Outside the office, I spotted a girl sitting on the same spot where I had sat next to Arisu after her failed attempt at getting father to force me to apply myself. Her hair was short and she looked a little bit like a tomboy with a small flower hairpin on the side, pinning her hair behind her ear.
Normally I would just continue into my office, but she was crying. Whatever had upset her was really affecting her, she was heaving with sobs with her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands.
"Good evening," I called to her gently. I didn't want to surprise her by staying silent and moving close to her, so I announced my presence as early as I could.
She looked up at me in pure surprise before furiously wiping at her eyes. I was a little bit perplexed when she fixed me with a heavy glare. It looked incredibly strange on her, she didn't look like the type of person who normally would look at people in that manner.
"Go away," She said angrily.
Something must have happened to her to make her so angry and I found myself curiously wondering why. The student council office was a fair distance from any of the other facilities so whatever upset her must have happened in the office itself.
"Sorry to disturb you, but you seemed pretty upset. Is everything alright?" I asked gently.
She continued to glare at me, not offering any form of explanation. It wasn't like I had anything to do right now so against her obvious wishes, I heavily took the seat next to her with a bit of a thud before relaxing.
"I asked you to go away," She said again angrily.
"It's a public bench, I'm staying. Besides, whatever upset you must have happened in the Student Council Office. Even if I don't like it or do anything with it, I am the Vice President so it's only right that I look out for my fellow classmates right?"
She continued to glare at me for a few more moments. She clenched and unclenched the fists on her hands a few times before finally relaxing in defeat.
"I confessed my feelings to someone I like... They rejected me."
"Ahh, I see," I acknowledged. I didn't really know what else to say to that, I've never experienced it myself on either side of that situation.
"I've... noticed that they've started to have feelings for someone, I thought this would be my only chance. I expected to get rejected, but I didn't think that I would feel like this," She said sadly.
For a while, I could only stare at her and wonder what it would feel like if the person you had feelings for had to reject you. Especially if you were close to that person, would that ruin the friendship you had? Would you be able to still hang out with them even if you could only think about how you had a one sided love?
It was strange, I never would have been able to ask myself philosophical questions such as this if not for these random encounters.
"If you wouldn't mind, would you tell me what it feels like?" I asked curiously.
The girl went quiet for a bit and thought about it, not answering for a while. She furrowed her brow as she thought as though really trying to put the words to an answer. Realizing I wasn't going to get one for a while I decided to continue.
"I never experienced it before because I've never received or gave a confession before, I was just curious,"
She looked up at me looking perplexed as I thought about whether or not I should say something about this. It was something I thought may help her in this situation, sharing your own experiences. Maybe because I just finished talking about it with Arisu that it felt more natural to mention it again but I'm not sure.
This is what I came to the school for, to have genuine connections with people with no ulterior motives, no agendas. To be able to be open with people about mundane things and experience a high school life as innocently as it can be. If love was a life experience that we all have to have, then maybe my insight could help her.
"I have a friend who I had a crush on before I came here, Nanase Tsubasa. My other friend Eiichiro, he knew her before we had ever met and always had feelings for her. So when I figured everything out, I decided to stay silent because I didn't want to be the cause of issues for them, or for us to ever lose our friendship because of it. Sad, isn't it?"
In the distance, I could hear a door closing from the student council office. It had to be Manabu, trying to make a discrete exit while I was keeping her distracted. He had probably been waiting inside for the girl to leave so that he could avoid the awkward post-rejection encounter.
"Do you regret not confessing to her?" The girl asked curiously.
"I'm not sure," I frowned. "I don't think so, it would have been an unnecessary heartache for everyone involved. I knew my answer even if I didn't say anything."
"I see," She said quietly.
"Still, I think that it was brave of you that you would say something even if you didn't get the answer you were hoping for. It takes courage to confess how you feel to someone, so you should be proud of yourself. You seem like the shy type of person, so this is a huge milestone for you, congratulations." I offered with a smile.
