3rd Person POV
The name that came up on Ayanokoujis phone was of Suzuki Shizuku, but that was not as important as it should have been, one secret was spilled and it came into everyone's mind once their attention shifted from their phones back to the two people who had caused the most commotion today.
Shinohara: "Suzuki san... d-did you just say that Kei was his g-girlfriend?"
Hearing that question which was directed to the newcomer, Karuizawa couldn't help but squirm uncomfortably in her seat.
Ike: "You also said she looked like... you..."
The students who were listening to his words started comparing them two, although they had just met. Shizukus blonde hair and porcelain skin provided a match with Karuizawa.
Horikita: "Ayanokouji kun, What is the meaning of this? Don't tell me..."
She asked him with a hint of unease as her words trailed off near the end.
The two blonde haired maidens were silent, they were currently waiting for his response. The students had no doubts anymore about who was his girlfriend, there were no shocked faces anymore. It was just pure curiosity to what Ayanokouji would reply with.
However before he could his friend Keisei decided to interject with a single word that would explain a lot and nothing at all.
Keisei: "Projection..."
It was a single word that was uttered but it contained a lot of heaviness beneath it...
Although he is inexperienced, he knew how bad it was to project an image on to someone else... doing that was harmful to both the perpetrator and the victim. Nonetheless Ayanokouji did it, he even made that person his lover due to it.
Sudo then opened his mouth to speak, it was a question that was shared by those less knowledgeable about such mental health conditions.
Sudo: "What is that?"
Matsushita opened her mouth to respond, since it dealt with her fried and with the girl who just transferred, it was a serious topic.
But to her friend... it was worse...
Matsushita: "Aynokouji kun is thinking of Karuizawa san as Suzuki san. Am I right Ayanokouji kun?"
That answer gave credibility to Shizukus claim that Karuizawa was his girlfriend, although there was no need for it since they already concluded the reason why.
The aforementioned boy still didn't speak in light of the situation, but what was in his mind was different...
He had no way of getting out of this without causing problems for him and his girlfriend...
To find out that the foundation of their relationship came from his own delusion that Karuizawa was Shizuku. It would have cracked their relationship.
In fact it would have cracked any relationship...
Kei: "Stop it..."
Words of pleading cane out of her mouth...
Her feminine voice made its way to everyone's ears, an appeal that made everyone look at her figure...
A figure that was trembling due to the revelation, a figure that held a dark expression across her face, a figure who couldn't think straight...
Shizuku: "Why should we? I want to know more."
Shizuku addressed her plea with one of her own, she as much as Karuizawa felt distress. Although her mental fortitude was strong, the realisation also shook her.
Horikita: "I agree with Suzuki san, Ayanokouji kun, tell us."
Horikita has switched her approach, speaking with a soft that was uncharacteristic of her, she probed for an answer from Ayanokouji.
Yet the boy still didn't respond, that silence caused a couple of students to start questioning him too, the exam forgotten once again.
Onodera: "Tell the truth Ayanokouji kun!"
Her tone of voice was rough as she expounded her own views on this matter.
Miyanoto: "Tell them! Stop keeping it to yourself!"
He was forceful as he glared at the boy for him to say something.
Sudo: "Tell us man! Look at Karuizawa!"
The boy beckoned Ayanokouji for an answer as he looked at Karuizawa, though he knew he shouldn't be doing this. He also thought that telling Karuizawa was for the best...
Their words reverberated across the room, the noise level increased drastically as the students interrogation didn't stop, five minutes of shouting towards the boy continued as Satou went over to console her friend.
Shizuku who was at Ayanokoujis side turned away to face the students, scanning each one of them. She had noticed the girl known as Hasebe Haruka with three other people.
All of them who were mumbling to each other, that caused her interest to peak, since she was told that Hasebe was Ayanokoujis friend.
She turned her attention to Karuizawa who was now being comforted by Satou and Matsushita, whilst Shinohara was at the front line of the interrogation.
Shizuku: 'This really is... stupid. All you have to say is yes, one word and you will be mine. One whole special exam where I get to love you... I can't wait!'
She grew a creepy grin as the shouting continued...
Ayanokouji who was being interrogated was just silent, no noise came from him other than his inhalation and exhalation of air.
There were 5 minutes left until the next class, yet nobody paid attention to the clock. All their attention focused on the boy, including Koenji who had found this mildly interesting.
Hirata who was the usual mediator of the class had held back on reprimanding everyone, he chose to let his friend do what he can.
He didn't want to interfere, rather he just observed.
Yamauchi being the obnoxious prick he is was growing more and more demanding with his questions, eventually overshadowing Shinohara who had stepped down to console Karuizawa who was still in a sullen state of mind.
Yamauchi: "Tell us now!-
*Ring* *Ring* *Ring*
Yamauchi was cut off by the bell along with the other students.
