo from a higher grade, she is described to be a diligent, earnest hard worker who is strongly dedicated in carrying out many tasks and duties as a member of the Student Council alongside him, since they began working together for the past year. Honami is ardently proactive in that sense, pushing herself to work behind the scenes not only for supporting her entire class but for the sake of the Student Council as well for a year. As goal-driven as she was, Honami admits that she sees herself as ambitious and committed to both her class and the Student Council, aspiring and striving to become as successful as Miyabi who was able to successfully help his Class B rise up to Class A. She is public-spirited enough to act as a beacon of light and hope for the new first-year students with poor academic skills, going so far and wide as to have herself and her classmates tutor plus form a partnership contract with them during an exam where expulsion can occur. In addition to that, she appears remarkably tolerant of people's bad remarks and manners towards her without feeling offended by whatever they said if it happened to be baseless rumours that are false about her. While she cares less about the negativity or lies people give her, Honami who is headstrong felt more than ready to confront it confidently with the truths and facts as evidence to support her claims. Based on the monologue in light novel volume 9 from her time as a first-year, Honami deems herself as a person that has to place her faith on others in contrast to having been the one who doesn't believe she should be trusted due to losing that trust with her family members. She is not completely mentally resilient around rumours of her past experience as when word got out that she is a criminal, Honami loses her calm composure and experiences a severe mental breakdown. This in turn led to her self-isolation at home, where she reverted to her shut-in persona, refusing to neither attend class nor hang out with her friends anymore until Kiyotaka came along and changed that. Prior to that happening though, during a period of self-alienation, what Honami felt back then was her own timidness, insecurity and weak-mindedness not to ask for help, confront her friends or seek comfort from them emotionally about her past. If either faced with a dilemma that relates to Kiyotaka or the latter who chooses to involve himself with her, Honami is fervently tearful and emotional on what to say to him, her words either faltering or stuttering in every situation. During the second-year story, Arisu Sakayanagi calls Honami out as being irrational with her persistent optimism for believing that the power of their class's friendship and unity will one day lead them to Class A and overcome their rivals. In addition, she was told by Arisu that she was delusional with her ideology, as someone who felt unable to face the cruel reality of her own class situation and accept the truth that was arguably backed with factual points provided as evidence, continuing to stand strong, resilient and argumentative despite being pushed back several times. This also coincides with Honami's temperament of not strongly accepting the unequal, small difference with her class's growth including herself within a year to the other leaders and their respective class who had a number of stronger character developments overall. Furthermore, ever since she began subconsciously developing romantic feelings towards Kiyotaka without recognising or understanding what they are for him, [15] some students from Honami's class finally began to see a slow but noticeable change in her attitude and behaviour over the course of time. This was shown to be the case when three of her classmates such as Kozue, Sayo, and Tetsuya are aware of her apparent love for him. Before long, the rest of her classmates managed to catch on and became fully aware of her crush on Kiyotaka. The three even told Kiyotaka that his name was often brought up by Honami on multiple occasions. She seems to be incapable of silently hiding her feelings about Kiyotaka to her friends, lacking the self-control to keep her mouth shut or her thoughts to herself concerning him. Honami's deep-seated thoughts for him often had recently begun to cloud her own judgement and decision-making ability as a class leader, to the point where she becomes emotionally driven and impulsive in the romantic sense. Once she lets those feelings take precedence without control, it psychologically dictated and spurred Honami to take action out of worry for him even when the latter advised her not to while believing he is an enemy to her class. Meanwhile, she wants to be seen by others including her crush as a strong individual who is not only a capable class leader but decisive as well without hinting at any signs of weaknesses at one point in time. On the one hand, Honami appears to grow more mindfully conscious about taking care of her personal appearance to some extent. She would go so far as to make herself look and smell charmingly good in the eyes of her beholder like Kiyotaka with citrus perfume, using it as her body's fragrance. This is apparently the case when she went all out to raise her own sex appeal by a little bit, covering herself in that special kind of aroma as a mean to attract his attention and arouse his interest in her. If Honami had an unexpected encounter with Kiyotaka unprepared that she was not ready for, she can become somewhat softly regretful, apprehensive, and shy on herself for forgetting something important as that when around his presence. At other times with Kiyotaka though when no conflicts are in her way, she can appear laid-back and easygoing, adventurously looking to admire the beauty of nature with him. [16] When she failed to show and upheld that strong, positive image of hers, Honami felt greatly disappointed at herself that she began to develop some doubts about her capabilities as a leader. Not just this, but Honami also felt deeply self-responsible and guilty of her own bad decisions she poorly made for her class, choosing to lay and shoulder all the blame and failures solely on only herself rather than shared it with her classmates. After she and her classmates dropped down from Class 2-B to Class 2-C, anxiety began to develop and take root in her subconscious. [17] It is to the extent where she fell into the state of depression and was not willing to return to her room because the mere thought of doing so depressed her as her mind wandered and started self-deprecating her negligence. From Kakeru Ryūen 's description about her, he remarks how Honami was exactly the kind of person who would't mind the thought of risking her own life tooth and nail to prevent her classmates from getting expelled no matter what. Even if it means she broke out in a fever or end up getting herself injured during the process, he believes Honami will still somehow come crawling on her hands and knees anyway to go and save them while wounded. If not for Kiyotaka saving her in several dilemmas and the promise they made to one another to see each other again by the end of her second-year, Honami wouldn't have the strength or willpower left to be able to carry on fighting for the objective of her class. Honami's naive mindset of thinking she can save everyone by sacrificing herself was the most detrimental flaw to her class, and could have very well ended them if Kiyotaka had not intervened on her behalf. Whenever her mind is in total disarray, Honami will sometimes find herself stumbled upon dangerous situations like standing in the rainy weather that she has no intention in getting out of, remaining unprotected without an umbrella and figuring that the former deserves to have a cold fever. That was only until Kiyotaka decides to put himself in the same situation as her for Honami to witness that she reconsider her action of self-harm. After having been saved by him multiple times and getting to understand him a little better in private, this causes her to start thinking highly of Kiyotaka, to the point where she is trusting and depending on him more than any if not all her closest friends altogether. Even entrusting Kiyotaka with the role of being her confidante and as a middleman when negotiating with Kakeru's students like Mio Ibuki . Feeling indebted to Kiyotaka and knowing how helpful he is in leading a hand to someone as she, Honami attempts to ingratiate herself with him, always wanting to earn praise for him by presenting the latter with her best self but seemingly only ever shows the former her vulnerable side. Although this made Honami feel pathetic for allowing him to see her in such a sorry state, Honami felt glad when he told her she could seek him whenever she wanted, sparing no expense to help her. Ever since then, she became open to conveying her troubles and concerns to Kiyotaka as both an individual and class leader respectively. When caught in an unexpected life-or-death situation beyond her control, Honami would feel frightened for her own life, running recklessly without paying careful attention to her footing and the terrains she was in to escape Tsukishiro and Katsunori Shiba . As she is scared stiff at the time after overhearing the grown-ups' secret conversation that wasn't supposed to be heard by the former, Honami started having more concerning thoughts for not only her and her classmates' safety but also Kiyotaka's fate in the Uninhabited Island Exam as well. In Honami's head, her mind was said to have been filled with unrest and unease, unable to retain her focus and concentration in fulfilling designated areas and tasks until she tells Kiyotaka about what will happen to him on the final day of the exam. Although Kiyotaka told her that she mustn't show deep concern about whatever happen to the other students, particularly himself who hailed from a different class outside her own, Honami was against the idea of keeping her caring demeanour reserved for only her classmates as she still doesn't shy away from taking action to warn him. Deliberating between who to prioritise on saving first, she becomes distressed and confused in her mind, experiencing inner conflicts with herself internally and feeling out of character outwardly as even Arisu ponders about her strange movement during the exam while they're in the same group together. By the time when she alerted Kiyotaka about Acting Director Tsukishiro 's plan for his expulsion, Honami finally acknowledge and understood that she does have a crush on him romantically, no longer afraid to hide the fact anymore by saying the words "I like you" to him twice anticipating the reply for her very first confession to another person. Honami who used to be selfless is showing signs of becoming selfish and careless to a fault, going so far as to put herself in danger physically and mentally without care to save someone important to her outside her class, taking risks that may have very well likely put the safety of her entire class in jeopardy for him. This is the moment when Honami's priority for her classmates above all else beginning to crumble from the inside due to her own thoughts and feelings for Kiyotaka getting in the way of all that as it conflicted with one another. Not just this, but the same could also be said with how her principles and just methods to approach exams and class competitions are showing cracks as she began to reflect on it and question if only she was like the other class leaders. Despite this, Kiyotaka encourages Honami to keep doing what she always does and maintain it for as long as possible until near the end of their second-year, indicates that he is there for her as her moral compass. [18] Later on, during the school trip, Honami came to acknowledge the reality of her own class's predicament that her way of doing things is not working out well, as the goal of reaching Class A steadily becomes harder to obtain and ever so out of reach the longer she does nothing to turn it around in their favor. Furthermore, Honami even went as far as admitting to Kiyotaka how she wants to attain something that she don't have as of yet even if that means changing who she is as a individual in order to secure a win, yearning to break the deadlock in the class competition and close the point gap with her rival classes. She was frustrated with herself, feeling guilty at her own lack of power to make a difference for the sake of her class. According to Kiyotaka, she's been growing weak at a rapid pace after her confession to him. He described Honami's fatal weakness lies solely in her heart being too weak and brittle to the point that she had considered leaving school and dropping out as the latter lost the reason to fight the good fight with her friends in aiming for Class A. This was the case when she instinctively decided to go missing alone at night, disappearing in the middle of a blizzard without caring to inform her friends beforehand of where she will be at and not returning to the inn until Kiyotaka finally found her. Initially, Honami felt broken and discouraged at first when she figured there was no hopes of getting what she wanted, but Kiyotaka told her to not fret about it when he volunteers to be there for her, comforting the former with a hug to take the next step forward. After the event from last night, she was able to make a speedy recovery while finding renewed resolve to make a newfound change in herself for the better. [19] Ever since that fateful day during the school trip and also the second time spent with Kiyotaka in his bedroom thereafter, Honami was described to have been mentally fully recovered and feeling stable. This was apparently the case when Kiyotaka recognizes how acutely aware and mindful of where her classmates' concerns are directed at which is her, knowing full well of why they sought his help of all people in relation to her as he happened to be the closest person who she will shared her worries with. Honami had gone through an awakening of some sort based on an instinct she reached accordingly by and not through considering probability, the kind in which allowed her to greatly change the former's set of ethical principles and values in a way that would support her own happy desires as well. This means Honami morally keeping the kindness and goodness within her heart limited solely to Kiyotaka and her classmates alone while she treats everyone else outside her class as nothing more than enemies from now on to be dealt with no mercy whatsoever regardless of their reason. In other words, no longer choosing to direct her good-nature in all directions where it once included friends and foes alike, she will only act "good" to just him and any of her classmates she is close friends with while the "evil" malice shown outward by her will be completely directed to outsiders in order to protect those she hold dearly important. As Honami has grown merciless to anyone who isn't her classmate excluding Kiyotaka, she has developed the willingness to also finally considered using whatever means she had in her disposal to emerge victorious if they ever so happened to get in her way. For instance, when Kakeru threatens to have one of her classmates go through expulsion, Honami warns that she will have no other choice but to expel him from school in response to his threat. Although she made it her lifelong objective for the rest of 2nd year and next year to continue striving for Class A with her classmates while staying in school, Honami also recently found herself with another goal to pursue and accomplish with her own hands. Having developed the selfish desire to chase happiness for herself, this new dream she had in mind is wanting to earn Kiyotaka's love someday over the course of time. Determined and motivated to do what she wants for it to be brought to fruition, she vows to become a special someone who Kiyotaka will definitely want to turn his attention to, like he did with Kei Karuizawa , making the latter deduced that Honami too have grown strongly dependent on him but in a different way from her. According to Kakeru, she was described to have develop an obsessive personality for Kiyotaka, appearing more bolder and honest about her own feelings towards him without bothering to hide it in front of her enemies like Arisu anymore. Nonetheless, Honami remains a fair-minded and just person to some degree when she still went of her way to insist both Kiyotaka and Kei that the couple need to make up, even going so far as volunteering herself to be the intermediary in fixing their broken relationship. [20] Spoilers end. Click here to hide spoilers.