She blushed cutely, the praise being a little heavy for her. Just by her mannerisms, she didn't look like she was the type to get compliments often. It was sad, she seemed like a kind girl, if not a little bit meek.
"I don't think it's brave, it's selfish. I burdened them with having to reject me even though I knew what the outcome would be," She said sadly.
"What do you like about them?" I asked curiously. Not once had she named the person, so it was obvious that she was trying to keep their identity a secret. I couldn't tell whether or not it was out of shame, or if she didn't want to reveal their identity for fear of their privacy. It was something that I respected in the short interaction for the moment.
"That person... is really kind and selfless. They look out for me and others and they're popular. For someone like me who isn't very outgoing, it was something I admire. I get nervous talking to people."
"You're talking to me just fine," I pointed out. "Besides, Horikita Manabu isn't really that great, trust me. He's always smirking and thinking that he knows what you're thinking. You can do much better than him. Besides, he'll be gone after he finishes third year which isn't too far away. Maybe this was a blessing."
I was trying to console her, let her know that there was a bright side to this. It wasn't right of me to pry like this, especially when she was trying her best to hide the identity of the person but I felt like right now some specific help would be good for her.
"Um, it's not President Horikita," She said with a blush.
I suddenly felt my blood run a little cold. Praise whatever God existed for me ignoring my apprehension for revealing secrets.
It was in times like this I realized there had to be a higher power. Sometimes circumstances allow you to dodge bullets in life. This was one of those instances, this girl really was lucky. She must have had some misguided belief that Nagumo Miyabi was a kind and selfless person.
There were only three guys in the student council at the moment. Myself, Manabu and Nagumo. There was no one else she could have confessed to. By a simple process of elimination, it revealed the only possible explanation...
"Ice cream!" I suddenly shouted. She flinched at the sudden loud proclamation before looking at me in confusion.
"I heard that ice cream was a good thing to eat when you suffer from a broken heart. Let's go, I'll feel better about my confession that never happened and you can feel better about what could have been."
Just as she was about to give me an answer, the one I was scheduled to meet here came into view. In the current situation, I hastily forgot who I was supposed to be meeting here tonight.
"T-thanks Ayanokouji-kun, b-ut I think you ha," With that she shot to her feet and bolted away. I guess that was her being introverted on full display, she really did have confidence issues. How she was able to muster the courage to confess to Nagumo Miyabi really was admirable. What a shame, I didn't even get her name.
"What odd company you choose to keep..." Horikita frowned as she watched her retreating form.
"I would agree," I deadpanned. It was rude but the situation called for it.
Horikita huffed in annoyance at the slight but took a seat next to me primly.
"I appreciate you agreeing to meet with me, before we begin I must say that I am incredibly annoyed with you." Horikita continued to frown before crossing her arms.
"What have I done now? Or is it something I didn't do?" I sighed. It really did seem that lately every female I came across was annoyed at me on some level.
"Surprisingly both, actually." Horikita huffed in annoyance. "You agreed that we could be friends. As I understand, friends do not allow the other to humiliate themselves."
I really was confused. What could I have possibly done to let Horikita humiliate herself?
"You're going to have to explain to me, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Put simply, when we became friends you held out your fist for a fist bump. Matsuo-kun did the same after we parted with trying to find witnesses for Sudo-kun's case. When I did as I did with you, he laughed at me and explained what a fist bump is. That should be something that you should have told me instead of allowing me to look like a fool!" Horikita was really annoyed.
"I'm sorry, it caught me off guard at the time though," I apologized with a chuckle. "It was cute though I didn't know what to say,"
Horikita's cheeks dusted pink lightly and then like a typical tsundere huffed at the compliment.
"Do not attempt to get out of this with flattery, I expect you to tell me when I make errors like that in the future!"
"Okay, okay," I agreed with my hands in surrender. "How's the hunt for witnesses going?"
"Terribly, unfortunately and if I can be frank, inadvertently you are partially to blame." Horikita explained in frustration.
