AN1) Here is a friendly reminder that Ayanokouji is a really unreliable narrator, so just because he says or thinks something, it's not necessarily the truth.
AN2) This story takes place at about the beginning of Volume 5, just so you know.
Changed Perspective
The First Move
1-1
The conversation between him, Karuizawa, Hirata, and Horikita had progressed pretty much just like he had predicted in regards to them realizing the nature of the Zodiac Exam and then coming up with a strategy for how the class should continue going forward, though Hirata's proposal of including Kushida to control some of the more problematic students was a bit of a surprise.
Horikita's rejection, on the other hand, not so much.
Well, calling it a conversation between the four of them was a bit of a stretch. After all, he hadn't spoken much during the meeting. No, he was only there to observe.
In the end, Horikita's and Hirata's plan of cooperation hadn't turned out to be the most interesting thing about the meeting, that role going to Karuizawa. It was good to see that she and Hirata had learned how to be more convincing in their fake relationship, even going so far as to call each other by their first name now.
I'd like to call him that too, he thought with a bit of disappointment, but that's impossible for now, I guess.
However, it was only after their meeting was over and he was on his way back to his dorm that the by far most unexpected thing happened.
"Excuse me~," some bright voice said from behind him. "Do you have a minute, Ayanokouji-kun?"
Turning around, there was a teenage girl of average height with long brown hair that had bangs swept to the right and blue eyes. She wore her school uniform and stood slightly bent forward with her hands behind her back and a smile on her lips as she waited for him to answer.
"Matsushita -san," he said, "how unexpected. I'm on my way to meet someone, so would you mind keeping it short?"
That was a lie, of course. While they had never truly interacted with each other, he knew enough about Matsushita Chiaki to understand that she shouldn't have a reason to talk to him, meaning this would probably end in something bothersome if he stayed with her for too long.
"Oh, sorry to bother you, then." She tilted her head. "But aren't you going back to the dorms right now? It's really nice weather, so why don't you and Sudō-kun meet outside?"
He blinked. "I don't think I told you whom I'm gonna meet?"
Now it was her turn to blink as she leaned a bit more forward, making him almost take a step at her sudden closeness, and tilted her head a bit. "No, but you don't have many other friends besides him, right? I saw him going to the dorms too just a few minutes ago and was really confused because he doesn't seem the type to stay inside when the weather is great and he could do sport instead, but I thought it makes sense if you two are meeting each other there." She gave him a short bow. "Sorry for just assuming things."
Ah, he thought. It's like that, isn't it? "No, it's no problem. You're right, after all. However, I'm surprised you know who my friends are. To be honest, I didn't expect you to even know my name."
"But didn't you know my name as well even though we never really talked before?"
"But that's different," he said. "Isn't it normal for a boy to know the name of the cute girls in his class?"
Well, that's at least what Sudō and the others said. He wondered if the slight blush on her cheeks was a sign that they were right and he had done the right thing saying that or not.
"W-well, you're certainly more straightforward than I thought," she said before starting to giggle. "But you really shouldn't say that to a girl's face. They might misunderstand your intention, you know?"
Well, he didn't plan to tell that someone else anyway. He had only said that to throw her off. After all, people tended to let things split when they were flustered and he hoped she might say something that gave away that she had observed him for a few weeks now. "And you didn't misunderstand me?"
"Of course not," she said with a big smile. "I know you a bit better than that, I think."
Unlikely, he thought. It was much more likely she had come to some wrong conclusion based on what she had observed from him. However, she might have seen some fragment of the truth considering she actually approached me. "You mean because you stalked me for the last three weeks?" He decided to go with the blunt truth next, calling it intentionally 'stalking' rather than 'following' to make it sound more serious.
"Huh?" she said, sounding for all the world as if she had no idea what he was talking about while tilting her head some more. "Sorry, but I don't understand?"
He must confess that her acting was actually pretty good. If he didn't know for a fact that she had observed him, there would have been nothing in her body language that would give her away.
The angle in which she tilted her head, the way she widened her eyes a bit to appear more innocent, the slight pout of her lips that showed indication about his accusation, and even her voice that had nothing but surprise in it; her entire act was absolutely perfect. Unfortunately, that was also the exact thing that gave her away. Humans weren't perfect, not even close, and that was mirrored in the way they carried themselves, making her appear suspicious for those who knew what to look for. It was a bit like a child that tried to appear innocent after doing something wrong and completely overdid it, making it obvious to their parents that they were hiding something.
