Zazen was getting easier. For her, at least.
She can't say the same for whatever the boys were doing. Some of their positions were just... so unreasonably shit, yet so funny. She had to pinch herself until her skin went purple so she didn't burst out laughing in the middle of a kind-of religious activity.
Suzune's accustomed to the schedule of the training camp by now. Wake up, sit in a lotus position for an hour, eat breakfast, wash dishes, listen to some old guy ramble about morality or some shit, eat more food, run a marathon, eat dinner before Nagumo can find her, go to bed, rinse and repeat.
Today for breakfast though, Kiryuuin had requested (more so flirtatiously demanded) she eat breakfast with her. So there was that.
"Tell me about yourself." Suzune looked up from her breakfast to see her senior looking at her, white hair draping over her shoulders and red eyes flickering with curiosity.
"... Anything you want to know in particular?"
"Not really. Just anything about you." Kiryuuin stabbed her fork into a chunk of her pancake and plopped it into her mouth. "You're pretty cute."
Suzune shoved some coco-pops in her mouth before sitting up straight. "Well... I know another language?"
"Oh really?" Kiryuuin pushed her plate aside and leaned closer. "Tell me more."
"Spanish Duolingo is extremely funny."
".... alright. Tell me something in Spanish."
"Blondie es una perra malvada."
Kiryuuin stared at her. "I have no clue what you just said but I can at least infer that it was something against our latest elected."
"Only the truth, I assure you."
---
Suzune decided to eat lunch with the Horikita group for today.
They seemed to be enjoying the camp.
"I mean, come on! Why does Ishizaki have to curse me out at every damn turn?! I request him to do something and then he yells at me!"
Like, a lot.
"Well, Keisei," Hakura began while sipping her water bottle. "Maybe he just doesn't like you. Our class overtook theirs after all."
"T-that doesn't give him a reason t-to be mean, though..." Airi mumbled.
"It kind of does, though." Suzune twirled her fork in her hand. "I mean, let's be real here. Ishizaki is a prideful person. Moving down a class rank would likely damage that." She then picked at her salad for the day. "He's probably been angry for a while and hasn't had an outlet."
"That is true." Akito added.
Ayanokoji just poked his fruit with his fork.
---
Another day, another cleaning session. This time she was paired with Airi. The girl was hesitant in her moves when cleaning the dishes, clearly not used to the chore.
"H-hey." The shy girl suddenly spoke up. "S-Suzune?"
"Yeah? What's up?"
"Do you remember w-when I mentioned uh- how, um... how your eyes weren't scary?"
"Back in first term?" Airi nodded. "Yeah, I remember that. Do you wanna talk about it?"
Airi nodded again. "Mhm."
"Okay, then." Suzune grabbed a stack of plates and tucked them in their respective cabinet. "Fire away."
"Um... alright..." Airi cleared her throat. "Well- to start off, I uh- I-I wanted to explain how I kind of, um... identified them as not scary."
Suzune hummed in response, sliding the plates back into the shelves.
Airi muttered something Suzune didn't quite catch before turning away from the sink to face her. "Normally, um, geez how do I say this... uh, the d-difference between your eyes and other people's is that... I can look into them without faltering, um..." Suzune continued putting the plates away. "Although, normally, that's only the case when, uh, when... when..." Airi took a deep breath. "When they've experienced something traumatic."
Suzune paused.
Airi kept talking. "And, um, I-I was wondering if uh- if you... if you... maybe had something going on?"
Suzune didn't move from her spot, the drying cloth lay limp in her hand.
"Not that I'm assuming or anything! If you really don't have anything going on, then just ignore me! But... I just can't shake the feeling t-that you've gone through something no one should ever have to go through and that there's more going on between you and the ex-student council president than meets the eye and oh God I should've been a better friend to notice- "
"Stop."
Airi gasped.
It was one word. One singular word that's overlooked too much when the situation is dire yet overthought to the point of pulling one's hair out.
It was one syllable. But Airi went dead silent when hearing it come out her mouth.
"Airi." She heard Pinkie nearly topple over when at the mention of her name. "I appreciate the fact that you want to make sure I'm fine, that I'm okay, and I thank you for that. I appreciate the friendship we have." She directed her gaze towards the girl from where she was standing. And it must've been harsh because Airi's eyes were blown wide when meeting her gaze, her body stilled.
"But I would appreciate it more if you minded your own business."
.
.
.
.
.
She sat with Ichinose for dinner. Sakayanagi didn't tag along this time.
Suzune could tell Airi wasn't the most comfortable with her presence right now. She didn't necessarily mean to spook her off, it just sort of... happened.
She vaguely remembers someone mentioning that the brain sometimes acts on its own when it engages with something that reminds them of a traumatic event or personal experience that has affected the brain before and that the brain acting out is it trying to be a defence mechanism so that the person doesn't have to go through it again and-
"Horikita-san?"