Classroom of the Elite

Ichika has straight magenta hair that is tied into twin tails, laced with red ribbons, and gradient dark-red eyes. As noted by Kikyō Kushida , Ichika's colorful eyes are like hollow, empty voids that have lost touch with reality.
She is seen so far wearing school formal attire consisting of an orange blouse paired with an unbuttoned crimson blazer with a blue ribbon, a short-length white sailor-striped pleated skirt, and black thigh-highs. Ichika possesses high levels of seductiveness and appeals that can effortlessly charm the likes of Ken Sudō into believing her words for a moment based on how she conducts herself in feeling him up with one finger.

Ichika has a very mischievous and boisterous personality, devilishly teasing every person she has an interest in with her shenanigans, [1] even when it annoys them. Because of that, she was described by Kikyō Kushida as having a rotten, smug, and condescending attitude. Ichika is extremely playful with her lexicon of words, not taking what she says in the open seriously and regards them as fun and amusement by evading someone's question or telling a bald-faced lie. Ichika has a whimsical manner of doing things, choosing to act according to her impish impulses, although sometimes following through with whatever she plans unless it is of interest to her after careful deliberations to change them. In many ways, Ichika has shown to be fickle, quickly changing her mind at any given moment in time even in the midst of negotiations. She is perceptive and understanding of what others may think of her based on her actions and in many situations, she has pointed out what others wanted to say before they even get a word out and shot their arguments and excuses straight down making them speechless. Ichika can come off as quite provocative with her shrewd remarks, making others feel stingy in the way she acts around them without caring of how others may judge her as. She knows how to make others vulnerable and play to her strength of lambasting her opponents to negatively alter their state of mind and forcing them to make detrimental mistakes. On the flip-side, she also knows how to appeal to the strength and weaknesses of others and make them think positively, which in turn causes them to trust her and doing what she wants without delay. However, when she gets serious the only word that can describe her would be terrifying as she won’t stop unless she gets her desired outcome and is capable of displaying her malicious aura.
In some regards, Ichika can be often seen as tolerant of what people's words are towards her such as when Kiyotaka calls her some sort of demon for doing whatever she pleases recklessly in spending her private points on things, although this privilege may only be given to her beloved senpai. She has an abundance of self-esteem and values herself highly when people request her services when making deals, demanding more in return through conspiring with them and ensuring she reaps some sort of benefits. Ichika has a habit of speaking casually with a relaxed tone in all sorts of situations she finds herself in unless she feels upset and offended by what she heard. She is a misfit within her classroom as nobody dares to reach out to the former and befriend her socially. Despite having amazing communication skills, Ichika admits that she is bad at making friends with the people in her class and doesn’t make the effort or have the intent to do so. Nonetheless, Ichika is thoughtful and reminisces about her way of life back in the White Room and the peers she got to know there which happens to matter to her much more than Kiyotaka which is her idol of worship, due to the difference in time spent and lack of familiarity. She dislikes seeing outsiders like Kikyō Kushida get in the way of expelling Kiyotaka as people like them have no right to interfere except for those who are rightfully involved such as herself. [2]
She shows an immense amount of care for Kiyotaka and will take steps to protect him at any cost and has been able to hide her secret affection for him from everyone. She is perspicacious and sagacious when planning ahead and is on the tier of Arisu and Honami in those aspects. Moreover, she is perfectly capable of being aplomb, sangfroid, and maintaining a high sense of unflappability in demanding situations as well as astute enough to turn them into her advantage at a moment’s notice. She is also not above resorting to physical violence even against someone who is disabled if they ever got under her skin. She is also cautious to not overstep her boundaries as she recognised her physical injuries being an impediment and decided to sit out and recover before taking her next action.


