Different Possibilities

1.19 - Study Groups (1)

Finishing up my morning routine and getting out of the shower, it was time to check the messages on my phone that I've purposely been ignoring. Kiriyama texted me last night but I couldn't have been asked to deal with school-related information before I went to bed.

I turned on my phone and checked his message.

Kiriyama – [Hey Ayanokōji-kun, these are the members of your study group: Sawa Haruko, Konno Naoko and Fujiwara Kaede.]

Kiyotaka – [Okay]

I know nothing about the people in this study group, I've only seen them in the classroom, and even then I've had no interaction with them. This study group might be interesting.

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The day passed by rather quickly and as the bell rang to signify the end of the day Kiriyama stood up with papers in his hand. The eyes of all the students in the class minus Fūkas fell onto Kiriyama to listen to what he would say.

"Yesterday I sent out all the study groups to everyone that wanted to attend. In my hand are papers that will help the tutors of the group, it's a practice test so you can see what your study group members need to work on."

Kiriyama made this quite easy for us that are tutoring, I was planning on doing something similar. Although this is Class A and is hailed as the current elite of our grade it seems that quite a few students are eager to try and obtain the best possible grade they can or they are nervous about the possibility of getting expelled through a failed test.

I made my way to Kiriyama and grabbed the papers that he made for the study groups. Once I made it back to my seat, I started to look around for the members of my study group.

'Initiating a conversation is not something I'm good at yet'

I was going to make my way towards Fujiwara but was stopped by... Katayama?

She gave me a quick smile before motioning with her hands to come and follow her out and I complied, I followed behind her until we were out of the classroom. She looked around to make sure no one was near then gave me a quick smile. 

"I'm sorry for doing this Ayanokōji-kun, but I just wanted to speak to you quickly," Katayama said.

I've never talked to Katayama before so this was quite surprising. "It's okay Katayama but I am surprised, is everything okay?" I asked.

"Oh, everything is fine! I just wanted to speak to you about Konno."

Konno Naoko? I know she was placed under my study group what does Katayama want to speak to her about... ---

"Um, okay..." I was quite unsure of what to say.

Katayama clapped her hands together and bowed in front of me. "Just bear with her, she is in real need of tutoring and I don't want her to get expelled for failing a test."

I was getting a bad feeling about this tutoring session...

"What do you mean by bear with her?" I asked Katayama.

Katayama put her finger up to her chin "Hmm, I can't really say much but just know that she is actually a really nice person once you get to know her."

"You're leaving me with more questions than answers here..." I muttered.

"Well, I'm sure everything will be okay but just in case it doesn't here is my contact information feel free to reach out to me if you have any problems." Katayama proceeded to hand me her contact information.

I nodded in reply

"I see... thanks I think?" This conversation has left me confused. I can only deduce so much based upon what I've seen from Konno in class and even then, it's not enough for me to properly draw conclusions.

Katayama nodded her head "You bet! Good luck with your study group I need to go to my own!" she patted my shoulder before leaving and went back inside the classroom to meet with her own study group.

Leaving me now to wonder about how this study session will go, I made my way back inside the classroom to see all the members of my study group already together. I grabbed my belongings and walked towards them.

Arriving in front of them I waved "Sorry, someone wanted to speak to me."

"It's okay anyways we should get started soon I don't want to be working all day," said Sawa while stretching.

"I agree I'd like to hurry this up." Replied Fujiwara.

Konno nodded her head

I started looking around the classroom for seats however it was too packed "Well where would you guys like to do this? The classroom is a little too full right now," I said.

"Well how about Pallet Café?" asked Sawa.

Fujiwara and Konno accepted Sawa's suggestion.

I hesitantly nodded. I had been avoiding Pallet Café after Fūka told me it was a hangout for a majority of the females on campus, I've been attempting to keep a low profile when I was navigating around the campus due to whoever posted that picture of me last month, but hopefully, most of the female student body has forgotten about those gym photos.

We made our way to Pallet and was able to secure four seats. Fujiwara sat next to me while Sawa and Konno sat across for me. I was feeling out of place due to the glances that I was getting from inside the café.

"Maybe we shouldn't have come here" I was getting more uncomfortable as time passed.

"Oh, and why would you say that Ayanokōji-kun" said Sawa with a smirk.

Apparently, I said that louder than I thought. "I'm just feeling uncomfortable with so many people around," I half-lied.

Fujiwara took his chance to tease me "What is Mr.100% not happy with his popularity?"

I let out a heavy sigh and shook my head "If only the chairman didn't broadcast my name to the entire first-year class I could have gotten by with the peaceful school life that I wanted."

"hah you sound like an old man," Sawa said.

I shrugged my shoulders and started to take out the handouts that Kiriyama gave me earlier. "Why don't you guys finish this handout and I will get us something to drink?" I asked.

Konno had been quiet this entire time but what Katayama said was still fresh in my mind. If she didn't want to talk in the group maybe I could push her into a situation where she had to talk.

"If you're paying, I will take a coffee with 2 sugars please," said Sawa.

I turned my attention to Fujiwara, expecting Konno to be the last to give me an answer.

"I will take a hot chocolate, thank you," Fujiwara replied.

With that, I turned to Konno who seemed to be hesitating. Now that I am getting a look at her she is rather pretty. She had black long hair and a cute face... I should probably not stare too long. 

Konno opened her mouth "Coffee, 1 sugar," she said quickly without even looking up from the handout I gave her.

I nodded my head and made my way to the counter to order them their drinks. Once I had received the drinks from the barista, I walked back to the table and handed them to their respective owners. None of them looked up from their practice test and just continued to work in silence.

I leaned my head on my hand and closed my eyes, silently getting deeper in thought about the upcoming midterm. This midterm will be a good way for me to increase the number of private points I have while gaining more information about other first-years. The question is will I do everything from the shadow that is created by Kiriyama or should I make my presence even more well known among the first years. 

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Authors note -

Hey.