Prologue

Irreplaceable Daily Life

Second year.

Start of the second winter break at Advanced Nurturing High School.

Most students will be enjoying their vacation days.

A time of replenishment.

However, although slowly, the time I have left is decreasing, but I’m not worried.

Just the fact that I was able to spend my time freely up until now is good enough for me.

Friends.

Lovers.

My seniors and juniors.

New meetings.

Among many others, I’m also still living in this school.

The battle from here on will be a long one.

All I have to do is to spend the time I was given as a student to the last second.

Then, face what will come one day…

Separation.

Today isn’t a given.

Tomorrow isn’t a given either.

One has to understand that each day is a part of our irreplaceable daily lives.

You don’t have to do anything special.

Chapter 1

The Song of Loneliness

Part 1

December 24.

First day of winter vacation.

I woke up in the morning with a slightly strange sensation.

“...That was a weird dream.”

Muttering to myself, I sat up on my bed.

Though only slightly, it looks like I was sweating in my sleep.

I don’t normally care about my dreams that much.

Whether it’s a good dream, a bad dream, a strange dream, a dream is just a dream and not reality, and humans are fundamentally creatures that forget their dreams.

I wouldn’t be surprised to find exceptions to this in the world, but I’m also one of those who forget.

Even if I remember them right after waking up, they get thrown out of my memory after a very short amount of time.

“I think the homeroom teacher was a bunny-girl..?”

Even if I try to force myself to remember, it’s mostly impossible.

These may be strange words to hear for a third party…

No, I don’t think the main point of the dream was the bunny-girl.

It would be a waste of effort to keep trying to remember my dream.

I quickly gave up on trying to remember it.

School’s closed, so I slowly started my morning routine.

Toothbrushes and cups of different colours lined up on the washstand.

My daily life started to go back to the usual when Kei and I distanced ourselves from each other after always spending our time together.

Still, that doesn’t mean our relationship has ended.

Resulting from our disagreement, one could say that our relationship has entered a period of cold war.

I don’t feel even a slight psychological change due to this.

Of course, it’s because things are developing according to my guidance, but if this was unexpected, then perhaps I could have felt a little shaken.

“...I wonder.”

One would have to consider the other party as absolutely essential in order to have a change of emotion.

Without that, I don’t believe that emotions will be moved.

Even if one considers the other person a part of their raison d'être, there is no need to hesitate to make your partner suffer or throw them away if it is necessary.

However, leaving emotion aside, I believe that one should have a sense of responsibility as a partner.

As long as two people are spending time together, it is their joint liability to not make that time displeasurable.

Still, if someone gives you their time, the most important thing in one’s life, then you should make them happy rather than not.

Of course, this idea is based on human society’s moral values.

It’s not a good policy to make someone the subject of my experimentation forever, making them psychologically uneasy and burdening them.

It’s not as if I barged into this cold war without thinking; I have a plan.

Going to buy christmas presents together like we promised before our relationship worsened.

It's still a possibility.

The day we had originally planned to go on a date in the morning.

Unfortunately, there were signs of rain outside and the cold weather had continued since before the winter vacation.

It’s a little unfortunate, but there’s rain forecasted for tomorrow’s Christmas too, so I can’t expect pleasant weather.

I can’t control anything about the weather, so there’s no helping that, but there’s something else that was outside my expectations.

I looked at the calendar on top of the table in my room.

December.

The 24th and the 25th are marked with a pink heart, but…

That was the night of yesterday when our second term ended.

I tried to call Kei directly to meet with her on the 24th, but she didn’t answer.

I waited a while and sent a message to wait for her reaction, but it was left unread.

I thought about what to do for an hour, until a phone call finally came back.

The first word Kei told me with her weak but rough voice was ‘influenza’.

The seasonal cold is an illness that spreads unrelated to age.

It’s very common around November and December, so this isn’t anything rare.

Apparently, she suddenly got sick and had to rest.

She was weakened, but I’m sure she wanted to fulfil our promise for the 24th, even if she had to crawl there.

However, influenza spreads from splashes in the air.

If she went to Keyaki Mall anyway, she would have troubled other people as well.

She said that she was already feeling strange before the illness, and first and foremost felt bad for not taking better care of her health.

Of course, I could not blame her for her influenza, so I first told her to take care of herself.

I told her that our promise was still there, and that we would choose a different day.

It could still be cancelled if Kei tells me that she wants to cancel the promise after all, but I don't think that's currently a possibility.

If she has a change of mind, that would be due to a third party, but I don’t think someone who is strongly independent like Kei would listen to anyone.

Because I don’t think she would abandon the choice if there is a hope of restoring the relationship.

It’s unclear if her influenza will heal quickly, but at this stage, the conversation ended with a decision on meeting towards the end of the year.

It’s easy to infer that there was a lot she wanted to check about our relationship and circumstances, but I don’t think she could converse normally when she was stricken by a high fever, so I told her to get some rest first and quickly ended the phone call.

When I checked on her again in detail after, she was wondering how to handle her friends buying and bringing her necessities while she’s in bed.

It seems that arrangements have been made to respond to emergencies even in the middle of night, which was helpful because of the curfew in that area.

So, that was last night, on the 23rd.

This morning, I learned that there were many more students of all years discovered to be infected with influenza.

The one good thing for the year-two students is that they survived the special tests without any incident.

There may have been those among them who were struggling with poor health in secret, though.

I haven’t had any close contact with Kei for the last few days, so there’s no change in my condition.

The more important problem is how to spend today.

All of my plans for Christmas Eve, today, and Christmas, tomorrow, are gone.

“Good morning Ayanokoji-kun. I heard that Karuizawa-san got influenza, is she okay?”

A message from Ichinose.

The messages continued.

“It looks like there’s a lot of other sick people. Are you okay?”

Ichinose does own a wide web of information, so she quickly learns everything.

It looks like she also has a grasp on Kei’s bodily condition.

“Unfortunately, I think she’ll have to be in bed for a while.”

“I see… I’m worried about her. Let me know if you ever need any help.”

“Thanks.”

After repeating that exchange a few times, she asked me what I’m going to do today.

This day was normally cleared up for Kei, but… I still have to stop by Keyaki Mall to pick up a certain item, so my plans remain the same.

“I think I’ll go to the gym or something.”

I followed the flow of the conversation, and since I’m not in the mood to meet anyone, I replied so.

“Oh, right. Err, what time do you think you’ll be there?”

“I have nothing else to do, so probably the forenoon.”

“Oh. I was also planning on going to the gym during the day, but maybe I shouldn’t?”

“Why?”

“I mean, won't that look like we arranged to meet on purpose? Even though it’s just a coincidence.”

We just happened to want to go to the gym, and the time we wanted to go coincided.

There’s no need to worry about every little thing.

This may be out of consideration for my girlfriend Kei, but I think that’s excessive.

In contrast, if we adjusted things now, it would seem more like deceit.

“You don’t need to worry about that. I’ll just go there as I planned. I’ll see you there if we happen to meet in the gym.”

My message was quickly marked read, and she replied with a sticker of something like a mascot character holding an OK sign.

Now then, I can put off getting dressed and doing my hair to get ready to go out for later.

The hour’s just 9 o’clock.

I should do laundry, clean and spend my time in the morning relaxing.

Right after leaving the gym, I started thinking about my plans for later.

I should take the item from the shop I planned on going by, then take a stroll in Keyaki Mall and go home.

As for Mashima-sensei’s request, I can take it slow, like the person in question himself said.

I hope that he solves it himself while I think about how to extract information.

It’s still just past noon.

I’ll have too much time on my hands if I go back to my room now.

I took out my phone and opened my address book.

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to hang out with some male friends once in a while.

“...Nothing.”

I gently turned my phone’s screen off after taking a quick look.

I can’t remember many times when I spontaneously called a friend of the same gender and hung out.

“Wanna hang out a bit later if you’re free?”

When I say that…

“I’m busy.”

…and decisively get rejected like that, it feels extremely shocking.

Yousuke would infer how I feel and accept my invitation, but I don’t want him to worry about me.

In short, it takes a lot of labour to invite someone, and it’s quite the big deal.

In the end, I reached the conclusion that it’s best to be alone without troubling anyone.

“What even are friends, I wonder?”

I realize again that even though I’m entering the latter part of my second year here, I still don’t handle this subject very well.

I went down to the first floor with an escalator.

It’s still mid-day, so there are more students here now.

There’s no other way than to talk to someone myself, is there?

A chance meeting, for example.

I should make it so that someone randomly finds me, and asks me to hang out.

I looked around with that in mind, but I can’t find any classmates around at this time.

As for same-year students…

No, I don’t even see any of them.

I would look too suspicious if I clumsily looked around to try and find someone.

So, I quickly decided to give up on the route of meeting up with someone.

I’ll change my objective for today to enjoy it by myself.

I stopped before a map of the mall.

I know where every shop is already, but I wanted to check if a new one opened.

However, the shops don’t change much, and I don’t see anything new.

There is one shop that grabs my attention, though.

“I should check it out.”

It was the rental shop, which I don’t usually visit that often.

You can rent DVDs and BDs of videos, like movies or anime, whether they’re new or old.

Other than that, they also have music discs.

However, you can get permission from the school and pay a monthly fee to watch movie contents using a broadcasting service as you want, so this place isn’t very needed.

This shop is utilized only by students who watch things occasionally, or students who are looking to find something specific.

So, it's not a very popular place.

That’s precisely why I decided to go there on this winter vacation.

I have extra time, so it should be okay to do this once in a while.

I feel like I’ve been lining up excuses for a while now, but I’m certainly not lonely.

I should let myself know that again, just to make sure.

After picking up the shop item I planned on taking, I reached the rental shop.

It’s certainly not a big shop; I would rather say it’s cramped.

All kinds of different discs are on display in this cramped space.

They would normally be stored in a box or a case, but they’re in black or transparent OPP bags in this shop, with a printed paper glued to their backsides, where you can see what the item is.

When using a computer or a tablet, one first checks the titles and the thumbnails to see if it’s interesting.

When you’re checking everything in your hands one by one like this, you pick up things you never would have otherwise.

Further, I read through the entire summary.

While countless works are readily available, it's not a bad idea to search for good ones once in a while.

I might start coming to the rental shop more often.

But, there’s still one problem.

Even if I do find something interesting, there’s no need to rent it here.

Maybe if it’s something rare that isn’t on the internet, but otherwise I can just go back to my dorm and watch it as I want.

I’m sure these rental shops are going to get even more difficult to operate in the future.

It’s the same with electronics retail stores.

I’ve heard that most people look at items in the store, then buy them cheaper online.

I looked around the movie corner for a while, then went to the music corner.

Normally, I’m not someone who listens to music that often.

I hear the latest hits and the best songs of former years on TV, but that’s it.

I have no experience purchasing music myself, and I still don’t have much interest in it.

That’s why I’m exploring. I hope I can encounter something.

I thought there was no one else in the rental shop, but it looks like there was one other customer.

She has headphones on, and there’s BGM music in the store as well, so she doesn’t seem to have noticed me.

I couldn’t tell who it was at first, but her details became clear when I approached closer.

It was Shiranami Chihiro, who is based in the Ichinose Class.

I haven’t talked much with her, but we’ve rarely encountered each other a few times at events.

Recently, it was during the Uninhabited Island Test, and we also had contact on the ship afterwards.

I wonder what she’s listening to?

I’m curious, as I don’t know much about Japanese music (though it could be something else).

But Shiranami is focused on listening to her music, so I don't think she will hear me if I talk to her too quietly.

She’ll get startled if I forcefully enter her line of sight, however.

I could have waited until the song was over, but there are going to be hurdles to talking to her and asking about it later, so I decided to get close and listen.

While pretending to be looking around the store to not look suspicious.

“Ah..!?”

Inside Keyaki Mall in the forenoon, the atmosphere of Christmas Eve was in full swing.

Inside the mall was decorated with even more gaudy ornaments than at the entrance.

There seems to be a high ratio of male and female couples among the clientele spending time here.

As I also told Ichinose, I entered the gym I joined the other day.

I finished checking in at the reception while thinking that there could be no one else here.

I changed into my sportswear and entered the training room, but it wasn’t empty after all.

There are boys, girls and even adults around.

The character who draws my attention most is the person about to start bench pressing.

It was the homeroom teacher of Year-Two A Class, Mashima-sensei.

He has a large, muscled physique, and his sportswear is very suitable for him.

“Good morning Mashima-sensei.”

“Hm? Ayanokoji? Were you a gym student too?”

I called out to him when he was about to lay down on the bench, and he replied so with a little surprise.

“I joined just a little while ago.”

“Oh, really? That’s great to hear, welcome”

For some reason, Mashima-sensei happily nodded, as if he was approving one of his students for passing an exam.

He’s making a pretty big deal out of just one of his students joining the gym.

“What made you join, though?”

“I felt that my physical strength was diminishing compared to before, so I wanted to get it back.”

“That’s not a very student-like reason, huh?”

“I don’t know if I will continue for long, though.”

“You should. I also started training after thinking about some things, but it’s actually turned into my daily routine now. It wouldn’t be a bad thing to sweat it out at the same place as your teacher.”

Mashima-sensei seems very welcoming, maybe because he’s more excited than usual right now.

“Also, I’ll commend you for going to the gym on your first day of the winter vacation.”

“Do you have any plans for Christmas’ Eve today?”

“Hm? No, unfortunately, I’m planning on sweating it out in the gym the whole day.”

He replied without any ambiguity. That’s what I thought, but…

“Probably.”

Probably.

Why did he add on such an expression, even though he’s talking about himself?

“Is something going on?”

“No, nothing. So, you just started, right? You probably don’t know much here.”

“Well, yes.”

I don’t think I’ll have any problems with the equipment, but I’ll refrain from making any unnecessary remarks.

I thought that as a newcomer, it would be more fun to act like I really am a newcomer, on the premise that I don’t know anything.

Now, I should also start———

“Alright.”

“Alright?”

“This is a great opportunity. You can watch how I train for a while.”

“Huh? Oh, okay…”

I was about to start training myself, but Mashima-sensei stopped me.

Mashima-sensei laid down on the bench and put the bar at eye level with himself.

He lightly put it up and down a few times, and put the safety bars a little higher than his chest.

“Never forget the safety bars while doing a bench press. They’ll save you from getting crushed.”

“Thank you.”

I kept watching, unable to tell him that I knew.

It feels awkward not to say anything, though, so I should ask him something.

“How much can you lift?”

“Hmm… I’m going to do 80 kg this time, but I can do up to 100 kg. They say that only one in a hundred people can do that.”

He doesn’t have a confident expression, but his tone of voice is overflowing with pride.

He put strength into his muscles and flexed.

I’ve never heard of anything like that, but I do wonder if it’s true. It sounds like a cheap line that just gets repeated by everyone.

“You’ll break your body if you push yourself too far, though. It’s not like the movies where you just lift once and it’s over, your chest muscles get better by repeating numerous sets.”

It sounds like he’s practised a lot from television, but he started putting it into action after saying that.

I was in a state of emptiness as I was shown the man's breath and the sweat that was pouring out of him.

I watched him for a while after that, and Mashima-sensei sat up after finishing 3 sets.

“Phew. Well, that’s how you do it.”

“That was very helpful.”

“That’s the most important thing. I’m planning on coming here 6 days a week except Thursdays even during the winter vacation. It will be midnight from the third term, but you can always rely on me if you have any problem.”

That’s very specific. I suppose there’s something happening on Thursday, which he clearly excluded.

“I can teach you the basics if you need me to, but———”

“No, it’s okay. I wouldn’t want to take up your time, so I’m going to focus on coming here for a while and doing some light training.”

I quickly declined and put precedence on getting away from this spot.

“I see. Well, talk to me any time if you have any problems. I’ll be here as much as I can during the winter vacation.”

After receiving these welcomed words from a teacher, I started to work out on my own.

I continued training in the gym for about 30 minutes after that, and noticed the atmosphere in the gym change for just a moment.

Because all of the students working out suddenly turned their eyes in my direction.

I checked what they were looking at, and it was a person I was used to seeing from class, Koenji.

He had a lot of attention on him, but he didn’t mind it, and started training.

I thought they were looking at me for doing something unusual, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I can just barely hear the male students near me talking.

“Wow, that Koenji guy really is something else.”

“Yeah, I don’t think any other high schoolers could do that…”

His physical ability, unusual for high school students can be seen from his training in the gym, so it seems that people were looking at him because of his skill.

Indeed, one can easily see the level of perfection of his physique from a glance.

The mass of refined muscles, and his flexibility.

He made no unnecessary movements, and there was a seriousness there that one would not imagine from his usual eccentric demeanour.

When I think about it, I get the impression that Koenji has no qualms about training his body in various places.

As such, it’s not strange in the least that he would be going to a gym, and rather I would say he is a very suitable man for it.

Mashima-sensei also stopped his hands to look at him.

Objectively, one can easily say that Koenji is far past the level of a student.

With his natural physique, he spares no effort in his daily training to maintain his body.

I learned once again that Koenji is always in pursuit of fitness even in school, no matter the time or place.

Unlike Mashima-sensei who is only slightly better than a beginner, Koenji displays training that is truly captivating.

Further, let alone get anxious or lose his temper because of the attention, he is the type who flourishes under it.

“koenji-kun’ always so popular.”

Someone said those words to me, backing up the fact that getting attention is a usual thing for Koenji.

“Good morning Ayanokoji-kun.”

Then, she greeted me.

“Hey.”

“There’s a lot of rain again today, huh? By the way, when did you get here?”

“About 30 minutes ago, I think.”

“I see. I was planning on coming here around that time too actually, but I ended up chatting with a friend a little and got late.”

Ichinose said so standing next to me and staring at me from a close distance.

“Pretty unfortunate, considering that today’s Christmas Eve, right?”

“Well, it’s whatever. There’s no reason anywhere to consider this a special day.”

“It may be different for girls though, you know?”

“I see… I can’t deny that.”

As long as I am a man, I can’t tell whether it’s men or women who cling onto special days more.

After a light chat, Ichinose told me that she wanted me to run with her, so we lined up on two machines next to each other.

We ran at our own pace for about 30 minutes without chatting after that.

“You feel a lot more motivated when you’re doing this with someone else, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess so. In that sense, it was the right thing to start with Amikura, huh?”

Ichinose laughed and wiped the sweat from her forehead with a towel.

After that, I enjoyed the gym with Ichinose for around one more hour.

Then, I told Ichinose that I will be leaving just as Amikura got here, so we separated as she went to chat with her.

“Leaving already?”

Mashima-sensei stopped training and called out to me when he saw me about to leave.

He says ‘already’, but I think two hours is plenty long enough to be in the gym.

“Yes. Well, I got tired. You know it’s been 2 hours, right, sensei?”

“2 hours? Hm, I see. I never noticed.”

Was he too engrossed in his training to take notice of the time?

“I think you should rest a little more, Mashima-sensei. You kept going for around 3 hours without resting that much, right? Fatigue accumulates where you can’t see, and you might also get an injury.”

Ready to be yelled at for trying to give advice as a newcomer, I gave him some words of advice.

Then, he wasn’t angry but surprised, and crossed his arms.

“...You may be right. I wanted to throw away my weakness and become a fine teacher, but it might have the opposite effect.”

I suppose no one around gave Mashima-sensei advice like this until now.

He wants results fast. He wants muscles.

It seems he was so focused on that, that he forgot to even feel tired.

“Alright. I’ll leave it here for today too.”

Saying that, he earnestly took in my advice.

“See you later, then.”

I said my farewell and walked away, but Mashima-sensei quickly chased after me.

“Is it alright if we chat a little?”

“Huh? Of course.”

I thought it would be related to the gym, but he invited me to the rest area instead.

“Did I do something in the gym that bothered you, sensei?”

I didn’t really understand why he called me here, so I asked him about it.

“Of course not. It’s nothing like that, so don’t worry. You passed your time in the gym with no problems.”

It feels like he didn’t watch me the whole time, though…

He looked at my doubtful eyes and averted his gaze.

“...I was too focused on my training to look around, I’ll honestly confess that.”

He apologetically dropped his shoulders, perhaps sensing that I was seeing through him.

That reaction makes me feel like I'm the one that did something bad.

Teachers are on winter vacation too.

They’re free to enjoy whatever they want on these grounds, and they don’t have to keep watch over the students.

I ended up pulling an apology out of him by utilizing his responsibilities as an adult.

“So, you wanted to talk with me..?”

I tried to change the subject, and Mashima-sensei looked around just once to confirm that there was no one else around.

“Actually, I have something to ask of you.”

“Huh?”

Mashima-sensei corrected his posture before continuing but was interrupted by a visitor.

It’s a woman with long, wavy hair.

A worker in the gym noticed us and approached smiling.

“Mashima-san, you worked really hard again today, huh?”

“No, I really didn’t.”

Mashima-sensei replied while greeting her.

He’s been coming here longer than me, so I suppose they know his name.

“This is..?”

“His name is Ayanokoji. He’s an excellent student from B class, a different class than the one I’m in charge of.”

He lightly tapped me on the back, telling me to introduce myself.

At least he intended to, but his strikes are quite strong thanks to his muscles…

“My name is Ayanokoji.”

“We met at the reception desk a few times, didn’t we? You were with Ichinose-chan.”

Impressive. It looks like even I left an impression on her, despite only coming here for a few days.

“Ah, sorry, you’re resting. I just came here to get something I need, so excuse me.”

She nodded in a well-mannered way, grabbed a few towels from an employee shelf and headed to the reception desk.

Mashima–sensei continued looking at the woman until she disappeared, waiting to be left alone with me.

……

He’s not making any movements.

“Sensei?”

“Hm, what, Ayanokoji?”

“No, I mean… You wanted to talk to me about something, right?”

“Oh, right. Well, I think we should do this next time.”

“Okay? Well in that case, I’ll be taking my leave.”

“Wait.”

He grabbed my shoulders when I turned around.

“...What now?”

Mashima-sensei is a little strange today.

His image as a quiet, calm teacher is getting cloudy.

“I’ll confess that I think this is a stroke of luck.”

“You’re confessing to a lot today, huh?”

It looks like he’s finally getting to the point however, so I suppose I should be relieved.

“That worker who was here just now, she’s Akiyama-san.”

“I didn’t pay much attention, but she had a name tag. So?”

“...I want you to look into her. As carefully and discreetly as you can.”

“Huh?”

I was about to turn around, but he’s holding my shoulders with such strength that it’s impossible.

“I’ve never brought in a problem of the other gender into school up until now. However, the situation changed after I began going to the gym. I don’t have to say all the details for you to understand, do I?”

“Well, I get what you’re trying to say. You have feelings towards this Akiyama-san, right?”

“...You could say that too.”

No, that’s the only thing I could say.

“She has a child-like face somehow, but she’s also a proper, beautiful adult woman.”

“Right…”

She really is a beautiful adult woman, but that manner of speaking makes me feel a little uneasy.

“What about Hoshinomiya-sensei or Chabashira-sensei? It’s not like romance between teachers is forbidden, right?”

“It’s forbidden in the rules.”

“Ah, I see. There’s probably teachers dating in secret, though.”

“I’ll just say that I won’t say there aren’t. In the first place, those two would not be candidates even if it weren’t forbidden.”

He said that in a very definitive way.

“May I ask the reason?”

“Sorry, but I’m not going to tell you. We’re teacher and student. That would be a useless conversation, wouldn’t it?”

“I’ll be taking my leave, then. What we were talking about just now is useless as well, so.”

“Hoshinomiya’s character isn’t serious enough. Chabashira’s character is too serious. That’s all.”

A short but easy to understand reply came back from Mashima-sensei.

Considering their reputations on equal terms, Hoshinomiya-sensei is a young maiden who falls in love often.

I’m sure she would be flirty and continue her friendships with the opposite gender even if she entered a relationship.

On the other hand, Chabashira-sensei hasn’t had even one boyfriend since her student days.

I feel like it would be a serious love if she ever fell for someone of the opposite gender.

“You can’t know for sure that Akiyama-san isn’t like that either, though.”

Even if you can’t tell from outward appearances, when you start dating———

“She definitely isn’t.”

He quickly said no with all of his strength, even though he has no basis for it.

“I knew those two since my student days, and never looked at them as the opposite gender even once. Not once. Above all, if I support those two who are my friends, and also rivals, it would cause a big change in my school life.”

Mashima-sensei assertively said that he would never want that to happen.

“Well, that’s true.”

“So, I need your help.”

“Why me?”

“Do you think I can ask the other teachers?”

“No, but…”

“You’re the only person who goes to the gym and can keep a secret.”

“Wait, sensei, the reason you were happy to see me at first today…”

“It was because I made a new gym friend, of course.”

No, that’s definitely a lie.

Those eyes were definitely the eyes of someone who found a student he can utilize for this matter.

I can say that for certain now.

“You know what I want to learn, don’t you?”

“I can guess. Whether she has a boyfriend or not. Her type, and her hobbies and stuff she likes.”

“Full score. Chabashira must be really happy to have a student like you.”

Is this guy really the Mashima-sensei I’ve known all this time?

I know professional and private lives should be considered on a different basis, but this side of him really is surprising.

His voice is really calm, but I can’t see his expression.

“I’m not telling you to start right away. Akiyama-san saw you with me today. You can start when winter vacation ends or something, so please slowly get close to her and look into her.”

Carefully and cautiously. Just as Mashima-sensei wants.

“I’ll do my best, but please don’t expect too much.”

“I know.”

“About Akiyama-san’s working days…”

“6 days a week except Thursdays.”

“...Right. So you knew.”

The way Mashima-sensei asserted that he goes to the gym every day except Thursday did feel a little strange.

I’m sure he did join here to improve his own body, but his objective turned into Akiyama-san instead…

It’s not like he’s being negligent in his training though, so there’s no point faulting him for it.

I was finally released from Mashima-sensei’s binding, so I left like I was running away from something.

Part 2

Crap. I guess I startled her.

Maybe I approached too closely since I’m curious about what she’s listening to.

She hurriedly took her headphones off.

“A-Ayanokoji-kun!?”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Since she took them off, I can clearly hear the music coming from her headphones.

I can hear a somewhat sorrowful guitar and a woman’s singing voice.

“My broken heart, only time can heal. Someone else, other than him———”

I guess it’s a song about being lovelorn.

Then, she quickly turned the song off by pushing the stop button.

“D-D-Do you need something!?”

She asked, still a little surprised.

“No… I don’t need anything, but I was just wondering what you were listening to. That’s all.”

I replied honestly, but whether she will be convinced or not is another matter.

I’m someone from another class with whom she is not close with, and someone whom she wouldn’t talk to if she didn’t meet with him by coincidence.

Considering the differences between men and women as well, I might look very suspicious right now.

“Sorry to bother you, I’ll take my leave.”

I don’t want to pointlessly stay here and keep bothering her.

The only thing I can do now is to quickly get away from her.

“Err, umm…”

She looks like she wants to say something.

At the very least, she is not the type of person who can easily talk to those she is not familiar with.

Still, if I try to urge her to speak, it will only have the opposite effect.

So I didn’t look at her, and instead averted my gaze to another spot.

I’m going to create an environment where she can speak comfortably and wait for her.

“Umm… Do you have… some time now..?”

A surprising extension request from Shiranami.

“Sure, but can we really chat here?”

From what I can see, this isn’t going to be about music.

If we start chatting about unrelated things here in a rental shop without spending money either, then we’re going to be unwelcome guests.

“Right… I’m fine with anywhere, and I don’t think it’s going to take that much time, so…”

“Then…”

“Ah, but, I don’t want to draw any attention, I think. I don’t want anyone to misunderstand…”

I was about to ask to go to a cafe, but that’s out of the question now.

“What shall we do, then? We can go wherever you’d like.”

“...I’ll leave it up to you.”

She’s entrusting it to me, with certain limitations.

This does feel a little unusual, but I made contact in the first place.

I should think of a spot that meets her demands.

Part 3

After that, Shiranami and I started walking while I thought about a few places.

It would be hard to go to the roof in school, since it’s raining and the weather’s pretty bad.

Still, there are a lot of students around inside the buildings.

The one saving grace is that Shiranami seems very keen on avoiding me.

In most cases like this, you would walk one or two steps apart even if you aren’t close with each other, but Shiranami is walking at quite a distance behind me.

You probably wouldn’t think we were together if you looked at us from the side.

So, even though it’s Christmas Eve, I don’t think I need to worry about us being mistaken as a couple.

“...What?”

“It’s nothing.”

I feel like Shiranami’s going to go even further back if I pay too much attention to her.

It’s not like I invited her, but she still looks worried.

Still, I’m the one that started chatting with her, so I suppose I have no choice.

Wandering around aimlessly, we arrived at a resting area.

It’s an area with a few vending machines and two benches without backrests.

I knew that there were surprisingly few students utilizing this place, and today is no exception either as I don’t see anyone else here.

“Do you want something to drink?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Shall we sit on a———”

“No, it’s okay.”

I was turned down in a row and gave up.

“Can I ask what you wanted to talk about?”

Shiranami stood facing me at some distance and started fidgeting with her hands.

“Ayanokoji-kun… Umm… What’s your relationship with Honami-chan?”

“What do you mean?”

“Just classmates? Friends? Or… Something more than that?”

Her words are indistinct, but they make her question very clear.

It seems that my reply will be very important for Shiranami.

I know why, of course.

It was one of the events that originally led me to building a relationship with Ichinose.

Last year, just a few days after I enrolled, Ichinose was confessed to by Shiranami right in front of me.

Unlike a normal friend, she felt feelings of love towards her like the opposite gender.

No, that expression isn’t accurate.

In our current age, it’s a mistake to make an issue of whether the genders are the same or opposite.

Shiranami, as a person, has feelings towards Ichinose as another person.

That’s all there is to it.

Furthermore, she doesn’t like the fact that Ichinose likes me.

It’s a very simple and easy to understand diagram.

“I’m wondering what the right answer would be. I’m a bit confused, but…”

“Don’t hold yourself back for my sake, just answer.”

“I’m not holding back. It’s just a little hard to judge if I can call her my friend.”

“...What does that mean?”

Shiranami raised her eyebrows with suspicion.

“I have very few friends. I don’t really understand what a friend is that well in the first place. You wouldn’t call someone a friend just because you talk to them, right? Where’s the line between an acquaintance and a friend?”

“That’s, hmm, I wouldn’t really know the answer to that…”

“Me neither. From my point of view, I think that we have a friendly relationship.”

“I don’t really get it… Are you deliberately trying to evade the question?”

That’s not my intention at all, as I meant to give a serious answer.

“You’re just friends then, right? I can say that you don’t, umm, have any feelings like love towards each other, right?”

I never asked Shiranami directly, but I don’t think she doesn’t know Ichinose’s feelings.

She said ‘towards each other’, but I’m sure what she really wants to know is how I feel.

“Of course you don’t, right? I mean, you’re dating Karuizawa-san, so.”

She couldn’t wait for my answer and added onto her question.

“Does it matter if I have a girlfriend or not? For my answer about my feelings towards Ichinose.”

“Of course it does. I mean, you’d only fall in love with one person.”

She came back with a romantic, rather, pure reply.

She believes this with all certainty without doubt.

“Don’t some people see more than one person at the same time as an object of love?”

Unrelated to gender, I can definitely think of a case like this.

“N-No!”

Shiranami however strongly denied it.

I can tell she’s angry from the fact that she’s squeezing her small hand.

“Sorry. That was unrelated to this matter. There’s nothing you should be worried about between Ichinose and me right now.”