From everything I heard from Ichinose and Eiichiro, they hadn't been able to find anyone to speak up for Sudo. It was a thoroughly well thought out and well executed plan if I could be frank. There were no cameras in the place that he was provoked, they used Sudo's well known temper against him and they had successfully pigeon holed him with no way out. It would have been slightly easier for them if not for the fact that at the moment Sudo was acting as though he had no reason to be worried.
"I suggested asking for your assistance, if you would be willing to provide points to allow us to buy Class C off so that they could drop the matter. Unfortunately, I was rebuffed by Matsuo-kun. He seems adamant to take care of this issue without you. Ichinose-san seems to feel the same way, although she is confused as to why we would go to you for points but seems to rationalize it by assuming you're getting them from Sakayanagi-san."
"What makes you think I even have enough points to do that?"
Horikita narrowed her eyes at me in annoyance. Even though we were friends now, she still had her suspicions and still continued to watch me, although with less malice than before.
"What you did for me was much appreciated, but it was incredibly costly. While the rest of us are toiling with budgeting points, you were able to spend one million to clear my name as though it were pocket change. I've had my suspicions that you were behind the two million that was distributed by Kushida since then but I won't ask and I'll remain silent.
"With the fact that you have provided points for everyone this month they have become complacent. There is no sense of urgency for them, it's part of the reason why Sudo-kun is behaving so rashly, he seems to think that he is untouchable. He is unconcerned with his current situation and that's why we are continuing to have problems.
"Matsuo-kun is your best friend, I'm sure you would be willing to part with points in order to make this go away. It would be easier than making an effort and I imagine you want time with your friend again, you haven't spent any with him for quite a while now." Horikita explained.
I groaned and put my head in my hands in annoyance. She had me figured out and quite frankly in my selfishness I've become sloppy. Life was functioning around me and everyone had their priorities. This Sudo case was frustrating because despite the fact that it was a lost cause, Eiichiro and Ichinose continued to work on it. Like some sort of meaningless way to prove a point to me.
In my haste to just rip the bandaid off, I selfishly made a deal now that I was starting to regret. I was robbing them of a growth opportunity regardless of whether it was right or not. All because I selfishly wanted my Secretary to continue working behind that desk and for my best friend to become the fellow sloth he's always been.
I'm really not a fan of change anymore. Once I was out of that place I wanted my little bubble to stay the way that it was. I wanted to stay at the house with my two best friends and my beautiful sister, playing and doing nothing together. The tutors, the visitors, everything was like a small payment. If I just got through those and kept father happy then I would get the reward of time spent with them.
But now that wasn't the case, life was moving away from me and I was desperately trying to keep it the way it was. The chance of coming to this school which I thought was a blessing was a curse. It started looking rosy as there were no responsibilities that I had in the past, but now everyone was growing around me while I desperately wanted everything to stay the same.
In wanting to get precious time with Eiichiro again and wanting Ichinose to stop wasting hers on a lost cause, I... may have made an error.
Horikita seemed to notice the reaction and instantly saw through me.
"What did you do..."
"I... may or may not have made a deal with my sister to cause another incident with Sudo. There's a possibility that tomorrow, Sudo will have a run in with Class A students. In this hypothetical scenario, Sudo will have two different classes reporting him for similar incidents and everything will come to an end right away."
Horikita stayed silent while she ran over what I said in her head.
"...Is it too late to call it off?"
"No, but I paid a pretty heavy price," I sighed with frustration.
"What did you do?" Horikita asked again, pressing me for details.
"Well, I asked her to dinner. I treated her to all of her favorites for a meal..."
"Ahh, a food trap. A sound strategy, you're more intelligent than I anticipated," Horikita cut me off with an appreciative nod.
"Regardless, she agreed. In theory. Tomorrow morning there is every possibility that something may or may not happen." I didn't want to admit to what else I had to do so this was a healthy spot to leave things. Let Horikita enjoy the scenario that she created in her own mind, that suited me for the moment.
