A Liquid Inspiration

Summary: (A re-telling of Classroom of the Elite sparked by a certain conversation between Masterpiece and Professor.)

One day, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka receives a surprising invitation from his father, Ayanokouji Atsuomi, to join him for a drink. It was unusual for Kiyotaka, who normally wouldn't be summoned by his father without a hidden agenda.

That's why even the emotionless Kiyotaka was surprised when his father began to open up about his own experiences with love and relationships.

For the emotionally distant "masterpiece," this conversation is a rare moment of connection with his father, and it sparked a curiosity within him to explore the world of human relationships, to be more specific: romance and intimacy.

It was that spark that pushed Kiyotaka to demand something from his father:

"Father, teach me everything about human relationships."

This then begins a ripple that changes how Ayanokouji Kiyotaka would approach the world in the foreseeable future.

Do check out this fic on Wattpad. It has the same title and content, but we do have illustrations there to increase immersion for the fic. Thanks, and here's the chapter!

Vol 2. SS 5 - Ichinose Honami: Feelings

As the door closed behind Ayanokōji-kun, a wave of stillness washed over the room. I found my legs feeling like jelly beneath me, forcing me to sink onto the couch. The cool leather did nothing to soothe the burning heat radiating from my cheeks. I brought my hands to my face, the coolness of my fingertips failing to temper the blush. My mind was a whirlpool, sucked into the vortex of memories and moments we'd shared today.

Every word he'd uttered, every playful smirk, every teasing glance— it was all etched deeply into my mind. The echoes of his voice swirled around me, each sentence, each phrase spinning like a movie reel in my head.

The blush on my cheeks deepened as I recalled our earlier conversation, back when I offered to cook him lunch. "Something I'll enjoy? I don't think you're edible, Ichinose..."

His words, so casually spoken, had sent me reeling. The audacity, the teasing undertone. I had been shocked, stammering out a response that I'd immediately wished I could retract.

"I just made it worse..." I mumbled, recalling how he turned my words against me, temporarily shocking me out of sheer boldness.

But, there had been a certain allure to our banter.

Ayanokōji-kun's relaxed demeanor, his smirking response to my indignation, the spark in his eyes as he prodded at my embarrassment... It was a heady cocktail of emotions that had me feeling things I never had before. After all, Ayanokōji Kiyotaka, despite his popularity, was not really known to be an expressive person.

And yet... I've managed to see him smirk, hear him joke around, and bore witness to the rare mischievous twinkle of his eyes.

It... made me feel special, in a way.

"But why?" I wondered aloud, sinking back into the couch as I clutched at my chest, trying to calm the rapid rhythm of my heart. "Why does it feel like this?"

Just then, another memory from hours ago invaded my mind, making my blush deepen even further.

"Sounded like a maiden in love," he had said.

The comment had caught me off-guard, causing me to momentarily fumble my actions. I remembered how I had tried to change the subject, how I'd furiously chopped the carrots as if that could distract me from the implication of his words. But I hadn't forgotten. No, how could I?

"Was I really acting like... like a maiden in love?" I mumbled, thinking back on the afternoon. His words, his teasing grin, his confident demeanor - they'd all left a lasting impression on me. I wasn't a maiden in love, was I? That... that just didn't make sense.

I sighed, my heart pounding in my chest as I allowed the memories to consume me. In the back of my mind, I remembered our lunch, how he'd spun my innocent offer into a suggestive tease, how he'd taken pleasure in my flustered state. I was upset then, but now, replaying the event in my mind, I felt a flutter in my stomach, a strange sort of thrill that left me bewildered.

And then there was the movie. A more innocent affair on the surface, but even then, he found a way to throw me off balance.

"Don't worry, Ichinose. I won't bite... unless that's what you're hoping for."

Ayanokōji-kun's words had sent a shiver down my spine, his daring question leaving me speechless. Experience, he'd said. Did I want to experience... that?

I groaned, burying my face into the couch cushion, a feeble attempt to hide from the onslaught of confusing emotions. I didn't have romantic feelings for Ayanokōji-kun. I knew that. But the strange sensations, the fluttering in my chest, the warm flush that his words brought... these were new. These were confusing.