“...Right now?”

Shiranami, obviously sensitive to each and every one of my words, picked up the word I said as insurance just to make sure.

“No one knows what will happen in the future.”

“Still, if you had a normal relationship, I don’t think you’d add the ‘now’...”

She may be right about that.

If this was about a girl like Amikura instead of Ichinose, I may not have said ‘for now’ as insurance.

I could have clearly said that she is just a friend, nothing more or nothing less.

“Even if… Even if Honami-chan likes you, you wouldn’t have added the ‘right now’ if you didn’t have any feelings towards her… Those words wouldn’t have come out if you weren’t planning on breaking up with Karuizawa-san and dating Honami-chan.”

Shiranami managed to find the words she probably didn’t want to say.

It takes courage to say these words, even though they are uttered by someone that is probably at my nose level.

“I think that it’s okay for Honami-chan to, err, fall in love with anyone she wants…. But I’m not gonna stay quiet if she starts dating someone who’s dishonest.”

“Do you become a dishonest person if you date and break up with someone once?”

“That’s… No, but…”

Ichinose’s classmate Shiranami can’t talk about Ichinose’s situation.

I thought that she had already felt the changes, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Ichinose’s new face.

I really don’t want any unintentional influence from me until I figure out how the new Ichinose functions.

So, even if it was going to cast a shadow inside Shiranami’s mind, I had no choice but to add in the ‘now’ and be noncommittal.

“I’m not trying to worry you, but as long as there is the possibility that you will not accept it calmly, no matter what I say, I can’t help but add an insurance and be roundabout.”

This may be a little stern, but it’s best that I convey things clearly.

She had an expression that said ‘that’s not true’ for a moment, then thankfully seemed to notice that her passion had reached heights she was not expecting.

“...I’m sorry. I think I said way too much…”

She was so desperate that she forgot how far she was going.

That’s all.

“You really worry about Ichinose, huh?”

It’s normal for her to be worried for her as a friend, and as someone whom she holds feelings for.

“U-Umm… I’m, I’m really sorry!”

She gravely accepted her blunder and started calming down.

“I’ve just been hearing a lot of rumours about you two lately…”

“Rumours are rumours.”

“Yeah… I heard you were going to the gym together while ignoring your studies, or that you let her into your room even though you have a girlfriend… I can’t believe people are spreading such untruthful rumours…”

Hm… Hmm?

“W-What is it? Why do you look so weird and stiff all of a sudden?”

“I’m just wondering where such untruthful rumours, no, trivial truths are spreading from.”

“That’s a weird way of being roundabout. Rumours and truths are unrelated, aren’t they?”

“In many cases, yes.”

“...Huh?”

“Hm?”

“You haven’t been going to the gym with her… Right?”

“No. I just happened to start going to the gym. I can run into her by coincidence there, can’t I?”

Just like today.

I got contacted by her before, but it’s not like we met in the gym on purpose.

“I guess that’s right. Mako-chan goes to the gym too, but that thing about you letting her into your room… That’s definitely just an underhanded rumour, right?”

“That’s right. I haven’t been calling Ichinose and inviting her into my room.”

Something like that happened three times with Ichinose, but the first time was in the midst of the Class Voting Special Test.

The second time was that rainy day at the end of the school year.

The third one was recent, but that was just because Ichinose waited outside my room of her own initiative.

I suppose someone saw her waiting there the third time.

“...I’m gonna believe you.”

Shiranami said with some hesitation as she finally had a positive expression.

The problem is, depending on how she receives things in the future, she might think that she was betrayed.

Perhaps I should supplement just to be safe.

However, I would cast a shadow over her heart again if I clumsily say something that sounds like an excuse.

“Can I say one thing?”

“M-Mhm. What is it?”

“No matter who Ichinose ends up loving, or who she loves now, it’s not as if your value is going down. That might change if you do something that Ichinos wouldn’t want, though. You know what I’m trying to say, right?”

“...Mhm.”

I can’t be with the person I love. I don’t like it, so I’m going to interfere with her.

If the person she loves sees that kind of thinking, she’s obviously not going to like it.

“I’m a pretty unpleasant girl, aren’t I?”

I suppose she started remembering the things she said today after calming down.

“I said nothing but complaints to you, almost like I was taking my anger out on you…”

I felt that the whole time as well after she said that she’d like to change location and chat.

Still, even leaving out the part where I’m the one who startled her, I never had any intention of reproaching her.

“Despite you helping me when I got lost at the Uninhabited Island Test that summer…”

Ever since Shiranami enrolled in this school, she’s always held special feelings towards Ichinose.

I can understand why she would half-unconsciously harbour resentment towards someone like me.

“I don’t mind. I’m the one who bothered you, and I should apologize for sounding like I was lectur———”

“I’m really sorry!”

Before I could finish my apology, Shiranami returned it back instead.

“Umm, err, it’s not as if I hate you… I really don't.”

I already know all that, but Shiranami doesn’t, so she started explaining for her own sake.

She’s not going to be convinced if I interrupt her, so I suppose I should just be the listener for a while.

After that, Shiranami continued apologizing while spreading the conversation in all directions with 80% apology and 20% explanation.

Chapter 2

A Small Premonition

Part 1

I put my arms through the sleeves of my private clothes I have never worn since buying, and poured warm water into a cup.

Noticing the light coming through the window, I opened the curtains.

“There’s so much piled up…”

The rain that was coming down until last night had suddenly turned into snow, which continued all night.

It seems to have stopped for now during the day-time, but there’s apparently going to be a blizzard tonight.

The television also says that the snow is going to continue for a few days.

“It’s no wonder it feels so cold here.”

This is the genuine arrival of the season when hot coffee becomes tastier.

I stood before the kitchen with my new cup of coffee in my right hand, and my phone in my left hand, looking at goods and prices.

I didn’t know this until recently, but it looks like Keyaki Mall has web advertisements targeting those who live in this school.

I suddenly learned this fact just last night.

I noticed it after the class group chat got lively last night when people were talking about what they would do on Christmas Eve, or what they were doing.

At first, the group chat’s main subject was Ike and Shinohara.

They’re in the group chat, but neither of them read any messages after 9 p.m., which really got their classmates talking.

Coincidence, or were they together?

Of course, I’m sure most people thought that it was the latter.

There were wild ones among them who made phone calls with half jealousy and half banter, but neither of them had their phones on.

They didn’t see it as a coincidence, however, and the chat log continued.

The subject remained the same for a long time, and I was impressed that they didn’t run out of things to talk about for hours and hours.

Then, a large sale caught my attention.

“Wow… Consumer electronics are pretty cheap too.”

I carefully took a sip from my coffee so as to not get burned and slid the screen with my finger.

Starting with goods popular with boys such as gaming machines, gaming software and such, there are also daily necessities such as driers or electric toothbrushes.

The categories even extend to cookware like mixers or slicers.

I’ve been cooking more frequently recently, so I’m curious about a few of these things.

A yogurt maker somehow caught my attention, and it’s even on a limited sale according to the web advertisement.

I think it’s a simple enough decision to buy this.

I should keep my private point spending in check, but I can recoup it by utilizing the yogurt maker in the future.

It’s just that I don’t know how much yogurt I’m going to eat in the rest of my school life, and if it’s going to be cheaper than store-bought yogurt…

No, that’s a futile thought.

I just want this yogurt maker, and I want to use it.

That’s probably all there is to it.

If I only consider cost-effectiveness, it is obvious that I would have to choose not to buy it.

The more I think about it, the less likely I am to buy a yogurt maker.

So, I stopped thinking about it.

They’re selling it at a special price, so I’m going to buy it.

That’s all it is.

Other than that, I’m curious how the limited sale works.

The main target group of Keyaki Mall is students, so they don’t have a system to keep a large amount of stock.

It’s very possible that they only handle a few units at a time.

Above all, this big sale seems to be popular among the students.

I didn't care about it last year, but the sale somehow became popular without me knowing, and everything sold out without me knowing again. (as one can see from the class group chat).

“Should I go check it out..?”

I’m not sure about this kind of sale, to be honest, because I’ve never been to one before.

Should I experience it, or wait and see?

As I was wondering that, I received a message on my phone.

“Good morning. Can I call you later? Will that be a nuisance?”

The message was from Ichinose, whom I met at the gym yesterday.

She was probably trying to be discreet, considering the possibility that Kei might be with me, even if she isn't feeling well.

No, maybe not.

Ichinose already knows that Kei has influenza.

She wouldn’t think that Kei would be completely recovered after yesterday.

I guess it’s just for appearances sake.

I decided to make the call, partly to let her know that there was no problem.

“Good morning. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Is something wrong?”

“Err, what are your plans for the day today?”

“My plans? Well, nothing particular.”

“Karuizawa-san still hasn't recovered, has she?”

“She has influenza, so I think it’s going to take a little longer.”

“I see… I’d like to visit her, but the school issued a warning, didn’t they?”

“Looks like it. We’re not supposed to come in contact with her.”

The school sent an email to students and staff telling them to avoid careless visits or going outside in spite of having influenza.

“I’m still checking up on her.”

“I see, I’m glad to hear that.”

She seems genuinely relieved, and not just on a surface level.

“I’m sorry to bother you at a difficult time like this, but… Do you have any plans to go to Keyaki Mall today?”

“Hmm… Well, I was thinking of going out later, but… Should we decide on a time and meet there if you want to talk about something?”

“No, we can’t. It may sound like a sophism, but this isn’t an appointment. I just wanted to know if you would be at the mall today.”

“I’ll probably go. Can I answer like that, then?”

“Yes, that’s good enough. Thank you.”

Ichinose added something else after saying that.

“Tell me if you have any problems. I want to help Karuizawa-san too.”

The phone call ended right away after that, and I never found out what Ichinose wanted.

Leaving that aside, I looked at the time and made my decision.

“Alright.”

The time is 9:45 a.m.

Just in time to leave the dormitory for the opening of Keyaki Mall.

I’m curious what Ichinose has to say, so I’m going to take the plunge.

I’m going to enter the facility in the shortest way and head for the electronics store.

Then, I’m going to take the yogurt maker into my hands and ignore any unnecessary items.

I’d only be dancing under the mass merchandiser’s manipulation if I start buying this and that.

I put the coffee cup I just finished drinking from on the sink, and headed for the front door.

Let the mission begin.

The store is very crowded with a lot of students and other school staff.

I continued observing it from a small distance away.

The customers who were lined up were guided into the store 30 minutes before the opening and hurriedly started buying the bargain goods.

Would the customers really be able to buy the best of the best now that the store is in general admission?

Still, I wasn’t worried.

Why would any student want a yogurt maker?

That’s what I think.

No, I’m sure there aren’t any.

So there’s nothing to be anxious about…

With that in mind, I entered the store late, and my hopes were dashed.

The yogurt makers from the advertisement were already sold out.

I was stabbed by the reality that other people bought them all.

Seeing that and becoming desperate, I reached out to the last yogurt maker, but I heard that its price is many times higher than the ones on sale, so I gave up on buying it and left the store.

Even now, students from the mass-merchandise store are coming out with pleased expressions.

“So frustrating…”

I truthfully expressed my feelings.

It was my own grievous fault for not looking into the sale pattern.

This is the end of the loser who neglected to gather information, huh?

I stopped by the supermarket on my way out of the mall.

I headed straight for the dairy products section without a basket, as if I was being guided there somehow.

There were many manufacturers selling milk, and yogurt.

I was so close to having the magical power to turn this milk into yogurt.

I wanted to try it out. I’m starting to well up with emotion.

My distance to the usual milk bags and the yogurt is far. No, this isn’t just a matter of distance.

It was as if they were blocked behind some invisible glass.

I bet this is how the young boy who wanted to buy the trumpet behind the showcase must have felt like.

…

This is totally different though, isn’t it?

Even at this moment, boys and girls are busy picking up milk and yogurt one after the other and buying them.

I just ran out of yogurt myself.

However, wouldn’t it be an admission of defeat if I buy yogurt here?

I told myself I was going to leave, but my legs won’t move.

As for why…

The milk is being sold at a special price, different from the usual one.

Furthermore, the yogurt is also 20 yen cheaper than usual.

If it wasn’t for the yogurt maker, I’m sure I’d have bought some before leaving.

“...”

I became unable to move away from the dairy produce section, almost as if bound in chains.

“Eggs are pretty cheap too…”

Inflation coupled with the global state of affairs has kept prices rising and rising.

This school has its own rules and is somewhat isolated from society, but it’s essentially the same as the outside world in this matter.

After graduation, the days of facing the prices before us and consulting our wallets will begin.

I’m not planning to begin doing that, but…

Well, I’m just an ordinary person now, so it should be okay to think like that.

It was a total mistake to come here just because I wanted to check out what was happening.

Anyway, I can’t stay here forever.

I forced my heavy feet to drag me away, and made up my mind to leave on the way.

“What’s wrong? I’ve never seen you look so dejected before, Ayanokoji.”

“...Kiryuuin-senpai.”

Kiryuuin called out to me as I was making up my will to retreat.

My legs strangely became lighter and I started moving away.

I had originally only stopped by here to look at the yogurts on display, and not for any specific purpose.

I left the store empty-handed and Kiryuuin followed behind me.

On the way, I briefly explained what happened.

I probably wanted someone to hear it.

I think I wanted someone to understand my disappointment at not being able to buy a yogurt maker.

I told her that I found out about the discount last night, and that I rushed to the store before it opened, but misunderstood where to line up.

As a result, someone else bought it and I couldn’t acquire it myself.

After hearing it all, Kiryuuin found my story funny and laughed.

“You never stop being interesting, Ayanokoji. You really are a special man.”

“Is that so? I intend on being an ordinary high schooler you could see anywhere, though.”

“What a unique joke. No, there’s a part of you that’s like that too, but…”

She denied at first, but added an affirmation.

“I laughed precisely because you were acting like just a normal high school student. I think it’s weird to be obsessed with a yogurt maker, but it wouldn’t be weird to replace that with another item.”

“I see…”

“You really wanted that yogurt maker though, huh? I think it’d be a lot cheaper, tastier and safer if you just bought yogurt, though.”

Saying that, she looked back at the supermarket as we continued walking away.

“There’s a meaning to making things yourself and eating them. I lost that chance.”

“You’re expressionless, but I can see that you’re enthusiastic about this.”

“Don’t you cook, Senpai?”

Kiryuuin nodded without hesitation when I asked back.

“I tried when I was little to make my parents happy, but I’ve never done it since then.”

“Was the result that bad?”

“No, I can’t really say much about it. It wasn’t particularly delicious, nor tasteless. My parents were just happy about me cooking for them. Normally, I guess you’d try to improve your cooking to see their happy faces again.”

She seems to have abandoned the culinary path once and for all instead of taking that path.

“I usually eat out at convenience stores or the school cafeteria. When I do stop by a supermarket, I usually buy ready-made food from the side-dish section.”

I thought she might be cooking too, but the opposite seems to be true.

It feels strange that she’s here, now that she told me she doesn’t cook.

“How about you? When did you end up liking cooking?”

“Since my high school debut. It was my first time living alone, and since I started in D Class, my class points ran out very often.”

“So you decided to cook for yourself to save money on food?”

“Even if there’s a way to eat for free, it would be painful to eat the same thing all year. You can improve and become more efficient by repeatedly cooking, and your efficiency will get better with time too. I’ve recently begun to think that it would be good to maximize cost-effectiveness.”

The new yogurt maker could have been a new step up.

I’m starting to regret not getting one again.

“So? If you really wanted one that badly, why didn’t you just buy one?”

“The price difference compared to the bargain version is too high. I guess it has a lot of features, but I just wanted to ferment milk, so I decided that it was unnecessary.”

I’d be doing exactly what the store wants if I got desperate and started buying expensive products.

“Did you try searching on the internet?”

“No, not yet.”

“You shouldn’t feel down before you take a look on the internet, then. There’s a few sites I can recommend to you.”

She took out her phone and typed in the search words.

We stood on the edge of the passage to not bother incoming customers and looked at her phone, and found one with a price that isn’t much different from today’s special price.

“That’s surprising.”

“That’s the thing about special sales, it’s not just the electronics retailers at this school that are having trouble handling and selling the same item from their inventory. This is just common sense that all young people these days should know.”

“This is very helpful.”

“Why don’t you buy it online?”

“I get that I can indeed buy it for the same price, but I just discovered something new as well. I’m going to look for something simpler to buy when I go back to my room.”

After looking into it, the yogurt seller that was on sale had a lot more features than necessary.

I now know that I can find something cheaper and simpler.

“Most of all, it feels like a loss to buy the same thing. By the way, are you done with your shopping?”

“I just saw you from behind and came after you since I thought this would be interesting. I don’t really need anything from the supermarket.”

It looks like she has no business in the supermarket itself.

“Pretty strange of you to call out to me just to see how I’m acting curiously.”

Does she have too much time because there’s nothing to do for her on winter vacation?

“I know what you’re thinking, but let me tell you that it’s not like I’m getting involved in random things just because I have nothing else to do.”

“I hope that’s the case, but it seems doubtful.”

She laughed bitterly and started explaining again after I honestly told her what I thought.

“It’s because it was you, and not anyone else.”

“I’m not the kind of person that deserves so much appreciation.”

“You know there’s no point in being modest now, don’t you? The way you confronted those guys on the Uninhabited Island is burned into my brain, whether I like it or not.”

The scene at the beach when I finally settled the score with Tsukishiro.

Kiryuuin also exchanged fists with Tsukishiro's supposed subordinate Shiba in the form of helping.

Leaving aside the physical aspect, I suppose it is not unreasonable for her to regard me in a special way after I was in that unusual situation which would not normally occur.

“That’s why it’s unfortunate.”

“Unfortunate?”

Kiryuuin deeply exhaled like a girl about to confess something she had been keeping inside her heart for a long time.

“In the summer, I often wished that this school had a system of repeating years.”

“Repeating years?”

I suppose each student who can’t graduate in A Class might think that way at least once out of regret.

They give up on it right away, however.

In the first place, this school fundamentally does not allow one to repeat a year.

“What a stupid idea, huh?”

“Definitely. Most students don’t try to go against the set rules.”

The act of breaking the rules can be done by anyone.

Oppose, overturn.

Convince them.

Make them change things.

That’s the hard part.

“But I still wanted to consider the option of remaining next year. Because if that came true, I could watch you closely through the year.”

“I didn’t think there were any students who think that way. You are pretty strange, after all.”

It’s Kiryuuin, so this is probably more than just a fantasy in her head.

“There’s nothing that can’t be bought with private points. I even tried to use that basis to convince the teachers, but the answer I got was a no.”

“Let me ask you, would you be willing to offer the maximum amount of 20 million points for it?”

The only way to overturn the rule of no repeated years is to pay a huge price.

I did good to ask her, but I can already see the answer from Kiryuuin’s expression.

I arrived at Keyaki Mall at 9:55 a.m. on the same day.

Seven students were already at the entrance closest to the dormitory, waiting for it to open.

There are five girls and two boys.

Of the girls, there is one group of three and one group of two.

Both are engrossed in chatting and laughing, even though they’re about to head into the battlefield.

On the other hand, the boys were in different grades; one in Year One and the other in Year Three, playing with their phones without any sign of approaching each other.

It seems that they are acting alone.

While it is quite possible that they are heading to the electronics store, it’s hard to believe that they are going for a yogurt maker.

The Year One boy is slightly obese, wears glasses and is holding his phone horizontally with both hands.

Further, he’s busily sliding and tapping his fingers, so it seems like he is playing a phone game.

If so, it is highly likely that he is targeting gaming machines or gaming software.

However…

One thing felt strange.

Why don’t I see any of my classmates here?

I took out my phone and opened up the group chat from yesterday.

Many people, both boys and girls, were saying that they were going to the electronics store today to buy the things they were looking for.

Among them, there was a message from Hondou, who was excited that something he had been wanting for a long time was on the advertisement.

I have no interest in that product, but it seems that competition for it definitely isn’t low.

There were also many people worried whether they could rush into the store in time to buy what they wanted, and some warned others not to oversleep.

My phone’s clock shifted to 9:56 a.m.

The opening hour is approaching.

However, I can’t see Hondou anywhere, and neither can I see any other classmates.

Yet, according to the chat, many people should be here right now.

“...What’s going on?”

It feels strange that the students who should have been here are not.

Among the 7 people that are here, none of them looks to be excited or anxious.

Shouldn’t they be lined up at the entrance ready to fight for even a second’s advantage?

Can they really afford to leisurely play phone games?

I felt uneasy, so I decided to be brave and check the situation.

“Do you have a moment?”

The Year One student annoyedly looked up, and I saw that he was indeed playing a game.

He tapped the stop button and the game stopped.

I can easily tell that he’s annoyed about a senior talking to him, but I have no choice as I have to check the situation.

“What did you come to Keyaki Mall for?”

“Huh? What, are you pretending this is some kind of television program..? I don’t understand what you’re trying to do.”

“...Huh?”

I tried to speak to him as naturally as possible to not scare him, but he seems to have raised his guard by about three levels.

There is no time left to waste, however, so I have no choice but to cut to the chase.

“I thought you might have come here to check out the sale at the electronics store. I heard they have some cheap gaming machines.”

I tried to emphasize the game part as much as possible to get the point across.

After that, he reacted in a way that seemed like he now understood my intent.

“That would be pretty good if the gaming machines were the newest stuff, but it’s an unpopular version with an old LCD display and a fragile controller. It might be a big sale, but they’re just getting rid of inventory. Even if they sell old, unpopular game software at a discount of 20-30%, it’s still not good enough. Besides, I’m the type who buys download versions.”

“...”

I see.

I get what he’s talking about, but I also don’t understand it.

“A manga I want, releases today, so I’m just going to the bookstore. Oh, are you wondering why I buy paperbacks even though I only buy download versions of games?”

“Umm, no…”

“It’s true that you can buy the electronic version as soon as it’s past midnight, and you can read it on your phone or tablet any time you want, but I like the feel of a book in my hands. I’d say I’m the type of person who wants to keep manga and novels on paper forever. Like I said though, this is just limited to manga and novels, and I have little resistance to ebooks for other things as well. For example, a collection of a year’s worth of best-to-buy products, or photo books and such. I can tolerate that kind of thing. Well, I used paper versions of those in middle school too, though. I have had a lot more chances to use my phone or tablet since I entered this school, so I decided to move on. Oh, can I go now? I wanna do my best while there’s an event in this game.”

I wanted to listen to him properly, but 20% of it is already gone from my mind.

I think my brain was refusing to memorize his words because of his poor articulation.

He finished talking about something I never even asked him, and resumed using his phone.

The hour is 9:58 a.m.

It should be about time for familiar students or students going for the sale to appear now, but…

Maybe this didn’t draw as much attention as I thought it would?

I heard that last year’s sale was a roaring success, however, and starting with Hondou, my classmates seemed to be eagerly waiting for it.

Could I have mistaken the date?

It said ‘tomorrow’ in the chat, but isn’t there a possibility that it could be wrong?

Or, since the conversation took place just before the date changed, it could have been tomorrow from today’s perspective.

I was beginning to think that way.

Then, I hurriedly took out my phone and accessed the web ad again.

“...It’s today.”

The chance of this being a misunderstanding instantly disappeared.

It’s getting closer and closer to the opening, but the number of students gathered has not increased by even one person.

What’s going on..?

No, I should stop thinking about it already.

I’m going to directly head for the electronics store after it opens and buy my yogurt maker.

That should be good enough.

“By the way, Aiko sent me a photo just now. Look, there’s a crazy line at the north entrance.”

“Wow. I went last year too. I couldn’t buy anything I wanted though, since there wasn’t enough stock. Wait, why the north entrance though?”

“There was someone from B Class who got hurt at the opening rush last year, right?”

“Ah, there was, I think it was pretty bad since everyone else was rushing in and ignored it.”

“Yeah. So it looks like they’re lining up at the north entrance this year to be guided in by staff.”

The reality that I want to hear, but also don’t want to hear reached my ears.

As I learned the truth, the hour cruelly reached 10:00 a.m.

Part 2

“The biggest thing you can purchase in this school is the right to move to any class. Unless you have some really strange tastes, moving to Class A near graduation will finally give you your dream after three years.”

“That’s right. I don’t think there’s anything better than that to buy.”

There is a definitive power balance between the right to A Class and repeating a year.

Who would want to willingly invest 20 million points in a high-risk year?

“So why is it that even if you have a large amount of money to spend, you’re still not allowed to repeat a year? Don’t you think it’s strange? There are systems such as stopping or nullifying expulsions or moving classes in the school rule book, but there was never anything about repeating a year.”

She’s right.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that there’s nothing you can’t buy with private points, but the reality is that there is something you cannot buy.

As mentioned earlier, intentionally repeating a year can’t be worth more than moving to A Class in the same year.

Still, there is definitely a reason that it is not allowed.

“The student who wants to repeat a year will have a greater knowledge of special tests and such if they remain in the school for an extra year. It would be possible to consider it unfair against other classes on an information level.”

Information? It’s true that you can think of it that way, but you don’t have to stay in school to share information.

Kind-hearted seniors can easily leave information for the junior students in their daily life.

Besides, the information advantage would not be that big of a deal.

Each special test is fundamentally different from those in the year above.

Even if one gains an advantage in written tests, it’s unlikely to have a significant impact on the crowd.

“Don’t you think it could lead to a decrease in the school’s value?”

“Oh? What do you mean?”

“This school gives a big advantage to those who graduated in A Class. Companies also consider students who graduated in A Class to be superior and hire them, but when you mix in students who have repeated a year, won’t that call the value of the school into question? Those who can only look at the results from the outside will be curious if a student has repeated a year despite graduating in A Class. We can also apply this to you, Kiryuuin-senpai. A strange person who inefficiently did not graduate in A Class and repeated a year instead. You would still be considered as someone of skill, but it will be blurry for those who might hire you. It would be very difficult to evaluate such a person.”

The school will also no longer be willing to send her out there.

“So you’re saying that repeating a year is forbidden in order to eliminate this pattern?”

“That would be it if I had to make a guess.”

“It’s very likely. I think I might not hire me if I had to interview myself.”

That’s a self-deprecating joke she can say precisely because she has confidence in her own abilities.

“Please transfer to Nagumo’s class instead if you’re going to repeat a year on a whim.”

“I’m not interested in that.”

“Even if you had 20 million points saved up solely for yourself?”

“Even if. I don’t care which class I graduate in.”

“I realize that there’s not much difference for you between graduating in A Class and graduating in D Class, but it would be common sense to graduate in A Class if you can anyway.”

“After graduation, they convert your private points into real cash. That’s a lot more important for me.”

No matter how much it is, that’s going to be a big amount of money for someone who has just graduated from high school.

However, it’s usually not weighed against the possibility of graduating in A Class, which could be very useful in the future.

“Private points fulfill most of a student’s wishes, but not all of them. That’s also a part of it.”

“I suppose so. It’s also impossible to fire the teachers you don’t get along with, so.”

Kiryuuin grinned and said something disturbing.

“It almost sounds like you tried to do it.”

“Hehe, I’m not going to comment on that.”

“You really don’t have any interest in A Class, huh?”

“You shouldn’t be so surprised. I may be in a rare category indeed, but I don’t think I’m the first one. Besides, I thought you were the same way too, but..?”

It’s true that I’m not clinging onto A Class, because I’m not going to get the follow-up from school, which is the biggest advantage it provides.

“You and I may not be so different indeed, Kiryuuin-senpai. Still, even if there were other students who were disinterested in A Class like me, there’s still a big difference between you and them.”

“What would that be?”

“Contributions to the class. Normally, one works for their fellow students even if it is not necessary for themselves. Someone highly capable like you could have lent a helping hand to B Class and crossed paths with former Student Council President Nagumo. Even if they have different personalities and ideas from you, I’m sure your classmates have asked you for help once or twice.”

Kiryuuin affirmed it as if she were talking about someone else.

“Yet, for three years up until now, you’ve only been acting for your own sake.”

“Couldn’t I have been contributing in my own way from behind the scenes? It may not have been a match for Nagumo, though.”

“It’s easy to tell when I look at Kiriyama-senpai from the same class, no, even all of the Year Three students. You only work for your own sake, but you don’t drag the others down either. So you’re neither enemy nor an ally.”

She’s like a fly on the wall both for friends and enemies. Leaving ability aside, it’s no simple thing to do that.

“There were some who spoke out their grudges and hard feelings, but they stopped talking to me before I noticed.”

The fact that she was inevitably forgiven is evident in the results.

The fact that she is held to a high standard of academic and physical level by the school means that she has achieved a certain level of success in written tests, athletic classes and tournaments.

From what someone in our class (including me) can see, she doesn’t seem to be cutting corners.

“Can I ask you a few questions too?”

“Is there something you wanted to ask me?”

“That’s a foolish question. There are countless things I’d like to ask you, but you’re going to get annoyed if I ask you a dozen or more questions and there’s no proof that you’re going to tell me the truth.”

She put her question to words after such a preface.

“Can I assume that the various problems I’m sure you had are solved?”

That’s a broad definition, but I don’t have to think deeply about what she means.

“Thanks to you. My daily life is pretty peaceful right now.”

I emphasized that things are peaceful right now as we walk as well.

“No matter how many times I think back, I can’t forget your smooth movements on the beach that day. They were far beyond anything I could imagine, or thought possible to do as a human being. I bet even my uncle wouldn’t believe me if I told him.”

“Uncle?”

“Sorry, was that a difficult to understand way of saying it? I mean my grandfather.”

She squinted her eyes with yearning after that, remembering her grandfather.

I know what the words mean, but I don’t think it’s common for people to call their grandfathers uncle.

“That’s a pretty weird way of referring to him.”

“I may not look like it, but I’m still a nice lady. That’s what I call him at home.”

“I see. Well, I guess that makes sense, but…”

I always felt that she was raised well somehow.

She also always felt rough in contrast, so there was never any proof of anything like that.

“I spent a lot more time with my uncle when I was little since my parents were busy with work. To use a familiar expression, I was quite the uncle's girl.”

She smiled and squinted with nostalgia.

It’s an expression you can’t have if you have a lot of bad memories.

“I was really depressed when I found out that I was entering this school and could not see him for three years.”

“He really cares a lot about you too, doesn’t he?”

“He was always saying that I’m welcome to leave the school any time.”

That’s a pretty terrible thing to say to one’s grandchild spreading her wings.

From that remark alone, he does not seem to be a normal grandfather.

“But wouldn’t he be shocked if you actually dropped out?”

“No, I have no doubt that he would truly be happy. If I hadn’t decided to make my own way in the first place, I’d be able to go to most universities and companies with a single word from the crane.”

(TL Note - Expression, authoritative voice, final word.)

In other words, even if she doesn’t graduate in A Class, she’s still going to get a lot of support from her grandfather.

He has both power and favour, it seems.

There was someone in my class who was in a similar position too, but with a different way of thinking.

“Do you know about Koenji, by any chance?”

“Koenji? Why did you suddenly mention his name?”

“Why? I mean, look.”

It’s because I saw Koenji walking towards us.

Coupled with the contents of our chat, that’s why I asked about her relationship with him.

“I don’t think you’d have anything to do with a strange person like that, though.”

He’s attracting the attention of the students around him, who are looking at him like they’re looking at something bizarre.

He is carrying a large box all by himself, which has the logo of a famous manufacturer.

I guessed what was inside from the shape of the box. It’s probably a large flat-screen TV.

