I couldn't believe how many shops were inside this mall.
Like, it's a full-sized mall on a high school grounds.
The amount of money and effort poured into this school is insurmountable.
But, I guess it is worth it, considering this school has produced higher quality results than most.
I hadn't been to this mall too often. Besides, frequented shops like the electronic store, supermarkets, and cafes. I've never truly seen this mall and all its glory.
It even offered specialty stores for water, gas, or electric problems. Even dry cleaners.
Maybe it even had a gym? I'd have to investigate that more thoroughly.
The mall and its shops were nearly closing as it was past 8pm now. But a few individuals from Class D had gathered in a karaoke booth to discuss the plans for our upcoming final exam.
"We might as well sing," Kei started the conversation.
"That's not the point of us meeting here," Hirata said.
"Ah mou~, could we do it later then?" Kei asked as she gripped her boyfriend's arm tighter.
"It would be nice to relax."
"Enjoy the food and drinks for now," Horikita cut into their conversation. An assortment of junk food and drinks lay on the table, ordered by none other than Kei.
"Let us begin," Horikita continued.
"Ah, I want a break, though. I feel like I'm a walking dictionary now," Sudo complained.
"Seeing as you started out at an elementary school level of education, I am impressed," Horikita replied.
"Isn't that a little harsh?" Hirata asked.
"Before studying, Sudo-kun didn't know that pi was a mathematical expression."
Wow. That's crazy.
"HAHA!" Kei laughed at Sudo. "That's hilarious!"
"Don't laugh at me, Karuizawa. Your just as idiotic as I am," Sudo shot back.
"Oh yeah? Spell, Wednesday then."
"Well, that's easy, w-e-d... um... we- wed-... s- I think..."
"Besides, some aspects of certain individual's scholastic skills; clearly lacking," Horikita cut back in. "I believe the study sessions have increased everyone's overall knowledge. Would you say the same for Miyake-kun and Hasebe-san, Yukimura-kun?"
"Yes, Ayanokouji-kun can atest. They have improved."
"He implored the best methods. I'm not worried about them," Kiyotaka replied.
"It would be horrible for us to lose anyone," Kushida spoke up.
"But, we have to be prepared for that. Chabashira-sensei did say a couple of people get expelled each year. We can't guarantee students like Sudo, and I don't end up being expelled. Even Akio is close to being expelled," Kei said.
"Well, we can't guarantee that. But..." Kushida replied.
"Then it's not a done deal, right? Kushida-san?"
The atmosphere was turning for the worst. This sudden and unnecessary pressure from Kei toward Kushida made our situation much more tense.
"You know, Kushida-san. I think this is all an act," Kei continued as she pointed her finger at Kushida.
"Kei, I think you should calm down," I said.
"It must be really nice. Being smart and having no worries at all, you have no idea what may happen to us," Kei snapped at Kushida.
"Karuizawa-san..." Hirata gently grasped at her wrist to hopefully reign her back in.
"Kushida-san, don't you think your too much of a goody-two-shoes?"
"I... um..." Kushida stammered back.
"I... um... What? Can you actually speak?"
"Karuizawa-san, that's enough. We have more pressing matters to discuss," Horikita tried cutting in.
"No, this is the most pressing matter right now. I bet you're making so much fun of me in your head, Kushida-san. Because you are so much smarter than me and don't struggle like I do on tests."
"T-that's not it at all," Kushida waved her hands to emphasize her statement.
And then a move no one could have predicted. Kei picked up her glass of grape juice and dumped it over Kushida. Soaking her blazer.
"Kei!"
"Karuizawa-san!"
Hirata and I instinctively got up from our seats and grabbed Kei's wrist, which was holding the glass.
"You should apologize to, Kushida right now," I said.
Kei blinked at me in bewilderment for a moment. "What? You really think I'm in the wrong here?"
"You are," Horikita replied. "Kushida-san has done nothing wrong, yet you overreacted."
"Karuizawa-san, you're in the wrong here," Yukimura added.
"What?! Just because she's the class angel adored by everyone, she gets special treatment?" Kei proclaimed.
"N-no, it's fine," Kushida tried to control the flames.
"Hey, Ayanokouji-kun. You think I'm right, right?"
Huh? Why would she seek help from Kiyotaka at a time like this?
"You are completely in the wrong, Karuizawa."
"Kei, if you just apologize to, Kushida, I'm sure she'll accept, and we can put this matter behind us," I suggested.
Kei stood for a moment, not looking at anyone in particular but gazing around the room in thought. "I'm sorry."
"It's totally fine, Karuizawa-san," Kushida said.
"No, it's not. I overreacted... It must be from the stress of this final."
Hirata let out a sigh of relief at Kei's apology.
"Kushida-san, do you have an extra blazer?" Horikita asked.
"Oh, I don't. My first one got damaged, this is my only one."
"I could take your blazer to the dry cleaner," Kei randomly suggested.
"No, no. I'll do it, don't worry about it," Kushida replied.