Classroom of the Elite

Ikuto is a fair-skinned male with an average physical build, black hair that has bangs swept to the right, gradient brown eyes and he is roughly 175 cm tall.

Ikuto idolizes and respects the previous the student council president Manabu Horikita immensely and believes that the rules set by the school must be preserved.
He is ready to betray the current student council president Miyabi Nagumo and readily gave sensitive information about him to Kiyotaka Ayanokōji in hopes that he could help dethrone and stop Nagumo from establishing his own ideology in the school. Although he made it clear that he would discontinue their partnership if he deems him not capable enough to bringing Nagumo down. [1]
He seems to have unpleasant history with Nagumo as he harbors hatred and disdain towards him with a definite reason still yet unknown at this moment of time.


Classroom of the Elite

Kakeru is a young man of average height with shoulder-length magenta hair that is styled on either side, and sharp magenta coloured eyes that strikes fear and trepidation onto anyone he comes into contact with. In addition, he has a slim and muscular physique.
In the light novel, he wears the standard uniform of the school. Although, in the anime, his attire consists of a standard red jacket and an unbuttoned black shirt underneath without a tie.

Kakeru is a blameworthy and reprehensible person who loves causing trouble for others as seen when he and his gang purposefully caused conflict with Ken Sudō and wanted to expel him.
He also possesses a sadistic nature, as shown when he looked as if he was going to attack the vulnerable Ken after his men held him down only to instead flick him on the head while laughing at his fear. He was very ruthless as he took a glass bottle and hit one of his followers on the head with it, showing no remorse after the act. This and many other actions shows that he is willing to use followers for any goal as he sees fit to achieve his purpose of controlling the school and enjoying himself. He is also shown to be insubordinate and disrespectful to certain characters, as shown when he spoke with Suzune Horikita and Mio Ibuki even having Albert Yamada throw the latter down after telling her to come to his room.
Despite his intimidating and dangerous appearance, Kakeru is acute in his own way of thinking, as he was quick to cover his tracks by telling Honami Ichinose even when she witnessed the event by declared that it was out of self-defence. He would come up with many unexpected strategies such as when he and one of his followers attacked another injured follower who failed in his task to frame Ken Sudō for assault and get him expelled. He also chose not to pick a fight with Class 1-A while in the presence of Manabu Horikita , the Student Council president and knows  that he isn’t capable at that moment to take on Arisu Sakayanagi .

Kakeru scared as he is mercilessly destroyed by Kiyotaka.

In the light novels, he showed great fear of Kiyotaka Ayanokōji after the latter viciously attacked him without an ounce of compunction. This incident caused him to note how shaken he was from it and how it was a first for him. Also, he is embarrassed by Rokusuke Kōenji for nicknaming him "Dragon-Boy", which caused Arisu Sakayanagi to making fun of him by repeating it.
Despite his ruthless nature he does seem to care for his class. For instance, he approached Hiyori Shiina as he was worried about her for always being alone. He also treats her as an indispensable ally in their class and is one of the people he truly respects.


Classroom of the Elite

Ike is a short young man with brown hair that has bangs hanging on the right side and brown eyes.
He is often seen wearing the standard school uniform but has also been seen wearing a red vest and blue shorts. When at the pool, he wore black swimming trunks.

Kanji is one of and commonly known as the "3 Idiots of D-Class". This was further proven true when he like many of his classmates, irresponsibly blew through his private points in a matter of weeks on materialistic and unnecessary things like video games.
He also possesses a perverted side to him as he was easily attracted to Kikyō Kushida because of her alluring appearance. This is further extended to him as he once actively participated in a plan to peep on the girls at the pool. He was even 'excited' just by being on a first name basis with  Kushida.
However, in spite of all his idiocy and negative traits, on a positive note; he has experience in camping and used this to give his class an advantage in the school survival test. He has been shown to be willing to acknowledge his faults such as when he apologized to Satsuki Shinohara for his earlier disagreement about camping with her because he went through a similar event in his childhood. [1]


Classroom of the Elite

Katsunori is a middle-aged man with short black hair and blue eyes.

Katsunori is shown not above of using threats and abusing his authority.


Classroom of the Elite

Kayano is a petite girl with short brown hair that has bangs hanging on the left side and yellow gradient-violet eyes.
She wears the female uniform at school.


Classroom of the Elite

Kazuma is a middle aged man of average height with grayish color hair.
He wears a gray suit and glasses.

Not much is known about Kazuma, but he appears to be a teacher that overstates the traditional boundaries of an educator as seen when he helped his students in trying to get Ken Sudō expelled. He has somewhat of an aggressive side to him, as he intimidated a nervous Airi Sakura after she was called in to provide evidence, though he was shocked to see she had actual proof of being at the fight.


Classroom of the Elite

Kazuomi is a very tall man with short spiky silver-blonde hair, blue eyes and a rough, muscular physique that can be intimidating to others.
He wears the male school uniform with a black shirt without a tie inside the school blazer.

Kazuomi is an extremely violent and selfish person who doesn't care about anything but his own personal gain and enjoyment. He has no problems making enemies with the majority of characters as he trusts no one and holds pride in his own abilities.


Classroom of the Elite

Kei is a teenage girl of average height with waist-length blonde hair that is tied in a ponytail and purple eyes. Her school uniform consists of a light blue dress shirt below the red school blazer with rolled-up sleeves and a short white skirt. She walks in standard school shoes with light blue calf-length socks. She predominantly wears a blue ribbon around her collar. In a more casual situation, she simply wraps her school blazer around her waist and rolls up her dress shirt sleeves above the usual norm. She takes immense pride and care in having a pulchritudinous outward appearance and is known in the class to be one of the most fashionable and modish student in her class. During sports events she wears a white T-shirt, red sweat pants with a white stripe and white trainers.

