Matsuo Eiichiro SS - Leadership
I was annoyed. Forget that I'm pissed. I had it in my head that when Kiyotaka said that he wasn't coming to class for the next three days, he would be able to tell that I was mad and that he'd scrap whatever plans he had to laze about in his room. Then the next day he didn't come to class.
I sent him what felt like a hundred messages only to not get a reply. At lunch I called only for his phone to be switched off. I was so excited to find out that Kiyotaka and I would be going to school together, it would be us hanging out, working in class together and next year hopefully Tsubasa would be here and it'd be the three of us all over again only this time we wouldn't be separated during the day time.
I know that Kiyotaka is brilliant and I was beyond excited to finally see what he could do up close in front of my eyes. His lessons and sessions were always during the day on school days so I never got to see any of it. We would play and have fun when I came over but I was always told by my father who worked for them about how amazing Kiyotaka was.
Now two days into our first school year and I already want to punch him in the face. It's not like he wouldn't be able to dodge or take the punch so it wouldn't do anything except for maybe my ass getting beaten instead but I doubt Kiyotaka would hit me, no matter the circumstances.
Still I was mad but more than anything I was terrified. My dad is everything to me, he's an old man and my mum is already dead. I saw my admission to this school as the greatest of blessings, I wanted to make him proud. I wanted to provide for him once he could no longer work so that he could live the rest of his life without a worry. Now my best friend who I thought would make things easier is turning out to be my biggest anchor.
Maybe I'm exaggerating. He said that I was panicking and he was probably right but I'd never been in a situation like this. I had no idea what to do and usually my fate was in my own hands but the prospect that my future was in the hands of a collective filled me with anxiety.
I was supposed to meet Kiyotaka at 7:00pm but I was anxious. Rather than wait to 7:00 I knocked on his door at 5:00pm only to be greeted a few minutes later.
For a moment I wondered if it really was Kiyotaka who opened the door. His eyes were completely cold and dead as though he was looking straight through me completely unfocused. His face was completely apathetic, none of the joy that was usually there was present and his entire body was tense like a tiger ready to attack his prey. It was the first time I ever felt like I was in danger in his presence and the hair on the back of my neck stood up.
"You're early," Kiyotaka said in a completely monotonous voice. His voice was normally a bit of a boring drawl save for when we were doing something fun or when he was with Arisu, never like this.
"I-I was worried. You haven't replied to any of my texts or calls so I wanted to check on you."
He stared at me for about ten seconds but it felt like hours. His gaze was still unfocused but it was though he was staring straight into my soul.
"I see," He said simply, not moving or continuing.
"C-... Can I come in?" Why the hell was I stammering and afraid of my best friend?
He moved out of the doorway and let me in. When the door closed, even though it was quiet it felt as though it closed with a resounding boom and I could hear my thudding heartbeat pounding in my ears.
"Take a seat on the bed and give me a minute."
I sat down and watched as he took a seat at his dining table. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths for roughly a minute before he opened them and he looked at me smiling with a completely different demeanor. Seconds later he clutched at his head groaning before cold sweats appeared on his forehead.
"Sorry about that, can I get you some tea?"
"Fuck the tea, what in the hell was that?" The strange pressure in the room was suddenly gone and Kiyotaka was back to his usual self. I learned something new about myself, apparently I had the propensity to panic.
"Nothing, nothing. I was just in work mode. There's nothing to be concerned about, tea?" He asked again, waving away my concerns nonchalantly.
"Actually, have you had dinner? If you're hungry I was hoping to grab dinner with you."
"Sure! Let's go, I actually haven't eaten anything today." He smiled. Wiping the sweat from his forehead he got up grabbing his phone and wallet before ushering me to the door. I could tell he was putting more energy into his demeanor to appease me but I decided to let it go for now. He wouldn't tell me anything anyway.
We made our way into the hall and Kiyotaka turned on his phone while locking the door to his dorm. He winced when his phone suddenly vibrated and rang nonstop as two days worth of messages and missed calls suddenly bombarded his phone.
"Well I better not do that again," He muttered, quickly scanning through all the notifications. "I don't even recognise half of these numbers.
"Most of them are probably the girls from class, they all asked for your number. All your adoring fans were very upset that their Ayanokouji-kun hadn't turned up for two days. They miss their eye candy."
