Classroom of the Elite: After Story

New beginnings

"Ahh, yes  I helped her in her studies but, in the end it was the effort she put in that mattered.", he answered.

"So how many marks did you get?", my father asked.

Kiyo finished his dinner and wiped his mouth with a napkin and said, "Full marks, a 100". There was silence across the dining table as my family as they took a moment to process what he said. The first to break the silence was my sister,  Hina.

"So onii-chan is first in the country ?!" she exclaimed to which Kiyo said yes but was not sure whether he shared the top position with someone else or not.

"You parents sure must be proud of you", my mother said. I visibly flinched. 

He had told me about his family situation. Apparently, he had no mother  and he used to lived on his own without his father and got homeschooled, his father took strict control of his life to the point where he never used to go outside his house . 

Before I could say anything  Kiyo answered, "Yeah they probably are". His eyes might mine , and I silently conveyed that I would tell them about it later.

All of us had finished dinner at that point .Hina and I started collecting all the dishes, Kiyotaka offered to help but I said it was alright.

"Say Kiyotaka, do you mind sharing a drink with me upstairs in the balcony with me ."

?!

 ▢▢▢

Apparently people have a whole other side when they start drinking. Kiyotaka watched as Kei's father who had seemed so protective of her earlier once under the influence of alcohol turned into a what he could only call a doting father as he was talking about his daughter for the past 20 minutes.

It was already dark and there was a cool breeze in the air but he didn't feel cold because of the alcohol. 

He was feeling a little woozy because he had accidentally taken a big gulp of alcohol draining about a quarter of his glass cup in one go much to the amusement of the man sitting opposite to him. He decided not to drink anymore and set the glass on the table.

At first he felt that it was going to be an interrogation of sorts but not once during the conversation had he felt like it was one. It was amusing to himself and his drinking partner to listen to his slurred speech.

They talked about a lot of topics. At some point he sensed another presence on the other side of the door to the balcony though it hurt his head to guess who it was  based on the height of the person's mouth as they let out a breath . Then it suddenly hit him.

He didn't need to stay alert.  

"Where do you live in Chiba, Kiyotaka?", the man asked the boy.

"I live nearby in the apartment next to the local shrine", he was careful not to add 'on my own'. The apartment was one of the few favours from Director Sakayanagi along with a few essentials  like clothes, a bed and money.

The buzzing in his head had slowly started receding but as his body started to detoxify the alcohol in his liver. As a result though, he started feeling drowsy. One of the few disadvantages of having an artificially advanced body and immunological system he guessed.

Kaito-san was telling him a story about Kei and a phase where she had acted like a ninja for a whole week when she was eight after watching a movie when he realised that Kiyotaka had fallen asleep. He got up with a smile on his face as he called his wife who was listening from the other side of the door to prepare the guest room for the boy to sleep in.