After my meeting with Chabashira-sensei, I went to Keyaki at the agreed meeting place.
I saw Albert in the distance. Wow, he really does look massive compared to the other students. I haven't been able to fully appreciate how big he is as I usually only ever with him at the gym when there is no one else but Sudou, due to how early we all go to the gym in the morning. Even the seniors look tiny in comparison. He has built up a veritable paradise of muscle.
When Albert saw me coming over, he gave me an upwards head nod. I gave an upwards head nod back.
The classic male head nod. It is a way to signify many things, depending on the type of head nod. But in the case of a meeting between two people a distance away, there are two types of head nods. For those who do a downwards motion during a head nod, that is considered a formal acknowledgement. It is more of just a respectful way to greet someone without having to say anything. A more submissive way to greet someone in a way.
But a head nod going upwards, while raising your chin up is considered as a more casual and friendly gesture. A way to to show that the two people in question are friendly with each other. At first in the gym, when me and Albert started to address each other with a head nod, it was with a downwards nod for the first few weeks. But now it has progressed to this. Supposedly this is something that is instinctual with males. Friends, huh?
"Should we invite Sudou?" Albert said.
Now that I think about it, I kind of want to see how Sudou is doing with his studies. I haven't been able to hang out with the idiot trio as much due to the tutor sessions.
"Sure, I'll call him right now."
I then pulled out my phone and called Sudou's phone. He picked up almost instantly so he must have been on his phone already.
"Hang on a minute, I'm trying to win this basketball game."
Is he calling me during a basketball match? What? How?
"These AIs are a huge pain in the ass."
Oh, it was just that one mobile game he showed me a few weeks ago. I was curious about what he was doing so I asked if I could play on his phone. The AI's in that game are very tricky, even on easy mode. Apparently he has progressed past the standard difficulty and has now been trying to beat the AI opponents on hard mode.
It is definitely not a good idea for him to play video games during such a difficult time with exams nearby, but I guess it is good to take a break from time to time.
"Alright I'm back. What do you want?"
"Do you want to hang out with me and Albert? We are currently going to get some ice cream."
"Yeah sure, I will run over to you guys real quick."
If he's running then that means he should be getting here really quickly. He has picked up the habit to run whenever he has got the chance, partially due to him being late to morning lessons.
After the call, me and Albert went to get some ice cream. When I entered in the shop, I felt a sudden chill. This room is quite cold. Looking at the different ice cream flavors, I saw that there are so many flavors of ice cream. There are also a lot of toppings as well. Even the cone is customizable as well. There is also an option to go without a cone as well. I think I will just go with the most basic option. A standard vanilla ice cream in a normal cone, without toppings.
"Hey Albert, what are you going with?"
He then pointed towards a strawberry ice cream, and then pointed towards the paper cup thing instead which gives multiple scoops of ice cream. He also pointed towards a bottle with strawberry flavored sauce. What an interesting choice.
"How are your studies going by the way? Our class has been starting to get the hang of it now."
"It is going good." Albert replied.
Albert seems like the type of guy to be very diligent in classes. He should most likely pass all the exams in the next few weeks even without cheats. When Albert went ahead and paid for his ice cream with his card, he laid his card on the counter to pick up the cup of ice cream and admired it for a few seconds, before then putting the ice cream on the table to pick up his card again and put it away in his pocket. Then he picked up his ice cream tub again.
I absent mindedly looked at his card for a few seconds. He is wearing sun glasses in his picture for some reason. I thought that was rather strange, perhaps he has some medical condition of sorts. But whatever the reason, he does look like a total badass, or at least that is what I think the internet would describe that look as.
By the time Sudou arrived, I had already finished my vanilla ice cream. Yummy.
To think that the cone is also edible as well. I wonder what chocolate ice cream is like, or what I should really be saying is what chocolate tastes like specifically. Also, Sudou looked like he wasn't that tired at all, even though he managed to get here so quick. It takes a while to get here as well from the boys dorm room.
When ordering my next cone, I chose to add some sprinkles as well. I took a little bite of one of the sprinkles. This has quite a lot of sugar in it. Maybe this will be my last ice cream cone for today.
"Hey Sudou, I can pay for your cone. What would you like."