"Well, if you would, I would ask that you call it off. I said so before, I believe that there is merit in allowing Sudo to suffer the consequences of his choices. However, I also believe that there is merit in us attempting to help him even if it results in failure. If we are going to fail, I would wish for it to be a real test, not one where you ended it sooner."
I thought about it before giving her a nod and took out my phone to text Arisu.
I changed my mind, I'm calling it off.
It didn't take long for her to reply.
Very well then, thank you for the gift.
Gift?
I got dinner with everything I love to eat at no cost and I got the chance to confirm your bias for large breasted women with blonde hair and a bland personality.
Don't be jealous, they'll grow eventually.
I quickly shoved my phone in my pocket before Horikita could see the text chain, some things should be kept between siblings. I also didn't want to see what hell I just unleashed upon myself.
With heavy silence, we made our way back to the dorms side by side. It looked like Horikita was preparing herself to say something when she suddenly stopped and hugged me tightly, pinning my arms to my sides.
"Thank you,"
"Horikita, you have nothing to thank me for," I tried to placate her. This was a little uncomfortable, a few weeks ago she was ready to stab me with a compass and now she was hugging me like her life depended on it.
"I do, I have everything to thank you for. This is not easy for me so just let me do this."
"I hated you, treated you with nothing but contempt. You saved my life out of good will. Saved my reputation just out of the kindness of your heart. My relationship with my brother has healed because of you. You're my first and only friend. I have everything to be grateful to you for."
I realized that I had been incredibly childish. In my effort to keep things the same, I almost robbed my best friend of his opportunity for growth. My nature of wanting things to remain stagnant has been entirely self-serving at the cost of everyone around me that I care about.
Horikita was facing her inferiorities head on, forcing a change in herself when recognizing her misgivings. Willing to accept her faults and fighting desperately to change it after coming so close to the brink.
Eiichiro was going through a metamorphosis of his own, taking on the burden of leadership to shield me from responsibility. All for the sole purpose of making me happy in my newfound freedom from my commitments.
Ichinose was destroying herself simply to help those around her. Working incredibly hard to uphold the things that she had committed to out of sheer will and determination at a heavy price to her mental health and wellbeing.
Arisu was willing to give up the one thing she wanted more than anything, a chance to compete with me. All to give me the happiness of more time with my friends and the person she now knew I grew to have affection for.
This was a new revelation for me. Just like when I left that place and came to become a part of the Sakayanagi family, I had been far too cautious. I was so desperate to maintain whatever peace I had managed to muster and I had become paranoid. Just like when I cautiously watched Arisu and father thinking that they were masking cruel intentions rather than understanding they pitied and loved me.
I had to show faith in the people that I had surrounded myself with. Faith that when my secret eventually comes out, which it will, that they can accept me for what I am. Stagnation had become boring, just as I had grown from a mindless shell into a person who cared about the people I hold dearest, it was time to grow from a stubborn child into something more.
It takes courage to face the things that make you vulnerable. While everyone else was taking this opportunity to grow, I was trying to stifle it as best I could. For someone who was supposed to be a genius, it was incredibly narrow minded. With that in mind I started to question my own philosophy.
Could I grow as well? If I thought of myself as perfect and better than all of the people around me, would I be right or would that just be arrogance?
Perhaps it was time to be a little less lazy and do something. Not a lot, but at least something. This would normally be the time where I would brush it off and laugh at my stupidity for even thinking of something like this. But lately, I was finding myself actually wanting to help the people around me.
It's why I was currently dragging my feet a little bit as I walked to the school. I hadn't slept well last night and in a rare occurrence, I had woken up late this morning. Rather than waking up at my disciplined hour like I had every day of my life for morning training, I woke up with a start and was almost late to begin embarking to another day of school.
As I was walking to the school, a short distance away, I spotted the familiar long blonde hair of someone who had quickly become important to me.
"Good morning, Ichinose," I greeted tiredly.
"Morning, Vice President," Ichinose greeted back frostily.