Ayanokouji: 'Took you long enough...'
The door then slid open to reveal Mashima sensei who was the teacher for this period.
Mashima: "Sit down everyone! Class will begin now."
The students who had forgotten that they had other classes for today made their way back to their seats.
Karuizawa who was still sad was accompanied by her friend to her seat, however she didn't look up or speak...
Horikita who had been planning on having a meaningful discussion was frustrated when the bell rung and the class would begin, she sat down with a vexed expression on her face.
The Ayanokouji group had made a plan to speak with Kiyotaka in his dorm, though it will be the first they had stepped foot in it.
Suszuki Shizuku made her way to the empty seat beside Hirata, the seat that once belonged to an old classmate of his.
She was ready to tackle the exam, the plans inside her head were immense. Living together with the boy was a blessing.
Ayanokouji who had just had his secret relationship exposed had an idea, he opened his mouth as Mashona Sensei was busy writing on the board the title of the lesson.
Ayanokouji who hadn't opened his mouth to respond to the questions had called out to Karuizawa Kei. His unique monotone voice capturing the students attention.
Ayanokouji: "Let's talk later Ke, I want to explain myself in private."
Shizuku turned immediately to the boy with a confused expression.
Shizuku: 'What is he planning on doing?'
They were sharing the same room, wouldn't Karuizawa being there hurt her even more if she saw them two together?
That's what was going through Shizukus head...
The majority of the class still don't know who was Ayanokoujis partner...
Including Karuizawa...
That was one of the reasons why he stayed silent during the interrogation, if she found out...
She would go berserk.
With the students now seated the class began.
*Timeskip*
It was now lunchtime, a couple of students remained behind whilst the rest had went to the cafeteria.
The class had felt no need to question him anymore as Ayanokouji had announced that he would speak to Karuizawa in private.
However a couple of people had objections to it, seeing their friend in such a state as before they asked him whether they could join him and Karuizawa.
Most notably Kushida, however she didn't say anything drastic.
Karuizawa was currently with her friends as they had invited her to be with them. They wanted to ask her a couple of things...
The person who suggested it was Matsushita Chiaki, it would be a great way to get information on Ayanokouji.
On a dinner table inside the cafeteria, Matsushita Chiaki, Shinohara Satsuki, Satou Maya and Karuizawa Kei were seated together, the conversation was flowing between Karuizawas friend as she sat there listening to them.
Five minutes had passed since they sat down and were eating their food, though Karuizawa had no appetite, she still ate.
Shinohara: "Kei... I know I am being insensitive but, what are you going to do about Ayanokouji kun?"
A random question suddenly came out of Shinoharas mouth, the earlier conversation halted and now the trio were looking at the aforementioned girl.
Kei breathed a sigh as she made eye contact with Shinohara, then she moved her eyes to look at Matsushita and Satou, their expressions only contained conecern, seeing them she eased up and started to... vent?
Kei: "I don't know... we have been dating for 2 months and he never mentioned her...
She looked down at the table with a wry smile, her eyes glassy as she tried tried speak further, however the she couldn't help her voice croaking as she continued...
I-I don't know... what exactly does he see me as? A-am I just a r-replacement? T-that's horrible...."
She couldn't continue as tears started to fall from her eyes, her words were stuck in her throat as Satou who was beside her started patting her on the head in an effort to console her...
Yet, the sobs were filled with their own words...
'What am I to you?'
'Who am I to you?"
'Do you really love me?'
The two girls, Shinohara and Matsushita stood up simultaneously, intent on seeing Ayanokouji.
Matsushita has given up asking about anything from her friend.
Shinohara was pissed off at Ayanokouji for being the reason as to why she is like this, she was already shocked by Ayanokoujis relationship with her friend. But she had no idea... she had no idea how much Ayanokouji impacted her.
She was hell bent on getting answers from Ayanokouji.
Shinohara: "Let's go Chiaki..."
She addressed her friend with a serious tone, she knew that Matsushita was thinking the same way she was.
Chiaki: "Yeah..."
With a firm response they left the two on the table and started to bring their trays back to the bin and packed them up before leaving. After that the two now walked back to class where they assumed Ayanokouji was, however what surprised them was that Ayanokouji was walking towards them...
With a girl at his side, a new face that Shinohara had t seen yet...
Except for Matsushita who had adopted a shocked expression.
The girl that Ayanokouji was walking with was Akihime Haruno, the third monarch of the country, the princess...
Matsushita stopped in her tracks as she stared at the beauty who was at Ayanokoujis side, seeing her friend stop Shinohara posed a question.
Shinohara: "Chiaki why did you stop? He is right there- wait who is that?"
Her words had fallen on deaf ears as Matsushita stared at the two with eagle like eyes, completely baffling her friend as it was the first time she saw her expression like that.