His teasing, his light-hearted provocations, were these what led me to feel this way? But he had Yuki-chan. He was just having fun, right? Then why did I...why did I almost...?

I remembered the moment I'd looked at his lips, contemplating the treacherous desire to close the gap between us. A shiver of shock coursed through me at the memory. What had I been thinking? It wasn't supposed to be like this. We were friends, weren't we?

"So why? Why did I want to... to kiss him?" I whispered into the stillness of my room, my words nearly drowned by the pounding of my heart.

There it was— the admission that sent a new wave of heat flooding my cheeks. I had wanted to kiss Ayanokōji-kun earlier. It was a thought so absurd, so foreign, that it left me breathless.

But again... why? Why did I feel like doing it?

And so, my mind suddenly spiraled back to that day in June, as if it was providing me with the answers I asked for.

I felt my breath hitch in my chest as the memory of that moment unfolded in my mind. The playful glint in Yuki-chan's eyes as she challenged me to kiss Ayanokōji-kun, the quickened rhythm of my heart as I contemplated actually doing it... The vividness of it all hit me like a punch.

I remembered how that ended, with me pressing my finger against his lips instead, too scared to cross that boundary of friendship. I mean... how could I?

Yuki-chan was probably just goading me because she thought I was never going to go through with it. After all, she had repeatedly said that she wasn't too worried about me going after Ayanokōji-kun.

Then a month later, it happened again. Only this time, it was he who had faked it. I remembered the look of surprise on my face, a look that now reflected on the laptop screen as I sought to remember that day. The anticipation, the resignation. I was sure he was going to kiss me.

I could still feel the ghost of his breath on my lips, the warmth of his hand on my cheek, and the intensity of his gaze. I remembered closing my eyes, preparing myself for the inevitable. But it never came.

Instead, there was just a flick on my forehead, his way of avenging the fake-out kiss I'd attempted on him.

But as I sat there now, my face buried in the couch cushion, I realized that back then, a small part of me had been... disappointed.

Just like earlier, when I was in Ayanokōji-kun's arms. When I'd looked at his lips and almost...

"No... no, no," I muttered to myself, my hands coming up to cover my face, as if trying to hide from the growing realization. "I can't be disappointed... I shouldn't be... I mean, it's Ayanokōji-kun... and..."

"He has Yuki-chan..."

"Right?" I questioned the empty room, as if expecting an answer to my confused feelings. I could still remember Yuki-chan's face, the gleam in her eyes every time she spoke of Ayanokōji-kun. The kind of gaze that was far more powerful than a mere crush, a gaze full of longing and admiration.

In fact, she had already proclaimed herself as his future wife, words laced with the assured self-confidence that I had come to associate with Yuki-chan.

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to banish the image of my best friend from my mind. This wasn't fair to her. It wasn't fair to any of us.

Yet, my mind stubbornly held onto the memory of his teasing smile, his playful remarks, and his provoking words. They danced around in my head, a constant reminder of the confusing emotions I was wrestling with.

"I'm being ridiculous," I muttered to myself, trying to shake off the strange feeling welling up inside me. "This is just the heat of the moment talking."

"I don't have feelings for him... in fact, I shouldn't have them at all..." I forced a laugh, the sound echoing around the silent room. The laughter held no real humor, but rather, it sounded hollow, forced. It wasn't convincing to me, so how could it possibly convince anyone else?

I pressed my palms into my eyes, as if I could physically push away the emotional turmoil swirling within me. But all I could see was Ayanokōji-kun's teasing smile, hear his light-hearted chuckle, and feel the warmth of his nearness.

"No... no, no, no... it's just... just...," I stammered, struggling to find the words. "Just curiosity... right?"

It couldn't be love.

After all, I was not a girl who understood romance. I had always found it to be strange. My focus was on my friends, my studies, my future. Romance? Love? In fact, I didn't even have the slightest clue as to how confessions worked until that time with Chihiro-chan.

