I was heading towards the school building thinking about tomorrow. It was the day we were supposed to meet Hosen. I'm not sure why, but I had a bad feeling about this. I'd have to be on guard the entire time with him around.
I spotted Kei walking ahead of me, but she was with her friends, so I couldn't go up to her,I needed to speak to her after school to confirm something and also check if she's fine.
While I was looking her direction, Yousuke came up to and started walking beside me.
"Good morning, Kiyotaka-kun."
He spoke to me with his usual warm smile, never leaving his face.
"Good morning, Yousuke."
A few moments of awkward silence followed, but he didn't seem to mind, so I decided to finally break the silence.
"Can I get your help with something?"
"Of course, what do you need?"
"I want to talk with Kei, but she's ignoring my calls, and I can't just walk up to her in public."
"I see. Do you want me to speak to her?"
"No, I just want you to walk with us. If the three of us are seen together, it won't be unusual or attract any unwanted attention."
"You're definitely right."
He put his hand on his chin and started thinking.
"Let's all walk together after school ends then,I'll ask her when we reach class."
"Yes, thanks for your help, Yousuke."
"Of course I'll never turn down a friend."
With that done, we made it to class. It was another uninteresting day that passed by at a normal pace. When everyone started to leave, Yousuke and Kei started walking together, so I headed out and followed behind them. However, I didn't say a thing until we actually left the building.
"Hello,Kei."
She jumped as soon as she heard my voice, and it seemed as so she hadn't noticed me walking behind them, Yousuke giggled at her, earning him a glare from her.
"Is that why you asked me to walk together?? So, trap me into a setup?"
"I wouldn't call it a setup exactly. I just wanted you two to make up!"
He was now smiling awkwardly while rubbing his hand on the back of his head.
Kei sighed before turning back to look at me.
"What do you want, Kiyotaka?"
We started to head in a path that no one usually took so we could get more privacy even though Yousuke was still with us.
"You've been ignoring me."
"Yes, because you deserve it."
"What did I do?"
She looked at me with a somewhat angry but also somewhat embarrassed expression while giving me a you know what you did look.
At first, I thought she might be upset at Amasawa being in my room when we were "dating" but that didn't seem to be it. She was most likely upset at the fact that I kept her out of the loop this time instead of asking her for help or updating her. It's true that so far in our second year I've barely made contact with Kei regarding these issues, but that's mostly because it involved that man there was nothing she could do against an agent sent by him.
"I'm sorry."
That was all I could say with Yousuke around. Even though he had some idea of my abilities, I didn't want to provide any more information than I had to.
Kei was somewhat surprised to hear an apology, but she just sighed.
"I'll give you two some time alone."
Yousuke sensing the mood decided it would be best to give us some privacy he smiled and waved at us as he walked away.
"I need your help with something. Take care of it and come to my room tonight ok? I want to help you study for the exam."
Her eyes lit up when she heard me say that and she nodded in agreement. I told her my request and we went our separate ways. I made it back to my room and just laid on bed thinking as I usually do and before I knew I heard a knock on my door. It was Kei.
She immediately told me what she found, and her information was a lot more useful than I would've thought. I quickly thanked her, and then...
"Do you need something else?"
"Yes. Did you bring your books?"
She nodded and pulled them out of her bag.
"I didn't miss any of the study groups yknow are you sure I need to do this?"
"Not really. But I'd rather be safe it would troublesome if you were to get expelled."
"Troublesome? You're the worst Kiyotaka you know that, right??"
She seemed offended by my remarks but still chuckled at it regardless.
I tried to sit down across from her but she didn't approve she patted the floor next to to her and looked at me.
"Sit here."
"Why?"
"I'll focus easier if you're next to me so come on!"
She insisted so I obliged.
I sat next to her and started going over the material that was going to be included in our exam she seemed to know a decent amount from her study groups but it was far from perfect. She wouldn't even score a 50.
"Do you know why you're bad at Academics?"
She looked at me seemingly annoyed.
"That's rude. But no, I guess it's just not for me."
"That's not true."
She surprised at my response but didn't say anything.
"When you were getting bullied you skipped out on school right? You skipped entire months."
"Right..."
She looked down, unhappy that this subject was brought up but she had grown a lot. Back then Kei couldn't handle even mentioning her past but now while she was upset she didn't even stop me from speaking.
"You missed out on learning the basics. The experience you would've gained from learning back then is gone. It's like you're a toddler starting high school with no background."
She paused for a moment to think about what I said she looed offended but didn't say it.
"So...what should I do..?"
"I'll teach you the basics if you learn that then you'll be able to study, memorise and grasp the information being given to you much easier."
"You will? Now?"
"No not now it will take months for you to grow."
"Oh.."
"You can come to my room throughout this semester and I'll teach you, by the time the second semester rolls around you'll start seeing significant improvements in your grades."
She seemed happy to hear that and turned to look at me with a warm smile.
"It's a deal then let's do it."
I nodded my head and got up to collect her stuff since it was getting late.
But then someone knocked on my door.
Kei freaked out but didn't make a sound she just put her stuff in her bag and moved to the back of the room so she wouldn't be heard. I went up to the door and was about to ask who it is.
"It's me Senpai! Did you forget me already?"
It was Amasawa. What could she possible want from me at this time?
"I forgot my hair tie inside when I was last here please let me look for it I just can't lose it!"
"Sure I'll look for it."
"No! I have to look for it myself and I can't stand out here all day! Stop being so rude Ayanokoji-senpai!"
Kei was visibly irritated at Amasawa's presence and attitude but she said nothing.
"Are you worried about the girl you have in there? Don't worry Senpai I already know!"
I decided to let her in to save everyone the trouble. She smiled cheerfully when she saw Kei and started examining her.
"You've got yourself such a cute girlfriend Senpai, how'd you do that?"
Kei's face turned red at Amasawa's remarks.
"Wait i-its not like that...Kiyotak..I mean Ayanokoji and I are just friends that's it. I came here so he could help me study okay??"
"Study? But Ayanokoji-senpai has a D on the OAA why would you study with him?"
"I-uh well.."
"Whatever, I don't care! If you don't want Ayanokoji-senpai, I'll just take him for myself!"
"T-take h-him? Wait. Kiyotaka, what's your relationship with this girl?!"
"Kiyotaka? So you call Senpai by his given name hmm? Could I call you Kiyotaka-senpai too?"
She smirked at me and pleaded with her eyes.
"No. Please search for you hair tie and leave it's getting really late."
"Awhhh you're so mean Ayanokoji-senpai! But fine."
She started to look across my room searching frantically for her belongings.
"Do you need some help?"
"Nope! Just leave it to me!"
After about 5 minutes of her searching she finally found it in the kitchen.
"Goodbye Senpai! I'll come back later so we could have another date!"
With that she ran out of the room and left me with a very irritated Kei. The enjoyable atmosphere we had before was completely gone now and she was glaring at me, but it was already past curfew and she had to go.
"You'd better explain yourself later Kiyotaka!"
She slammed my door as she walked out.
I decided to lay in bed for the rest of the day and try to relax.
Tomorrow was our meeting with Hosen, and our last chance to form proper pairs. I was also running out of time as more and more students partnered up every passing day. Tomorrow was most likely my last chance as well.