A slight feeling of distress came over Hirata Yousuke as he witnessed the aftermath of the short but impactful altercation with someone he recognized as Ryuuen Kakeru, a notorious member of class C.
The atmosphere was stiff, dulled by the unnecessary addition of malicious elements to a casual Saturday afternoon. There was also the matter of Karuizawa Kei, who had lost all her vibrance after Ryuuen had shut her down effortlessly.
This situation was far from ideal for the peacemaker of class D, so he resolved to smooth out the atmosphere and regain at least a semblance of the calming ambience that was now long gone.
He looked over at the other main contributor to his current dilemma, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. As who he was, he naturally knew who Ayanokouji was in the class, it was his policy after all.
Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, according to the girls, is a dull but friendly person. They saw nothing special about him aside from a few who complimented his looks. Despite this, they found no fault with the unassuming but somewhat sociable member of their class.
These opinions they had of him had molded Hirata’s own, he had unavoidably began to see him as just that.
But those perceptions were utterly destroyed now.
He felt Ryuuen’s unshakeable will and malice, and he expected it to crush Ayanokouji without resistance. To his surprise and utmost admiration, Ayanokouji had responded with no difficulty.
He even seemed to overwhelm him.
“Our food has arrived, let’s eat it before it gets cold please.” He said, hoping to at least give Karuizawa something to focus on, distracting her from whatever she was thinking about.
“You’re right.” Ayanokouji was the first to respond, wasting no time in digging into his food.
Karuizawa was a bit slower but her eyes seemed to regain their light as she narrowed them on the completely oblivious boy opposite her.
‘Oh no….’ Already seeing where this was going to end, Hirata grew a little worried.
“Hey Ayanokouji-kun, what was that about?” In typical Karuizawa fashion, she spoke as if she was at the top of the hierarchy, conveniently ignoring what had transpired earlier. Her tone seemed to compel the others to follow her example.
Ayanokouji turned his eyes towards her, not looking the slightest bit intimidated by the tacit threat. “What? Ryuuen? He’s just an acquaintance.”
His voice was flat as usual but Karuizawa seemed to feel he was mocking her, she lightly slammed her cutlery on the table and glared more at the boy.
“Acquaintance? More like enemies, why are you being targeted by some thug? What does he mean when he says his class declares war on us? What girlfriend is he talking about?”
Hirata didn’t like what was happening in front of him right now, but he was just as curious. He fought his urge to let this continue and decided to speak up.
“Karuizawa-san, I think you sho-”
“No, it’s fine. I intended to talk to you people about this anyway.”
Ayanokouji cut him off. He wiped his mouth, deciding to leave his food for when he’s done talking.
“As I talk to both of you, I don’t want any unnecessary interruptions or disruptions…” He looked at the blond gyaru as he said this, making her turn away.
“We get it, so just talk already.” She said in a somewhat annoyed voice.
“The ‘girlfriend’ is actually my seatmate, Horikita Suzune. She realized there were a few things wrong with this school and decided to find out. I lent her a hand. In the course of our investigations we crossed paths with Ryuuen, who seems to have figured some things out at this point.”
“What?”
A collective question came from Hirata and Karuizawa, it was a very odd statement from Ayanokouji. Hirata had some guesses but Karuizawa was totally confused.
“Wait wait, what do you mean ‘wrong’? What’s wrong exactly?” Karuizawa absolutely had to ask.
“Well for starters, we aren’t getting 100,000 points next month. No one probably is.”
Hirata’s face grew serious, in contrast to Karuizawa’s apprehensive look.
One seemed to be weighing possibilities while the other seemed to want to deny reality.
“A- are you sure? This isn’t some joke right? You don’t even have proof!” She threw question after question at the impassive Ayanokouji before being pulled back by Hirata.
“I always found it odd, to think it was this…” Hirata mused aloud, he snapped out of his thoughts and turned to Ayanokouji with a firm look.
“Ayanokouji-kun, you said you wanted to talk to us. Does that mean you have a way to help the class?” His eyes radiated hope, Hirata already seemed to develop some inexplicable faith in Ayanokouji.
