It was Monday.
It was nearly four in the morning when he finally returned to the dorm.
Ayanokouji Kiyotaka took a long, deep breath and slowly exhaled everything out as the door closed behind him.
There was an assignment. In order to solve it, he had gone out for some time on the weekend. And he did that for a good reason. If the assignment had been related to academic knowledge, he would have no problem dealing with it. Only it wasn't.
Regardless, he gained a valuable experience.
Now that the whole thing was done, Ayanokouji put the memories of the past few days in the back of his mind. He expected today would be the day he can get back to the average high school life.
Putting the backpack on the desk and hanging his warm coat in the wardrove, Ayanokouji checked the phone on the desk. With the battery completely drained, it displayed a dark screen, inactive. He charged it and turned to the kitchen for the next activity. Notification sounds started popping but Ayanokouji barely had half a mind to care about that. He lied down on the bed after a change of clothes. The blanket stayed folded as he didn't intend to sleep.
At the moment, he wanted to take a short break. An arm rested over his forehead. His breath went slower and slower as he momentarily entered a trance. He'd already had a cup of coffee prepared once the brewing machine finished its touch.
For now, Ayanokouji closed his eyes to welcome the darkness behind the eyelids. He stayed like that until the first ray of sunlight revealed over the horizon.
Not many students were in the hallway, he took that chance and made his way to the mailbox section. He opened his assigned box and placed an envelope inside.
The bell rang right on time. He walked back to class and quiet sat down in his desk.
"Where were you during the weekend?"
As expected, Horikita Suzune asked while she sent a questioning look toward his direction. Ayanokouji merely shrugged, focusing the usual blank stare at the chalk board.
"I was stuck with an assignment."
Saying nothing would not help him in case she found the urge to reach for the compass, so he told her the truth.
"An assignment for the whole weekend? Are you serious, Ayanokouji-kun?" Horikita was skeptical. "Was it so difficult that you ignored all my calls and messages?"
It couldn't be helped. The phone battery died on him so there was nothing he could do about it. Ah, he also didn't bring the phone with him while he was going out. Having the thing around wasn't clearly a choice he prefers to pick for that one assignment.
"I didn't aware any of that until this morning. I've never done much with my phone anyway."
"You weren't in the room then?"
"I spent most of the time outside during those days. Too much stress built up for that one assignment, you see."
"Hm. No wonder you didn't answer the door when I came knocking."
She visited his room? Considering the relationship they were having, that wasn't something to expect from Horikita.
"About the assignment you did, which subject it is?"
She decided to dig deeper. Ayanokouji could imagine she was not the type of person to hold a grudge against someone else but this level of suspicion may give him a bit of complication.
"Math. I tried the advance knowledge they teach in university."
"Really now? How did that go for you?"
