"Goodbye, Kiyotaka-kun. It is always fun reading together." said the white haired angel.
"Good night, Hiyori. I will be going for a walk by the sea. See you tomorrow."
"But it's 9 pm already?"
"I tend to spend some alone time walking at night. Especially, nowadays. It's too tiring being a leader."
"Kiyotaka-kun, you should take care of your health first. It's not good for your body to handle this much stress. I don't want to see my only friend get ill." she said with a sad face.
"Hey, don't worry I won't get ill. I admit, being a leader is a stressful job, but I have had worse."
"If you say so, Kiyotaka-kun. But if you need any help don't hesitate to ask me."
"Even if your classmates, hate that you are helping your opponent?"
"Yes, I will always help my friend. I don't care much about class competitions anyways." she said determined to help me.
"You're too sweet Hiyori, I will ask for your help if I need it. Now you should return to your room it's late already."
She gave me a cute smile before leaving.
As Hiyori and I parted ways. I thought about today. It was a week and a half since mid terms were announced and problems for the class started rising.
Chiaki's group was lagging behind in terms of syllabus. Apparently it took a lot of time for Karuizawa and her friends to understand what she was teaching and their location being the most popular cafe in the school premise didn't help either. Most of the time they were distracted staring at boys.
Then there was Sodou after attending a week just to please Kushida, he started bunking. He said that between a cute girl and not studying, he will choose the latter. So now he is attending his club activities.
But, my biggest headache was Horikita's group. I gave her a group of average students not even the worse ones. But she has managed to drive them away. Her methods of criticizing and constantly belittling them had reached peak.
When I ordered her not to do that, she would constantly find a new way to intimidate her group. She is like a rebellious teenager who doesn't listen to their parents.
During my walk, I had reached the third year dormitory building . The backside of the building had a wonderful view of the sea. I usually spent one hour here before going to bed. The moon shining on the water and the cool breeze, with a totally isolated place made an excellent spot to sit back and relax.
But today was different, there were two people already there. One was a senior boy and the other was the she devil, I was thinking about.
I quickly hid behind the bushes. When I looked at the boy, it was none other than the student council president himself.
"Suzune. I didn't think you'd follow me this far," he said.
"Hmph. I'm far different from the useless girl you once knew, nii-san. I came here to catch you."
"Catch me, hmm?"
"I heard you were placed in Class D. I suppose nothing has really changed in the last three years. You've always been fixated on following me, and as a result you don't notice your own flaws. Choosing to come to this school was a mistake."
"That's... You're wrong about that. I'll show you. I'll reach Class A right away, then-"
"It's pointless. You will never reach Class A. In fact, your class will fall apart soon enough. Things at this school aren't as simple as you think."
"I will definitely, definitely reach-"
"I told you, it's pointless. You really are a disobedient little sister." Horikita's brother stepped closer to her.
From my hiding spot, I could see him clearly. He displayed no hint of emotion. It was like he was staring at an uninteresting object. He grabbed his younger sister by the wrist-she offered no resistance-and pushed her against the wall.
"No matter how I try to avoid you, the fact remains that you're my little sister. If people around here learned the truth, I would be humiliated. Leave this school immediately."
"I-I can't do that... I will definitely reach Class A. I'll show you!"
"How incredibly stupid. Do you want to relive the pain of the past?"
"Nii-san, I..."
"You possess neither the abilities nor the qualities needed to reach Class A. Get that through your head." He moved forward, as if about to act.
And then a harsh slap sound echoed through the night.
He was going to shove her to the ground next.
I thought it was time to reveal myself. I leapt out from my hiding space and went after her brother. Before he knew I was there, I grabbed his right arm, which he was using to pin his sister.
"What? You..." He stared at his arm and slowly turned to me with a sharp gleam in his eye.
"A-Ayanokouji-kun?!" Horikita cried.
"You were about to throw your sister to the ground, weren't you? You do realize the floor here is concrete, right? You might be siblings, but you should know the difference between right and wrong."
