Ayanokouji What If: Popularity Time

V4 Chapter 9: For Myself

Kiyotaka Pov

Laying in my bed after the meeting with Karuizawa, I could tell I had a long and sleepless night ahead of me.

Jolts of paranoia, maybe, ran through my body. I wasn't entirely sure what this feeling was.

I wasn't nervous, but it felt like there was a small feeling creeping up my spine, causing me to stay fixed onto the door.

Perhaps I was waiting for a shadow to be seen passing under the door, or maybe a thump in the hallway?

Either way, there is someone on this ship that seems to be a rival to my abilities in stealth.

I didn't even notice that someone was watching, and now that puts the class in considerable danger. Some unidentifiable individual is ruining my plans as well as fixating on Karuizawa.

Was my thought about Rika warning Karuizawa incorrect? Possibly. It's better to go over what I had seen.

The footprints were large, definitely belonging to that of a male's foot. They were wet, yet I noticed that the footprints didn't lead anywhere else. It was if the person dropped from the ceiling and then jumped back into it when our conversation ended.

This, however, was impossible. On this ship, the culprit would have been caught immediately by the cameras in the ship's halls.

Maybe the figure put shoes on to walk? But why would they take them off to just stand and listen.

Clearly, this figure must have left those footprints intentionally to be found, that much is for certain.

Considering all the evidence, it isn't too far out of the realm of possibility for this culprit to do a handstand away, after all, they have already shown how skilled they are in the art of stealth, they could easily be skilled in some form of stretching and athletics.

This narrows down the potential list of culprits, however, it is likely someone from another class. I'm not sure however who this could be.

In this case, this situation calls for some information gathering, and I know just the person to help...

"Hm? You want me to talk to some people from Class A?"

I had asked Kikyo to meet with me in the morning to ask her a favor. Currently, we were sitting down in her dorm room, which was empty, with the other girls leaving awhile ago. She was sitting on her bed in a pink bathrobe, while I was on the floor in a gray hoodie, a dark green t-shirt underneath.

"Yeah, it's related to something important to me," I clarified.

"Something important to you? Is this related to the exam?"

"I'm not sure," I answered, continuing on to say, "it's possible that this could be a private matter as well."

"Ok, I understand. What are you looking for exactly though? Any person in particular to investigate? If it's some stupid fucking asshole I'll punch you."

"Err, would you say no?"

The beige haired girl shrugged, "probably not."

"Ok, so, I'm looking for someone who is very athletic, perhaps someone who could walk in a handstand."

Kikyo gave me a confused look, "why? They're not going to help you with anything if you do ask."

"It's a little more complicated than that, it's not that I'm asking them a favor, but more or less someone I need to be wary of."