The romantic intrigues of Classroom of the Elite are quite interesting and are of interest to a lot of fans of the series. Whether it’s some major ship or something of lesser importance, fans around the world keep discussing how their favorite characters might evolve and who they might end up with in the end. In this article, we are going to talk about Kiyotaka Ayanokōji and Kei Karuizawa, two major characters from the series, to reveal whether they end up together and what the exact nature of their relationship is. All you need to know about this ship is going to be included in this article, so let us start.
- Article Breakdown:
- Kiyotaka Ayanokōji and Kei Karuizawa do seem to end up as a couple in Classroom of the Elite. They confess each other’s love to one another and become a couple officially.
- After this confession, they end up being very close, even kissing, in the later volumes of the light novel series. In the 2nd Year volumes, they become even closer and even more intimate.
- Since the series is still not over, we don’t know how all of this will end, but for the time being, the two are still together.
Do Kiyotaka Ayanokōji & Kei Karuizawa end up together? Explaining their relationship!
During the survival test on the island, when Suzune chose Kiyotaka to serve as a guardian along with Yōsuke Hirata to watch over the boys in the class, she noticed that he was invisible to the rest of the class. Kei agreed with Suzune that he didn’t seem to be lewd, which seemed to indicate that she didn’t pay too much attention to him.
Due to her monologue at the end of the anime, it is unknown what he thinks of her. In the light novels, their relationship is much more complex than it is in the anime. Just like in the anime, Kei initially didn’t think much of Kiyotaka. She often put him down for being an “unremarkable boy” despite having nothing personal against him.
After he and Yukimura overhear Manabe and her group harassing her, she begins to hold a grudge towards him, unable to look at him without a furious face, and is upset when Hirata arranges a meeting with him but brings Kiyotaka along with him. It was soon revealed by Hirata that her condescending attitude is a facade that she maintains to hide her true self.
He explains that Kei has been bullied for nine years since she was little and also reveals the false relationship between her and Hirata. After learning about Kei’s past, Kiyotaka manipulates Manabe and her group into provoking Kei in an isolated room, then he blackmails her, promising to protect her from being harassed in exchange for helping him with the plot.
After her, he seems to have forged a bond of trust with her, where Kiyotaka is shown to trust her more, even more than Suzune. In volume 6 of the light novel, it seems that she has developed a love for Kiyotaka. Her affection towards him is further hinted at in the light novel when she becomes jealous of Maya’s flirtations with Kiyotaka.
Kei is one of the few people who call Kiyotaka by her first name. She was also the first person to congratulate him on his birthday, causing him to hesitate about deleting her text messages, which she usually does. He also found out about her birthday and decided to do the same for her. In volume 7, Kiyotaka decides to cut ties with her after losing a reason to move up to A-Class after it turns out that there is no control over him.
Despite this, Kiyotaka changed his mind about her being a valuable and efficient pawn after saving her, but in truth, whether or not she was useful was a secondary concern since all he cared about was that she remained his. Regardless of this perspective on her, he seems to truly care for her as he protects her by violently attacking Kakeru and easily defeats him through brute force and intense fear of her when he threatens her.
Her actions shocked Kei as she watched him defeat Class C. She was shaken by her true abilities but hugged him being relieved that he would come to her aid as she said in her promise to protect her. In volume 7.5. Kei realizes that she is in love with Kiyotaka, and in the epilogue, they talk about Karuizawa breaking up with Hirata, which Ayanokōji agrees with because it was the plan all along. Ayanokōji now states that he will now call Karuizawa by her first name, Kei, as well.
He then shows that he is worried about her. In the epilogue of volume 11.5, Kiyotaka declares his love for her, and she accepts. In 2nd Year Volume 1, Ayanokōji invites Kei to his room to study together and makes her take the exams Keisei prepared; then Kei asks Ayanokōji if her skills were actually C since he was teaching her; Ayanokōki responds by saying that she can get 400 points which she claimed was equal to an A academic ability and doubted it.
She asked him if she really could do it, and he explained that there hadn’t been a problem that he couldn’t solve since she came to school. Later that night Kei notices a strand of red hair on the floor and inquired from Ayanokōji who it belonged to, then the doorbell rang and Amasawa’s figure is seen on the monitor, causing Kei to take the red hair.