The two continued walking towards them, whilst conversing with each other the duo of Matsushita and Shinohara could start hearing her words more clearly.
Ayanokouji POV
I was quite hungry after the whole debacle of this morning...
But another thought occurred to me, today is the first day of the exam. Yet we hadn't received any tasks to complete...
Is it because we are still in class? Most likely, but with this school you don't know what could happen...
"Hahh..."
I breathed a sigh, I started to look around the room and found a lot of the students weren't here...
The Ayanokouji group led by Akito had asked me to accompany them but I refused saying that I needed time to myself, which they thankfully complied with.
Now I'm stuck on my lonesome, or so I thought until I saw Horikita walk up to me and sit on mAtsushitas seat with her bento in hand.
She then turned to me and looked at my bento, with a surprised expression she spoke up.
Horikita: "So you took my lessons to heart? That's surprising, I thought you would just eat canteen food until graduation..."
Her remark had caused me to stop eating and to respond to her.
"Stop with the small talk and tell me what you need."
I cut straight to the point, since there were a couple of students here I uttered those words in a low audible tone so that only she could hear.
Horikita opened her bento box and took a piece of her mini sausages and combined it with her rice to eat, upon finishing her bite she answered my response.
Horikita: "Who is your partner?"
She glanced back and forth at me and her food, I guess she had an inkling as to who my partner could be, but was still uncertain.
"Try and guess, it's still troublesome either way."
The fact that the exam meant that I had to live with a member of the opposite sex was already intimidating to me, but since I now had to share a dorm with Shizuku...
That caused another set of problems.
Horikita: "Judging by the way I saw you glance at Suzuki san earlier when the announcement went out, it is her isn't it? That is... certainly problematic for you."
I nodded at her answer.
She knew the implications of me living with her, With the relationship between me and Kei our in the open...
Living with Shizuku was going to cause chaos in our relationship...
Horikita took another bite of her bento and swallowed before importing once again into our conversation.
Horikita: "You sure have it rough... but don't forget, this is a special exam. I want you focused on it."
"Yeah I am focused on it, don't worry..."
Horikita: "You don't sound like you mean it..."
Her tone of voice actually contained a hidden sense of... concern?
"What exactly do you mean by that?"
Horikita didn't respond to me, rather she just continued eating her bento, I took that as the cue to end our small back and forth.
I once again dig into my bento as she did too, the class atmosphere was uniquely mundane as if there was no colour in it, the class residents were merely muttering to each other and the chewing noises of all of us were accompanying it.
It had been two minutes since we stopped talking, five since lunch started.
I had finished my bento whilst Horikita was taking her time.
???: "Hello? Is Ayanokouji Kiyotaka here?"
A soft voice reverberated across the classroom, the door was slid open and there stood a beauty with black hair that had white lilac threads on the end, although it was a weird pattern it didn't look bad on her...
Her expression was stiff and the aura she was carrying was immense.
I glance at the girl beside me to see her with a shocked expression, but why?
The residents of the classroom who heard her turned to me, following their line of sight the girl now eyed me like a predator, her eyes like a hawk as her face slowly transitioned into one of a gentle smile, the eyes she earlier disappearing completely once she got a good look at me.
I stood up from my seat with my empty bento box still on the table.
???: "Oh Kiyotaka! Seriously!-
She didn't continue her words as she had paused and started moved towards me with fast paced steps. As soon she was in front of me I could see her her face much more clearly, she did indeed look beautiful.
My classmates watched as we now stood mere feet from me, Horikita who I thought was going to speak was rendered silent as she was still in a daze for who knows why.
A girl who I remember to known as Mori Nene stood up and asked the question that the rest who were inside the class wanted to know, I was surprised when she stayed inside the class, usually she would leave with Kushida clique,
Mori: "E-Eto, hello? Can I ask, who are you?"
Her question was one of pure curiosity as she glanced between me and her.
The girl who was in front of me ignored her as she put her hands into her pocket and drew out a handkerchief, it was a pink handkerchief with white and blue flowers on it side by side to form a pattern.
She then brought it up to my face which I instinctively shifted my face to the side as to avoid it.
My classmates who bore witness to her movements had question marks on their heads, I decided to question her myself.
"Who are you and what was that for?"
???: "You don't know who I am?"
Her face dropped as she glared at me with a fervour, gripping her handkerchief with force I spoke up as to diffuse her anger, though I don't know why she would be angry that I don't know her...
This is like the sports festival incident except the reactions from the two were different and the time and location too.
I spoke up again.
"I don't, please do tell me."
I tried to sound as calming as possible, yet my monotone voice got in the way as usual...
The girl looked at me incredulously, but before she could open her mouth to respond, Horikita who had awoken from her daze spoke up for her.
Horikita : "She the third Monarch, the princess Akihime Haruno..."
As soon as the word momarch came out of her mouth my classmates adopted solemn expressions.