Suzune blinked and glanced up to see Ichinose looking concerned. "Yeah?"
"You were spacing out, are you okay?"
She waved her off. "Yep, just have something on my mind. What were we talking about?"
"Well, I was a little worried about something."
"Hm?"
"It's about Sakayanagi."
Suzune looked down at her spaghetti made by one of the seniors (she'll have to grab this recipe later). "Is it because the class A girls have no one from class B in their groups?"
Ichinose nodded. "Yeah. I brushed it off as a coincidence earlier, but..."
"You're worried that it wasn't one."
Ichinose nodded. "Yeah..." The pink-haired girl sighed and picked at her food. "I really don't want anything bad to happen to my classmates. They're all such good people... they're my friends..."
"Then make sure they stay safe. Make sure that their safety is guaranteed." Ichinose looked at her with a borderline desperate gaze.
"But... how?"
"There's multiple ways; making deals with the seniors, using points to buy your way to the top, using people's trust to your advantage." Suzune reached a hand into her pocket and felt something brush against her fingertips. "If there's one thing we've been taught at this school, is that there's always a way."
A loophole. A trick. An ulterior motive.
(She knows that all too well.)
---
Suzune knows exactly where to find her. She gave Ichinose an excuse before turning tail and heading for the hallway. She weaved through the corridors, keeping hyperaware of every sound, every movement, every second her feet made contact with the floor.
She came across the room she was looking for soon enough. She silently opened the door.
Tachibana gasped when a stream of light came in the room. She whipped her head towards the person in the entrance. "Hori- Horikita-san?"
"Yep."
Tachibana stared at her in silence before she shook her head, hands rubbing her eyes. "You- you shouldn't be here. Go ba-back to the cafeteria."
"I can't do that."
Suzune slowly walked towards her, being careful not to spook the crying girl. When she got close enough, she crouched down in front of her.
"Your group hasn't been treating you right. Am I correct?"
Tachibana's eyes widened with tears beginning to brim them again. "No, no! N-no... how, what- who- who told you that?"
"Not important." Suzune reached out a hand and placed it on the upperclassman's shoulder. "Your group is trying to get you expelled."
Tachibana hastily shook her head. "NO! They... they wouldn't... they've just been having a b-bad week-"
"Don't lie to me." Tachibana flinched. She stared at her for a moment before sighing. "Hey," She said, her voice much gentler. "There's a way to stop all of this."
"H-how?"
Suzune reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. She held it out. Tachibana looked between her and the paper in Suzune's hand. She hesitantly grabbed it and unfolded it. When seeing the writing on it, her eyes were open much wider than before.
"What?..." The upperclassman was speechless. She looked up to Suzune with pure bewilderment and confusion. "I can't use this-"
"Either that or be expelled, take your pick." Tachibana clicked her mouth shut, mouth wobbling "The leader can't expel you if you score a 100 on the exam at the end of the week. Take it from me."
Suzune walked over to the entrance to leave the room when Tachibana called out to her. "Wait! How do you even know what's on the exam? How do you even know that this will work?" The girl's tears were completely forgotten.
She looked over her shoulder. "That's for me to know and for you to find out."
She left.
She can't wait to see the utter shock on bitchboy's face at the end of all this. It'll probably bite her in the ass later, and he'll only stalk her around more, but hey, it's all a part of the game.
Obsessions might just be the end of his.
---
Day Six:
Suzune was running along the mountain trail, minding her own business, when she heard a distant yell through the trees.
"Koenji!"
Ayanokoji? Oh right, their whole competitive bro-romance thing.
It's none of her business. She was about to keep running at the pace she was going at before, when abruptly-
"Coming through!!"
She was full-on body slammed into the rocks. She coughed quietly under her breath before blinking up at the heavy weight, or person, who had crashed on top of her.
"... Koenji?"
"Ah, Cat girl! We meet again!"
"Yeah, about that... mind getting off me?"
Koenji Rokusuke had her pinned down to the floor.
And holy shit it was awkward. Like, can she not have a normal healthy interaction with at least one person in this school? Is this her personal hell?
(She's asked herself that last question more than once.
In fact, she remembers asking herself that question the moment she realized she had a beating heart again and no blood was spilling out of her temple.)
The narcissist paid no attention to that, though. He simply stood up from her - Suzune used the rocks to help herself up. Koenji had hurled her right into where all the dust was. The guy had got her in the hip; that'll form a nice bruise later. "What are you even doing here, anyway?"
"My group was boring me, so I detoured from the original path!"
Suzune was about to give a witty remark when Ayanokoji came emerging from the bushes.
"Koenji... and Horikita?"
"Ah, Ayanokoji-boy! I don't believe that this is the proper route for your group." Koenji turned his attention to him.
"Why did you detour from the group?"
"I caught glimpse of a wild boar. It caught my interest, so I chased it down."