In his hand. She introduces herself to Amasawa and asks him what her relationship with Ayanokōji is. She jokes that he is her personal cook, so Amasawa bends down to look for the missing hair under the bed and then provokes Ayanokōji by asking him to stop eating. Seeing his butt which makes Kei glare at him. In Year 2 Volume 3, he initiated and gave his first kiss to calm her nerves as she had complicated feelings for him and their future together on the 3rd night of the Unmanned Island Trial.
They are comfortable with moderate physical contact but still choose to keep their relationship a secret. He tasked her with looking for “someone” who had not yet been revealed and was encouraged by the fact that she was openly jealous of him when he hung out with Nanase. In Year 2 Volume 4.5, they decided it was time to reveal their relationship to the public and also chose to do so after the holidays.
She called him to clear up the rumors circulating around him. Deciding not to voice his thoughts for fear of causing unnecessary trouble, he waited for Kei to tell him what she had heard before formulating his response. He assures her that he won’t cheat after making it clear that she has zero tolerance for it. After clarifying the rumors about Satou and Nanase, he decided not to tell her about Ichinose’s confession.
Towards the end of their conversation, he said “I love you” to her for the first time, which made her laugh out loud after asking if he did. He repeated the phrase again, but with more reluctance than the first time after she selfishly asked him to repeat it. Then she told him the phrase and announced that she wouldn’t let anyone have it.
They then ended the conversation by wishing each other goodnight as Kiyotaka, that love is not a bad feeling. Later, she went to her room. She was excited but a little apprehensive about announcing her school relationship. Kiyotaka told her that if she didn’t want to, she didn’t have to force herself, to which she immediately declined his proposal, happily saying that he would protect her.
After finishing his coffee, he surprised her by kissing her twice on the lips without warning. Then he said to himself that he had to improve his timing. After asking her if she was ready, she nodded, and they began their first deep kiss, which lasted over 10 seconds. Then they repeated the kiss as he considered how she should learn to handle him without clinging to a host.
Moreover, he thinks that this relationship only has a limited duration because they will soon have to face their biggest challenge, which is his father. Despite this, he hopes he can live and experience many happy moments before that moment inevitably arrives.
When Airi was expelled, Kei was deeply affected by this and angrily asked if Kiyotaka would do the same by appointing her when she would no longer bring any additional benefits to her class.
Kiyotaka replies that it wouldn’t happen since she and Airi are fundamentally different people, and comparing them is redundant since the situation would be different. Kei berated him, displeased with his answer, saying that the correct answer would be how he would protect her at all costs, no matter what. Kiyotaka then admits that he has a lot to learn about romance before trying to assuage his anger.
Does Ayanokōji really like Kei?
We have explained how Ayanokōji and Kei actually became a couple in the series, officially even, which was a major moment for both of them, especially in the eyes of some other characters in the series. Their relationship had a lot of impact on the series, and it changed the dynamic of the interpersonal relationships between some of the students; their relationship especially impacted Maya and Yōsuke Hirata. But, knowing their personalities, especially Kiyotaka’s, can we say they are really in love?
Well, as far as Kei is concerned, she has confessed her love for Kiyotaka, and based on everything, we can confirm and assume that she really is in love with the guy. Even then, their relationship entered a somewhat problematic stage in 2nd Year, she was able to collect her emotions, and she decided that she was ready to reconcile with Kiyotaka. As far as things stand, Kei’s emotions really do seem sincere.
But what about Kiyotaka? We know that he is a loner and that his emotions are not something that can be used as a good example of anything. He himself has said that he doesn’t attach himself to people and that he only sees them as pawns, i.e., he uses them because they are useful and nothing more. So, is he really in love with Kei? Well, the series has so far indicated that he is – he has confessed his feelings, and he has, more or less, been a good boyfriend to her.
Still, the series is not over, and we cannot really confirm that Kiyotaka is truly in love with Kei; we’ll have to wait until the series is over to actually confirm this, but this is not strange when Kiyotaka is concerned.
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