At the start of the series, Kei comes across as a sloppy and spoiled girl who only cares about herself. She spends most of her time with the girls after school and uses her points to buy clothes and accessories. She is admired and feared throughout the class for her strong personality and her status as Yōsuke Hirata 's girlfriend after only two weeks of entering the school, therefore establishing her position as the girl's leader of Class D. However, despite her looks and attitude she displays, she has her fair share of secrets that she cannot afford to reveal to others. She was unabashed and unashamed by the comments made by other people for describing her audacious moves on boys that caught her eye.
Underneath her pompous mask that she wears in front of people, Kei is a girl tormented by the ghosts of her past who can be weak and sensitive towards her surroundings. Even though she gives off the impression of someone who is careless, arrogant, and messy, Kei's true self is very logical and astute with a sharp mind. She has remarkable ability to read the environment and the people around her, and makes the correct decision often. She is a self-aware person who knows better than anyone her own character and limitations. She also seems to have developed a cynical view of her surroundings and relationships. She believes everyone hates her and only took an interest in her due to the position and status she has in the class, making her very wary about her actions towards her friends to remain in their good graces.
When interacting with someone she trusts, Kei is a straightforward and outspoken person. This is seen in her interactions with Kiyotaka Ayanokōji , as she has expressed many dissatisfactions with him during their time working together. She also often calls out his lack of common sense regarding ordinary matters such as maintaining conversations during the series, and is the only person thus far who is actively trying to improve his bad habits.
In a school that is anything but ordinary, Kei tries to live in the most ordinary way possible and spends most of her time having fun with her friends. She is very connected to fashion and fancy things, which contributes to her having an extravagant and lavish lifestyle causing her to spend money irresponsibly. [1] That said, she had gotten past this mindset and was shown to saved a great deal points just so she could save herself from expulsion if it ever came down to it. So far, she’s not shown much interest in academics or a great desire to reach a higher class. She often leaves to study for exams at the last minute and is not fond of studying in general. Her dislike for studying is mainly due to the lack of chances she had to attend her classes consistently during middle school due to her past. Kei entered the high school without much of the theoretical grade of middle school, which made her experience studying in high school not very pleasant. However, if her friends ever request her assistance or she was ordered by Kiyotaka to do something, she spares no expense and goes out of her way to achieve better result than expected of her.

Spoiler warning : Plot from light novel beyond official English releases details follow. Click here to show spoilers.
Even despite having a 'boyfriend' in Hirata, she still beguiles and leads boys on through her seductive words and actions, which makes people look down on her for her lack of devotion to the opposite sex. Once she broke up with Hirata and started a genuine relationship with Kiyotaka, this playgirl attitude never came up again as she found a stable pillar of support and no longer required to resort to underhanded tactics. She treasures personal security as the only reason she had a 'relationship' with Hirata and adopted a flirtatious attitude with high profiled boys was so that she would never be bullied again. She was afraid of breaking up with Hirata as that would had left her vulnerable to attacks, however, she was also not looking forward to another relationship due to her lingering feelings for Kiyotaka. After Kiyotaka accepted all of her darkest secrets, embraced her intimately and did not scorn her for it, Kei was assured and hugged him back, glad that he also felt the affection for her. Kei promised to help Maya's date with Kiyotaka. As the series progresses, Kei has grown more considerate and fonder of her friends, as shown when she expressed her worries for Suzune Horikita during the sports festival. Even though she did not like her because of her high and mighty attitude, she could still empathize with Suzune due to her own experience of being targeted by bullies. [2] This is displayed again when she helped Maya Satō in her love journey; even though her feelings were conflicting with her intention of helping her friend, she still did her best to help Maya succeed. She was also the only person to notice Kiyotaka’s birthday and sent him a happy birthday message, which surprised him and made him feel hesitant to delete it. [3] She also felt touched by Maya’s desire to preserve their friendship even if they loved the same person, leading Kei to give her an affectionate hug. She had shown an immense amount of loyalty towards her classmates and loved ones, as when she decided not to betray them even if confronted by her trauma and threatened by the possibility of having her past spread throughout the whole school. Since Kiyotaka was also her first official boyfriend, she has also displayed an immense quantity of loyalty towards him. For instance, she glared menacingly at Sato for suggesting that she will take Kiyotaka for herself if they ever broke up and for insinuating that she will leach off from higher profiled men if she’s given the opportunity. Through the series, Kei’s displayed strong determination and bravery, which allowed her to show her strength at the critical moment. From Kiyotaka’s description, Kei's strongest point is her indomitable will to carry out her goal to the very end, no matter the cost. She’s been often praised for her unfathomable mental fortitude, which only serves to strengthen her in the face of adversity, such as when she got cornered and bullied by Kakeru Ryūen and his group on the school’s rooftop. Despite facing an overwhelming opponent and having her mind destroyed after finding out Kiyotaka’s betrayal, Kei found the strength to fight again, not in Ryūen’s words or Kiyotaka’s promise, but in her desire to be proud of herself. She would even sacrifice her own well-being to protect Kiyotaka and give him the peaceful school life he always wanted. Kei’s self-sacrifice, doing something, not for herself but for someone else’s sake, is proof of her growth towards overcoming her trauma. This juxtaposes her previous twisted mindset and allowed her to finally stand tall and face her past. Thanks to that, she became one of the targets of Ryūen’s admiration and respect. Kiyotaka, who is another admirer of Kei’s resilience and willpower, had his expectations exceeded, and by his admission, underestimated the strength of her heart, promising not to repeat the mistake. [4] At the same time, Kei has reasserted her promise to protect and save him if the time comes. Surprisingly enough, even after suffering direct and indirect abuse at the hands of many different people, Kei doesn't nurture any grudges against them. On the contrary, she was said to be somehow grateful to her middle school bullies because, thanks to other people not knowing about the bullying, she could restart again in this school and learn from the experience. [5] Kei considers that her actions brought evil deeds to herself. After the rooftop incident, she is surprised with herself for forgiving Kiyotaka so easily and even jokes about it before getting lost in her delusions. In her own words, it would be impossible for an ordinary person to forgive Kiyotaka so easily, which makes her a very generous person. She’s also known to be a very intuitive person, being able to guess Kiyotaka’s background with unbelievable accuracy. Kei can be very vain and full of herself at times regarding her appearance. She is confident that any piece of clothing or accessory will fit her because of her cute and attractive figure. If needed, Kei can even use her beauty attributes to flirt and lead another man to do what she wants, as shown with Machida and even Kiyotaka at a certain point. However, Kei also has an insecure side she hides from everyone due to the deep scar she carries below her left breast. From her view, a girl's body is supposed to be soft and fluffy and beautiful, and such an ugly scar would crush that illusion for the opposite sex. Ironically, because Kiyotaka didn’t show any disgust towards her scar, Kei started to see him differently from other men. Kei getting teased by Kiyotaka. When in love, Kei exhibits some tsundere traits. She will try to deny her feelings at first, but she is not overly stubborn to the point of denying it forever. She is also not dense. When flirting, Kei tends to be playful and attempts to tease Kiyotaka all the time, although most of the time, she ends up being the one getting teased. [6] Kei believes a confession must be honest and show the person's true feelings. She also believes that a confession is a sign of courage and determination to convey a feeling and must be answered no matter what. [7] She loves to praise her boyfriend, but she also tries to keep his head down-to-earth, calling him out about his lack of common sense in some matters of their daily life. Kei’s displayed a considerable amount of jealousy towards her partner, but ultimately, she is shown to put her complete trust in him, even knowing he interacts with many different girls and accepted that it couldn’t be helped due to how cool her boyfriend is. [8] Spoilers end. Click here to hide spoilers.


Classroom of the Elite

Aside from Ken's dyed red hair and an inappropriate hairstyle, he possesses an intimidating look, which makes it harder for others to get close to him.
His height of 183 cm combined with his sturdy, muscular physique easily leaves an impression of a competent athlete on others. His clothing style also portrays his wild and aggressive personality, as he lets loose of his upper shirt's buttons.