What she did was playing a role. If he were to take a guess, he would say that she had probably rehearsed her pose and mimic in front of a mirror countless times to perfect it as much as she had just like other people rehearsed their smile. That in itself wasn't the impressive thing, though. A simple smile was one thing, but to be able to use your entire body to display false emotions on demand without making a mistake or appearing out of place wasn't an easy thing. Her act would probably trick all students in this school aside from some of the most observing ones like Ryūen.
So far, Matsushita hadn't stood out at all, but now that he saw her talent first hand, he wondered what else she was hiding.
"I'm talking about all the time you're sneaking glances at me during class or when you see me while you're out with your friends," he finally said, continuing with the truth. "It's not normal, so it tends to stand out." That wasn't completely true as she was more or less subtle, but he saw no reason to say that. Mixing the truth with lies was always a good approach.
"What do you mean, 'not normal'?" she asked, still acting confused, though it was worth mentioning that she didn't deny his accusation anymore.
"Well, you usually don't stare at people you don't know, do you?"
She shook her head. "Not really, but there can be exceptions. For example, I might have checked you out because I have a crush on you."
He would have been happier about that comment if she hadn't said it in such a nonchalant way. "I don't think a pretty girl like you would be interested in a bland guy like me, though."
That made her laugh. "You shouldn't sell yourself short, you know." She suddenly reached out and grabbed his right biceps. "I mean, I saw it during swimming class, but you're really fit, aren't you?"
Her bold action threw him a bit off, which was pretty ironic considering what he had tried to do earlier, and the sudden attention they were gaining made bit uncomfortable, but she let go of him and turned around before he could decide to do something about that.
"Well, c'mon," she said with another bright smile over her shoulder. "Let's go to your room to continue this. Nobody will overhear us there."
Surely he had misunderstood her?
"Sorry, but as I told you I'm going to meet-"
"I lied," she interrupted him. "I haven't seen Sudō-kun walk to the dorms. In fact, I have seen him walk towards the mall just ten minutes ago." Impossibly, her grin grew a bit wider. "But that means you lied to me as well, so I think we're even, don't you think?"
He stayed silent.
"Oh, now don't be like that," she said with a theatrical sigh. "Most boys would be more than happy if a girl wanted to be alone in their room with them you know?"
"What is it that we can't discuss elsewhere, then?" he asked, ignoring her comment altogether.
She looked around for a second before she conspiratorially leaned towards him, her face coming close enough for him to feel her breath on his skin. "I want to talk about how you led our class to victory during the island exam."
That… was not what he had expected, but he didn't panic. I wonder how she found out about that.
Then, as if she didn't just throw such a bomb at him, she turned around again and started to walk towards the dorms. "Well, are you coming, Ayanokouji-kun?"
For a boy, his room was surprisingly clean… and empty. She had intentionally stopped herself from having any expectations because too strong opinions about something could cloud your perspective and she didn't want to miss anything, but that he didn't have any decoration at all was just too unexpected.
"Hey, Ayanokouji-kun, did you even use any points at all?" Maybe he saw through the point system from the very beginning and-
"Of course," he said. "Food and clothes aren't free, after all."
Is that the truth, I wonder?
"But no furniture or decorations?"
"There was unfortunately nothing I liked."
"Maybe we should go shopping, then!" she exclaimed while clapping her hands together. "I'm confident that I can help you find something that fits you!"
He looked at her for a few seconds without replying, making her feel slightly uncomfortable even though she tried not to show it. "I think that's not what you wanted to talk with me about, Matsushita-san."
Straight to business, huh?
"Alright~," she sighed before straighten up and changing into 'serious-mode', so to say. "Well, to be blunt, I would like to know why you don't openly take command of the class since you're already leading us from the shadows." Her lips tucked upwards. "Which is really impressive, by the way."
"Or so you're saying." He sat down on a chair while motioning for her to sit on his bed. "I'm still not sure how you came to that conclusion, so would you mind expanding on that?"
Was he still playing dumb? He should have realized by now that she knew too much to be fooled by that act, so why did he-
Oh, she suddenly thought. I see. That's how it is. He wasn't playing dumb at all. No, he just wanted to know how much she knew. Well, that put her in somewhat of a dilemma; should she be completely honest or leave a few details out in case she could use them later to her advantage?
She didn't need to think about that for long before coming to a conclusion.
"At first, I didn't think much of you, but then I started to notice little things like you being involved in everything exciting that happened in our year. Considering you always hang out with Horikita, that wasn't too surprising, but I still had a weird feeling, so I kept watching you. It was only after the island exam that I had concrete doubts about your role in the class." She then explained the details she had noticed that had led her to him. "After that, all I needed to do was to go to Chabashira-sensei to clarify things and she was more than eager to answer my questions."