Ayanokouji noticed but couldn’t understand why, it was foreign to him.
Normally he would go out of his way to explore the depth of this newfound phenomena but today was not that day, he would have many more opportunities to interact with Hirata Yousuke after this day.
“Personally? I can’t say. That’s why I’m talking to you two.” Ayanokouji leaned forward as the atmosphere around him changed, he almost felt…charismatic.
“Horikita is an antisocial person, she’s currently alienated from the class and her personality is really not the best, those are just some of her flaws as a person. She does have redeeming qualities, her logical reasoning is excellent and her skills at observation become exceedingly sharp under certain circumstances. I believe she can overcome these flaws.”
Hirata and Karuizawa were stunned, it was like a completely different person was addressing them.
“S-so? How does this matter to us?” Karuizawa managed to stammer out.
Ayanokouji gestured to the waiter for another coffee, raising his empty cup.
“You might not understand it now, but a leader will have to step up in our class soon enough. People like you and Hirata would be crucial…or useful…to said leader.”
They still looked confused, Hirata nodded slightly, willing to put in trust in Ayanokouji. Meanwhile…..
“I don’t like this…this feeling of not being in control..I don’t like it…” Karuizawa seemed unsettled, a subtle fear creeping in on her from the sheer amount of uncertainties Ayanokouji had brought to their attention.
Karuizawa, in her discomfort, had unknowingly wavered in front of Ayanokouji.
To a person privy to the tools essential for discerning the nuances of the human psyche, her deepest vulnerabilities had been made utterly clear.
Ayanokouji’s head barely moved as he made a miniscule nodding motion.
“If what you are saying is right, why can’t you be the leader?” Hirata asked in a curious tone with an underlying wariness that was easy to spot for Ayanokouji.
This was natural, even for someone like Hirata. Ayanokouji was making it really hard not to suspect him of ulterior motives.
“Me huh…?” At that moment Ayanokouji’s coffee had arrived but he didn’t drink out of it, he stared into the cup as if searching for some perfectly hidden answer, and as if failing, he turned his gaze to the ever moving world beyond the insulated space of the small diner.
The almost imperceptible look in his eyes moved Hirata, he couldn’t tell why, but he knew what to do.
“You know what? Nevermind. I’ll lend my help to Horikita-san if she needs it.” A wide smile on his face, Hirata gave Ayanokouji assurance of his stance.
“Hmph, I won’t go out of my way but helping that prickly girl shouldn’t be that hard.” Reassuming her persona, Karuizawa spoke her piece.
Ayanokouji only nodded, now snapped out of his trance.
And so, they sat there for the rest of the afternoon, gaining a better understanding of the situation with Ayanokouji’s guidance.
.
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Monday, the forerunner of the final week in the month of April, a checkmark as time marches on. The day of reckoning drew nearer.
The room that housed class D was in it’s usual state, different groups occupied small sections of the room, a cacophony of voices caused by the overlapping of different students’ attempts at sensationalizing their weekends to their friends, the clatter of desks and chairs as boys engaged in adolescent tomfoolery.
Horikita Suzune sat at the edge of it all, or as close to the edge as she could be…. She looked to her left at her quiet seatmate.
They had both pretended that their argument on Friday had not happened, Horikita being the one most grateful for this.
“Ignorance truly is bliss, but I guess that isn’t valid since their very nature is ignorance.” She said in no particular direction, already aware that he would respond.
“While true, I believe you’re looking at it in a conceited manner."
Horikita slightly flinched, Ayanokouji had grown more liberal with how he challenged her.
She began to consider what part of her statement was conceited. For someone like Horikita, this was a hard task.
It was the equivalent of someone like Yamauchi trying to point out his own flaws.
Ayanokouji observed her out of the corner of his eyes, wondering if she would be able to spot what would be condescending about her statement from an outsider's perspective.
"I see…"
She finally said.
"Hm?"
"You were right, I too was ignorant for some time."
"True, but you were different at least."
Horikita looked at him in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you tried to change, no? I think you deserve to be condescending."
"..."
'Is he messing with me?'