"Eavesdropping is not an admirable quality," he said.
"Fine. Then let go."
"That's my line."
We glared at each other in complete silence.
"Stop it, Ayanokouji-kun," said Horikita, her voice strained.
I'd neverheard her voice like that before. Reluctantly, I released her brother. Instantly, he tried to back hand me in the face. I instinctively took a step back to avoid it. For such a lightly built guy, he was a nasty attacker. He then aimed a sharp kick at my unguarded spot.
"Watch it!" He had enough power to knock me out with one blow. Looking slightly confused, he exhaled deeply, extended his right arm, and opened his hand. If I grabbed his hand, he'd probably throw me to the ground.
Instead, I slapped him hard, he had a hand print on his face. With my speed, he didn't even saw it coming.
For a moment, everyone were stunned. Then he spoke.
"Your name is Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, isn't it?" he said.
"Yes, is there a problem?"
"You just slapped a senior, that too the student council president. Did you think you will get away with it?"
"And you just slapped and pinned a first year girl. Sister or not, I don't think it would look good on your resume."
"By your confidence, I assume you recorded it."
"You would be correct. Now it would be better for you, if you apologize to my slave here."
"Slave? Interesting. I didn't think you were into such things, Suzune."
"No-no, it's not like that. Ayanokouji-kun, don't use such crass language in front of nii-san."
"That's not how you should speak to your master who just saved you, like a knight in shining armor." I said to her teasingly.
"Ayanokoji, you have some good reflexes. I didn't imagine you could evade all of my blows so quickly. Also, you seemed to understand quite well what I was trying to do. I didn't even see your attack incoming. Have you been taught?"
"Yes, I was taught piano and calligraphy. Also, when I was inelementary school, I won a national music competition," I said.
"Interesting, but if your school record is correct, then you never went to any school. You're clearly lying."
"I never agreed on telling the truth. But moving on, should I release this clip? The great Horikita Manabu, hitting a little girl."
Judging by the look on her face, Horikita junior didn't appreciate my little girl comment.
"Even if you complain to the school about me physically assaulting you. I could just claim that I was protecting my classmate. People will hail me a hero. If Hori-Suzune here deny my claims, people will chalk it up to her being afraid of her cruel brother. Your odds aren't good here. I could destroy your reputation with a single click."
"You are an interesting individual Ayanokoji, when I saw your file. I was surprised that the student, who was the first person in the history of the school to ace all the subjects in the entrance exam was put into Class D. But you exceeded my expectations. So what are you going to do with the recording?" he said.
"Nothing, I would be a fool to give away such information just to make an enemy of a potential ally. You are the president and given by your statement, student council holds a lot of power. My only request is for you to accept my alliance in exchange for not releasing the clip. Although, you would have to understand that I can't delete the recording."
"I will accept your terms. With you around, maybe Class D really have a chance to grow and reach Class A."
"You flatter me, but one last request. Would you please tell your sister to just listen to my commands like a good slave. Or else she may find herself in a similar situation."
"Although, this master slave relationship you two have going on between you is cute, I would rather not interfere. Well, then I will be taking my leave." he said and left.
It was worth a try. I looked at Suzune, she was sitting on her knees. I gave her a hand up.
We sat on a bench and I brought some coffee from the vending machine.
"It's not like, I am not grateful but please don't interfere in my personal matters next time." she said with an expression somewhere in between anger and gratefulness.
"You mean to say, you like to get smacked by your brother. Suzune, do you dream about him smacking you at night."
"If you continue to talk to me like that then you have a painful time ahead of you and don't call me Suzune."
"No can do, it would confuse me, your brother is Horikita too."
Horikita fell silent once again.
"Your older brother is really strong. He doesn't lack ferocity."
"He's ranked fifth dan in karate and fourth dan in aikido." Whew, he was really strong. If I hadn't pulled stunned him with that slap, it would've ended badly for me.
"You also practice martial arts, don't you, Ayanokouji-kun? You must hold a dan rank."