In the end, being honest was the best choice. She didn't believe for a second that she could fool him –whether that was actually right or not didn't matter as it was better to be overly cautious than to overestimate yourself- and she wanted to eventually be trusted by him. That wouldn't happen if he knew she was willing to lie to him, so she didn't. She was confident that this was the best way to approach this situation.
"I see," he said. "You're surprisingly perspective, Matsushita-san. I'm impressed."
He said that, but his face didn't give any emotion away. Early, she had managed to catch him a bit by surprise with her forwardness, she was sure of it, but besides of that, he hadn't shown any emotion so far, making it impossible to see what he was thinking.
"Would you mind answering my question, then?"
He tilted his head a bit. "I guess I don't. It's just that I want to enjoy a normal high-school life without attracting attention, you see."
She couldn't help to grin a bit at hearing that. That goal was just like-
"Can I assume that you're similar?"
She blinked, a bit thrown off from being pulled from her thoughts like that. "Wha-"
"From the way you observed me over the last weeks, I already knew that you were more perspective than your behaviour might indicate, but your explanation just now proved that you were even better than I first thought. Also, the way you control your body language makes me think that you control what others see of you similar to how I do the same, though we go at it differently. With that in mind, it's safe to assume that there is also a very good possibility that this isn't the only thing you're faking, and combined with my assumption that makes me think that you're holding back in class as well. Am I wrong so far?"
That was really… terrifying. Exciting as well. Not to forget, that was probably also the longest she had ever heard him speak.
"No, no," she said with a shake of her head, "you're completely right. You have seen right through me."
He nodded as if that was just what he had expected. He probably did, too.
"So," he continued, "what are you planning to do with that knowledge, now that you have talked to me?"
Okay, she thought while unintentionally straitening her back, now to the dangerous part.
From the moment she had concluded that their wishes were similar, that he entered this school only because he wanted a life that belonged to himself just like she did it to have an easy future full of stability, she knew that it would be hard to convince him to work with her. Compared to her, he did not have as much of a desire for success, and he didn't care for categorization of Class A or Class D.
Trying to force him wouldn't work. In fact, such an attempt would only end in him arranging for her to be expelled to get rid of the annoyance.
That being said, it was a fact that he did help the class in the past. If he didn't want to stand out and didn't care for which class he was in, why did he do that?
She had no idea, but the fact that a reason exists must be enough for now.
She voiced her intention. "I will not try to force you if that's what you mean."
"Because you know you will fail, don't you? But you wouldn't come here without a plan, so what is it?"
He really saw straight through me, huh? "I want to propose a deal," she said with all the confidence she could muster. "If you're not interested, I will accept it and forget everything I know. You can have your peaceful life and it's as if this meeting has never happened."
She still couldn't read him even a little bit. There was no way to know what he was thinking, whether he already knew what she was about to propose and just humoured her of if this meeting itself was planned by him all along. But there was no going back, so she continued.
"You're already using Horikita-san as a cover for your actions to keep undetected, just like you probably use Hirata-kun and Karuizawa-san to subtly control the class for you." She swallowed once. "I want to reach Class A and think you're our only chance to achieve that. I want you to help the class to climb up the ladder and use me however you see fit to do so."
He raised a single eyebrow, marking his first notable expression since they entered the room. "And how could you possibly be of use for me?"
"There are situations where Horikita-san and the others wouldn't work well as a cover for you," she said, having expected that question. "I want you to continue working from the shadows and use me to keep your identity save. For example, if someone notices that someone is pulling the strings from behind the scene and investigates, you can push me into their way. With how we both hold back and have similar mediocre evaluations, I would appear just as suspicious to everyone who bothers looking into it as you."
Well, he would still be more suspicious because to his relationship with Horikita, of course, but she didn't saw the need to say that out loud as that would weaken her argument, though he did doubtless knew that already himself.
He was just about to open his mouth to give her his answer when a noise from the entrance interrupted them.
A second later, the door of his room was opened.
At the time I'm uploading this, the story already has 122 views, which is pretty rad. I honestly wasn't expecting this much attention, given the fact that this fandom is pretty inactive when it comes to fanfiction.
I don't usually beg for comments, but since this community is relatively small, I dare to do it this time. With that in mind, please feel encouraged to comment! :)
I would be really interested to see how this story is received as it is a little different to the other stories I have seen here.