Ken puts very little efforts into his studies, which grants him the nickname with two other classmates the " 3 Idiots of D-Class ". He is always seen to sleep in class, and also once refused to join Suzune Horikita 's study group for the sake of his grade.
He is known to be hot tempered, and quick to anger when people do what he deems to be pointless or insulting to him, showing how easily provoked he can be. When others attempted to help by stopping him, he exclaimed how he doesn’t need their help and would get angry at the person who he deems is underestimating him. Despite his perceived eagerness for a fight, he is shown to get easily scared whenever he is overpowered as shown in his confrontation with Kakeru Ryūen .
Ken enjoys basketball and wants to go pro, and is very committed to his dream as he became worried when Suzune mentioned he might not be able to play if he were to be expelled from the school.
During the cruise in Episode 8 , he quickly asked Kiyotaka Ayanokōji about Suzune Horikita's first name and after being told, he got excited. He blushed while saying her name repeatedly, showing he has developed romantic feelings and a crush for her, despite their previous hostile interactions. Through this feelings, he has been able to transmit his hard working nature towards his studies and be recognised as the person with the most improved grades, astonishing everyone who previously doubted him.


Classroom of the Elite

Kikyō is a teenage girl who is considered highly attractive by the boys in her class and other boys in the school where her trademark is her short beige-colored hair paired with gradient crimson eyes and she is noted for having a well-endowed figure and an average height.
When she is outside school, she wears a light blue dress with hints of white and has a teal-colored jacket covering it.

Kikyō boasts tremendous popularity among students as the D-Class' idol who aims to be friends with everyone not just in D-Class, as shown when she extended her hand to Honami Ichinose of B-Class . On the outside, she has a bubbly personality. She attempts to get along well with Suzune Horikita (Kikyō's classmate), but the latter coldly refuses her gestures of friendship numerous times.

Kikyō showing her masked side after throwing a tantrum.

It is revealed that she also has a rancorous side to her personality which she hides from everyone behind her bubbly façade. She is also very spoiled, as indicated by her tendency to resort to temper tantrums if she doesn't get what she truly wants the most: clout and recognition. Thus, she hates everyone who even minutely opposes that goal. She openly professed her hatred for Suzune and cursed her repeatedly, which Kiyotaka Ayanokōji unintentionally overheard. After she caught him watching her tantrum, she threatened him not to tell anyone about it, otherwise she would accuse him of sexual assault after purposely grabbing his hand and putting them on her chest to leave fingerprints as false evidence. She also felt no hesitation or uneasiness when she placed his hand on her own breast as evidence of her accusation. She returned to her bubbly self immediately after he promised he'd keep her secret, which left him to question over which personality she displayed was real. Despite her strong disdain for Suzune, she still attempts to befriend her so as to achieve her goal. Although she blackmailed Kiyotaka to keep her secret, she still interacts with him openly after the ordeal. Nevertheless, the latter now treats her with the upmost of caution and suspicion due to her two-faced personality.
In a private conversation with Kiyotaka, she revealed that her dislike for Suzune is due to the latter not having a hidden side unlike herself. During this interaction, she acted sincerely for once which was juxtaposed to her violent tendencies Kiyotaka was prepared for. Despite that, part of her other-self was seen later on when she called Kiyotaka mean for being vague in his respond to her question. Her façade is praiseworthy as she has been able to dupe the majority of her peers into thinking that she was a bubbling and solicitous individual, however, keen observers like Airi Sakura and Ichika Amasawa have been able to deduce that there was something more mysterious, perhaps even sinister, to her than she lets on.
She once told to Suzune and Kiyotaka that she loves when people around trust her to the point of telling her personal things, and if it's a secret that no one else knows expect herself even better, because that means she is in a special spot on each people's life and brings her thrill and an unexplained joy that turns her on. She is also cold and vindictive when she loses the attention and trust they had given to her previously. In middle-school, the incident that made a whole classroom fight each other was a response of Kikyo in which she revealed the most deep and personal secrets that she hadn't post on her blog. To fullfil her goal she is capable of double-crossing people, even selling her entire class as long as it benefits her. Sometimes she acts more out of resentment or spite instead of reaching her goal.
In the drama CD which shows the characters' daily life, her personality was clearly demonstrated. She always prepares a to-do-list even when hanging out with her group of 'friends'. After confirming the participants, she will prepare possible courses of action, conversation topics, phrasing, and a-must say sentence beforehand so as to not leave any weaknesses for them to exploit or hold against her. With this, she believes that no weaknesses will accidentally slip out. Additionally, she felt that others won’t have the chance to gossip behind her back and ruin her good girl image especially after she went to extensive lengths to preserve it.
In the light novel, more of her violent tendencies are shown as she reveals that she hated Kiyotaka from the moment she met him for reasons yet to be revealed.
Her behavior hints that she merely sees everyone as a way to boost her reputation and chooses to hide it to avoid losing support. This is somewhat seen as it was revealed that she and Suzune went to the same middle school and her reason for trying to befriend her was to see if Suzune had discovered her secret. In the end, she sees everyone as a means to an end and doesn’t see them as anything more.
It is further revealed that the reason behind her actions is because of jealousy, especially when it comes to studies and sports. Due to this overly competitive spirit, she is considered a hard worker by Suzune. There is nothing too low that she wouldn’t do in order to be the best.
After Kiyotaka displayed her true nature for their classmates to see, Kushida attempted to destroy the whole class by exposing everyone's' secrets that was once entrusted upon her, just like she did in her previous school.
She did not mince her words and insulted all those naive enough to trust her, believing that it was already the end of the journey for herself. Thus, knowing that there was nothing left for her to lose, she wanted to entertain herself one last time through witnessing their despair at having their darkest secrets laid bare.
After her true personality was exposed then saved from expulsion by Suzune, she cried in frustration. After that incident, she remain absent in class by staying in her dorm thinking their is no place for her to return in class considering all the reputation she  built came crashing down when her true nature was revealed to the entire class and telling their dark secrets.
When she returns to class, she apologizes to Wang, Shinohara, and Matsushita for revealing their secrets but lacking sincerity of her words. She decided to contribute the class although she did it for herself in order to avoid expulsion by owing debt to her for her contribution in order to survive until graduation. Despite her overall personality, she has shown genuine fear towards Kiyotaka and Ichika as she has come to view them abnormal. Afterwards, she adopted a neutral attitude towards him before it seemingly evolved into a romantic fixation towards Kiyotaka. Her reaction to this is that of blushing and hitting her head to process the new feeling.


Classroom of the Elite

Kiyotaka is a tall and lean young man with brown hair, brown eyes, and a fair complexion. He is usually seen wearing a standard school uniform. Outside of school, he wears a white hoodie covering a green shirt with an orange stripe along with brown pants. He is also seen wearing a blue vest over a white shirt and brown pants. He has grown taller since his first arrival at the school.
He is considered to be very handsome, as was mentioned in the light novels, by Kikyō Kushida , that he ranked 5th in ikemen amongst the first-year boys. This is somewhat confirmed as he has attracted the attention of many girls in his class, some of whom are even very popular. [1] Kei , before she officially started dating him, said he is considered to be in the top 10 of the hottest boys in the entire school. Satō finds him hotter than even Yōsuke Hirata despite being rejected by Kiyotaka.
He also has an incredibly well-built body, which was pointed out by Suzune Horikita at the swimming pool. She noticed the immense muscular structure of his body and his arms, particularly his lower arms, and questioned if he did sports, to which he adamantly denied. The reason for this is most likely due to the extensive training he went through as a child in the White Room . [2] Most of the time, he is shown to express a lackadaisical and idle look, which gives off an unconcerned attitude. This can be interpreted as indifference or a relatively passive demeanor to his peers. It is shown in a flashback, that even as a child he possessed a similar unmoving expression that he would keep until adolescence. [3] Many see him as someone who is devoid of emotions as he has never once cried or smiled in their presence calling him abnormal.
In contrast to the anime, the light novel depicts (to an extent) Kiyotaka with more dynamic facial expressions.