"And I imagine you didn't find it?"
Koenji laughed. "No, but I ran into Cat girl during my travels!"
"... Cat girl?" Ayanokoji looked over to her.
Suzune just shrugged. "Don't look at me, I didn't have a say in it."
"Anyways," Koenji looked back to Ayanokoji with a certain glint in his eye, as if regarding him as someone to take note of. "Why did you follow me out here?"
"It's about the day of the exam." Ayanokoji stated. "I want you to help the group."
Koenji merely shook his head. "I'm rather sick of hearing people spew that around me."
Keisei's probably been trying to persuade him. Seems like he had no luck in doing so.
"You don't have to get the best score out of everyone. Just don't fail."
"You don't get to decide that for me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a boar to track down- "
He turned to leave but Ayanokoji stopped him. He did so by grabbing Koenji's forearm. The narcissist tried shaking it off, but Ayanokoji wouldn't budge. Koenji then abruptly relaxed.
He gave a chuckle. "So that's how it is."
"Hm?" Koenji just continued to cackle at his expression. Ayanokoji tilted his head. "What do you mean by 'that's how it is?"
The narcissist's laughter eventually died down. "You're the one who tamed Dragon boy."
Ayanokoji blinked dumbly. "I'm not following."
"Does Ryuuen ring a bell?"
"What do I have to do with Ryuuen?"
"You're quite skilled at playing dumb, Ayanokoji-boy. You don't let anything slip through your feigned indifference."
"I don't understand. How did you get to that conclusion?"
"Right now; you touching my arm. I can tell through the transmitted heat via our contact."
That's one of the weirder things she's heard from this guy. Suzune knows she shouldn't be surprised; it's fucking Koenji, what'd she expect? But she really can't help it.
Heat transmitted through contact of the skin? How can this anime get more anime than it already is?
Ayanokoji didn't take the bait. "I apologize, but this is a huge misunderstanding."
Koenji just stared him down. "The way our fellow delinquent has been acting around you says otherwise. Plus, you're not the only one to blame for his change in attitude." He glances towards her. "Our fellow Cat Girl here has played a part in it too."
Suzune raised her hands in surrender. "I'm an innocent bystander."
Koenji shakes his head in what she can only assume is amusement. "Calm yourself, Ayanokoji-boy. I have no intentions of revealing your secret, or your little girlfriend's."
"We're not dating- " "What the fu- "
"You aren't?" Koenji's face morphs into a smirk. "Then I'm sure you don't mind me taking her out for a date, right?"
What the fuck? Why the fuck?
"Can we please get back on topic?" Ayanokoji changed the subject.
"Fufu, I suppose so. I assume that you want me to participate in the workings of the group?"
"Will you accept?"
Koenji sighed. "I've repeatedly stated my answer. I refuse your proposal."
'Pft, take that out of context.'
"I will act however I see fit and however I please." Koenji continued. "That is my philosophy whether you wish to accept it or not. I don't care what the outcome of this exam is, nor what my score will be. My mood is my deciding point. If I wish to participate in the exams, then I will. But I don't."
"I see..." Ayanokoji noticed Koenji climbing back up the branches, preparing to swing back off into the jungle.
That's when it hit her; why hadn't she left yet? Why did she stay to watch this whole dramatic scenario go down when it practically had nothing to do with her?
Welp, that's 3 minutes of her life she'll never get back.
---
Horikita waved goodbye to him and Koenji before running off at a fast pace. It wasn't long before her figure disappeared from Kiyotaka's sight. To run at a speed of that level while being injured?
'Speed is definitely one of her strengths. I wonder what her maximum speed truly is...'
"Koenji, wait!" Kiyotaka called out to the blonde. Koenji was crouched up on a branch, preparing for take-off. He looked down at him.
"You're quite talkative today, Ayanokoji-boy. What can I do for you?"
"What are your thoughts about Horikita Suzune?"
"Cat Girl, huh..." The blonde remained silent for a few moments, debating his answer. Does he call her Cat Girl because of her speed and agility? Or is it perhaps because of something else? "Well, I'll tell you something, Ayanokoji-boy. She's someone worthy of an ally."
"You wish to have her as an ally?"
"Precisely." Koenji slightly turned his body to have a better view at Kiyotaka who was standing below him. "She's clearly more intelligent than she lets on. She has more strengths than she lets on. She knows more about the world than she lets on." Koenji smiles. It's not as sharp as his usual ones. "She's intriguing to me."
There was silence for a few more moments.
"Well, if that's all Ayanokoji-boy, I will be taking my leave. Please stop pestering me about this so called 'teamwork'!"
And with that, Koenji was off, swinging through the trees without a care in the world.
Kiyotaka watched him eventually fade away from his sight.
He thought back to the conversation he just had before looking up at the sky. There were a few dark clouds approaching, indicating that rain was going to pour soon.
'An ally, huh?'
Word count: 2808