"Oh? Thanks dude! And well, hmmm...maybe I'll go with mint ice-cream."
"Does mint ice-cream taste like toothpaste?"
"No, of course not. Also, when have you to become so buddy-buddy, hanging out like this now with Albert?"
"Well actually this is the first time where I have asked Albert out hangout like this. He recommended me to bring you along as well, and so I did. How are you doing with your studies?"
"I guess they are going better than I expected. Definitely better than Horikita's session that's for certain." Sudou said.
He naturally still held resentment for what Horikita said. She was certainly in the wrong. Sudou has been working very hard, but she didn't see that.
"To be honest, I really don't feel like studying English. I end up falling asleep whenever I try to memories all those sentences and words, even during the study sessions. So having a break like this is very nice, I have to admit. Thanks guys for inviting me out." Sudou said.
His sleepiness is partially due to the fact that he goes to the gym every morning, meaning his sleep schedule has been messed up a bit due to how early we all go to the gym. Furthermore, he has had very intense sessions during the gym and basketball practice. Apparently he has managed to get on the basketball team. An incredibly impressive feat for a first year student, and so he has been working hard ever since to maintain his position.
The basketball students usually don't miss their basketball practice either and the time they have for practice is in direct conflict with Hirata's study sessions. And yet Sudou is sacrificing some of his hours in basketball to study. It must be really tough on Sudou.
"If you want to practice your English, you could always try speaking to me or Albert in English." I said.
"Sure, I guess. There doesn't seem to be any speech-related tests but I could give it a shot. But I would rather not do so now, my brain has already been fried from all the English already. I feel sick from all that."
"How about you, Albert? How are your studies going?" I asked in English.
He gave a thumbs up.
"Oh, looks like your ice cream is ready Sudou. When you get it, let's sit over there."
When Sudou arrived, I had an idea. This is a group of three, so in other words...
"Hey guys, how about we start our own group chat of sorts? A sort of 'muscle improvement squad' of sorts?"
"Ahahah! That is such a goofy name. But sure! Why not!" Sudou exclaimed. Albert also noddingly approved.
I then whipped out my phone and made the group chat. I also took a bite out of the ice cream. For some reason it chills my teeth whenever I bite into the ice cream. How do people manage to eat ice cream?
I wonder if I should add Koenji to this as well. But at the same time, I don't think Sudou would like that very much. Plus, Koenji apparently goes to the gym even earlier than all of us. Does that guy even sleep? Speaking of which, is that him over there?
No...that is just someone else. I'm sure of it. Definitely. That's for certain.
For some reason I feel like I keep on seeing him everywhere now these days. It is freaking me out. I am sure that my awareness skills are extremely high, but still. It feels like he is following me. Maybe he is just on my mind a lot, and that has somehow manifested into illusions.
"Dude, Ayanokouji, you are spacing out again. You alright? Did you also get your brain fried from studying all the time? Or did you get a brain freeze from the ice cream? Also, why did you bite into your ice cream dude? That looks like it hurts." Sudou looked at me in confusion.
I looked back at him in confusion as well.
"What do you mean?" I said.
"What, seriously? Wait...don't tell me! Hahahah!" Sudou then started laughing and slapped my back a few times. Luckily I didn't drop my ice cream.
"Dude, you crack me up! You are at the top in academics and physical abilities, and yet you don't even know how to eat ice cream. I don't think I've ever heard of someone who didn't know how to eat ice cream! Looks like you are in need of learning something from me this time around. Just lick it with your tongue instead man." Sudou remarked.
"...I see." I replied.
I tried what Sudou recommended. Huh, this does make the experience a lot better. And I am not being distracted by the pain either. Wow, this tastes really, really good, although it is very, very sugary.
I did get teased, but I did enjoy hanging out with the likes of both Sudou and Albert.
Side note: Ayanokouji out here going on a long monologue on just a head nod. He is pretty much the nerd emoji at times.
Also, please don't bite into ice cream with your teeth guys. Trust me, it hurts.
Also, the next chapters, in chapter 12 will be the last chapters for Volume 1, with a Horikita short story accompanying it.
I have also been trying to increase the word count for each chapter, so it has been taking a quite a bit longer to write these chapters.
Also, for some reason this chapter isn't getting pushed by notifications annoyingly enough.