...huh? What did I do this time? What didn't I do this time? In my confusion, I rapidly tried to figure out whatever it could have been to cause a greeting like this. Ichinose was always kind and welcoming no matter the circumstance. Whatever I had or hadn't done, I had caused the rare type of Ichinose that was almost never seen, one that was so rarely seen it could be considered a myth.
I was almost about to ask what on earth her problem was today when I was suddenly pulled from my plan at the arrival of the girl that I was speaking to last night suddenly interrupting us. I thanked whoever was watching over me for the sudden intruder who cut through the tension randomly like a hot knife through butter.
"Ah, good morning, Ayanokouji-kun," The girl greeted meekly.
"Good morning," I greeted with a grin. "I'm so sorry but I didn't manage to catch your name last night,"
"Chihiro," Chihiro offered nervously. "Chihiro Shiranami, I'm sorry that I just ran off like that. I was a little nervous and.. I was a little shocked at your proposal."
In the beginning of Chihiro's speech Ichinose looked a little embarrassed but at the tail end of Chihiro's explanation, Ichinose's face suddenly hardened even more than before. What the hell was wrong with this woman today?
"No that's fine, actually I had a scheduled meeting with Horikita that I forgot about so it worked out in the end. I almost forgot about it, it would have been rude if we suddenly went for ice cream and I wasn't there," I said with a chuckle.
At the mention of Horikita, Ichinose was practically radiating a blizzard from her body. It suddenly all fit together and I instantly realized exactly what was going on here. There was no other possible explanation...
The monthly recurrence that only happened for women, a struggle that I would fortunately never be able to experience and I was glad for that too. I learned very well with Arisu that I should NEVER ask about it. I was once again grateful at the fact that I was born a genius and wisely knew not to point it out.
"Still, I'm sorry. You were very kind to me last night, I hope that you didn't think I was being rude," Chihiro apologized meekly before stealing a glance at Ichinose. Ichinose suddenly looked a little embarrassed, refusing to make eye contact with Chihiro.
I'm reminded of when Ichinose told me that she felt that she was intruding on a moment awkwardly when she watched the argument between Arisu and I the first time we met. She really was a kind hearted person that even now although Chihiro had been the one to interrupt us, it seemed as though she felt like she was intruding on our conversation and was cutely embarrassed.
"No, that's fine, don't worry about it too much. I hope I was able to help you," I said quickly. Nodding in acknowledgement, Chihiro glanced at Ichinose before quickly leaving us back to continue our conversation.
"Well, it looks like you're popular now Mr. Vice President Ayanokouji, sorry to take up so much of your precious time," Ichinose said as soon as Chihiro was gone. She sounded annoyed and the embarrassment from a moment ago was instantly gone.
"Are you okay? Did I do something to make you mad or something?" I was completely confused.
"I don't know, Ayanokouji-kun. Did you?" Ichinose asked with heat.
"Look if you're angry about something stop with the vagueness. Just spit it out already, we don't have a lot of time before classes start."
Before she could answer, a blue haired boy that was roughly around my height came up and cut in, addressing Ichinose and completely ignoring me.
"Honami, we're going to be late to class. Let's go." The blue haired boy said
"You must be blind or something, can't you see that we're talking here?" I asked coldly.
The boy looked at me glaring for a few moments as I stared at him. Who did this guy think he was? Why the hell is he calling Ichinose by her first name?
"Okay, let's go Kanzaki-kun," Ichinose said, quickly making to leave. Before she could get too far I grabbed her by the wrist.
"We're not finished here, he can go by himself. Get moving, Kanzaki,"
Kanzaki looked at me angrily and was about to say something before Ichinose cut him off, telling him that she'd go to class soon. After continuing to glare at me for another moment, he nodded at Ichinose before making his way to class.
"Who's that? Why does he call you by your first name?"
It was as though a switch changed in Ichinose and suddenly rather than the frosty disposition from before, she looked at me in confusion.
"Kanzaki-kun? He's a classmate of mine, a lot of my classmates call me by my first name," Ichinose explained.
"Guys too?"
"Ahh... no just him,"
"And how long has that been going on?"