“Don’t you know? Koenji is the son of a pretty famous businessman. I heard that he was even already named as the next president of the company.”

“I see. Maybe that’s why he’s so eccentric. Unfortunately though, I don’t know much about his circumstances either. If his father really is famous though, then there may be some connection between him and my grandfather… Well, it’s none of my business either way.”

It seems that Kiryuuin has no knowledge of the political or business world.

In that sense, it’s nice to know that she’s not going to get stuck on the somewhat unusual name of ‘Ayanokoji’.

Even if she did know the surname, it would be absurd to connect it directly to me.

It wouldn’t be that simple to think of me as someone from the same family, even if it is an unusual name.

“Could that be the root of your disinterest in A Class?”

“Of course not. I came into this school because I was fed up with being born into such a wealthy family. I have no intentions of living under their roof after graduation. The Year Three students have already ended their class warfare, so I’m concentrating on enrolling in a university and job hunting activities like everyone else.”

In other words, Kiryuuin has a clear path ahead of her.

Further, she also has no intention of receiving any favours from her family.

“Just for reference, may I ask what kind of path you want to move into?”

“First, I’m going to university. I can keep my costs in check if I enter as a scholarship student. I’ll earn more money for my daily life by working part-time. There’s nothing particularly special to talk about.”

“Leaving aside the scholarship, it sounds like you want to be a normal student.”

“I’m going to freely study on my own and grow up to be an adult, then work for a small company or something. I don’t care if it’s something lesser than that either. I will lead a life that is not associated with the Kiryuuin name or status.”

She will live a life of freedom, unrestricted and not standing out from society.

That’s the meaning I get from her words.

“That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“Right? I don’t need anything special. That’s what I think right now, at least.”

In a way, it’s pretty similar to the way I thought about things when I entered school.

It doesn’t matter if I go up or down in class, I’m going to continue living my life for my own freedom.

There’s a person right next to me here who has followed this idea for three years.

“It’s no easy thing to obtain a peaceful and smooth life, however. Even if things are good enough now, the Kiryuuin name will still be attached to me after I graduate, whether I like it or not.”

I don’t know anything about the Kiryuuin family, but if the family has a certain degree of fame, then it’s natural for her to have a kind of track laid out for her.

Even if she escaped into this school out of rebellion like I did, it still ends after three years whether she likes it or not.

“Wouldn’t your grandfather leave you alone?”

“No, the problem is my parents. Unlike my grandfather, they don’t have even an ounce of humour in them. It’s not hard to imagine what their reactions would be if they knew that I was living an ordinary life.”

That point might be somewhat similar to my family situation.

Chatting with her like this, I feel like her circumstances closely resemble mine.

“I have no regrets about my actions over the past three years. I did as I pleased.”

Her expression showed a slight hesitation even as she declared her conviction.

“Still, I wanted to see myself as a person who did not choose only to purpose freedom. Maybe that’s why I was trying to see if I could repeat a year.”

If Kiryuuin-senpai had used all her might in her three years, there’s no mistaking the fact that she would have been a threat for the A Class ruled by Nagumo.

Living up to her lineage may also be a difficult task.

“The battle with Nagumo isn’t over yet, is it? What are you going to do about that?”

“I hope I have an opportunity to do something, but I don't know what’s going to happen.”

Everything will be decided by the school.

It’s a matter of chance whether me or Nagumo will have the opportunity to step in ourselves.

Also…

There are also routes that cannot be realized, regardless of if I desire them or not.

“I don’t think you would be negligent or self-conceited, but you should be cautious during the third term.”

“Is this an advice from a senpai?”

“It’s nothing that you would call advice. I just heard Nagumo talking on the phone with someone the other day. He seemed to be trying to gather gossip about the Year Two students.”

I wonder if Nagumo has his antenna up more than anyone in order to make the fight with me happen.

“There might be something more troublesome waiting for you at the next special test you’re going to take.”

“The school won’t implicitly leak out information, but the difficulty of special tests can easily be guessed by past statistics. Actually, how was the special test that was conducted at the start of Year Two’s third term?”

If there is a high probability that a similar trend would continue, Nagumo would be able to associate it with last year’s special test.

“I’m not sure. Nagumo is in charge and has authority over everything in our year. I’m just a B Class student living my days, I don’t remember every single thing.”

“I see.”

Indeed, it’s essentially rare for Kiryuuin to participate in special tests.

There’s something that bothers me about the part where she said she doesn’t remember, though.

“However, there was one person who left B Class at the time of that special test.”

“Leave? You mean expelled?”

“That’s what I remember. It was probably a necessary sacrifice, thrown away by Nagumo’s adjustments.”

Nagumo’s ideal of victory and defeat, and their recompense.

There will certainly be sacrifices made in a special test where expulsions are inevitable.

If what Kiryuuin says is true, then there might be difficult developments waiting for me as soon as the third term starts.

“The expulsions will probably be mostly from D or C classes, though.”

“We’ll see. I don’t remember anything about the circumstances in other classes.”

She’s probably even less interested in other classes than the morning news on TV.

Still, she says she doesn’t remember anything, but she does seem to know some key points.

“It won’t necessarily be the same as last year, though. There’s no need to get so worked up”

“I don’t find it very convincing to hear you say that, as you don’t have a grasp on anything.”

I did not pursue the matter further at this point and let it slide instead.

“Sorry I interrupted you. I couldn’t have had an easy-going chat with you like this at any other time. It was a good opportunity.”

“No, I’m glad I was able to chat with you.”

Kiryuuin was just about to turn around and walk away, but she immediately stopped and turned back to me.

“This is just a hunch I have, but I have a feeling that you and I will meet again in the near future, at a place other than this school.”

“Do your hunches usually come true?”

“Half the time, usually.”

I guess you really could just call it a hunch…

“I’m pretty confident this time, though. If I had to tell you why, I’d say it’s because you’re not a normal high school student. I’m sure we’ll see each other again if we don’t get buried by society.”

“Wouldn’t that be better? I thought you wanted a normal life.”

“Hm? Hehehehe, you may actually be right.”

She lightly waved her hand and started walking out of Keyaki Mall.

See each other again somewhere else, huh?

That future will probably never come.

However, if it did…

No, I should let that idea go.

There’s no meaning in such fantasies about the future.

I am living freely at this moment, right now.

That is enough for me.

Part 3

I was thinking back to my conversation with Ichinose this morning on my way home after parting with Kiryuuin.

She was wondering if I would come to Keyaki Mall or not, but the heart of the matter is still unclear.

Normally, I’d have used my phone to let her know that I was in the mall, but she didn’t want me to do that.

Also judging by how she was expressing things in a roundabout way, she probably thought she could see me anyway if she just went to Keyaki Mall.

For the time being, I’m choosing to leave without taking any action to search for Ichinose.

I can just go back if I don’t see her on my way out of the mall.

With that in mind, I returned to the vicinity of the mall’s entrance.

There is a christmas tree set up here.

Friends and couples were taking photos by the christmas tree or viewing it yesterday too, but that’s also going away tomorrow.

Kei must be sorry that she’s sleeping right now, but there’s no helping it as influenza is already spreading and nearly 20 people in the entire school have tested positive for it.

I saw that many students had indeed gathered in the vicinity as I walked by the tree.

No, there were probably more students at this time yesterday.

I spotted Ichinose among the crowd.

She seems to be surrounded by three Year One girls for now, smiling happily and chatting with them.

Since I dare not go talk to her, I decided to keep my distance and observe for a while.

Then, Hoshinomiya-sensei and Chabashira-sensei walking next to her spotted me by chance.

Teachers are often in plain clothes during long vacations, but I can’t help but feel particularly uncomfortable about Chabashira-sensei still wearing a suit.

“Oh? Are you alone here?”

The first one to call out to me was Hoshinomiya-sensei, and Chabashira-sensei followed suit.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“I definitely thought you would be flirting and hanging out with your girlfriend yesterday and today. Did you get dumped?”

“Don’t make fun of students. Besides, Karuizawa has influenza.”

Chabashira-sensei began to explain the circumstances, but…

“I know.”

“But you still messed with him?”

“I mean, isn’t it annoying that a student younger than me gets to spend Christmas with his girlfriend?”

“It’s the same for you every year. It’s just that this year isn’t the same.”

“That’s why I can’t forgive this. I’m starting to feel like I understand how Sae-chan feels for the first time.”

“Don’t compare me with you. I don’t have anything against spending Christmas by myself. What a shame, though, Right Ayanokoji? I guess you can’t meet up with Karuizawa.”

“There’s no helping it. Besides, I’m not against spending Christmas alone either.”

Chabashira-sensei laughed a little after that reply, and Hoshinomiya-sensei’s mood seemed to worsen in contrast.

The two are in such a contrasting situation that it makes me think back to Mashima-sensei.

I’m sure it will be very troublesome, no matter which side I support.

“Where are you two going after this?”

“Karaoke. We have a right to have fun too, you know~ Right~?”

“It’s just Chie who wants to sing, though. I’m just being dragged along.”

“Oh~ Really? Weren’t you pretty into it too, Sae-chan~?”

“I’m not…”

The teachers must be tired of the tense atmosphere caused by the class competitions.

They headed off to the karaoke room, exchanging some small talk on whether they were on good terms or not.

In the meantime, I noticed that Ichinose was looking over at me.

It seems the girls finished talking to each other and I had actually ended up making her wait for me.

“What a coincidence, Ayanokoji-kun.”

“Yeah, what a coincidence. It looked like you were having a lot of fun with the juniors from Year One.”

“They’re from Year One B Class. You remember how Yagami from the Student Council suddenly got expelled, right? I guess it had an impact, since things are apparently still chaotic. They still seemed positive-minded, though.”

Although the class itself should not be penalized by the nature of Yagami being sent in to expel me, they still suffered inevitable damage from missing a few people.

I suppose the bitter situation is going to continue for a while after this too.

“How long have you been here?”

“Since 10:30 a.m. I think.”

Considering that it’s almost 12 o’clock already, has she been waiting here for over an hour?

No, it wouldn’t be right to express this as ‘waiting’.

Ichinose is just acting based on her own philosophy of action.

“Hey, Ayanokoji-kun. Won’t you take a photo with me?”

Saying this, Ichinose pulled out her camera while looking a little embarrassed.

“I’ve been taking photos with a lot of people here today just for the sake of remembering.”

Ichinose opened her photo folder and showed today’s section to prove she was telling the truth.

It turned out that she really had taken photos in front of the Christmas tree with various students.

Some of them were also taken with boys from Ichinose’s class.

There was also a photo with the Year One students from just now.

Ichinose said that she was waiting at this spot to make memories, but her real goal became clear soon after that.

“But, it’s because I want to take a photo with you. That’s my biggest wish.”

Ichinose didn’t give any more of a reason than that, but it’s not hard to figure it out.

It wouldn’t look good if she had photos of just me on her phone and Kei or someone else learned about it.

However, if she takes photos of a large number of people, both boys and girls, there’s not going to be a problem even if she is confronted.

In fact, although there were not that many, there were also some one-on-one photos with boys from other classes.

They were probably very happy to be approached by Ichinose, as they were making peace signs with embarrassed expressions.

There was nothing in common among the boys in the photos, including the year.

It looks like she was taking photos with everyone who asked.

“So… Won’t you take a photo with me?”

“There’s no reason to refuse, of course.”

“Yay.”

She spent a lot of effort just trying to get a photo with me.

“I never intended to take so many photos with everyone, but I guess they heard about what I was doing, since a lot of people approached me. It was actually a little difficult to handle.”

It looks like there are rumours starting to spread that Ichinose wants to take photos with a lot of people.

“How many people did you take photos with?”

“Err, I think it’s 43 including the girls just now.”

That’s pretty good…

I can see that she’s quite quick-paced.

“I’m going to continue for a while after this too. It would be profound if I stopped now, right?”

Ichinose told me that she doesn’t want to leave traces behind even after reaching her objective.

“Well, some people might also think I’m acting suspiciously, though.”

Ichinose looked back on her demeanour which might be seen as suspicious when viewed objectively and smiled.

If I did the same thing, I would definitely be treated like a suspicious person.

However, the same actions look completely different when done by Ichinose.

Ichinose pulled me by the arm and guided me to adjust the angle.

She then leaned in closer and took her phone into her hand while putting the front camera on.

“We can do it now since others aren’t looking.”

She seems to be constantly observing her surroundings, so I suppose she decided this was the perfect time.

Ichinose put her hand on my arm and took the photo.

Then, she took another photo without her hand on my arm and with a little distance between us.

“I’m not going to keep the first photo… Okay?”

“Ex-post-facto approval?”

“...Yeah. I can delete it now too.”

“No, you can keep it. I’m not going to blame you if anyone sees it. If they use it in some way, it’s my responsibility.”

“Are you sure about that? What if I use it in a bad way and damage your relationship with Karuizawa-san..?”

“It would be a lot weirder to conveniently let you take the photo and complain about it after the fact. Don’t you think so too?”

You shouldn’t let anyone take your photo if you aren’t ready for any possibility after.

Of course, it’s a different story if you’re forced into it.

We were only close to each other for about 10 seconds, and returned to our normal distance before anyone noticed.

Noone during that time saw us being intimate.

“By the way, Ayanokoji-kun, you met up with Chihiro-chan yesterday, right?”

She’s talking about Shiranami. I thought back to the way she was listenişng to music with headphones on.

“You know a lot, huh?”

“We often get together regardless of weekdays or vacations. So, yesterday, I felt like Chihiro-chan’s behaviour was a little different from usual. Did something happen? We didn’t talk specifics, but she did react to your name, so I figured that you two must have talked.”

Ichinose, who is always watching out for the mental states of her classmates, may have been able to notice the change in Shiranami very easily.

(TL Note - Japanese saying, literally ‘before breakfast’. Means ‘very easy’.)

“By the way, what do you mean different? I hope the change wasn’t in a bad direction.”

“She’s okay. I don’t know what you talked about, but I feel like she was laughing a lot more than usual yesterday.”

It was a somewhat risky gamble, but it seems urging her to be prepared seems to have worked in the right direction.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“But…”

I was happy about Shiranami’s growth, but Ichinose didn’t end it there.

“She’s still really concerned about me, but don’t get too deeply into it, okay? That girl has a tendency to be easily influenced.”

A warning to not to get closer with Shiranami than I am now.

“If you ever want to hang out with Chihiro-chan, it would be great if you call me too.”

“Okay. I’ll make sure to do that.”

Is this her duty as a guardian of the class, or is it for her own sake?

I have to be careful if I meet Shiranami again in the future.

“Ichinose-senpai! Ayanokoji-senpai! Hello!”

“Ah, it’s Nanase-san.”

Nanase-san found us and approached us at a half-sprint.

“I came over after hearing you were taking photos here.”

Apparently, the rumours are beginning to spread until Nanase.

“Aren’t things going to get out of hand if you handle this poorly? You might have to keep taking photos until midnight.”

“I’ll worry about that when that time comes. Maybe I’ll become a legendary girl that took photos with all the students in school in front of the tree.”

Ichinose returned the joke with her own and showed us a smile.

“Are you here with her too, Ayanokoji-senpai?”

“Oh, no, I just came here to take photos with her after hearing the rumours too. I’m not gonna bother her.”

I’m not going to clumsily participate in this, so I decided to take a step back.

“I don’t mind if you stay with me, though.”

“No, it’s okay. I don’t want to be bound to this place like you, and there’s not a lot of guys that want to take a photo with me.”

Nanase, understanding the situation, did not force things any further and stood shoulder to shoulder with Ichinose.

They started adjusting their positions to take photos, but Nanase noticed something and stopped.

“I’m sorry, could you wait a moment?”

“Hm? Sure, but what happened?”

Nanase apologized to Ichinose while running off in a certain direction.

It was a student from the same class as Nanase, Housen.

He’s walking by himself with a frightening expression without looking over here.

Nanase approached Housen like a puppy and greeted him, then pointed over at us and said something.

“Is she inviting Housen-kun over?”

“It… looks that way.”

It’s nothing suspicious to invite a classmate over, but it’s Housen.

He’s definitely not the type to take photos with us.

After a brief conversation with Nanase however, Housen turned around to us and started walking with a scary expression, as if he remembered something.

“It looks like he’s coming.”

“It… looks that way.”

Housen’s eyes seized not just Ichinose, but also me standing next to her.

I’d like to avoid any new causes for conflict while I’m relaxing during this winter vacation.

“Umm, can Housen-kun take a photo with us too?”

“Of course, but is it okay?”

Ichinose’s remark contained the question of - Is that what Housen wants to do?

Housen didn’t say a word, but kept looking at me and Ichinose in turns with a scary expression.

“I think it’s totally fine. Come on, Housen-kun.”

Saying that, Nanase almost forcefully pushed Housen from behind.

I definitely thought he would resist, but he actually approached us with light steps.

“The fuck are you looking at? Is there something on my face?”

I thought he was about to speak, but then he turned to me with a glare.

“No, well…”

This is definitely unlike him. One can’t help but wonder what’s behind it.

“Well? Got something to say?”

“Nothing.”

“Huh!”

When I pulled back, Housen laughed and looked away.

He has an impact that’s uncharacteristic of a Year One student.

I feel like he’s going to stab us with a knife if we get involved with him in a careless way.

Despite some rough words, Housen and Nanase finished taking photos with Ichinose.

Housen, still looking like he wanted to say something, put his hands in his pockets and started walking away.

“What was that all about?”

I didn’t understand, but Nanase came closer to me and whispered in a voice no one else could hear.

“Actually, Housen-kun really likes Ichinose-senpai.”

“...Seriously?”

I couldn’t say for sure, but it definitely didn’t look like that.

No, I thought it was strange that he would line up with Ichinose and take photos, but that’s still way too unlikely of a story.

“He heard she was taking photos here, so he came over to see what’s happening.”

In other words, it wasn't a coincidence, but intended.

“But, couldn’t it be a coincidence?”

“I don’t think so. I came to Keyaki Mall at Housen-kun’s request. He probably couldn’t talk to Ichinose-san alone, so he wanted to use me.”

If this was a calculated move, did he really just want to take a photo with Ichinose?

It really doesn’t seem that way from his attitude just now, though.

Housen is already out of our sights, so I have no way of confirming it now.

“Ah, Ichinose~ Take a photo with me too!”

A pair of Year Three girls approached Ichinose while waving at her.

Are there going to be more and more people coming as long as she stays here?

I lightly greeted the seniors and decided to distance myself.

“See you later, Ayanokoji-kun.”

Ichinose faintly waved at me and seemed to have naturally switched her attention to the seniors.

It seems to have become quite the large-scale deal, but I’m just one of 43 people…

46 including me, Nanase and Hosen.

Chapter 3

Looking Into Each Other

Part 1

December 26.

Students of the Horikita class, including Sudou and the others who had no club activities that day, were gathered in a cafe in Keyaki Mall.

There were eight students: Ike, Sudou, Shinohara, Matsushita, Mori, Wang, Maezono, and Onodera.

It was Maezono who invited these members for the gathering, and everyone was curious when she said that she wanted to talk about something important for the class after school.

First of all, it was way too stiff and serious of a topic of discussion for a girl like Maezono.

Further, the people who would be called the main members of the class were intentionally left out.

Why were Horikita and Hirata, major members of the class, not invited?

They are essential for discussions on the future of the class.

Most of the eight members were not against gathering together, however, so they accepted Maezono’s invitation as something playful, while Matsushita was the only one who had suspicions.

However, Matsushita did not directly confront Maezono with her doubts either, but instead showed up at the meeting like the other 6, even if just for appearance sake.

Perhaps because of the relatively large number of participants, Maezono chose a cafe in Keyaki Mall as the meeting place.

When the appointed time of 11:30 a.m. arrived, all six members excluding Ike and Shınohara were there.

Matsushita became more suspicious after seeing the assembled members.

She wondered why they would discuss the future of the class in such a public place.

Because of Maezono’s personality and abilities, she did not believe that there would be a substantive discussion.

Even so, she still wanted her to be more selective about the location of the meeting, since it was labeled as an important one.

Maezono showed no signs of understanding Matsushita’s thoughts, but instead was laughing with excitement as she chatted about the TV show she had watched yesterday.

Matsushita, who is relatively close to Maezono, seems to be in even better spirits these days than before.

“Sorry to keep you waiting~”

Ike and Shinohara arrived at the meeting place a little later than Matsushita.

The two showed up in an intimate manner holding hands, and sat down in the chairs that were arranged in a natural way with the surroundings.

“Stop being so flirty in the public during day-time, you two. Also, you’re late.”

Sudou said in a joking manner to Ike, bothered by the passion of the two’s love.

“Hehehe, we don’t do that. Right?”

“Yeah, we’re totally normal. You’re used to being late too, aren’t you, Sudou-kun?”

Sudou sighed as the two did not let go of each other’s hands even after sitting down.

“I haven’t been doing that lately.”

He replied so, but it didn’t seem to reach Shinohara and the others’ ears.

“Hey, those two…”

“Yeah, looks like it.”

Matsushita nodded in response to Maezono’s whisper.

The two’s behaviour clearly seems to have changed either on the 24th or the 25th.

It’s definitely a prediction that the two crossed a line in their relationship.

Although such rumours had been circulating even during the school trip, there was no proof of it, but the two’s current attitude would certainly make their classmates realize it.

“That Kanji guy…”

Sudou and Ike have known each other for a long time, and they were talking a lot last year about what they wanted to do when they got girlfriends.

He was frustrated that he had been beaten to the punch, but he was also fed up by having to see all the flirting.

This unconsciously manifested as a wavy sigh.

“What is it, Sudou-kun?”

Onodera, sitting next to Sudou, was confused about Sudou’s complicated state of mind and spoke to him in a whisper with a little worry.

“Nothing. More importantly, I’m glad to see that the class is back to normal.”

“Yeah. There was a lot of fighting just a little while ago.”

Immediately after the Unanimous Special Exam, some were concerned that some friendships might collapse due to the unrelenting exposure of Kushida.

Wang, who had made it known that she liked Hirata, was saved by Matsushita and the others’ support, and Shinohara, who had been teased about her appearance, was completely restored with the support of her boyfriend, Ike.

The fact that they are now able to get together like this is evidence that the relationships are gradually being restored over time.

“Maezono, let’s move on.”

Sudou urged Maezono, unable to stand watching the sultry couple messing around.

“Right. Really, thanks for gathering here today everyone.”

First, Maezono expressed her gratitude for all seven students who showed up.

At first, Maezono was foul-mouthed and ill-mannered, starting fights with everyone, but she seems to have gradually mellowed, and she did not seem to dislike the company of the members here for now.

In fact, she is almost friends with Wang and Satou.

She is also close with Matsushita, but she doesn’t appreciate Maezono in her mind.

“It’s fine for us to get together, but why is it just us talking about the class’ future? What’s the important thing you wanted to talk about?”

Matsushita seemed to have the same thing on her mind as Sudou, and asked about it.

Matsuhita hoped that the discussion would move forward after Sudou spoke on her behalf.

“Now that you mention it, yeah. Why?”

Ike and Shinohara looked at each other as if they just noticed something for the first time.

They simply hadn’t thought of that. Matsushita had a theory in a corner of her mind, but…

“Mhm. There’s actually a proper reason for this… I didn’t invite Hinata-kun and the others on purpose. There’s something I want to make clear before the third term starts.”

Maezono started talking about her goals after clearly explaining her reasoning.

“To speak clearly, this is about Ayanokoji-kun.”

The name of a classmate.

The other seven members didn’t show much of a reaction, or rather did not seem to understand why Ayanokoji’s name had come up.

“I don’t know if it’s a problem for me to say this, but I don’t like Ayanokoji-kun, no, maybe that’s not quite right. Honestly, he’s just not my favourite.”

Perhaps she thought that she expressed herself too sternly, so she corrected herself afterwards.

“Not your favourite? Why is that?”

Wang continued with a question in response to Maezono’s honest assessment.

“Ayanokoji-kun is not someone who causes problems, nor is he someone who makes forceful connections.”

I don’t think he’s been giving a bad impression of himself to Maezono.

That was Wang’s honest feelings about it.

“Well, yeah, but I’m trying to say that I don’t like gloomy people… He makes me feel a bit strange the way he’s never on the same wavelength with us, or how he doesn’t get excited about doing stuff with us, and it feels like he’s keeping us at arm’s length.”

“In other words, it’s a one-sided thing?”

Matsushita, who had been silent up until then, asked Maezono.

“Mhm, that might be a part of it too.”

“Well, I guess Ayanokoji is a bit gloomy. Like a background character? He’s also always silent.”

Ike agreed that the image Maezono had of Ayanokoji was not so different from his.

It was not a question of liking or disliking him, but it seemed that no one would immediately deny that Ayanokoji’s character is quiet and gloomy, but…

“He’s different now, isn’t he? I think he is, at least.”

The first voice of dissent came from Sudou.

“Besides, it’s not like he could date someone like Karuizawa if he was such a dark-natured guy, right?”

He did not simply object, but also added his basis for it.

“Well, I was surprised to see him dating Karuizawa, but, still…”

Ike is convinced about some things, but the image in his mind still isn’t changing.

“You've been chatting a lot with Ayanokoji lately, Ken. When did you start getting along so well with him?”

Ike, perhaps judging it to be a defensive remark rather than a sound one, butted in.

Sudou was taken aback by this and picked up his drink cup.

“We had hung out a lot when we first enrolled, including with you, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, we did, but it was just as classmates, and we never got along that well. Did you really think of him as a friend?”

“Well…”

Sudou wanted to say something back here, but he choked up as he thought back to their early days after enrolling.

Sudou and Ike started glaring at each other, so Maezono hurriedly stopped them.

“Hey, wait a bit, don’t start any fights. I still haven’t entered the main subject. There’s a lot of stuff I want to ask Sudou-kun about Ayanokoji-kun today, since he gets along well with him.”

They stopped glaring at each other, and Sudou replied after a sigh.

“...Me?”

“Yeah. Out of all of us, you probably know the most about Ayanokoji’s current circumstances.”

Maezono, thinking that there was no point in dragging the subject any further, began by slightly lowering her voice.

Still, to her friends who still didn’t understand, she added,

“Ayanokoji-kun isn’t just a gloomy classmate… Right? I think there’s something he’s hiding.”

Including Ike and Shinohara, everyone now started to understand what Maezono was trying to say.

“Is today’s meeting going to be to discuss who Ayanokoji-kun really is?”

Maezono nodded two, three times to Wang’s words and affirmed.

“Of course, I excluded his girlfriend Karuizawa-san, his close friend Satou-san, and also Hirata-kun, Horikita-san, who have been in close contact with Ayanokoji-kun, and also Hasebe-san, who he had formed a group with.”

“Why is that? I think it would be best to have as many people as possible who know more about him…”

“Would it, though? I think that we’d actually get tricked instead. I think all of the people I just named know who Ayanokoji-kun really is.”

Maezono muttered, saying that it had to be this way to work.

That’s why she left out the people, who as far as she knows, have a strong connection with Ayanokoji.

“The discussion won’t go smoothly if not everyone knows Ayanokoji-kun, right? I feel like Sudou-kun will tell us about him anyway.”

It is essential to have someone with information in order to deepen the discussion.

Maezono proudly replied that she had thought it over and selected trustworthy people.

“I think I have an idea of what’s going on, but do we really have to gather and talk about it with such caution?”

Shinohara, who had come to understand the situation, tilted her head to the side and spoke out her doubts.

“For now, yes. It’s fine if nothing happens after our discussion, but… I mean, Ayanokoji-kun’s presence is clearly strange, isn’t it?”

The members all looked at each other.

A silence continued for some time, but someone followed up from Maezono’s opinion from an unexpected point.

“...Yeah, I do honestly think from time to time that he’s strange.”

It seemed a bit difficult to say out loud, but Wang put her own thoughts into words.

“Right? Right?”

Maezono was glad to see someone agree with her and didn’t try to hide her expression.

“Strange? In concrete terms, what do you mean?”

Shinohara pitched forward and asked, not understanding which part they meant.

“I think there’s a gap between him and the evaluation the school shows with the OAA. I think his score in the OAA, both in Academic Ability and Physical Ability, is lower than the reality.”

“How was his OAA?”

Shinohara showed Ike her phone from the side.

“...It really is strange. I don’t think I’m convinced that he’s above me on the whole.”

Ike groaned with a serious look after looking at the OAA.

“No, that’s just because you’re no good, Kanji.”

“He’s also been improving a lot since the first time the OAA was introduced. He might have been working hard and improving like Sudou-kun, but would you say that you don’t see its traces?”

Sudou, who had the lowest grade of E in Academic Ability, has improved his grade by studying every day and improving his attitude towards life, which is clear to everyone in the class.

On the other hand, in Ayanokoji’s case, no one can see any traces of effort.

He suddenly gets high scores in tests, suddenly shows off the speed of his legs, and so it is not surprising that Wang thinks it is strange.

“The conclusion you’d get from that is that he wasn’t giving it his all, right?”

Maezono put into words what she had been wanting to say since before she gathered her friends.

“I think that’s possible.”

“You’re saying he was holding back?”

“Wasn’t he? He’s never been doing this seriously, right?”

“For what, though?”

“Maybe he hates trying?”

Everyone spoke their minds and things started to get out of hand.

“Wait a bit. I get what you’re trying to say, but that’s not the only possibility, is it? Ayanokoji-kun never liked standing out in the first place, so couldn’t he be working hard in secret?”

It was Matsushita who put a stop to the flow of bad speculations.

She pointed to the possibility that Ayanokoji had developed his abilities behind the scenes, as opposed to Sudou who had developed his out in the open.

His reputation will be tarnished if he had been hiding his abilities since the start.

In other words, it would be seen as him not making any effort for the class’ sake.

If they would be making speculations, she wanted to take them in the good direction.

“He never looked that impressive back when we first started school. Maybe he was just trying really hard to prove himself superior to everyone? Come on, I improved after working hard at it too, didn’t I?”

Ike followed up without thinking too much about it.

“Are you really sure you know, Ike-kun?”

Maezono continued with a little anger towards Ike.

“W-Why wouldn’t I know?”

“I mean, did you notice that Ayanokoji-kun flawlessly solved 5 questions in that Special Test?”

“Well, I did, but… A lot of other people did the same, didn’t they?”

Students with B or above in Academic Ability, such as Horikita or Hirata have perfect scores.

“The problems Ayanokoji-kun solved were more difficult than the ones Horikita or the others did. I looked at the results of the students from other classes, and the questions were so difficult that even students with A in Academic Ability could get them wrong.”

Maezono firmly claimed that this could not be done with just a little hard work.

“I mean, come on though, math was his specialty, wasn’t it? Isn’t it normal in that case?”

“Only one of the questions he solved was about mathematics. Other than that, he also solved 2 English questions, 1 Chemistry, and 1 Modern Japanese question. It wasn’t just one subject at all.”

She had done her research before gathering the 7 students.

Maezono emphasized that Ayanokoji is not strong in just one particular subject.

“That might be true. I thought that seemed a little strange as well.”

Wang, the most studious of the 7, nodded in agreement.

“Considering that as well, I started thinking that the difference between his OAA and his true abilities is greater than I even imagined.”

“Right? Right? It’s definitely weird, right?”

Matsushita thought about interrupting Maezono’s scolding remark, but stopped.

It was clear that she was having a hard time believing the questions just happened to be from parts that Ayanokoji had been studying.

If she had followed up too much in a clumsy way, it would appear that she was defending him.

