Volume 2 - Top-Tier Character Ayanokōji-kun [DISCONTINUED] [READ THE REVISION]

(1/12) Chapter 11 - Sailing Towards A Towering Trial

The beautiful monster agreed.

Why wouldn't it?

After all, it couldn't get any cake anymore due to the mysterious disappearance of the woman it had met.

And if they hunted an animal together, they would have secured their supper for tonight's dinner.

The beautiful monster would also get a new friend in the strong hunter.

It was a win on every front.

So, the two of them set out.

They marched through the dark and damp forest with careful steps.

Then, the strong hunter spotted a frail and weak deer in the distance.

The beautiful monster sprang forth and chased after the innocent animal.

Meanwhile,

the strong hunter cocked his gun.

---

As I arrived at Sekimoto High, I waited a minute in front of the school building to see if Hinami would send me a message to meet up in Sewing Room #2 again. Strangely enough, Mimimi wasn't on the train today, nor did I meet up with her on the way to school. I wonder what she was doing at this moment.

Anyway, once one minute had passed, I headed to class. Homeroom hadn't started yet, so I was pretty early. When I opened the door to my classroom, I looked around and noticed something was different from usual. I walked over to the lonely Takei and... Hinami, who were talking by the window. What an unexpected pair, but at least Takei had a cheery air surrounding him.

"Nakamura and Takahiro aren't here yet?" I asked them. Those two were always here by this time, so my curiosity caused by their possible lateness prompted me to inquire about the matter.

"Nope," Hinami said, turning towards me. "I think Nakamura's out today."

"Really...?" We were nearing fall, which was cold season, so maybe something had gotten to him. But honestly, I thought it was due to something else.

"I bet you anything he's skipping!" Takei said, in a much more cheerful tone than his words required.

"Why do you think that?" I asked.

"Kiyo, you know about Yoshiko?"

"I don't."

Was there a girl in our class named Yoshiko? If so, why would they mention her? But I thought I'd memorized the name of each student already... Had I made a mistake?

Hinami got a word in edgewise. "Nakamura-kun has a complicated family situation. Mizusawa-kun once told me about this, but basically, his mom is really overprotective—one of those helicopter parents. If he gets bad grades, messes around too much, or stays out too late, she gets super pissed. And she's tough to beat on the best of days."

So Yoshiko was Nakamura's mom, meaning I hadn't done anything wrong. But was calling the mother of a friend by her first name a normal thing to do? Shouldn't there be some kind of distance? Maybe I'm overthinking it. Yeah, most likely. It's probably just Hinami being in her social butterfly mode again.