"And how exactly did they get my number?"
Suddenly the ceiling of the elevator was incredibly interesting. When the doors opened I thanked whatever deity existed to be freed from the confining space.
"Hey we better get going before the restaurants are all closed,"
"Don't change the subject, traitor!"
We continued walking toward Keyaki Mall, laughing and chatting like we normally would. I think that the two days away from my best friend made me realize how much of an ass I was being. A friendship like this is hard to come by, I only had one other friend who I valued as much as Kiyotaka and I missed this. Maybe I really was too wound up.
Not long after as we got closer, the senpai who I saw Kiyotaka with at the entrance ceremony suddenly waved at us before hurriedly coming.
"Ayanokouji-kun!" The senpai called out as she got closer.
"Nazuna-senpai, I hope you're well." Kiyotaka said with a small bow of his head.
"You would know if you answered my texts!" Nazuna huffed with a pout.
"Ah, I'm very sorry senpai. I haven't been well for the last couple of days so I've had my phone off."
"And yet you still went to the gym this morning and yesterday morning but didn't go to class for the last two days." She rebuffed, tapping her foot in annoyance.
Kiyotaka smirked suddenly after hearing her words before leaning in close into her personal space. Her face went red and she slowly leaned back for some distance between the two.
"Are you stalking me, Asahina-senpai?"
If her face went any redder from that she would have passed out on the spot. Quickly shaking her head to clear whatever was going through her mind, she suddenly waved her hands in front of her in denial.
"Of course not! As your senpai and a member of the student council, I have a responsibility to check up on my kouhai don't I?"
Kiyotaka laughed before gesturing in my direction.
"This is my best friend Matsuo Eiichiro. Eiichiro, this is Asahina Nazuna-senpai. We were just heading to dinner if you'd like to join us?"
Asahina-senpai nodded while indicating to her friends that she left behind.
"I'll just say bye to my friends and I'll meet you? I did promise that I'd treat you at Pallet one day, I don't mind paying for Matsuo-san as well.
"Sure but we'll wait for you here and we can go together if that's alright." Kiyotaka offered. Asahina-senpai nodded before hurrying off to her friends.
"Ayanokouji Kiyotaka," I taunted with a sly grin as soon as she was out of earshot. "With an older lady, how very bold of you... Am I interrupting? Should I leave you two to get better acquainted?"
"Who knows," He said with a shrug. "The timing isn't perfect but I was planning to reach out to her tomorrow. Stay because I still need to talk to you about what I worked on."
Before I could say anything Asahina-senpai was back and we quickly made our way to the cafe. I went in for the first time and instantly noticed that we were the only two guys there. Attention instantly turned to the three of us and I noticed Arisu sitting at a table on the other side of the cafe. She stood to come over to us but instantly sat back down when she saw Kiyotaka take Asahina-senpai's hand before leading her to a table.
Arisu pretended not to be watching us like a hawk while her eyebrow twitched like she was being shocked with electricity.
As dinner progressed I couldn't help but be thoroughly impressed with Kiyotaka. He only ever had us but he was incredibly perceptive and knew exactly how to treat Asahina-senpai. I had no idea how he knew what to do but she was quite literally putty in his hands. He pulled out her chair before we sat, paid his full attention to everything she was saying and reacted at the right times.
He even knew exactly when to tease her without being taken as bad natured. Brushing her hair behind her ear when she bent down to take a bite and even wiping her lip with a napkin at one point. I have never been more uncomfortable in my life, it was quite literally like I was a third wheel on a date.
"Asahina-senpai, you're on the student council right?" Kiyotaka asked, leaning forward.
"Yes, I've been on the council since my first year. It's hard work but the benefits are worth it, you should apply."
The moment I heard hard work and you should apply in the same sentence I fought with every fiber of my being to not to laugh.
"I don't know if I'm suitable for it, I'm not nearly as impressive or talented as Asahina-senpai."
Asahina-senpai smirked at him before leaning back in her chair crossing her legs.
"Ayanokouji-kun, you're really good. Honestly, you're handsome and charming and if it were any other girl they probably wouldn't have realized what was going on. But you've laid it on too thick. You want something and you're not subtle in the slightest.
"Ask what you want from me and I'll give it to you as a reward for the fan service. Let's not beat around the bush anymore..." She finished with upturned eyes and a grin.