In fact, Matsushita wants Ayanokoji to play a useful role for the class in the future, and does not want him to gather his classmate’s scorn in unrelated areas.

That is why she decided that she should not explicitly speak on Ayanokoji’s behalf at this time.

“Maybe he just got really lucky with his guesses?”

Matsushita was saved by someone who is not a defender of Ayanokoji, Ike, and his almost spontaneous comment.

Ike’s natural willingness to say what Matsushita couldn’t make him consider Ike as a necessary person in this situation.

“No, it’s not intuition or coincidence. I’m sure he was always studying from the start.”

Maezono clearly asserted that this could not be explained by the word ‘intuition’.

“Is there any other reason?”

Wang asked back, probably interested in knowing the truth.

Maezono lowered her voice again after taking a look around.

“I heard this from someone else, okay? They conducted a lot of tests on the Uninhabited Island this year for goods or points, right? I heard that the study questions Ayanokoji participated in were very difficult, but he answered all of them correctly without any trouble.”

It is true that Ayanokoji’s Academic Ability was indeed high, even before the Special Test held in December.

Although Maezono prefaced her story with the fact that she heard it from someone else, it's spreading here as if it’s true.

“I don’t know the truth, but… Yeah. Ayanokoji-kun’s image hasn’t changed that much since the start, but… I feel like his surroundings have changed a lot. Hirata-kun seems to trust him a lot, and they call each other by their first names. I think Hirata-kun’s probably the only one doing that.”

If Wang, who observes and favours Hirata more than anyone else, is saying this, then there is no doubt about it.

Everyone in the room did not say anything, but they did not hesitate to trust and listen to her.

“Horikita-san is the one pulling the class behind her, but… Ayanokoji’s been behind that once or twice, hasn’t he?”

Onodera, Ike and Shinohara started nodding their heads in agreement after Maezono’s passionate remark again.

Matsushita listened to the discussion around her and was convinced again.

The people in the class have already begun to realize the potential that Ayanokoji possesses.

Of course, this is because Ayanokoji is moving more openly than he was in Year One, but the problem is that this can be perceived in a bad way.

So, she decided that she should move on to a different position.

“You may be right about that, Maezono-san. Ayanokoji has had mediocre results for a long time, so he still can’t get an A or above even if he gets good results now.”

Matsushita also switched to the agreeing side, and Maezono’s expression changed into one of pride.

“Is there something special that you know about Ayanokoji-kun, Sudou? Hopefully something we don’t know already?”

Sudou showed a confused expression as Maezono asked her with great anticipation.

“What? Is there something? Tell me if there is.”

A woman’s intuition. Maezono did not miss the expression on his face as she pursued further.

The thing he felt when he saw the Housen matter at the beginning of Year Two.

A glimpse of Ayanokoji’s strength.

Sudou wondered if he should talk about these events or not.

He wondered to himself, although the series of incidents were kept secret to pretend they never happened, he doesn’t have to keep Ayanokoji’s abilities a secret, does he?

If it was something that had to be kept secret, he would have been strongly reminded to do so.

“...Yeah. You guys only pay attention to his studies, but I don’t think his only strength is his Academic Ability.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“You all saw it on the relay too, didn’t you? How fast he was? He’s even faster than me.”

They had never directly competed, but Sudou already accepted defeat.

However, there was little surprise at this stage from among those around him.

In fact, everyone knew that he was very unusual when he competed with Horikita Manabu, the former student council president.

“That’s true, but we all know that already, don’t we?”

Directly after, however, the truth coming through Sudou’s words would be different.

“Besides, it’s not just the speed of his legs. I don’t feel great about admitting this, but his motor nerves are overall better than mine.”

“E-Even you!?”

Sudou continued as he thought about which words would best convey Ayanokoji’s power.

“If he gets serious, I can really only beat him at basketball, and I don’t even want to play against him anyway. I don’t think I’d lose, but I instinctively feel like he’d catch up to me as we play.”

This alone gave a sense of reality to such a hard-to-believe fact.

“That’s a great story if it’s true, but what’s your basis?”

Maezono excitedly asked Sudou to explain why they should believe him.

Since he couldn’t tell the story of his troubles with Housen, he decided that he had to make something up.

“I had a fight with Ayanokoji once. I started it, but I couldn’t even hit him when I tried. It’s like I could feel his greatness by fighting with him.”

Sudou drank some water as he told a lie.

He started thinking about Ayanokoji’s fight with Housen.

Ayanokoji was not afraid to face Housen, who Sudou could not even touch.

He was not afraid of being stabbed with a knife, and handled the situation in a calm way.

He had witnessed enough to make him realize that he could not win in a real fight.

The fact that he was speaking from his real emotions gave his words a sense of truth, and Maezono seemed to be convinced.

“Could it be that Karuizawa-san started dating Ayanokoji-kun because she realized that he is more high-spec than Hirata?”

Maezono, while both praising and showing amazement for Ayanokoji, did not hide her frank thoughts.

“Well, I always wondered why Karuizawa was dating Ayanokoji too.”

The part he didn’t understand precisely because he hasn’t experienced Ayanokoji’s greatness up close recently.

“I’d be convinced if Karuizawa saw through him and picked him for that.”

This time however, a different emotion was also born in Sudou.

If that were the case, there was no reason for him to go out of his way to make Karuizawa his girlfriend, Sudou thought.

Aside from her appearance, her personality is definitely not to his liking.

However, this is his own subjective opinion, so he held back from saying it here.

“It's a pretty crazy evaluation, coming from Ken. I still don't understand it, even with you telling me.”

Ike understood the meaning of the words, but still could not really feel it.

“It’s not so unreasonable. You have to actually experience it to understand it.”

“That’s true. How do you think we can understand his greatness, then?”

Maezono asked Sudou how they could get proof.

“That’s… Y-Yeah, you could suddenly hit him from behind or something like that.”

“No, no, no, that’s an ambush.”

“You can’t even hit him with an ambush.”

“I’m telling you I can do it. I’m a coward, so I won’t, but still.”

“Are you gonna try it from the front, then? The possibility is 0%, you know, 0.”

“Who knows? I’m pretty confident in my fighting ability.”

Ike stood up and put out his right and left fists in turns.

He was puffing and making noises with his mouth with each strike, but his moves were clumsy.

“You’ve never been in a fight, have you?”

Shinohara said in a fed up tone, and urged him to sit down to stop the embarrassment.

“S-Shut up. I don’t bully weak people.” “Yeah, sure.”

“Well, let’s leave the fight aside. If that’s true, I hope Ayanokoji goes all out. The class will be safe and sound if that happens, and maybe even go up to Class A, right?”

It will be a positive thing for the class if he can make a significant contribution in terms of Academic Ability and Physical Ability.

Ike said that the situation will become better than it is now.

“Yeah. He’s a classmate, so we should definitely ask him for help if he’s going to cooperate.”

Wang said that they must ask for help if there is a strong helper in class.

“I agree. Let’s try talking directly with him when the winter vacation is over.”

There would normally be no opposition to this, and so Shinohara immediately agreed with that statement.

The expectations for Ayanokoji are heating up.

This is what Matsushita had always hoped for, but he was also keenly aware that he should not make a big mistake.

“Wait, I understand that you want to rely on Ayanokoji and that you’d feel more reassured, but I don’t think you should say that in public or try to force him.”

“Why? He’s not going to be forward-looking if we don’t say anything.”

Shinohara complained that they should not let him go back to being a gloomy student in the shadows.

“That might be true, but we have to think about why he’s been so meek up until now.”

She gently warned the students who were heating up that they should try to infer Ayanokoji’s feelings.

Sudou, who had been listening for a while, was getting used to the idea so he interrupted with an intentional cough to get the others’ attention.

“Yeah. If he hated standing out this much, it might have the opposite effect if we try to force him.”

“Mhm. It would be a loss if he becomes uncooperative, wouldn’t it? He’s probably willing to lend a hand, just like how he answered all the questions correctly on the Special Test earlier.”

Shinohara and the others seemed to sense the risks associated with the approach of forcibly dragging Ayanokoji into the limelight.

“I also agree. It would be a different story if he was someone like Kouenji-kun, who you can’t leave alone, but he’s not that type. For now, I think we should approach him like we always have.”

Onodera spoke to Matsushita and Sudou with firm agreement and reasoning as a final reminder.

For now, eight people came to an understanding at this gathering.

Ayanokoji has more ability than what the OAA says, and although they expect him to show off his ability in the future, they should not rush him.

However, Maezono alone, the planner of the gathering, had something completely different in mind.

“Are you all really okay with that?”

“Huh?”

“I also understand that Ayanokoji was a great student, but I think that’s why he’s scary… or weird. I mean… He designated Sakura for expulsion, someone he was close with and who was in the same group as him, didn’t he? Ayanokoji-kun also gave Kushida-san the final push… I think he can expel anyone from our class if he wants to.”

The group was eager to talk.

It had already been over an hour since they had gathered, and in that time, students had come in and out of the cafe one by one.

One student who had been there for several minutes before Wang, the first of the group to show up at the cafe, also stood up from his seat while clutching his long-empty drink cup.

“That was a decision that had to be made. Our class had no chance to win without picking someone to expel, thanks to the choices Kushida made. It makes sense that he chose the expulsion based on the OAA without considering personal feelings.”

Sudou immediately refuted, and everyone including Ike opened their eyes wide.

“What, did I say something weird?”

Maezono showed confusion towards Sudou’s flustered reaction.

“I don’t know if I’d call it weird…”

Matsushita continued after that.

“It’s because I can feel your intelligence in the way you’ve been talking and expressing yourself. People really do grow up, don’t they?”

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean, you couldn’t use phrases like ‘personal feelings’ or ‘makes sense’ in the old days, right?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“No, come on, it’s just normal. How stupid do you think I am?”

Onodera looked happy, as if she was the one being praised.

“Stop making fun of me. Err, where were we? Yeah, I don’t think Ayanokoji is a bad guy or anything like that.”

Sudou was embarrassed after being praised, and quickly changed the subject.

“I know that too. That was a test where we certainly had to expel someone. Still, how should I put this… You remember his exchange with Kushida-san before that, don’t you? How he mercilessly drove her to the wall? So dispassionately… Like a machine, wouldn’t you say?”

“He had to be cold-hearted in that situation, it’s not like Ayanokoji did that because he wanted to.”

Sudou continued defending Ayanokoji to the end.

“If something like that happens again, are we going to let Ayanokoji make another emotionless decision?”

“It’s not like we have to rely on him alone, but isn’t it best to make objective decisions?”

“Objective, huh? Is that what you all think is best?”

Maezono indirectly sent her gaze towards Ike and Shinohara.

The students who are ranked the lowest in the OAA.

A premonition of the future regarding Ayanokoji’s next candidates to be expelled.

“Well, yeah, I think it’s true that Ayanokoji’s approach is a little problematic. It’s a great ability to have a lot of friends, and I wish he would take that into consideration too. Sakki’s gonna cry if I get expelled, so that wouldn’t be efficient, would it?”

“I’d hate that.”

Shinohara clung to Ike’s arm and did not let go.

“There is also the precedent of Hasebe-san, who has been suffering from the effects for a long time…”

Wang’s expression became clouded in light of this recent fact.

“I’m still fine with things as they are, but… I definitely think we should avoid a future where Ayanokoji-kun becomes the class leader.”

Maezono decisively said so after a long discussion.

The unease that she could not see in her own mind was put into words.

“Ayanokoji’s never going to become the leader, is he? That’s not even in his personality.”

“I don’t think we can be sure of that. If he has the ability, I think he can also be recognized as the leader of the class.”

“I would welcome it. If he really has that kind of ability, then he can become the leader.”

Matsushita, who prides herself on her excellence, believes that it would be ideal for Ayanokoji to take the lead in the class later on.

While lower-ranked students have to fear that they will be cut off, the upper-ranked students have the security of knowing they would never be expelled if they are at the top of the class and do not act in a way that would disrupt the leadership.

However, Horikita, the current leader, is different.

The probability of being affected by her emotions is not zero, and one does not know for what reason they might be cut off.

She feels that she cannot let her guard down.

“I’m adamantly against Ayanokoji becoming the leader.”

“What do you think would be best then, Maezono-san?”

Matsushita wanted to find out what Maezono thinks about this matter.

“That’s…”

She hurriedly tried to react, but she was at a loss for words, as if she did not have a clear answer of her own.

“Are you saying that if I don’t know the answer to that, I should be fine with anything?”

Then, she forced herself to get away with an answer to escape.

“Anyway, I don’t think we can get an answer even if we discuss Ayanokoji’s ideas here. Besides, no matter what anyone here says, Horikita-san is the leader of the class right now. We have to have her present if we want to go deeper into this conversation.”

Matsushita delivered her stern statement in as soft a tone as possible.

It’s not like she wants to get in an argument with Maezono, nor did she want to focus on herself in the discussion at this point.

What she needed to do now was to get everyone’s attention, and impede Ayanokoji from taking action to improve the class.

Matsushita understood why Ike and the others were scared of being judged cold-headedly, but that had nothing to do with Matsushita.

She added in her mind, I’m sorry.

“That’s true, but… Maybe we’ll see something if we try talking?”

Maezono still seemed reluctant to end the discussion, but the topic soon shifted to the events of Christmas Eve.

On the same day, each student was working on his or her own agenda.

I, who had no way of knowing this, was also spending the day with an unusual group of students.

Christmas had passed, and it was the 26th.

This is also known as the day of the year when cakes sell the least.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that there was a time when today was known as a day when cakes don’t sell.

I have various theories, but one of them is that Christmas has passed.

After Christmas, Japanese people quickly start focusing on the New Year.

Nowadays, there seems to be a custom of eating cake all year round, but this is still a day of the year when it’s hard to sell them.

That is why, in recent years, there have been more than a few people who buy cakes on the 26th on purpose to get a discount on the half-price cakes and such.

I didn’t pay attention to it when I woke up in the morning and thought that I would be spending the whole day in my room.

Because the day when Kei should be recovering is getting closer.

Her fever has gone down, and she is now able to move around a little bit.

If Kei wants to restore her relationship with me, I’m fine with going back to the way things were before.

My room is clean enough, but there’s still going to be dust and dirt in places I can’t see.

I’m going to thoroughly wipe everything down and clean my room today.

I prepared my cleaning supplies in advance and laid them out on the table.

Now, the battle begins.

Thus began my solitary battle from this morning.

I moved the furniture, wiped it all down with a rag, and thoroughly sterilized with alcohol.

Of course, once the rooms were finished, it was time for the toilet, the bathroom, and the closets.

The sun was already setting by the time I was finished with the kitchen.

It wasn’t snowing at the moment, but there was still no sign of the snow melting.

“Maybe a leftover christmas cake?”

The 26th will soon be over.

Most of the cakes that were not sold today will be discarded because of the expiration dates.

Maybe I should go check if they’re selling them for cheap?

I don’t want a whole one, but I might buy some pieces if they’re selling them cut.

So, I decided to head for Keyaki Mall while looking at the sun going down.

Shortly before 2:00 p.m. the same day, a male student shoved an empty cup into a trash can set up outside the Keyaki Mall, when a female student appeared, glaring at the person in question.

Since both students are in the same class, the boy raised his hand.

“Hey, Masumi-chan. You’ve arrived earlier than I thought.”

“Umm, can you stop calling me that? Also, please don’t call me out on a vacation day.”

“Don’t say that. I came here with some interesting information today.”

“I know you love gathering information, but don’t wrap me up in it.”

“That’s mean. It’s some very beneficial information, you know?”

“Report it to Sakayanagi and earn some points or something, then.”

“I considered a lot of things. You’re the only one in our class I can talk honestly with.”

“That’s a lie, isn’t it?”

“It’s not a lie. At least you can also give your opinion to Hime-san without fear.”

Hashimoto replied that he appreciates this point.

“So? It doesn’t have anything to do with my real intentions, does it? I hate how arbitrary you are.”

Hashimoto did not seem bothered by having this told to him so clearly, and tried to continue the conversation.

“Well, just hear me out. Let me tell you what I heard.”

Saying that, Hashimoto then told her that he had overheard a group of people talking in Keyaki Mall during the day.

He then began to explain the story, supplementing it with his own words also based on the truth he recorded with his phone.

It was about the topic that the eight students including Sudou gathered to talk about.

After listening to it all, Kamuro, who had no interest in the subject, expressed a change.

“So? Interesting story, right?”

“Well, I already knew about all that, to an extent.”

“The nucleus of the B Class. It’s not Horikita, after all. The glimpse he showed us on the Uninhabited Island, and the strange events up until this point. The Unanimous Test was a lot more extreme behind the scenes than you can imagine. It’s not easy to cut off a girl you’ve been friends with for a long time, and who was in the same group as you, is it? This means he can be extremely ruthless. She looked ordinary, but she was still cute.”

“Does it matter what she looked like?”

“Of course it does. If Sakura was an ugly girl, I wouldn’t really think much about it. Whether one looks good or bad changes things a lot.”

Although she did not agree with Hashimoto’s opinion, she did understand the first part of his story.

“Ayanokoji is a man who can make ruthless decisions based solely on his own interests, regardless of whether he is close with the person or not. Right?”

“That’s what I’m saying. Further, I think you’d get it if you heard them talk, but Ayanokoji was certainly not in a high caste in the class at the stage of the Unanimous Special Test. It’s a herculean task for someone like that to seize the class and take charge.”

Hashimoto securely locked and saved the recording on his phone so as not to erase it by mistake.

“By the way, I’ve been curious about something…”

“What is it?”

“How did you manage to listen in on such an important conversation?”

“Just a simple coincidence. I was lucky.”

Hashimoto unhesitatingly replied so, but Kamuro did not believe him in the slightest.

“Coincidence, huh?”

Hashimoto’s audio recording began when the members of Horikita Class were gathering at the cafe.

They were more likely to be just making idle chit-chat, so there was no way he could have foreseen that they were going to have an important discussion.

Even if he was gathering information at random, how could there be such a convenient coincidence?

“What? Are you doubting that it was a coincidence?”

“Whatever. I’m not going to ask if you don’t want to talk about it. We can just say it’s a coincidence, right?”

Kamuro decided that it was wiser not to get too deep into this matter and did not pry into it.

Hashimoto also made no move to answer Kamuro’s question.

“So? It’s certainly interesting information, but what's the point in knowing this beyond that?”

“Before coming to a conclusion, if it is confirmed that Ayanokoji isn’t normal, then I’m curious about when, where, and what he has been doing until his enrollment. Since he enrolled, Ryuen, who was always violent, has become meek and it seems like he’s been involved with Ayanokoji a lot recently. Right?”

Hashimoto let Kamuro hear the assumptions and the expectations that he came up with after skillfully weaving together the truths he already knew.

“...Ryuen fought with Ayanokoji who was hiding behind Horikita… and lost?”

“Ryuen is not the type to be obsessed with just one win or loss. If this trend is correct, it’s not just a simple defeat. In which case, he lost to Ayanokoji in a way that showed a considerable difference in strength.”

“If that’s the case, why did he get involved with Ayanokoji after that? Aiming for revenge?”

“I’m sure he has that in mind as well. However, I think Ayanokoji’s personality may also be involved. If he thinks he can gain an advantage by getting involved, it would be better to have him as an ally than to see him as an enemy the whole time, right?”

“So he’s using him to his advantage, huh? I guess that’s what you’d expect from Ryuen, right?”

Even if he loses, he won’t just go down. He does not let go when he bites into something.

“There’s that too, but depending on the case, this is more than that.”

“More than that?”

“Ryuen is probably using him for his own benefit, but the truth is that Ayanokoji is definitely aware of it. It’s like he’s challenging him to try to use him.”

“What? I get that supporting Horikita from the shadows is a meaningful way to improve the class, but…”

“Who knows? Maybe he wants to let Ryuen crush Ichinose or Sakayanagi by helping him. Ayanokoji isn’t the type to stand up and fight, so it makes sense for him to rely on someone belligerent like Ryuen, doesn’t it?”

“Well, maybe.”

“I’ve suspected it for a long time now, but the thick fog has finally lifted a little bit. The most troublesome enemy in Horikita Class is Ayanokoji, and…”

Hashimoto hesitated to speak just for a moment, but continued.

“Ayanokoji’s true ability is on an even higher level than Hime-san’s.”

“Are you really sure about that?”

“Yeah. I’m not going to say ‘probably’ or ‘maybe’ any more. I confirmed that with the discussion today.”

No matter who the target is, one usually can’t overestimate them this much.

“If you’re right, we’re in a pretty big pinch.”

“It is what it is. More importantly, I expect that a large amount of points will be moved around at the final test waiting for us at the end of the third term. We won’t be able to escape if we lose to Ryuen.”

Hashimoto said something that no one in A Class would ever say. Kamuro was a bit annoyed by this and glared at him.

The confrontation with the class in which Ayanokoji is based is still not determined.

Even if they do eventually meet, it is possible that it will be some time in the future.

The first thing to worry about is the final test at the end of the third term.

“You think that you’re going to lose to Ryuen there, don’t you? That’s why you’re worried about the future of A Class. Maybe you even want to lose?”

“I don’t think I want to lose. Rather, Masumi-chan would get really mad at a statement like that.”

She knew that Hashimoto did not trust Sakayanagi, but she was still surprised.

However, that’s not the part that made Kamuro angry.

“I just don’t like your negative thinking. You always assume the same thing, don’t you?”

“I won’t deny that I have negative thoughts, but it’s not a bad thing to assume you’re going to lose and be ready for it.”

You never know what kind of reversals or loopholes there might be in this school.

“You make assumptions, and what then? All you can do is put your mind at ease, isn’t it?”

Kamuro, who has concluded that this is a futile move, is tired of the negative comments that are repeated every time.

“Please don’t say that. You’re the only one I can talk about this with.”

“Huh…”

Although she is used by Sakayanagi, Kamuro has not given him her heart as well.

She complains if there’s something she doesn’t like, and depending on the circumstances, even refuses him without holding back.

That’s what Sakayanagi liked about her, and it was the same for Hashimoto.

“It’s a good thing to put your mind at ease, you know?”

He joked back, but it was nothing but one of the side-effects.

“Sure, if you’re going to stay in the same class.”

By adding that remark, there is a different meaning added onto the negative thinking.

“If you’re talking about a class transfer ticket, it’s a risky gamble. It’s not like they’re going to give it to the class that lost too, and even if we do get one by the end of the school year, there’s only a short window of opportunity to use it anyway.”

Although they seem to be all-powerful, class transfer tickets aren’t actually that powerful.

The higher the class, the less advantageous it is to move to a lower class.

“Even if you lose in the worst case scenario you assumed, you’d just be following the crowd at worst. Even if you luckily get a class transfer ticket in a situation like that, can you use it? Even assuming Ayanokoji is the best in his grade, it would take a lot of determination to jump in just with that.”

Even if Ayanokoji’s class temporarily rises to A Class, the closer they are, the more likely they are to switch places in a single special test.

If Sakayanagi fights back and resurfaces, the class transfer will lead to a massive failure.

He may be saved if he is lucky enough to get a transfer ticket from Ayanokoji’s class again, but that’s just a series of what-ifs.

“It’s a useless product unless you can clearly stall like Ichinose’s class.”

This kind of discussion is not limited to just Hashimoto and Kamuro.

It is one of those common subjects that is also discussed as chatter among other students day and night.

“Tickets aren’t the only way to transfer classes. Right?”

“If you’re talking about the 20,000,000 points, it’s far from possible. It’s very unrealistic.”

Kamuro continued with a tone of exasperation.

On the other hand, Hashimoto always considers moving by cooperation on a class basis, rather than by individual.

“I know it’s none of my business, but are you aiming to profit while others fight?”

Kamuro did not put it into words, but Sakayanagi is always aware of Hashimoto’s suspicious activities.

The person in question has also made several reports of this kind.

Other than himself, Sakayanagi probably has a number of students, regardless of year, keeping an eye on Hashimoto.

If he shows any signs of betraying the class and trying to run away, he will be targeted at that very moment.

“It doesn’t matter who wins as long as I’m in A Class in the end. It’s as simple as that.”

“I get what you’re trying to say. You shouldn’t get any strange ideas, though. For your own sake.”

She gave him a warning and advice as a classmate.

Hashimoto quietly replied with a thank you, but he didn’t seem like he would accept the advice.

It’s not as if he wants to betray them.

It’s just that he doesn’t have to completely devote himself to Sakayanagi to graduate in A Class.

The 1-strong system that existed when he first enrolled has faded away, and the top-three are already closing in behind him.

No, he already had the alternatives of the top-three in the back of his mind in the first place.

However, he miscalculated in assuming that the Ichinose Class would be the one to break out from the top-three.

He did not really realize the influence of Ayanokoji in a real sense until after the middle of Year Two.

In the several times he continued his scouting, he did not get a glimpse of him as a powerful man.

Perhaps it was intentional.

However, Ayanokoji’s quiet behaviour in the past few months gave way to more and more conspicuous activities.

At first, he looked like someone who would not draw attention, and someone who was not interested in the class battles.

What was the reason for the reversal?

Perhaps he was intending to win from the very start?

Is it that he simply decided this was the time to push up the class?

Questions kept coming up and disappearing one after another.

Sakayanagi, Ryuen, and Ichinose all had a clear view of the whole picture.

What kind of person was he, and what kind of action philosophy did he have?

It’s not apparent from looking at Ayanokoji.

A dangerous presence.

“For now, I still want information. I’m going to look into Ayanokoji and the circumstances surrounding him.”

“You can do whatever you want.”

There is no order from Sakayanagi not to look into Ayanokoji.

Kamuro thought that he could just do as he wanted.

In fact, the recording from today is something that will be useful for the fighting ahead.

However, she also noticed something else.

Last year, Sakayanagi had instructed Kamuro alone to look into Ayanokoji.

She wondered how well she was able to read into Ayanokoji’s abilities at that point in time.

“Masumi-chan, a wise person listens to counsel.”

Could Ayanokoji’s abilities be seen through at that point in time, though?

One possibility came up in Kamuro’s mind at this point.

Could it be that Sakayanagi actually knew of Ayanokoji’s real abilities?

“Hey, Masumi-chan~?”

Kamuro quickly came to her senses and pushed away the hand that was being waved in front of her eyes.

“...What?”

“You weren’t paying attention. I’m gonna say some important stuff now.”

Kamuro stopped thinking for now, and focused on listening to Hashimoto.

“I have a bad feeling.”

“Won’t you help me get in direct touch with Ayanokoji? Let’s do it together.”

“...Why me?”

“He’s definitely cautious of me. Ryuen is gonna be troublesome if I handle things poorly.”

“It’s the same if I’m with you too. Ayanokoji’s still going to be cautious of me as well.”

“The more of us there are, the more vigilant Ayanokoji will be, and if we have four eyes and ears, we’ll be able to pick up double the information. Am I wrong?”

“I’m willing to accept that offer, but I have a condition.”

“Oh, what is it?”

“Never call me Masumi-chan again. This is an absolute condition.”

“...F-Fine. It’s okay if I call you Kamuro-chan… right?”

It looked like negotiations were concluded here, but Kamuro continued.

“One more thing. I’m going to be the one who contacts Ayanokoji.”

“Just you, Kamuro-chan?”

Hashimoto had a suspicious expression after this suggestion.

“If Sakayanagi finds out that I’m with you, it’s going to cause unneeded misunderstandings.”

“I’m not gonna deny that.”

She wanted to go at it alone, out of fear that Ayanokoji would be more cautious otherwise.

It was not a great proposition for Hashimoto, however.

“I’ll find out what you want to know, so just accept that.”

If Hashimoto tried to force Kamuro here, however, Kamuro will mercilessly pretend that this talk never happened.

Moreover, for some reason, she didn’t want him to call her Masumi.

“Well, I have no choice. Okay, let’s join hands.”

Hashimoto decided to agree and held out his right hand. Kamuro did not return it, and only gave him a cold stare.

“Cold as always. I really like you though, Kamuro-chan.”

“How can you say that even though you have a girlfriend?”

“No way.”

Hashimoto was saddened by the rejection and he clutched his forehead.

He was smiling the whole time, so Kamuro shook her head after being made to go along with his jokes.

“I’m leaving now.”

“Sorry I took up your time. Ah, do let me know about the day and time, though.”

Hashimoto made sure to remind her of that point.

Part 2

Part 3

Keyaki Mall looks different in the evening.

Since Christmas passed, all the trees were already taken down and preparations for the New Year were underway.

There are no cake stores in Keyaki Mall.

So, I went to the section of the supermarket where they were selling cakes.

However…

“Nothing.”

All the usual cakes were on display, but I couldn’t find any discounted ones.

The special Christmas section was also taken down, and I couldn’t even find a whole cake there.

Either all the cakes were already sold out, or they’ve already been moved.

Maybe they didn’t stock any extras since this is on the school’s premises and the number of customers they will attract is limited.

It’s not that I particularly wanted a cake, but I feel a little disappointed that there aren’t any here.

That said, this isn’t enough to force me to buy one at the regular price.

This was a wasted trip, but I don’t want to make any unnecessary expenditures here.

I went around the supermarket a couple of times to see if there was anything I needed, but I left the store empty-handed after all.

“Ayanokoji-kun.”

I was approached from the side when I was just about to leave Keyaki Mall.

It was Sakayanagi, who was sitting on a bench and waving at me.

“Leaving already?”

“Yeah.”

“You were only here for about 15 minutes, though?”

“Were you watching?”

“I saw you just as you left the dorms.”

I see.

So it’s not surprising that she would want to call out to me after I didn’t buy anything.

I explained that I didn’t do anything during Christmas since Kei was sick in bed, and that I had come to the supermarket because I thought I might be able to eat some cake at a low price.

“I see.”

“I guess I missed my timing, and the cakes just slipped away.”

I didn’t eat any on the 24th or the 25th, so I don’t think I will eat any this year.

“It was a shame today, but I’m going to eat some next year.”

“Hehe.”

Sakayanagi elegantly smiled while sitting on the bench.

“What’s so funny?”

“No one can guarantee that they’ll be able to eat cake at this school next year. Isn’t that right?”

“...Yeah.”

“Especially you, since the life waiting for you if you go back to your parents won’t have anything to do with cakes.”

“I’d probably not get any cakes even on my birthdays.”

Maybe I should turn around and go back to the supermarket right now? I’m sure Sakayanagi can see through such shallow thoughts of mine, and she stood up using her cane.

“By the way, I would not recommend the supermarket’s cakes.”

“Really?”

“I’m sorry to say this, but they’re just mass-produced products that can be found anywhere. They’re definitely not the handwork of an artisan.”

“I’m limited on the places I can buy cakes at, though.”

“They sell surprisingly good stuff at convenience stores too, you know.”

Is that so?

Actually, I remember that the Mont Blanc Sakayanagi brought me before was also bought at a convenience store.

“If you want a satisfying taste, I guess you’d have no choice but to order one in.”

Sakayanagi started walking and stopped beside me.

“Maybe. Could you join me for a little while?”

“Where? It would draw too much attention for me to walk one on one with A Class’ leader.”

“Please don’t worry. We’re not going to be alone for long.”

Right after that, Sakayanagi waved in another direction.

Then, the male student she found quickly approached us.

“Sorry Sakayanagi-san, did I make you wait?”

“You’re just a little late. I was able to kill the time in a fun way though, so it’s not a problem.”

I guess chatting with me is what she means by that.

“Sanada-kun, have you ever talked to Ayanokoji-kun before?”

“No, this is actually my first time today.”

Sanada replied while politely bowing to me.