But this afternoon with Ayanokōji-kun... it had been different. I had felt things that I had never felt before. I had felt flustered, awkward, embarrassed, yet... inexplicably drawn to him.

Just like a moth to a flame.

The memory of his words played in my head over and over again. His teasing, his jesting, his unnerving way of making me feel seen, heard, and appreciated.

"But it's not that," I whispered to myself, hugging my knees. "It's just... just... curiosity. Yes, that's it. Curiosity."

Ayanokōji Kiyotaka, after all, was a puzzle. He was quiet, aloof, yet there was a hidden depth to him that was intriguing. He was popular, but he never seemed to revel in it. He was academically brilliant, but he rarely flaunted it.

I'd like to think that what I felt was not love but a fascination with the enigma that was Ayanokōji-kun.

"But... could it be more?" The question hung in the air, making my heart pound louder. "Could it be... love?"

Ahhh! What are you even saying, Honami... you don't even know the first thing about romance!

That said, I couldn't help but wonder...

The way I felt towards his teasing, his jesting, his unnerving way of making me feel seen, heard, and appreciated— was that what love was supposed to feel like?

Or was it just a product of my curiosity, my fascination with the enigma that was Ayanokōji-kun?

With a sigh, I pressed my palms into my eyes, wishing away the confusion. It was simpler to stick with the idea of curiosity. After all, love was complicated and unpredictable. Curiosity was safe and understandable.

"It's not love..." I whispered into the silence, my voice carrying an unfamiliar tremble. "Just... curiosity."

My heart, however, seemed to disagree, beating loudly in my chest as if in protest. I frowned, placing a hand over my heart, as if that could quell its incessant thumping.

"Be quiet," I muttered under my breath, squeezing my eyes shut. "It's just curiosity... it's just... curiosity."

My words echoed around the empty room, each repetition losing a bit of its conviction. But I held onto it, repeating it like a mantra, hoping that with each utterance, I would finally believe it.

"Just... curiosity."

Yet, as I sat there, the echoes of Ayanokōji-kun's words filled my mind, his playful smirk etched into my memory, and my heart continued to beat a rhythm of defiance against my words.

"Curiosity..." I whispered one last time into the quiet, my voice trembling. But even as I said it, a part of me wondered...

If it was just curiosity, why did my heart feel like it was breaking?

But what could I do? What was I supposed to do with these feelings, these confusions? Admit them? To whom? To him? To Yuki-chan?

No, that wasn't an option. My feelings, no matter how real and how deep they might become, were something I had to bury deep within. For the sake of our friendship, for the sake of the harmony that existed between us.

A lump formed in my throat at the thought, my eyes welling up with unshed tears. This wasn't a romantic story where the heroine gets her happy ending.

This was real life, where emotions were complex and where actions had consequences. I couldn't let my feelings jeopardize the relationships that were so dear to me.

"I..." I choked on my words, my voice barely a whisper in the quiet room. I looked down at my hands, clenching them into fists. "I... can't fall in love with him."

But even if I somehow did... Was it even my fault?

I... did not ask for him to treat me like this... to make me feel like this.

You're terrible, Ayanokōji-kun...

End of Chapter

A/N: This is my fourth version of this SS. I was struggling with how to make an Ichinose POV work. But I decided that I should just go with the one with the best writing quality. Sure, it's not 100% truthful to canon Ichinose, but I'd like to think that this one is more human and more feeling... just the way I like it.

That said, there is a heavy emphasis here on the fact that she's not in love with Kiyotaka.

Before the "Romance came so fast" brigade comes in, remember that these are fifteen-year-olds who don't really have a great command and understanding of things such as romantic love and their emotional turmoil.

Instead, Honami was curious if what she felt earlier was how love was supposed to work. Acknowledgment, after all, is key to understanding how you feel. (Although, she seemed to be more focused on reassuring herself that it's not love.)

And so, Honami had concluded that if she somehow fell in love with Kiyotaka, it wasn't her fault because she never asked to be treated the way Kiyotaka treated her.