"Please let me. I'd feel too guilty, it would help me to apologize better."
"Are you sure?"
"Please. Let me do this much," Kei pleaded to take Kushida's blazer in for dry cleaning.
Something bothered me about this entire sequence, though.
Kei wasn't the person to seek out conflict like this.
Yes, she did make trouble a lot of the time due to her delicate reputation in the class. But she only did so when she had allies with her or was in the majority.
She's smart enough to know this outbreak towards Kushida wouldn't do any favors for her.
So why?
And, also seeking out Kiyotaka for help?
I know something is happening between the two. Something behind the scenes.
Because she would have never sought out his help earlier this year.
Karuizawa wouldn't have done something like this of her own will. She would have only done it if someone told her to.
If so, was the person instructing Kei in this room?
~~~
"Hey! Akio!"
The meeting for the final exam had finally wrapped up, and we were all on our way back to the dorms.
I assumed Kei was staying behind because of her interest in singing karaoke. But it looks like my assumptions were false.
"Do you mind if I walk back to the dorms with you?" Kei asked.
"I don't mind, but shouldn't you be doing that with your boyfriend?"
"Hehe, um. You know, it's fine to take a break from each other every now and then," Kei replied nervously to my question.
"I understand, I guess..."
The first few minutes on our walk back to the dorm were filled with awkward tension.
A feeling we hadn't really noticed since we first met each other earlier this year.
"Kei, can I ask why you did that to Kushida in the karaoke room?"
Kei responded with a sigh. "Well, I guess, I am nervous about this final. And about the potential of being expelled. And I just lashed out at her because of it."
"I can understand that. The pent-up frustration just pouring out."
"But... don't you think she's hiding something? I mean; how can anyone be that angelic and not have a flaw?"
You didn't know half of it.
"That's pretty pessimistic of you if you're always searching for the flaws in people," I replied.
Kei let out a self-deprecating laugh. "Maybe. But don't you get that feeling from her too?"
We stopped walking for a moment and turned to face each other.
"Kei, what's your relationship with Ayan-"
"Well, look at you two," a familiar voice cut me off.
"Could they secretly be dating?" another voice said.
I turned to face the sound of the voices.
"Hello, Maya and Chiaki. We were walking back to the dorms from a meeting," I said.
"Mhmmm," Maya said. "Well, we'll join you. Besides, we have some questions to ask you, Akio."
"Questions?"
I gave one more quick glance to Kei. She seemed stuck in thought, possibly surprised. She may have understood what I was about to ask her and was worried about how much I knew.
But she quickly wiped that face of worry away; as the four of us started our journey back to the dorms.
"So, anything interesting happen in the past few days," Chiaki mused.
"Not that I recall."
"Are you sure?" Chiaki continued to press.
"Nope."
"Oh, c'mon," Maya whined. "There's a rumor going around that you met up with Class A's leader. That you were even holding hands in public."
The teenage life. Even if we did take precautions for people not to notice us. People would still somehow find out. Gossip would always find a way.
"That never happened," I replied.
"You sure? Because a lot of people have been talking about it," Maya said.
"You'd believe those rumors over your friend?" I asked.
"No, I guess not."
"We just wanted to make sure you weren't betraying Ichinose. That's all," Chiaki said.
"What? I don't understand? How would that betray Ichinose?" I asked.
"Gosh, boys can be such idiots," Kei added.
"That's right," Chiaki replied.
"Wait, I'm lost-"
"Speaking of Ichinose!" Maya cut me off. "I heard that she was rejected from the student council."
"What do you mean?" Chiaki asked. "She's on the council right now, we saw her during the president's ceremony."
"Well, yeah, now she is. But apparently, she was rejected the first time."
"How'd you find this out?" I asked.
"I don't know," Maya shrugged. "Gossip just flows to me."
"You're a wizard, Maya."
"Anyways, from what I heard, Katsuragi-kun and Ichinose-san both applied for the student council but were rejected by the last president."
Horikita-senpai would reject those two? I couldn't understand the reasons why. They both are regarded as capable individuals in their respective classes. Not to mention, they are both from the highest classes of our year.
Did Manabu see something in them that no one else could? He may seem cold on the outside, but I'm sure he's a compassionate person on the inside. So there must've been a good reason for rejecting those two.
Nevertheless, how is Ichinose on the council now?
"So, how's she on the council now?" Kei questioned.
"Couldn't tell ya," Maya replied. "But she's been on it for a while now, so she must've just been annoying the former president a lot about wanting to join."
No, that's not like Horikita-senpai. I've had few interactions with him, but it was easy to tell that whatever choice he made, he would stand by for eternity.
From what Ichinose told me about the council, the vice president and president hold all the power.
It would then be safe to presume that not only the president could accept new members, but the vice president could too.
Meaning, the new president of the student council, Miyabi Nagumo, otherwise known as pain-in-my-life Nagumo, probably facilitated Ichinose's spot on the student council regardless of the former president's wishes.