Kiyotaka is an inconspicuous and unobtrusive student, and while his grades are average (on purpose), he possesses a sagacious ability to read the emotions of people around him with pinpoint accuracy and either helps or destroys them. [1] Despite his apparent laziness and lack of interest about everything and everyone, Kiyotaka is actually a highly intelligent individual, often pulling the strings behind the scenes.
He is well-versed in history as he has quoted many historical figures who are all well known for their intelligence. [4] He tends to come up with ingenious and imaginative plans such as using the school rules so that he could obtain old test questions from an older D-Class student by paying him 15,000 points. [5] He also used the rules and the purpose of points to bribe his teacher into stopping the expulsion of Ken Sudō . [5] In fact, it is hinted by a select few that he could have easily been placed in a higher class like A-Class if he actually applied himself.
He is somewhat socially awkward, as he is terrible at communicating with people and fails at correctly associating with them. [6] As a result, he speaks in a very monotonous way (in the anime) and tends to isolate himself from his peers, not getting involved with social activities. These traits tend to leave an impression on others that he is cunning, uncaring, breezy, and carefree, while also hinting at aloofness, latency, or generally a sense of apathy towards anything besides issues that specifically concern him. [1] That is why some people in his class still finds him to be an enigmatic presence despite having been with him for over a year.
However, he is shown to be capable of sustaining some conversations, though in a somewhat dull and monotonous fashion, as shown in his interactions with Kikyō Kushida and his other classmates. [7] Though he does put more effort in conversing with those he is truly close with and deep-down cares for them surreptitiously.
He appears to keep his word as he promised Airi Sakura that he would come to her aid when she needed it, a promise well-kept as he rescued her from a pedophilic stalker. He also promised Suzune that he would get her to get to A-Class even though it was forced. [3] Kiyotaka put his plan into action by assisting Suzune which in turn sheds some of her cold nature and allow her to open up to others, which had partially worked as he helped her get mass popularity after the island survival test.

Kiyotaka saving Suzune from her brother.

Kiyotaka has voiced intentions of making friends, but his emotionless attitude tends to leave him exempted from such matters. However, he has formed associations with others and seems to leave an impact on them. This was seen when he stopped Suzune from being assaulted by her brother , though he had no reason for getting involved. Whether he is simply going with the flow or genuinely looking out for Suzune is unknown, as both patterns are plausible. [8] He appeared to show this caring side again after sacrificing 50,000 of his points so Ken Sudō wouldn't be expelled after the latter failed the recent exams, though he only did so as there might be repercussions to losing a classmate, affecting his chances of getting to Class A. [5] He also had no problem referring to himself as a friend to Honami Ichinose of B-Class (even though they had just met) when she reached out to him for help. Though whether this was a ploy on his part to ease her or a genuine display of consideration for her is unknown, it seems in their later interactions suggested a deeper kind of friendship. When Airi contacted him for aid, as a crazed stalker nearly assaulted her, he quickly came to save her and comforted her after the attack. [3]
He does not like drawing attention to himself as after purchasing answers from old tests; he had Kikyō take full credit even though he invested a lot of money to get them. [5] This was seen again when he gave full credit to Suzune for stopping Ken's expulsion after failing a test despite it being his plan and Kikyō hinting it was him. [5] He also allowed Ken to believe Suzune planned the events that stopped his case after he was accused of hurting three students. In that time, he denied his involvement in stopping it several times in the events of Ken's case, despite Honami, Manabu Horikita, and Sae Chabashira all hinting that he was the orchestrator for saving Ken. [3] He appears not to enjoy showing off his talents, which was the main reason for concealing himself from unwarranted attention. It's unknown why he hides his intellect, but it is shown in a flashback that a mysterious man, later revealed to be his father, informed him that those who would hide their talent are fools. From this event, it could be that he does so to prove that he can do something without revealing what he is truly capable of. [9]
He does not seem to want to extend his energy unnecessarily in other matters. This was shown when he refused to become a secretary of the Student Council , despite directly being offered the position by the Student Council president . [3]
It appears that part of his aloof and standoffish personality stems from his mysterious past that he doesn't speak to people about. He gives vague answers about the matter and shows a dislike for people who ask about it, seemingly getting angry after they ask. In his anger, he is more serious in his tone of speech as shown when he sternly told Suzune not to pry into his personal history. [3]

Kiyotaka threatening Sae Chabashira.

In his anger, Kiyotaka is not above threatening people as he refused to comply with Sae Chabashira's order for him to aim for A-Class after stating to have been asked to expel him at the request of an unknown person later revealed to be his father. During this moment, he said his dislike of being manipulated as he even resorted to threatening her and grabbing her by the collar, unafraid that she was a teacher who could have expelled him for assault. [10]

Kiyotaka's real mindset.

Due to the upbringing in the White Room, he has come to see everyone around him as a tool and is only intent on winning above everything else. He does not mind manipulating others nor concerning himself with sacrificing a pawn as long as they help obtain his goal. Because of this mindset and his actions, it is unknown whether he really cares for those he has befriended or if he just gained their trust to use them. [11] It has been shown that he didn't have any emotions to begin with, as he had an untouched heartbeat during a fight with multiple fighters or while receiving praise by his father. His tendency to feed his intellectual curiosity, leads to apathy towards the feelings of other people, as he believes it is irrelevant to his learning and his self. [12]

Kiyotaka showing his true nature to Kei

In the light novels, his personality is somewhat different as he displays more emotion even having comedic fashions though he appears to still carry on a serious mindset. He has an extreme sense of unflappability and is sangfroid during difficult times. He has never shown to be under any distress when faced with threat or danger but once, he was blatantly angry at Kakeru after his deplorable acts against Kei. He is the most astute student in his class, crafting plans even Horikita wouldn’t be able to. Despite his abilities being leagues above others, he has no hubris but is lackadaisical about them.
It is shown that Kiyotaka can be very cruel for his personal gains, like when he set up Kei Karuizawa , in the Basement of the Cruise Ship, to be tormented by Manabe and her group, just so Kei would breakdown and become a pawn for him to use. Still, he is stalwart as he eventually did rescue her and made plans to comfort her after the ordeal as a learning point for her.
He is shown to be cautious of others as he doesn't fully trust Suzune, even making plans for her possible betrayal. Despite that he still associates with her. Also, he decided to challenge Manabu to a race where he chooses to reveal some of his talents. In a conversation with Chiaki Matsushita , he reveals that he hides his talents to avoid bringing any unnecessary attention to himself.
After the race, he is surprised to see he has gained new popularity and is depicted as a little more social as he made more acquaintances and bonded with them to use their first names. However, he sees some of them as pawns, but he seems to genuinely care about a few of the people he has befriended, meaning he may not be too entirely jaded in his views.

Kiyotaka attacking Kakeru in a rage.

