Classroom of the Elite is a surprisingly good show. We say surprisingly because the backdrop and the animation of Classroom of the Elite are fairly basic.
In the distant future, the Japanese government establishes the Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing School. It is dedicated to creating an “elite” generation of highly skilled people who will support the country in the future. The school allows a great degree of freedom to its students to mimic real life, or does it?
The story follows the perspective of Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, a quiet and unassuming boy. He is not good at making friends and is fairly antisocial but possesses unrivaled intelligence. After meeting his classmates Suzune Horikita and Kikyo Kushida, the situation begins to change.
As the story progresses, Kiyotaka’s thoughts of ideal normal high school life begins to get scattered. While there is no clear romantic undertone to Classroom of the Elite as whole, it drops several hints that may indicate future pairings. Let’s have a look at potential love interests that can be explored in future seasons of Classroom of the Elite.
1. Kikyo Kushida
Kikyo Kushida is at first shown to be a bubbly, popular, sweet high school girl. She is the first person to befriend Kiyotaka and continually tried to befriend Suzune. However, in episode 3 we get to see an unexpected dark side to Kushida. As she swears repeatedly at Horikita in a secret tantrum, Kiyotaka accidentally overheard her. Upon discovering this, Kikyo threatened Kiyotaka not to tell anyone about her, or she would accuse him of sexual assault.
While this surprised Kiyotaka a little bit, the two continued their friendship. Nevertheless, Kiyotaka is now extremely wary of Kikyo, wondering which of the two personalities is the real her. Kikyo is shown to have harboring some sort of thoughts or feelings for Kiyotaka.
The two, however, have never openly talked about it. At the end of season 1, it is revealed that Kiyotaka sees Kikyo as nothing more than a pawn. However, as Kiyotaka and Kikyo are both people with secrets to hide, it will be interesting to see how the two progress in the upcoming seasons.
2. Airi Sakura
Airi is an extremely shy person, to the point that Kiyotaka hadn’t even taken notice of her until he needed her help. While she has problems in socializing with and being around people, Airi is an excellent judge of character’s personalities.
After her terrible experience with a stalker and being rescued by Kiyotaka, she decided to reinvent herself. She discarded her glasses and embraced the attention she drew.
She developed great admiration for Ayanokoji that may have slowly developed into a crush. Kiyokata for his part, was either unaware of this or acted purposefully aloof.
On the cruise, Kiyotaka discovered Airi alone talking to herself. She was trying to practice her romantic confession to him. However, Kiyotaka’s sudden arrival caught her completely off guard. Flustered, Airi asked if he heard her, to her relief, Kiyotaka denied this.
Airi is greatly relieved and instead asks him if he could help her in socializing with their class since she still had trouble talking with them. It is still unclear what Kiyotaka thinks of Airi.
3. Suzune Horikita
Suzune was the first person Ayanokoji interacted with from the Advanced Nurturing High School. The two of them shared the same anti-social streak that prevented them from making any friends.
In the beginning, this was what brought the two together. Gradually, they put their brains together to solve problems that came their way and even worked in groups.
Ayanokoji helped Horikita in opening up to her other classmates. This led to her becoming more popular while Ayanokoji still remained in the shadows for the most part.
By the end of season 1, it is shown that Horikita has softened up significantly towards Ayanokoji. In a surprising turn of events, it is also revealed that Ayanokoji had been using Horikita all along to an unknown end.
However, things are never what they seem in Classroom of the Elite. We may get to see interesting developments in the relationship between Suzune and Kiyotaka. Whether that will be a change for better or for worse is yet to be seen.