"Hm? Why are you reaching into your bag?"
"None of your business."
"No, this seems dangerous. It's definitely my business."
"Is that so?"
Ayanokouji had done his utmost best to put space between him and the now compass wielding Horikita.
"Wait wait, don't you think you should be getting to work now?" Trying to appear frantic but failing with his lack of vocal inflection, Ayanokouji managed to stop Horikita Suzune's advance.
"Work?" She looked confused.
"Surely you've figured it out, at least I trust that you should have…the reason our points are reducing."
Slightly taken aback by his obvious high opinion of her, Horikita grew slightly flustered but regained composure easily.
"If you're referring to class conduct, then yes." No probing or beating around the bush, she simply stated the conclusion she arrived at.
It was a subconscious act of acknowledgement, it showed that Horikita had assumed that Ayanokouji would have naturally reached the same conclusion she did.
This didn't escape Ayanokouji's notice but he simply disregarded it.
"Good good. By work, I meant how you planned to at least redeem some of our points, if they're not all gone now."
She raised her left eyebrow slightly as she scrutinized Ayanokouji.
Lately, she found herself analyzing every word he spoke. She had noticed his distasteful habit of mixing up clues in his casual speech.
"Our points? How are you so sure that it's 'our' points?"
Ayanokouji began to fiddle with his pen, spinning it in his right hand.
"Hm. Is that what it sounded like?"
"You're doing it again."
She challenged the nonchalant boy.
"Am I? I was simply talking about how you plan to retain your private points."
She sighed and decided that she had had enough Ayanokouji for the morning, she turned away from him and dived into her own thoughts.
'I might be overthinking but I can't be too careful around him, prevention is better than cure. Retain private points…well things would be so much easier for me if the points were just that, private. Wait…why is it specified? Why private points…? Why not just points..? Are there other kinds of points…? Is this…..?'
She turned her head instantly to her seatmate, only to meet a jarring sight.
Ayanokouji was looking straight at her, eyes blank he gave off an unsettling aura.
Horikita turned away instantly, she couldn't shake off the unreasonable feeling that consumed her.
The way he stared, it was like he could trace the very lines of her thoughts…like he was perfectly prepared for her to realize something.
From that moment on, Horikita had unknowingly developed a subconscious fear of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.
.
.
It was lunch time, classes had been temporarily paused to give students a time to regain some energy and enthusiasm before the afternoon's set of classes commenced.
Like every other day, Hirata and Karuizawa's group were preparing to leave for the cafeteria together, but there was a certain change.
"Uh….Forihita-san?"
"It's Horikita."
"Ah, yes….sorry about that…can you leave?"
Shinohara Satsuki was currently in an altercation with Horikita Suzune.
It had started when Horikita had tried to pull Hirata away for some undisclosed reason.
"I am not here for you, I don't see how your wishes matter." Horikita adamantly refused Shinohara's passive aggressive attempt to send her away.
"Hah? What do you want anyway? Can't you see we're busy? Go bother someone else!" Shinohara raised her voice and slammed her hand on a nearby desk, an attempt at intimidation.
Horikita looked thoroughly unimpressed, her face actually giving off the notion that she felt disappointed.
This greatly irked Shinohara, she felt like she was being looked down on, but before she could go any further she was stopped.
"Hey Shinohara, why are you wasting your time on her anyway? I'll go with her and Hirata-kun, you guys can wait for us, I'll have some tea to spill for you all when I get back."
Shinohara still looked angry but she caved under the social pressure exerted by Karuizawa.
Horikita looked confused on why anyone would spill tea but decided to ignore it as some brain dead trend her fellow girls were invested in.
She took a sceptic look at the flamboyant gyaru and seemed to think a bit before nodding.
"Sure, shall we?" Karuizawa latched on to Hirata's arm and followed behind Horikita.
Ayanokouji watched all this from his vantage point at the edge of the class.
'I overdid it…….' He sighed to himself as he buried his head into his crossed arms ontop his desk.
.
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Yo yo.
Took a considerable while this time around but hey, I'm not dead.
Tell me if you enjoyed it ig, peace.