I’ve seen him many times as a member of the same year, but I’ve never had a chance to talk to him face to face like this, so as Sanada said, this is the first time.

His name is Sanada Kousei. His OAA is as follows:

Academic Ability: A

Physical Ability: C+

Tactful Thinking: B+

Contribution to Society: B+

Total: B

He is an extremely talented student with an A in Academic Ability.

His Physical Ability is also average, and his other abilities are above average with no outstanding weaknesses.

Although Sanada is a model student, I have never seen him with Sakayanagi before.

I’ve been having more contact with A Class students recently, so I am reminded of how little contact I’ve had with Sakayanagi’s classmates.

It seems that the two are not together here by chance.

“I wanted to talk to you at least once, Ayanokoji-kun.”

His tone of voice is polite, and his manners are soft.

I don't feel uncomfortable about someone like this of the same gender wanting to talk to me.

“Really?”

I don’t think I’ve done anything to draw Sanada’s attention, though.

“Oh, is that so? What caught your attention?”

Sakayanagi, perhaps speaking for me, asked Sanada.

“He’s been distinguishing himself among those in B Class recently, and———”

Sanada approached me without breaking his smile.

Then, he gently grabbed my right arm and pulled me away from Sakayanagi.

“I’m sorry, but what’s your relationship with Sakayanagi-san?”

“What do you mean? There isn’t really anything special between us.”

“She’s the leader of Year Two A Class. She’s not someone to approach without a reason.”

I think he’s seeing me as an enemy.

An anger, or rather caution, which I can’t identify, is oozing from the depths of his polite language.

“It’s also puzzling that she’s being so friendly with someone of the opposite gender.”

That’s an interesting expression.

I’d like to say that it’s not true, but that would be difficult.

Sakayanagi doesn’t take much individual action, and in fact, a high percentage of her conduct is taken with multiple people.

Cases of her acting one-on-one, and with the opposite sex, are very limited.

It is a common sight for students in the same class, but not something that people from the other classes would be able to grasp the facts about.

No, it isn’t a good idea to think too much about this.

It’s a different issue whether Sanada actually means what he’s saying or not.

If he is saying these remarks intentionally, it’s best I pretend that I don’t understand anything.

“I had a chance to talk with her during the final tests last year. Other than that, there’s nothing between us.”

I should give a steady answer and make things ambiguous here.

Whatever the intention of his question, this is the best answer.

“I see. I understand, I’m sorry. Maybe I asked that in a scary way.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Are you two men done talking now?”

“Yes. Ayanokoji-kun, would you hang out with me for a while after this if it’s okay? If Sakayanagi-san allows it, of course.”

“Hm?”

“Oh, what a coincidence, Sanada-kun. I wanted to invite him as well.”

I don’t really get it, but the two seem to have thought the same thing, and laughed while looking at each other.

I was led away from the entrance again by the two and started walking through the mall.

“It’s here.”

We reached a general store after a short while.

It’s a store that specializes in small accessories popular with girls.

Both A Class students entered the store without hesitation and started looking at things.

“Ayanokoji, please wait a moment. You can look around if you want.”

I was told to look around the store, but without a more detailed explanation, all I could do was to stand by and watch.

The background music in the store made it difficult to pick up their whispering conversation, and as I could not join it, I had no choice but to move away from them.

Then, I started looking around for no particular reason to kill some time.

I waited for 5, 10 minutes, but their conversation was still going strong and there was no sign that their shopping was about to be finished.

After waiting for a long time, there was nothing left to see in the store.

I approached to check on them and Sanada hurriedly reached into his pocket.

“Excuse me, I have to make a phone call.”

He politely asked for permission and walked out of the store.

“I had a date with Sanada-kun today. I spent Christmas with him.”

“Really? That’s news to me.”

I thought that it felt a little like a date, but it’s still a surprising new truth.

However, I had no idea that Sakayanagi had a partner like this.

Was there an event before Christmas that caused a major relationship change, or did they have a close relationship already but not disclose it?

“Is this okay, though? To be so out in the open. He might be used as a weak-point if others know he is important to you.”

There is a difference in difficulty between protecting oneself and protecting a third party.

Especially in the case of Sakayanagi, who has a limited range of movement, so the possibility of her falling behind isn’t low.

“Of course, I suppose this means you have the confidence for this… What is it?”

Sakayanagi kept quietly staring at me as I made my analysis.

No, rather, she’s angry?

“Couldn’t you tell that it was just a little joke?”

“What was?”

“What do you mean? It’s not like Sanada-kun and I arranged to have a date.”

“Hmm?”

I’m confused, since she was now saying the exact opposite of what she said before.

“I’m sorry I made you wait, Sakayanagi-san.”

Sanada slowly came back over to us while apologizing after finishing his phone call.

“How did it go?”

“I made the appointment.”

He stroked his own cheeks a little with an embarrassed look on his face and happily smiled.

“The person on the other end of the phone is Miya-san from Year 1 B Class. She’s a student who agreed to start dating Sanada-kun the other day. He was confused about what to get her as a present, so I’m helping him out.”

This is completely different than what I was told at first.

Apparently, that was a joke.

I don’t understand what the joke was, but I decided to let it go since I don’t feel like going into it.

“I gave her a gift for Christmas, but it’s also her birthday 4 days after that. I thought about combining the two, but we haven’t been dating for that long so I thought it would be better to celebrate twice.”

So that’s what this was about.

Indeed, it may be difficult to decide how to celebrate it when a person’s birthday is close to another big event like Christmas.

It would be easier to celebrate them together, but the person in question may not be so happy about that.

“And she’s a junior? What’s the story?”

“Club activities. I’m in the concert band, and she’s my junior.”

I see.

I don’t really have any friends in the culture club, so this was a blind spot for me.

I suppose they started learning about each other and deepening their relationship as they spent time together in their club activities.

“I didn’t think you’d give people advice about this kind of thing though, Sakayanagi.”

“I don’t think I’m the right person for the job, but Sanada-kun seems to be keeping this a secret for now. I guess there’s a lot of stuff going on in the club.”

She replied while giving me a somewhat disapproving look.

I’m not sure if there are restrictions like no dating between seniors or juniors, or no romance for a certain period of time after joining a club.

Of course, even if such rules exist, they’re more likely to be unspoken rules among students rather than school rules.

If there was such a written rule, it would be impossible to apply it only to the concert band.

“I’m not surprised you noticed it, Sakayanagi-san.”

The astute Sakayanagi detected the change in her classmates and probably had people gather information about them.

Sanada, too, decided to rely on her.

“I understand what happened, but why did you invite me?”

It would have made sense if they asked me for advice, but that didn’t happen, and the two of them decided on a gift together.

“Well…”

Sakayanagi started speaking for Sanada, who had a slightly worried expression.

“I just wanted to mess with you a little, Ayanokoji-kun.”

“Did you tell him already?”

“Yes. It’s not nice, but Ayanokoji-kun wasn’t surprised or even suspicious.”

I was a little surprised, but not suspicious.

In the first place, I don’t even have the slightest interest in Sakayanagi dating someone or not.

“Please don’t take it seriously. I invited you so that it doesn’t look like a date. What do you think would happen if Miya-san saw Sanada-kun and I walking around together by ourselves?”

“There might be a misunderstanding.”

With me mixed in, it’s two men and one woman.

With that, Sanada’s junior girlfriend will not think that this is a date, I suppose.

“I could have invited someone else earlier, but that would reveal the fact that you have a girlfriend, Sanada-kun. I wanted to run into someone by coincidence and invite them then.”

So I just happened to be hit by that white feathered arrow.

Was it the right answer to talk to her, or not?

I was able to acquaint myself with Sanada like this, so it may have been the right answer.

I didn’t see what present they bought, but he’s holding it very carefully.

I suppose that’s how much he cares about his girlfriend.

“Sanada-kun, good luck.”

“Yes, thank you Sakayanagi-san.”

Sanada held his newly purchased present to his chest and bowed.

He walked out with a happy look on his face and straightened his back, so he might be running to her now.

He might even give it to her on the spur of the moment before it’s her birthday.

“Oh, Ayanokoji-kun. You’ve given up on getting a cake for today, right?”

“Hm? Yeah, that’s my intention. Since I came all this way though, I want to——”

“I wouldn’t recommend convenience store sweets right now. They’re low quality at this time of year.”

She cut me off and gave me some good advice.

“I would recommend just leaving and trying again next year. You’d be a pretty unfortunate person if you compromise here.”

It’s only a cake. I feel that it’s up to the individual to decide when and where to eat one, but I’m losing my desire to do so.

“...I guess that would be the best thing to do.”

I don’t want to force myself to buy a cake now and be labelled as an unfortunate person by Sakayanagi.

Part 4

In the end, I returned to my dorm that day without buying a cake.

After that, I went online to study about the New Year’s celebration to clear my mind because I didn’t think too much about it last year, and I still have some regrets.

It might be nice to do something like that at the beginning of the New Year.

I didn’t even get a rice cake to celebrate the New Year when I was in the White Room.

It was around 8 p.m. when I finished dinner while doing research.

I was thinking about taking a bath when I received a phone call.

“Good evening, Ayanokoji-kun.”

“I didn’t expect to get a call from you at this kind of hour, Sakayanagi.”

“I just wanted to check in with you.”

“Just so you know, I haven’t become an unfortunate person.”

I replied in a preemptive manner as a joke.

“Hehe, I bet. You’re definitely not an unfortunate person.”

Judging from her reaction, however, was that actually her aim as well?

“I’ll save it for next year.”

I’m not a sore loser, so I honestly conveyed my positive attitude.

“I see.”

Sakayanagi laughed with joy on the other side of the phone.

“I’m going to change the subject, but has Karuizawa-san’s condition gotten any better?”

“It looks like her fever has gone down. She just needs to be patient for two more days.”

Even if her fever has gone down, the rule is that she has to stay in her room for two more days after that.

“I see, that’s convenient for me. Can we make an appointment from now, then?”

“From now? It’s not really a problem, but what is it about?”

“I’ll save that for when we meet. May I visit you in your room?”

“You want to come to my room?”

“Is it too sudden?”

“No, not really.”

“I’ll come over, then.”

She immediately hung up the phone after that answer.

The call ended rather chaotically before I had any time to think, and I heard a gentle knock at the door.

“I see.”

I got up and went to the front door, and found the caller, Sakayanagi.

“Did you go somewhere?”

She looks very well dressed for someone who just came from her own room.

She was wearing a hat with a little bit of snow on it.

“Merry Christmas. Here’s Santa.”

When we met eyes, she held out a small box in one hand and held it up in front of me.

I accepted the box and nodded in satisfaction.

But, calling herself Santa is a bit…

“It’s already the night of the 26th. This is a pretty late entrance for Santa Claus.”

“The model for Santa Claus is St. Nicholas. It is said that he used to live in the region on the southern coast of Turkey. I rode on a sleigh to Japan after I finished distributing presents, so it’s no wonder I’m a little late.”

I’m not sure if she’s being stupidly serious, or joking around in contrast, but that was her reply.

“I think you can tell already, but I brought you a christmas cake. I’m calling myself Santa, so I just want you to accept the present.”

“Well, I thought that’s what it was from looking at the box, but I feel a strong sense of déja-vu.”

Could it be that Sakayanagi was planning for this moment again from that time?

“Yes, that’s precisely the reason. I promised that I’d bring you a different cake, did I not?”

It’s true, she saw that I didn’t show much liking for the mont blanc, and said that she would make up for it later…

“It’s not a coincidence that it’s today, is it?”

“Of course not. You wanted to eat a cake, so I thought this was a great opportunity. It’s also why I didn’t recommend you to get a cake from a convenience store.”

“So that’s why you forced me away from that.”

“Yes. Everything’s gone according to my strategy.”

If I had stopped by a convenience store and decided to eat a cake, I doubt I would be able to enjoy the one Sakayanagi brought to me.

“It seems you had to spend Christmmas alone, so I came to rescue you.”

“Are you sure it’s okay for the leader of A Class to roll into a boy’s room in the middle of the night like this?”

“You’re the one that’s going to be in trouble if it gets out, so I don’t mind.”

I can’t deny that. I would be the one showered in criticism if I said that Sakayanagi barged in uninvited.

“Also, it’s only 8:00 p.m., which isn’t a surprising hour during the winter vacation, is it?”

“I guess not.”

“I see you’re using your room as neatly as ever. I’m impressed. I’ve visited several girls’ rooms, but I’ve never seen anyone who keeps it this clean.”

Sakayanagi asked me for permission after praising me and sat down on the bed.

Then, she took off her coat.

“What were you going to do if you couldn’t see me today?”

I could have been sleeping, out somewhere, or many other things.

“I was going to intrude at a time unrelated to Christmas.”

So it’s just a coincidence that she did it today?

She also seems to have thought about Karuizawa.

“I think you can tell already, but I’ve provided two cakes.”

The box indeed didn’t feel like just one cake when I received it.

She seems to be planning to eat it here with me before leaving.

“I’ll get you something to drink, then. Same as last time?”

“I’ll be waiting, thank you.”

I went to the kitchen to prepare the coffee I brewed beforehand.

“You’re starting to look better and better in the kitchen.”

“I’ve been having a lot more chances to cook since I started living in a dorm.”

“It all depends on your attitude, doesn’t it? You can eat from convenience stores or the school cafeteria, even if you don’t have money.”

“...Maybe. I guess it’s just that I simply want to cook.”

“It would be unthinkable in the White Room, right? It’s sad, though. Even if you become a pro-class cook, you’re not gonna have any chances to utilize that after graduation.”

It was the same in Keyaki Mall too, but she’s talking a lot about that subject today.

“Are you trying to look into me? I don’t think you know all of the circumstances of the White Room. It’s hard to believe that even Chairman Sakayanagi would reveal such things to his daughter.”

I can’t see Sakayanagi’s expression since I have my back turned to her, but I’m sure she’s smiling.

“It’s true that what I’m saying is only in the realm of imagination. As you say, I don’t know the details about the White Room. Still, I make some pretty good guesses about it, don’t I?”

“Yeah. After I graduate, or get expelled, I’m probably going to be brought back to the White Room and put in a leadership position and train others until I am no longer needed.”

Just a while ago, there would have been no doubt about that.

Now, however, I have some doubts, even if slight ones, about what’s going to happen.

There are advantages and disadvantages to being sent to this school for three years.

There is inevitably an irrational aspect when you weigh them.

Of course, I don’t know what’s going on outside.

That man says the White Room is active again, but since I don’t know what the real situation is, there is no way for me to confirm whether this is true or not.

I brought two thin plates along with the coffee for the cakes.

“By the way, should I be getting excited about the cake?”

“I don’t know what you like, so if this one is no good, then I’ll just have to try again next time. In fact, that may actually be the better outcome, since I can make up for it later.”

I didn’t expect her to say that she’d be happy even if I didn’t like the cake.

I might need to tell her that I like it, even if I have to lie.

“I’m confident that I can see through you if you try to act.”

“Stop reading me.”

“I like that your daily thought process is easy to understand. It’s very simple and clear.”

Sakayanagi knows that this is only my second year as an ordinary student here, and that I’m still inexperienced.

She seems to have calculated and taken into account the influence I’m receiving from my school life and other external factors.

I opened the box to find two shortcakes side by side.

“Where did you get these? You didn’t prepare them in advance, did you?”

The box also has something that looks like a manufacturer’s logo on it.

It’s not something that you would normally find in a convenience store or a supermarket.

“There’s somewhat of a unique story behind this. I was going to buy some sweets from a convenience store and visit you after, but I saw my classmate Sawada-san on the way, who was returning from Keyaki Mall. She told me that the cakes she ordered from a famous cake store were delayed because of the snow and just arrived today. It looks like Sawada gave up and just ate a bunch of cakes during Christmas, though, and was wondering what to do while bringing them home.”

“You’re saying you stole some delicious cake from Sawada?”

Still, I guess a coincidence like that could happen.

No, this is Sakayanagi.

It’s possible that she may have known this information in advance.

It would be pointless to pursue this point, though.

“I did pay with private points, so don’t worry. I don’t know whether Sawakawa-san was going to eat these two cakes alone or with someone in particular, though.”

There’s probably a lot more students than we know who are secretly harbouring love for someone.

Then, I decided to eat the cake I got from Sakayanagi.

I’ve had shortcake several times, but this was claimed to be from a famous store, and I can sense the difference from the cream. It’s much tastier than the mont blanc from last time.

“Looks like you like it.”

“I haven’t said anything yet.”

I feel that I’ve been exposed, but I took a second bite with my unstoppable hand.

“You don’t have to say anything. It’s not something I chose, though, so I do have mixed feelings about this.”

Sakayanagi then put some cake into her mouth and nodded with satisfaction.

“The taste certainly is outstanding, though.”

Sakayanagi seemed happy after showing acceptance of what she had to accept.

We finished eating our cakes without any further talking and caught our breaths.

It was almost 9 o’clock when she then made the following request :

“Shall we take just a little walk outside now?”

“Outside?”

I can say no, but all I’m going to do after this is take a bath and go to sleep.

Before that, a walk on a snowy road, which is something I’ve had limited opportunity to experience, isn’t such a bad idea.

“It might be nice.”

There’s no particular reason to refuse, so I decided to accept her proposal.

“I’ll be waiting for you at the lobby, then.”

Taking into consideration that I would need to change clothes, Sakayanagi stood up with her cane.

I should get ready and go after her, then.

Part 5

I met up with Sakayanagi, who was waiting for me standing in the lobby of the dorms, and we went outside together.

It’s not likely that we’ll see other students right away at this time of the day.

“It’s pretty cold out, after all.”

It started snowing just on Christmas Eve, and it was piling up pretty solidly, perhaps due to the low temperatures.

The snowfall was so heavy that it made it difficult to walk, but Sakayanagi seemed to be enjoying it rather than being troubled by it.

“It would be a nuisance if it snowed all year round, but it’s a beautiful environment when you can enjoy it from time to time.”

“Isn’t it inconvenient, though? When the snow is piled up like this.”

“Of course, it makes it harder to walk. There is no need to worry about it, though. I’ve had experience in much harder conditions during our school trips.”

Sakayanagi showed me her confidence and began to give a lecture on walking with a stick in heavy snow.

Her tone of voice was happy and joyful, as if she was unveiling a strategy.

However, from what I could see from the side, it seemed very dangerous.

Just as I thought so, Sakayanagi almost lost her balance when she tried to pull out her cane after it got stuck in the snow.

I had thought about this beforehand, so I held her shoulder to stop her before it became a big problem.

“Be careful.”

“Hehe.”

I thought she’d be shaken after almost falling down, but she just laughed.

“This is the kind of person you are, Ayanokoji-kun.”

“Hmm?”

I didn’t understand that, but it seems to have made Sakayanagi even happier.

“I was confident that I could walk well, but there’s definitely a bigger risk of falling down if I do something reckless. However, I knew that you would save me if I failed.”

Her thoughts then came true when I actually reached out with a helping hand.

Is that why she suddenly laughed?

“Pretty brave of you, since there was no guarantee of that happening.”

It was like trying to bungee jump with no lifeline.

Still, I guess there’s no risk of injury with such a perfect net of snow to catch her.

“So why did you invite me out for a night walk? Is there something you want to tell me?”

“Do you think there is?”

When I nodded, Sakayanagi smiled as usual and asked me:

“How does the current A Class look from your point of view?”

“What do you mean?”

“I was wondering if you could tell me what you think are the strengths and weaknesses of A Class.”

“I see. That’s an unexpected question.”

“Is it?”

Sakayanagi has absolute confidence in herself.

I didn’t think that she’d ask me for advice that might affect the class’ policies.

“I’m going to make a big assumption here, but do you think I’m going to send salt to the enemy?”

[TL Note : Expression, helping your enemy out.]

“I guess there’s no helping it if you perceive A Class as your enemy.”

Sakayanagi chuckled a little, showing that she was glad to hear that answer.

“I think you’re going to give me an answer, though.”

“Shall I ask why?”

“When I look at your actions in an objective way, it’s pretty easy to guess most things.”

It seems that Sakayanagi already has a vision of the things I’m thinking about.

She’s always acted like that, but I never knew how confident she was about it.

“If you can say that so assertively, then there’s no need for me to make any general comments about A Class, is there? Or do you need my endorsement to be confident in your ideas?”

“That’s a foolish question.”

However, I decided to put it into words anyway.

The A Class is fighting effectively under Sakayanagi’s guidance.

They discarded what needed to be discarded, and picked up what needed to be picked up.

They’re a class that’s steadily and solidly accumulating class points.

Their overall academic ability is high, and their physical ability is average but not bad.

Their only disadvantage is that they currently have no students with any special skills.

Sakayanagi, who was walking next to me, accepted my words honestly and without argument.

“Honestly, anyone would give the same answer.”

“Can you give me some words of your own, then?”

“Hmm…”

It’s going to be a little harsh, but it looks like this is what Sakayanagi wants.

“You’re confident in yourself. Indeed, it’s true that you’re a head above the others when compared to the other class leaders. However, that’s precisely why I get the impression that you’re a step behind in building relationships with your classmates.”

She’s in control, but at the end of the day, she’s just controlling others.

A Class students should have more individual will, which would lead to the improvement of the class.

For that to happen, Sakayanagi, the monarch, has to befriend her classmates.

“I don’t think I need to do that. I want to make decisions without emotion. I’m going to develop feelings for the others if I get close to them. Hesitation to discard a beloved pet leads to weakness.”

“It’s up to you.”

She’s not wrong.

That strength coming from her aloofness is also an excellent weapon.

“By the way, there’s something on my mind.”

“What would that be?”

“Why are you keeping an eye on me? I’ve been feeling the A Class’ eyes a lot on me lately. If you have something on your mind, you can just ask me directly like you’re doing right now.”

“That’s not true. I haven’t ordered anyone to get in contact with you.”

She firmly denied that point.

“There’s no point in having a third party probe into the affairs of someone as unique as you, since you haven’t shown such a strong resistance to drawing attention lately. I’m sure that those who have realized a glimpse of your potential are already starting to look into you on their own. Many people are devotedly giving me reports about you, even though I haven’t asked them to.”

The contents of such reports are insignificant, and do not contain anything that would be beneficial to Sakayanagi.

I suppose that’s precisely why she asserted that there is no point in it.

“So they're doing it voluntarily because they're thinking of the class?”

“I suppose it's also meant to score points against me, but they're still a long way off if they can't realize that it's pointless.”

No matter how many useful deeds they do, they're not going to earn Sakayanagi's favour.

Sakayanagi continued walking down the snow with her cane, poking holes in the snow as it crunched.

There’s still no signs of anyone else around.

“Shall we stop our walk here?”

“Let’s go back, then.”

“Yes. I’d like you to go back first, though. I’m going to enjoy the night breeze a little more.”

“Isn’t it dangerous?”

“Even if I fall down, it’s just snow on the ground, and this isn’t a snow mountain.”

That’s true. I’m sure she’s not going to be in any distress.

“We may not see each other again before the end of the year. Have a good New Year’s.”

“Yeah. Have a good New Year’s.”

We celebrated each other’s New Year’s and parted ways.

I stomped down the snowy road towards my dorm.

I probably took about ten steps without hearing Sakayanagi walk.

“Ayanokoji-kun.”

She gently called my name, and I turned around.

She looked at me with a scarf around her mouth while looking cold.

“What is it?”

“I have something to tell you. Can you listen to me from there?”

“So you did leave out the main subject, huh?”

Sakayanagi and I faced each other with some distance between us and restarted our conversation.

“Did you know that there was still something I wanted to say?”

“Somehow, yeah.”

“There are times when I need courage too. This distance is inspiring that courage.”

A distance of barely 10 meters.

“I’m falling in love with you.”

Such were her words.

“Not as a human, but as someone from the opposite sex.”

I quietly listened to these words, which could be taken as a confession.

“Can you just keep that in mind for me?”

“You don’t need a reply?”

“Yes. I don’t want one right now. You may leave now.”

“I see.”

I was about to turn around again, but stopped.

“Can I say one thing?”

“What would that be?”

“I don’t look like it, but I think more highly of you than you think I do. That’s why I want to ask.”

I really want to know something right now.

“Can you turn that feeling into strength instead of weakness?”

Sakayanagi is wise, I’m sure she will understand.

“That’s a foolish question, is it not?”

Sakayanagi replied with a smile. Her strongly coloured eyes were shining brightly in the darkness.

Part 6

Sakayanagi smiled quietly by herself after Ayanokoji left.

“The other day, on the closing ceremony of the second term, we chatted with the three of us with Ichinose-san, didn’t we?”

A few muttered words, drowned out by the wind.

“I’m in a position to teach her. That’s what I always thought, but I learned that it wasn’t so.”

It’s the moment Sakayanagi completely woke up to her own love.

Sakayanagi continued talking to herself in the lonely, snowy night.

“I recognize you as a foe that I must defeat.”

This is the real, undeniable truth.

“Someone like me, a proud genius from birth, isn’t going to lose to a genius that was manufactured.”

This is her ideology.

“However, aside from my perception that I should defeat you, another one was born. You noticed it, didn’t you?”

Ayanokoji’s back, now disappeared from her sight.

Delivering with a voice that won’t be delivered.

She put it into words once again.

“I love you.”

Ichinose, who was like a piece of trash lying on the side of the road to Sakayanagi, made her realize this.

“If I conveyed my thoughts more clearly, I probably couldn’t make you change your expression a little.”

This is the only reason she did not use stronger words face-to-face.

Be that as it may, she is not afraid of acceptance or nonacceptance.

“Yes. That is the kind of person you are, Ayanokoji-kun. You are not the kind of person who would be disturbed by something this trivial.”

Normally, a young lady would be hurt and distressed by something like this.

However, Sakayanagi is the opposite.

In fact, she strongly realizes that this is precisely why she is drawn to Ayanokoji.

“You treat everyone in this school, including me, like children. You think everything is going to go as you wish, and I’m sure you’ve made it so that it has.”

She took a step on the snowy road.

She understands Ayanokoji’s plans in concrete terms.

The composition he will envision in Year Three.

It wouldn’t be interesting to let things progress as he wants.

In which case, she already knows the answer as to how to disrupt his plans.

She wants to hinder him.

She wants to see worry on his face.

She wants to confront him with the fact that some things are beyond his control.

“It’s a shame. Your plan has already started deviating from its course back at the Uninhabited Island Test that summer.”

She really wanted to let him know that, but it’s still a secret.

It’s the not knowing, not being able to tell what’s going to happen, that makes the future interesting.

“I promise that this fact will be the first step in changing you in a direction you never thought possible.”

Sakayanagi is looking forward to seeing what decisions he will make in the future.

“I’m really looking forward to the third semester…”

Chapter 4

Quiet Stirrings

Part 1

The morning of December 28 as the new year approaches.

I looked at my phone by my pillow and I saw that I had received a message around 7:00, about 30 minutes before now.

It was a reserved message from Kei telling me that she was feeling better.

I was lying back looking at my phone, then I turned around and laid face-down looking at my phone.

“Are you awake?”

I sent her this message, and it was read in less than three seconds.

She was holding her phone and waiting for my reply.

“Mhm, I’m awake.”

I have contacted her a few times to check on her condition since she had influenza, but that’s it.

I’m not sure if it’s because she was just sick, or if it’s because of the distance between us, but her text messages aren’t excited like always and she isn’t sending any stamps.

“What are your plans for today?”

I replied to her.

I was going to ask her out if she answered that she was free, but…

“Sorry. I’m gonna hang out with Maya-chan after this to thank her for all the support she’s given me. Is that a problem?”

Of course not. It’s a very important thing that should be prioritized.

If she puts me first and disrespects Satou, there will never be a true friendship established between them.

Naturally, I won’t do anything to put a damper on this matter. That’s not what I want.

“Okay. Can I call you tonight then? Around 9:00? I want to talk about what we’re going to do tomorrow and after.”

Like Christmas, which we had planned on spending together, or the distance that’s been opening between us recently.

As boyfriend and girlfriend, there are many things we have to talk about face to face.

“Mhm.”

Then, a quick and short answer came back right away.

“I’ll wait for your call, then.”

For now, I’m just glad that she’s feeling better.

It’s also great that we made a plan within this year.

Now, it’s just a matter of how to spend my day.

I’m not sure if I will be going to the gym for the first time in a few days, or if I’m going to spend the day in my room.

I don’t want to create a situation where I clash with the time Kei and Satou are going to spend together.

So, the gym option crossed my mind, and disappeared right away.

At the same time, the option of Keyaki Mall also disappeared.

Kei and Satou aren’t going to have any fun if they notice my presence and get bothered by it.

As such, I took my phone to tell her that I will be spending the day in my room, and I heard a sound.

I thought it might be Kei, but the number was unfortunately unregistered.

However, I remember this number.

What now? I stared at the display for a while.

I wondered how long it would ring, but it didn’t stop, so I decided to answer it.

“Pick up the damn phone.”

Ryuen complained before I could even answer.

“I was in the toilet.”

“Really? Maybe you were just waiting until the ringing stopped?”

Impressive. It looks like both Sakayanagi and Ryuen can read my daily thinking patterns very well.

“Hang with me for a bit later. I’ll be at the north entrance of Keyaki Mall in 30 minutes.”

He simply told me what to do without showing any interest in a possible excuse I might have.

“Aren’t you going to check my plans? I have a tight schedule.”

“Postpone it.”

He hung up the phone after making his demand.

“Selfish as usual.”

Perhaps not having eaten breakfast, he ripped the wrapping paper open and started eating.

Katsuragi looked at him with a dumbfounded look, wondering why he didn’t eat before coming here.

“Let’s hear why you called me and Ayanokoji here.”

He asked in a strong tone of voice, but Ryuen continued chewing without a reply.

He continued this for a while, and started speaking when his stomach was satisfied.

“I heard an interesting story from the third years, and I thought I’d share it with you. Apparently, there’s a big mountain we’re going to crash into in the same year in the third term.”

“A big mountain? You mean the final tests, right? That’s nothing surprising.”

The fact that the final tests will be extremely tough has already been confirmed in several ways.

I don’t think Ryuen called us here to tell us such an obvious thing.

“Maybe it’s not limited to just the final test?”

After a moment, I stepped in after Katsuragi’s reply.

“We’re focusing on the third term’s end, but that may not be the right thing to do.”

“Ayanokoji. Did you hear something too, you bastard?”

“I heard there may be a special test at the beginning of the third semester, which could result in some students being expelled. I’m not sure how reliable it is, though.”

Ryuen, perhaps having heard the same thing too, smiled.

“By the way, when did you hear about it?”

“Three days ago, on December 25. I heard it from Kiryuuin of Year Three B Class.”

“Same day as me. I heard it from some guy called Momiyama from Year Three D Class.”

“If it really is a risky test, and both Ryuen and you heard about it at pretty much the same time… Why?”

“It could just be a coincidence, or…”

“Maybe the school is intentionally controlling things in order to leak information at this time.”

Ryuen bit down on his hamburger as he seemed to be more and more convinced. Horikita B Class heard it from Kiryuuin B Class.

Ryuen D Class heard it from Momiyama D Class. It’s interesting that the class rankings of the sources are the same.

If Sakayanagi heard it from A Class, and Ichinose heard it from C Class, then my insight is correct.

“However, can we really be so sure? Maybe someone is working with the Year Three students to spread rumours? After all, we’re right in the middle of winter break right now.”

“Heh. That’s why it’s so credible.”

We are in the middle of our vacation, so there is of course not much tension among the students.