Kiyotaka laughed good naturedly before sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. I had no idea what was going on.
"What gave me away?" Kiyotaka asked curiously.
"Like I said you laid it on too thick. Full attentiveness from any boy is rare, especially one who has already got the attention of almost every girl in the first year and half of second year."
"Maybe I'm just that kind of guy,"
"No, it's painfully obvious you have no experience and everything you did was read from either the internet or a book. Out with it." Asahina-senpai explained brutally.
"What do you need? I'll help you if I can. After all, every girl in here is jealous after watching what you've done with me so it's the least I can do to reward you for boosting my ego."
"Would you be able to get me a private meeting with the student council president as soon as possible?" Kiyotaka asked bluntly.
Asahina-senpai's eyes widened and she looked a little scared.
"You're not going to tell him ab-"
"About what? I have no idea what you're talking about." Kiyotaka cut her off quickly, glancing at me. It was as though Asahina-senpai finally realized that I had been sitting there for the last thirty minutes.
"Oh god, Matsuo-kun. I'm so sorry I've completely ignored you this entire time."
"No, no it's fine. It actually helped me out. I've never seen Kiyotaka act this way, he looked like he was having success and I was taking notes." I said with a laugh. "If you didn't call him out on it I may have thought it actually worked and tried it myself. I would have looked like an idiot so thank you."
"Well... I didn't say that it didn't work..." Asahina-senpai trailed off with a blush.
"Anyway, about the meeting, sure, that's not a problem. You could have done it yourself easily enough. All you had to do was email him, his contact information is on the student council section of the student boards."
Kiyotaka said nothing and just continued sipping his water.
"But you're trying to meet him in secret without having anything documented on the email servers." Asahina-senpai continued catching on. She laughed good naturedly before agreeing with a nod.
"Okay, I'll set it up for tomorrow. I'll text you the time and place during the day so try to reply to me this time okay?"
Kiyotaka thanked her and the two of us got up to leave. Apparently Asahina-senpai's friends were watching the entire time from a table in our line of sight. Before we went, Kiyotaka bent down and kissed her on the cheek.
"Thank you, Nazuna." Kiyotaka said and we both left quickly. Asahina-senpai looked like she was going to explode.
While we walked back to the dorms I could feel myself getting a headache. What in the hell is going on? First Kiyotaka starts acting like an ass on the second day we get here, then I walk into him behaving like a robot after coming early and now he'd turned into a pick up artist or something. All of these changes of events were giving me whiplash. What a pain in the ass.
After what I saw I was praying to myself that he never turned his attention to Tsubasa or I would be screwed before I ever got the chance to confess.
"Mind telling me what all that was about?" I asked when we were halfway back.
"I'll explain it more in detail when we get back to the dorm but it has something to do with what I was working on the past two days."
"Asahina-senpai seems nice, you guys look good together. When did you become a pick up artist?"
"Didn't you hear what she said? She was right, I got it all from the internet. That was the first time I've ever done anything like that. As you can see, it didn't work."
"I know that you got all that online. The fact that you did it without getting embarrassed is nuts," I couldn't remove the smile from my face. Kiyotaka never ceases to amaze me, everything he sets his mind to he seems to achieve with the utmost confidence even if it's his first time. I've never been jealous of him or resentful. As much as I respect his intelligence, the thing that I want to emulate most is his confidence.
"Doesn't matter if I did it with confidence, it didn't work."
"Do you honestly believe that it didn't work?" I deadpanned while giving him a look.
He just smirked at me with a sidelong glance before hitting the button for his floor. It didn't take long before we got to his room and before he could start saying anything I needed to get something off my chest first. I had been feeling guilty since the last phone call we had a couple days ago. What Kiyotaka said to me before I cut the call really seemed to hit home. In the end I couldn't say anything so I awkwardly told him I'd be there before quickly ending the call in shame.
After thinking about it, Kiyotaka never asked me for anything. We've been friends for years now and not once did he ever ask if we could do something or if I could give him anything, he always went along with Tsubasa and my plans. If anyone was to blame for his attitude now it would be me. I influenced his behavior when he was still malleable learning what it meant to be a normal boy, using me as the reference.
