Ch. 5

Thanks for all the love in the reddit comments and reviews thus far it really makes the hard work worth it. Special shout out to Kei purist Jason25th for plugging this in the discord, there may have been others but every time I get on there's like 100 messages I've missed out on and I only saw Jason's. Moving onto this chapter I think this is a pretty good chapter and prelude to the next. Well without further ado here's chapter 5.

(Kei P.O.V for the chapter)

† † † † †

[Saturday] (The day after their date)

I slowly opened my eyes, wiping the rheum from my eyes. I got up and habitually reached for my phone. With a touch to the screen, the lock screen appeared. Lightning ran through me from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. Last night's events raced through my mind and as proof they weren't just a dream, the picture of the two of us as staring at me from my phone. There I was grinning arm in arm with Kiyotaka. My face went red with embarrassment.

How could I have been so brazen?

Ahh mou, even my brain felt like it was blushing just from remembering. Despite being red to the tips of my ears I felt really happy. It was the same feeling a paleontologist had when they discovered a fossil. It was the feeling of really wanted to explore everything right away. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to race down to Kiyotaka's room at that moment, but even so, I wanted to take things slow. I wanted to cherish every moment thoroughly.

I spent the rest of the weekend doing whatever homework was assigned occasionally getting distracted by the thoughts of my boyfriend and texts from Matsushita and other girls.

[Monday]

I was walking out the door when I caught a glimpse of him walking a few meters in front of me. For some reason or another, my eyes were glued to the sight of his broad shoulders. As if he sensed my gaze, he stopped walking and turned around. My eyes met his and that was when it happened. You know that feeling where your heart begins going Ba-Dump at the sight of your crush. Yeah, that. He flicked his head in his direction to call me over. There was no hesitation. I immediately ran to him and greeted him with a running hug. He stumbled back a few steps at impact but managed to receive it.

"That's an interesting way to say good morning don't you think." He said while returning the hug.

"You don't like it?" I teased.

"I didn't say that, but our classmates may feel differently." He said while looking at the students who had witnessed everything.

It was at this point I saw several of the male students scowling at him while some of the girls blushed at my PDA. I quickly detached myself from him and rushed to the classroom

As usual the classroom was filled with conversations, none of which were too loud with the occasional yell from Sudou. After a quick chat with Matsushita and company class started for the day.

A yawn escaped from my lips as I stretched my arms as soon as Chabashira sensei ended class for the day. As I began to pack my things, a pink bob poked its head through the door.

"Karuizawa-san, is it ok if I borrow your boyfriend for a second?" The pink bob or Ichinose Honami asked me.

"Huh? Yeah sure." I signaled the presence of the guest to Kiyotaka who let out a sigh and began packing up soon after.

"Alright now spill the beans," I heard Ichinose excitedly ask Kiyotaka as they left together. In my mind, I wished him the best. After the mental prayer, I got up, said bye to the girls and left for home. Without any plans for the day, I headed to my room or at least that was the plan.

I had just departed to the dorms when someone called out to me.

"Kei!" I turned around to see Satou a few steps behind me. We hadn't talked to each other for a while, what could this be about? Wanting to talk in private, Satou and I went into a nearby alley between buildings. I'd rather have gone somewhere else but she said she was in a rush.

"What is it Satou?"

She looked at me eye to eye and after a deep breath, she finally spoke.

"I'm sorry."

Huh?

"I shouldn't have fought with you over a guy then avoided you, Shinohara, and Matsushita after I got rejected. I was jealous. You're so much prettier than me and everything is going your way while nothing was going my way. I couldn't come to terms with it so I left."

I stared in disbelief.

"At first I thought it was fine but I was wrong. Nothing was fun anymore, everything felt colorless. I tried to go out but every time I would I realized I had nobody go out with. The only people who talked to me were random guys trying to get my number because I was by myself. It was horrible. I was all alone and nobody cared about me. I lost everything." Tears began running down her cheeks.

"I realized how much you guys mean to me. I was wrong for doing what I did. I'm so sorry. Can we go back to before?" She asked with puffy eyes.

By this point my eyes had also become watery. My feelings for my friends had welled up inside of me. I was a fool for not doing anything to help her.

"Of course! I missed you too!" Without hesitating I hugged Satou.

What followed next were streams of tears from the two of us as we confessed our sins and asked for forgiveness from each other. Some more tears and hugs later we made up. Satou's next objective was to apologize to the others and mend things between them.

I waved her goodbye as she left to go find the others. I wiped my tears and began walking out of the opposite end of the alleyway. Just as I was about to exit, I caught a flash of white in the distance coming my way. A blizzard of fear ran down my spine..

Why was Sakayanagi here?

Kiyotaka had warned me about her, I shouldn't get involved with her he'd said because if I did my past could be revealed. Sakayanagi, along with another student were getting closer way.

I have to move.

My body disobeyed and remained frozen in place while the two grew closer.

MOOOOOOOOOOOVE

Using every fiber of my being I broke from my trance and immediately hid in a dumpster.

"Are the camera's online?" I overhear Sakayanagi asking Kamuro.

"Yeah. We'll expose Ayanokouji today won't we? I'm surprised you're okay with this method of violence though, weren't you obsessed with him?" Kamuro asks as they arrived directly in front of the dumpster.

"He's no longer..." The rest was in audible as they had gone too far away.

I let out my breath. I'd been holding it in ever since I'd gotten in the dumpster. My clothes and hands were all covered in grime but that wasn't important. Kiyotaka was in danger.