They’re having a good time in a relaxed mood. If this is a false rumor, it will make the students get ready for war earlier, but it won’t have much of an effect other than that. I can’t expect it to cause much psychological anxiety.

“It’s a warning to get ready for a shock. It’s more natural to think of it that way.”

Katsuragi calmly analyzed the situation which Ryuen and I both had an understanding of.

The message has a clean flow if it was from a third year student.

“Has anyone else heard something similar?”

I turned my head to the left and right in response to Katsuragi’s question, and Ryuen didn’t give an answer, but I suppose that was his reply.

Ishizaki and the others would have immediately reported it to Ryuen if they had heard about it.

“One representative from each class has been notified… I think.”

“I suppose we can’t get any conclusive evidence, but I think it’s probably reached Sakayanagi or Ichinose too. No matter how indirect the information is, no one would be stupid enough to miss it.”

“In that case though, there’s a question on my mind. Why did they choose you from Year Two B Class, Ayanokoji? If we think in order, shouldn’t it have been Horikita? Maybe Ryuen was chosen just by coincidence, and Sakayanaki or Ichinose was also… No, that’s hard to believe.”

Katsuragi was about to come up with a new hypothesis, but he dismissed it on the way.

“The school is neutral to the end. If they’re going to give warnings, they would have made sure that only the leaders can get prepared beforehand. At the very least, they have to choose someone who can receive and understand a warning from a Year Three student.”

“Suzune is pretty strong too, but it’s not hard to believe that the school or the Year Three guys consider Ayanokoji as the leader. It’s nothing really to be surprised about.”

Indeed, I’ve had many opportunities recently to talk with both Nagumo and Kiriyama up close, even in relation to the student council.

However, Kiriyama would still firmly choose Horikita.

Above all, this doesn’t help solve the question of Kiryuuin’s contact with me.

If I was forced to make an explanation, I would say that the Year Three leaders were instructed by the school to deliver a message to the Year Two leaders.

Kiriyama intended to tell Horikita, but Kiryuuin overheard it and contacted me on her own.

I don’t know whether this interpretation is correct or not, but since I know the contents of the message, it has become necessary and obligatory for me to notify Horikita.

“If I assume that the same thing happened last year too, then it’s possible the special test suggested here could be held around the mixed training camp.”

Katsuragi put his scattered words together again and organized them.

“There will be two special tests held in the third semester from early January to Late January, and one in early March when the special tests are voted on by the class. After that, it would be the fourth and final test.”

So, in addition to the three tests in the first year, there will be 4 in total in the second year.

However, we shouldn’t forget that this is all speculation.

The in-class vote was apparently an unscheduled event that doesn’t happen every year.

If it isn’t going to happen, then there would be a total of three special tests in the third term.

After all, last year is last year.

With exaggeration, it is possible that there won’t actually be any special tests until the end of the year except the written test, and there is also no guarantee that there won’t be a large number of special tests, like five or six instead of four.

“In-class voting, huh? Sakayanagi made you expel Totsuka, right?”

“Yeah.”

Remembering last year’s bitter events, Katsuragi’s expression clouded a little.

Ryuen finished eating his hamburger and gleefully continued after Katsuragi.

“Depending on the situation, it may not end with just one or two expulsions.”

We should consider that this is actually a reasonable risk.

“Expulsions, huh? I’d like to avoid that if possible.”

“Heheh, don’t be so soft. There’s still way too many students in our year. It’s not gonna be any fun without a special test that can cull 5 or even 10 students, right?”

Katsuragi is concerned about his classmates, but Ryuen has the opposite thought.

“Don’t forget that there’s a risk of you becoming a target too, Ryuen.”

“Bring it. Whether it’s Sakayanagi, or Ichinose, I’m just gonna smash anyone who messes with me.”

“That’s if you know who your enemy is. There may be someone from the inside who tries to kick you down.”

The inside, in other words, the class he is based in.

Ryuen always creates enemies, so I’m sure he has a lot of them.

Well, he’s not the kind of man who would be worried about that.

“It’s gonna be pretty simple if we don’t have to choose who to cut.”

“Come on… Let me say this, I’m gonna oppose you if you try to abandon your allies.”

“Whatever.”

I don’t expect Ryuen to show any mercy if Katsuragi gets in his way, but Katsuragi will still function as a stopper to some extent.

However, there’s still an unanswered point.

Katsuragi’s expression is very stiff while walking next to me, so he must have the same feeling.

If the only purpose of this meeting is to discuss the hard special test that seems to be approaching us, there would be no need for the three of us to gather like this to talk about it.

“The next special test. Supposing that the rules let us fight one on one, I’m going to eat Sakayanagi alive.”

He must be hiding the real issue at hand.

Ryuen talked as if he was seeing through our thoughts.

“What are you trying to do here ,Ryuen? Isn’t a direct confrontation at the final test enough for you?”

“It ain’t. I wanna see that girl’s face painted in disgrace as many times as I can.”

He’s saying that I shouldn’t mess with them if we can pick who we fight.

“I doubt Horikita would voluntarily want to confront the Sakayanagi Class, so you don’t need to warn her. As things currently are, unless it’s a special test with a heavy emphasis on teamwork, there’s no advantage for her to fight the Sakayanagi Class, which is above hers in total power.”

If she had to compare the Sakayanagi class and the class which is currently in the bottom, she would probably choose Ichinose.

“I can’t say that it’s a good idea to choose the A Class as your opponent at this point. They might be the strongest enemy there is if the special test is based on academic ability like last time.”

Indeed, there’s certainly no need to go out of one’s way to choose them at this stage.

However, Ryuen seemed to be willing to take the risk and fight.

“I’m sure Sakayanagi thinks I’m someone who she can beat any time. I’m gonna knock that naive idea out of her.”

“...I don’t want to endorse this.”

“Do you want to choose Ichinose then, Katsuragi? Ichinose would be a pretty troubling foe.”

It looks like Ryuen has also noticed that Ichinose has started changing in a big way.

Katsuragi also needs to recognize this point again, but he still disapproves of naming Sakayanagi.

“It’s okay to evaluate Ichinose as troubling. However, the overall advantage still goes to Sakayanagi. Even if she were to overturn our previous evaluations, I don’t think Ichinose can be above Sakayanagi. For now, we should just enter the third term and wait for the information to be publicized.”

Katsuragi isn’t looking down on Ichinose, but he proposed that they should wait until they know the contents of the special test to choose their foe.

“It doesn’t matter why, does it? I’m sure Ryuen just wants to fight Sakayanagi.”

“That’s why I’m worried. A leader should at least choose the path that has a higher chance of victory. Deciding to fight the stronger enemy is the same as abandoning our own victory.”

We continued walking around Keyaki Mall without stopping while talking to each other.

It doesn’t look like I’m going to be released for a while.

The snowfall has started slowing down, and the snow on the ground is melting while leaving behind patterns.

Some snow still remains in the shade, but it's only a matter of time now until it's all gone.

Still, a call from Ryuen, at the end of the year? We had some strategic interactions at the school festival, and we happened to be in the same group on the school trip, but we had no particular involvement with each other after that.

It’s unlikely he wants to talk about anything related to the tests, as we’re currently in winter break.

I arrived at the north entrance of Keyaki Mall at almost exactly the appointed time, not even knowing what kind of business he had with me.

It wasn’t Ryuen there, but instead someone else waiting with their back towards me and crossed arms.

“Katsuragi? I guess this isn’t a coincidence, right?”

Keyaki Mall isn’t open yet.

There’s no reason for someone to try and get into a store first right now, so I don’t know why he would be here at this time.

“Ryuen called you here, didn’t you? Same thing here.”

If he called Katsuragi as well, then it doesn’t sound like this is going to be simple chit-chat.

“He always calls people suddenly like this. It’s a bad habit of his.”

Since he moved from A Class to Ryuen class, Katsuragi has been working with Ryuen in many scenarios.

“You're a great adviser. It looks like Ryuen also has a lot of confidence in you, Katsuragi.”

“I hope so.”

He didn’t react in a happy way, but he doesn’t seem all too dissatisfied to hear that.

“So, what’s the reason for the call?”

“Who knows? Ask that directly to Ryuen.”

Katsuragi, who must have been called in the same way as I was, was apparently not told why Ryuen called us here.

“It’s gotta be some wicked plan. I’m sure you can guess that much, right?”

“Well, I know that this has the potential of being troublesome.”

“Why didn’t you just ignore him, then?”

“That’d be a lot more annoying for me later, wouldn’t it?”

“That’s only for normal students. He mentions your name from time to time, but only in remarks with great compliments. It's proof that he understands he’s currently no match for you.”

“Compliments..? I can’t even imagine that.”

“ ‘I’ll make him disappear.’ ‘I’ll crush him.’ ‘I’ll kill him.’ All impressive compliments, right?”

“Those aren’t compliments, they’re tragedies.”

Maybe he was messing with me a little, as the corners of his mouth are turning up slightly.

“There’s no one outside the class with whom he can talk on an equal or greater level, or honestly. In that sense, your presence is very important for that man.”

Sakayanagi would be fine in terms of someone being more than equal with him, but I’m the enemy right before his eyes.

It has nothing to do with talking to each other honestly.

“Still, the special test did have some beneficial elements for you, but I’m surprised you defeated Sakayanagi. I hope this breaks up the calculations a little bit.”

“Sakayanagi did everything she could, so the impact of her defeat should be limited. We also won simply because a lot of various things aligned for us and we just went with the flow.”

“Went with the flow, huh? It was still a special test where you couldn’t ever win if you didn’t have the true ability, though.”

Katsuragi commended me, saying that the reason for our victory is beyond doubt the class’ ability.

“You created quite the gap between the Ichinose Class and yours, huh?”

“That class is very positive about all the special tests, and they’re very faithful to the basics. Besides, the class’ command is in trouble.”

Katsuragi analyzed that this is not an opponent who can be easily defeated.

“Our class’ problem is obvious. We are far behind the other classes in academic ability. I’m sure we will have to fight a lot more battles against the odds if we don’t do something about it.”

The issues are obvious, but fixing them will be extremely difficult.

Academic ability is not something you can acquire in one night and morning.

“In the earlier special test, I told Ryuen to give up on quick gain and raise the academic level of the entire class, but he seemed unwilling to listen to me.”

If one can’t win by a frontal attack, they have a tendency to resort to subterfuge and surprise attacks.

“However, this isn’t going to lead to a solution if the situation is left unresolved. Humans are interesting; they're unconsciously selective in who they associate with. Ryuen uses everyone in the class as his hands and feet, but there are still inevitably some students who are useful, and some that he will rarely use.”

“It's not just a matter of difference in abilities?”

If there are students like Ishizaki and Albert, who are obedient and relatively capable of doing bad deeds, it is only natural that Ryuen would inevitably favour them over students who are rebellious and dislike doing bad things.

“Yes. You can tell the difference even without regard to their abilities. Isn't it strange?”

“Yeah.”

“So, when I have extra time, I’m teaching the relatively underutilized students how to think, and how to study proactively. In secret to him, of course.”

Ryuen would probably scold Katsuragi for doing such unnecessary things if he heard about this.

I don’t think he will actually stop Katsuragi, though, even if he appears angry on the surface.

After all, the Ryuen who has grown up to this point would decide that this is a necessary measure.

He spent a lot of money bringing in Katsuragi to find methods that he cannot do himself, after all.

“Are you sure it’s okay to let me hear about such important things?”

“This is strange too, but sometimes, it’s easier on your mind to tell your secrets to someone.”

“What if I told Ryuen about it?”

“If you’re that kind of person, I’d just reconsider my choices for miscalculating your character.”

That’s a roundabout way of saying he trusts me.

I’m under a lot of pressure not to betray him now.

Katsuragi then interrupted our conversation and looked behind me.

“There’s the impudent man. He doesn’t seem to be sorry for being late.”

I followed Katsuragi’s gaze, who took his back off the wall with dismay, and saw Ryuen walking towards us.

I suppose he stopped by a convenience store, as there is a plastic bag wrapped around his left wrist.

“Looks like you’re both here.”

“I think you should give an apology to Ayanokoji, no?”

“Who gives a shit? Just be grateful I didn’t call you on New Year’s Day.”

Katsuragi encouraged Ryuen to apologize, and he obviously ignored it.

Katsuragi and I looked at each other for a moment, telling each other not to bother.

Ryuen then took out a hamburger from the bag and put the empty bag into his pocket.

Part 2

There was supposed to be a large Christmas tree displayed at the main entrance.

Karuizawa had a melancholic expression as she stared at the empty space where it should have been.

“Haah…”

A heavy sigh came out of her mouth. Satou, who had just arrived at the meeting place, heard it from behind Karuizawa.

“Kei-chan, did you have to wait?”

“Ah, Maya-chan. Not at all, I just got here.”

Karuizawa completely recovered on the 28th and invited Satou to hang out with her.

As she also explained to Ayanokoji, Satou had helped her time and time again while she had influenza.

If there was anything she needed or lacked, Satou would give it to her regardless of the time.

When she was lonely, Satou would immediately return her messages.

She accepted her painful feelings that she wanted to send to Ayanokoji, but could not.

Then, when Karuizawa invited her out, Satou readily accepted without a trace of hesitation.

“I’m sorry I invited you so suddenly.”

“It’s not a problem. I’m just glad you recovered. I really am.”

“Thanks. Influenza isn’t that big of a deal though, is it?”

“There are some people who get really badly sick because of it.”

Relieved that Karuizawa had recovered, Satou took Karuizawa’s hand like a happy child.

“This may be unnecessary, but… you let Ayanokoji-kun know too, right? That you’re recovered?”

“Mhm, I told him in the morning. We’re gonna talk about the promise we couldn’t fulfill on Christmas tonight.”

“I see! That’s great!”

With this, Satou was quickly convinced that everything would turn out to be fine, but her smile quickly faded when she saw that Karuizawa didn’t look so happy.

“We might be able to make good on our promise to meet up, but, I’m not sure what’s going to happen after…”

“N-Not sure? But… You just had a little fight, didn’t you?”

From what Satou had heard, it wasn’t as deep of a problem as Karuizawa made it seem to be.

Most of all, it was Ayanokoji who was at fault.

However, there was a different problem which kept coming and going from Karuizawa’s mind.

“I think that Ayanokoji might be falling in love with Ichinose.”

Falling in love with someone else.

This is the awful development that Karuizawa was constantly thinking about while she was sick.

“No, no, no! There’s no way! It’s going to be alright, okay?”

“...Mhm.”

Karuizawa responded smoothly, and it was a relief for Satou to see that her words had been well received.

After that, Satou regretted bringing up this subject and desperately tried to change the topic.

“The N-New Year’s is almost here already, huh? A year passes by so fast!”

The Christmas Tree which was taken down.

The surroundings are already moving towards the New Year.

“Mhm, it does… I wanted to see the Christmas Tree.”

“Uh!?”

Karuizawa still had lingering regrets in her mind and gazed at the spot without moving.

She was supposed to have a date with Ayanokoji on the 24th and take photos with the Christmas Tree still up and glittering with decorations.

Trying not to dig herself in even deeper, Satou pulled on her cheeks.

“T-There’s still next year, right?” “Yeah… I guess so.”

Next year.

Karuizawa couldn’t think about one year from now.

Even tomorrow was a gloomy, unclear day for her.

Sato looked at Karuizawa who wouldn’t move her gaze, and peeked around the area.

She wanted Karuizawa to cheer up.

That was her top priority, but Satou also had another goal in mind.

That is, to bump into Ayanokoji.

If they haven’t reached a resolution yet, it would be difficult to contact them and bring them together, as they would be deliberately avoiding each other.

So, she had to rely on the power of coincidence.

Fortunately, they had made contact and scheduled to meet up tomorrow, but it wouldn’t be so bad if they met ahead of schedule as well.

She was fine with anybody cheering Karuizawa up, as long as she got better.

All that remained was to run into Ayanokoji while spending time together.

It would be the ideal turn of events if Satou could give them a good push there and get them to make up.

However, one never finds the person they’re looking for when they want to.

Besides, Satou was thinking about something else.

If Ayanokoji knows that they are out here today, then maybe he would avoid showing himself on purpose. Karuizawa before her was the proof of this.

She had not shown any signs of trying to find her boyfriend.

She expected that Ayanokoji would avoid the two to refrain from bothering them, rather than out of malice.

As an unexpected encounter was not going to happen, Satou had no choice but to stand her ground here.

“Come on, let’s forget about all that unpleasant stuff and have some fun.”

Satou grabbed Karuizawa by both shoulders with a strong grip, trying to clear her mind.

Karuizawa looked at Satou trying to cheer her friend up the best she could, and also started changing her mind.

Karuizawa had invited her friend here to thank her, but she was making her worry again instead.

She thought that there was no point in inviting her here if it was going to be like this.

“You’re right.”

Karuizawa decided that she would stop it with the pouty expression, even if only for now.

Satou was a true friend and confidant to her after coming to this school.

She held out her hand, grateful for the warmth Satou provided her.

For a moment, Satou didn’t understand her intent, but she quickly understood after seeing Karuizawa’s smile.

She grabbed her hand and the two linked their hands together.

She was a bit embarrassed, but she just did what the moment called for.

She still felt embarrassed, but their feelings connected.

People may think that they’re child-like, or that they look like lovers.

They were just holding hands as two close friends.

Nothing more, and nothing less. For now, the two didn’t pay any attention to the noises around them.

“Hehe. I’m gonna make you forget everything!”

“Kyaah, so scary!” A world for just the two of them.

Karuizawa and Satou decided to hang out in Keyaki mall from morning until night.

Part 3

From Keyaki Mall, they took their time to walk slowly along the path where they could view the sea, and returned back to the vicinity around Keyaki Mall.

Three men walking around at random during the winter vacation would not normally attract any attention.

However, this group of Ryuen, who easily attracts attention, the advisor Katsuragi, and someone so different like me walking around together has a risk of drawing attention from the surroundings.

Even so, Ryuen did not choose to do this anonymously, like in an indoor facility or by telephone.

Somewhat careless, given the contents which are related to special tests.

One’s assessment of it will be different depending on whether they judge it as carelessness or a contrived act.

“I take it our chat is over? I don’t think we’re going to reach an agreement.”

Katsuragi stopped and confirmed this when their meeting place came into view.

The number of special tests and their contents are impossible to guess, and Katsuragi will not allow Ryuen’s wish to fight against Sakayanagi.

We’re not going to do anything meaningful even if we continue to dribble out time like this.

“Yeah, I guess so. Enough of this, then.”

Ryuen raised his left hand and said so without even turning back.

“In any case, I’m gonna look after you Ayanokoji. Let me know if you’re in any trouble. I’ll help you out if it’s not about a class fight.”

I gratefully nodded to his consideration which opposed his manners, and Katsuragi started walking ahead. I should get going as well.

“I’m gonna stop by Keyaki Mall now. What are you going to do? I’ll consider it if you wanna hold hands and have a date.”

Ryuen grinned and offered his left hand in a welcoming way.

Leaving Katsuragi aside, going shopping with the two of us would raise a lot of attention.

There’s a high chance Kei and Satou are in the mall.

“Excuse me.”

I’m not in the mood to have a hand-holding date with Ryuen, so I’ll go straight home.

It didn’t look like he was going to stop me, so I continued walking.

“We’re going to have our match when we’re in Year Three. Don’t forget that.”

Ryuen sent me these last words as he disappeared towards Keyaki Mall’s direction.

I’ve never forgotten it, but whether it will happen or not is another story.

Still… We just walked a little, but I feel strangely tired.

It’s probably not just my imagination that I feel even more tired now than when I sweat for an hour in the gym.

I started walking when both Katsuragi and Ryuen disappeared.

I should return to my dorm and spend the day in my room as planned.

However, there's something I want to check first.

I stopped after walking for a few dozen seconds when I felt that I was close to it.

I am in front of a vending machine set up along the outer wall of Keyaki Mall.

I stared at the products on display, and to someone else, I’m sure it would look like I’m simply considering whether to buy a drink.

I looked at the decorative plant, which was probably put out there by an employee at the opening of the shop.

“What are you doing there?”

“Huh!?”

I called out to Yamamura, who was trying to hide in my blind spot in the shadows.

“You’ve been following me for ten minutes, right? You were also hiding behind a tree by the road on the other side just now.”

The road lined with several thick-trunked trees made it easy to hide.

It’s an impressive feat that she avoided being detected by Ryuen and Katsuragi while moving.

“N-No, that’s not…”

Yamamura tried to dodge the question, but she seems to have noticed that I even correctly guessed her position.

“How… How did you know?”

“How?”

It was easy enough to find her, but I suppose I wouldn’t have worried about her presence if it was the past me.

Since we spent time together on the school trip, she is now in my consciousness.

An image, if I was to express it in an example.

When your brain learns that image A appears like image B when you change your viewpoint, it continues to perceive it as image B.

It may be similar to this.

I knew that she followed me and heard a part of our conversation, but I didn’t stop her.

Yamamura is an A Class student, and an ally of Sakayanagi.

If she was doing this under the radar, it would be a form of support for me to tell Ryuen and Katsuragi about it.

Of course, I was free to do so, but I don’t think it’s a good idea at the moment.

“Don’t worry, I don’t think Ryuen or Katsuragi noticed.”

“Really? It felt like Ryuen-kun was trying to bait me out, though….”

I could say that her instincts are correct.

Ryuen intentionally walked us around and around without stopping at one spot.

Perhaps he was waiting for his prey to be caught in a trap.

It could be that Yamamura was coincidentally drawn into this invitation.

“Why do you need to ask me if you’ve been exposed or not, then?”

Yamamura was certain that she wasn’t exposed to anyone.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been surprised when she saw me.

“I suppose you’ve been tailing him before today as well.”

She didn’t affirm it, but her silence did.

Yamamura did an excellent job at tailing us, even though we were being cautious.

On the other hand, Ryuen must have had no choice but to give up when he realized that his lure was not going to bring results.

It didn’t look like Ryuen was coming this way after we separated either.

That’s also why I could call out to Yamamura without worry.

“I was a bit hesitant to call out to you, but we were in the same group on the school trip, and I figured I should at least say hello.”

From my point of view, it would be as if I was ignoring Yamamura if I didn’t call out to her after I noticed her.

I suppose that for Yamamura, she judged that she was found out by me, and would have preferred me to ignore her, but…

“Aren’t you going to ask… why I was following you?”

It’s confirmed that they’re going to clash at the final test, and Ryuen wants to fight Sakayanagi.

I’m sure Sakayanagi wants to gather information about Ryuen.

“I don’t need to ask.”

“Is, is that so?”

“Also, I’m not going to tell Ryuen about you, so don’t worry.”

I figured that the fact that those two didn’t notice her wouldn’t be enough to put her at ease, so I added this on.

“You seemed pretty comfortable with them, though. At the very least, you don’t recognize them as enemies. In other words, aren’t you an ally of Ryuen?”

There’s suspicion mixed in with her voice.

“I’m sorry to say this, but I’m no ally of Ryuen. I’m not on the side of A Class either, though. Anyway I don’t intend on telling anyone about our meeting here. You can trust me on that.”

“...Really?”

I was about to nod my head to allay her fears, but I stopped after I heard faint footsteps. They were slow, and repeated a few times.

“Impressive, Ayanokoji. You found the rat.”

Yamamura was already no longer looking at me, and it was instead Ryuen at the end of her gaze.

I thought that Ryuen was already gone, but I suppose that was on purpose.

“Did that damn Sakayanagi ask people to gather information about me?”

“It’s not like that…”

She’s definitely not a good performer, and her denial isn’t convincing.

“Heh. I guess I did the right thing to chase after Ayanokoji just for caution’s sake. You’re pretty sensitive to other presences around you, aren’t you?”

That’s right. I was confident that I would notice Ryuen or anyone else if I was followed, but it looks like Ryuen was also already aware of this.

From the point we dispersed, I only had two routes to choose from: the direct route to Keyaki Mall, or the road leading to the school and the dormitory.

Ryuen actually disappeared into Keyaki Mall.

Then, he waited for a while not to reveal himself, and quickly followed me from a distance I wouldn’t notice.

No matter how cautious I am, I have no way of detecting anyone if there isn’t anyone following me.

He said something to make sure I wouldn’t go to Keyaki Mall and forced me into this route.

Moreover, I even felt sorry for Yamamura when I saw Katsuragi coming back from the front.

“I didn’t think you and Sakayanagi had any common points, Yamamura.”

Katsuragi looked surprised to notice Yamamura scouting them.

So he was here to make it look like he left and bring out into the open the person searching the surroundings.

“Sorry, Ayanokoji. I just came back after Ryuen contacted me a few minutes ago.”

Ryuen must have thought that bringing in Katsuragi would increase his chances in chasing me.

Did Ryueen keep quiet even to his ally in order to not let me perceive what was going on?

“Is it surprising that this girl is connected with Sakayanagi?”

“Yeah. At the very least, it never looked like she had any connection to Sakayanagi to me in my time at this school. I think that she’s just one person in her many spy units, though.”

I suppose that’s something Katsuragi can understand well, since he used to be on the inside.

Yamamura is clearly a lot more worried now than before.

“I went to all that trouble of catching you, but it’s just one tiny fish. I thought that Hashimoto was on the move. Or, did Sakayanagi leave this to you because she trusts you?”

Ryuen’s deep suspicious gaze shot through Yamamura.

She didn’t expect to be in a situation where she would be surrounded, so she couldn’t hide the anxiety on her face.

This then prevented her from coming up with an answer to Ryuen.

“Still, your power of observation is pretty high, Ayanokoji. Your job’s over for today, though.”

Ryuen declared that he was no longer interested in me, and that his target was now the terrified Yamamura.

“Sakayanagi’s wrong if she thinks she can defeat me by sniffing around me like this.”

Even if I did not find Yamamura here, and if she was able to continue gathering information, whether or not she would be able to pass on anything useful to Sakayangi is a different matter.

If you’re doing something that you don’t want anyone to know about, you of course would not do it outdoors.

It would be in the room of a trusted friend, a karaoke room, or a bathroom of the same gender. It would be easy to use different rooms for different purposes and proceed in secrecy.

However, Sakayanagi has no choice about some things.

Information is necessary, so I’m sure Ryuen is also looking into A Class.

Unlike Ryuen though, who can gather information on his own, Sakayanagi has some difficulty in that regard.

She has to use students like Yamamura, Kamimuro and Hashimoto to gather information for her.

“It feels pretty bad to have someone spy on you.”

“Are you sure you can say that? I’m sure you’re also spying on Sakayanagi, right?”

It looks like this isn’t a one-way act of observation from Sakayanagi’s side.

Since we’re already headed for the finals, both sides seem to be spying on each other.

“Should we use a different method, then? Tell me if you have any ingenious ideas, Katsuragi.”

Ryuen suggested that he would make a move against Sakayanagi, but Katsuragi denied it.

“I’m not gonna make any big moves. The only thing we can do for now is to observe Sakayanagi.”

Both sides are keeping their distance and just glaring at each other.

It looks like Katsuragi thinks this is the best thing to do.

“Don’t forget that we’re going to conclude things with the final test, and not outside of it.”

“Pfft. You’re a really thickheaded guy.”

Ryuen and Katsuragi’s fundamental policies are complete opposites, but Ryuen gladly accepted Katsuragi’s speech and conduct and smiled.

“Should we make her hang out with us for a bit?”

“Stop it.”

“Oh? Stop? After we caught her? It’s a waste if we don’t cook her up, right?”

“Are you going to threaten her? We should just be glad we noticed her presence. You should leave now, Yamamura.”

Saying so, Katsuragi signaled for Yamamura to quickly leave.

“E-Excuse me…”

Yamamura wanted to quickly leave this uncomfortable situation.

“Wait.”

“!?”

However, Ryuen did not allow it, and she froze up like a frog being stared at by a snake.

“I’m gonna stay quiet about us noticing you.”

“Why?”

“Because I pity you. I don’t need to say what’s going to happen to you if it comes out that we noticed you, right? Your value isn’t going to disappear if we don’t report this. Well, it’s up to you whether you believe me or not.”

Saying that, Ryuen dangled a thread of salvation to Yamamura.

“If you can’t keep quiet about this, tell her this. If she wants information about me, she can come to my room alone any time she wants. If you and that woman have the courage to do that, though.”

Yamamura faintly nodded and headed towards Keyaki Mall to exit through there. After she left, Katsuragi approached Ryuen.

“Ryuen, you bastard.”

“What?”

“I’m not gonna praise you for what you just did.”

“Huh?”

“I’m not gonna tell you not to be interested in the opposite gender, but Sakayanagi is a kid. You can’t put your hands on her.”

I wondered what Katsuragi was about to say with such a serious face, and he made a warning.

This is his interpretation of Ryuen inviting Sakayanagi to his room.

That was just a joke of Ryuen, but I guess Katsuragi doesn’t get that.

“There’s a lot of girls in this school. Don’t do anything rash.”

“What the fuck are you talking about, you idiot? You think I’m going to get turned on by a cocky little brat like that? It was obviously just a simple provocation.”

“Hm? No, but you just said that she should visit you alone. Isn’t that what you meant?”

Ryuen shook his head in dismay and started arguing with Katsuragi.

“I’m definitely not interested in her, but Sakayanagi’s the same age as me, isn’t she?”

The contradiction is that Katsuragi implied it would be okay to mess with someone of his own age, but not with Sakayanagi.

Katsuragi, who had not noticed this, froze in thought for a moment.

Then, he finally understood the meaning of Ryuen’s statement and started moving.

“...Indeed. No, but with that size, she definitely looks younger than us. She’s even shorter than my sister, and-”

Although he is aware of her as a strong enemy, Katsuragi is also a big brother.

I suppose his sense of justice got the best of him when he thought about his sister and the possibility of her being a sexual target.

One thing is for sure, Sakayanagi will be angry if she hears these two’s words.

He’s clearly treating her like a child (only her outward appearance, though.)

“I only like normal girls. I don’t like them gaudy, or plain, and neither tall nor short.”

I definitely didn’t want to know, but it looks like Ryuen’s type is very normal.

Rather than a random desire, it sounds like a conclusion based on both sour and sweet experiences.

I don’t know what his high school life is like now, but I’m sure he had a lot of fun with girls in middle school.

“I’m relieved you didn’t fall as far as I thought you did.”

It looks like Katsuragi is relieved about something completely unrelated.

“So? You still want something from me, Ayanokoji?”

“That’s pretty cruel to say after conveniently using me like that.”

“It’s your fault for getting used. If you’re gonna blame something, blame that wild intuition of yours.”

Indeed, there’s no point holding a grudge against him for getting one over me here.

I’m not sure how I can use this as a lesson for the future, though.

A type of following where you purposefully don’t follow after the person.

It’s difficult to prevent him from taking the same approach again.

Being cautious despite not feeling anyone’s presence would just limit my movements.

It would be even more draining to assume that I’m being followed every time.

Well, there’s no point in remaining here.

Besides, I still have some things I want to talk to Yamamura about, so I might be able to catch up with her if I leave now.

“Weren’t you going back?”

The moment I started heading towards Keyaki Mall, that’s what I heard.

“There are numerous routes inside the mall. I don’t want you to keep following me any more today.”

I warned him that I had many paths of escape, and Ryuen laughed with his nose.

Part 4

Now, I’ve entered Keyaki Mall but I don’t know where Yamamura is.

She could have already returned to her dorm from a different exit, but… What would I do if I was in Yamamura’s position?