"A couple weeks? Why?" Ichinose asked in confusion.
"And you gave him permission?" I asked, annoyed.
"No... He just started one day? I'm not sure one day it just happened."
"And you just let him?"
"Are you jealous?" Ichinose asked, completely baffled.
"A little bit," I admitted with a frown.
Ichinose looked at me without saying anything. For a moment, she looked a little hopeful but that look was gone not long after. She suddenly looked at me coldly before pulling her wrist out of my grip.
"Sometimes it's nice when someone just makes an effort. Besides, it doesn't matter does it? I'm just your secretary, that's all I'll be to you anyway, right?"
With that she turned around and walked to her class and I wondered why the hell I bothered with women in the first place. They always seemed to make life so troublesome for no reason.
A moment later I felt a familiar arm drape itself across my shoulders and a grinning Eiichiro was standing next to me. I really hadn't slept so well last night and found myself a little annoyed at the moment.
"Trouble in paradise?" Eiichiro joked lightheartedly.
I frowned without answering as we made our way to class, before we stepped in I figured I'd just come out and ask him. I agreed last night to cancel the plan but really I just wanted all of this rubbish to be over with. I wanted life to go back to a little bit of normalcy and this was the first time that I got even a small amount of time with my best friend.
"Any progress?" I asked, I could feel my eyes drooping.
"Not really," Eiichiro said with a shrug. "We've lost to be honest, Sudo isn't going to get out of this. I'm going to meet up with the leader from Class C today, try and see if we can work something out."
"If you want some points to pay them off.." I started before he cut me off.
"No, really it's fine. I want to take care of this without your help. If I'm going to be the leader of this class, I can't rely on you to bail me out whenever things are rough. Don't worry my lazy friend, everything will work out as it's supposed to." Eiichiro said with a smile.
We walked into class and were greeted by a few of our classmates as we made our way to our seats. After a few minutes, I decided to take my first step into not being such a drag on everyone.
"If you want my help, I'll do something. If you want to take care of it though, I understand. After the meeting, come to the Student Council office and we can hang out. I have some paperwork to do."
He looked at me like I grew a second head, was I really that lazy? Was it so surprising that I admitted to the fact that I was going to do some paperwork? I didn't even say that I was going to do a lot, just some.
Apparently it was a big deal, because he gave me the biggest smile that I've seen on him since I came to this school. I missed it, it was something that I hadn't seen for quite some time. The other smiles were either forced or just a habit. This was the first time that I'd seen genuine happiness in my best friend in a while. I felt bad that I had done this to him for so long.
"Sure, I'll be there Kiyo,"
Don't tell me... Did I just set expectations for myself...? I didn't, right?
A/N: Hey guys I'm back a fair bit earlier than planned but I wanted to take some time to say something.
People in the comments have been a little too aggressive, especially with each other. I want to remind people that this is a hobby of mine there's nothing in it for me other than to put out something to enjoy.
This isn't a forum and I'm not a reddit moderator, I shouldn't be going through and deleting comments and telling people not to fight. This is just a story so please don't get too invested
Also, I'm all for constructive criticism but some people are way too aggressive just for the sake of it with nothing of substance. Please keep in mind that there is a person who is writing this, not a robot.
I do this because I enjoy it. The moment it no longer becomes enjoyable I'll just stop, I'm that kind of person. I won't leave a note or say it's on hiatus I'll just stop, people may not like it but it's how I am.
So please, understand that I'm someone who is rather introverted in real life. I don't tell people that I do this and I also don't let people I know read what I'm doing. The reactions from before the announcement effected me and I really did lose a lot of confidence to keep going on with the story. I rewrote and deleted this so many times, even considered deleting the previous chapter before just deciding to write myself out of a hole I thought I put myself into.
I want to point out that there are a quite a number of stories where they just abruptly stop being updated, I can only guess but from this experience I can understand why. Please be respectful with how you treat people and understand that even if I don't respond I do read all the comments and it has an effect. Sorry to be like this but I just want to be honest.