"I told you, didn't I? Just piano and tea ceremony."
"You said calligraphy before."
"I...did calligraphy in addition to those, yes."
"You got highest test scores in entrance exams, and you say that you just studied piano and calligraphy, yet you slapped my brother and blackmailed him. I really don't understand you."
"My scores were a testimony to how superior, I am to you. But I really did do piano, tea ceremony,and calligraphy."
If there were a piano here, I could at least have performed"Für Elise."
"You saw a strange side of me."
She didn't notice my superior comment or she have accepted it.
"On the contrary, I always thought of you as a normal girl. Well, not really." Horikita glared at me.
"Let's go back. If anyone saw us out here, they'd probably get ideas."
She was certainly right about that. Rumors about a boy and a girl hanging out alone in the dark would be bound to circulate. Not to mention the fact that our relationship seemed to be intensifying. Horikita got up slowly and walked toward the dorm.
"Are we not gonna address the elephant in the room, your study group?"
"What about it?"
"Suzune, look. You may feel good about yourself by rebelling against me but at the end of the day, you will just be a disappointment. Just like your brother said."
"Don't you dare bring my brother into this."
"Why shouldn't I, even though his methods were wrong. It's an undeniable fact that you are a cold hearted bitch as he said. If you don't contribute to the class, you are no better than the people you consider inferior to you."
"Huh" her face was slack-jawed. I was clearly getting to her.
"Did you ever stop to think that maybe those inferior people are actually better than you, in something else. Maybe if you help them improve their studies, they will help you with something you are not good at."
"But this school judges us based on our abilities, if they are not good at studies. Why do we need them?"
"You still believe that we will only compete on the basis of education, this school test us in every way. Let me give you a hypothesis, there is a Class A student who is good at studies, physical activity and has excellent communication skills. He can work well in team environment. On the other side, there is you. Just good at studies, mid in physical activities and horrendous communication skills. If you are in a team, chances are that team will break apart. Now who do you think, a company will offer a job to?"
"I g-guess the Class A student." she said reluctantly.
"Do you see, you have even less chance than even Average students in our class. I literally gave you a chance to improve yourself, I gave you a group of people who, if treated right will become loyal to you. I gave you an opportunity to stand up and improve yourself and instead you throw that away. Due to lack of maturity."
"If you continue like this, then you would become just a shame to your brother. You think you are so smart, don't you? Remember Suzune, in this world there is always a bigger fish and I am the biggest fish there is, so let go of your delusions that you are special. I have seen people better than you in dozens."
"You are not even the best in our class, when it comes to studies and you claim that's your strongest field. If I was your brother, I too would have like to forget that I have such a weak and pitiful sister."
By this point Horikita's head was touching the ground with shame. Tears were leaking out of her eyes.
"So, what it's gonna be? Horikita Suzune. Empty claims to your brother about reaching Class A or actually doing something in your life."
"I will become better Ayanokouji-kun, I will become someone, who even my brother can't ignore. I have one request for you, will you help me?" she looked at me with pleading eyes.
Not gonna lie, Horikita looked cute at that moment. I put a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes and said with all my sincerity.
"That's what a good master does."
"You didn't had to ruin it."
______________________________________
That's a wrap.
A chapter dedicated to break the ice queen. I promise that from here on she will be a likeable character.
I changed the cover for the story, tell me how you like it.
I watched the ep11 of s3 and realized that I forgot to add Arisu to the pairing poll.
So I am going to do another poll, without Ichinose. As she have already won.
But whoever wins this poll may get a chance to date him because as I said Ichinose pairing will happen in mid to late second year. Till then it would be too empty.
Although don't worry, Ayanokoji will not cheat on them to be with Ichinose.
So here are the new contestants.
Sakayanagi Arisu
Matsushita Chiaki
Shiina Hiyori
Kiryuiin Fuka
Asahina Nazuna
Kushida Kikyou
Satou Maya
I would like to see who wins, if Ichinose is not there.
Anyways that's all for now
Have a wonderful day.