I’m sure she’s thinking about whether she should report her failure to Sakayanagi or not. When a person is in a psychologically uneasy state, they look for a safe place to go to.

Aside from the option of returning to her dorm right away and assuming that she will remain in Keyaki Mall, where would she be?

Yamamura dislikes crowds and doesn’t like to be in contact with others.

Areas with high-traffic and in-store areas can be ruled out immediately.

She can be alone in karaoke rooms, but there are unavoidable hurdles to doing it solo.

A private restroom could be a relatively likely candidate, but I don’t think she would cause inconvenience to other people who’d want to use it.

Then, there’s… She was between an outdoor vending machine and an interior plant just now.

There are a couple of vending machines set up in the back near the rest area. She wouldn’t draw attention there, as it’s not a popular spot.

I suppose it’s a good time of the day, because there wasn’t anyone to be seen near the resting area.

There’s also no other people around the vending machines further in the back.

I approached closer and quietly peeked around the side of a machine, which was a blind spot.

“Eek!?”

I saw Yamamura sitting next to the vending machine with a mini plastic tea bottle in her hands.

She dropped her tea in surprise, but fortunately it had a lid.

“Well, I actually found you.”

I didn’t have any proof she’d really be here, but…

I picked up the bottle on the ground and handed it to Yamamura.

“H-H-How did you tell I would be here..?”

She frantically looked through her pockets.

“No, I didn’t put a GPS on you or anything, okay?”

“B-But, then how did you… Did you look for my phone’s location..?”

“No, I didn’t.”

It was a crazy fantasy, but I suppose she was surprised enough to think this way. Yamamura got up and peeked around the vending machine a little.

“Ryuen and Katsuragi aren’t here.”

“R-Really… E-Err, do you still want something from me?”

“I couldn’t apologize earlier, right? I’m sorry, Yamamura. You wouldn’t have been found if I didn’t call out to you.”

Then, she wouldn’t have to hide and worry between the vending machines like this either.

“It’s my mistake to let you find me… Please don’t worry about it.”

She replied without outwardly reproaching me. “Did you tell Sakayanagi that you were found?”

“Yes, well… I did. I think my turn on the stage is over now.”

I got a surprising, frank reply. It looked like she was worried after what Ryuen told her, but… In any case, if she told Sakayanagi, then there’s no need to talk further about that point.

There’s still something that I have to do with Yamamura myself.

“I’m gonna compensate you for this somewhere.”

“...Huh?”

Since they were in the same group during the school trip, it would not be surprising if Yamamura and Kitou were to watch and follow Ryuen.

There’s a high chance that Sakayanagi simply ordered them to keep an eye on him.

Even if they were not, as long as they were in the same group, it’s only natural that they would be keeping an eye on Ryuen even if they were not instructed to do so by Sakayanagi.

Yamamura was always concerned about the moves Ichinose’s class was making.

However, this case is completely different. Katsuragi’s surprise.

The fact that Sakayanagi might be using Yamamura as a valuable spy.

The analysis of Ryuen’s fighting capability against Sakayanagi’s class has been taken one step further.

Ryuen’s response to Yamamura will definitely be raised to a higher level in the future.

It’s highly likely that Ryuen and Katuragi wouldn’t have been able to capture Yamamura if I had not noticed her presence and carelessly called out to her, and it’s needless to repeat who is to blame.

“You don’t need to make it up to me or anything like that. You’re in a different class, so this doesn’t have any relation with you.”

It’s as Yamamura says, but I also have a picture in mind.

The reason for this is not something I would explain to anyone at this stage, so I’m going to come up with another reason.

“I really just feel bad, because I ended up putting you at a disadvantage, no matter which way you look at it.”

“But… Wouldn’t you say that the person following someone in the first place is at fault?”

It looks like Yamamura was feeling guilty about this point.

That may be why she didn’t show any discontent towards me.

“Please, just don’t worry about it.”

It looks like it’s going to be difficult to get a good reaction from Yamamura here.

In fact, she’s going to be more troubled if I stay here for too long.

“Okay. I’ll help you out if you’re ever in any trouble, then. I’m not sure if I’d be useful, but just let me know.”

I’m sure Yamamura can accept that, at least.

Because whether she is in trouble or not, it’s going to be up to Yamamura to contact me.

“Okay then, that’s fine.”

Yamamura nodded and accepted my proposal.

“I’ll be taking my leave now, then.”

“...Thank you.”

I suppose she wants to stay here for a while, and didn’t move away from the vending machine.

I told Yamamura that I would be leaving and was about to do so, but…

I turned around to see Kei and Satou walking over to us.

I instinctively hid behind the vending machine with Yamamura behind me.

“A-Ayanokoji-kun..!?”

I feel bad for confusing Yamamura, but I signaled for her to be quiet.

She understood my intent and got quiet.

“Hey, where should we go next!?”

“Hmm~”

I can hear the two having fun and chatting, and they’re getting closer.

I don’t think they’ll notice me if I take a quick glance, but that’s only if they’re not going to use the vending machine.

I may be hiding behind it, but I’ll be completely visible if they come up to it.

“Hey, wanna take a small rest? Want a drink?”

Satou came up with a proposal that signaled the worst possible development.

“Hmm…”

Kei sounds hesitant.

If they find me, then the fact that I was hiding is going to backfire in a really bad way.

I’m huddled between vending machines in a tight space with someone of the opposite gender.

It’s difficult to make up an excuse and say that nothing is going on here.

“Yeah, just for a while.”

“It’s for the best, since you just recovered.”

I prepared myself for the worst, but it looks like they don’t want to use the vending machine.

It looks like they’re just going to use the bench to rest a little.

However, this doesn’t solve the problem.

There’s only one exit, so I can’t leave without walking by the bench Kei and Satou are sitting on.

“Thanks. Sorry I made you worry.”

“No, it’s not a big deal. I mean, it’s only normal for us to help each other when we catch a cold…”

“Mhm, I’m going to nurse you back to health if you ever come down with anything, Maya-chan.”

“Thanks. I’m really happy to hear that.”

“I feel like you’re always supporting me, Maya-chan.”

“R-Really?”

“Do you remember when you came to talk to me about Kiyotaka back when we weren’t this close? It was right at the start of Year Two.”

“I think I told you to frankly say how long you’ve had a crush on Ayanokoji-kun for.”

Satou was embarrassed after she remembered this and slapped her red face.

“Right, right. You really get into the core of things, and don’t run away from anything…”

They’re talking at a normal volume, but I can hear everything well on this quiet side.

Yamamura silently looked up to me.

I held up one hand in apology for the conversation she probably didn’t want to hear.

There’s no need to force herself to listen if she doesn’t want to.

She’d probably not going to hear anything if she covers her ears with her hands.

However, Yamamura surprisingly seems to be having a little fun.

She didn’t seem to mind, and we quietly continued listening to the two’s conversation.

Yamamura probably gathers information for Sakayanagi on most days.

So, she must be used to listening to others.

Anyone may find enjoyment in playing detective once or twice in a covert operation, but a lot of them will soon feel guilty about eavesdropping on people who don’t want to be listened to.

I thought that Yamamura would also be fed up with her role as a spy, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Combined with her faint presence and her natural skill, she’s actually very accustomed to this.

The two chatted for a while, then their rest was over.

“Should we go?”

“Are you okay now?”

“Mhm. It’s been a long time since I went out, I wanna have as much fun as I can.”

“Yeah. Make sure you make up with Ayanokoji-kun though, okay?”

“M-Mhm. I’ll do my best..!”

These were the last words I heard as their voices got fainter and fainter.

There’s a risk of them unexpectedly coming back, so I was about to signal for Yamamura to stay here for a while, but Yamamura quietly stopped me from jumping out with her hand before I could say anything. I suppose this much is to be expected.

Then, Yamamura and I moved at the same time.

“I think they’re gone.”

“Yeah.”

Yamamura moved away from the vending machine first and checked the surroundings, and signaled me to come forward after confirming that there weren't any problems.

“You’re pretty skilled at this.”

“...Really? I’m always doing this, so.”

After quietly clearing her throat, Yamamura continued with something unexpected.

“Are you really going to make up with Karuizawa-san?” “Why are you talking like Satou?”

“I’m just curious. She’s your girlfriend, right? I didn’t know you had a fight, though.”

“It looks like there’s some things even information gathering specialists don’t know about.”

“Are you making fun of me?”

“Are you?”

Yamamura was a little surprised at that reply, but she then faintly smiled.

“This is a bit weird. You’re a strange person, Ayanokoji-kun.”

“I hear that a lot.”

“Is that true, or is it a joke too?”

“Who knows?”

She’s still reserved, but Yamamura’s calm tone is easy to understand and not unpleasant.

It’s probably because she’s always speaking in a calm tone like me.

“By the way, what about my question from earlier?”

“You didn’t forget?” “I remember it very well.”

Surprisingly, Yamamura is also being a little aggressive, or a wall between us was broken, and she asked me so.

“I’m going to make up with her. I have plans for it.”

“That’s good to hear.”

This has nothing to do with her, and she has no common points with Karuizawa, but she still seemed happy to hear that.

“You don’t need to report this to Sakayanagi.”

“I can’t promise that I won’t.”

“You’re pretty stern.”

Yamamura took a breath, then pulled out her phone and looked at the pitch-black screen.

Then, she looked at me after hesitating a little.

“About what happened with Ryuen-kun earlier… I haven’t actually reported it yet.”

“You mean about them finding you?”

“I know that I have to inform her, but… I think I’m afraid of being cut off. I have no other merits, so this is the one thing I can do. If she knows that I can’t even do that… I will be useless for the class.”

I suppose it’s not about her academic ability or physical ability. Yamamura has a low sense of self-determination and is blind to the world around her.

“I don’t mind if you make it out to be my fault, but I guess that’s not the point.”

Sakayanagi will judge that the fact this got out is the important part, regardless of if it’s Yamamura’s fault or mine.

It doesn’t change the fact that Yamamura will be weaker as a spy from now on.

“Maybe I can keep quiet about it..?”

“Are you going to trust Ryuen’s words?”

“There’s no other way for me to keep living right now…”

“I understand how you feel, but you should be honest and inform her.”

“But I can just wait until it gets revealed. Perhaps he’ll actually keep quiet about it. Maybe Ryuen-kun will get expelled by Sakayanagi-san.”

She wants to put off the exposure of her failure.

She’s not delusionally thinking about options to save her life with no basis.

“That’s the worst possible choice. Ryuen is just exploiting a gap in your mind, and he’ll definitely expose you if necessary. Even if Sakayanagi can expel him from the school, there’s the danger of him leaving a souvenir behind.”

For Ryuen, the fact that Yamamura has been found out is not that much of a bonus.

If Yamamura does not report her discovery, However, Ryuen could use it as leverage to formulate a strategy.

It probably won’t end with her just losing her role.

“Don’t let him take advantage of you so easily.”

“But…”

“I don’t want you to be expelled. So, I want you to accept my advice.”

“W-Why? It’s not like you have anything to do with me.”

“You’re my ally from the same group on the school trip. That’s enough of a relation between us, isn’t it?”

“...I…”

She clasped both her hands and put them near her eyes.

Then, she opened her eyes and started typing a message on her phone.

“Ryuen-Kun and Katsuragi-kun discovered that I was tailing them. I will convey the details with a phone call.”

She showed me the text, and sent it to Sakayanagi.

“I was afraid that I’d run away again if I hesitated, so.”

So she cut off her escape route by reporting the matter here and now.

“Oh, err. I think it’s time for me to leave now..!”

Feeling uncomfortable, Yamamura hastily uttered these words.

She gave me a deep, unnecessary bow before reservedly walking away.

“You’re easier to talk to than I thought.”

That’s exactly how I felt about Yamamura right after we parted as well.

I wanted to tell her too, but I honestly don’t want her to be expelled.

I’m sure Sakayanagi is not going to punish her for reporting the incident properly, but I think it would be best to keep an eye on her just in case.

“Oh… Right. I should contact Horikita too.”

A phone call would be too much trouble, so it would be best to quickly tell her the gist of it in a text message.

Kei and Satou are also having fun in Keyaki Mall.

I decided to leave the mall for now so as not to run into them.

Part 5

This evening, I performed the opening ceremony of a mail-order product I received: a yogurt maker I got for 3,000 Yen.

I read through the thin instruction manual and mastered its use by actually touching the machine.

Then, I did what I had to do and bought the necessary milk and yogurt.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

I never thought about it that deeply, but making yogurt is very simple.

You take 100 ml out of a 1 liter carton of milk.

You can drink the rest of the milk or use it for cooking. I chose to drink it this time.

Then, you put 100 grams of yogurt into the space left in the milk carton.

Now, the ratio of milk to yogurt is 9:1, so all that’s left to do is to set the yogurt maker.

The timer is set for 9 hours, which means that all the milk in the milk carton will be yogurt when the time is up.

I’d usually advise one to buy regular yogurt, but the machine’s real value will become apparent after the second time and in the long run.

I can eat 1000 grams of yogurt the next morning, but the important thing is to leave 100 grams.

Then, you can continue to keep buying new milk and mixing it to continue planting for new batches of yogurt.

Lactic-acid bacilli are a scary thing.

I know about this as knowledge, but I can actually feel it by starting to make it like this. I’ve just turned the switch on, so I may be getting ahead of myself, but…

So, that’s all the good parts, but it would be easy enough to keep repeating this forever.

Milk is fermented by lactic-acid bacilli and converted into yogurt, but it’s inevitable that the action of the lactic-acid bacilli weakens over time.

As a result, the solidification of yogurt becomes weaker, and to avoid this, you need to ferment for longer but then the seed lactic-acid bacilli are lost even more.

I’m going to take care of the hygiene, but there are inevitable things such as germs floating in the air, which weaken the function of the lactic-acid bacilli.

After all, it should be finished after three items, or four at most.

I can just make it myself and experience it to get a sense of it.

Enjoying this is one of the pleasures of making your own yogurt.

I set the timer for 9:00, which means that the yogurt will be ready at 6 in the morning.

“Let’s see.”

I took my phone out of the charger on my bed.

I was about to call Kei, but… I received a phone call while trying to find her in my call history.

For a moment, I thought Kei lost her patience and called me, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

“It’s pretty rare for you to call me, Satou.”

“Umm, I just really wanted to ask you something, but…”

“What is it?”

“It’s about Kei-chan.”

It’s not hard to see why she would be concerned as her close friend.

She probably wants to learn my feelings without telling Kei about it.

“About Kei? What do you mean?”

For now, I just threw her a check ball.

“You… had a fight recently, right?”

“Is that what you heard?”

“Well, yeah. I gathered as much from chatting with her.”

She may have found it difficult to say that she was explicitly asked for advice, so she said that she noticed some things while talking with Kei instead.

“It’s almost the end of the year, so… You’re going to make up with her, right?”

Rather than doubting that I would meet with Kei, she was more concerned about what would happen when I did.

She’s probably worried about Kei after sensing something wrong with her.

I don’t know how this phone call will affect her, but for now, I’d like to appreciate the fact that she’s thinking about her close friend.

“I was just about to call Kei to talk about our promise.”

“R-Really? That means you’re going to make up, right?”

“That’s my intent, of course. As long as Kei doesn’t have any plans and doesn’t refuse me, of course.”

We promised in advance, but we never reconfirmed it.

It’s only natural that I can’t force her to meet me at my convenience.

Of course, I haven’t received any notification of her having personal business until now, so I assume that the appointment will be fulfilled and that there will not be any problems.

An almost gasping voice reached my ears from the other end of the phone.

“I-I’m so relieved! Mhm, that’s great! I don’t wanna bother you, so I’ll end the call now!”

Deciding that chatting with me on the phone any further would only cause anxiety for Kei, she decided to hang up.

“Wait a bit. There’s something I want to tell you.”

“What is it?”

Satou is very cheerful now that she knows I’m about to call Kei.

She’s a girl with a strong heart who can support others without regard to her own feelings.

“As her boyfriend, it’s true that I’m in a position where I’m supposed to protect Kei.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s no telling when and where she might end up in trouble. It’s not just about romance, right? Problems can occur in friendships too, and there’s a unique risk of expulsion in this school. Just like how you felt uneasy about me and Kei, there’s no telling when and how personal relationships might crumble. Even if you have absolute peace of mind, that can change into unease the moment you see a crack in the relationship.”

“That’s…”

I’m sure Satou can’t deny this truth.

Satou must have felt relieved when the relationship between Kei and I was established and acknowledged.

Ayanokoji will protect Kei, he will take care of her.

She must have been confident about that.

However, one unexpected situation made her feel upset and anxious.

That’s why she took the risk of making this call on her own.

“As a friend, no, as one of her closest friends, you have to support Kei. Of course, this is assuming that this is how you think of Kei.”

“That’s obvious!”

Satou declared that she would protect Kei without a pause.

“That’s good to hear, then. However, I’ll guarantee the opposite of that as well.”

“...Opposite?”

“If you ever can’t protect Kei, then I will.”

“I can… believe you, right?”

“Of course.”

My true intentions, true nature and true feelings are irrelevant.

That’s what I should make Satou think right now, and sign this unseen contract.

This increases the possibility of Satou continuing to help her even if I abandon Kei.

If Satou ends up getting expelled, there’s no guarantee for her that I would continue protecting Kei after that.

She can’t hold a grudge against me even if I break the promise.

Most of all, Kei is currently an important piece in maintaining Horikita’s class.

“Kei told me that she was meeting with you today. She said she wanted to thank you.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

“Thanks.”

“I, I don’t need a thank you. All I want is for you two to get along.”

“I see. You can ask Kei what happened tomorrow, then.”

“I’ll get ready to listen to her boasting about her love life.”

I felt a slight change of mind in the empty room after finishing the call.

Manipulating others with my words.

It is an action that I categorize as ‘fun’ for me.

It doesn’t matter if what I say is true or false.

Even the statements of someone trying to manipulate me must feel ‘fun’.

In fact, I would rather welcome being unwittingly deceived.

To know and to learn people.

To be learned.

Bigger, stranger, or gigantic opponents.

I can’t help but find enjoyment in manipulating and controlling such people. Still, Satou has gradually improved her skills too.

I can see her growth even in a single phone call.

“Now then…”

It was slightly past the appointed time, but I decided to call Kei.

Chapter 5

The Time We Have Left

Part 1

Part 2

I had an argument with Kei over something related to Ichinose.

It’s been a long time since I started intentionally minimizing contact and keeping my distance.

Kei unexpectedly caught influenza and we were not able to meet at Christmas, and before I knew it, the end of the year arrived.

December the 29th.

The meeting time we had agreed upon was a little late, at 3 o’clock.

Having nothing else to do until then, I spent an ordinary day off in my room.

I watched some TV, read books, surfed the Internet, and listened to music.

I thought it would be boring, but I found fulfillment in these mundane hours.

When the appointed time was 20 minutes away, I decided to leave my dorm.

We were to meet at the entrance of Keyaki Mall, but I was afraid we would bump into each other.

Despite that, I did not see her in the lobby of the dorms or outside.

I started thinking again.

What does being in a relationship mean to me?

What is love, in the first place?

You will find several definitions if you look up the words ‘going out’ in the dictionary, but the one that applies to us right now is ‘dating as lovers’.

That’s easy to understand.

I can take it in a literal way.

On the other hand, if you look up the word ‘love’, you will find that it says ‘a man and a woman yearning for each other.’

Yearning.

Emotions.

I wonder if I have come to know love over these months?

That’s the first point I think about. I have learned many emotions at this school.

Classes, talking with friends, talking with teachers, shopping, having fun.

Along the way, I learned what I’m interested in, and what I’m not interested in.

What I find fun, and what I don’t find fun.

What tastes I like, and what tastes I don’t like, and so much more.

I’ve learned many things that only lovers can experience by dating Kei.

Conversations that only lovers can have, dates, and the act of skin-on-skin contact that can only happen between lovers.

I can say that I have probably taken all the actions that would be model answers.

So… Can I say that I know what it feels like to yearn for someone?

The answer is probably no.

That doesn’t mean I know these feelings.

My heart has not shaken in any way since before I started dating Kei.

I’ve asked myself this question over and over again in my daily activities.

I don’t have a clear answer, but I do have an idea.

I’ve been looking at Kei as an object to learn about love.

In other words, I was putting priority on experiencing things that only lovers can experience.

I moved on to the next step before feeling the mentality of wanting to do these things with Kei, and ended up leaving those feelings behind.

I have no regrets, of course. I’ve learned many things from Kei.

However, the time is approaching when I need to decide how long to continue this relationship.

The person named Kei holds the most darkness in Horikita’s class.

And she’s strong, but she is also dependent on others.

I’ve taken advantage of that and taken her into my hands.

As long as this dependance is here, however, I cannot achieve my goals.

Now that my policies have changed so drastically, it’s essential for me to break free from this dependance.

That’s precisely why I’m going to earn the right to learn anew.

Will I be hesitant in parting with Kei, or not?

If I feel regret about letting her go, then maybe I can call it love.

There was around five minutes left until the time of our appointment, but Kei was already waiting for me at the spot.

Her face was looking down, and she didn’t notice my presence.

Considering the time, she should be paying attention to her surroundings right now.

Is she afraid of not seeing me when she looks up?

Or, is she afraid to face me?

“You’re early.”

I called out to her with some distance between us so as not to surprise her.

“Ah!”

Then, she raised her head.

From her expression, it didn’t seem like she wanted to go on our Christmas date.

She must be feeling very anxious.

At least, I don’t sense any feelings like dislike, disappointment, or loss of interest in me.

“It’s… been… a while…”

“Yeah. I think it’s been three weeks since we were alone just the two of us like this.”

After exchanging some light words, we approached closer to each other.

After these three awkward weeks, it feels like there’s now something between us stopping us from getting closer to each other.

“I heard you’re all better now, right?” “Mhm. Who did you hear it from?”

“Satou was worried and called me last night. That’s when I heard.”

“Oh…”

She’s still a little reserved without any of her usual demeanours.

Even after being in an intimate relationship and spending a lot of time one on one, people still act very differently when they get anxious.

“Let’s go inside first, shall we?”

“Mhm…”

It’s cold outside in the winter season.

I decided to first take Kei and enter Keyaki Mall.

“What are we going to do?”

“I’m not sure. Normally, we were supposed to see the Christmas tree, but…”

“Mhm…”

The Christmas tree was already taken down, leaving behind nothing but a large empty space.

“It’s sad that you couldn’t see it.”

“Mhm…”

Kei has just been repeating ‘mhm’ since we met up.

I guess it’s normal.

I’m the one who neglected to stay in contact with her in the first place.

It’s not a strange thing for her to get mad at me for going out with someone of the opposite gender while I have a girlfriend.

She can’t help but see it as cheating from her own objective point of view.

She would never have the courage to open a door of danger.

“For now, I want you to let me apologize for our disagreement because of Ichinose.”

I let Kei stand in front of me, and bowed my head.

“...Kiyotaka…”

“You’re right to feel angry and uneasy. Honestly, none of this is your fault.”

“T-That’s not… I said a lot of bad things too..”

“That’s not true. I think you’ve actually been very patient.”

She didn’t insult me, she simply complained about things that she had a right to complain about.

“I wanted to apologize earlier, but I ended up being late in the end.”

At the same time, I took a box out of my pocket.

“What’s this?”

“It’s late, but this is your Christmas present. I want you to take it.”

She slowly reached out with her hand, then withdrew for a moment.

She’s still feeling uneasy; it’s a reaction of fear.

I touched her stiffened hand, and gently made her hold the box.

Then, I took her coat and encouraged her to open the box.

“Can I open it?”

“Of course.”

She readied herself and opened the lid while holding the box with her left hand.

What came out of the box was a glittering necklace.

She stared at it and looked up with surprise.

“Did… Did I tell you that I wanted this?”

“You didn’t have to. I saw you looking at it many times on your phone. You looked at a lot of other stuff too, but I felt like this one was special to you.”

There were more expensive things among the precious metal items she looked at, but I don’t think Kei, who understands my position as a student, would wish for anything unrealistic.

First, I thought that this was definitely the right choice, but…

“...”

Kei’s hand is still frozen up.

“Did I get the wrong one?”

If so, I failed in choosing to buy this on my own.

However, Kei grasped the necklace and quickly shook her neck no.

“Nu-uh, it’s the right one!”

“I see. That’s good to hear.”

“This, this isn’t a dream, right..!?”

Kei didn’t care about the people around us and started crying.

I can say that her dependance on me is at its peak right now.

I’m sure I could even force her to do things that I couldn’t even put into words.

However, I’m not going to end the relationship here, because it’s not going to lead to a fundamental solution even if I let her loose here.

“Kiyotaka?”

Kei looked at me with wet eyes while I was busy thinking.

“You’re gonna stay over tonight, right?”

Kei had a full-faced smile, and grabbed my arm.

“I… I thought that it was over already..!”

“Are you gonna accept it?”

“Obviously..!”

I go out to Keyaki Mall during my day off. With friends, with my partner, or alone.

This facility, which is filled with the only entertainment in our school life, keeps us entertained, but at the cost of consuming our private points.

It would be more efficient to just go back and forth between the gym and the dormitory, but I can’t do that.

One has to constantly fight against the temptation to have dinner with someone, go to karaoke, or grab an attractive product without thinking.

That’s why I want to spend time without using private points sometimes.

I could shut myself in my room, but I only want to do that when I’m in trouble.

Considering that, I don’t have many choices left.

So, I slipped into my uniform for the first time in 10 days and left the dormitory.

I’m heading for the school in winter vacation.

My destination is the library.

I saw someone’s back for a moment when I was heading to the bookstore shortly before winter break.

Remembering this is what made me decide to go to the library.

I’m not sure if she’ll be going there or not right now, though.

School was closed for three days, but it will be open again from today, January 4.

It’s still early before 11 o’clock, but I’m not the only one going to school, and there were other students here sweating it out during club activities.

I could hear lively voices of the students coming out of everywhere as I stepped inside the school.

I ran into Sakagami-sensei on my way to the library.

“Happy New Year.”

I can’t ignore him, so I greeted him and replied.

“Yeah, Happy New Year.”

I was greeted by Sakagami-sensei while feeling a little uncomfortable about my lack of club activities.

I was about to walk past him, but he stopped me from behind.

“I see that you’ve been improving your Academic Ability a lot recently. Sudou-kun’s growth is especially wonderful.”

“He’s actually working pretty hard.”

“He’s grown an unbelievable amount since his enrollment and the days he was constantly making trouble. The staff also talks about him in a good way.”

That’s a very good thing.

Sudou’s bad parts were so noticeable that he always had the attention of the teachers, but why is he bringing this subject up now?

“He’s now in B class up from D class, right? And he’s now at a point where he can even see A Class.”

Sakagami-sensei lightly touched his glasses.

He felt somehow different from the first time I saw him as the class teacher of the Ryuen Class.

A lot of other people used to find his behaviour repulsive, but it’s less so now.

I feel like this wasn’t the case up until the Uninhabited Island Test, but…

Since all of their classes are in the same year, Chabashira-sensei, Mashima-sensei and Hoshinomiya-sensei actually have a lot of chances to talk to each other.

On the other hand, maybe it just feels like Sakagami-sensei has changed because I haven’t had any contact with him for a long time.

“I honestly didn’t think your class could grow so much.”

Sakagami-sensei’s words of flattery, which don’t actually feel like he’s praising us. Sakagami-sensei’s gaze behind the lenses of his glasses sharpened immediately after that.

“You changed the class that was seen as an inferior product.”

“No way. I haven’t done anything special. Isn’t it the result of the hard work of everyone in class, starting with the leader Horikita?”

Although I went in with a denial a little stronger than modesty, I’m not certain how well it resonated with Sakagami-sensei.

Three of the classroom teachers in my year know to some extent that I’m a student from a special environment. It wouldn’t be surprising if Sakagami-sensei also knows about this, and even if he did, it wouldn’t be surprising if he realized it by feel.

“It’s true that Sudou-kun’s devotion to his studies and results he achieved is something that no one could force him to do, but… Well, it’s fine. Leaving aside your own ability, you’re going to have to cooperate with them in the near future if they’re getting stronger. Even if you don’t want to.”

I can just show my abilities then. I suppose that’s what he’s saying.

“Are you going to the library now?”

“How did you know?”

“There are few places a student can go at this time other than club activities. Besides, I know that you’re a student who goes to the library a lot.”

That is true, but I didn’t think Sakagami-sensei knew.

I’m sure I never saw him even once at the library.

So, he must have learned about it indirectly.

“Can teachers browse a student’s loan history?”

“Browse your history? Only the librarian can do that. It would be an invasion of privacy for teachers to look into it at a whim.”

“Then how do you know that I’m a student who goes to the library a lot?”

“That’s something you can find out when you go to the library. I have a staff meeting for the third term, so excuse me.”

Avoiding a direct answer, Sakagami-sensei said so and walked away.

His way of speaking of implications bothered me, but since I can’t stop a teacher who’s in a hurry, I decided to go to the library as he had foreseen.

I found that the room was surrounded by silence when I opened the door of the library and stepped inside.

This place is supposed to be quiet, but it’s different from that kind of silence.

There was complete silence with no one in sight.

Not even the librarian, who should be sitting at the reception desk, could be seen.

Is he away on some kind of chore?

The library isn’t locked, so I don’t think entering it is a problem, but it feels a little uncomfortable.

I thought about keeping watch at the entrance for a while, but I’m sure he will come back sooner or later.

I faintly greeted the empty space and decided to look at books.

I didn’t know what I wanted to read or borrow, but I’m just going to pick up a book if it feels right.

I was looking for a book to borrow when I heard a voice from the other side of the bookshelf.

“Happy New Year, Ayanokoji-kun.”

I turned to go around, and I saw that this person was also doing the same, so we ended up passing each other by.

I saw their profile for just a moment.

Then, the person noticed that they missed me and immediately came back.

“We went opposite ways, huh?”

“Yeah.”

It’s Shiina Hiyori, whom I never saw after chatting for a little bit during the school festival.

She’s supposed to be a bookworm who uses the library a lot, but she disappeared for a period of time.

I heard that she’s been back to her old self recently, and it seems that it was true.

“Happy New Years. It’s been a while since we met in the library.”

“Yeah. Any changes?”

“Nope. How about you?”

“I caught a cold for a while at the start of the year. Thankfully, it wasn’t the influenza that was spreading around, so I felt normal after around two days.”

We lightly reported each other’s circumstances and changed the subject to books.

“We ran into each other here, so I’d like you to recommend me something to loan, Hiyori.”

“Really? I’m happy to hear that.”

There’s no gain in her for choosing a book for someone else to read, but she accepted it.

“I know that you always choose the right books, Hiyori.”

“I’ll definitely be attending to you, then.”

Instead of getting annoyed by this one-sided request, she rather happily clasped her hands together.

“So, what kind of genre do you feel like reading?”

“Hmm. I have a lot of free time during the vacation, so maybe a mystery to make me work my head.”

“Mystery, huh?”

She didn’t seem to be troubled, and started walking after signaling me to follow her.

It looks like she also knows a lot about that kind of genre.

“Have you read The Glass Key?”

She pulled out a book that immediately caught my eye as we walked through the library and asked me if I had read it.

Dashiell Hammett.

It’s a masterpiece that’s been selected as one of the 100 best mystery novels of all time.

“Unfortunately, I read it two years ago.”

“It’s not unfortunate, it’s rather impressive. Let me find something else.”

Saying that, she repeatedly recommended mystery novels of the past to me.