This appears to be the case, since there are some of his classmates he refuses to manipulate for his own purposes, showcasing his moral side. [13] The most prominent display of his care for his friends was when he got angry and attacked Kakeru Ryūen for bullying Kei Karuizawa . At this moment, Kiyotaka was truly enraged which is a contrast to his usual calm behavior and his anger even scared the usual conceited Kakeru and his followers. [13] He also showed care to Honami Ichinose by comforting her, by telling her that he was always on her side after her history was revealed, and to Arisu Sakayanagi by catching her fall when Tsukishiro interrupted their secret meeting and kicked her cane in the Special Building.
When he was blackmailed by his teacher with expulsion, he actually tried to put in the effort to reach A-Class. However, when he discovered that neither his teacher nor father have any leverage to use against him to for expulsion, he gave up trying to advance to that class while ignoring the vehement protest of his teacher.


Classroom of the Elite

Kokoro has shoulder-length brown hair and yellow-gradient violet eyes.
She is normally seen wearing a school uniform.

In the first volume of the light novel, Kokoro was the second person who introduced herself after Yōsuke Hirata during the class introduction. Being a timid girl as she is, she can't help but stutter during her rushed introduction making her feel embarrassed about herself. After Kikyō Kushida reassured her that she's going to be fine as long as she takes time in building up her words, Kokoro was immediately relieved and delighted.


Classroom of the Elite

Kyō is a teenage boy, described to be as tall as Ken Sudō . He is good-looking and is referred by Chie Hoshinomiya as a "cool guy" at first glance. His hair is tied in the back and makes a bun, with some covering his entire nape and reaching shoulders, while in the front it falls on his forehead and make bangs.

Kyō is a mysterious person who appears to be wanting to help Kiyotaka Ayanokōji , through calling him and even appearing at the door of his dorm. It is unclear what his goals or his background are, but he is described as a king figure of his class, much like a controller. He is self-serving and categorizes people as friends and foes by judging them through their activities. He shows no mercy to his foes. According to Ryūji Kanzaki , he has a deep respect for Professor Ayanokōji and has talked with him multiple times. Though he appears as a king figure, he doesn't like to become the center of attention, and often assigns Osamu to take the role of the leader. He has a similar ideology as Kiyotaka Ayanokōji as both strive for a normal high school life.


Classroom of the Elite

As per Light Novels, He is a slender boy, with blue hair cut in a short bob. He is said to be of short stature with feminine features. [1]


Classroom of the Elite

Kōhei is a tall, intimidating, and well-built young man. He is bald due to an illness and has a large body frame compared to other students, which contributes to his intimidating appearance.

Kōhei is an intelligent student who worked very hard to reach Class 1-A that he became one of its representatives.
He is a serious man who adheres to the rules of manners and good conduct, as he reprimanded another student of the class for making fun of Ken Sudō and his classmates. He was calm in telling Ken not to get easily provoked by his classmates' actions, but his demeanor intimidated him into stopping from arguing any further. From this display, it shows he is one of the few upper students who have no problems in associating with those of the lower classes, or that he was simply annoyed by their antics.
He expresses slight anger when some of his failures are mentioned, such as when Kakeru Ryūen brought up his rejection after trying to join the Student Council .


Classroom of the Elite

Kōji has brown hair and brown eyes. He is wearing his school uniform.

Kōji made his first appeared in Light Novel Volume 4 as a member of Class A assigned to the Rabbit Group along with Shigeru Takemoto and Takuro Morishige from his class. When Ichinose suggests the group to cooperate and clear the exam through the first outcome. Other students, including Kiyotaka, agree but Machida from Class A rejects the offer and instead proposes a strategy Katsuragi has come up with: to not talk at all until the exam is finished so that there won't be a traitor among the group and allow the points to be equally distributed among the classes. Ichinose argues the strategy is benefiting Class A the most since it would cause the position of the classes to be unchanged and help them keep the lead. However, Machida stubbornly refuses and says he and his classmates will continue staying silent and not take part in the group discussions.
When Manabe and her friends were persistently trying to take pictures of Kei to confirm their suspicions about Kei bullying Rika, Kei turns to Machida for help, who then tells Manabe to stop forcibly taking photos of Karuizawa and that it would be better to talk with Rika to confirm the story making Manabe withdraw. Similarly, when Kei asks to join Machida during their group meetings for the Cruise Ship Special Test , Machida agrees and assures to help her if anything happens.
Kōji later appears during Event Selection Exam where he is chosen to play in the Basketball event along with Shigeru Toba , Masumi Kamuro , Naoki Shimizu , and Hayato Kitō against Susumu Makida , Minami Setsuya , Kanji Ike , Ryōtarō Hondō , and Kayano Onodera from Class D .


Classroom of the Elite

Mako is a girl of average height and she is seen normally wearing her school uniform.

Year 1 Arc: Student Evaluation Academic Ability C Intelligence C+ Decision Making D Physical Ability C Cooperativeness B+ Compare this evaluation Year 2 Arc: OAA Evaluation Update 1 Academic Ability No data edit Adaptability No data edit Physical Ability No data edit Social Contribution No data edit Overall No data edit Compare this evaluation: class-wise · school-wise


Classroom of the Elite

Manabu is a tall, well-built with short black hair that is swept to the left, violet eyes and square-rimmed glasses.
He's usually seen wearing a standard school uniform and he has also been seen wearing swim trunks when he is at the pool.

Manabu is a vastly intelligent and serious man who was very dedicated to his duty as student council president. He holds his role in high regard, displayed through his belief that his reputation could be tarnished if it was discovered that Suzune Horikita was in D-Class, the lowest class.
He does not tolerate excuses as he couldn't believe or accept his sister's words that her placement in D-class wasn't her fault. With no remorse, he almost went as far as attempting to assault Suzune, showcasing his violent side, before Kiyotaka Ayanokōji intervened. He quickly tried to take his fury out on him, but his strikes were easily brushed off by the latter. After the battle, rather than apologize to his sister, he reprimanded her anti-social nature and told her to work harder if she didn't want to be in the lower classes of the school.
He appears to enjoy complex social situations, as shown when he smirked at the complaint against Ken and when he informed Sae Chabashira why he was present at the hearing. Despite his serious outlook and reputation, he is not above giving praise to those who impress him, shown through his interactions with Arisu Sakayanagi and Kōhei Katsuragi about their success on the recent tests. This attitude appeared again when he complimented Kiyotaka after holding his own in a battle with him. He seems to have developed a degree of respect towards Kiyotaka as his actions have caught his eye, demonstrated when he hinted that Kiyotaka intentionally entered D-Class believing he is hiding what he is fully capable of and becomes disappointed when Kiyotaka does something that doesn't live up to his expectations, such as the events with Ken's hearing. However, he was willing to let Kiyotaka become part of the student council due to seemingly admiring his talents and although his offer was turned down initially, did not give up on trying to recruit Kiyotaka.

Spoiler warning : Plot from light novel beyond official English releases details follow. Click here to show spoilers.
In the light novels, he was not above accepting a challenge from Kiyotaka, and was shown to be very competitive against him in the race. Despite this rivalry, he did not mind going to Kiyotaka for aid after he saw that his successor was unruly with his power. These events show how much he has come to believe in Kiyotaka and appeared to respect his decision to think about it and not pressing the issue as they civilly bid one another farewell. Spoilers end. Click here to hide spoilers.


Classroom of the Elite

Masayoshi has long blonde hair that is tied in a ponytail and green eyes. He is normally seen wearing a male student uniform.