"What's with the crowd?" Chiaki pointed to the first-year dormitory lobby.
There was quite a crowd of people surrounding the mailboxes. It couldn't have been a late-night rush or anything.
I spotted some familiar faces and decided to ask them about the situation.
"Kiyotaka, Katsuragi. What's with the crowd?"
"This." Ayanokouji passed me a sheet of paper folded into four.
"It was in all the first-year mailboxes," Katsuragi spoke.
I opened the letter.
First-year Class B student Ichinose Honami may be collecting points illegally. - Ryuuen Kakeru.
The three girls following me peered over my shoulder and read the message too.
"Huh? Ichinose?" Kei murmured.
"Are all the letters the same?" I asked Ayanokouji.
"They are. We confirmed it by reading the Professor's too."
"Would Ichinose do something like this," Maya said.
"I don't know, but I'm as equally as confused as to why Ryuuen signed this..."
"It's Ryuuen-kun. He's crazy. No explanation," Kei replied.
"I don't know..." Chiaki mused. "If he signed this, doesn't that mean the claim is true? He wouldn't have signed it if it were false, the school could take disciplinary actions against him for the false claim."
"That's true. But I also find the timing of this confusing. Why would he want to aggravate Class B? He's not fighting them in a special exam. Mind games like these only work when you're in a direct confrontation," I added.
"Hey, Ryuuen's here!" A student yelled at the crowd as Ryuuen walked into the dormitory.
"What do you think you're doing? Some prank?" Kanzaki burst from the crowd and grabbed Ryuuen by the collar.
"I don't know what you mean?"
"This," Kanzaki showed him the letter. "Why would you give everyone this letter?"
"Pretty interesting stuff," Ryuuen replied as he shook Kanzaki's grip off him.
"This is going too far now. Redact the claim, and we can look past this," Kanzaki replied with a hint of frustration in his voice.
"Give me proof the Ichinose is not collecting points illegally. Then I will," Ryuuen shot back.
"Why, you-"
"How about it?" Ryuuen turned with the letter in hand to face Ichinose, who had just walked in. "Show us all the proof."
Ichinose didn't seem shocked by the sudden confrontation and responded calmly. "Any proof I give you now you probably wouldn't believe, right, Ryuuen-kun?"
"That's probably true. But it's up to the school to decide if you're guilty."
"Don't worry, everyone," Ichinose spoke to the crowd. "I plan to report to the teachers about this tomorrow, it's all just a misunderstanding."
"Why report it to the school?" Ryuuen asked. "Do it here, right now, in front of everyone. There shouldn't be a problem if you got them legally."
"Would you believe me if I explain it to you?" Ichinose asked.
"No. I want everyone to hear. After all, lying should be as easy as breathing for you, right?"
That was an odd thing to say.
"Well, if I report to the school, there will be no room for fraud, correct?"
"I suppose so," said Ryuuen.
"That's enough then," Kanzaki said, coming to the aid of his fellow classmate.
"Humans can be nasty creatures. They can lie, steal, blackmail, and backstab all they want to get their desired results. Who's to say Ichinose isn't coming up with some scheme right now?" Ryuuen declared.
"I don't get it," Maya said. "Like it's, Ichinose. No way would she be the person to like, steal points or something."
"Well, if you tell everyone here how many points you have and how you got them, I'll stop now,' Ryuuen said.
"I can't do that," Ichinose replied.
"So, you're guilty then? If you did everything by the books you wouldn't be so defensive right now."
"No. What I mean is I obtained all my points legally, but by telling you how I'd be showing you all my cards. If I inform the school, they should investigate, and if there was any fraud committed, they'd make it public knowledge."
"That's true. If you actually report yourself, that is."
"Go yourself then, tell them what you wrote down," Ichinose fired back.
"Kuku, you seem pretty confident, I'll look forward to it."
True, a guilty person would fold under pressure immediately. Which meant there was a high likelihood these were false claims. Or Ichinose is one of the greatest actors of our generation.
Ryuuen left the lobby right after and boarded the elevator with a bold smile on his face.
"Once the seed of doubt has been planted, that doubt will continue to grow until it's eradicated. No one can escape from it, not even Ichinose," Katsuragi said.
Katsuragi was right. No matter how high of approval one amounted in life, one detrimental lie could destroy everything they built. This was a universal truth for everyone in life.
I broke away from my friends and made my way over to Ichinose.
"Hey, I watched all that happen. I felt like I should say that I don't believe these claims."
"It's alright," Ichinose waved me off. "This claim by Ryuuen-kun is false, but I'm glad you believe in me."
"Also, how are your studies going, Fukumoto-kun? You're preparing a lot, right?" Ichinose asked.
"I study every now and then," I replied.
Ichinose looked at me with a pouty frown for a moment before mysteriously digging into her school bag.
Prick
"Ow! What was that for?! Why does everyone stab me with a compass?"
"Just your punishment for not studying. I can't have you dropping out, you know," Ichinose replied with a cute smug smile.
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