It hurt when he asked me if our friendship meant so little to me that the one time he said no to something I asked for I would get mad, that wasn't the case. I think deep down to some degree, I'm a selfish person. It's not an easy thing to admit to myself but it's true. I know that if class A was the goal, having Kiyotaka take the lead would be the easy way and we'd get there without question.
But what he said about graduating from any of the other classes was true too. It may not be 100% but if I worked hard, better myself and gave my best effort, at the very least I would have other options. After all, what was the point of having Kiyotaka drag me to the promised land if I'd only die at the summit? I can't have Kiyotaka do my university degree and I certainly couldn't get him to do my job for me.
This was a chance for me to show that I had my own worth. If Kiyotaka has the talent and the knowledge, I should have built my own confidence. Build confidence in myself and my abilities, learn to inspire those around me, and make Kiyotaka want to become involved with the class. I should help him make friends with the other classmates so that he wants to help them too like he does with me. I can't let my insecurities stop me from doing what's best for him, it isn't right that I try to be his only friend in fear that he would replace me as his best friend.
But more than anything I never want to see Kiyotaka in the state again. With those dead eyes and the apathetic face, the monotone voice. It was frightening, like a shell of a person merely existing. Someone who felt more like a machine than a human being, that wasn't what I wanted for my friend. If it meant that he would be lazy and never have to do anything, it would mean more to me to lose in this school than to lose my friend's humanity.
"Take a seat," Kiyotaka offered, leading me to the chair in front of the laptop. "I need your phone so I can set everything up. I need to show you how it works so I'll install the app on yours, I already have it on mine and I'll explain as we go along."
He grabbed a couple of drinks from the fridge, tossing me one and got my phone off me before plugging it into his laptop. He wasn't using any normal software that I was familiar with and not long after there was a loading screen with a progress bar filling up.
"Right now the only way that we know of to get points is through the school system, we don't know how they're assigned or what amount we get. As far as we know it's only distributed on a monthly basis, so where can we get more private points?"
"I don't know," I answered with a frown. Why ask me? He already had the answer.
"From other students and staff/faculty." He said simply before opening the app.
"It's basically just an interface app that uses our student ID account that stores our points. Routing through the apps API we use that for the transactions. There are categories that people can post up if they want something done for them or if they're willing to do it for other people. The price gets listed, someone accepts and the student ID app takes care of the transaction.
"You can ask someone to tutor you, ask someone to get you food, anything that is allowed within the rules can be bartered on the app. A 100 point transaction fee gets taken from both parties and goes into my account. I estimate that roughly half of the student population will most likely use it on a daily basis. Class A will use it because it's a status symbol, why do something yourself when you can pay a class D loser to do it for you? The more you use it the better your status I would guess.
"The class D students will probably use it to make money. The third years more than others, they've been eating the free vegetable sets for years now, they're probably begging for a way to get points. At 200 points per transaction, 240 students that'd be 48,000 points per day. It's a really conservative number though."
"Are there any other people who'd use it?" I asked curiously.
"Well we know for a fact that there are teachers, caretakers, shop staff and coaches etc. They'd probably use it too, if not to just get a student to get them food then they'd probably get them to do data entry, maybe even get them to do some of the tedious work that they don't want to do themselves. If they're in the equation the amount goes up substantially." Kiyotaka shrugged as though he were discussing the weather.
I was stunned into silence. I was barely paying attention to what he was saying, I was so deep in my thoughts. Everyone was gushing over a possible 100,000 points per month, Kiyotaka figured out how he could make it in two days. Arisu who was a genius in and of herself had figured out the system too and was probably leading her class to work within the system. Kiyotaka found a way outside the system.
In three fucking days.
"...in the third menu people can post services they're willing to sell, prices and their rating by previous patrons. The fourth menu here people can buy and sell used goods like a marketplace. I found information on the student boards on contracts that the school enforces. If anyone does anything illegal or against the school rules, because everyone signs on with their ID they'd be punished. There's no liability for us."
"Why is the price at 100 points? If you bumped it to 200 then you'd be making 400 per transaction." I honestly felt completely out of my depth here. Kiyotaka kept saying 'we' as though we did this together, I contributed nothing. I wasn't even contributing to the conversation, I felt as though if I atleast asked something even if it was dumb, at least I was showing that I was paying attention.
Even though I felt like an ape in comparison to him, he never made me feel stupid. He always propped me up, always supported me. I wished that he would be mean to me, yell at me or something for the way I acted the past couple of days. I felt like I didn't deserve this from him.