Akihime: "You are correct Horikita san, at least one of you recognised royalty, though I expected better from you Kiyotaka."
She made die t eye contact with me as my classmates looked at us.
"Why exactly are you calling me by my-
I was cut off by the girl in front of me as she once again brought her handkerchief to my mouth.
Akihime: "You are going to ask me why I called you called Kiyotaka with food on the side of your mouth?"
She stared wiping the crumbs off my face.
Akihime: "Lets go outside Kiyotaka, I bet you are confused so let me enlighten you as we walk."
She finished wiping my mouth with handkerchief as her outstretched hand gripped on to my own and started dragging me.
"Why should I go?"
I stopped her dragging by firmly planting my feet on the ground.
The people inside the classroom were looking at us with wide eyes as she held onto my hand, this was the second time today where I had caused a commotion, once again with another girl.
Akihime: "We are leaving."
Her aura of supremacy trickled into the class and gripped the atmosphere like a vice, she wasn't asking me to accompany her now, it was an order.
Horikita: "I-I think y-you should go."
Horikitas tone of voice was shaky as she looked down at the bento box on her table.
I looked around the room at the remaining classmates there and they all seemed to be in a similar state...
I forced her hand off my own and started walking with the girl following suit.
Arriving at the door I turned back to face her.
"Ok you said you wanted to talk, where should we go?"
Akihime: "To the cafeteria, lets talk as we walk and then find a table."
I merely nodded and opened the door and walked away with Akihime at my side, leaving the room in utter silence.
"Why did you come and see me?"
I asked that as an opener, this girl is still of an unknown element to me, her aura and the fact that she is a princess means a lot.
Akihime: "Why wouldn't I come see you? My parents always told me good things about you."
She gazed at me as we walked, her soft tone of voice had itched my brain and the content of her answers gave me a few options of conversation.
"What exactly did your parents tell about me?"
I glanced at her before looking away, if her parents knew about the white room...
Then it could cause more problems down the line.
Akihime: "They told me about how talented you were, how strong and handsome you were... I sound like an admirer don't I? But that was what I was back then..."
She looked down as her face showed the faint tint of red, I decided to probe even more from her.
"So you admired me, I am flattered. Though I don't know why you decided to call me by my given name when this is the first time I met you..."
I asked that question that was laced with a double meaning, if she was like Sakayanagi then she would have visited me in the white room and saw me through the glass, she would've seen me... I wouldn't have known of her existence...
Yet that doesn't mean she should call me by my given name should it?
"Why exactly are you calling me by my given name though, it isn't as if I don't mind but it just rolls of f your tongue with ease..."
Akihime lifted her head to face me, however the faint tint of red that was on her cheeks was now gone, she was openly glaring at me now...
What did I do?
"Why are you glaring at me?"
It was like this in the classroom earlier and when she went up to wipe my mouth she showed no signs of discomfort.
Her behaviour was unlike a princess, though her posture and way of speaking was very elegant she had acted out of precedent during our interactions...
Akihime: "You really are dense you know..."
Well... what could I be dense about? Also being dense doesn't give you the right to act this way towards me when we only met five minutes ago...
Akihime once again opened her mouth to speak, still keeping that same expression on her face.
Akihime: "There is one way to make you understand...
She paused and looked me directly in the eye as we continued walking.
The hallways were empty as I assume many are in the cafeteria room are still in the classrooms...
Do you have a girlfriend?"
Not this question again...
So the reason as to why she said I was dense,... is it because she holds romantic feelings for me?
I decided to inquire about that.
"Are you asking if I have a girlfriend because you like me?"
Hearing my words she went fully red, I expected a princess to be more composed than this...
Stuttering as she tried to answer my question.
Akihime: "W-What?! W-where did THAT come from?"
Her glare had faltered, the scarlet colour remained on her face as she tried to recompose herself.
"You haven't denied it..."
I posed that thought towards her as we were now nearing the cafeteria...
She looked down as her face still red, but she opened her mouth to speak in a tone that was firm.
I looked at the door in front of me and saw two girls walking towards us, Matsushita and Shinohara...
They noticed the girl beside me, Matsushita stood there with her mouth agape whilst Shinohara had a confused expression.
Akihime: "Of course I haven't denied it! I am your fiancée and I want to marry you!"
She looked at me with eyes full of determination, whilst the two girls who saw had shocked expressions.
Matsushita and Shinohara: "Ehhh?!"
Not this again...
To be continued
Authors notes
I have decided to make this book 40 parts long, unless you want me to make it... I don't know less detailed and more straight to the point, as I also noticed a lack of progress, don't worry next chapter will have more progress. As in the special exam will begin and everything.
Hope you enjoyed, please vote and comment feedback as it gives me motivation, I didn't proof read, have a blessed day.
Thanks for reading
4115 words.