Would You Stand By Me? [On Break]

Chapter 8: An Interesting Surprise

"Thank goodness... His gone... I don't think I could keep it up a second longer..." Karuizawa said to herself.

She fell on her knees with tears slowly falling down her cheeks. She touched her face as her eyes widen. "Why..? Even though I said I would support him...?" Karuizawa mumbles as she looks down onto the cold park pavement.

"I see... So that's was why all along... It's almost like you don't recognize what you have until you lose it..." Karuizawa began accepting her feelings as more tears flow down her cheek.

"Stop it..." Karuizawa thought as her eyes slowly turned red. "Stop it... Now it's not the time to feel sorry about yourself...." Karuizawa wipes her tears away and slowly gets back on her feet.

As Karuizawa slowly gets up, flashes of memories regarding the "Rooftop" incident occurs.

The cold dark room, the hopelessness she felt from being tied, the fear she felt when she was unable to breathe due to the rag over her head, the soreness of her legs from being forced to kneel for hours at a time, the coldness of the water being splashed on her head, and finally the desperation of wanting to get away from it all.

However, at the same time she felt the hope she had while waiting for Kiyotaka to arrive, the disbelief of seeing Kiyotaka keeping his promise and protecting her, and finally the freedom she felt from being promised protection from her past by Kiyotaka.

"That's right Kei. You got up from things worse than this thanks to the help of Kiyotaka. It's only fair you do the same." Karuizawa thought to herself.

With a determined look, she takes out her phone and begins messaging class D's male representative, Yōuske Hirata, a person with neat short blonde hair, an average build and height, yet at the same time is capable and intelligent especially compared to his peers.

Unlike Horikita who has a superiority complex, Hirata is known to be kind, gentle, and understanding.

Karuizawa: "Hey Yōsuke, I learnt more about Kiyotaka's relationship with Sakayanagi-san and would like your help to spread the word."

Hirata: "Are you sure Ayanokoji would be okay with this?"

Karuizawa: "Yes I am sure. This is meant to help reduce the suspicion he attracted this morning and to keep our class united."

It took a while to convince Hirata but eventually Hirata agreed to help Karuizawa spread the word.

By using both of their reputation and social groups, the story Ayanokoji had shared with Kei was spread around like wildfire.

One of the people who received the rumour was Arisu herself. "Fufu~ it seems your pawn decided to make herself useful~" Arisu smugly giggles and decides to make her way down to Kiyotaka's dorm.

While Arisu was making her way to Kiyotaka's dorm, Kiyotaka's phone was constantly being notified. Hearing the notifications, Kiyotaka went to pick up his phone from his study table.

"Hm... Interesting, Karuizawa decided to trade suspicion with a short-term burst of intense attention. Not that I am complaining as it does improve my overall stability in class." As Kiyotaka thought to himself, he received a message from the school journalism club.

Kiyotaka was invited to have an interview session with them to create an article. A perfect chance to take control of the narrative and prevent Kushida from controlling the narrativr. He decides to reward Karuizawa and texts, "Thank you Kei for helping me out today. Would you like to go out with me during lunch tomorrow?"

Just as Kiyotaka sent the text, the door was gently knocked. It was almost as if Arisu and Kiyotaka were operating under the same modus operandi or in other words shared the same brain cell.

"This is interesting. Let's see what the other will do." The both thought as Kiyotaka reached for the door and opened it slowly.

Author Note:
Hey guys, decided to give the second best girl more character development. Yes Kei is the second best girl after Arisu in my eyes.

Don't worry the story will still focus on Arisu, after all she's best girl. Still hope you guys enjoy the character development. Even though I suck at writing things like this lol. It took me a week to iron out the flow ;-;

Image source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/109103852