"48,000 points a day is not enough for you?" He teased with a laugh. "I'm sure eventually it'll come out that the transaction fees are being routed to a student. If you knew that you were enriching a single student with huge fees..."
"Then other classes wouldn't want to use it anymore." I finished for him in realization.
"By doing this and keeping quiet with low fees, people will get used to having it and become dependent. With a low fee, most people will justify that it isn't that much and wouldn't think you're profiteering as much as you really are..."
Kiyotaka grinned proudly as I figured it out, clapping me on the shoulder in praise. I sat there quietly while mustering up the courage to say what I wanted to say.
"On the food side of things I'm working out a deal with some of the places I contacted so I'll get a cut of the profits there. I won't factor it into the projection though, it messes with the numbers."
"Why did you do this, Kiyotaka?" I started hesitantly. "You said you just wanted to be a normal high school student, but you did this. Managing this is going to be a huge undertaking, the amount of money you have isn't normal either. How did you even get someone to code this?"
"Well, to start with. I coded this." Kiyotaka sheepishly scratched the back of his head.
"You know how to code?"
"I do now,"
"When did you learn?"
"Yesterday. I coded it today, the course files are there," He said pointing to a folder on the desktop of his notebook. Curiously, I opened the folder thinking I could learn something. Maybe I could code something to make myself some money too. My jaw nearly hit the table when I saw university course files, roughly twenty different course curriculums ranging from beginner to advanced.
"You studied all of this... in one day?" I struggled in shock.
"A little over a day," Kiyotaka shrugged. "It took about five hours to code the app. The functions are pretty basic."
...I really need to stop forgetting that my best friend was a once in a generation genius.
"Anyway, that's why we needed to get Asahina-senpai to organize the meeting with the student council president discreetly. If the student council sponsors this and announces it, more students would be willing to use it. He'll probably want a cut of the points but if it means all of the students use it then it's worth it for us."
"Can you please, please stop saying us? Kiyotaka, this is all yours, I had nothing to do with this,"
"What do you mean you had nothing to do with this? Most of why I did this was for you," Kiyotaka retorted in confusion.
"What!?" Why me? What do I have to do with any of this?
"Well, you said that you were worried about points, this solves that. You're worried about getting to class A, well this would probably help. Chabashira-sensei said that anything could be bought with points, if a class change costs 50,000,000 points then we should be able to save that by the end of our third year."
I couldn't help but feel ashamed and embarrassed, I didn't deserve a friend like this. Maybe I was overreacting, it was a small fight and I was only annoyed with him. I didn't curse at him, I didn't betray him or anything like that so it wasn't something to beat myself up over.
But I knew Kiyotaka had a rough life. He was tortured. How could I be so selfish to not allow him a memorable high school experience? As a friend, I should be doing everything in my power to make his dream a reality, just like he was doing for me...
Standing up, I got on my knees and bent down in a bow, folding myself in half with my forehead on the floor at his feet. I couldn't see his face but Kiyotaka was instantly on his feet grabbing at me and trying to force me up.
"What the hell are you doing Eiichiro? Get up, why are you bowing?" He said frantically.
"When I came here today for our meeting, is that what you were like in that place?" I asked quietly, keeping my forehead glued to the floor. He stopped trying to make me stand and I felt him go completely still.
"You put yourself through that for me. You want to be normal so you never have to be like that. It was probably traumatizing for you, I saw you grabbing your head..."
Kiyotaka said nothing and just let me talk. After a few moments, I got up to my feet grabbing his shoulders and looking straight in his eyes with determination.
"Keep the points for yourself. Spend them how you see fit. We'll make other friends, we'll make memories and we'll look back at our high school years with a smile. We'll get girlfriends and go on dates and read all the manga and watch all the anime we can get our hands on.
"Do as much or as little as you want for the class, I'll become the leader of class D and drag them up the ranks. I don't know how but I'll learn, I can't compete with Arisu but I'll try. I'll protect you from the others so you can do whatever the hell you want." I finished firmly.
"We don't even know if we're competing yet Eiichiro," Kiyotaka chided me with a teasing grin. "How about you wait and see if that's the case before you start making speeches and promises?"
"If Kiyotaka says that class A is the goal, then class A is the goal." I said with determination