I could see that Hiyori’s plan was to start with the famous ones first.

“By the way… This doesn’t have anything to do with mystery novels, but… Have you read anything by the author Kaminaisshi?”

“Kaminaisshi? No, I’m not familiar with that name, so probably not.”

I’m relatively familiar with books, but there are still far more authors that I do not know.

If it’s a book I’ve read, though, then I would at least remember the author’s name.

“It’s not surprising. He’s not a well-known author at all, and he’s never been a big seller.”

Hiyori answered with a somewhat polite smile.

I thought that she would recommend me something by that author, but she returned to mystery novels after being satisfied by my answer.

“Have you read The Secret of the Two Wheeled Carriage? It’s Fergus Hume’s debut work.”

“I haven’t read it.”

“Well, no one is loaning it at the moment, so it might be a good idea to take this one.”

After checking out three books, including that one, Hiyori and I moved to the reception area where the librarian had returned.

We wished him a happy New Year., and quickly finished borrowing the books.

“See you later, Ayanokoji-kun. Come and hang out again if you want.”

“I think I’ll be here a few times until the third term. You’re gonna stay in the library, right?”

“I don’t have much else to do even with a lot of vacation days.”

“How about hanging out in Keyaki Mall with your friends?”

“I don’t think so.”

Thinking back, I don’t recall ever seeing Hiyori hanging out with her friends in her daily school life.

I have seen her with her classmates for some reason or another, of course, but…

Perhaps she has even fewer friends than I thought.

I’m sure most students in the Ryuen Class aren’t into literature and art.

She waved goodbye to me and closed the library’s door.

Part 3

I watched Hiyori’s back as she returned to the library, and headed for the entrance to leave the school.

It was just around lunch time, so I could see a few students from clubs around. I found two classmates who were talking to each other just as I arrived at the entrance.

“Oh, Ayanokoji? Why are you in school?”

Sudou noticed me first.

He was in his basketball uniform.

Yousuke, on the other hand, was wearing his soccer uniform.

“Happy New Year. I just ran into Sudou-kun. We were talking about eating lunch together.”

“Still, this is a pretty rare pairing.”

“Is it? It’s been happening a lot lately.”

“Right.”

I don’t think their relationship was that close, but it seems they became close enough to have lunch together.

Perhaps Sudou’s growth put him on the same wave-length as Yousujke.

“What about Onodera-san, though?”

“It looks like she caught a cold yesterday, so she’s not going to club activities today either.”

Furthermore, it looks like it’s not usually just the two of them, but Onodera also.

This is the kind of relationship that can only be built by students involved in club activities.

“Ayanokoji-kun, are you coming back from the library?”

Yousuke asked me, perhaps noticing the books in my hands.

I said yes, then started naturally walking towards the convenience as Sudou led us there.

“The cafeteria isn’t open during the winter break, huh?.”

“Mhm. Normally, I bring food from home or buy some from the convenience store.”

It looks like they eat inside the school after purchasing their food.

They seem to eat on the benches outside school during spring or fall, but there’s no choice in this season.

According to what I’ve heard however, there are several places open like a cafeteria with heating, so that the students coming in for club activities can eat.

“It’s been snowing on and off, huh?”

“It’s really depressing. It’s gonna be insatiable like this for two more weeks, right?”

“I can’t move my body in this cold either, so I really want it to get warmer already.”

I can’t participate in this conversation, as I’m a part of the go-home club.

I don’t feel alienated, but rather feel calm just listening to these two people, who I thought didn’t fit in with each other, talking so naturally.

“By the way Ayanokoji-kun, is that thing with Karuizawa-san alright now? It looks like you’ve been working really hard.”

“Ah, so you heard about it too after all.”

“You two looked strange from before the winter vacation. It’s easy to tell even just by looking at you in the classroom.”

“I’m sure it’s alright. Wait, did they finally break up or something?”

Yousuke bitterly smiled at Sudou who suddenly cut in, but it’s far from the reality so he quickly denied.

“I don’t think so. I guess they just had a little trouble?”

As expected, Sudou also doesn’t seem to know what happened after Christmas.

“The problem is already solved. It’s going to be back to normal starting this year.”

“Ah, I see. That’s great.”

“What, you didn’t break up?”

Sudou disappointedly put his hands on the back of his head.

“Did you want us to break up?

“N-No, of course not. It was just a little joke.”

He denied his remarks of celebrating someone else’s misfortune and apologized.

It looks like spring isn’t here for Sudou yet, but I’m sure there are signs of it happening.

“Aren’t there any developments with Onodera?”

“H-Hey, don’t talk about that. I don’t want Hirata to misunderstand things.”

Sudou got frantic the moment her name was put out, but Yousuke simply looked on with warm eyes.

“I think Yousuke knows already.”

“...Seriously?”

Does he think that no one noticed their delicate relationship?

“I know that Onodera-san has been paying attention to you for a little while now.”

He’s very sensitive to the eyes and actions of his classmates. I’m not going to say anything unnecessary, but I’m not surprised that he knows.

“So, what about it?”

“We’re just normal friends with Onodera…”

Perhaps he doesn’t feel any direct love for Onodera yet, or he hasn’t realized it, and he denied it with a frown.

I thought that he still had some lingering attachment to Horikita, but I don’t feel like this is the case.

From his attitude, it just looks like he’s not the kind of man who would take advantage of Onodera’s feelings.

The three of us returned to the school while feeling the cold on our skins after stopping by at the convenience store.

We found that it was quite crowded when we went to the cafeteria, and there were many students including both seniors and juniors who belonged to club activities.

Since students like me can visit the cafeteria even if we’re not involved in any club activities, there are probably some students here just to have lunch with friends.

Some juniors came over to say hello to Sudou and Yousuke.

“You two really look like proper seniors.”

“Our second year is almost over, so. We’re Year Threes when it finally ends after the third term. It still feels a bit strange, though.”

Sudou bit into his onigiri.

A salmon was peeking out from between the seaweed and the rice.

“By the way, something strange happened the other day. A girl from the same year asked me a lot of weird questions.”

Sudou muttered, perhaps remembering something after seeing a girl greet him.

“Weird questions?”

“Like when I started studying, and if I was studying or not up until now. I guess she wanted to know why my Academic Ability on my OAA has gone up.”

There are some who are surprised about that even in our class. For someone from another class, it might even look like a little bit of magic.

“I’m sure you didn’t feel bad about a girl asking you questions, huh?”

“No, it’s not like that. She looked cute, but she was still a bit belligerent, or high and mighty. It was right before my club activities too, so I just wanted her to let me go right away.”

It doesn’t look like he’s looking for new excitement.

“By the way, who was that?”

“Hmm, what was it..? It’s not like I memorized the names of all the girls.”

Sudou put a third onigiri into his mouth and replied while chewing.

“Should we check who it was, just for caution sake? You might run into her again.”

Yousuke took out his phone, so he’s probably going to check the OAA.

Sudou however stopped him with a wave of his hand.

“It doesn’t matter. It would be different if the girl had a crush on me, but that’s definitely not the case.”

It was a frustrating moment for Sudou, so I suppose he doesn’t want to know her name.

“It looks like you’re getting attention for things other than your motor nerves now, Sudou.”

“I won’t blame her if she was startled.”

Instead of boasting, Sudou clasped his fist and got excited.

“I’m just getting started.”

It looks like he’s not satisfied yet, and wants to surprise those around him even further.

However, Hiyori hurriedly followed after me not long after I stepped out into the hallway.

It was only a short distance away, but she was still slightly out of breath.

“Here…”

Hiyori showed me a paper bag after she regained her breathing.

Regardless of these turn of events, I can already tell that it’s a book from the bag’s shape.

However, I don’t think it’s something from the library.

Hiyori took it out with her thin fingers and offered it to me.

Teardrops fell onto her mouth as she held the necklace.

“We can go back to normal now… Right?”

“Yeah, back to normal.”

“You really, really mean it, right?”

“You can trust me.”

Kei repeatedly asked so, and I gave her the same answer.

“I’m so, so happy!”

“I wanted to celebrate Christmas with you, but we’re definitely going to spend your birthday together.”

“Mhm, mhm!”

Kei’s birthday is March the 8th.

It’s going to be before the final test is conducted.

Nothing will change up until then.

I will support her if she has any problems, and protect her, just like normal.

That’s my role as the host of a parasite.

She put the necklace on, and grabbed my arm with a somewhat embarrassed expression.

“It’s been such a long time… Hasn’t it?”

“Yeah. Where should we go?”

“As long as it’s with you, I’m fine with anything.”

She doesn’t want anything more than that. With that reply, she clung closer to me.

“Can I come to your room again today?”

“It’d be harder to find a reason to say no.”

“How about the bath? Can we enter together?”

“Of course.”

“Ehehehehe.”

She happily loosened her cheeks, and perhaps because of the tears, wiped the corners of her mouth with her fingers again.

The relationship is restored.

This is a joyous action, but why isn’t my heart moving?

Why can’t I be more delighted, tremble more, and be happier with her?

I don’t know.

“I’m glad we made up.”

Made up words.

Kei is pleased and happy to hear them.

I don’t feel sad about not understanding, though.

If I don’t understand, then I can just repeat this until I do.

If it doesn’t work with Kei, then I can just try it with another person.

I’m sure the time for me to learn about love will come someday.

I might see myself abandoned, bitter and crying.

I can’t wait.

A bottomless quest is pushing me on.

That is, because of the fact that I don’t know.

I still have infinite room for learning.

“Maybe we should go to karaoke? It’s been a long time.”

For now, I should just think about mending things between me and Kei.

I don’t want to keep quiet and make her worry again, so I spoke out.

“Wow, I’m surprised to see you asking us to go to karaoke, Kiyotaka!”

I have gone to karaoke quite a few times, but I never really wanted to sing myself, so Kei may be right that it’s a rare thing for me.

“I’ve been listening to a lot of hit songs on TV lately.”

She’s a good partner to make sure that I won’t get embarrassed if I go to karaoke with other students in the future.

Kei raised her hand and smiled to show that she agreed, and we started walking.

On the way, my eye was drawn to the vending machines in the resting area.

Could Yamamura be sitting between these machines again today?

“...What is it?”

She was curious why I stopped walking and looked at the vending machines.

“Are you thirsty?”

“That’s not it.”

I wonder what kind of words Yamamura received after she informed Sakayanagi.

Was she taken down from her role, or was she asked to observe someone unrelated to Ryuen?

“Ah, right. Can I call Maya-chan real quick?”

I agreed and sat down on a nearby bench to avoid her messages.

“Can I sit next to you?”

“No, I’m gonna take a look at the vending machines and come back. There might be some new items I’d like.”

“Okay.”

Kei started happily chatting with Satou.

I can guess that she’s informing her that we made up, and receiving congratulations and such.

In the meanwhile, I decided to head towards the vending machines.

I don’t think she’d be there, but this is just for caution’s sake.

I slightly peeked between the vending machines, and…

“!?”

No way…

She’s here.

Sitting down in the same way as the other day, she even has a bottle in one hand just like that day again.

The only difference is that there’s a shopping bag with some stuff in it on the floor this time.

“We meet again. Are you here all the time?”

“Not all the time… Just sometimes.”

She averted her gaze as she said so, perhaps because she just told an awkward lie.

“What’s that?”

“Huh? Ah, this? It’s a hand-towel I bought as a reward for myself.”

“A reward?”

“...Please don’t worry about it. More importantly, it looks like you made up with Karuizawa-san, right?”

“Did you hear?”

“Well, that’s my specialty, so.”

She said in a muddy way, but she means that she’s good at eavesdropping.

“Maybe you should leave now. She might realize how weird it is for you to come here to think about new products.”

It seems that she impressively picked up our entire conversation.

I would like to know how Sakayanagi reacted, but this is a matter of internal class affairs, so I doubt she would give me a simple answer.

So, I’d rather not embarrass her by asking.

“See you.”

“...Yes.”

I left the environment that made it look like I was chatting with a vending machine.

I returned to the bench, and Kei seemed to have just finished chatting with Satou, so it was the right choice to come back quickly.

“Did you find anything?”

“Nothing much. Shall we go?”

“Mhm.”

Kei cheerfully stood up and grabbed my arm again.

I almost can’t believe how quickly she went back to normal.

No, it’s so much that I can feel that her dependance on me has increased even compared to before.

She wanted to eat together, bathe together, and even sleep together.

She wants to spend all her time with me without letting me go even for a moment.

The parasite is going deeper and deeper to the point where it cannot escape on its own.

It’s stepping in without fear of being captured.

Thus, we built a better relationship than before during the year and welcomed the New Year as lovers.

As a side note, I still remember the sigh of her humming in a good mood as she left her room for the New Year’s gathering with her friends that she had originally planned to attend.

“This is my favourite book, so I’d really like it if you read it.”

It has a cover, but I already have an idea of what it is.

“Is it a book by the author you mentioned earlier?”

“I guess it was obvious, huh?”

A book by an unknown author suddenly offered to me regardless of the genre. It was relatively easy to guess.

“I was worried that I couldn’t give it to you as a present if you had already read it.”

Being gifted a book you’ve read, and a book you haven’t read give one different degrees of joy.

I think that’s why she asked me if I read it.

“If you just want to read something, you can borrow it from the library. But if I really like a book, then I want to keep it with me.”

“Is that why you paid for it and purchased it yourself?”

“That, and… They don’t have his book in the library.”

So she couldn’t loan it even if she wanted to.

She could ask the librarian to stock it, but from looking at Hiyori, it seems like this book isn’t something that would be popular with everyone.

I wonder if she thinks that it’s not good enough to be popular even if she likes it?

“Can I really take this?”

Even if it’s just one book, this kind of paperback isn’t cheap for a student.

“Yes. Actually, this is the third time I’ve bought this book. I bought the first one when I was in middle school, and it’s still in my room. I bought the second one right after enrolling in this school.”

So she bought the third one as a present for me.

“I think I mostly know what you like, so I’m confident you’ll be happy with it.”

“Sorry for the trouble.”

I can’t make her keep holding it in the air forever, so I took it from her hand.

However, there’s now a question on my mind.

“Have you been walking around with it all this time until you saw me?”

That’s almost a certainty, since I didn’t tell Hiyori that I was coming here today.

“I’d come and meet you right away if you told me.”

“Well, yes. But… It was only a few days, so it’s not a problem.”

“I’ll see you later, then.”

I feel like she looked a little regretful, but it’s probably just me.

Part 4

“I’m going to the toilet.”

He drank some water from his paper cup, stood up with both hands in his pockets and left his seat.

Yousuke began to talk about the recent circumstances after seeing Sudou off.

“I heard from a Year One member of the basketball club that he’s a very strict but caring senior regardless of gender and is well-liked. His stance when he joined the club last year was that all he needed to do was to be good at basketball, so the Year Three students seem to be surprised at his transformation.”

Thanks to Yousuke’s extensive social circle, he seems to know a side of Sudou that is hidden from the rest.

“Now that he’s studying well in addition to his basketball, I’m sure the girls will be swarming him.”

“Don’t tell this to anyone else, but a junior girl asked me for Sudou-kun’s number.”

“Wasn’t Sudou really happy about that?”

I’m sure being popular is one of the things Sudou always wished for.

However, Yousuke had a slightly complicated, bitter smile.

“I figured that I would ask Sudou for permission first, but he told me to refuse her since he was sure she was just playing a joke. I don’t think he cared that much.”

It seems that Sudou is unaware of how popular he is with girls, starting with Onodera.

“It may be a while until spring arrives for him.”

“Yeah.”

Yousuke replied with a smile and looked down at the books I had.

“I was just wondering, only one of the books has a book cover.”

There are some books borrowed from the library that have a clear protective film over them, but this one was clearly different.

“I got this one just now. You know Shiina Hiyori from the Ryuen Class, right?”

“Mhm. Actually, I’ve seen her a lot with you… You got it from her?”

“She recommended it to me since she loves it and we have similar tastes.”

“I see…”

Yousuke calmly lowered his eyebrows and seemed dissatisfied.

“What is it?”

“Oh, nothing.”

Yousuke replied so, but he still had a slightly concerned expression.

Our conversation stopped here and silence began.

I started thinking about whether I should change the subject.

“By the way, how long will you continue club activities? You have to think about the entrance tests when you’re a Year Three, right?”

The topic is completely unrelated to the subject at hand, so Yousuke answered in a confused manner.

“Yeah… I don’t have anything concrete in mind, but most people stop in June. I think that’s about right if you need to focus on your studies. There’s some people who continue a little longer into the summer ahead if they put a lot of importance on their club, though.”

Although he has to decide whether or not to go to university and how long it would take him to prepare for the entrance test, June is still earlier than I expected.

“Yousuke, are you thinking about what you’re going to do?”

“Hmm… It’s not like there’s any guarantee I can graduate in A Class, and I think my parents want me to go to university, so I think I’m going to stop around June in that case.”

There is fundamentally no contact with people who live off site in this school. However, there are a few exceptions.

One of them is related to higher education and employment.

Even if a child decides to go to higher education, there are many decisions they cannot make alone, like which university or vocational school, how much it will cost and such.

There are also more than a few students who want to consult their parents about employment as well.

In such a case, the school is also present and a discussion is held about the student’s schooling.

This is a system and rule that I have nothing to do with, but for students who wish to go on to higher education, it’s something that they cannot avoid.

This system however can only be used from the third term onwards.

The reason is that it’s possible to avoid studying unnecessary things after Year Three by deciding on one’s school of choice.

You can set your goals after deciding on the level and department of the university to which you’ll apply.

Even if there’s a high level university that you want to apply to, the acceptance announcement for the general university entrance test will be in February or March.

This is to be decided before graduating from school.

The question here is the benefit of graduating in the A Class.

This school can fulfill your wish to go on to the university of your choice or to find a job, and if you have failed entering your university of choice, they will follow up with you to turn it into a pass.

However, this only grants admission to the school, and it’s up to the individual to successfully graduate from it.

To put it mildly, a student with middle-school level Academic Ability who enters the University of Tokyo won’t be able to make any decent progress.

Leaving aside the problems with enrollment, this is a very easy to understand example.

On the other hand, there are cases in which the student was able to graduate in A Class and also enroll in university with their own ability.

Of course, such cases are also quite possible.

In this case, there are several things that this school can do for you, starting with covering your university costs.

This is for students who have the ability to attend university but cannot afford the tuition.

It’s a measure for students who do not want to borrow scholarship money or have other reasons for not being able to borrow it, but want to go onto university.

However, the scholarship will only cover tuition fees : they must pay their living expenses separately, and it’s not possible to ask for additional funds if you repeat a year.

The coverage is based solely on the standard period of time it takes to graduate from university.

The other approach is after graduation.

The university can also help you find a job if you graduated in A Class.

In other words, there’s also a strategy not to use the A Class’ privilege for enrolling in university.

In an extreme case, you may be able to get into a prestigious company that requires a university degree by going to a low-level university and using your privilege after graduation.

However, this is only about getting the job.

Whether or not the student will have the capacity to actually work at the company is a different matter.

Above all, it’s a tightrope walk.

No matter how much effort you put into raising your child, I’m sure you’d still feel unhappy if they got rejected by even 1% of companies.

“What about you, Ayanokoji? Will you go on to university?”

“I’m not sure. You might think I’m slow, but I still haven’t made a decision. I may go on to university, or I might get a job. God only knows, as they say.”

“I don’t think there’s any need to hurry. I think you can handle most things pretty well.”

I appreciate that evaluation, but unfortunately, I don’t have a choice.

Yousuke’s behaviour was somewhat strange while we were talking about career paths.

Yousuke started speaking when that conversation got interrupted for a moment.

“...Are you close to Shiina-san?”

He stopped the subject himself once, but it looks like he still has some worries.

“Hiyori? I’m not sure. I think we might be close as reading buddies, at least. Is there something on your mind?”

I wanted to find out what was bothering Yousuke, so I stepped in and asked him.

“I’m just curious since you seem to call her by her first name. I’ve never heard it outside of our class.”

It’s certainly unusual.

“Since when?”

“Since when? I’m not sure. I don’t remember that part too clearly.”

I never noticed I started calling Hiyori by her first name.

Thinking back on it, I think I’ve been calling her that since shortly after we met.

It was just an act in my daily life, however, so my brain couldn’t grasp the specific timing.

“So there wasn’t a specific reason for you to start calling her by her first name?”

“Yeah, not really. I guess it just happened one day.”

“I see…”

“Is it bad?”

“No, that’s not it. Normally, it’s good to be friendly with a lot of people.”

Normally.

In other words, a different case than mine.

However, Yousuke didn’t continue talking about this, so I’m not going to encourage him to continue.

We just waited for Sudou to come back.

Part 5

Both Sudou and Yousuke have been involved in club activities since the beginning of Year One and have continued to produce good results.

It’s a wonder how time flies, as both of them will be retired by this time next year.

I recall a conversation I had with Kiryuuin at the end of the year.

I haven’t had a single major regret in my school life up to this point, but I sometimes think about another future I could have if I was involved in club activities.

Aside from the question of whether or not I would take it seriously, I think my school life might have been more glamorous if I was involved in basketball or soccer with like-minded people.

It’s easy to imagine, but the probability of that future is zero.

I didn’t know how to socialize, and the hurdles to jump into club activities were too high for someone who couldn’t make friends with others in a short period of time.

I decided to go home and read the book I got from Hiyori.

Then…

“Please wait.”

“Hm?”

I was stopped by a girl with a polite but high-pressure tone in her voice.

I turned around to see her standing there looking at me with her long scarf swaying in the wind.

“I want to talk to you for a bit.”

I’m a little confused about someone with whom I haven’t had any contact before talking to me now.

Actually, I encountered such a situation several times last year.

At times like this, I’m truly grateful for the OAA system which was Nagumo’s idea.

It’s easy to match a name with a face and to know the superficial abilities of that person.

The student who showed up before me was a student from Year-Two A class, which Sakayanagi is a member of.

Her name is Morishita Ai.

Her OAA is as follows:

Academic Ability: B+

Physical Ability: C+

Quick Thinking: B+

Social Contribution: B

Overall Ability: B

To put it in simple terms, she’s the honour student type.

The data shows that she is someone who can handle all matters as well as or better than others.

She’s similar to Sanada, whom I met the other day, but there are many students like her in A Class.

“You’re Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, right?”

“Yeah.”

Naturally Morishita, who started talking to me, knows who I am.

Wait, did she just refer to me without an honorific?

I don’t mind it regardless of age, but I was a little bothered by it because I thought she was being polite.

Before I could say anything, Morishita continued.

“We’ll draw attention here. Let’s change the location please.”

The school, the dorms, Keyaki Mall.

You have to go through here to go anywhere else, it certainly is a conspicuous spot.

It’s also an efficient place to ambush someone if you’re looking for them.

“Let’s go somewhere else.”

Morishita quickly turned around and started walking.

I never told her if I would follow her or not, but it’s okay.

It’s the winter break, I have the time to enjoy unexpected encounters like this.

“This is the first time we’re meeting, right?”

“Yes. We have never talked before.”

Morishita replied without looking back.

She turned off the road on the way to the dormitory and stopped at a side street.

It was cold, and there wasn’t anyone else around.

“So, what are we going to talk about?”

I wonder what’s coming my way at the beginning of the New Year.

“I haven’t decided yet.”

“You haven’t decided?”

I was trying to prepare myself, but I was left a little disappointed.

“I haven’t decided what we’re going to talk about, but I’ve been wanting to talk to you for a while.”

…I knew it wasn’t my imagination.

She called me by my first name and didn’t even use any honorifics.

However, she was otherwise polite and I got the impression that her high-pressure was very conspicuous.

I don’t know if it’s just me or if it’s the same for other students, but since it’s hard for me to touch on that part, I’m going to ignore it now.

I seem to have a strange connection with students in other classes recently.

“Was it weird for me to talk to you?”

“Well, I guess. I’ve never had any contact with you before.”

“Yeah.”

“Also, when it’s someone of the opposite gender, I can’t help but think about a lot of strange possibilities.”

I made a comment that hinted at a sexual affair to see how she would react.

I thought she might be upset, and she did show some signs of distress, but remained calm.

She immediately set the direction of our conversation and started speaking.

“It’s not my first time speaking for the first time to someone I don’t know.”

“Hm?”

“I spoke to Sudou Ken the day before yesterday, and Kouenji Rokusuke yesterday.”

She put up her palm, telling me not to misunderstand things.

“I’ve learned that a man and woman talking alone can lead to misunderstandings, so I wanted to let you know in advance.”

She put it into words so clearly that I can now rule that out.

I’m grateful for that.

Other than that, I also know that I’m not the only person she calls by their full name.

Still, the mention of Sudou’s name is consistent with the conversation from just now.

“A girl from the same year asked me about a lot of weird things.”

I remember how confused Sudou looked as he said that.

I guess that person must be Morishita from A Class.

She really is cute at a glance, but it’s understandable that Sudou denied any romantic involvement.

I can clearly sense something strange in her eyes.

“I’d like to know more about your class during the winter break.”

Saying it in a different way, she wants to do reconnaissance on her rival class, right?

She isn’t even trying to hide it, so it’s hard to believe that this is an instruction from Sakayanagi.

She would send someone else if she were to approach Sudou, so there would be no merit in going out of her way to send Morishita, who seems like a bit of an oddball to me.

Or is her goal to send someone like her, someone who has a couple quirks?

I thought about this and that, but the conclusion I came to was different.

Morishita’s monologue was an independent thought.

That’s the closest I can come to a conclusion at this point.

“Kouenji Rokusuke also asked me the same thing, so I’ll let you know that this is all by my own decision.”

Morishita then immediately added that this was all by her own decision.

“I see. I thought the students in A Class only acted by Sakayanagi’s instructions.”

For now, I’m going to believe Morishita and move the conversation forward.

“I don’t understand that. I don’t think the same way as the other people.”

Morishita continued while speaking in a roundabout way.

“Many of us in A Class are wary of your class, which has vigilantly improved its ranking. So I ended up becoming interested in B Class.”

“B Class has increased its reputation by a lot. You should contact the leader Horikita if you want to find out more, I can give you her contact information if you want.”

I took out my phone and put up Horikita’s address.

Morishita rejected it with her hand, however, and started talking.

“I wanted to do that at first, but the people around me changed their minds. Now, some people think that you’re the one that has something to do with the B Class’ improvement.”

So that’s why she acted alone and contacted me.

“Students who diverge from their OAA stats are much more noticeable.”

The fact that the results of the special test at the end of the second term were made public is significant.

Sanada, this Morishita, and other highly capable students have been noticing it lately.

It’s obvious that the discrepancies between my results and my OAA are too large to ignore.

They wouldn’t believe me even if I told them that I got the questions correct by giving random answers.

This contact feels too sloppy, or too aimless to be instructed by Sakayanagi.

“So? Do you think you can get results by directly coming to me? Are there any questions I should answer?”

I showed her that I welcomed questions, but she rejected with her hand.

“I did get some results. It looks like you are going to be some threat to us after all, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.”

“...Did I do anything to make you think that way?”

“From my analysis, yes.”

Morishita nodded her head as if she was just convinced of something at this time.

My first impression of her was that she was an ‘eccentric person’.

“You’ll have to excuse me. There’s still a lot of people I need to look into.”

It looks like there’s a lot of people she’s curious about in Horikita Class.

“I see. Good luck.”

I guess this is how she talked to Sudou and Yousuke too.

I wasn’t there when it happened, but I can picture the scene very easily.

Morishita went back to the dormitory, but I didn’t want to follow her and give her the wrong impression.

I decided to take a breath of cold air for a while and then return home.

Part 6

When I got home after that, I picked up the books I had brought home with my cold hands.

What to read first..?

I thought about it for a while, but I knew that the book I would be talking about tomorrow in the library would be the one I received.

So, I decided to start with Hiyori’s present.

The book itself wasn’t old, and seemed to have been released about 15 years ago.

I was curious why Hiyori liked it, so I looked up the author’s history and found that he was just one of many unknown authors.

He seems to write some interesting works that have a small fan base, but his reputation isn’t very high.

Perhaps Hiyori managed to find a hidden masterpiece because she is a book lover.

She even bought the same book again just to keep it with her.

He still releases a new book every three years or so, it seems.

I’ll read another one next time if this suits my tastes.

“Hm..?”

I noticed there was a piece of paper inside when I was just about to start reading the book.

That in itself is not a big deal, but what caught my attention was the design.

You can sometimes get a free piece of paper as part of a campaign when you shop at Keyaki Mall, and the illustrations or patterns on it change depending on the time of the year.

The one I picked up had a Christmas image with fir trees and snow.

It was the one that came with the books I bought at the bookstore before Christmas.

The fact that it changed right after Christmas suggests this was bought before then.

It would be a shame if she had to carry it with her everyday since then.

She said it was only a few days ago out of consideration, but it’s more likely that she purchased it at a date a little further back.

“I feel like I might have gotten something very heavy.”

Of course, I can’t be too quick to judge.

She may have simply given it to me as a gift from a book lover.

I’m not going to think too much about it now, but it’s only natural as a human being to feel good if someone approaches you in a sincere manner.

What can I do for Hiyori, I wonder?

I decided to sit and think about it before reading the book.

Epilogue

Changing Relationships

Part 1

There are only two days left of our winter break.

My relationship with Kei has been restored, and things are back to how they were before - no, better than before from Kei’s viewpoint.

Sudou used to hate Yousuke in a one-sided way at the start, but I’ve seen that there’s been a positive change on that matter, and I’ve had unexpected encounters with Sakayanagi and her classmates.

Furthermore, Ryuuen and Katsuragi have already started preparing for the start of the third term, and Ichinose’s mental stability is starting to change, which is good news for her anxious class.

It would be safe to conclude that the winter break was generally satisfying.

There is just one point.

The book that Hiyori gave me.

What can I do for her in return?

I came to a conclusion after thinking about it for a few days, but I needed to make some preparations in advance.

I just caused a lot of anxiety because of Ichinose.

I don’t want to rekindle that kind of strange atmosphere here.

I must repay her in a gentle manner without causing any misunderstandings.

How can I repay her?

There’s a hint in my mind from the past shortly after I entered the school.

“Kiyotaka This is just for today, okay!?”

Kei muttered so while hugging me from the back before I left the room, still in her pajamas.

“I know. That’s why I made sure to tell you, didn’t I?”

“I know, and I understand the reason, but… I’m still worried!”

She turned around after I lightly pushed her away and hugged me from the front this time.

“Come back before night, okay?”

“If you were so worried about it, why didn’t you agree to the conditions I put out?”

“I could never do that. I have a hard enough time reading textbooks. Besides, we’d never come to an agreement.”

Well, she’s right about that.

Forcing them together probably wouldn’t lead to any pleasing result for either of them.

“Kiss me, then!”

“Where did the ‘then’ come from?”

Kei had already closed her eyes and turned her lips towards me when I asked.

I did as she wanted, and she giggled and waved her hand in a cute way.

“See you soon.”

She’s smiling happily, as if she wasn’t so angry just five seconds ago. Kei saw me off like that and I left the room.

I opened my phone right after I walked out of my dorm and entered the elevator.

I’m expecting a call from the other party soon.

It would have been easier to check before leaving the room, but I didn’t want to make Kei worried.

As expected, there was already a call, but I was unable to answer, so there was also a message.

It looks like she went out to take a walk ahead of our appointment.

Impressed by her behaviour, I decided to follow her.

Away from Keyaki Mall, close to the main gate, I found the back of a girl who was just wandering around.