Masayoshi is a very self-serving individual with no real loyalty to anyone other than himself. He always sides with and places his bets on the winning team, in order to always stay on top.


Classroom of the Elite

Masumi has thigh-length purple hair that is tied in a long ponytail on the right side with bangs to the right side and purple eyes.
She is mostly seen wearing a standard female school uniform.

Masumi is a very honest and loyal girl who hasn't done any damage to the interests of the class. She is close with Arisu Sakayanagi , and willingly follows her orders. She is known to be a shoplifter.


Classroom of the Elite

Maya is a teenage girl of average height with upper-back length brown hair that has bangs hanging on the left side, and blue eyes. She is considered attractive by her male peers who expressed jealousy towards her association with Kiyotaka.
She opted for a laid back, carefree appearance by wearing a thin orange cardigan with the sleeves rolled up, with a loose tie around her neck.
During swimming class, she wore a swimsuit. In the survival test, she wore a tracksuit.

The depths of Maya's character haven't been fully explored, but she appears to be a friendly and cooperative person as she was willing to participate in the class introduction. She is considered to be one of the Class leaders for the girls after Karuizawa due to her influence and popularity in Class D. Because of that, she takes great care of her image. For instance, only seeking Kei for advice as she did not want others to know she was a late-boomer on the topic of romance.
She apparently crushes on boys who impress her such as when she openly clung to the arm of Kiyotaka Ayanokōji after he showed off his athletic prowess and even flirted with him by calling him "handsome and cool" as well as asking if he has a girlfriend. At first she only came to him because he could run fast and that if Kei didn’t had Hirata, she would have gone for him. However, she began to foster authentic romantic feelings for him after getting to know him better. She told Kei that she never had a boyfriend or a date before and thus, sought her out for advice and assistance. She made the effort to do up her hair and don a fragrance, hoping that it would increase the chance of Kiyotaka accepting her.
Throughout her first date, she was extremely nervous but thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with her crush. She was crestfallen as Kiyotaka didn’t seem to be enjoying their date together but brightened up after he said that he doesn’t smile at all and that he did enjoy their time together even if he doesn’t show it. She also prepared a gift for him beforehand but kept it after he rejected her. She thanked him for the fun day and he felt terrible for rejecting her but knew that it was for the best after evaluating her worth to him.
She confessed to Kiyotaka after the double date during Christmas, but was rejected and ran away crying. They promised each other that they will hang out again in the future and wants to see each other again but Sato couldn’t hold her feelings and excused herself first as she didn’t want him to see her in a pathetic state. She was hinted to have cried an innumerable amount of times behind closed doors after being rejected as the next time we saw her, she was able to frankly tell her friends she was rejected without being choked up. Her friends summarised that this could only had happened if she had come to terms with the rejection showing an immense amount of willpower to move on. That said, she still harbors feelings for Kiyotaka and has admitted that she finds him way cooler and hotter than Hirata, not holding against Kei for liking the same person. She still feels conflicted that her best friend was in a relationship with her crush but decided to uphold their secret and support them in whatever way she can.
After a while, she became more accepting and even rekindled her best-friend relationship with Kei. However, she made it clear to her that she is still very much in love with Kiyotaka and will take him for herself if Kei ever chooses to break up with him and go for another male. She is happy to hear their relationship progression and even teases Kei often on their development. She also knows when to cut back on her quips. On one occasion, Kei was upset about her earlier comments, she soon apologised and recognised that Kei's feelings were authentic and that she has no intention of cheating on him.


Classroom of the Elite

Mei has indigo hair tied up in twin-tails and pink violet eyes. She is normally seen wearing the female school uniform.

Year 2 Arc: OAA Evaluation Update 1 Academic Ability A- (84) Adaptability C- (44) Physical Ability C (51) Social Contribution B+ (77) Overall B- (62) Compare this evaluation: class-wise · school-wise She seems to be intelligent and academically adapt, based on her OAA, being one of the highest scorers in her class. Additionally, she has never scored lower than 80% on a midterm. She is well-versed in languages, as she did very well on her English test.


Classroom of the Elite

Miki has black hair that is tied up in a pony tie and blue eyes.
She wears the schools female student uniform.

Miki is a girl with high academic ability but doesn't express herself much.
In Volume 4.5 of Second Year Arc, Arisu Sakayanagi relies on her for following and keeping an eye on Ichika Amasawa 's actions.
In Volume 8 of Second Year Arc, she is assigned to the same group as Ayanokōji .


Classroom of the Elite

Minori has dark hair and gray eyes. She is wearing her gym clothes.

Kinoshita first appears in Light Novel Volume 5 where during the girls' Obstacle Course Race, shortly before reaching the finishing line, She seemingly collided with Horikita and isn't able to finish the race due to leg injury. It was later revealed that it was Ryūen's plan where he worsened Kinoshita's injury by stomping on her leg after giving her 500,000 points for consent, in order to get Suzune in trouble and get 1 million private points as compensation.
She then appears in Light Novel Volume 8 where she is in a group with Mei-Yu Wang , Hiyori Shiina , Nanami Yabu , Saki Yamashita , Takeko Nishino , Shiho Manabe , Haruka Nishi , Chikako Motodoi , Momoe Rokkaku and Honami Ichinose for Mixed Training Camp .
Kinoshita is mentioned in Light Novel Volume 11 by Honami Ichinose who states that she was one of Class 1-C who was following and harassing the students of Class B .
She later appears in Uninhabited Island Exam where she is in a group with Satsuki Shinohara and Kyōgo Komiya . She and Komiya had broken one of their legs after they were being thrown off the cliff. After being injured, they were forced to retire from the exam leaving only Shinohara from their group.


Classroom of the Elite

Mio is a teenage girl of average height who has short blue hair. Her hair has a single strand of hair sticking up, and she has purple eyes.
She is usually seen wearing the school uniform with a blue bowtie and orange shirt. Like all the other first years, she wore the red tracksuit during the special island exam period.

Mio prefers acting alone to socializing, which is one of the reasons why she is often isolated inside of her class. [1]
Unlike her peers, she doesn't seem to enjoy the violence inflicted on others, as shown when she flinched after Kakeru Ryūen smashed a glass bottle on the head of Daichi Ishizaki, or when Albert Yamada was ordered to beat Daichi and the others for their failure in attempting to get Ken Sudō expelled. [2] She made it clear that she disapproved of their cruelty and wanted them to stop their actions.
She doesn't enjoy being insulted, as demonstrated when she told off Kakeru for treating her like a plaything when he made advances on her. She appears to not like being pitied, as shown when she angrily slapped away the hand of Kiyotaka Ayanokōji when he was trying to help her up after she was knocked to the ground. [3]
Because of her time with Kakeru, she expects mistrust and deception, or even accusations towards herself. She told off Kiyotaka and his group to leave her alone when they enquired about her. [4] However, she can be surprised, such as when people actually give her the benefit of the doubt, for example, she was caught off-guard when Kiyotaka stated he trusted her after some panties were stolen from the girl's tent during the island exam. [5] She was so shocked at his belief in her she nervously blushed while thanking him for it. She is also somewhat curious, as she showed interest when Kikyō Kushida and Haruki Yamauchi commented on how incredibly close Suzune Horikita and Kiyotaka were lately.

Mio's true self.

She is very deceptive, as it is revealed that she infiltrated D-Class to steal Suzune's keycard, despite the class showing her kindness by taking her in and providing food and other necessities. She showed no remorse in stealing the card, even defeating Suzune in a fight. [6]